in response to Aunt Gwammy Woobie's tag:
1. What were you doing 10 years ago? Sending out resumes in anticipation of the Department of Energy giving us newbies a pink slip. Word was that a Reduction in Force (RIF) was imminent, and I was 6th from the bottom on a list of environmental scientists. Paved the pathway to Arizona!
2. What is on my to-do list today? R&R at the Pacific Terrace Hotel in San Diego....sun, pool, surf....good for the heart, soul and mind. Also curls/frizzes my hair to the max.
3. What if I were a millionaire? Yeah, right....if i had a million, i'd subsidize all the pet shelters in America for as long as possible, pay off the house, help my Auntie Ann move into the best senior digs wherever she chose, quit my job, invest and travel travel travel. And respond to friends and family in need at their request.
4. Places I have lived? Wilkes-Barre, PA; West Pittston, PA; Oak Ridge, TN; Houston, TX; Knoxville, TN; Lenoir City, TN; Yuma, AZ; and Tucson, AZ.
5. Bad Habits? Impatient, impulsive, impetuous, bossy, demanding, and like to pick at zits.
6. Snacks I Like: DARK CHOCOLATE, SEMI-SWEET CHOCOLATE CHIPS, i could survive on chocolate alone.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Part I: Flight to Hell and Back
Yeah, yeah....i know that i'm a real slacker when it comes to blogging. I spend most of my work days in front of the computer screen reviewing environmental documents. Makes me reluctant to create yet another document (and i review IT before I post). And sometimes (like this entry) the details of certain activities are painful to report.
I promised to write about the trip to Rochester, NY, for Nick's wedding.
We flew JETBLUE RT from PHX to ROC via JFK on Tuesday, July 22.
A doozy of a mistake.
Reason for selecting JB was that it has nice, soft, comfy leather seats, lotsa leg room (and I paid $30 each for us to have the luxury of even more), free snaxxx, free movie, and in general, good service. For a 4.5 to 5 hr flight cross country, it seemed like an excellent plan.
It was not.
Yes, all the amenities were there. What was not there was an on time arrival at JFK for a connecting flight to ROC. We were ahead of schedule, thanks to a great tail wind, when we began our descent to JFK. Then, folks began to notice that our speed had decreased a good deal and we seemed to by flying in circles. Yes, we were indeed flying in circles for what seemed like an eternity (actually, maybe an hour and a half). It was dark, so most of what we could identify on land were the lights of the NY metro area and the lights of ships at sea. It got old looking at the same lights for that length of time. Flight attendants were buckled in, so there were no goodies flowing our way to quiet our nerves. Then, a ding, and the PA system was activated.
"Well, folks....from the flight deck...this is First Officer So and So. You've probably noticed that we've been put into a holding pattern over JFK for a while now. We've been advised by Ground Control that an American Airlines flight made an emergency landing just before our arrival, and all incoming and outgoing traffic was placed on hold. Now, we have a nasty thunderstorm pounding JFK that is adversely affecting an already big queue of arrivals and departures."
"We're getting low on fuel, and we've been diverted to land at the Newburgh, NY, Airport to refuel and await further instruction on when we might be able to return to JFK."
Large groans and consternation.
In about 20 minutes we had landed at an Air Nat'l Guard facility near Newburgh. It was after 11 pm. Our scheduled arrival at JFK was 8 p.m. We'd already missed our departure to ROC. Lovely.
Except for the capability to refuel our plane, this airport had pulled up its sidewalks for the night. We were held captive on the plane, since there were no services open, including rental car desks, which many residents of communities surrounding NYC thought they might use in lieu of returning on the plane to JFK.
The flight deck resumed chatting with us on the PA system. We were told that no one could "deplane" (one of Geo Carlin's favorite made-up words) except the 4 parties who had pups in carriers onboard. That was nice....for the pups and the rest of us. The pups got off to poop, others of us also relieved ourselves many times until we were given the okay to return to JFK over an hour later.
While waiting in Newburgh, some passengers negotiated with the powers that be to leave the plane for good, as they had phoned home and obtained rides to wherever they resided. About 25 passengers chose to split in Newburgh, knowing that their luggage was not going with them. If they had checked luggage, they would have to travel to JFK the next day to fetch it.
When we got into JFK, it was about 1 a.m. The terminal was CRAZEE. We of course were not the only flight that was delayed, and it was total chaos. To relieve you of the pain of reading about what we endured at a foodless, drinkless terminal trying to get on the last flight to ROC, let me just say it was a preview of hell.
We arrived in ROC at 3:30 a.m. to an empty terminal with some very very very unhappy ground crew personnel who either had to come in to service our flight or had to stay put for several hours to service our flight. Lucky for us, our luggage made it, and we headed for a Marriott in a town where none of us had ever been.
God sped us to our destination, the check-in was quick and we fell into comas til mid-day on Wed.
Marriotts are by design all non-smoking hotels. However, someone with complete disdain for rules and regulations puffed incessantly in the room adjacent to ours. Just next door was a different Marriott, a Residence Inn. We moved there the next day, after i dragged the desk attendant back to our room to inhale deeply and complain that this did not suit us at all.
To add insult to injury, they charged us for the first night (4 am arrival) at the first hotel. Royally pissed me off.
The other Marriott was WONDERFUL! Gorgeous spacious rooms with full kitchen, just lovely.
Will continue with the saga in a subsequent post. I've only described our ordeal in arriving in ROC. Need to discuss what we did there, the rehearsal, the wedding and our visit to my sister's 90 miles away in Ithaca, NY.
Later (i'm wasted).
a
I promised to write about the trip to Rochester, NY, for Nick's wedding.
We flew JETBLUE RT from PHX to ROC via JFK on Tuesday, July 22.
A doozy of a mistake.
Reason for selecting JB was that it has nice, soft, comfy leather seats, lotsa leg room (and I paid $30 each for us to have the luxury of even more), free snaxxx, free movie, and in general, good service. For a 4.5 to 5 hr flight cross country, it seemed like an excellent plan.
It was not.
Yes, all the amenities were there. What was not there was an on time arrival at JFK for a connecting flight to ROC. We were ahead of schedule, thanks to a great tail wind, when we began our descent to JFK. Then, folks began to notice that our speed had decreased a good deal and we seemed to by flying in circles. Yes, we were indeed flying in circles for what seemed like an eternity (actually, maybe an hour and a half). It was dark, so most of what we could identify on land were the lights of the NY metro area and the lights of ships at sea. It got old looking at the same lights for that length of time. Flight attendants were buckled in, so there were no goodies flowing our way to quiet our nerves. Then, a ding, and the PA system was activated.
"Well, folks....from the flight deck...this is First Officer So and So. You've probably noticed that we've been put into a holding pattern over JFK for a while now. We've been advised by Ground Control that an American Airlines flight made an emergency landing just before our arrival, and all incoming and outgoing traffic was placed on hold. Now, we have a nasty thunderstorm pounding JFK that is adversely affecting an already big queue of arrivals and departures."
"We're getting low on fuel, and we've been diverted to land at the Newburgh, NY, Airport to refuel and await further instruction on when we might be able to return to JFK."
Large groans and consternation.
In about 20 minutes we had landed at an Air Nat'l Guard facility near Newburgh. It was after 11 pm. Our scheduled arrival at JFK was 8 p.m. We'd already missed our departure to ROC. Lovely.
Except for the capability to refuel our plane, this airport had pulled up its sidewalks for the night. We were held captive on the plane, since there were no services open, including rental car desks, which many residents of communities surrounding NYC thought they might use in lieu of returning on the plane to JFK.
The flight deck resumed chatting with us on the PA system. We were told that no one could "deplane" (one of Geo Carlin's favorite made-up words) except the 4 parties who had pups in carriers onboard. That was nice....for the pups and the rest of us. The pups got off to poop, others of us also relieved ourselves many times until we were given the okay to return to JFK over an hour later.
While waiting in Newburgh, some passengers negotiated with the powers that be to leave the plane for good, as they had phoned home and obtained rides to wherever they resided. About 25 passengers chose to split in Newburgh, knowing that their luggage was not going with them. If they had checked luggage, they would have to travel to JFK the next day to fetch it.
When we got into JFK, it was about 1 a.m. The terminal was CRAZEE. We of course were not the only flight that was delayed, and it was total chaos. To relieve you of the pain of reading about what we endured at a foodless, drinkless terminal trying to get on the last flight to ROC, let me just say it was a preview of hell.
We arrived in ROC at 3:30 a.m. to an empty terminal with some very very very unhappy ground crew personnel who either had to come in to service our flight or had to stay put for several hours to service our flight. Lucky for us, our luggage made it, and we headed for a Marriott in a town where none of us had ever been.
God sped us to our destination, the check-in was quick and we fell into comas til mid-day on Wed.
Marriotts are by design all non-smoking hotels. However, someone with complete disdain for rules and regulations puffed incessantly in the room adjacent to ours. Just next door was a different Marriott, a Residence Inn. We moved there the next day, after i dragged the desk attendant back to our room to inhale deeply and complain that this did not suit us at all.
To add insult to injury, they charged us for the first night (4 am arrival) at the first hotel. Royally pissed me off.
The other Marriott was WONDERFUL! Gorgeous spacious rooms with full kitchen, just lovely.
Will continue with the saga in a subsequent post. I've only described our ordeal in arriving in ROC. Need to discuss what we did there, the rehearsal, the wedding and our visit to my sister's 90 miles away in Ithaca, NY.
Later (i'm wasted).
a
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
