Here Is To The Next 2/3 of 2008

Last week was my 5-year anniversary with WSCI… It is so hard for me to believe that I made it to 5 years at one place! This is the longest I have ever worked for any employer (full time) in my entire adult life. Thinking about this today, I realized that today is the last day of April… one third of 2008 has already gone by…. Where does the time go? I would say “where does the time go when you’re having fun” but, I cannot truly say that these past 5 years have been THAT fun. It has been a roller coaster ride for the most part… but, as they say, “the best is yet to come”, right?
I am thinking back to my first day with WSCI and I realize just how different things were for me back then. First, I was still in my 20’s! I had just bought my 2nd house and it was IN the city! I was single, my dog was only 5 years old and was living with me in Atlanta, my Grandmother was living at home alone and all was well with her. I was working on huge new project in the Atlanta area after a 6-month stint living in a motel up at Clemson, SC while trying to close out a really bad project that I did not work on until the bitter end. Most of friends were still married and happy back then unlike today where over half of them have divorced by now. ……………But, now… I am such a different person living in a completely different world. I am in my mid-30’s (did I just say that?), I am married to a wonderful man (that I met at WSCI!), living in Marietta, with his dog, Sampson (we buried Berkeley this past December). I am my Grandmother’s Caregiver and she has been residing in Assisted Living for almost a year and a half now. I have completed three projects with WSCI and am currently waiting for my fourth one (we need some new projects!). And lastly, most of my married friends are now either divorced, separated or re-married- how sad it that?* And I almost forgot- my nephew, Austin is almost 9 years old this July! NINE! We bought property back home and plan on moving there one day in a few years to start a new chapter in our life together. I have been a PM for over 3 years now in a male-dominated industry… and that was only a dream 13 years ago when I walked out of the Bobby Dodd Stadium at Georgia Tech with my Bachelor’s Degree in Building Construction. I was one of three females in our graduating class of 1995 and did not have a worry in the world at that moment. But, boy, do things really change in 13 years… vs. 5 years….
Well, here is to the next 2/3 of 2008…

*That is another blog subject at a later date.

My Plane Perspective

Now that I have been on three trips in the past 2 ½ weeks- two to Denver and one to the Keys, I am just about had it with the whole airport scenario. These days it seems to be such a time consuming task to fly somewhere whether it is a quick day trip or up to a weeklong trip. From my perspective (based on these 3 trips), most airport employees do not enjoy their job and are in no hurry to help speed up my getting to my gate on time. Unless your flight is before 7am, you might as well get to the airport at least 2.5 hours before your flight time- otherwise, good luck. I caught an article just this morning in the AJC titled, “Airport Seeks Shorter Lines”… The bi-line stated, “Officials and lawmakers press federal administrators to address insufficient staffing of security checkpoint”. All I can is: AMEN. In the meantime, believe it or not, I am getting on another plane this Friday morning heading back to Denver and will fly back on Sunday morning. This time they are flying the all of the salaried personnel from our entire Southeast Division out there for our Annual Operations Conference… not sure exactly how this weekend will transpire… but, it better be worth it considering they are taking up my entire weekend. The key word in that sentence being “MY”…. I just hope they do not stick me in a middle seat between two HUGE co-workers so my movements are limited in fear of touching my seatmates. Yes, being the not-so-small person that I am, space is very, very precious to me on airplanes. I know that on our trip to Key West, Hubby and I had a really hard time fitting shoulder to shoulder in our two seats without sticking out into the aisle. And then you get creamed by every person going to the restroom or by the drink cart when it passes. I have often wondered why they just don’t add ONE more foot to the width of the plane so you could have a mere 6 extra inches in each side for seats. How much trouble would that really be? As much as the airlines charge per flight, surely they can afford it. Of course, losing weight is always an option too I suppose. (Giggle)

Stressed Is Desserts Spelled Backwards

We made it back last night from our trip to the southernmost point of the USA. Even though the Key West airport was the tiniest one I have ever been to, I still have that same “hurry up and go” feeling each time I arrive at any airport. Yes, no matter how small or large the airport, every one is in a rush to get from Point A to Point B. And even though our hotel was only 1 mile from the airport and the airport really only has one gate, we left almost 2 hours before our flight time. And even after we checked our bags in and got through security and made it to the holding area at the gate, my heart was still racing in anticipation of getting on that plane for home. We must have sat in that very crowded holding room for over an hour… I recollect telling Hubby that my favorite part of any vacation was the going home part… how sad is that? How terrible is that to say about your time of relaxation and rejuvenation? This brings me to my topic…I admit that I have a really, really bad habit of stressing out about something before it happens and then whining endlessly about it after its over. And of course, my husband is the complete opposite of me! There were several times on the island in which I was literally elbowing my way onto the shuttle bus through a crowd of folks… all in fear of not making that run (all the while knowing another bus was probably right behind this one!). I would literally be dragging Hubby behind me to get on the bus. He only called me out on it once or twice, bless his heart. You see in my mind, when I am ready to go home (back to the hotel), I am ready NOW. Hell or high water, I will get on that first bus. Hubby, on the other hand, thinks in his mind, well if we don’t fit on this bus, we will just catch the next one and go have a couple of frozen drinks next door while we are waiting. Do you see what I mean? Am I crazy? I don’t think so… but, to the guy standing next to me, my behavior might seem a tad over the edge possibly. You see I am a planner… a scheduler… a doer… and when I have my plan in place- I make it happen. Period. That is how one multi-tasks and gets many, many things achieved in minimal time. Yet, laid-back people (like my Hubby) always seem to get their tasks done too… just in a lot less stressful way than me. I also know that I tend to moan and groan about things that don’t go my way… and while on the vacation, I got to watch a group of ladies doing that exact thing while waiting for the shuttle bus… and it was eye-opening for me! These three older ladies were standing outside of the shuttle bus about 5 minutes before the shuttle bus was scheduled to depart, and they were seriously griping about the fact the shuttle bus doors were closed…. And they moaned and they groaned and they kept on and on and on griping to each other about the doors being locked… it was almost embarrassing… and I thought to myself, ‘Wow, is that what I sound like to any bystander when I am antsy when things don’t go my way?’ I admit that every little thing that seems “so” bad to me at that moment probably isn’t that big of deal at all. I know that I need to lessen the reigns of my overly inflated anxious and impatient mind and just Relax. Just let it go… It is hard to not be impatient in my day-to-day life… driving in Atlanta traffic every morning and every evening makes one stir crazy… my job is stressful most days…trying to balance traffic, work, errands, exercise, chores, finances, meal preparation and consumption, oh and sleep (don’t forget that one!) is not as easy as it seems. Besides, since when did a little anxiety become such a bad thing? Oh, and stop worrying so much! How many times have I heard that one?

Day 4- Bicycling Across Key West

Today we rented a couple of bicycles to go see all the other places on the island that we could not get to by bus or reasonable walking distance. I actually figured out the second day on the island that I did not bring any footwear worthy of long distance walking. As I have gotten older, flip flops and Teva water sandals just do not agree with my feet after about an hour of constant travel... and I wore those Tevas yesterday the entire day of walking and mostly bike riding. And my feet are killing me! In the meantime, we wound up seeing the Southernmost Point of the USA (along with the Southernmost house and the Southernmost Beach), we found the Key West lighthouse, the Memorial pier on the east side of the island, and many, many other local hot spots. The winds were breezy, the sun was harsh and the views were wonderful.

Check out my sun-kissed tresses and the view!
We ended the day back near Mallory Square to watch the sunset again...

Day 3- Snorkeling and Battleships

Today we woke up and reserved our two spots on a snorkeling trip. Yes, about 7 miles from Key West is one of the largest live corral reefs in the world. And for $35 a large boat will take you out to the reef and let you snorkel around it and see the sea life up close and personal. Now we have been snorkeling before… on our big honeymoon in St. Lucia. In St. Lucia, they took us to a nice intimate cove and there were about 30 of us. Today, it was in the open sea and there were only 6 of us… much different! And kind of scary… at least to me it was. After putting all of my gear on, I jumped into the pretty chilly water and swam to my hubby. When I took my first look under water, the bottom was about 20 feet below, there were some pretty fish and then I saw the jellyfish… and mean tons of jellyfish! They were everywhere! Millions…. Billions…. Gazillions of them. Most of them were small about the size of golf balls, but it was FREAKY. I mean the Captain forewarned us that there would be some jellyfish but who would of thought he meant THIS many! The thing about the little ones is that they do bite, but it is a small bite like a mosquito bite…. But, the water was really choppy today and I just could not get my snorkel to participate with my being able to breathe through it (probably because of all the salty waves of water overtaking it!); therefore, when 2 or 3 of those small jellyfish started nibbling and you are fighting choppy salt water along with gasping for oxygen… it makes for a terrible recipe with Kelly. After about 20 minutes of it, I was tired and getting a touch of motion sickness (again, probably the constant slamming of waves). I stayed with hubby though and eventually we made our way back to the boat. The second place they took us too was MUCH better- less choppy water and NO jellyfish! I was a cool spot near an old lighthouse in the middle of the sea to keep ships from hitting the reef I suppose.

We made it back to the island in time to hit some Happy Hour specials at one of the marina restaurants… ½ price menu… Shrimp, conch fritters, fish, and onion rings…and 3 drinks all for under $28…Man I love a bargain!
Today’s island celebration included a crazy battle between a bunch of boats out in the Key West Harbor… they were shooting cannons, guns, water cannons and throwing food at each other. At the same time, helicopters and planes were dropping rolls of toilet paper from overhead.

It was the “Great Battle for the Conch Republic”. All of this was happening while the beautiful sun was setting on the horizon.

There were SO many people there… we just kept walking and walking trying to find a spot on the edge to get some decent photos. We discovered at the very end of our walking path that an actual wedding was happening with all of this battle craziness going on in the background- pretty wild stuff again…

Day 2- Sun and Fun and Celebration

Our second day on the island was decided to be "a day of relaxation only" day. No rushing around... no schedule... just go with the flow... We wound up at the one and only beach on this island first. A few hours just sitting under a palm tree watching sun worshipping tourists on the sand and ships in the distance.
Check out the view from my towel:



We eventually made it back to the hotel pool and then back to Duvall St. for supper. Oysters seem to be on our menu once again.
After supper, we found ourselves in the middle of a parade on Duvall St. This parade is one small part of the week-long celebration the island is promoting this week for their "26th Annual Conch Republic Independence Celebration". Pretty wild stuff...

Key West, FL- Check Out Them Oysters!

I knew we were in trouble when we walked through the gate to board our plane and we had to go down stairs to the asphalt parking area where the plane was parked. Yes, we flew on a pretty small "puddle jumper" to Key West and I am here to tell you it was SMALL. VERY little room in the seats. You had to duck to miss hitting your head coming into the plane and your seat! But, the flight was calm and only 1.25 hours. The Key West airport is really tiny and even though our hotel is only about 1 mile away, the cab fare was $11!!! We checked in and then took off for supper. We wound up at the Hog's Breath Saloon and consumed 2 dozen of the largest oysters you have ever seen. And some of the Best we have eaten... it just proves once again that Florida is THE place for raw oysters. Check it out:

Might just have to go back there tonight...

Tomorrow, Tomorrow, You're Only A Day Away...

Our bags are packed. I finally let my work go this afternoon at the office... it is all I can do at this point... just let it go and hope the Earth does not tilt on its axis when I return to the trenches on Monday after my small vacation. These past two days were so busy... but, at some point, you have to just LET IT GO! And here I am about to crash into bed, bags are packed, manicure and pedicure are complete, flight and hotel info is printed... there is nothing else to do. We are headed to Key West tomorrow. Another adventure in our travel log... just me and hubby headed to an unknown place together. Snorkeling, fishing, swimming... and lots of sun! I did manage to find one of those disposable underwater cameras tonight at Publix... and I have the other two digitals with me. So I will upload all of the photos when I return to my web albums. Until tomorrow...

Another Week Flown By...

Now I am sad… this week and weekend (for that matter) have FLOWN by! I did the Denver marathon on Thursday, worked on Friday and then busted butt to get back to my hometown to check on the land clearing progress. We hired someone to come in with a bull dozer and a loader to finish clearing the front 3 acres of our land, cut more trees, and get ready for planting field grass. He started this past Monday and by Friday, the place looked totally different! I could not believe my eyes when I rode past the front of it… you could actually see up the property and it is such a beautiful view from the road now. We stayed over Friday night and all day Saturday helping the guy with his burn piles.
BEFORE

AFTER


Unfortunately, we had to leave last night so I could do laundry and other chores/errands in preparation for our trip to Key West this coming Wednesday. Yes, we are finally leaving on the jet plane to the southernmost island in the Florida Keys! WOOHOO! Sun, sand and FUN are the only three items on my vacation agenda…. Oh, and sleep! In the meantime, I have a crap load of stuff for work to do between now and Wednesday and plenty of other errands to do for the trip too… so I better start now by putting another load of laundry in…

Denver Marathon Trip Challenge

So here is the deal….My flight to Denver leaves tomorrow morning at 6:25am EST… which means that I have to get up and out the door by 4:45am to be at the airport by 5:15am. Park the truck in Daily Parking, get through security, ride the train to my concourse and hoof it to the gate all before 6:10am… 3 ¼ hour flight arriving in Denver at 7:50am MST. Pick up rental car and drive 30 minutes to our office. Meeting at 9:30am MST until ??? Must leave office no later than 12:00 noon MST to head to airport and eat meal on the way… Drop off rental car and check-in for flight leaving at 3:00pm MST. 2 ¾ hour flight arriving in Atlanta at 8:00pm EST. Am I up for the challenge of a day trip to Colorado? I have no choice at this point. Will it be the longest day in my entire life? Probably right up there at the top of the list of My Longest Crappiest Days Ever List. What am I going to do about it? Wake up in T-minus 6.5 hours and drag my sleepy butt to the shower for the start of a marathon day in the life of yours truly. Wish me luck.

Tax Day 2008

Today was a dreaded day for a lot of folks... Tax Day. This is the second year that I have filed as a married person. And what comes with being married and having decent jobs? More taxes! So we get to PAY Uncle Sam this year... It is really weird to not receive a nice fat check from the government for the first time ever. And I thought it was hard to give up my refund for the past two years and actually share it with another person... this year is definitely even harder! In our agreeement as the compromising married couple that we are, we agreed to hire an accountant this time to do our taxes and a maid to clean our house. So Mr. CPA took our paperwork and Marlene started cleaning yesterday. Yes, I finally broke down and agreed to let a stranger in our home to clean up our day-to-day messes. How greedy is that? But, I have to tell you it really does free up some of my precious time outside of work, commute, and exercise. Now if we could just find a chef too....

Tired Is Not EVEN The Right Word For Me

I finally made it back to Atlanta on Friday night/Saturday morning from my workweek in Denver. Yes, that would be at 12:45am on Saturday morning. It seemed like forever while waiting for my bag at Baggage Claim and then the trek to Ground Transportation to catch the Shuttle bus to my truck at the off terminal parking down the street. By the time I got on the bus, I was exhausted and it was raining. I wound up tipping the bus driver $5 bucks because I only had a five and a twenty but, it paid off… since I was his only rider and tipped him so well, he not only unloaded my 48 pound suitcase… he personally put in my truck for me IN THE RAIN! Man, what a great shuttle driver! Kudos to Pre-Flight Parking off Camp Creek Pkwy. By the time I drove home it was after 2:00am and I barely managed to wrestle that freaking 48 pound suitcase up the stairs in the garage to the den… when I did get in the door the warmth and smell of home just embraced me… it was like heaven after a week of air planes, training classes, hotel rooms, and rowdy co-workers. I stumbled to bed and just hugged my husband.
Saturday flew by… most of which was spent indoors and doing laundry. But, we did enjoy sushi out for supper. And then Sunday we left for back home… yes, I had to go home to sign my grandmother’s taxes. As her Legal Guardian I have to sign them but the worse part is that I still cannot believe that Uncle Sam still makes an 80-year-old file for taxes! How is that possible? Just because my grandparents scrimped and saved their entire lives in a lower-income bracket should not mean they have to pay taxes even up to now on that same money! Absolutely ridiculous…
Yet and still, we made the trip to sign the taxes yesterday and I drove back this morning only to spend the entire day touring two water treatment plants in the city of Atlanta (or what I like to refer as “the bowels of hell”). These are those type places where you do not touch ANY thing around you because lord knows what is on it now or what has touched it before you- nasty with a capital N. The tour was the second site walk for this upcoming project we are bidding. The bid date is next Wednesday and coming up really soon. And then what happens? I find out at 5pm today that I have to fly to Denver AGAIN this week! Yes, THIS week… this Thursday to be exact. And not only am I flying TO Denver on Thursday, but I am flying back FROM Denver on Thursday too! Didn’t I just get back from there? What… 3 days ago? And now I am going again in 3 days from now. My flight leaves Atlanta at 6:25am and arrive back here at 8:00pm that night…. Nothing like getting up at 4:00am to be gone for the next 16 hours! I tell you that beach vacation next week is looking better and better each day this week…

Day 4- Georgia On My Mind

Today was Day 4 in my week out-of-town for work... and it is about 4 days too many! I am SO ready to go home...I guess the home sickness sat in on Tuesday maybe...? On a positive note, I woke up this morning to horizontal flying snow... you know...like a very blustery blizzard. How nice is that?

It snowed until mid-afternoon and then the wind blew it all away! Now it is just really windy and frigid. And you know how much I love cold weather, so I am loving this weather! But, I am really, really, really ready to go home... really. Period.

Day 1- I Can Feel My Hair Turning Gray While Waiting in Security Line

So I left my house this morning 3 hours before my flight departure time. Traffic was pretty light considering it is spring break this week… I was stoked at how quick I got to the Park-n-Ride lot… little did I know the debacle that was ahead of me at the airport at the time. Yes, I arrived to the curbside check-in at 9:10… I opted to pay the $3 per bag fee to check-in curbside to avoid the long lines at the ticket counters inside. But, I had no idea that the line for security was wrapped zigzag around each and every one of the baggage claims throughout the Delta terminal and then out the doors outside of the freakin’ airport building! And then down the sidewalk and wrapped twice! I was in shock and then pushed to the end of the line by the airport security folks… It seriously took me almost an hour and a half to get to the security gates… Unbelievable. And top of the crazy-long wait, some kid kept randomly bumping me the entire time along the way with himself or his bag… And it was hotter than blazes too. Oh, and my tote bag (oversized purse/tote) was pretty heavy- 19.5 lbs to be exact- yes, I actually weighed it at the curbside check-in. I was so excited when I got through the metal-detection equipment… these legs could not get me to the train and the gates fast enough. I made it to the gate just a few minutes before they called my zone to load the plane. And of course, the plane was FULL. I lucked up and got an aisle seat but sitting next to two large men so my personal space was minimal and my elbows kept getting hit by the drink cart. We finally finished the oh-so turbulent landing and made it off the plane. After a weird encounter with a blind man and his walking stick, I retrieved my bag from baggage claim and then called the shuttle. They informed me they could not pick up until 2:30… that was almost 2 hours from then! So here we go again… stuck at the airport waiting… the worse thing about the airport are the droves of people… SO many people! I personally think the Atlanta airport is the worst of the worse….I guess that being such a large airport it is only expected. But, you would think that by now they would have the security delays down pat. Oh, well it probably only happens during holidays and spring break I suppose.
Here I am in my hotel room and watching the second ep of The Hills… Day 1 done…cannot wait for Friday already.

Denver Bound

Boy, has this weekend flown by… especially when you are preparing to leave for a week away from home. Yes, I am flying to Denver tomorrow morning for a week of operations training. Now what exactly is operations training you ask? I have no idea! I guess I will let you know when I return after my flight arrives back in Atlanta on Friday night at 12 MIDNIGHT… Yes, that is right- midnight! What a crock of hoo-hah is that? The worse part about the whole trip is that I have not been away from my husband since we met for more than 2 nights… I have spent all weekend washing and packing and then also preparing for his being home alone… Today I have the kitchen all stocked up, his clothes are all clean, and his choice movies from Netflix are on their way in the mail… I mean what else could a man ask for? I almost have this dread-like feeling in the pit of my stomach like when my parent would leave me as a child and yet, I am the one leaving him! It is not my fault… I did not choose to go on this trip. My company chose me for this training week and believe me… if I have it my way, I would stay home! Besides the fact I hate flying and that flight always seems SO much longer than the 3 hours it is… It is a bunch of male PM’s and Superintendents and me for a 5-day stint in the classroom… can you detect my excitement? I would rather poke toothpicks in my retinas. I do hope the hotel has wireless so I can blog. The weather is forecasting highs in the 40’s and lows in 20/30’s- now that is about the only thing I am looking forward to on this trip…you know how I love cold weather!

Alzheimer's vs. Cancer 2

I wrote a blog back in late February titled Alzheimer’s vs. Cancer. This blog represented a subject that is very near and dear to my heart and I put a lot of effort into composing it. I got a LOT of feedback on the blog at my “other” blog-posting site. I did not get one single comment on this blog site when I posted… until this week. Someone “Anonymous” left me a comment this week on a blog post that was over a month old… they signed the comment “Mary-Anne”… now I do not mind folks I do not know commenting on this blog… the reason I am writing about this comment in particular though is to share with you the interesting link she added to her comment. This article “Alzheimer’s or Cancer: Which Disease Would You Rather Die From?” came out almost 3 weeks after my blog post… interesting article to say the least… I think this is such an interesting topic that could be discussed at so many different levels and in so many different angles. I still support my position and so does the writer of this article. Go check it out for yourself!
In the meantime, I keep seeing more and more commercials on the TV these days for Alzheimer’s medicines… mostly Aricept. I also keep seeing more articles in the AJC/local newspapers too about “dealing with aging parents and their dementia”… I am telling you- it is a HUGE sign of what is about to come in the future… Be Prepared I tell you! It is going to be a plague and I just hope that everyone is ready for it… if they do not put more money and effort into the research of this disease, we are all headed down a very scary and painful road… Soon enough... I guarantee it.

Exercise Does A Body Good?

In my ongoing battle against my bulge, I started taking some exercise classes in the evenings to try and lose some weight, speed up my metabolism, yadda yadda yadda and so on and so on… Believe it or not, I have been overweight pretty much my entire life and now that I am in my mid-30’s I am really begin to “feel” the effects of carrying all the extra poundage around these years. I have tried many diets in my adult life… some worked… some didn’t… but, here I am back to the same weight… I actually weigh the exact same as I did when I was 25 years old… but, once I hit 30, I started carrying it differently. My bones and joints seem to crack and ache more now. I really feel it early in the mornings when I get out the bed and late at night before I go to bed. Even so with all my aches and pains and over-weightiness, I still know that deep down that I have an athletic Kelly living somewhere inside of this body. So I decided to go back to my old exercise studio where they push me to exert myself in hopes of losing the weight to connect once again with the old Kelly… the athletic Kelly that enjoyed sports… the old Kelly that fit into much smaller clothes… the proud Kelly that felt more confident about herself when she entered the room… THAT is Kelly I am searching for….
I have been attending these classes for a few weeks now and so far I am really enjoying my time there. The teacher is a feisty lady in her 40’s that loves to torture me with all kinds of crazy exercises… I have made some good “exercise class” friends there (folks I would never see at work or play- only at this studio)… the camaraderie is wonderful so far… but, then there is those “other people”… you know- the ones that come to class and then proceed to not do half the exercises because they have “bad knees” or “bad ankles”… WTH people? I do not understand why these folks even bother coming to class unless you are there to EXERCISE. That is the whole reason the rest of us are there… why not them? This one lady in particular has just really gotten under my skin the last few classes I have been to…. She is definitely in serious need of lessening the “junk in her trunk” and what better way than to exercise it off? Yet, she would rather stand there and keep talking about how she cannot do the 100 jumping-jacks like the rest of us because of her bad knees… you know, if you would do the exercises with the rest of us you would not have the time or energy to keep flapping them jaws lady!!! Seriously, I am over here on the floor trying to push myself through 50 push-ups and 50 sit-ups after doing the 100 jumping-jacks and this lady keeps chatting next to me about how she doesn’t like these exercises and I just keep trying to zone her out and keep focused on my rep counts. The class is running/sprinting in place and she is throwing half-hearted punches in the air…. We are doing squat/jogs all around the room and she is complaining about her knees and not squatting or jogging… she short-cuts every exercise and never stops complaining throughout the entire class time and it DRIVES ME NUTS! People like her just need to stay home and off those bad knees and ankles for crying out loud…. All they are doing to slowing the rest of us overweight folks down in our exercise regimen and keeping us from staying on task… I was so glad when she did not show up last night for class. It was nice to focus on me and my pain from all the boot-camp type torture the teacher was putting us through. Hopefully, all this pain and sweat will pay off one day… I just hope I don’t punch this lady in the process…