Death By Airport Sprints

I am writing this from a crop duster airplane headed from Denver to El Paso. I am starving to death and winded from the 1/2 mile sprint I just completed trying to get from my late arriving Atlanta flight gate A25 to my connecting flight gate A58. My sprint became a life or death situation as I was running just past the half-way point of my path and I could actually hear someone paging MY NAME over the Denver International Airport intercom!! What a horrible pronunciation of my entire full name! I was frantic... even more than I already was... As I bolted past the cowboy on the moving sidewalks almost knocking him down, I could hear my own haggard breath heaving as I ran. I am sure he was surprised to see this much taller, much heavier woman running by him in an almost full-blown sprint with laptop backpack on and carry-on roller bag flailing out from my side. I then realize that the gate is down another level of escalators and run down those too. I finally run into another straight hallway of gates and see mine far in the distance... I run even faster. I get there and the door is closed with two airline employees standing there staring at me as I drop my bag, bend over and attempt to catch my breath. The guy on the right says, "are you Kelly ____?" I gasp for air and nod yes. He replys that he just took me off the list... I must have forcefully stated that he just HAD to put me back on it... and that I just RAN to get this flight... all he wanted was the magic word... "please"... Easy enough... "Please, sir- let me go to El Paso tonight".... and he did. I head out the door and see the crop duster across the parking lot from the gate... and then I have to sprint again to get on the plane before they pull up the stairs and seal the door on it! By the time I run/climb the stairs and am standing in the aisle of the plane (heaving of course) EVERY person on the plane is staring at me... very weird. The flight attendant says "welcome- you made it" and I say "yes, I did!- Thank the Lord for my boot camp training!!". And they all chuckle. So here I am... sitting on a crop duster that is only a little over half full, a kid has been kicking my seat for the past 20 minutes and I am staring out my window at the HUGE propeller next to me... only a 1 hour flight though... Halleluyah! I could eat a small horse and drink a gallon of water right now...no wonder- I just realized that my sprint was at the mile-high elevation- now I know why I was breathing so hard...

Tripping Thru The Southwest

I made it back from my extreme work trip to El Paso to Albuquerque to Denver back to Albuquerque and then home. Averaging only 4 to 5 hours sleep a night and all those plane rides really took a toll on my neck and shoulders… I am still aching as I type this. I wanted to share a few things I learned about Albuquerque during my short visit… since I have never to been to New Mexico much less Albuquerque there were some things I discovered that just were out of my ordinary world…
1) Albuquerque is really flat… just with a mountain range in the background.
2) The roadways are really wavy… seriously, the asphalt mix is wavy I suppose from the heat burning the road and then the traffic load causes it maybe? On certain parts of some streets you could not go over 40 mph without being airborne!
3) Restaurants there serve Green Chile with EVERY dish!
4) The Dairy Queen had tacos on the menu! And fried jalapeño fries!
5) The sun comes up very early… it was light outside at 5:30am.
6) It is very windy there… my fly-away tresses were flying.
7) All of the street names have words like “El, San, or Del” in them.
8) The overpass bridges are painted in “southwestern-like” colors like: turquoise, terracotta, brick red, and adobe…
9) They do have a minor league baseball team there- the Albuquerque Isotopes.
10) They do not have any popular football teams there. No pro team, no well-known college teams, etc.

All in all, Albuquerque is a great place. I would be in the minority there with my blondish hair though. It does have less humidity and the traffic is minimal. The airport is very easy to get in and out of. El Paso is whole different story… but, we will save that for another day.

I'm A Traveling Fool

I am typing this as I sit at the Denver airport waiting for my plane back to Albuquerque. Yes, this has been a whirlwind of a week and it is not over yet. I was in the Atlanta office Monday and Tuesday. Early Wednesday morning I was on a plane to El Paso. After 3 meetings in El Paso (mostly in preparation for my new project), I rode with my boss back to Albuquerque, New Mexico where he lives and our Southwest Division office is. I checked into my hotel and passed out. I got up this morning at the crack of dawn and headed to their airport and boarded a plane for a day trip to Denver. We bid two large projects today- both in the Southeast- one in Athens, GA and the other in Winston-Salem, NC. Well the planets must have lined up today because we were low bidder on the Athens project- Woohoo! Finally, our division has landed a nice, sizable project. I was definitely a tough job trying to put together two bids that bid on the same day at the exact same hour… but, we did it and it paid off!
Now I am flying back to Albuquerque and will pass out late tonight after I get back to my hotel. Tomorrow is workday for me in the Southwest Division office for my El Paso project. Unfortunately, no airline flies back to Atlanta from Albuquerque in the afternoon/evening hours. So Friday night will be another night there and then fly home Saturday. All this traveling makes Kelly a very tired girl. Imagine that.

Another Day, Another Trip to Denver

So I traveled back to Denver again this week. My flight to Denver left Atlanta at 11am on Wednesday morning and what a trip it was for me. First of all, I went to Boot Camp early that morning and then returned home to shower. Then, I traveled to the airport and when I went to check-in at the kiosk, the Boarding Ticket they issued me had no seat assignment. Instead it said in really BIG letters: SEAT REQUEST. So of course I was instantly nervous that I might not get a seat on the plane! I made it through security so quickly that I got to the gate almost an hour and a half before flight time. As soon as I got to the gate, I stood in line two or three times to try and get my seat assignment- to no avail. They were not talking to any passengers about the Denver flight until one hour before flight time… Eventually, I got my seat assignment and waited to board. Since we boarded around 10:45am, I decided it was too early to eat and would just buy a bag of animal crackers on the flight to tide me over until I arrived in Denver. Well, wouldn’t you know that idea backfired on me… First of all, the crew did not even start the cart service until after one hour in the air…. So by the time the cart got to my row I was STARVING. I could have eaten the tail end of a horse! I had my dollar ready, passed it to the cart lady, ordered my animal crackers and anxiously waited. As she is handing me the bag, she says, “Ma’am, you can buy these but, you cannot eat these in your seat”. “Excuse me??” She says, “Unfortunately, there is a passenger behind you that has a severe peanut allergy and no one in the three rows in front of them or the three rows behind them can consume any product that MIGHT have been packaged in a plant where they also package peanuts”. Now I am livid… on top of my starvation- NOT a good mix in Kelly’s world at this moment. I ask, “your kidding, right?”. No, she is not. I then venomously reply, “Well, is there ANY thing on that cart I can eat within their guidelines?” She only allows the free cookies. Now I am simply peeved. I tell her to give me the cookies and the crackers and be gone. Well, you should have heard the elderly lady in the row behind me when she got the news about her cheese crackers… it was obvious she had not heard my conversation with the cart lady and she was ANGRY. I pondered this whole situation the rest of the trip. Why couldn’t that person put on a mask? Or an oxygen mask? Why not move them to the rear area away from the 40+ other passengers you are infecting with your issue? Why did they not tell the 40+ others this at the gate so we could grab a bite to eat before boarding? Poor planning on every one’s part if you ask me... but, they cannot help it so what is the point in getting so upset, right?
After landing, I grab my shuttle to the rental car place. I notice the lack of vehicles parked in the rental lot when I get there and start to worry when I get inside the building and find the waiting line about 100 folks deep. What if they run out of rentals? After an hour of waiting, I get up to the counter and the guys asks me if I would be willing to take a small SUV instead of the Intermediate level sedan I was signed up for (at the same rate). I agree- and they give me a Hummer! I am in shock. I tell him that I cannot drive a Hummer to work because every one will make it into a big deal and joke incessantly about it. He just says, “Enjoy yourself! You are in Colorado!” And I reply, “Whoopdee Doo, I was here last week too so who cares about Colorado?” So off I go to Denver in my white Hummer H3 rental. I call Hubby and tell him what happened. He just laughs and tells me to be sure and park it out front of the office so every one can see it. Needless to say, I parked it between two large white pick-ups and hope that it is hidden enough.
One of my co-workers from Atlanta and I had a good time taking it to supper and around Denver that night. Unfortunately, we were not the low bidder on the project we bid on Thursday, so the trip did not really have a happy ending. And then, my flight home got a late start from the Denver airport, so we did not arrive back into Atlanta until almost 1:00 am… What a crock.

Whew! What A Week Out West

I flew to Denver last Sunday and have been in training for work all week there. I finally made it home at 2:00am Saturday morning. And what a week it was…
The training was for a new software that our company is converting over to; therefore, the training was chock full of information and if you did not keep up, you were LOST. And I hate being lost. It is just not in me to ever be lost. So I was drained pretty much the entire week after sitting all day in front of a computer and the Instructors listening, typing and trying to understand this complex program. We “go live” on July 1 and I have to say that July 1 will be a very interesting day for our employees.
Anyhoo, other than the training classes, we did have an eventful time away from the office… when we arrived late on Sunday night, we discovered in our hotel packets that the company training department had issued us $20 vouchers for suppers at the hotel bar. Yes, a BAR. Now who in the right mind would make us eat BAR food every night during training? Needless to say, I was peeved. Since I was issued a company pool vehicle, we ventured around Colorado for our suppers. We did try the bar food on Monday night- not too good! Especially after I watched the waiter give my steak salad to a gentleman at another table and then 5 or so minutes try to bring it to me to eat.
On Tuesday night, we ventured up to Boulder and met one of my dear ol’ friends from college, Janice. We ate at this funky, hip little brewery in downtown (after the initial shock that they only accepted cash!). It was so good to see her! We had a great time together even it was for an hour and we had not seen each other in over 7 years!
On Wednesday night, we ventured to downtown Denver. After finally finding a parking lot, we wound up walking quite a distance in pursuit of an eatery that would appease all palates in our party. I also discovered that one must watch where they step in Downtown Denver because of the massive amounts of horse poop!
On Thursday night, we took off to the Park Meadows mall area just south of Denver and met up with another dear ol’ college roommate of mine, Tracia. We had a great time catching up since our last backpacking trip in the Tetons in September 2003. And then on the way back to the hotel, we found ourselves caught in the middle of an ongoing high-speed chase off the access road in the midst of some road construction. The cop was chasing an old geezer on a motorcycle… it was especially unnerving when we witnessed one of the construction workers throw an orange cone at the motorcyclist as he was going by us. I was envisioning this guy hitting us and having to explain to the company how we damaged the pool car- they would never believe our story!
The weather was CRAZY while we were in Denver too… hot and sunny the first couple of days and then by Wednesday night, it was cold and rainy! I wore a fleece on Thursday and Friday. And it was around the 95-degree mark here back home at the same time… WEIRD.
I tried to stay on target with my food while out there… no adult beverages, no sugar, only good foodstuff. And I figured out how to sleep at night- I was drinking 100-125 ounces of water each day. And it worked! Hydration is KEY at that elevation.
On Friday, they let the class out early and they hauled us to the airport early in hopes of getting on the earlier flight home… no such luck. So we were stuck at the airport for over six hours! What a crock…
I am just so glad it is over and when I arrived home at 2am on Saturday morning, hubby had a bouquet of flowers and a sweet card waiting for me on the den end table welcoming me home. Life is good.
PS
Back to Boot Camp tomorrow morning… 5:30am!!!

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…

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.

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!