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...