My Bags Are Here!

Good news – my luggage finally showed up last night!  I hope that my trip starts to get better from here…

We’ve been working like crazy and tonight I am finally taking a few minutes to relax.  I need to catch up on my sleep – I am experiencing MAJOR jetlag.  The circles under my eyes are huge – but at least now that I have my suitcase (and toiletries), I have concealer to help hide them, right?

Day 3 – Still No Bags

Just a quick post…I still have no luggage and I’m going on my third day here in Anchorage.  Thanks, United Airlines.  And of course my coat, medication and work-related papers are in my suitcase (along with ALL of my other necessities).

And I got to experience another joy – I got to plunge my own toilet.  Apparently the Fairfield Inn is a high class establishment – call and say that your toilet is clogged and they send up a man with a plunger.  “Just leave it outside your door when you’re done.”

Not only that, but I was just blow drying my hair (using the hotel blow dryer, obviously) and the blow dryer ATE a large chunk of my hair.  There’s a fan on the back of the blow dryer and a chunk of my hair got stuck in the fan – the dryer actually stopped running as the hair got wrapped around it.  Seems like a poor desgin to me!  So I had to turn off the dryer and pull the chunk of hair out, ripping it as it pulled out.  Now I have a large hole in my hair, a sore scalp and the yummy smell of burning hair filling my hotel room.

Sigh…

My Alaskan “Adventures”

Well, I made it to Alaska – but BARELY – and I’m traveling VERY lightly.  There were some major weather problems in Philadelphia that caused a delay – that, along with other happenings on my flight made it one of the more interesting flights I’ve been on in a long time.

I knew that bad weather was forecasted for our area, but it was supposed to hold off until the afternoon – and my flight was scheduled to depart at 11:30.  But just as we were boarding, the storms started to come through. 

They let us board the plane, but then we sat at the gate for about 45 minutes due to the frequent lightening crashing all around us.  Apparently, whenever there is a lightening strike within 5 miles of the airport, the plane must wait 10 minutes before pushing back – not that all of us sitting in a large metal object were safer, mind you – it was the ground crew that they were protecting.

I wasn’t too worried – after all, I had a 2 ½ hour layover in Chicago’s O’Hare airport.

We finally rolled out onto the tarmac – good news.  Bad news – air traffic suspended all flights leaving out of Philadelphia headed west because of the line of storms.

So there we sat – on the plane with the engines shut down – waiting for the storms to clear.  By the way, one of the air traffic strategies was to send out a ‘guinea pig’ plane to report back as to how bad the weather is.  How would you like to be on THAT flight?

I called and checked in with my other traveling co-workers that were scheduled to take different flights – we were all pretty much in the same boat…it’s just that I was lucky enough to actually be on the plane.

I was relieved when the attractive man sitting next to me struck up a conversation – something to kill the time at least (by the way, we remained on the tarmac in the thunderstorm for over 2 hours!!!!)  The conversation started out like a normal chat-with-the-person-sitting-next-to-you-on-an-airplane would – where are you going?  Business or vacation?  Blah, blah, blah.  He started to show me some photos on his cell-phone – pictures of his kids and wife – a little more personal, but just friendly at that point.  Then we started to talk about age…he was 3 years younger than me but his wife was 4 years older than me.  I mentioned turning how hard it is for a woman to turn 40…and he started talking about his wife going through menopause…a little more personal…but still innocent enough.

Until…he started asking me if I had any menopausal symptoms yet.  I hesitantly told him that I’d had endometriosis…and he asked if I’d had a hysterectomy.  I hesitated some more, but admitted that yes, I had a hysterectomy a few years ago (a little too personal at this point) – then he asked if I had any issues with my sex drive.  Now he’d crossed the line from chit-chat to therapy session…can’t airplanes fly through lightening anyway?

But there was more…after I kind of turned away and pretended to be VERY interested in my book, he asked me about my marriage – was it in good shape?  No, really – was I in a good marriage?  I assured him that I was – I think it was at this point that the little boy in the row in front of me threw up all over his mother – and my purse.  I’m not sure if I was relieved or not…hmmm…the sight and smell of vomit vs. a very uncomfortable conversation…tough call. 

After the vomit was cleaned up as best it could be while in a stationary airplane in a thunderstorm waiting to take off (the flight attendants were worried that if they spent too much time on it, we might miss our opportunity to take off), he turned to me and asked what I thought of the John Edwards situation (Mr. Edwards was in the news this weekend for admitting that he had an affair) – he wanted to know if I thought he really did anything wrong.  What?  Was I actually having this conversation?  Did this guy think I was a therapist?  Or was he actually coming on to me (I highly doubt it!)?   I assured him that yes, I thought that having an affair was indeed a bad thing to do. 

Fortunately, the plane took off not too long after that and Mr. Too-Many-Personal-Questions started to do some work on his laptop.

When we landed in Chicago, I had 15 minutes to run to make my connection to Anchorage.  Mr.  Too-Many-Personal-Questions asked if I wanted his cell number in case I got stuck at the airport (he had already missed his connection) – I told him that I was sure I was going to make it, thank you very much.  And I did make it after running like OJ Simpson (pre-murder) through the airport. 

And I’m lucky that I made the connection – it turns out that we were the last flight to land in Anchorage because of the volcanic eruption.  That’s right – the VOLCANIC eruption.  It filled the sky with ash which apparently can do major damage to plane engines (like make them stop running – a fact that I’m glad I was unaware of while I was in the plane in the middle of the ash cloud).  For the rest of the evening and most of today, all flights in and out of Anchorage were cancelled – several of my co-workers got stuck in Las Vegas and Salt Lake City as a result (and they were already delayed due to the weather in Philadelphia – what a great day to fly!).

So yes – I made it…but unfortunately, my bags did not.  Apparently I can make a 15 minute connection but baggage cannot.  And since there were no more flights in and out of Anchorage…my bags are having a lovely holiday in Chicago.

I needed to restock all of my toiletries since I had no idea of when the volcanic ash would clear and I also needed something to wear to work the next day.  And of course it was Sunday night and the only store open was…WalMart.  I had to have my project lead drive me to scour the aisles of WalMart looking for something somewhat presentable to wear to work the next day since he had the only rental car.  And of course, the only shoes I had were my most awful beat-up, worn-in sandals that I wore on the plane – I only wore them because they are so comfortable, but they are SO not work appropriate. 

 But I tried to work with them and picked up a plain pair of khaki capris and button-down cotton shirt – I was quite the fashion-plate with my WalMart mismatched outfit and disgusting sandals at work today!   Since I had no clean clothes I also had to pick up underwear…which my program manager held  for me as I frantically ran through the aisles picking up other personal products (my male project lead smartly excused himself to the front of the store at this point).   I guess this is one way to really bond with your co-workers!   By the time I checked out, I ended up spending $90 at WalMart on toiletries and my sad outfit – and that was just for one day…

And of course, my hair did not hold up so well without my usual hair-products – I just did not feel like myself at all today.  Yesterday I laughed it all off but by the end of today, I was really starting to feel out of sorts and on the verge of tears.  I went back to the mall and went into the Gap this time for an outfit more my style, but still had no pajamas, no other shoes and none of my other stuff! 

I think when we travel, we use the items that we bring with us to bring us some comfort and help us feel at home wherever we are.  Without that, I feel like a bit like a gypsy – a gypsy with awful shoes and bad hair.

The good news is that I just got off the phone with the airline – they have found my bags in Chicago and will hopefully ship them to me tomorrow morning.  And I may be reimbursed for some of my expenses…which would really help out.

So looking back, I think I’ve seen most of the seven plagues so far this trip – thunder and lightening storm, little boy vomit, volcanic eruption, lost bags, annoying airline passenger…I think all that’s left are locusts, right?

Here’s hoping I see a suitcase show up soon…

Confessions of a Reality Show Addict

First, let me start with a shoutout to my international blog viewers!  I have noticed from my blog statistics that less than half of my readers are from the United States.  After the US, I have the most readers in Sweden, then the UK, then Canada and then Australia.  So hello to all of you and thank you for reading!

Okay, now that I have that out of the way, I have a deep, dark secret to share…I am a reality show addict.  That’s right – I won’t deny it anymore!  I’m not ashamed and I’m (somewhat) proud to admit that I follow the struggles of aspiring hair stylists (Shear Genius), house-flippers (Flipping Out), interior designers (Design Star), cooks (currently The Next Food Network Star – formerly Top Chef), realtors (Million Dollar Listing), matchmakers (Millionaire Matchmaker), D-List comedians (My Life on the D-List) and even housewives (Real Housewives of Orange County/New York City).

This summer is absolutely RICH with new first-run reality shows – especially on Bravo (my fav for these types of shows).

But my favorite reality show of all has just started a brand new season – Project Runway is back for season 5!  I don’t know what it is about this show that I love so much – something about being given a challenge, making an artistic attempt and having it judged by others – not so different from creating crafts for publication, I guess.

So for those who have seen the first episode of Project Runway where the designers had to make an outfit from items found in a grocery story (a repeat idea from season 1, but still fun to watch)..how could they have left Blayne on after that horrible drawer-liner/jump-rope/pot-holder thing!  I mean, the scary shower-curtain/raincoat with the axe-murderer gloves that eliminated Jerry was frightening, but at least it required some effort!

And speaking of Project Runway, I saw that Michaels craft store is now carrying little “Project Runway” paper doll kits for girls that allow them to create their own outfits with fabric and accessories – how cute!  Hmmm…maybe I’ll buy a kit for Emily as a ‘gift’ and then play with it myself…

And for those other closet reality show addicts out there, I’ve found a whole NEW set of shows that are equally fun to watch on TLC.  There’s Rock the Reception where a choreographer teaches a couple how to do a fun dance at their wedding reception (sounds corny, but it’s cute).  And Must Love Kids – a dating show for single moms with children.  And one that I couldn’t stop watching this weekend, Ashley Paige – Bikini or Bust. Ashley owns a famous high-end bikini design shop, but is having trouble paying her bills and running her business.

Sigh…my DVR is going to fill up fast this summer!

Traveling Again

Today, Emily and I are off to sunny Florida for a weekend of girl’s fun!  We’re looking forward to getting away and playing for a little while.

Last week was my birthday – I’m happy to say that I survived turning 40.  Mike was kind enough to put together a little party for me at work.  Well…when I say ‘kind’, I use the term loosely.  Here’s my cake, for example:

But we had a nice time – I got to see some people that I used to work with almost 20 years ago – oh my!  Did I just say 20 years!?!?!  Wow.  I am old.

Speaking of work, it looks like another trip to Alaska is in the works in the next month or two.  I’m certainly racking up the frequent flyer miles, that’s for sure!

And more good news – the bladder cancer test came back negative!  I was so relieved!  I have to repeat the test in a few months, but I am so glad for the very good news.

I have to go finish packing for my trip – hope you all have a nice, sunny weekend too!

Back from AK

Well…I made it back from Alaska safe and sound. But I’m really having trouble adjusting to being back on East Coast time (as I predicted I would).

I just thought I’d share a few pictures from my trip…

Here was the view from my hotel in Downtown Anchorage:

That darn Conoco building directly across from me (seen in the right on the bottom picture) kept me from getting an even more spectacular view of the mountains.

Here was the hotel…

You can also see the hotel in this shot of Anchorage taken from Earthquake Park:

Unfortunately, the clouds were covering the mountains that day. And yes, I said “Earthquake Park”:

Alaska is a very active earthquake area – the park is where more than 100 home slipped into the earth during a huge quake in the 1960s.  Today it’s a lovely park with hiking and cross-country skiing trails.  I was surprised at the abundance of cross-country skiing trails.  They have a very complex system of trails covering quite a few parks – some of the trails are even lighted for night skiing.

Just across the street from my hotel was the shop that sold the $80 musk-ox yarn…

I also grabbed a quick shot of the moose I saw (I was trying not to anger it, so I didn’t get TOO close):

As you can see, there was quite of bit of snow on the ground. That is one reason I am glad to be home…spring is finally here in NJ and everything around my house is starting to bloom…

Ahhh…there’s no place like home…

Almost Time to Come Home

Today is my last day in Alaska – and I’ve just finally adjusted to the time change.

It’s been a very productive trip, but I’m ready to come home.  There is a real lack of estrogen up here – the ratio of men to women must be about 5 to 1.  Now…if I were a single woman, this would be a good thing.  And I have seen many “Men in Trees” up here.  But after spending  a week with the same seven men in the same conference room…let’s just say I’ve heard enough hunting and fishing stories to last a lifetime.  I am a real animal lover, but kept quiet (a difficult thing for me)until I heard the statement, “I’m such a good hunter, I can actually get the deer to come up to me and let me pet them…” – then I had to chime in, “…before you KILL them??!!”.  Like I said, I think it’s time to come home.

I had a chance to drive around last night and see some of the local sites yesterday afternoon.  The mountain views are spectacular – I even got to see a moose by the side of the road.  I am also very impressed with the local food – two nights in a row, we went to the Glacier Brewhouse and had fresh halibut and king crab legs – yum!  I also had a creme brulee in a bowl the size of a small casserole dish – so much for watching my weight!

I also had a chance to do a little bit of shopping – I picked up some souvenirs for the kids.  But while I was at the local mall, I walked right in on an actual fist-fight between two young girls – very ‘Jerry Springer’.  I had to go to the mall to pick up some boots because Anchorage had an ‘unusual weather phenomenon’ for April – 6-12 inches of snow!  They even allowed the federal employees to go home early – they even close for snow in Alaska, apparently.  But the snow totally threw off my pre-packed wardrobe and I had to improvise.  Can I put those boots on my expense report?

I also stopped by the Qiviut Knitting Store right around the corner – I was hoping to pick up some of their unique yarn made from the undercoat of the arctic musk ox – but for a small skein, it was $80!  A little too much for me…

Well…it’s back to the office this morning, then back to the East Coast on the red-eye…

Hello from Alaska!

I’m writing this post from very cold Anchorage, Alaska at 6 in the morning AK time.  Why am I up at 6 in the morning posting to my blog?  Because I am still suffering from the dreaded “jet lag” and have not adjusted to the time difference yet.   I’m finding out that I’m not as young as I used to be – I’m a little bit slower to bounce back than I used to be now that I’m almost 40!!!!!

But I’m still glad to be here – we really needed to come on this trip to help define Alaska’s needs for their new system.  A lot of people have asked me exactly what I’m doing in my new job and why I needed to come here…I’m basically trying to further specify the details of some of the functions they need for their new FAA system. 

It’s kind of like this – Alaska wrote that they wanted…let’s say…apples (for an analogy).  Just a very high level need.

So…I had to try to expand on that and wrote that they I think they want green apples.

This was presented to Alaska to see if that’s really what they wanted.  They came back that what they really need is applesauce made from green apples.

So I write up another piece that says I think they want applesauce made from green apples with cinnamon served in a jar.

They read this and come back that what they actually need is applesauce made from green apples with cinnamon made by Mott’s served in a portable snack pack.

See how that goes?  Just substitute flight plans and weather for apples and you get the idea.  It’s my job to get the Alaska folks started and help them explain what they really need – and they need so much that we needed to meet face-to-face to get the ideas across in discussions and pictures.  Then I try to capture it in written words and we keep refining the ideas until we think we have it right.

Anyway…the flight up here was very long (two 5-6 hour legs – think flying cross-country and then cross-country again all in the same day) and on the first leg, I was stuck in a window seat…and I am slightly claustrophobic.  And the rather large man in the middle seat  kept invading my personal space by hogging the entire armrest and crossing his leg in front of my seat – it was a LONG 6 hours to say the least.

But during the flight, I managed to finish a book I’m reading – “Eat Pray Love” by Elizabeth Gilbert (not the girl who was in Little House on the Prairie).  I LOVED this book!  I feel like I had so much in common with the author.  We are both control freaks and our writing style is very similar.  In this book, she is just coming from a divorce and failed relationship (this we do NOT have in common – I’m in a great marriage!  But I can relate because I also went through a divorce when I was about the same age as the author) and decides to spend a year in Italy, India and Indonesia to try to find balance in her life using prayer and love.  If I have time later, I’ll post again with some of my favorite lines from the book – it really moved me.

On my second leg, I met a young man who is an ‘extreme’ skier – he was coming up here to be dropped onto a mountain by helicopter and ski down while being filmed for a documentary.  Wow.  I can’t even imagine doing something like that!  That idea together with the book I read made me take a look at my life and the types of things I do and the types of things I would never dream of doing…I’ll post more on that idea later. 

Right now, I have to go shower and get ready to go to work – one more quick thing. I didn’t have a chance to mention how absolutely breathtakingly beautiful it is up here.  I have a fabulous view of the snow-covered mountains from my room – that more than makes up for the long flight!

I wish I could post some photos, but I forgot the cable for my camera…it’ll have to wait until I get back…

Happy Easter!

The angel said to the women, "Don’t be afraid.  I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified.  He is not here!  He has risen, just as he said he would!"

Matthew 28:5-6

Hallelujah!

It’s Been a While…

Do you know that feeling when you’ve borrowed something from someone and then you sort of forget that you borrowed it?

Then a few weeks pass and you stumble on it and realize that you forgot to return it so you promise yourself that you’ll return it as soon as possible.

But again you forget and before you know it, a few months have passed and you promise yourself that this time you’ll return it no matter how bad you feel about keeping it so long. But then a year later when you STILL have the item, you feel so awkward returning it that you procrastinate yet again?

That’s kind of how I feel about my blog.

I knew that it had been a while since I posted so I told myself that I’d just post a quick note…but I didn’t have a chance.

Then a week passed and I said that I’d post a nice, long summary but again, I haven’t had time.

Then I had SO much to say that I kept putting it off until I had a big chunk of time – which I didn’t have.

Until now – the kids have a snow day and I’m off from work, so I can finally catch up on my posts! I hope it’s not too awkward… 🙂