working out for Disney

[Songbird76]

That's crazy about the guy coming in as you were closing...and trying to barter with tulips. You and your co-worker were very patient with him, though. He probably is mentally ill, you shouldn't have to feel unsafe at your job. Good grief, I'll bet you'll be happy dancing when you finish your last shift.

The frost photos are very pretty. I especially like the spider web and hairy frost.

I will be so glad when my last shift is over. I can't wait! I'm trying to make the best of it while I still have to work.

 

[Songbird76]

Hello-

Checking in with a kettlebell workout. I went on a hiking trip last week. I was hiking about 5-7 miles/day. It was kind of tiring. It was sandy and there was elevation gains. I stupidly took my boots out of my luggage at the last minute because they made my suitcase overweight. So I went in my running shoes and trashed them. lol Also, the soles were too thin for rocky terrain, so my feet were sore. We got lost once and didn't see a single soul for over an hour. But it was fun. I did workout the first two days before my hike, then I was like, the hiking is enough. Hopefully, I can go back next winter with my hiking boots and try some of the more difficult trails.

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It's really pretty, in a desolate kind of way, if that makes sense. Not desolate in a bad way, just....it looks like it's really in the middle of NO WHERE, like there's no way anyone could live there, but I'm sure they could.

 

[Songbird76]

We got back on Sunday...and boy do I have some stories.

For starters, I got back into my workout routine yesterday afternoon. So, that's a positive. The bulk of the last 4 days was more than my nerves really could handle.

Friday - Everything seemed normal at the start. We were flying Southwest, I'd done online check in the day before right at the 24 hour mark and got decent boarding groups. Hilton also sent me a 24 hour check in notice with arrival time and digital key options, so I was good there. I even got a reminder on my rental car. I was in a positive place. Everything in the Houston airport went like a breeze. I was still feeling good as we were getting ready to land for our connection in Chicago. We had a beautiful view of downtown and the lake... and that's when things took a turn.

• I couldn't get things to connect on our first flight, but as soon as we landed, I had a text from a boss about some work stuff that threw me into a panic. I texted back, but never heard back, which weighed on my mind all weekend.
• We had a 4 hour layover and were approaching things casually when I started getting alerts from Southwest about a pending winter storm. I knew about the one that was going to be hitting the gulf coast, but I was blissfully unaware of approaching Winter Storm Demi. The alerts were advising me to cancel or rebook our return flights to avoid storm related delays and strandings.
  • The first time I rebooked, they booked us onto a much earlier flight going through BWI. I felt good for about 20-30 minutes until I realized that BWI was also an airport under this warning. So, I called back again and they rebooked us through Orlando. So, return was now Hartford to Orlando to Houston. At least we'd below any freezing precip.
• We sat down at a place in the terminal for dinner just to be informed Sam couldn't be there because they considered it a bar and she was under 21. It was one of a handful of places that looked like this and they were all serving food, but nope. So, now we had to hunt a place that would let her sit...it took a bit.
• In the middle of this, we found out our flight to Hartford was delayed by about 30 minutes. It wound up only being delayed 10-15, but we were already landing after 10pm and were looking at a late night with a really early morning.
• Bradley is supposed to be an easy airport and getting from the gate to baggage wasn't bad, but the rental car area was so odd and not well labeled. We walked to the end of the terminal, outside, up a ramp towards a parking area, across several driveways, and through a maze of other places finally to come back inside to more twisting and turning. Once there, their card reader wouldn't read my credit card. Thankfully I had a backup that worked, but it's now after 11pm, I've been on the go since 9am and I was in no mood.
• Getting to the hotel wasn't awful, but parking was pretty limited at the late hour and while the room was decent, the bedding was not. The blankets were flimsy and even when using all four pillows they squished so much that it was like having 1.5.

Saturday- This was a relatively good day.

• We'd lost an hour flying east, so we were quite tired, but we were there and made it down to the hotel breakfast. Sam was hoping to sleep in a bit more but they decided to open up camp registration 30 minutes early because basketball was also being played that day and they wanted to get people in place. So, needless to say, we were grumpy.
• As we were driving to the campus, I noticed the hood of the rental SUV start flapping around. Thankfully, it did not fly up while I was driving but it turns out that it had come unlatched! I managed to get it secured and it was good for the rest of the trip, but it's pretty scary to have that happen on a highway...especially in an unfamiliar area.
• I was hoping to go walk the campus during the camp and maybe find Sam some decent lunch, but it was cold and rainy and nothing in walking distance was really her thing. So, I went to a local supermarket after she checked in, lost my good parking spot (which was good for getting in some extra steps), and spent the day milling around a cold covered football field area that they were using for the camp.
• Around 3:45pm, I wave of horror came over me. In all of the panic and flight rebooking from the day before, I forgot to reset my Southwest check in reminder. If you're not on it exactly at the 24 hour mark, you are assured of being one of the last ones on the plane. I checked in, but got C35-C36 for flight one and C34-C35 for flight two. Not good. I had the option of buying our way into group A but that was an extra $220. We'd make it work.
• Overall, the camp was OK, but there were some things towards the end that we didn't like. It was at least interesting to talk to some of these people and be around people from places where I grew up. Still, I never like leaving a camp wondering if the money could have been spent better.
• With the rain and gloom, it got dark really early. There were also still crowds from basketball, so we decided to skip checking out the campus and headed back to the hotel. We were originally booked to fly out around 5pm on Sunday and had all kinds of plans to drive and explore both Saturday night and Sunday morning, but everything to our north and west was ice and snow. So we decided to skip exploration. Although, we did have a great dinner at an area diner.

Sunday- This is when things go totally off the wall.

• We had a 7;40am flight and I'm one of those that likes to be there 2 hours early at the very least. The airport was only about 25 minutes away but all of that rain from the day before had frozen to ice on the roads. I figured the highways would be fine, but not the town or parking lot. So we left early and I drove ever so carefully and SLOWLY through the icy lot and local town roads.
• When we got to the rental car return, a Jeep in front of me parked in the middle of the lane blocking everything off. Nobody was there from the rental car company. People started pulling in behind me, so now we were blocked in. Finally some guy came out...totally frantic. We helped him clear cones to open up a new lane. I left Sam with the bags off to the side (because we had been in the process of just leaving it where we were before he came running up). She accidentally left her door semi-open, but I just drove with it to the line the guy wanted us to form. I got out, went around the other side to try opening and re-shutting the door when PARK disengaged and the vehicle started rolling. The woman in front of me was screaming. I managed to use my body to stop the vehicle by bracing myself up against the door frame. I started screaming at the worker to help. It took him a minute but he ran over and engaged the emergency brake.
• We had to go through that same silly winding mess to get back to the terminal and when we did, I was so flustered that I accidentally had mistaken the JetBlue kiosks for Southwest. I started to panic when it couldn't find our reservations. All was good once I realized my error, but just unnerving.
• Security was also a mess. A lot of people flying with wheelchairs and poor line management. What should have been no more than 10 minutes took nearly 30 since they decided separating me and Sam to make way for all of these wheelchairs that showed up after us.
• It's always cute being on flights into Orlando because there are tons of little kids excited to go to Disney. This was no exception. Sam and I even found decently placed aisle seats one row apart, so group C wasn't too bad. What was bad was my belt got twisted and we couldn't disengage the aisle armrest to fix things to buckle me. Even the stranger across the aisle was trying to help, which was kind and awkward all at once. We were all too packed in to readjust and they wanted to shut the cabin door, so I was given a belt extender to make it work. It was embarrassing, but I was secured.
• This flight to Orlando ranks as one of my top 3 most turbulent flights that I can remember. The pilot actually told us that the first half would be fine but made an oddly sarcastic implication that the second half wasn't just going to be turbulent, but well...he left it as "well." It was awful. I was in tears several times. The only saving grace was that movies, tv, Facebook and text were all working.
• After we landed in Orlando, I was so rattled that I joked to Sam about leaving and going to WDW. I even got a message from Life360 that saw my location and asked if I wanted it to book a Lyft or Uber. That's around when I saw that we were already delayed into Houston. I couldn't figure out why, but it was already about 45 off. Then we went under severe t-storm warning. They had a brief ground stop and whatever was going on outside was bad enough that most of the main lights went out in the terminal. What's sad...if we'd flown through BWI, even with the snow, we would have already been in the air on our final leg into Houston.
• In the middle of this, I get a text from David asking about the heat at home and our thermostat. I asked him if it said heat...he of course hadn't put on his glasses. Still, when he checked, it was set on 70 but only 64 inside the house. We were expecting a winter storm with several days of below freezing temps and measurable snow, so we needed this fixed pronto. I fed him a few names of reputable HVAC companies and waited for the bad news. The furnace is old and the part we'd need couldn't be ordered until Tuesday due to the holiday. There was also no guarantee they'd have it because our furnace was old and past the standard lifetime of a furnace. Option 2 was to replace the furnace, but even that would have to wait a day to get a crew and we still ran the risk of no heat in the middle of an extended freeze (remember how bad things were here in 2021?) if anything went wrong.
• Oh well, in all of my worries about the furnace, I wasn't paying attention to our delays as much. I think we were originally supposed to land in Houston around 2:45 but wound up landing right around 4pm because of the delays. The flight was also so bumpy that they couldn't have beverage service. What's funny...while it was turbulent, it wasn't nearly as bad as the flight from Hartford to Orlando.
• Our bags (while they made it) were the very last ones off. I hate when that happens. I really hate it.
• A friend lent us four of their space heaters to help for the night and next day. We were running one on a circuit where we often run a small one (theirs was even smaller) and it tripped the circuit. I couldn't figure out how to get it flipped back and it was dark and cold, so we had to reconfigure a few things and put in a call into an electrician in the morning. Thankfully, the electrician was able to help me fix it by phone and saved me the service fee (it was something fairly simple that I couldn't see in the dark), but it was one more headache.

I had plans to work out on Sunday night after getting in early, but it was so cold in the house that there was zero desire. I also never got to use the gym in the hotel, but we walked a ton in the airports on Friday and Sunday, and I put in over 3 miles of walking during the camp on Saturday...some of which was up hill. So, it wasn't a sedentary patch by any means.

As of about 4:30pm yesterday, the new furnace was in place and we have heat. We also have snow. We're just west of the areas getting the worst. It was crazy to see a blizzard warning show up for Beamont, TX to Baton Rouge, LA. It's also unnerving any time Jim Cantore from The Weather Channel shows up where you live. I know this would be nothing for northern states, but there are no snowplows (they shipped in a few, but more for the airports), stores here do not sell shovels, most people use an old credit card for an ice scraper, and unless you have hunting or ski gear...most people don't own anything warm enough for real winter. At least the dog loves it and I still have proper gear.

Wow...I'm sorry about the return flights. That's always rough when there are delays. But how could it be so hard to find a place where Sam could sit in an airport? She couldn't have been the only minor in the whole place! Do they think kids just don't eat?

 

[HouCuseChickie]

Wow...I'm sorry about the return flights. That's always rough when there are delays. But how could it be so hard to find a place where Sam could sit in an airport? She couldn't have been the only minor in the whole place! Do they think kids just don't eat?

Some of it was timing, some of it was what we wanted to eat and where/how we wanted to eat. Some places weren't open that had seemed appealing. Some places didn't have anything Sam wanted. This was her pre-camp dinner, so I had to be mindful of how she was fueling her body. There were some food court type places farther into the terminal, but we were tired and wanted to just relax and be served. The options there also weren't doing it for us. The couple of more traditional restaurant looking spots were packed, with only bar space (and these looked like obvious bars) available. We stood in one line waiting for a hostess for 5 minutes, but after seeing it was just bar open...we walked. Our section of the terminal had three or four places that essentially looked like combo restaurant/bar places right in the middle of the walkway between the gates. Like one big diner style food counter/bar setup. We saw plenty of people eating as well as others drinking, so we thought it would be OK. That's when we were told that we'd have to go down to a cashier way down on the end, order from her, and find some other place to sit and eat if we wanted food from there. So, no being served, no relaxing sit-down meal...just more counter service. Again...not the end of the world and it's partly because we were being picky (for good reason), but we haven't had these kinds of issues with restaurants in other airports.

 

[Sans Souci]

I feel all of this...although, sometimes there are issues on the flight itself as well. Still, it's why I'm really content to do road travel if the timing makes it possible.

I don't know if it's me, but I swear, it seems like it's been taking aircraft longer to take off and longer to slow down to taxi after landing--and it makes me lurch forward in my seat. Maybe it's because I used to fly out of Midway so frequently and the runways are so short there, but this feels like a recent phenomenon. These things have started making me nervous as well.

Another thing I dislike is the lavatory. I hate walking back there and trying not to accidentally step or fall on someone. Then the lavs themselves are so gross and small. I try to limit my fluids before I fly. When we flew to Phoenix last week, our aircraft was arriving from Charlotte and the day before the East Coast had a snow storm. Our flight was delayed 3 hours, but you still have to show up at your original time and the flight itself is just over 5 hours. I restricted my water and it was so late by the time we landed in Phoenix, checked in to our room. I did try to "catch up" on my water, but I failed because I woke up with a charley horse at 3 AM.

 

[Sans Souci]

We got back on Sunday...and boy do I have some stories.

For starters, I got back into my workout routine yesterday afternoon. So, that's a positive. The bulk of the last 4 days was more than my nerves really could handle.

Friday - Everything seemed normal at the start. We were flying Southwest, I'd done online check in the day before right at the 24 hour mark and got decent boarding groups. Hilton also sent me a 24 hour check in notice with arrival time and digital key options, so I was good there. I even got a reminder on my rental car. I was in a positive place. Everything in the Houston airport went like a breeze. I was still feeling good as we were getting ready to land for our connection in Chicago. We had a beautiful view of downtown and the lake... and that's when things took a turn.

• I couldn't get things to connect on our first flight, but as soon as we landed, I had a text from a boss about some work stuff that threw me into a panic. I texted back, but never heard back, which weighed on my mind all weekend.
• We had a 4 hour layover and were approaching things casually when I started getting alerts from Southwest about a pending winter storm. I knew about the one that was going to be hitting the gulf coast, but I was blissfully unaware of approaching Winter Storm Demi. The alerts were advising me to cancel or rebook our return flights to avoid storm related delays and strandings.
  • The first time I rebooked, they booked us onto a much earlier flight going through BWI. I felt good for about 20-30 minutes until I realized that BWI was also an airport under this warning. So, I called back again and they rebooked us through Orlando. So, return was now Hartford to Orlando to Houston. At least we'd below any freezing precip.
• We sat down at a place in the terminal for dinner just to be informed Sam couldn't be there because they considered it a bar and she was under 21. It was one of a handful of places that looked like this and they were all serving food, but nope. So, now we had to hunt a place that would let her sit...it took a bit.
• In the middle of this, we found out our flight to Hartford was delayed by about 30 minutes. It wound up only being delayed 10-15, but we were already landing after 10pm and were looking at a late night with a really early morning.
• Bradley is supposed to be an easy airport and getting from the gate to baggage wasn't bad, but the rental car area was so odd and not well labeled. We walked to the end of the terminal, outside, up a ramp towards a parking area, across several driveways, and through a maze of other places finally to come back inside to more twisting and turning. Once there, their card reader wouldn't read my credit card. Thankfully I had a backup that worked, but it's now after 11pm, I've been on the go since 9am and I was in no mood.
• Getting to the hotel wasn't awful, but parking was pretty limited at the late hour and while the room was decent, the bedding was not. The blankets were flimsy and even when using all four pillows they squished so much that it was like having 1.5.

Saturday- This was a relatively good day.

• We'd lost an hour flying east, so we were quite tired, but we were there and made it down to the hotel breakfast. Sam was hoping to sleep in a bit more but they decided to open up camp registration 30 minutes early because basketball was also being played that day and they wanted to get people in place. So, needless to say, we were grumpy.
• As we were driving to the campus, I noticed the hood of the rental SUV start flapping around. Thankfully, it did not fly up while I was driving but it turns out that it had come unlatched! I managed to get it secured and it was good for the rest of the trip, but it's pretty scary to have that happen on a highway...especially in an unfamiliar area.
• I was hoping to go walk the campus during the camp and maybe find Sam some decent lunch, but it was cold and rainy and nothing in walking distance was really her thing. So, I went to a local supermarket after she checked in, lost my good parking spot (which was good for getting in some extra steps), and spent the day milling around a cold covered football field area that they were using for the camp.
• Around 3:45pm, I wave of horror came over me. In all of the panic and flight rebooking from the day before, I forgot to reset my Southwest check in reminder. If you're not on it exactly at the 24 hour mark, you are assured of being one of the last ones on the plane. I checked in, but got C35-C36 for flight one and C34-C35 for flight two. Not good. I had the option of buying our way into group A but that was an extra $220. We'd make it work.
• Overall, the camp was OK, but there were some things towards the end that we didn't like. It was at least interesting to talk to some of these people and be around people from places where I grew up. Still, I never like leaving a camp wondering if the money could have been spent better.
• With the rain and gloom, it got dark really early. There were also still crowds from basketball, so we decided to skip checking out the campus and headed back to the hotel. We were originally booked to fly out around 5pm on Sunday and had all kinds of plans to drive and explore both Saturday night and Sunday morning, but everything to our north and west was ice and snow. So we decided to skip exploration. Although, we did have a great dinner at an area diner.

Sunday- This is when things go totally off the wall.

• We had a 7;40am flight and I'm one of those that likes to be there 2 hours early at the very least. The airport was only about 25 minutes away but all of that rain from the day before had frozen to ice on the roads. I figured the highways would be fine, but not the town or parking lot. So we left early and I drove ever so carefully and SLOWLY through the icy lot and local town roads.
• When we got to the rental car return, a Jeep in front of me parked in the middle of the lane blocking everything off. Nobody was there from the rental car company. People started pulling in behind me, so now we were blocked in. Finally some guy came out...totally frantic. We helped him clear cones to open up a new lane. I left Sam with the bags off to the side (because we had been in the process of just leaving it where we were before he came running up). She accidentally left her door semi-open, but I just drove with it to the line the guy wanted us to form. I got out, went around the other side to try opening and re-shutting the door when PARK disengaged and the vehicle started rolling. The woman in front of me was screaming. I managed to use my body to stop the vehicle by bracing myself up against the door frame. I started screaming at the worker to help. It took him a minute but he ran over and engaged the emergency brake.
• We had to go through that same silly winding mess to get back to the terminal and when we did, I was so flustered that I accidentally had mistaken the JetBlue kiosks for Southwest. I started to panic when it couldn't find our reservations. All was good once I realized my error, but just unnerving.
• Security was also a mess. A lot of people flying with wheelchairs and poor line management. What should have been no more than 10 minutes took nearly 30 since they decided separating me and Sam to make way for all of these wheelchairs that showed up after us.
• It's always cute being on flights into Orlando because there are tons of little kids excited to go to Disney. This was no exception. Sam and I even found decently placed aisle seats one row apart, so group C wasn't too bad. What was bad was my belt got twisted and we couldn't disengage the aisle armrest to fix things to buckle me. Even the stranger across the aisle was trying to help, which was kind and awkward all at once. We were all too packed in to readjust and they wanted to shut the cabin door, so I was given a belt extender to make it work. It was embarrassing, but I was secured.
• This flight to Orlando ranks as one of my top 3 most turbulent flights that I can remember. The pilot actually told us that the first half would be fine but made an oddly sarcastic implication that the second half wasn't just going to be turbulent, but well...he left it as "well." It was awful. I was in tears several times. The only saving grace was that movies, tv, Facebook and text were all working.
• After we landed in Orlando, I was so rattled that I joked to Sam about leaving and going to WDW. I even got a message from Life360 that saw my location and asked if I wanted it to book a Lyft or Uber. That's around when I saw that we were already delayed into Houston. I couldn't figure out why, but it was already about 45 off. Then we went under severe t-storm warning. They had a brief ground stop and whatever was going on outside was bad enough that most of the main lights went out in the terminal. What's sad...if we'd flown through BWI, even with the snow, we would have already been in the air on our final leg into Houston.
• In the middle of this, I get a text from David asking about the heat at home and our thermostat. I asked him if it said heat...he of course hadn't put on his glasses. Still, when he checked, it was set on 70 but only 64 inside the house. We were expecting a winter storm with several days of below freezing temps and measurable snow, so we needed this fixed pronto. I fed him a few names of reputable HVAC companies and waited for the bad news. The furnace is old and the part we'd need couldn't be ordered until Tuesday due to the holiday. There was also no guarantee they'd have it because our furnace was old and past the standard lifetime of a furnace. Option 2 was to replace the furnace, but even that would have to wait a day to get a crew and we still ran the risk of no heat in the middle of an extended freeze (remember how bad things were here in 2021?) if anything went wrong.
• Oh well, in all of my worries about the furnace, I wasn't paying attention to our delays as much. I think we were originally supposed to land in Houston around 2:45 but wound up landing right around 4pm because of the delays. The flight was also so bumpy that they couldn't have beverage service. What's funny...while it was turbulent, it wasn't nearly as bad as the flight from Hartford to Orlando.
• Our bags (while they made it) were the very last ones off. I hate when that happens. I really hate it.
• A friend lent us four of their space heaters to help for the night and next day. We were running one on a circuit where we often run a small one (theirs was even smaller) and it tripped the circuit. I couldn't figure out how to get it flipped back and it was dark and cold, so we had to reconfigure a few things and put in a call into an electrician in the morning. Thankfully, the electrician was able to help me fix it by phone and saved me the service fee (it was something fairly simple that I couldn't see in the dark), but it was one more headache.

I had plans to work out on Sunday night after getting in early, but it was so cold in the house that there was zero desire. I also never got to use the gym in the hotel, but we walked a ton in the airports on Friday and Sunday, and I put in over 3 miles of walking during the camp on Saturday...some of which was up hill. So, it wasn't a sedentary patch by any means.

As of about 4:30pm yesterday, the new furnace was in place and we have heat. We also have snow. We're just west of the areas getting the worst. It was crazy to see a blizzard warning show up for Beamont, TX to Baton Rouge, LA. It's also unnerving any time Jim Cantore from The Weather Channel shows up where you live. I know this would be nothing for northern states, but there are no snowplows (they shipped in a few, but more for the airports), stores here do not sell shovels, most people use an old credit card for an ice scraper, and unless you have hunting or ski gear...most people don't own anything warm enough for real winter. At least the dog loves it and I still have proper gear.

OMG. I felt myself tensing up as I was reading this and I had to keep reminding myself to relax. I don't mind turbulence when it's the type that feels like you're driving over a bumpy road, but the type with drops--no. There's a reason I don't go on roller coasters and it's drops. It's unsettling, but whenever I find myself spiraling out of control, I tell myself that airlines prefer hiring pilots who flew in the military (Southwest, especially). They get all sorts of stuff thrown at them during training, plus they are heavily vetted before they are allowed into a cockpit. It's hard though, because the control is totally out of your hands and you have to trust that someone else is navigating the best they can.

That's crazy about the rental car. You must be really strong to be able to stop a rolling car! Holy heck!

TSA was weird for me this weekend, too. My Pre-Check expired last month and I didn't realize it, so I had to go through the regular line. There were about 10 people ahead of me and it took me 20 min to get through. This woman had a cat sized pet carrier that she put on the conveyor belt to go through the CT machine. She was going to put them through the freaking machine. The TSA agent yelled at her. So, she opens up her bag and pulls out not one, not two, but THREE yorkies. Like, WTH? I know yorkies are small, but this was a small carrier.

I had stories, too, from my vacation, but it involved people sitting near us at outdoor bar at our resort. It involved 2 dudes, 2 women--all married, spouses at home, going to the dudes' "penthouse" room to use the hot tub. They were all very drunk and very loud. I decided against it yesterday because I didn't want people thinking I was staying at Hedonism II or something.

 

[Sans Souci]

It's really pretty, in a desolate kind of way, if that makes sense. Not desolate in a bad way, just....it looks like it's really in the middle of NO WHERE, like there's no way anyone could live there, but I'm sure they could.

It totally makes sense. It feels desolate, too. If you stop walking and stand still, it's very quiet. There is no ambient noise. It made me feel removed from the world, it was very unsettling. I don't know if I am expressing myself correctly, but I felt insignificant in that setting. I don't mean this in a negative way, but like I was in the vast area with mountains looming over me, I just felt dwarfed by my surroundings.

It looks pretty brown because it's been abnormally dry there. There were signs everywhere warning people that the risk of wild fire was extremely high. I'd love to go in March/April when things are green and there are wildflowers. It's so crazy crowded and expensive.

 

[Sans Souci]

Hello-

I did a kettlebell workout this morning. I am just waiting for the extreme cold to push off so I can go out for my daily walks. I think it's going to be 32 tomorrow, which will probably feel "warm" in comparison.

My husband is supposed to be in the office 5 days/week now. But there is no room for everyone in his office to be present on the same day--this was a cost-cutting measure. The government would need to rent out 4 more floors in this building, which is in Times Square. Nobody is coming in 5 days/week until directly told to do so. He has started putting feelers out for employment in the private sector. He has no interest in being a pawn or made to look like he's a lazy fed. It upsets me because I've been seeing so much hate and disdain for federal employees online by people who have no idea what they're talking about. My husband is not lazy or incompetent. He has won awards for his work and gets invited to speak at finance conferences. He is known in both the private and public sectors. He could make loads more money working in finance, but he likes his work because he feels like he's making a small contribution in keeping the banks accountable to the American people. We're going to lose a lot of talent in the coming months and people are going to see how much work happens behind the scenes that makes the wheels turn. Don't know what you got till it's gone.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

I don't know if it's me, but I swear, it seems like it's been taking aircraft longer to take off and longer to slow down to taxi after landing--and it makes me lurch forward in my seat. Maybe it's because I used to fly out of Midway so frequently and the runways are so short there, but this feels like a recent phenomenon. These things have started making me nervous as well.

Another thing I dislike is the lavatory. I hate walking back there and trying not to accidentally step or fall on someone. Then the lavs themselves are so gross and small. I try to limit my fluids before I fly. When we flew to Phoenix last week, our aircraft was arriving from Charlotte and the day before the East Coast had a snow storm. Our flight was delayed 3 hours, but you still have to show up at your original time and the flight itself is just over 5 hours. I restricted my water and it was so late by the time we landed in Phoenix, checked in to our room. I did try to "catch up" on my water, but I failed because I woke up with a charley horse at 3 AM.

That might explain our seemingly rough landing in Midway. I've flown through Chicago a few times and once as an actual travel destination, but it has always been through O'Hare. On Friday, we had some windshear coming in, which causes that unsettling rocking feeling on approach; however, the actual landing had a rough bump/bounce and then felt like someone slammed on the brakes. I didn't realize Midway was one of the short runway airports, but that would make sense with our landing. It was what I might expect at LaGuardia.

I do everything in my power to avoid a restroom trip on a plane. My feet never feel steady, as if I'm about to go tumbling down the aisle. It's nearly impossible to avoid on international flights, but for domestic, we all make a trip to the lav just before boarding. I also restrict fluid intake, which had me feeling pretty parched on Saturday. 3 hours is a long delay! You just get anxious and go stir crazy sitting there and waiting.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

OMG. I felt myself tensing up as I was reading this and I had to keep reminding myself to relax. I don't mind turbulence when it's the type that feels like you're driving over a bumpy road, but the type with drops--no. There's a reason I don't go on roller coasters and it's drops. It's unsettling, but whenever I find myself spiraling out of control, I tell myself that airlines prefer hiring pilots who flew in the military (Southwest, especially). They get all sorts of stuff thrown at them during training, plus they are heavily vetted before they are allowed into a cockpit. It's hard though, because the control is totally out of your hands and you have to trust that someone else is navigating the best they can.

That's crazy about the rental car. You must be really strong to be able to stop a rolling car! Holy heck!

TSA was weird for me this weekend, too. My Pre-Check expired last month and I didn't realize it, so I had to go through the regular line. There were about 10 people ahead of me and it took me 20 min to get through. This woman had a cat sized pet carrier that she put on the conveyor belt to go through the CT machine. She was going to put them through the freaking machine. The TSA agent yelled at her. So, she opens up her bag and pulls out not one, not two, but THREE yorkies. Like, WTH? I know yorkies are small, but this was a small carrier.

I had stories, too, from my vacation, but it involved people sitting near us at outdoor bar at our resort. It involved 2 dudes, 2 women--all married, spouses at home, going to the dudes' "penthouse" room to use the hot tub. They were all very drunk and very loud. I decided against it yesterday because I didn't want people thinking I was staying at Hedonism II or something.

The flight from Orlando to Houston was that more mild bouncing. Too much to allow for beverage service, but much more mild and consistent in bumpiness than the first flight. I've never minded roller coasters because in most cases, I can see the track and know what it's going to do. I think that's why I dislike Tower of Terror. The uncertainty is too much for my nerves. That's funny that you say that about the pilots. We have a friend who is a pilot for Southwest and he was in the US Air Force.

It was a flat surface, so that helped. It also appeared to be the kind of rolling you'd get in neutral, so it's not like leaving it in Drive. Either way, I've had to help push stalled out vehicles in the past for friends, so I just put all of my weight into the push and really engaged my thigh muscles and glutes. If anything, while it wasn't a lifesaving moment, the adrenaline and nerves of the morning probably helped fuel things and give me a dose of that "super-human strength" you sometimes hear about in crisis situations. All I know is that I was counting my blessings after it.

I've often thought about doing Pre-Check, but we don't fly enough to the point that I've been able to justify it. Honestly, airports are one of those places where you can see the wackiest things. I couldn't imagine flying with one dog, let alone three!!! Still, trying to get a crate like that through the machine!?!? Some people!

Oh, now that sounds interesting!!! Not that you want to get caught up in it, but there's also that curiosity element that would have me considering a casual pass through. Then again, I might not want to be scarred by what I could possibly witness

 

[Lilofan]

Hello-

I did a kettlebell workout this morning. I am just waiting for the extreme cold to push off so I can go out for my daily walks. I think it's going to be 32 tomorrow, which will probably feel "warm" in comparison.

My husband is supposed to be in the office 5 days/week now. But there is no room for everyone in his office to be present on the same day--this was a cost-cutting measure. The government would need to rent out 4 more floors in this building, which is in Times Square. Nobody is coming in 5 days/week until directly told to do so. He has started putting feelers out for employment in the private sector. He has no interest in being a pawn or made to look like he's a lazy fed. It upsets me because I've been seeing so much hate and disdain for federal employees online by people who have no idea what they're talking about. My husband is not lazy or incompetent. He has won awards for his work and gets invited to speak at finance conferences. He is known in both the private and public sectors. He could make loads more money working in finance, but he likes his work because he feels like he's making a small contribution in keeping the banks accountable to the American people. We're going to lose a lot of talent in the coming months and people are going to see how much work happens behind the scenes that makes the wheels turn. Don't know what you got till it's gone.

Hope your husband makes the cut. I saw on the news that FEMA may be recommended to be eliminated. I know from experience that FEMA played a critical part in hurricane recovery. I think we need to buckle up because it’s going to be a helleva ride.

 

[Sans Souci]

The flight from Orlando to Houston was that more mild bouncing. Too much to allow for beverage service, but much more mild and consistent in bumpiness than the first flight. I've never minded roller coasters because in most cases, I can see the track and know what it's going to do. I think that's why I dislike Tower of Terror. The uncertainty is too much for my nerves. That's funny that you say that about the pilots. We have a friend who is a pilot for Southwest and he was in the US Air Force.

It was a flat surface, so that helped. It also appeared to be the kind of rolling you'd get in neutral, so it's not like leaving it in Drive. Either way, I've had to help push stalled out vehicles in the past for friends, so I just put all of my weight into the push and really engaged my thigh muscles and glutes. If anything, while it wasn't a lifesaving moment, the adrenaline and nerves of the morning probably helped fuel things and give me a dose of that "super-human strength" you sometimes hear about in crisis situations. All I know is that I was counting my blessings after it.

I've often thought about doing Pre-Check, but we don't fly enough to the point that I've been able to justify it. Honestly, airports are one of those places where you can see the wackiest things. I couldn't imagine flying with one dog, let alone three!!! Still, trying to get a crate like that through the machine!?!? Some people!

Oh, now that sounds interesting!!! Not that you want to get caught up in it, but there's also that curiosity element that would have me considering a casual pass through. Then again, I might not want to be scarred by what I could possibly witness

It was our last night and we'd just eaten dinner in the resort restaurant. It was in the upper 50s outside, but they had fire pits outside, so we decided to have a night cap and just enjoy the vibes. I sat down and my husband went to the bar to get our drinks, there was another group at an adjacent fire pit and they were loud, but it's a bar, so it wasn't annoying. People get loud when they've been drinking. I assumed it was 2 younger couples just having drinks and apps. I glanced over and I could see only when guy, I could not male out the faces of the 3 others and I didn't want to look nosey and judgy. I heard him say he was 52 and from Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. This guy lived in China for 10 years and had a Chinese ex-wife. They were loud and I was by myself, so I could hear their conversations and I realized these 2 women did not know these 2 men. Fine, whatever. My husband came back with the drinks and he said, "This is looks like a nice spot to have drinks." and I said, "Sit down a minute and you might change your mind." One woman kept screeching for "bubbles", which, I am not going to lie, was a bit annoying because I was trying to have a conversation with my husband. They all started getting flirty with each other and then one guy starts talking about his kids and the woman was like, "Aw, how old are they?" I can't remember how many he said he had but the oldest was 27 and the youngest was 5. He was married three times and his ex-wives were all crazy. Then one of the woman rattled off her kids' ages and said they were there on a mom's weekend and their husbands were with their kids. My husband and I were like . These two women were trying to get the guys to go out clubbing. But the guys said they had a hot tub in their penthouse. They seemed to like that idea better. So they got up and walked past us and they were all in their late 40s-early 50s. We saw them at breakfast and I honestly don't know how they were upright, they were drinking so much. I went outside after breakfast to enjoy the last bit of my vacation and I saw Mr. Moose Jaw having breakfast outside in his bathrobe. We honestly were trying NOT to eavesdrop, but they were so loud and I had to keep repeating myself to make myself heard. I toned down the things they said, because it's too racy for this forum, but it was wild. lolol

 

[Sans Souci]

Hope your husband makes the cut. I saw on the news that FEMA may be recommended to be eliminated. I know from experience that FEMA played a critical part in hurricane recovery. I think we need to buckle up because it’s going to be a helleva ride.

I can't control the wind, only the sails. I'm just going to take this day by day.

 

[Sans Souci]

Hello-

I have been sick since Thursday. On Wednesday, I had a runny nose and I thought maybe it was because Callie was in my face, but I started feeling bad overnight. I thought it was just a cold, but then I came down with a fever last night. I think I turned the corner, because I am feeling a bit better today and I was able to get out of bed. I tested for covid 2x and tested negative, so I think it was just an upper respiratory virus. I had no body aches or coughing, just sinus pressure and congestion. Honestly, the worst symptom was just fatigue. I slept sooooo much. I am hoping I can get back to working out tomorrow. I was thinking an upper body workout to ease back into it. I still have some residual congestion going on.

 

[Sans Souci]

Hello-

I did a circuit training workout today that was probably a little too much for me ATM. It was a struggle, but it's done for the day. Woo, it was a slog. lol

 

[HouCuseChickie]

It was our last night and we'd just eaten dinner in the resort restaurant. It was in the upper 50s outside, but they had fire pits outside, so we decided to have a night cap and just enjoy the vibes. I sat down and my husband went to the bar to get our drinks, there was another group at an adjacent fire pit and they were loud, but it's a bar, so it wasn't annoying. People get loud when they've been drinking. I assumed it was 2 younger couples just having drinks and apps. I glanced over and I could see only when guy, I could not male out the faces of the 3 others and I didn't want to look nosey and judgy. I heard him say he was 52 and from Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. This guy lived in China for 10 years and had a Chinese ex-wife. They were loud and I was by myself, so I could hear their conversations and I realized these 2 women did not know these 2 men. Fine, whatever. My husband came back with the drinks and he said, "This is looks like a nice spot to have drinks." and I said, "Sit down a minute and you might change your mind." One woman kept screeching for "bubbles", which, I am not going to lie, was a bit annoying because I was trying to have a conversation with my husband. They all started getting flirty with each other and then one guy starts talking about his kids and the woman was like, "Aw, how old are they?" I can't remember how many he said he had but the oldest was 27 and the youngest was 5. He was married three times and his ex-wives were all crazy. Then one of the woman rattled off her kids' ages and said they were there on a mom's weekend and their husbands were with their kids. My husband and I were like . These two women were trying to get the guys to go out clubbing. But the guys said they had a hot tub in their penthouse. They seemed to like that idea better. So they got up and walked past us and they were all in their late 40s-early 50s. We saw them at breakfast and I honestly don't know how they were upright, they were drinking so much. I went outside after breakfast to enjoy the last bit of my vacation and I saw Mr. Moose Jaw having breakfast outside in his bathrobe. We honestly were trying NOT to eavesdrop, but they were so loud and I had to keep repeating myself to make myself heard. I toned down the things they said, because it's too racy for this forum, but it was wild. lolol

Laughing emoji is all I've got. Not that I love the infidelity aspect, but I love some good drunken drama.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

My husband is supposed to be in the office 5 days/week now. But there is no room for everyone in his office to be present on the same day--this was a cost-cutting measure. The government would need to rent out 4 more floors in this building, which is in Times Square. Nobody is coming in 5 days/week until directly told to do so. He has started putting feelers out for employment in the private sector. He has no interest in being a pawn or made to look like he's a lazy fed. It upsets me because I've been seeing so much hate and disdain for federal employees online by people who have no idea what they're talking about. My husband is not lazy or incompetent. He has won awards for his work and gets invited to speak at finance conferences. He is known in both the private and public sectors. He could make loads more money working in finance, but he likes his work because he feels like he's making a small contribution in keeping the banks accountable to the American people. We're going to lose a lot of talent in the coming months and people are going to see how much work happens behind the scenes that makes the wheels turn. Don't know what you got till it's gone.

I don't want to make this too controversial or political, but it wasn't until the pandemic that anyone really seemed to notice that some people can work remotely. Sure, a lot of people went 100% remote and stayed that way after Covid simply because employers reaped the many benefits of this set up. Still, I think there were certain kinds of workers who felt slighted...working hard in person because their jobs can't be done at home, putting themselves at risk each day without all of the love the healthcare industry received, and operating under the false assumption that people working from home are lazy and doing nothing. I feel like this governmental push to force federal employees to go back to work 100% in person is to appease these people with sour grapes and false information. So, now legitimately hardworking people will be paying the price for this stunt. I have a feeling we're going to see a lot of things fall apart. It might not be his preferred, but hopefully your husband can make things work in the private sector if it comes to that.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

Today is the start of week 7 of trying to get back on track. I really didn't want to get out of bed but wanted to get out and move after having a break day yesterday. So, I put in a little 1.5 mile walk before logging in to work. I even scared a woman leaving for work who isn't used to seeing walkers on her cul-de-sac. I'll be biking tonight. I'm hitting a point where I seem to put in a fairly full bike ride even if I have walked. I went for a 3 mile walk on Saturday morning and still found myself going close to 16.5 miles on the bike even though I thought I'd strive for 15. Nights like tonight are a solid 17 and change. I'm really starting to crave the adrenaline rush, which I guess is a good thing. I've also been throwing in more with the kettle bells and some ab work.

I really need to sit down and figure out travel and vacation time schedules. It's so much I feel sort of paralyzed...not sure what to book or figure out first. It'll come together, but I keep pushing it off because it's so much.

 

[Sans Souci]

I don't want to make this too controversial or political, but it wasn't until the pandemic that anyone really seemed to notice that some people can work remotely. Sure, a lot of people went 100% remote and stayed that way after Covid simply because employers reaped the many benefits of this set up. Still, I think there were certain kinds of workers who felt slighted...working hard in person because their jobs can't be done at home, putting themselves at risk each day without all of the love the healthcare industry received, and operating under the false assumption that people working from home are lazy and doing nothing. I feel like this governmental push to force federal employees to go back to work 100% in person is to appease these people with sour grapes and false information. So, now legitimately hardworking people will be paying the price for this stunt. I have a feeling we're going to see a lot of things fall apart. It might not be his preferred, but hopefully your husband can make things work in the private sector if it comes to that.

The person who is going to head the OPM said he wants to "traumatize" federal workers. He has said he wants them to feel like they don't want to go into work in the morning because they feel increasingly villainized. This is from a self-professed Christian. I don't think people realize people work hybrid so the government saves money on renting space. A lot of government workers do not work in DC nor do they work in government-owned facilities. People are trying to figure out where everyone will sit. It's not a matter of laziness, there are not enough workstations. There is a subreddit that's for feds and it's recently become a target for angry people who think feds are lazy. This one guy said you all need to be fired because I don't rely on any government services. Wow. Think again. Do you get mail? Do you drive on roads? Do you drink water? Do you keep money in the bank? People don't understand this is large scale, constructive dismissal; so donors can put their bids in for AI services and H1B visa workers.

 

[Sans Souci]

Today is the start of week 7 of trying to get back on track. I really didn't want to get out of bed but wanted to get out and move after having a break day yesterday. So, I put in a little 1.5 mile walk before logging in to work. I even scared a woman leaving for work who isn't used to seeing walkers on her cul-de-sac. I'll be biking tonight. I'm hitting a point where I seem to put in a fairly full bike ride even if I have walked. I went for a 3 mile walk on Saturday morning and still found myself going close to 16.5 miles on the bike even though I thought I'd strive for 15. Nights like tonight are a solid 17 and change. I'm really starting to crave the adrenaline rush, which I guess is a good thing. I've also been throwing in more with the kettle bells and some ab work.

I really need to sit down and figure out travel and vacation time schedules. It's so much I feel sort of paralyzed...not sure what to book or figure out first. It'll come together, but I keep pushing it off because it's so much.

I've been struggling to workout, too. I have been trying to find a type of workout to hook into.

Where are you thinking of going for vacation?