Up Up and No Way

I need to gripe real quick about airlines. Kenny lives in Georgia, so the only way we get to see each other is to commute...by air. I love flying, and since he's in the AIR Force, he doesn't have a huge problem with it either. The difficulty we have is finding decent fares. This is where my rant comes in.

I'm a Southwest girl. It's pretty much all we ever flew when I was younger, and even today I rack up enough Reward points to get free flights. That's all dandy, except my loyal airline doesn't fly into Georgia.

There are a few other airlines I have the same problem with. Take AirTran, JetBlue, and ExpressJet. I would gladly give my money to these three airlines. In fact, they're all having pretty great sales today, but unfortunately they don't fly where I need them to go. The first two aren't in New Mexico yet (maybe they don't know that we're in the states and they wouldn't have to charge an outrageous fee) and the last one doesn't fly to Atlanta.

SO FRUSTRATING.

In the meantime, before another low-cost airline can get their tale in gear and create a flight from Albuquerque to Atlanta, I get to travel on Frontier. It's not a bad airline, it's just that twice now I've almost missed my flight, I have to fly into Denver and literally run across the airport to catch my flight (outside for part of it in Denver because the plane's so tiny it can't park at a regular gate), no carry-ons are allowed (to Denver) and their prices aren't all that impressive. But, I am racking in the frequent flier miles and it's cheaper than Delta.

This rant all came about because I can't find a flight cheaper than $250 to go to Las Vegas (go figure) in about three weeks on my lovely Southwest...and I've been checking prices for over a month now.

I just want to travel, gamble and drink a little and see my boyfriend. Come on airlines, help a girl out!

mmmm. Coffee.

Jenna is requesting a new post from me, but I would really like to point out (to her, because I think she's the only one who reads this) that she hasn't posted anything new since the 22nd either. Just saying :)

So to give Jenna, and whoever else may stumble upon my blog, some "words," here you are. I'm addicted to Dunkin Donuts coffee. Addicted like, have to drink it every day. I have the French Vanilla flavor, and it's by far the best ground, flavored coffee I've had. As a second runner up, I'd give credit to New Mexico Pinon Coffee. Coming in last place (but I'd really drink it anytime because it's so delicious and about two minutes away from me now) is TJ Cinnamons. They have a cinnamon/hazelnut flavor that is ridiculously yummy. I discovered the last one when I was still down in Cruces and needed new places to study, and since Arbys, yes, the roast beef sandwich fast food joint, had wireless internet, I made frequent stops.

Mmmmmmm coffee. I think I need some now.

I recently spent quite a lot of time redoing the layout on here, and now I don't think I like it, but I don't have the time to change it again for awhile. Oh well, you all will be stuck with it until I have a few extra minutes.

With that said, I think I'm done with this entry. I'll try to write more later.

Red Light, Green Light

"Aw, dammit," I said as the light turned red and I was in the middle of the intersection.

Thanks, Marty, for turning the red light cameras back on and making me wonder if I'll receive my first ticket in the mail sometime in the next three to five weeks.

Great.

American Idol

Oh man. I'm addicted.

I could leave this blog just at those two statements and be completely content. I've never actually followed a season of American Idol. I thought it was a silly show. To be completely honest, I saw the very first show - first as in, one of Kelly Clarkson's first auditions, and I said outloud, "Wow. She's gonna win this thing." Low and behold, the only other show I saw that season was the finale...when she won. Fast forward a few years to when I lived in the house with Natalie, Em and Laura. They all watched it, so I'd catch a few episodes here and there, but it was nothing special.

For some reason, my mom and I caught the very beginning of this season and got hooked right away. How can you not love a show where people who are tone deaf honestly think they sound like Frank Sinatra or Whitney Houston. It was hilarious. I laughed, I cried (seriously...there were tears for more than a couple of the auditions) and I already fell in love with several and picked my favorites.

Right now I'm watching the Top 12 boys and I'm blown away. I missed the first several, but my mom said that David Archuleta was awesome; I was floored by Jason (the one with dreadlocks) and I could barely control myself with the last guy, Michael. Damn. These guys are good! They've got the charisma, they've got the look and boy, oh boy, do they have the voice.

Tomorrow the girls go on, and I can't wait to see them.

You better believe I'm going to follow this to the end, and most likely pick up some new songs on iTunes along the way.

LET THE COMPETITION BEGIN :)

If I die.

In case I get sick, or die, tonight, I know the reason why. It's because I left my frozen tv dinner meal in my car this morning. It says clearly on the box to "keep frozen." But I didn't. It was almost all thawed by the time I stuck it in the microwave. I must say though, that this is one of the best frozen TV lunch I've had. It's a Smart Ones Chicken Parmesan. MMmmmm.

Anywho, I hope I don't get sick because I'm going to see Kenny tomorrow and that would kinda ruin things. I also hope the weather holds out tomorrow - it's supposed to snow all day here and in Denver (where I'm flying into), and that would really put a damper on things if my flight is delayed.

Woot woot for Valentine's Day :) He sent me a gigantic bouquet of flowers in a margarita glass on Monday - does this guy know me, or what?! It's freaking awesome. I'll get a pic up here as soon as possible.

Ok. I have to go finish eating my yummy, no frozen lunch.

Stereotyping - A rant

***** I'm about to rant AND stereotype. Consider this your warning****



Last night after work my mom called in a pizza to Peter Piper. We used to go there for every birthday as a child, and I personally like their pizza, so we occasionally get it for dinner.

So. I drive to PP and after circling the parking lot once, I finally find a spot. I walk through the doors and the first thing I notice is a picture very similar to this one off their web site:


Interesting. Three white kids.

I continue into the restaurant towards the register to pick up my pies, but get stuck in a line. In front of me I smell cigarettes (the kind of smell that sticks to clothes after awhile) and behind me I smell pot. I can smell marijuana in a children's amusement restaurant.

If that's not bad enough, the woman in front of me is with her two kids. Now there is absolutely nothing wrong with this except that she was born in 1989. I know this because she was taking FOREVER trying to decide what to order and left her ID on the counter. The oldest child looked to be at least four - they were both calling her "Mommy," which is how I'm assuming they're hers. Ah! It was just crazy to see someone so young with two kids.

So with the cigarette-smelling, young mother and pot smelling guy behind the situation, there were still more things upsetting with my Peter Piper adventure. It turned out that I was the whitest person in there. Seriously.

EVERYONE else (with the exception of looking in the "game" area) were more Hispanic looking than I am. A lot of the guys in there were the type that scared me when I was younger (I was a scaredy cat a lot) - they wore the three-sizes too big for them jeans with equally as large shirts, three guys I saw had hair nets on (and I doubt they just came from working at a cafeteria) and tattoos covered their arms (nothing against tattoos, it just would have scared me when I was younger...and maybe last night a little bit too.).

Anyway. The point of this whole thing is that the demographic there last night surprised me. A lot. The experience was almost like the time I went to to the WalMart in El Paso, it was a little bit of a culture shock in a way. So that's my 'rant' or stereotyping, or whatever. I don't mean this to be offensive to anyone; it's more of an observation.

...... In other news! Yesterday was Raphael's birthday. Not only is he one of my favorite artists, but I found out that he was left handed. This is interesting because thanks to my new "Left-hander's callendar." This is my favorite by him:

I have this picture hanging above my bed - it's traveled with me everywhere and I absolutely love it!

That's all for today :)

blast from the past

Since we moved locations at work I now have to drive past my old elementary school. This morning I noticed the crossing guards helping children cross the street and it took me back to the old days of Homer. No, I'm not talking about watching the Simpsons, I'm talking about Homer the crossing guard! Homer was awesome. I remember he would always stand in the median area and wait for the little munchkins to walk by. We would go by single file while Homer would raise his stop sign for us to 'hit' as we went by - kinda like "high fiving" the sign. Sometimes he'd put it so high we'd (ok, just me) would have to jump to reach it! He was always such a joy to see before and after school.

Homer died several years ago, but his memory still lives within me just about every time I see a crossing guard.

not up to par

I've been on a blogging writer's block lately. I always think of things I want to write about, but none of them seem all that great. They turn out to be things I would ramble about to anyone listening instead of the type of topics that get a consistent readership. Eh. I'll come up with something decent to write about sooner or later.

I think I need something else to focus my time on. Last year I had the half marathon, which I loved, so I think I need something like that again. I'm going to the gym on a regular basis, and once the weather starts getting warmer I'll pick up my running again. But, I really want to volunteer for Make a Wish or maybe Big Brother/Big Sister. Eh. We'll see.

Do you ever wonder what it'd be like to be Martha Stewart? WOW. Ok. I just confirmed exactly how lame I am. It's Friday night at 10:45 and I just switched over to the Martha Stewart show (for the record, I was watching a movie just before this and I'm about to watch some silly wedding show at 11 - and no...there is no upcoming wedding, I just like the shows!). Seriously though, she's making a "heart scarf." Now, I love scarves, I'd even say I have a scarf fetish, but this one she's making (out of felt, mind you) is hideous. I think she's running out of things to talk about.

Maybe I'll have more to talk about next week. Monday is our first day in the new office (REALLY EXCITED)and I'm going to start working on stories for April. It's really a crazy profession to work months in advance.

I promise good and entertaining blogs to come...