Week at home & DFW

I'm working from home all of this week, which is nice. I have been lucky and able to work from home quite a lot over the past month or so, which I'm enjoying. Obviously I get to work in my pajamas and sit in my own living room all day, but there are some downsides also. I have to get up EARLY, I dont take any breaks (so end up working much more than i normally do), I get distracted and eat a lot, and I dont have any interaction with other people. basically, I'm a shut in. ha!

Last night, Jackie (who is also working from home this week) delivered me 10 cupcakes. while this was obviously super nice of her, now i'm going to be eating cupcakes all day. great! :(

Next week I'm flying to Phoenix for a few days, which should be nice bc i will get to hang out with some old friends that i haven't seen in almost a year! It's already pretty hot there, but i only will be there for 3 days. Then I fly back to Denver for 24 hours, then to TX for the weekend, then to Charlotte for about a week. Cara and I are staying in Charlotte for a weekend, so if anyone has any suggestions for activities, lets hear them! we're planning on driving to Chapel Hill to visit UNC, but dont really have a whole lot else planned. What should we do??

So i looked back through my old posts and realized that I didnt ever write an entry on DFW airport, so i can go ahead and do that now!

Pros:
1. the international terminal is super nice and has huge bathrooms with a shelf for your stuff (i posted a picture of this some time ago)
2. the airtram system is much better than it used to be (I remember the old ones where you went down into a scary tunnel thing). now it's all elevated and very nice.
3. lots of cute TX boys in cowboy hats and they say 'excuse me maam' when they bump into you. manners = good. although to be honest, being called 'maam' makes me feel old....but i'll take what i can get
4. one of the bars in the United terminal sells Zeigenbach (one of my favorite beers...and you can only find it in tx)
5. luggage carousels very convenient and close to the gates

Cons:
1. dont even think about trying to get a cab if you arrive after 9pm.
2. as previously discussed, the security checkpoint is designed terribly.
3. rental car center is like 40 miles away
4. there is a tollbooth when you drive to the airport. i know it's a private road, but this bugs me. you shouldn't have to pay a toll to pick someone up at the airport
5. the terminals all share airlines, which is confusing. for example, american goes to multiple terminals, meaning you need to know which letter terminal you're in before you get there. A, B, C, D or E. Otherwise you have to take the AirTram, which isn't bad, but it can take some time.
6. the "chili's too" in terminal B doesn't have nachos (big thumbs down)
7. wireless isn't free
8. Major lack of electrical outlets. (this is a common problem in airports, i've noticed)
9. Terrible bathroom setup (except in the intl terminal). each bathroom has like 4 stalls, which just isn't enough. there's always a line.
10. the guy who is the ID checker at Terminal B security is (not lying) roughly 90 years old. i wonder how secure that is.....

that's all!

Dallas!

So this past week I was in Dallas for work and i know i've already discussed the Dallas Airport, at least i think i have..... anyway, i wanted to reiterate one thing that i LOVE about the Dallas Airport (at least in the B terminal, where united goes). Each gate has it's OWN BAGGAGE CLAIM area!!! (well, maybe every 2-3 gates share a claim carousel). as you can imagine this is awesome for about a million reasons. When you deplane, you walk directly across the hallway (approx 20 yards) and there is your claim carousel. Now when you compare this to the Denver airport it's like a dream come true. I have been able to go carry-on only since i moved, but the baggage claim in Denver is notorious for taking like 45 minutes (plus you have to ride a tram to get to anything). so the moral of the story is....when i got off my plane in Dallas, i literally walked 20 yards and there was the street (with one of my coworkers waiting for me) and i left immediately. it was awesome - i felt like a movie star. i mean....a low-paid, non-famous movie star. but i had been upgraded on my flight, which just added to my movie star feeling :)

One thing that i DISLIKE about Dallas (again, speaking only about Terminal B) is the security line (which i experienced on Wednesday evening). the way it's set up is just terrible. You stand in line, then you get to the tables & bins area (where you unpack all your stuff). now most airports have a steady line of tables, so you can just push your bins all in a row down towards the xray machine. however, dallas has this set up in 2 separate rooms. so you unpack all your crap and fill up the bins, take off yoru shoes, etc. then you have to carry all your crap to another room to put the bins in the machine. so since i have a lot of stuff (i carry 2 laptops, i have a baggie of liquids, shoes, jacket, phone, etc etc etc), i end up making like 2 or 3 trips back and forth. it's just a bad system. they need to just build a ledge or something so you can slide your stuff down and not have to pick it all up and move it.

last thing - i was originally supposed to fly back from DFW to DEN on thurs afternoon. then weds morning i got a call from United saying my flight was already so oversold that they were looking to rebook passengers on other flights. they gave me a few options, and i took the same flight but 1 day earlier. so my question is....how come they did this? usually dont they just wait and see who checks in then start dealing with oversold situation? i guess i should have bartered with her for some miles or something (to offset my huge inconvenience), but i really didn't care and i'm happy to go home a day early. i got to watch the 'lost' finale on my own couch, so that was good.

speaking of lost....if this turns out to be some alternate reality BS, i'm going to be pissed. also - when did juliet and jack start kissing? that was news to me...

that's all!! i'm home next week (MAY have to go down to phoenix for a day or two, but not sure yet). after that i have a hectic few weeks. have a great memorial day!!!

Boarding an Airplane

I've been meaning to post this for awhile, because it's one of those things that drives me crazy EVERY single time i get on a plane.

First of all, i hate the 'mad rush' hoard to board. I think it's incredibly annoying when they say 'first class only', and then like 50 people run up to the front. That bugs me.

Second, I hate when (on the occasion that i DO get upgraded) older business travelers try to push me out of the way bc they dont think i should be boarding with them. I've had lots of people say 'excuse me sweetheart (or 'honey'), this is only first class boarding', and i just say "yes, i'm aware, i'm in first class", then they scoff at their little friends like 'who is this little chippie'. now i realize i'm young(ish), but COME ON. be a bigger sexist asshole, will ya? jeez. also, i have to say that i feel worse for cara (my dear roommate) bc she looks like she's about 12 and she gets upgraded all the time and deals with this crap way more than i do (becuase i look much more mature....ha!). everytime i go anywhere with cara, she gets carded and i dont. which makes me feel like i'm about 90, but oh well. she's blessed with young-looking genes. and...she wears pajamas and a sweatshirt all the time, so they probably think i'm her babysitter. great.

third, this is my favorite thing to watch when people are boarding. i highly recommend that you try it out. it's serious entertainment. so when you board and are seated (this works particularly well if you're seated RIGHT behind the 1st class bulkhead - like in the first few rows of coach). people will look at their ticket to see their seat assignment, then look up at the numbers above the rows. they say (out loud), "ok honey we're in 24E & F". they look up and see that they're standing at row 5. then they walk towards the back of the plane and glance at the numbers above EVERY SEAT and then look back at their ticket. like, oh we're only at 6! oh this is 7! here's 8! i always want to just scream "THE NUMBERS ARE SEQUENTIAL!!! YOU ARENT THERE YET!! NO NEED TO LOOK AT THE NUMBER ABOVE EVERY SINGLE ROW!!!" anyway - this cracks me up. without fail....people do this on every flight i'm ever on.

fourth, i usually try to fall asleep before this one happens because it makes me angry with people. so you inevitably have the business travelers who board at the very last second. and they get ANGRY ANGRY when there is no room for their rollerbag. they roll their eyes and act all annoyed and really mean to the flight attendants. unfortunately, 99% of the time, it's a young-ish woman being a total biatch, which makes me HOPE that i dont ever do that (although i dont think i do) and i hope none of my friends do that.

finally, the broken reclining seat. so have you ever gotten to your seat and you sit down and realize that your chair is broken and doesn't have any tension left in the recline function? meaning, you sit and the chair flies backwards into 'reclining position'? this has happened to me twice now. and both times, the flight attendant comes by pre-take off and says 'sweetheard, put your seatback up', and i say 'its broken, it wont stay up', and they said 'ok well can you just keep it up for taxi and takeoff'? so the first time....i didn't really think much about it. but basically they're asking you to do an extended (um...10 minute) sit up. you have to sit upright (despite takeoff which always throws you backwards) and its TOUGH. the 2nd time i kind of ignored her and just relaxed (of course forcing the seat to lean back) and i got yelled at. i'm sure other people are posting on their blogs about how this annoying girl couldn't follow simple instructions, but that's fine. they're entitled to their opinions :)

flying to dallas on sunday - i will have more tales for you then. i'm sure they will involve the inhumanly long trek to the rental car facility in dallas. i mean...just bc you have lots of space in tx..doesn't mean you need to use it ALL.......

bye!!!

SAT Airport

I just returned home from a quick weekend in San Antonio. It was a last minute trip, but I had a great time. i can't remember if i have previously discussed the SA Airport, but i will do so here and you can all just ignore it if you've read it before.

Pros:
1. Las Palapas IN THE AIRPORT. Wow. For those of you who dont know. Las Palapas is the only real competition (in most of our minds) to Taco Cabana when you want some tacos. It's a local chain. I guess there is also Taco House, which is phenom, but is not a chain. Anyway, there is a Las Palapas in the airport (Term 2) which is just great and really makes my day. This same spot in the terminal used to have a Fuddruckers (phenomenal! they even had the pump cheese!).

2. Pretty Small, meaning you never have to like.....walk on 12 miles of moving walkways to get where you're going

3. not too far from our house

4. you can fly directly to lots of places in mexico. and from my experience, mexican airlines have GREAT food.

Cons: (take a seat....theres a few)
1. See #2 above. SMALL. while sometimes this is nice, it's usually pretty annoying. There are very few cities that fly directly to SA, so there is almost always a connection involved.

2. baggage takes forever. i think this is just a constant problem....no need to explain

3. terminal 1 REEKS of cinnabonn. it's really overwhelming.

4. terminal 1 has a looooooooong uphill ramp that you have to walk up to get to the gates (this is the round terminal for those of you who are in the know)

5. no premier lines for security. i know this is a particular pet peeve of mine. my mother actually said he hates standing in line with people (like me) who bitch about having to stand with the 'commoners'. so if you're ever in line with my mom, dont complain about the lack of status lanes :)

6. they are doing some work on the baggage area for term 1 and the passenger pick up lines are a MESS. you wont even believe it, so i wont try to explain.

7. i think they've been 'expanding' the airport for roughly 20 years. improvements are visible, but you really have to look.

Celebrity Spottings:
well there aren't a whole lot of celebs who live in SA (and i would assume that most of them would take private planes if at ALL possible). but i did see 1 once. this is so embarassing i can't beleive i'm even counting it. did anyone watch that show on MTV about 'little people'? and there was the blonde one who was kind of skanky but pretty attractive and watned to be an actress? yeah, i saw her. later i found out she performed at carmen electra's bachelorette party as a 'little person stripper'. so yeah, that's all i got for SA celebs seen at airport.

Trivia Answers!

1. 99.8%
2. 5.6%
3. Ulaan Baatar
4. Yap - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yap
5. Katharine Hepburn holds the record for winning the most Oscar awards for acting (at 4). However, Walt Disney holds the record for receiving as well as being nominated for the most Academy Awards. He won 22 competitive awards and received four honorary awards
6. 20%