Random updates

It's been a while since I've posted and I have a lot to talk about. First and foremost, my trip to L.A....on my previous posting my title is "L.A., we LOVE it". Well, after my experience there, I will be changing it to "L.A., we HATE it"! It was a crazy weekend with my friend SW. First, I get to the airport in KC and I'm in the "A" group on Southwest. I hate Southwest, but they are cheap. There are these two incredibly creepy women in line in front of me in the cattle call. They are clearly twins. They are also in their mid 40's. However, I really knew they were twins because they were dressed exactly alike!!!! EW! Who does that besides 5 year olds?!!! They had on the same outfit, the same hair and the same so-called accessories. They proceeded to take turns screaming into what appeared to be a shared cell phone...and I couldn't seem to get away from the creepy twins the entire ride out there. They somehow ended up next to me every time I turned around - especially in baggage claim. Again, EW!

I finally get there, no issues. End up having to rent a car as the resort SW was staying at turned out to be in Laguna Beach which is a fair distance from L.A. So I drive down there and made pretty good time for L.A. traffic. We are staying at the amazing resort - see picture in posting below. However the service was AWFUL. It was absolutely unreal.

Then, there were just some crazy experiences - for example: we go to dinner at this restaurant that is also a beach club for Laguna Beach residents only - however hotel guests can eat there. You have to take a little shuttle from the hotel down to the restaurant as it's right on the beach. Dinner was great, we had a table outside - lovely. Our shuttle was a multi-passenger golf cart. On our way back to the hotel, we had to go through the golf course path to get to the hotel. The sprinklers were on and one of them was turned so it was pointed directly at the path. Our cart passes right through it! We all get SOAKED! Which was funny, except not. Our poor little driver guy managed to turn his head right as we were going past the sprinkler and got shot right in the eye! Poor kid!

We finally get back to the hotel and there are a ton of people there for two very bizarre reasons: 1. the president of Vietnam was there for a big event and there were tons of protesters across the street with bullhorns, screaming and yelling. There were also Secret Service guys, snipers on the roof and helicopters swarming around...I kept thinking, am I really in Laguna or in Compton? 2. Chris Isaak was there performing on the main lawn for a benefit concert. As it was right outside our room, free concert for us!

The next day we leave the resort and drive back to L.A. via the Pacific Coast Highway, which is beautiful, provided you are not stuck in traffic, which we were. We finally get back up to L.A. and we are staying at the Biltmore. When I think of the Biltmore, I think of very fancy hotels, old money and a lot of history. This place was a dump. It was awful. Might have been a step up from a Motel 6. Not what I was expecting from a Biltmore. Now my friend SW works in the travel industry and she was NOT having it. So we ended up getting upgraded - I took serious notes while she was working the front desk manager! We are now on the "club floor" yet we really can't tell a difference. Whatever, for me it's only for a night - for her, it was 5 nights. Ugh.

That night we go to Santa Monica to walk around and we have a lovely time. The next day I have to leave. I leave for the airport a little over 2 hours early. Note to anyone flying in/out of L.A.X. - first of all, DON'T DO IT! Avoid it like the plague! If you can't, my advice is to get there EARLY - and I mean EARLY. I am taking the rental car back and there are not any gas stations near the airport or return area...so by the time I get to the terminal it's an hour and a 1/2 prior to my flight. I'm on the dreaded Southwest airlines and I've already checked in to the "A" group (thanks Mom) for a straight shot home...or so I think.

The terminal is backed up with lines snaking down and outside of the terminal. I don't have my boarding pass and had planned on checking my bag, so I try to find the right line - I end up deciding to use one of the kiosks and consolidate my bags down to carry-on, which means I have to throw out my toiletries (not happy). Then I have to get in the security line...the end of which is OUTSIDE AND HALFWAY TO THE OTHER TERMINAL! I kid you not. Then, all of the sudden, 8 fire trucks and other emergencies vehicles show up, bomb dogs and police everywhere. The terminal gets shut down because supposedly some lovely person decided to jump security and then the sprinkler system went off and no one could figure out of the two incidences were related. So, needless to say it was BEDLAM! I'm on the phone with Southwest telling them the terminal is closed and what is going to happen with me trying to make my flight. They claim they have no information that says the terminal is closed and my flight is still on time. Well, needless to say, by the time I could fight my way through the crowds, I missed my flight. Everyone missed flights so now we are all back in more lines fighting to get on rerouted flights. I call Southwest again and finally get on another flight but because they don't have kiosks in the terminal, I have to wait in yet another huge line to get my new "C" group boarding passes. Have I mentioned I hate Southwest. THEN, my new flight has a connection in Phoenix. By the time we get to Phoenix, we line up again and it turns out they have two flights arriving at the same time at the same gate and those going to KC will get the new gate. Then they won't tell us the new gate and our incoming plane gets delayed! Then finally tell us the new gate and it's the 500 yard dash to get back in a line again!!! By this point, I'm dead. I've been standing outside in the heat and the sun of L.A. for 3 hours - I'm sunburned, I'm exhausted, I've had nothing to eat since breakfast and I'm sweating my ass off. We finally leave for KC and I don't get home until 1am on a Sunday!!! Completely and totally shattered. I HATE L.A.

So I get to work on Monday late and I return to my desk after some meetings to see that I have a voice message on my cell phone...from my mom's cell phone. My mom doesn't use her cell phone, ever. I'm not really sure why she has one, until Monday. Turns out my Pawpaw has had a stroke and my poor mom found him. She called me from her cell phone on the way to the hospital. It's been a difficult week as he's still in ICU and we really don't know what is going to happen. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers.

The icing on the cake for me was Friday I had my accounting final. Yes, I know, you are all probably glad the 6 week accounting course is over too, just so I will stop complaining about it. Well, the final was HARD. I really hope that I scored well enough to keep my "A". I started my human resources class today, which I'm actually excited about.

My grad school team, if you remember, was sort of forced in to taking an additional member, one we definitely didn't want. Well, basically he did nothing for our accounting class. What he produced for our team case study and presentation was not only late, but was not quality MBA level. I ended up having to write his entire part over the night before and THEN he proceeded to READ my entire paper in the presentation instead of taking a few bullets and extrapolating. All I ever heard from him throughout the entire course was that he didn't have time, didn't have our phone numbers or emails, excuses, excuses. So, the entire team, including him, had agreed to stay late after our class on Saturday afternoon to determine the assignments, etc. The professor let the class go 20 minutes prior to the end and new team member comes up and says he's got a family thing and he's leaving. What the hell am I supposed to say? So the rest of the team and I basically decide we are cutting him off and out. If he wants to contribute then we will let him in, but we aren't giving him any help what-so-ever. I'm just so frustrated. It's clear this guy is not engaged and seemed content to ride our coattails. He turned in crappy late work! And we are all just waiting for a class that has more teamwork - the HR class is 90% individual - to tell him that we don't want him in our group anymore. We are all hoping that he will simply quit. This was the guy that the very first class I got paired up with him and he couldn't figure out how to use the search function in acrobat. I was annoyed with him from the get-go. Now I'm just pissed off. If he feels a "B" is acceptable for him great - but don't be screwing my "A". So there!

I am happy to be home and back in the swing of things at work. No plans for the 4th...especially as it falls on a Wednesday this year. I will more than likely spend it studying. You know you're jealous.

L.A.! We LOVE it!

For those of you that might remember the obscure 80s movie - Gotcha! my title: L.A.! We LOVE it is from a scene in that movie. If you haven't seen it or don't remember it, Anthony Edwards (aka Goose from Top Gun) stars in this movie right after he did The Sure Thing (another greatest 80s movie of all time) with John Cusak. I loved Gotcha! - it was a fun movie.

My point in referencing that - other than the trip down memory lane - is I am headed to L.A. this weekend. I'm meeting up with a former vendor/now friend of mine who I just love, SW. She's a blast so I know this weekend will be nothing but fast talking gossip and fun. Because she is out there on business, I get to reap the benefits as well. I am staying at the St. Regis in Dana Point, right on the beach. It's times like these that I miss my old job...staying in 5 star hotels, going to amazing resorts and locations. Sigh...

On the plane ride out there, I am going to be studying lovely accounting. I've resigned myself to getting a "B", which sucks as my company will only reimburse 100% if you get an "A". Way to reinforce the "loser" feelings guys.

My latest attempt in the weight loss arena is...da da dahhhhhh...I've signed up for tennis lessons. I know - for those of you that know me, I'm not exactly athletic. There are days I'm surprised I can drive a stick shift for all the hand/eye coordination I have. So this ought to be either a lot of fun or a great big giant laugh at my expense. I'm taking lessons with my friend JS. She's going to be all decked out in her tiny little tennis skirts looking cute. I, on the other hand, refuse to allow these thunder thighs to see the light of day and they will be ensconced like the fat sausages they are in appropriate work-out wear for the chubby. I don't want to scare my new teachers or tennis-mates, as, I'm sure they will be scared enough by my lack of skill! Wish me luck!

Paul Potts Rocks!!!

I have a serious case of the "I don't wannas". I don't wanna study for accounting. I've managed thus far by the skin of my teeth and through some serious help from my teammates. I shudder to think about what the final exam is going to do to me. We have a total of 900 points and the final is 200 of those 900!!! Even if I have perfect marks going into the final, I still have to do reasonably well to pull an "A". Reading the damn textbook is like reading stereo instructions.

My next course is Human Resources - at least I can BS my way through it, although I worry that the team and the class will look to me as the subject matter expert as I am in HR, however, I have no idea what I'm doing - both in class and in my job! I'm not saying its rocket science, but there are complexities to it that unless you have some foundation in HR, you might be a bit lost - as am I! Especially when it comes to what I am allowed to do. I have a tertiary understanding of the US regulations just due to working in the environment, no clue about our other countries. I'm trying to put together offer packages for people in the UK and Germany...thank God for my colleagues, I just hate being the ignorant loser out of the bunch.

I met my new boss today. Yes, she is young. We had a quick "hallway" chat today and have a real meeting tomorrow. She mentioned something about my heading over to Europe soon to meet with the peeps based there...I'm kind of excited in spite of my loathing to travel as one of the places to go is Paris! Woot Woot! I've only been to the south of France, I've never been to Paris - so that will be totally fun!

Update on the underdog Paul Potts - HE WON!!! He won Britain's Got Talent!!! He gets 100,000 pounds and gets to perform for the Queen!!! Hooray for the underdog!!!

Reality - My Favs

My favorite show right now is So You Think You Can Dance. Here are my two favorite couples:

Anya & Pasha


Lacey & Kameron


For those of you that may have seen this guy on GMA this morning, Paul Potts from Britain's Got Talent, he made me cry. From the looks of him, you would think you were going to see another William Hung, Paul Potts has got talent.

TAG!

Instructions:

Remove the blog from the top, move all blogs up one, add yourself to the bottom.
Absolutely Bananas
Smiling Mom
Playgroups Are No Place For Children
Scenic Overlook
Baby In The Corner

What were you doing 10 years ago?

10 years ago I was getting ready to move to Japan to teach English as a Second Language for what I thought would be only for one year which turned into three. My lease in NYC was up and I moved to the lovely Garden State of New Yersey (yes, I spelled that phonetically) to live on the floor of a basement apartment with my girlfriend DD. I was dating someone, the one that I used to play the "what if" game about for years after leaving.

Five Snacks You Enjoy

1. Popcorn
2. Cheetos
3. Chips and Salsa
4. Ding Dongs
5. Fig Newtons

Five Songs That You Know All The Lyrics To:

1. It Takes Two by Rob Base
2. Open Arms by Journey
3. Welcome to the Jungle by GNR
4. Mama Said Knock You Out by LL Cool J
5. Nothin’ But a G Thing by Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg

Five Things You Would Do If You Were a Millionaire:

1. Pay off all debts
2. Quit job
3. Go on holiday
4. Go on holiday
5. Go on holiday

Five bad habits:

1. Potty Mouth
2. Picking at my nails and the nail bed
3. Belching loudly (I could win the Nickelodeon contest)
4. Shopping when I’m bored
5. Road Rage

Five Things You Like To Do:

1. Sleep
2. Read
3. Watch TV
4. Eat bad for me food
5. A whole lot of nothing

Five Things You Would Never Wear Again:

1. A size 2
2. Acid Wash Jeans with Zippers & Bows at the Ankle
3. Neon
4. Shoulder Pads
5. Jellies

Five Favorite Toys:

1. Tivo
2. iPod
3. Laptop
4. The Cats
5. Digital Camera

I'm supposed to tag 5 people, I'll let you tag yourselves. Have fun!

Rehab - I said Yes Yes Yes

I am still completely shattered from my experience last week...so tired. I'd been trying to keep up with my real job while I was away last week and I wasn't so successful. So I went in early this morning - got there at 7am to try to catch up...by the time I took a breath it was already noon! Barely had time to snarf down some lunch before I was off and running again.

I am thankful that my boss said I can take some comp time for last week, so I'm going in late tomorrow. I'm going to divvy it up over the week...I have too much going on to take a full day.

I'm so sick of thinking about doctors and hospitals and today I get a letter from my GP saying she's no longer going to be seeing patients. That she's moving in a different direction...no idea what that means except I'm ticked! It's took me FOREVER to find her and now she's leaving me?!!! Two very important people in my life that took me such a long time to find were my hair stylist and my doctor! Now I have to start all over again with a new doc. Pain in the ass.

My former work husband, J, sees a doc he calls Dr. Feelgood who will write a scrip for just about anything...maybe finding a new doc won't be such a bad thing. Vicodin here I come! Woot Woot! Rehab is the "in" thing you know. Well, that and prison...but I can only follow the trends so far...