of course nothing could go 'normal' today! our oakland flight (the last one for the day) is coming in 3 hours late. apparently medical emergencies and weather related issues - nothing really that out of the ordinary. in order to make up the late arrival of the one flight, our system ops schedules a ferry flight direct from jfk to fly to take it's place. it only HAD to arrive during the same time we had another plane on the ground -- dual ops once again. once the last flight left on schedule we were all set for a 3 hour break to wait for the late arrival from oakland. *** ring **** our general manager gets a phone call that we're receiving a diverted flight from jfk that was en route to west palm beach. uh -- can you say 6 planes on the ground when we were originally scheduled for 3? top that off with some staffing call outs on the ramp and on the gate side. it was challenging but we pulled through. luckily my boss said most of us could go before the late flight arrival. i'm tired -- but i'm still going out later. woo-hoo!

i'm so beat down tired. this week was a killer. yesterday there was a major delay from the morning that carried over onto the PM shift. it was tough but all 4 flights were turned around and sent off in less than 45 minutes each. that's a major feat! today i just found out that we're still being affected by the delays and that we are getting a ferry flight from jfk to make up our oakland flight (which is coming in LATE). what else is new??? it doesn't matter -- i'm still going to nation regardless! :-)

48+ hours since i've been home!

major snow storm in new york -- closed down jfk for most of the evening on christmas. uh .... we got 5 diverted aircraft! not pretty. what we thought were going to be gas and go's ended up being gas and try to go but let's just hang out in the airport and stay stuck for a few hours!!! one of the flights actually had to terminate in dulles because the crew became 'illegal'. that is, they exceeded their allotted amount of time for flying as per faa blah blah blah. sigh. imagine trying to deal with a planeload of people in washington-dulles who were originally scheduled to fly from burlington, vt to jfk. the scheduled flight is only supposed to be less than 45 minutes!!! "good evening folks! welcome to washington-dulles! we're about 5+ hours driving distance away and you will have to stay overnight." moreso NOT pretty. we handled the drama pretty well. just a lot of frustrated people on christmas day. weather is amazing, isn't it?

we didn't end the evening until about 2am. bill put a lot of us up at a local hotel and i literally didn't get up until about an hour before i had to report back to work. i was broke down tired -- no kidding. of course we had to go through the after effects of the cancellations from the day before. our originally scheduled last flight of the evening ended up being the FIRST one out tonight. the rest you can figure out yourself. i had to ask for special permission to leave by 10:30pm so i could catch the last metro train home. (i'm driving the big BOAT ya know!)

merry christmas ... to me?

had dual ops (again) today. i was assigned to the ramp -- of course it had to snow about 3 inches during my shift as well! it was all good. we've got a great team at dulles -- it all worked out alright.... de-icing fluid and frostbite and all! :-)

after work bill took me, na-shawn, lawrence, and racquel out to eat. we went to this place called the amphora diner. it used to be an old silver diner -- but apparently is family/locally owned now. it was decent -- i had me some steak and eggs! umm umm good. we were all tired and bill wanted to show his appreciation for all of the hard work put in today. bill took me home -- at least to the metro tonight. it's always nice to spend some 'quality' time with my boss. it's geeky i guess -- but he's a great guy and i admire him a lot.

i'm all by myself tonight at the condo. my cousin rolando is gone to texas somewhere. i'm still not talking w/ the 'rents. as a matter of fact -- i think my dad may have left a message. he's so not into confrontations -- i'm sure he's not very happy because of my drama. if ever i should feel bad -- it's should be for him. i'm just not up to hearing it or anything from the family right now. i feel bad about this whole situation but i just need a little time out for.

i didn't go to new york. stupid me didn't realize it until i was already in the airport that i didn't have the right pass to travel to la guardia on us airways! i tried to 'work' it with some passes to go to LA but the agent wouldn't let me do it. i then walked down to midwest express and they had a flight with a connection to la guardia via milwaukee. it wouldn't have gotten me there until after 10:00 pm. no thanks. i wasn't THAT pressed to get to new york. i should have woken up eariler and gotten my act together. other airlines work differently. in jetblue's case -- since we're totally electronic, we can essentially rebook anything because in the long run -- it's still a non-revenue travel pass. oh well. i could've simply flown on us to ft. lauderdale and then up to jfk, but it was too much trouble to wake up that early and go all the way to to dulles. :-)

i didn't do anything today except finish up a couple loads of laundry (that still need to be folded) and sleep and watch tv when i got back from my unsucessful trek to the airport. i think i just needed to veg. out for a bit ya know? i took the train to the airport in vain but the one thing to note today was that the metro had these special 'themed' rail cars decorated with christmas stuff. in the particular car i was in -- it had a full on christmas tree with presents; a snowman, and a boat with xmas lights on it in place of a sail ... all in places where you'd normally see seats and benches. all of the ads were covered up and the had some faux painted snow and garland all over the place. it was quite festive. i took some pictures and it was just cool and unexpected to see on a subway car. it was also nice to see the amusement of some of the riders today as well. kinda brought my spirits up if just for a fleeting moment.

oh yeah -- last thing ... my boss is the coolest guy around. he let me borrow his own car for the past month! in the meantime he's been driving his dad's lincoln town car. it's basically a TANK and i think he simply couldn't take the crazy gas cosumption. he basically told me to trade it out NOW! he's right -- but i'm still gratefull he's letting me use the car while i'm still in town. ahh - january 15th ... tampa ... if it could only be sooner.

i'm so deliriously tired that i CAN'T go to sleep!?! we had dual operations at work today (2 planes on the ground). yesterday we had triple ops -- and that was the first time i worked a full ramp shift in 6 months!!! mind you -- we're only set up as a working crew to handle 1 flight at a time!!! it's the holidays. everyone's traveling. people are 'nice' [not]. lot's of heavy bags ... an airline employees greatest joy! oh yeah -- the oakland station managed to misload another cart of bags to us today. oh well -- we just did the same thing for today's long beach flight. .



now let's see -- catching up ....


this past thursday night (i think) was our work holiday party. it was nice -- nothing fancy but dinner at a local hotel and lots and lots of prize giveaways. i won a 2 night hotel stay in ft. lauderdale. i also got a $25 gift card for starbucks from my secret santa. yum yum. i had to do a double shift the next day and of course, silly me --- i decide to drive all the way home to simply waste an hour or so online and end up taking an hour nap to simply haul my ass back to work. wait -- night was triple ops night (see above)! not cute.



was going through my emails and found out that one of my favorite music fan sites up still up and running.

too bad madonna doesn't feel like sharing her copywrited works with the rest of the world to down load for free! man -- this was one of the best places to download remixes and cool music clips.



here's a cool company website. traktor -- they made madonna's video for 'die another day' among other things. the sight actually contains links to view their works (commericals and music videos). they also made that crazy video for the basement jaxx ("where's your head at").



check it out!



okay -- it's 2:40am and i'm doing laundry! i think i'm actually going to go to nyc in the morning. i need some time away from here! was supposed to go up with glen but he didn't get to make it down here. we were going to go the long way by connecting to jfk via fort lauderale. that way he could have flown jetblue for free. now that he's not here -- i'll just use up my usairways pass. much easier!

shit has literally hit the fan with the 'rents. in hindsight -- i was really evil in my response to my mom but long overdue for not being said in the first place. drama bit #1.

work went okay today. really busy as people are filling up the flights with typical holiday travel. lots of bags -- heavy bags! there was an altercation with one of the agents and a customer today. it got to the point where the customer who missed her flight called the agent a bitch and she (the agent) wasn't the type to let customers get the upper hand no matter what. major arguement ensued and the customer stormed off. meanwhile -- the said customer left her id at the counter. when she returned to retrieve it -- the agent was with another customer and proceeded to ignore the original lady! i had to step in and tell the agent to let it alone. customer service 101 states the customer is always right, right??? jetblue is so not about being like anyone else -- it could have been handled a lot differently for sure! drama bit #2.

rolando, my roomate, gives me a call that he is driving down the highway on a flat tire! uh, "where's your spare?" "i don't have one!" drama bit #3.

ahh -- drama is great isn't it?

12 hours later -- i'm tired. the ramp was cold. the elements are NOT fierce.

did leave work til after 1:30 am today. got wrapped up in responding to an email from my mom. not going to go into details -- but i basically explained why i'm such a putz with money and i think i outed myself in the process. she did the typical parent guilt thing. i did the typical throw it back at ya thing. it wasn't pretty. we'll see what the outcome will be in the morning.

i'm working the ramp today at work. it's been like almost 6 months or so i think. i am after all cross-trained. i guess i need to keep up my 'skillz'.

thank goodness the weather is nice and clear. going to be kinda chilly tonight, but at least there isn't adverse weather that may cause delays. being wet on the ramp in the cold is not cute.

been back home at dulles for over a month now. i'm getting kinda stir crazy. i love my home station and all, but i need to get around ... figuratively ... uh, maybe not. :-)

still not ready for christmas -- our holiday party is this coming thursday. don't know what to get my secret santa yet.

it's almost 3am -- i'm like drunk ... really drunk. hmmm. well -- not really. i was able to drive home but that's another story.

had a great time @ jr's tonight. met up with rolando and billy. was supposed to end up at lizard lounged but didn't. franklin and i kept carrying on and flirting (on purpose) to the bar staff and dj mark. it was fun. franklin got an unwanted advance from some guy -- it wasn't appreciated. meanwhile -- how come i don't get any unwanted or wanted advances at all.

franklin persuaded me to get my ass out of the house last night and i went off to jr's at 1:00am! it was fun -- just funny seeing people i normally hang out there already drunk and i wasn't! (am i that messy when i get to drinking to?)

it was a totally beautiful day today and i didn't get my ass outta bed until 1:30pm. ahh the life. i just went out to get my haircut and and had a late lunch at chipotle in bethesda. yum yum. (they have a great website too!)

i'm constantly on the computer and going back to my nerd / dork / ... and now GEEK mode -- i'm forever trying to do new things with it. this weblog for instance. online discussion groups on yahoo! and msn. my own webpage for that matter! i spent the better part of last night (and the better part of the past few nights at work) configuring my personal email service with OUTLOOK and the computers at work. i use OUTLOOK EXPRESS at home and found out that i could sync up my yahoo! online address book with my OUTLOOK EXPRESS address book -- much like you sync up information with a PDA or palm pilot. needless to say -- i did it but i ended up erasing and overwriting the wrong set of information!

i'm definitely going out tonight. had a lot of fun last week at jrs and lizard lounge. it was nice to see skippy. totally there in his 'old school' mode promoting things this time for his and his lover's furniture store. he was always a fun character -- even during his drugged out club kid days! lots of cuties out that night too. hmm. damn -- i need to hook up soon.

tonight's the WHITE PARTY at nation. billy is here and rolando i'm sure is going to make himself go out with him to the clubs. i'm not really in the mood, but it would be nice to at least hang out at jr's -- been home and working all this week. kinda getting stir crazy. i just don't have any $$$. this is just not going to be a cool christmas.

work was okay tonight. did the ticket counter today. our loads weren't that heavy -- just a lot of people taking on a lot of luggage. i'm just wondering what the REAL holiday week will be in the next couple of days!!!

i need a haircut!

NERD ALERT #2 -- just got back from the midnight showing of STAR TREK: NEMESIS. actually -- too many nerdisms this week. just call me a DORK. i was like totally pressed to see it. so much so -- i even bought advance tickets and pre-printed our passes online! the theater wasn't crowded at all. eventually ended up going to the multiplex cinemas at reston town center. carlos was disappointed that it wasn't stadium seating. it's okay -- this particular theater was hi-tech back in the day because of it's reclining seats tho! in any case, luckily carlos from work went with me. i wasn't the only nerd there. it's 3:53 am -- 'nuff said. ;-)

okay -- i'm more of a nerd. me and my anal retentive mentality ... (i recently upgraded this weblog to include pictures and stuff) -- i can't update any posts that have been sent to the archives. ugh. just when i started to get all creative and shit. it's time to start a new day at jetblue. la la la ...

anything happen new and interesting??? well -- i am to assume that i'm not being sent to BTV (burlington, vt) as part of a new bluecorp assignment. not a big deal -- it's cold up there! the day was busy yesterday. we had a major ice storm in the AM yesterday and a lot of the flights were delayed. when the PM shift rolled in -- we had a few call outs and of course we were SLAMMED. the counter was busy and of course if a problem had to occur -- it happened. some customer slipped and hit her head against the floor. the lady went to the hospital and everything! mike w. attended to her at the height of the lines. well at least being busy makes time fly by!

i was just assigned to work the gates. i'm off .... for now.

i'm a total nerd. spend the better part of the late evening and early morning configuring my email account(s) to read through Outlook at work. After that I went through my ENTIRE work email backlog and started deleting and filing away important notes. I have such a life, huh??? Meanwhile -- it's 3:46 am and I'm still at work. I guess I'm staying for the AM shift and doing a double.

just got back from an evening at jr's and lizard lounge.



i actually went out with my cousin rolando this evening. it's amazing --- he NEVER goes out to the bars let alone stay this late. we had fun tho. met up with franklin and ty. we were actually at denny's a little while ago. country fried steak and eggs -- mmm mmm good @ 3:00am! :-)

at work right now. staring at the crowds in the airport concourse. not busy at all today! the flight is coming in a few minutes and i thought i'd get in a few words before 'all hell breaks lose'. lol -- not really -- HOPEFULLY!!!

i ate way too much today. i love me some baja fresh. that chocolate malted shake from ben & jerry's didn't help much either. :-)



weather today is okay. cleared up a lot but still lots of snow and ice on the ground. what did melt during the day though has is about to ice up big time later on this evening. that'll be fun.

oops -- got a call that the plane is on the ground. gotta run.

okay -- it's friday night. long but pleasant day at work nonetheless. had a few minor issues and delays -- but nothing that couldn't be avoided nor worked around. drama was more or less from yesterday....

as from my last posting -- i wrote that at the jetblue ticket counter in jfk. it was in the middle of the big northeastern snow storm and i was kinda sneaking in computer time to check my emails, etc. some of the agents there thought i was some covert FAA agent or something and eventually questioned me after the fact. i did, afterall, ask to use the computer!!! anyway -- it wasn't until after 3:00 that i found out that ALL united of the flights to dulles were cancelled. i ended up taking a bus and having to go to la guardia -- something that i didn't want to do anyway. but then again -- if i left from la guardia -- i'd end up at the airport where the car was parked. go figure! i was just being lazy. in either case -- i would've been delayed until then because us airways had all but 2 of their dc shuttle cancelled yesterday. thank goodness, i got on the last one. needless to say, i got home around 10:00pm -- a full 12 hours after i started my airport adventure.

oh yeah -- as another addendum to yesterday. i had the WORST hangover from my shenanigans the night before. mind you, i never ... well actually, hadly ever get so drunk that i get hangovers the next day. it wasn't cute. i think i had about 7 or 8 cosmopolitans (on the rocks). the longer we stayed, the more we drank, the more we tipped, the STRONGER the drinks! woo-hoo. i don't think we left there until 3am or so. i think we got there around 6pm. oh well.

it's late -- i better head on home now. i'm kinda hungry too. where should i go??? ugh -- i'm soooooooooo fat. whatever it is - it'll be good! :-)

hmmm -- the system had been 'down' for a couple of days. finally it's back!

it's sooooo cold right now. i'm going to nyc in the am -- i know it's gonna be a killer. but hey -- i need a break, ya know?!?

i'm such a dork right now. been playing online MONOPOLY on Games.com. been doing it for the past 4 hours! oh well -- entertainment is cheap ya know???

argh -- this isn't working ... and i just paid for an upgrade too!