okay. i'm going stir crazy. had my 3rd day off for this week. ended up at the mall again. got off on sale items at banana republic. went to lunch at pizzeria uno's and had a margarita to boot! ugh -- i've come to realize that this will be the end of me if i stay here any longer. i just keep eating and eating and eating ... blaccchhh! i feel like a cow.

right now is some really cheezy movie starring sylverster stalone. something about getting stuck in a tunnel after some kind of toxic explosion closing up both ends. of course, sly has to save the day.

i think i just made my last must have purchase of really unncessary (and expensive) things tonight. got me a pair of evisu jeans from some discount retailer for only $70. they retail usually for about $225+ and are really hard to find. from what i can figure out -- they're probably fake, but what the hell -- most people don't know what a real pair would look like, right??? we'll see as this is a UK based company that operates through a 3rd party to sell in US $'s.

off again today. feeling really lazy. i didn't get up early enough to hop on a plane to nyc this AM so i'm just sitting here in my hotel room surfing the web. went to the mall yesterday and bought little things ... $100 woth. of course i had to get a new pair of shoesat dsw. :-) i also caught in a movie. i thought it was fabulous!

today is my *friday* -- got the next 4 days off. hmm -- what am i to do??? it appears that dulles is hurting staff-wise again. i have some recurrent training module to complete now. hopefully i can complete it here while i'm in syracuse. i love my old station, but i really don't want to go back there unless i really have to.

started work early today at 4am. normally, i have major issues waking up that early, but i did it with relative ease. there was a major mishap on the ramp today. here in syracuse, they use a business partner to assist with the ramp services and confusion erupted. one of the skycaps took a look over through the window and just saw the entire crew just scurrying around looking confused. the pilot got quite irritated and i think we incurred a delay because of them. it was all a comedy of errors really. nothing shouldn't have happened because the crew today wasn't exactly *new*. either way, i'm sure some heads are going to roll because of this.

i get off around noon. i'll probably take a nap -- maybe i'll hop on a plane and go somewhere. we'll see. :-)

ahh -- syracuse. sitting here right now waiting for the 2nd flight of the day. like any sunday all the flights are full. the one thing that i have noticed here is that the customers aren't as needy as they are in the other stations. middle seat in the back ... "FINE!" the flight is, afterall, less than an hour to jfk. nothing else new to report.

it's sooooo cold here. eh -- it's only in the low 30's -- but after being in california for most of the summer, i've gotten used to it! work hours at the local station here are kinda spotty. tonight i was assigned a split shift from 2pm-5:30pm and then from 10:30pm-1:30am. i was pretty much done with what i needed to do before the flight arrived and i seem to have almost 2 hours with nothing really to do. (hence me typing this up right now at work.)

tomorrow is going to be a normal day from 9:30am-5:30pm. the shift will cover 2 flights. not bad, but i'm still thinking at a much more busier pace -- like 2 flights per hour! oh well -- i shouldn't complain. maybe i'll head onto the mall tomorrow evening.

back from a short trip to nyc on my days off this week. today was the first signifant snowfall of the season in syracuse. no accumulation of any sort, but it's barely 34 degrees right now and still flurrying. i'm am so NOT prepared for this kind of weather. i guess it's the newfound *california boy* in me speaking now. below is a pic of the view from my hotel room. it's cold!





last night i had my real first date with a guy in over 3 years. just dinner and drinks. it was nice. jayme is a nice guy. i hope to see him again soon.

still staying here at the wyndham in syracuse. they put a $400 credit hold on my check card for incidentals -- not cute. the staff is nice though and helping me sort things out. on the ride back from the airport, the driver said they would drive us around the vicinity. shopping malls, etc. that's something cool. at least i know i wouldn't be trapped in this place. nice people, but there's really nothing to do here. last saturday, went out with some of the guys and we literally drove around for over an hour to look for someplace to eat. we eventually found the chain restaurant row so to speak, but they were all jam packed at around 830pm! i guess that's the highlight of the week for the folks up here. oh well.

okay -- it works! yayyy.

i'm sitting here in my hotel room typing away on this wireless keyboard -- soo not easy to do. totally my fault for forgetting to bring my laptop. can't wait for it to come from OAK -- it should be arriving tomorrow.

had the longest flight in today - not because of time, but because of the freak 'difficult' cutomers who were sitting beside me. from the get go in oakland -- they had issues. after the fact, it was initially their seating assignments (not bad really - 26E & 26F - both together and one with a window -- it was just the last row). the main issue was that the lady's carry on was too big to fit in the immediate area and the flight attendant suggested she stow it in another row. the lady immediately became hostile and didn't want to part with her bag. an understandble thing -- but the flight attendant wasn't being particularly mean or evil either. things escalated to the point of aguing -- all the while causing a commotion onboard and the flight attendant giving up and calling an 'agent' to settle the problem. since i was flying with the pair (who were also sitting my row) i decided to lay low and let the ground crew settle the issue. by the time sandra came onboard an to the back -- the crazy lady proceeded to take her bag to were she was initially suggest to place it and chose to sit directly under it. mind you -- the flght was full and the seat was occupied by another gentleman was just at that moment coming to claim his seat! she had to be told to move back -- not an easy task, but she did it. during the flight -- the said couple decided to be even more rude and ignore any / all questions from the flight attendants (requests for snacks and drinks). it was just a comical situation throughout. most especially when she would't even give up her bag and asked to be moved to 'business class'. to bad jetblue is 100% coach. needless to say, they kept complaining most of the flight -- i tried to sleep -- i think i was able to get about 3 hours in. :-)

syracuse is nice -- i guess. way too 'country' for me. not in a bad way, mind you -- it's just the 'city' boy in me talking. our work schedule is so incredibly easy -- it's ridiculous -- basically just working 1 flight in a given shift of 8 hrs. i might go crazy with the amount of time on my hands. we'l see.

okay -- this is going to be a little challening. i'm using this tv internet thinggy in the hotel i'm staying at in syracuse ... just testing this out to see if i'm doing it right or i'l be really pissed if i type a whole novel or something and it doesn't save!

visited GHETTO wal-mart today. this particular one was in a place called san leandro -- near the oakland airport. the store was super crowded with just about every register ringing. one line had a woman with about 4 carts full of *house* stuff (laundry soap, clorox, paper towels, etc.). just about all 20+ lanes were backed up about 10+ people deep. some little woman came up and kept exlaiming, "EXCUSE ME! EXCUSE ME!" while pushing her way thru. everyone thought she was just being bold and meeting up with someone who merely saved her place in line. apparently she was trying to get up to the front to where the line splits. the people already in line weren't having it ... at all!!! voices escalated. necks were shaking. hands and heads were swerving. she eventually got out of line and did the same thing over on the other side. all the while -- still shouting at the original people she started arguing with. as everyone was leaving the store -- line cutting lady proceeded to STILL argue and name call and finger point. she then attemped to run one of the people down with her push cart. to add more chaos to the situation -- some rock band was playing out in the parking lot just making the whole ordeal MESSY!!! ahh -- the things in life that i consider exciting.

back in oakland -- it's freezing tonight. relatively ~~ it's about 52 degrees really. stuck in the airport waiting for the arrival of the last flight in from nyc. the airport is dead and the a/c is running full blast with the cool temperature outside as well.

the station staffing issue is going crazy again. apparently about 4 senior people here are either suspended or fired for stupid reasons on their part. i think bluecorp is coming to lend a helping hand. on wednesday, though, a few dozen folks from all over will be decending into the station for a few training classes. i think i'm off to syracuse at the end of the week. that'll be interesting. someplace new to visit!!!

taking the bus home tonight. gonna try to make the 1:41am one. ugh.

just got back from the castro street fair. had a good time and spent it with mark and antonio. it was nowhere near as crazy as last week. no stray 'brownies' or other assorted baked goods. all-in-all, the day was very tame -- just very crowded and very gay. things appeared more in control in terms of crowds and stuff at folsom last week tho.



getting ready tonight to go to dc and get some personal stuff like get my storage space in order. it's been like 3 months and i haven't touched it! i should probably get some winter things out and ready for upcoming season. after dc -- it's off to new york to make a presentation to all of jetblue's general managers. i wouldn't normally be stressed out -- but the presentation that my work group needs to make STILL needs to be figure out. if we proceed on as planned -- we'll only have one day to prepare. ugh. i hate not being in control -- not that i'm a control freak!