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Pity Party? nah! Posted 10/8/2006 10:25:10 PM I'm really not much of a blogger, I guess. I stop by on occasion and read other's blogs- does that make me a voyeur of sorts? Actually, I think I'm not much of an anything right now... just on hiatus from myself. Okay, that's much too self absorbed. Tonight I'll give glimpse of one of the things that occupies my time & is on my mind... I'm concerned about the fate of my gaming team. We spend a couple of hours a night with each other on comms, playing a first person shooter game online. But, it's more than that: we're almost like a family. We've been through lots of ups & downs in the last 5 years. However, it seems apathy is setting in and I think that's probably the worst enemy to date. We need to breathe new life in, but I'm at a loss to encourage it. Reminded of that ol' story: ...about four people named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, and Nobody. There was an important job to be done and Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it. Somebody got angry about this, because it was Everybody's job. Everybody thought Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn't do it. It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have done. but.. just read a different last line to it... It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when actually Nobody asked Anybody. So, maybe I need to be a Somebody, and ask Everybody to do anything. Today's sermon was about how more can be accomplished as a team working towards a goal than can be by an individual. But, maybe it takes an individual to motivate the team. hmmmm. points to ponder. Others: As my Welsh friend, Peter said, "Hope everyone has a great day commemorating the guy who missed his destination; not once, but four times; refused to believe he hadn't he made it; and died not knowing he was wrong". Happy Columbus Day! And a favourite quote: "In spite of all evidence to the contrary, the entire universe is composed of only two basic substances: Magic and bullshit." and lastly: the one sentence that will fit all situations : "This too shall pass." (4) Comments

Travel Rant Posted 8/1/2006 7:22:18 AM My first blog on newblog... wooohooo! I'm still recovering from my trip to Denver for the ServiceMaster National Conference. I had a great time: learned a lot of new information, met new friends, had new experiences, etc. I'll hope to get back to chronicling some of those events another day. My primary focus today is to belittle United Airlines, particularly at the Dallas/Ft. Worth airport. Sunday morning at 5:20am I checked out of the Hyatt Regency hotel in Denver and rode the Super Shuttle to Denver airport. Checkin was uneventful and other than long lines for security, relatively painless. I did some souvenir shopping for some family members and bought myself a beautiful pair of lapiz lazuli earrings to commemorate the trip. My flight was scheduled to leave at 8:31am. I killed a bit more time eating breakfast and people watching. At 8:05 I boarded the airplane. I had the middle seat but as 8:31 approached noone had taken the aisle and I was starting to get hopeful. 8:31 came & went but still we weren't getting underway. Hmm. 10 minutes passed and there was commotion at the door to the plane. Drats! The seat was filled by a rather sweet older woman who was returning from a wedding in Idaho. Her husband was the minister for the ceremony of a former parishoner and United had held the flight for their delayed connection. No worries said our pilot, he'd be able to make up the time in the air. I settled in to catnap, and chat with my new "friend". 11:20 we were at the gate. :) My connecting flight to Dulles International in Washington would have begun boarding, but wasn't scheduled to depart until 11:55. Plenty of time... especially since we had arrived at gate 28 and the connection was going out of gate 30. Seatbelt sign was turned off, everyone started gathering luggage and filling the aisle. hmmm... no one was moving. 11:25 an apology from the captain, there was "technical" problems but they were working on them and it should be resolved in a couple of minutes. 11:30 perhaps we'd like to take a seat. 11:35 ahh.. for some reason they can't get the jetway to connect to the plane. 11:40 another apology 11:45 we're going to have to be moved to another gate. Meanwhile, I've seen my luggage removed from this plane & the cart moved to the plane at gate 30. 11:50 cleared to move to the new gate 11:55 about to deplane 12:02 at Gate 30. The plane has left. Next flight out is not until 4:51 and I'll have to go out of the secured area, back to the ticketing agent to see if I can get onboard. *grrowl* Okay... I have some questions. First: why wasn't the plane held 7 minutes? They had to know we were on the ground and approximately how long it was going to take to get us off. Second: when it was apparent that the timing was going to be so close, why didnt our plane announce to let those with close connections deplane first? Third: Assuming the first two were impractical, why were we not met by a United representative? Why did we have to go back out of the secured area and stand in an hour long line to talk to the ticketing agent? so... I get up to the ticketing agent. Somehow I am the first to reach the head of the line of the 3 of us who missed our DC connection. The gentleman behind me (we'll call him "Dave") was very irrate and I hoped to pave the way for a smoother transaction for him. Alas, this was not to be. Confronted with Attila the agent who was as antagonistic as she was dense, I was getting nowhere in explaining my plight. Dave began shouting from the line - trying to augment my tale of woe and get through to Attila the shame of United's disservice. Finally she determined that it was Denver's fault (not sure why that mattered at this point... and I would disagree since it was Dallas's faulty machinery that caused our delay), and she handed me a ticket. Next she asked me if I needed to check my luggage. I stated that I watched it loaded onto the flight I had missed. Attila assured me that this would NOT happen. That unless I was aboard the plane, my luggage would NOT travel without me. She insisted that I go check the arriving luggage. Ten minutes later I found a very nice man with United baggage claims who tracked my luggage and assured me that my luggage was indeed enroute to Washington. *great* I reported back to Attila who said that I had better not miss this 4:51 flight by not paying attention (as though it was MY fault) and pointed me towards security checkin. (as though I'd never seen it before). Glad to be rid of Attila's cheeriness, I hurried to remove my shoes and disengage my laptop. EWWWW... there was a puddle of liquid on the floor next to the conveyor belt. I pointed it out to the security guard who laughingly said, "I bet it was that dog". Ohh my, that was encouraging! After cleaning my feet I set out in search of food. A long island iced tea & a salad later, I was feeling a bit more congenial. Headed back towards the gates and found Dave to commiserate about our abandonment. I shared the address I had requested in order to complain to United about their lack of service. (can you believe there wasn't any compensation either?) I found Dave to be very interesting and a wonderful aquaintance to spend a few hours with. His tales of buying a home in Montana; hunting trips into the wilds of Alaska; Commercial plumbing business back in PA were great to pass the time. I think I was most struck by his love for his family and his dedication to living life to the fullest. Not that it balanced out the inconvenience, but I am thankful to have met him. Boarding and flight were easy peasy and I arrived at Dulles not knowing where I'd find my luggage. I quickly perused the luggage holding area - no sign of it and joined the looong line for baggage claims. Of course I had looked on the board to see which carousel the original flight had used, but the flight was no longer on the board. When I finally got to the front of the line, I was told to look at carousel #1, that the luggage probably had been placed on the ground somewhere nearby. Thankfully, knowing the location, I was able to locate my luggage post-haste. At 11:35pm I was home. Poor Dave.. he still had a 2 hour drive ahead of him. Letters need to be written to United and perhaps the Better Business Bureau. Maybe it'll come to naught, but maybe, they'll change their policy and become more service oriented. I can hope. agape, J. (5) Comments

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General Comments magicalmysterytour Posted 5/14/2008 11:08:10 AM happy birthday fellow leftie Janis Posted 12/11/2006 8:09:27 PM How is life these days? Janis Posted 12/5/2006 9:20:34 PM I need an opinion about something and I believe you have the knowedge to give a good one. I have to post it is too long...need an answer. Janis Posted 11/21/2006 8:18:57 PM Hope your day was a good one. Janis Posted 11/19/2006 8:52:57 PM I am having computer problems,but I just did a post in several parts I would really like answers to. Glory Posted 8/8/2006 6:23:53 AM So, are you ever coming back to visit us? Hope so. Janis Posted 8/6/2006 10:01:36 PM Someonr needs to help me out here! how do I respond? Glory Posted 8/2/2006 7:19:15 AM Good morning. I hope you have recovered from your travel woes. Glory Posted 8/1/2006 2:15:12 PM Thanks for the friend invite! Hey, I live 15 mins from the S/W Virgina line. jcanody Posted 8/1/2006 7:33:17 AM Thanks! so far, so good. :) What a nice Welcome! Glory Posted 8/1/2006 7:30:18 AM Welcome! I see by your picture you're a Rennie -- yes? I think you'll like it here. Please login to post a comment.