Just some thoughts.

I haven't updated in a while and am just realizing this. I'm gonna take this blog post in a different direction than the rest. Instead of mumbling on about myself, I thought I'd provide some social commentary on happenings around the world. So, if you'll allow me, let's begin.

Israel/U.S./Iran: For those of you that don't know about this situation, let me explain it to you in about a sentence. Iran doesn't like Israel and has nuclear weapons that Israel fears they will use against them, so Israel wants to preemptively strike Iran to protect themselves, but the U.S. doesn't want that to happen (though we're providing them with the weapons to do so), meanwhile the U.S. wants Israel to allow Palestine to become a state and Israel essentially saying it will only do so if the U.S. helps Israel attack Iran. Got it? Ok. So. Let's look at this unbiasedly. Why are we giving Israel weapons to attack Iran if we're trying to avoid WW3? Honestly. And why does Israel suddenly think it's ok to blackmail the U.S. into a WW3? Can't people just get along?! We all have to share the air we breathe, so why can't we share land too?

Obama's emissions plan: So Obama wants to essentially raise the price of most vehicles by $1,300 by the year 2016 to create 35.5 mpg vehicles. I have no idea why it costs so much money to make a car more fuel efficient. You'd think it'd be cheaper. Lighter materials, smaller engines.. I clearly know nothing about car mechanics. But, why are we so focused on cars? Shouldn't we spending our time thinking about ways of bettering public transportation? Making roads smoother and less congested? We need better infrastructure. It's almost 2010 people and we're living like it's 1950 still. Carpool to work and catch up on some office gossip. Or work on your tan while riding your bike to work. Or, throw on your iPod and listen to the latest Eminem album on the metro.

Swine flu: Two weeks ago this was the hottest topic of them all. Now? What's the swine flu? TV media blows things so greatly out of proportion it's insane. Maybe a handful of people have died in the U.S. from it?? Do people not realize that regular flu kills 40,000 people every year in the U.S. alone? Half-a-million in the southern hemisphere? Not that big o'deal people. Just wash your hands and cover your mouth when you cough. I mean, gross.

I suppose that's all I've got for now. Those seem like the big 3 stories of the day. Maybe something else will happen that's more exciting. Either way, catch up on some print news. Check this out, or this one here or even, this right here.

NYC: Part Two, the part that really counts.

The photo above was taken on my most recent trip up to the Big Apple. It's a view of the NYC skyline as seen from the Brooklyn Pier (I think.) I'm thinkin I might go back up again in two or three weeks. We'll see. It all depends.

In any case, I'm really starting to think NYC might be my next move. After all, this blog is about my adventures and the people I meet along the way. How many more adventures and people could there possibly be to talk about in D.C.? I've been in D.C. longer than I've been anywhere since college. I'm antsy in my pantsy and ready to move again! The itch started back in August when I was first looking for a "real" job. As my loyal readers know, I got a job and ended up staying in D.C. But, obviously, I've been ready to get outta here for a while.

I started thinking about moving up north a few months ago. Actually, I was thinking about going back west to San Fran, but with the recent news about this giant thinking about shuttering its windows, I'm thinkin it might not be such a wise move. So why not go north? 

I already knew a few friends from home and college who live there and after going to Israel I met even more great people who live there, so it's almost as though my life is waiting for me up there. The biggest obstacle of making this move happen is a job. Yes, a job. That three-letter word that seems to be everyone's biggest problem these days. I have three friends who've recently been laid off and possibly another today. Still waiting to hear about that one. So, how does someone like me, who has a fairly stable job in a completely unstable field, a lease and a "life" feel like she has the right to want more? Well, because I deserve more. That's why. I didn't see myself being where I am today two years ago. I figured when I graduated from college I'd do a few internships and end up at some kick-ass newspaper chasing cops and photography babies and puppies. Well, those things happened on the internship, but not in the real world. I want that in my real world and I'm determined to make it happen. 

So NYT, Hearst, Conde Nast, I'm comin full speed ahead to you, begging, pleading to take a chance on a rookie who really wants it. If any editors are out there reading this, you can find my resume here.

Israel: It was a Birthright

I took the photo you see above our first day in Israel. We landed at Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv at about 3 in the afternoon and immediately hopped a bus to make the 5 hour drive up to the Golan Heights. Note, our group of 35 kids had only met maybe 15 hours earlier.

I had absolutely no idea what to expect from the trip. All I knew going into it was that, a) I don't like group tours, and b) I'd likely be one of the oldest people on the trip.

To my contrary, I ended up being in the mid-age range for the people on the trip. We had a few youngins, 18 and 21, but most of us were between 24 and 26. Worked out quite nicely if you ask me. Like I mentioned earlier, there were 35 of us, from all over the US. Most were from NYC, some from Florida, a few from the LA area and then the rando, from SLC.

The trip started out on a Shabbat weekend in a town called Hispin up in the Golan Heights. If I were the trip organizer, I wouldn't have started it out that way because most of us freaked out when we realiezd there was nothing to do and nothing you could do because of Shabbat. (For those of you that don't know, Shabbat lasts from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday and you're not allowed to use electronics of any kind during that period.) So what were we left to do? Drink. Earlier that Friday we were taken to a winery and some very smart people bought bottles of wine which saved us after dinner. It was definitely a good ice breaker to say the least.

So we spent a few days up in the Golan and then headed south to Jerusalem. We toured the Old City and saw the Western Wall. It's amazing the energy you feel at the Wall, even if you don't believe in what it stands for. So many people in one concentrated area feeling so many emotions. It's nuts. They let us run free for a night on Ben Yehuda St. in Jerusalem. We went to a hookah bar and drank some local beer.

From Jerusalem they took us back north up to Tel Aviv for the day to see the Mediterranean Sea and an outdoor market. It wasn't too exciting, but I blame that on the fact that they took us to the wrong part of town. Next time I suppose. From there we travelled south again to Masada. We woke up super early the next morning, 430 am, in hopes of climbing Masada to watch the sun rise, but alas that did not happen. We only left the hotel in time to see the sun rise. As we drove our way to the starting point we crossed path with a group of soldiers marching on the road and we got out to walk with them for a while. It was a pretty cool experience. Sun coming up over the desert, walking with a group of 40+ soldiers carrying automatic weapons.

We climbed Masada, saw some amazing views. Then we went to the Dead Sea. Let me tell you... If you ever want to feel like a human buoy, go swim in the Dead Sea. It's the most awkward feeling ever. The water is so slimy, but fairly warm. You just have to trust the water. So you get in, turn around and lean back. Next thing you know, you're floating through the sea on your way to Jordan. After the Dead Sea they took us to some strange animal refuge nearby where we hiked for a while. The day was rounded out with a solid 3-minute camel ride. That was a weird experience too, but a good one nonetheless.

Our last two nights were spent in Jerusalem, another Shabbat dinner. We went to the Western Wall again for Friday night prayers. The second time around was a different feeling. It was more happy and enlightened than the first time. 

Overall the experience was a really good one. I met 35 unqiue individuals with interesting stories to tell. I spent 5 days with incredible Israeli soldiers. I learned that being a Jew doesn't mean you have to believe in God. And that being a journalist is one of the most awesome jobs I could've picked for myself.

NYC: Even your ankles get dirty.

I realize it's been almost 2 months since I last updated, but a lot's been going on. So, I'll just start with my trip to NYC on March 14.

I went up to visit my friend Carly for the first time since she's been living there (which is going on like 3 years). I'd been to NYC three times before, but never just to explore. There was always something that had to be done. But this time, I got to explore and had a great friend as my guide.

There wasn't really anything specific that I was dying to see, so instead we just chose a route that would get me through all the neighborhoods I hadn't seen. So we took the train to Times Square and started there. We walked our way down to Greenwich Village moving on to Tribeca and SoHo and finding ourselves in the Financial District at 5 pm. That's a scary place to be at that hour, let me tell you. We also stumbled upon the Fannie Mae bull, which was surrounded by tourists so we did a quick walk-by snapshot of the two of us. It was cute. Then we proceeded to take the Staten Island ferry there and back, and along the way I taught some tourists how to use their camera.

NYC is a pretty interesting place. It's crazy how you can walk from one neighborhood to the other and feel like you're in completely different places. If I were to move there, I'd love to live in the Village. It's so quite and pretty, but everything is still right there at your finger tips. We came across this tiny hole-in-the-wall, soul-food diner called The Pink Tea Cup where we shared some fritters and coffee. It was totally delish. 

I also happened to be in NYC for St. Patty's day. Let me tell you, that was pretty insane. Carly and I decided it'd be a great idea to start the day with Irish Coffees and walk to Central Park (since I still hadn't seen it) and drink beers out of paper bags. So, we packed a backpack with snacks and ventured out back into the city. We were walking around and heard the beats of drums and the sounds of bagpipes from across the park so we followed the sound and found ourselves watching the St. Patty's day parade. It was pretty freaking awesome. Being in NYC on St. Patty's day drinking beer in the park. Awesome. So we watched the parade for a while and decided it was time to get serious and head to the bars. We met up with her BF and all of his buddies from Brooklyn at some bar, somewhere. Probably called O'Reilly's or something... or maybe no, it was McFadden's. There. That's it. Started our party there, where I discovered it's apparently ok for cops to party in uniform if they're from NY. Interesting. We moved on from there to I don't even know where. We'd made the smart decision to smuggle in a small bottle of Jameson's to the bar. Excellent idea when meeting new people on a drunk holiday. We bar hopped from bar to bar stopping to eat slices of NY pizza in between. It was a pretty good night.

All in all NYC was pretty fun. I have no idea if I could actually ever live there or not. Maybe in the nice quiet neighborhoods where it doesn't feel like the sitting is caving in on you. There's defintely never a dull moment though. We'll see... it might be my calling in the near future.

Stay tuned for the next post: 10 days in Israel.

Something Totally Random

Last night, my near and dear roommates, DeVille, had a show at this place called Penguins Down in the Igloo in a place called Arbutus, MD. It's a suburb of Baltimore. They played with 3 other bands. I only saw one other band aside from them. Let me tell you why.

At the beginning of our evening, Trevor was told to talk to the owner about whether or not I could get in free as the band's photog. We were never able to find this owner, Cheech. So we go on about our business. The show's haven't started, so no big deal.

It's show time. Nat is in town visiting so he heads downstairs to where the stage is and the doorman says, "Who're you with?" to which Nat replies, "I'm with the photographer of one of the bands." The doorman proceeds to draw a line on Nat's hand and lets him in without paying.

I come down about 10 minutes later and say, "So do we know if I'm allowed to just go in?" to which doorman replies, "Go find the owner and talk to him about it, but I'm not gonna harass you about it." So I go in. Can't find the owner, whatever. Doorman did not draw a line on my hand.

The night goes on without a hitch. First band plays their crazy loud awful music. Ugh, finally over. DeVille sets up. Yes. Time for some awesomeness. They rock it out, get the crowd excited. Excellent. I shoot my photos. Perfect, we're done.

I'm packing up and Nat comes up to me to tell me he's been kicked out. And I think, WTF! He proceeds to walk out the door downstairs and I'm totally confused. So I go after him and in the process the doorman starts talking serious smack to Nat as he walks out the door. I ask Nat what happened, he explains to me that out of nowhere the owner comes up to him and said that he was bullshitting the doorman and that he needs to pay the $10 or get out. Nat of course says, well the dude let me in and now he's kicking me out? I'll leave.

So after Nat tells me this, what do I do? I go find the doorman. The doorman starts telling me that Nat lied and I'm defending Nat for good reason. Then, the owner comes over. I tell the owner, there's been quite a miscommunication here. The owner says, he doesn't care. Then proceeds to yell at me saying he was never told there'd be a photographer and that I had to pay. I say, I don't have cash and don't need to stay. I go on to tell him that it's no way to treat patrons the way they yelled at us for no reason. Instead of dealing with the situation quietly and calmly, the doorman only escalated the situation by being hotheaded. I proceed to get thrown out.

So Nat and I are standing outside in the parking lot explaining to some red necks and country bumpkins what happened and they laughed about the situation. (Apparently they had just gotten done beating someone up for spilling a drink on them.) Suddenly, the owner, Cheech, comes out to talk to us. He starts telling Nat that he doesn't like that Nat lied to the doorman so Nat stops him in his tracks and says, "Let me tell you exactly what I told him and see what you think." So Nat does and then the guy goes on to profusely apologize to us. He gives Nat back the $10 that he paid for this chick to get in and tells us to come back inside and party with him and that he'd buy us all drinks. We pass. He then goes on to tell us that his venue is a unique one that hosts unique musicians and that it's all about the "f-ing stage." That there aren't tvs and billiard tables all over the place. We say, cool buddy. Kudos to you.

BUT. The story does not end here. Trevor comes up to talk to me to find out what happened. As I'm explaining this all to him, a rather large woman comes outside and starts puking. You can hear it across the parking lot. It's gross. Trevor counts that she's puked 12 times. Sick. Well, that's not it. She then lights up a cigarette. Then we hear her saying, "I'm not intooooxicated... I can driiiive... You can't have my keeeeeeeys." 

So that was my Saturday night. Definitely a blogworthy night. I'm sure this post doesn't do it justice, but it was an interesting end to the evening nonetheless. This puts me at 2, for the number of times I've been thrown out of a club/bar.

Obama Madness, Inauguration 2009, Part 2

Sorry this post is about 2 weeks late. The Inauguration really was total madness. Well, it's over and done with now and we've got a Rock Star for a President now!! Woohoo!

In the above photo, if you squint hard enough and look long enough, you will see our new Commander-in-Chief with his goregeous lady friend. They were looking directly at me. Had I know this while taking their photo, I probably would've passed out. So, let me rewind a little and tell you how the day went.

My coworker/roommate/friend Ian and I were told we'd have to come to work at midnight Jan. 20 (so latenight, Monday) to meet up with the Old Guard folks on post and then take a bus with them over to the Pentagon. Well, the plans, of course, changed. We were then told to meet up with the Old Guard public affairs folks at 430 am at Farragut North. I spoke with my boss regarding this change in plan and he said, well, you don't have to, just get down to the parade by noon. Ian and I were thinking, well why in the hell would we get up 6 hours before we had to?! So, Ian and I agree that we'll meet at Farragut West at 930 am and walk down to the Ellipse.

I get to Farragut North at about 920 am and walk down to Farragut West. The crowds of people walking down I  and 17th streets were incredible. It was just a sea of bodies walking in the same direction. So, while I was waiting for Ian I decided to take some photos. I climbed up onto one of the Jersey barriers to get some high-angle shots of the I st. crowd and ended up meeting a former photographer from the Hartford Courant. We exchanged pleasantries and I still haven't found a way to contact him (his name is Michael and he took a buy-out recently and worked there for 20 years... if anyone can help). Finally Ian shows up. There was a mishap on the red line at Gallery Place... apparently someone got hit by the train.

So we head down 17th street to find a gate. We were supposed to enter the media circus at 17th and E. The gate happens to be at H st. Secret service has no idea where we're supposed to go with our credentials so one of the guys walks away talking into his cuff. He takes too long so we just jump in line. Get through security, no prob. I get laughed at by one of the security guards because my camera bag was completely stuffed with clif bars. (We had no idea when we'd have a chance to eat!)

We make our way to E st and walk toward the Ellipse. We saw a bunch of heating tents and asked one of the national guards(wo)men where we were supposed to go and of course she doesn't have a clue. So we trudge on. We make it to the Ellipse. Where's the media circus?! We saw maybe 4 or 5 sattelite vans getting feed from the video guys at the Capitol. Ok, clearly this isn't where we're supposed to be because there are no photos to be had here. We decide to walk toward the parade route. We end up at 15th and E st at Pennsylvania. The final turn on the parade route before the White House reviewing stands. We talk to some cops, some Air Force people, some secret service and still, no one knows where we're supposed to be. So, we take post at the corner there and wait. And wait and wait and wait. There were no jumbotrons set up along the parade route, so sadly, we only heard an audio broadcast of the inauguration. By now it's probably close to 11 am. The swearing in was at 12:04 pm. So, if you do the math, we were out there for a long time.

Let me tell you though, it was COLD. I had brought hand-warmers, enough for the both of us. I stuffed two into each mitten. I tried sticking them in my pants pockets but it really did nothing. By mid-afternoon, 2 pm or so, I had to bust out the toe warmers and put those on.

Luckily, while on our corner, we made friends with the announcers in the booth at that corner. They let us hang out in their booth once the parade started and lucky for us, they had a tiny little space heater. (Ian spent most of his time next to it and I unfortunately had to hang my body outside the tent to shoot the parade, so needless to say, I froze a little inside.) While waiting for the parade to start afer the swearing-in ceremony, the crowd stood patiently, lining the streets, listening to the same 2 cd's over and over again on the loud speakers. The Obama-production people didn't take into account that people would have to listen to the same 32 songs over and over again. By the time the parade started, people were shouting, "Turn it off!" 

The parade was supposed to start at 230 pm, but like everything having to do with government and military, we hurried up and waited... and waited... and waited. Thanks to that one lady who talked throughout their luncheon at the Senate, poor Ted Kennedy's collapse and a quickie speech by Mr. Biden, the parade started at about 430 pm. Finally, Ian and I were about to see some action. We were told by the announcers we were standing with that Obama was going to walk the last leg of the parade route, so we were stoked.

After about hundreds of cops and military folk passed, the first family approached in their ridiculously long motorcade. Unfortunately for us, like the rest of the day, the Obamas stayed in their nice and toasty warm vehicle and waved to the crowd from inside. I waved back excitedly to little Sasha and her ever-so-classy mother, but Obama I saw not. (Not until I got home and went through my photos and saw the one posted above.) I was of course incredibly upset and frustrated, so I wa ready to go. But Ian, Ian wanted to get a shot of good ol' Biden (photo linked above). Biden walked the whole route. (We found out the next day that Obama walked the first few blocks down by the Capitol, and the last block by the White House, which, was not more than a block from where we were posted.)

So, we got our photos. Biden passed by, the Old Guard passed by, Obamas passed by, we were done. Who cares about the high schoolers marching in the parade when its 18 degrees outside. Ian and I were off. We trudged back across the Ellipse, found a warming tent, went inside and stood under one of the vents until we defrosted and made our way back up to Farragut North to take on the crazy crowds of people on the metro. Lucky for us, they'd all left after the swearing-in. By the time we got home I discovered I had burns on my hands from the hand warmers and that I couldnt' feel my toes.

But damnit, I took part in history that day. I can tell my nieces and nephews that I was in our nation's capital the day Obama took the oath of office. I covered my very first inauguration (and hopefully there will be more to come). I survived a ridiculous amount of people clogging up the city and all without seeing one celebrity with my own eyes. Now I'm going to figure out a way to have lunch with our president and his new photographer, go shopping with Michelle and take the kids out for some gelato in Georgetown.

Obama Madness, Inauguration 2009, Part 1

Well, I was going to make my next post about the rest of My Winter Adventure, but I'm over that and President Obama's inauguration is a way bigger deal.

So, let me begin my story. The photo you see above is a hail-mary I shot on the mall during the concert at Lincoln's Memorial on Sunday that was aired live on HBO. My roommate Gabby and I decided to go down and check it out. We ended up getting off the metro at Farrugut North and hoped to hop a bus, but as we were about to do so, all streets going East-West were closed down. So we made the not-so-long walk down to the Lincoln Memorial. Along the way we were offered all sorts of swag ranging from Inaugural (Bakset)balls, posters, t-shirts, buttons to Obama fragrances. It was kind of ridiculous the things these people were selling. But then there were the practical pitches of hand warmers and tissues. We didn't stop to purchase anything, but it was amusing nonetheless.

Unfortunately, we got there at 2 (when it was supposed to start) we couldn't see jack. We ended up right behind the WW2 memorial watching a jumbotron with all those people in the photo above. Security ended up closing off the gates that would've allowed us to get past the WW2 memorial, so we were left hopeless until I saw a hole for us to get to the front of the second crowd of people. We had a decent spot at the south jumbotron. I mean, ya know, it's cool we were there to experience it live, but it would've been way cooler if we'd gotten to see it up close and not have to see Mary J.'s boots on a giant screen.

The rundown of celebrities (if I can even remember them all) included: Denzel Washington, Mary J. Blige, Kal Penn, Steve Carrell, Tom Hanks, Laura Linney, Shakira, Usher, Stevie Wonder, John Mellancamp, Jon Bon Jovi, Sheryl Crow, Bruce Springstein, James Taylor, Beyonce, U2, John Legend, Garth Brooks, Jack Black... the list goes on. I'm straining my brain just trying to remember them all. So all in all, it was pretty awesome to be at something so historic.

The speakers showed old footage of past important presidents like Roosevelt and Kennedy. And quoted Lincoln quite a few times. Martin Luther King III spoke about his father and the things he tried to accomplish during the civil rights movement. 

And then... then... Obama spoke. My god the crowd went absolutely insane. And you know what? It was for good reason. The man is an amazing orator. The way he speaks, the things he says, he's totally motivating. I'd say he was the highlight of the day, even though we got to see so many great acts in the same day. So, now I've experienced the mass of people and I feel slightly better prepared for Tuesday's festivities. Ian and I are going to be going back downtown to the Ellipse behind the White House to cover the inaugural parade and the Army parts of it. I hope, hope, hope! that I'll get to see Obama in person for some amazing photos. So, stay tuned folks.

Also, to see more photos of the event and photos of tomorrow, check out this Facebook Album.

My Winter Adventure

Well, for those of you who haven't been following my Facebook status updates, you're in for a real treat with this post.

It all began on Dec. 20 around 12:30 pm. I was packed and pretty much ready to go. I'd had breakfast with my roommates at this sketchy little joint around the corner on Georgia Ave. I got a phone call, an automated one, from United Airlines saying that my flight from Chicago to Portland had been cancelled. All week I was anticipating something like this because of "Snowpacolypse" in Portland. So, I get on the horn with United and tell them, I have to get home! Finally, after about an hour and a half of begging and pleading and anger, they tell me that I'm on an Alaska flight from DC to Seattle. I'll be arriving a little later than I was supposed to in Portland, that I wouldn't be able to fly to Portland because of the weather. That was fine. I was going to bus, train or drive it down. So, I'm on a 6 pm flight to Seattle.

We're en route. The flight's a little bumpy, but for the most part we're doin well. We're makin good time. About 5 hours and 45 minutes in we start flying circles over SeaTac. We're in a holding pattern, the captain tells us. "Looks like they're de-icing the runway. We've got winds at 25 knots. A little faster than I'd like them to be with ice on the runway. We're going to be in a holding pattern for another 5-10 minutes. If they don't deice the runway in time, we're going to run out of fuel and have to fly back to Spokane to refuel." I start thinking... I knew this would happen. It was supposed to be really windy in Seattle, I knew we'd get stuck in a podunk eastern Washington or Idahoan town.

So, we land in Spokane close to 930 pm. We sit on the runway for TWO hours waiting for some planes to take off so we can park at a gate. At this point I'm realizing, we're not going to refuel. We're going to park and deplane and get stuck. This sucks. So, we park, we deplane. (The photo above is my plane... not flying.) We find out SeaTac control says no more flights in or out because the weather is getting really bad. Blizzard style. Looks like we're sleeping in Terminal C of the Spokane Airport. Mind you, it's already 1130 pm and everything inside is closed, all the agents have gone home along with the TSA guys. We're hungry, we're tired, we're cranky. There are 5 jumbo jets at the Spokane Airport, at the same terminal, that aren't supposed to be there. This airport is entirely unequipped to handle this many people. Snow it can do, people it cannot. So, at about midnight, they announce over the PA that someone has run to Wal-Mart to grab some snacks. They bring us back bottles of Dasani water and special edition Chewy Granola Bars that read "Snowy Day" on the package. The irony is ridiculous. 

In the meantime, we're asked to hang out, find a place to nap. They'll get us blankets and cots (which never showed up) and to wait til Alaska/Horizon decides what it wants to do. Agents were supposed to be arriving at 315 am on Sunday morning to start help rebook people on flights home. 

So at 3 am I go to the counter and ask, should I go to the front and wait? And they tell me, no no, we don't know the schedule yet, it's colder out there. Just hang out in the terminal for a while. So, I go back to watching my Netflix movie, which I thankfully brought with me. 

At 4 am they announce over the PA for everyone to go get their luggage from baggage claim and get in line for new tickets. Before I know it, I'm in a mile-long line and waiting and waiting... and waiting. This is the kind of line you wait in for so long that you end up making friends with the people around you. Which is exactly what happened. I was standing in line with an Italian from California, a mother and her two children from MD, a college student from Seattle and a fitness manager from California. We all exchanged pleasantries and enjoyed coffee together while standing in this miserable line. My genius self decide that while waiting in line, I'd get on the horn with Alaska and see if anything could be done faster that way. I get through, they tell me the wait is 30 minutes. Ok, I can hold out for that. 30 minutes passes... still on hold. 45 minutes passes... still on hold. I can't hang up just out of principal at this point. An hour and 45 minutes passes before anyone answers!! And, the answer I get is, well continue waiting in line. The best thing to do is talk to someone at the counter. Thanks lady, I was already doing that. So, I finally reach the counter at 915 in the morning. Yes, that's right folks. I was in line for FIVE hours!

Well, I finally get a new boarding pass. To Seattle at 1030 am. Ok, awesome. I'm finally gonna get somewhere to where I can drive home. Just kidding folks! Flight is delayed. We finally get on the plane at about 1115 am. Turns out the guy sitting next to me is the fitness manager I waited in line forever with. So, at least I had a friend. We get on the plane, we get ready to go. We have to deice. Cool. We're deiced. Just kidding. A piece of ice slid off the top of the plane and got stuck in the electrical system and broke it. We're pulling up to the gate to have them fix this quickly. Cool. We've got the electrical system fixed folks. But Seattle control tower says no one is allowed to come in or go out. We're deplaning. At this point I'd been awake for nearly 30 hours. I was not functioning properly whatsoever and fitness manager guy was getting quite a kick out of me.

We deplane. We're told our flight isn't cancelled, it's just on hold and that we'll know more at 2 pm. Ok, time to get food. Go to the sports bar with fitness manager guy. Proceed to eat and hope to get drunk. 2 pm... folks, we're informing you that we'll have more information soon. Ok. Cool. 3 pm... flight to Seattle, cancelled. Seattle has run out of deicer for the planes so no planes can take off leaving no empty gates for planes to land. So Seattle is done for on this lovely Sunday afternoon in Spokane. Somewhere in the meantime, I'd been on the phone with my Dad and he'd found me a flight from Spokane to Portland at 330 pm. It of course had also ben delayed. But, I had a second option. The problem was, I had to go back out through security to get my back from baggage claim and recheck it. This is the third time I've had to do this and the third security check I had to go through with my laptop and camera bag in hand. (Oh, and did I mention that I was randomly selected for the extra search?? How fun.)

So, now I'm waiting in the lower part of Terminal C. I hear that the flights before and after mine to Portland have been cancelled. I'm holding out hope. Maybe I will get to take off! My plane is delayed to take off at 550 pm. It's about 435 pm. I'm thinkin, they haven't cancelled it yet, how can they now? Oh no folks, they did. "Weather's lookin pretty bad in Portland. Sorry folks, your flight's been cancelled too." NOOOOOO! So yes, that's right. I was stuck in Spokane for another night. Luckily, fitness manager guy had told me about the Holiday Inn nearby where our 5 hour line group was planning on staying that night. So, I was off to the Holiday Inn.

We all meet up. Now I'm in a room with fitness manager guy, a thinktank guy from DC and two college girls from Seattle. One of the girls' dad was driving from Seattle to Spokane that night to come get her. He had 3 extra seats in the car. Everyone in the room, except me, was heading to Seattle that night. Lucky them. Well, I'd bought myself a Greyhound ticket to go back on Monday morning. I-84 had been closed at this point so driving wasn't an option. I bid my farewell to my single-serving friends and head up to my room. 36 hours had passed, I was ready for some sleep.

I wake up Monday morning. Order myself a leisurely room service breakfast. My phone stops working. What the hell! I get on the phone with Verizon. Technical support troubleshoots for about 20 minutes. Finally, it's working. In the meantime, I'm writing emails to my mother and talking to Dianne who has to call my mother to explain what's going on. Also, my friend Sean shows up on gChat. I tell him, hey, you might have to come get me. He says, what's up. He finds out for me that my Greyhound bus was also cancelled. Great. I'm in hell. The next flight out of Spokane to Portland isn't until Thursday. I can't stay here for a week!! Sean, being the hero that he is, realizes his friend Whitney is landing in Spokane today and that her father is picking her up to drive her to Missoula. He gets me on a ride with them. My two new heros: Whitney and her father. 

So here I am. In Missoula since Monday. I'll be here til Friday until Sean and Ashley and I drive to Portland together. Weather permitting of course. But, so far it's lookin good. And now, by a fluke, I'm in Missoula with friends I haven't seen in over a year and I'm having a pretty damn good time.

One Month to Go

I suppose it's about time that I update my blog once again. I'm hoping that anyone and everyone reading this, recently celebrated Thanksgiving. Whether it was the traditional way or not. I happen to like my turkey with a slice of apple pie (as seen above). Unfortunately there is no evidence of my beautiful bird as it was carved and sliced up before I could get the camera to it.

We celebrated Thanksgiving this year at my new place where I live with a little band called, DeVille. We had quite a few people over.. I believe the final head count was 14. I did most of the cooking myself with a little help from Trevor. Cooking for a lot of people is exhausting, let me tell you. But, it was fun, nontheless. I was happy that people enjoyed the food and (seemingly) had a good time. It was nice to host a gathering with good people and family. I'd say, all in all, it was good stuff.

I've been living in the new place for about a month now. We're still trying to get settled. Looking for a couch... a dining table.. you know, the fixins. If you know if any deals, we're open to hearing them.

Moving on. So there's only one month of 2008 left. What does that mean? I have no idea. It just means that we're one month away from 2009. One month and 20 days away from a new president.  And, one month away from... well... something.

It's About Damn Time

I was going to write about my trip to Portland last week, but I feel that this is much more important than that. That can wait. So, without further ado, I'd like to say, "Thank you America," for electing a new president who will do good for our country. 

I spent election night with a former professor of mine at a bar in Adams Morgan, called Angles. I figured there would be a few people there, sitting quietly at their tables, having dinner and drinking beer, but no. I walked in to an absolute madhouse. The bar was jam-packed with people. The stairs were lined with smokers. Both flat-screen TVs were blaring CNN (HD, mind you) and everytime Wolf Blitzer announced a state had gone blue, the entire bar went into an uproar. If he announced a state had gone red, boos filled the bar. I have to say, there's nothing like being in your nation's capitol when such a huge election is taking place. The whole night I was wondering to myself whether people were going to run down to the White House and try to throw Bush out onto the South lawn. Well, only a little to my surprise, the next day I read an article on Yahoo! about an impromptu parade lead by police escort down Pennsylvania Ave., rounded out with a drum circle! I'm so sad I missed this! I instead, drove my tired ass home to make it to my couch on time to hear Obama's acceptance speech.

We're in for a bumpy ride with a new president, who in my personal opinion, will take these challenges in stride and I beleive he will succeed. Like he said, maybe not in one year or even in one term, but he will put us on track to getting to where we needed to be eight years ago.