Happy New Year! I fly Frontier because?

Well, I left Billings, Montana this morning. I was here for almost a week with temperatures under 40 degrees and 30 percent chance of snow flurries the entire visit. As soon as I was boarding the plane to Denver, the snow started. Can you believe that? I was waiting the entire week, and mother nature had to tease me like that. My departing plane arrived late into Billings, it started snowing, the staff incorrectly said we were overbooked, the flight attendant's watch was 10 minutes slow, and there was some sort of further delay with checked in carry on luggage (Some guy thought he could bring his guitar case on the plane, and that cost us another 5 minutes). Of course after the delay, due to all the snow that had fallen in the 15 minutes worth of waiting for nothing, the plane had to be de-iced. We finally took off around 11:50, 35 minutes later than scehduled. My connecting flight was at 1:20 to L.A.

Landed in Denver at 1:18.

Even though we had about 20 people on the Billings to Denver flight who were going to L.A. as well, good ole supposedly customer friendly Frontier didn't hold the plane for us, or even let us know there was no chance of connecting. It is not like Los Angeles is a connecting airport for the airline. IT IS A FINAL DESTINATION! However, another dude and I ran the entire length of the terminal from gate 62 to 26 (If you know the Denver airport, you know how far that is) only to find out the plane was LONG gone.

So rather than waiting another 15 minutes for us in the spirit of the holidays, the Customer Service department has to deal with over 20 upset, blameless customers. The actual blame went to an air traffic controller error, and not the weather, so for some reason we couldn't even get a food voucher. I am grateful believe it or not that I did get the next flight, a 5:10 departure with a scheduled arrival at 6:36, just in time to rest for the partys.

So, Happy New Year everybody!

More from the frozen north

My parents and I got the grandkids/niece and nephew a Radio Flyer wagon. They absolutely LOVE it!


Am having a great time with my fam up here in Billings. It was pretty cold today!
I ran outside to take some pictures tonight in front of my sister's family's house.
Thank God for thermals!
I guess you cant really see my breath here, but it was pretty cold out, as the following picture will attest.
Yep that is 19 degrees with a wind chill of around 7. I had to represent with my Fullerton gear! It actually didnt feel too bad. All I have on are thermals, jeans, a pullover shirt, and a scarf from momma. Oh yeah, and two pair of socks!

Christmas Time is Here Again

Merry Christmas Everyone from freezing Billings, Montana!

I have spent time at several different places this Christmas. Beginning with a gospel choir performance, to a school Christmas musical of a friend, to a Christmas party for foster children, to my dad's church choir Christmas production, to an open house/Christmas party, to a La Posada celebration, to Christmas Eve eve in Bakersfield with family, to two Christmas Eve services, to Christmas morning with my parents and then Julia, to a late morning at LAX/afternoon at Salt Lake City, and finally Christmas night with my sister's family here in Montana.

When you're down and out...

I am not the biggest fan of forwards, but every once in a while one comes along that actually inspires me.

There was a blind girl who hated herself because she was blind.
She hated everyone, except her loving boyfriend. He was always there for her.
She told her boyfriend, 'If I could only see the world, I will marry you.'
One day, someone donated a pair of eyes to her. When the bandages came off, she was able to see everything, including her boyfriend.
He asked her, “Now that you can see the world, will you marry me?”
The girl looked at her boyfriend and saw that he was blind. The sight of his closed eyelids shocked her. She hadn't expected that. The thought of looking at them the rest of her life led her to refuse to marry him.
Her boyfriend left her in tears and days later wrote a note to her saying: 'Take good care of your eyes, my dear, for before they were yours, they were mine.'

This is how the human brain often works when our status changes.
Only a very few remember what life was like before, and who was always by their side in the most painful situations.

Life Is a Gift
Today before you say an unkind word -
Think of someone who can't speak.
Before you complain about the taste of your food - Think of someone who has nothing to eat.
Before you complain about your husband or wife - Think of someone who's crying out to GOD for a companion.
Today before you complain about life -
Think of someone who went too early to heaven.
Before you complain about your children -
Think of someone who desires children but they're barren.
Before you argue about your dirty house someone didn't clean or sweep -
Think of the people who are living in the streets.
Before whining about the distance you drive
Think of someone who walks the same distance with their feet.
And when you are tired and complain about your job -
Think of the unemployed, the disabled, and those who wish they had your job.
But before you think of pointing the finger or condemning another -
Remember that not one of us is without sin and we all answer to one MAKER.
And when depressing thoughts seem to get you down -
Put a smile on your face and thank GOD you're alive and still around.

More Tales From Library Land

I have to post these right away because I forget them after a few minutes.
I was helping a customer make a 1 to 2 page reduced copy. The customer is browsing through some pretty deep scientific, astronomical stuff. However, he does not know how to use a copy machine. He reeks of smoke and some alcohol, and is just rambling on and on. The he tells me "you wouldn't believe it, but I really am a high school graduate. I tried to make the olympics but I couldnt do a 7 minute mile, but hey I'm in my forty's." Nevermind that the 4 minute mile has been around for over a generation. How can I respond to that? I told him he was looking good, and then proceeded to walk back to the reference desk.

Earlier in the day a dazed and confused customer comes to the reference day complaining that WE made her late for work the other day. She told us that she went to her car and it was 10am , but then came back and it was 10:15, and that she was 15 minutes late to work. It turns out our clocks on the public internet terminals were all messed up, but she kept shouting at us, bugging other customers, and came back to the desk to ask if any of us had watches. We turned around and pointed to the clock and told her what time it "really" was.
The irony of it all! I was helping a student later in that same hour with some plug-in issues, blackboard, and our terminals. I looked at the clock there and it said 9:50, and I told her i would be right back. I get back to the reference desk and it is actually 10:01, and I was late for my shift downstairs!

is it okay to cry?

It is okay to cry right?

bah humbug?

Why have I felt over the past 10 years or so that almost all my friends and loved ones are going away? Do I really have to keep making friends over and over and over again?

Am I too naive to believe that's how life really is?

A Night at the...Ballet?

I went to my first ever ballet last night.
Julia and I saw the Nutcracker at the Alex Theatre in Glendale as performed by the Media City Ballet. (Thank you GoldstarEvents.com !) We had a great time. The dancing was graceful and powerful, the music was of course fantastic, and it was pretty funny too. I am trying very hard to remove the images of- I'm sure you can guess...

We went to Don Cuco's MEXICAN restaurant right next door for dinner afterward. The line of the night came from a customer who had just entered as we were eating: "I love the look of this place. It reminds me of Pirates of the Caribbean."

A day which will live in infamy

My grandpa served in WWII. He was in Pearl Harbor, a month or so after the attack. I was just thinking as we observe the 66th anniversary, that if his boat had come in earlier, there is a good chance I probably wouldn't be here right now. I guess I could take that even further and baffle my mind and say that he was also an Iwo Jima survivor (who saw both flags go up). He piloted the craft that landed the troops on the beach.

I hope we can take a little bit of time today to pause, reflect, and remember all those affected by the events of that day.

Keeping the christmas cheer going with a survey from Kel.

Thursday, December 06, 2007
A game of Christmas Tag

1.Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper. I am a pretty good wrapper!
2. Real tree or artificial? For all of my childhood we had an artificial tree. It was awesome. For about 7 or 8 years, my parents got a natural tree, but last year I found them a nice artificial tree at Target.
3. When do you put up the tree? The first week of December, although this year I am late into getting the cheer.
4. When do you take the tree down? The first or second week of January.
5. Which do you prefer: Hot chocolate or Apple Cider? Warm Chocolate!
6. Favorite gift received as a child? Wow, this is a tough one. Maybe star wars toys, or the annual hockey and baseball cards.
7. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes.
8. Hardest person to buy for? friends. Family is easy once they give me some ideas.
9. Easiest person to buy for? parents
10. Worst Christmas gift ever received? hmm, a DVD or CD box set( I can't remember) that the same person had bought for me a year earlier.
11. Mail or email Christmas card? christmas email if I can remember everything that happened over the past year.
12. Favorite Christmas Movie? Fred Claus. If you think I am kidding you are right! I dont really have a fave holiday movie.
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Whenever I am inspired. Amen to that! I usually am inspired around December 15th.
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? no?
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? aunt Vicky's fudge.
16. Clear lights or colored on the tree? depends on the tree.
17. Favorite Christmas song? Christ is Born by the Carpenters, or Ave Maria.
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? I enjoy "traveling" someplace for Christmas; for some reason it makes the holiday seem more festive. AMEN! I will be flying to Montana on Christmas Day.
19. Can you name Santa's reindeer? You know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen. Comet and Cupid and Donder and Blitzen. But do you recall the most famous reindeer of all? We sang that in 6th grade in the Lakewood mall.
20. Do you have an Angel on top or a star? Angel.

The wonderful world of library service

i dont think I am violating the ALA code of ethics here (please dont turn me in G or V!)
To emulate T.J. Simers of the L.A. Times:
"These people live among you..."

I heard there was an earthquake off the coast of South America. Can you give me a list of all the earthquakes greater than 5.0 in the past 24 hours?

Can I get the wind report for southern California for the past 4 hours? (and then proceed to ask for specific cities'throughout the region.) I heard there was a red flag warning.

there are 2 objects: the Small Magellanic Cloud, and the Large Magellanic Cloud. Now if I write I saw the Small and Large Magellanic..., is Cloud singular or plural?

"I'm looking for books with pictures of Steven Seagal."
Now mind you we can print some large pics from google images, but those weren't good enough for this customer. Wanted books to make photocopies in black in white! HUH?

more to come...

Another (birth)day another gray

I am spending most of my birthday today at work here in Newport.
I cant believe I am 32. I still look like hmm, maybe 18?
Thank God I have some gray here and there to take away from my baby face.
My parents, neighbors, and maybe some friends plan to go to the Naples Rib company for dinner tonight. Pictures and library stories to follow.

I tried to find the entire short, but for your enjoyment here is a montage of one of my fave Laurel and Hardy films: The Music Box. It doesn't have the scene I was looking for that dealt with birthdays!

"It was a gift for you on your birthday!"
"Pianos, why I'm nuts about them!"
"Just sign here. Service with a smile!

JR

random explanation

So I've had this blog for over two years, but have never really written anything. Do I really want everyone to know what is going on? Do I really have that many opinions? Do I really have the time to write every day ? Will I even remember what to write?

So with all that considered, I figured the easiest thing for me to do in the first legit post would be to explain the names, pics, etc.

Ever since I was a kid, I did an impression of an old country man.
It wasn't until well into my 20's that we figured out it was a dead on Walter Brennan. If you don't know who Walter Brennan is, then I suggest you IMDB or Wikipedia him(I'll do you a favor: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Brennan).

So my dad and I are driving somewhere around Billings, Montana on an errand probably while visiting my sister, and on the radio comes this song, the great song by Walter Brennan, that was a top hit in 1962. So my dad rushes to turn up the volume, and I hear the sad tale:

"How old was I when I first seen old Rivers?
I can't remember when he weren't around
Well, that old fellow did a heap of work
Spent his whole life walking plowed ground.

He had a one-room shack not far from us
And well, we was about as poor as him
He had one old mule he called Midnight
And I'd trailed along after them.

He used to plow them rows straight and deep
And I'd come along near behind
A-bustin' up clods with my own bare feet
Old Rivers was a friend of mine.

That sun'd get high and that mule would work
Till old Rivers'd say, ''Whoa!''
He'd wipe his brow, lean back on the reins
And talk about a place he was gonna go.

Chorus:
He'd say, one of these days
I'm gonna climb that mountain
Walk up there among the clouds
Where the cotton's high
And the corn's a-growin'
And there ain't no fields to plow.

I got a letter today from the folks back home and
They're all fine and crops is dry
Down at the end my mama said, ''Son
You know old Rivers died.''

Just sittin' here now on this new-plowed earth
Trying to find me a little shade
With the sun beating down 'cross the field I see
That mule, old Rivers and me.

Now, one of these days
I'm gonna climb that mountain
Walk up there among the clouds
Where the cotton's high
And the corn's a-growin'
And there ain't no fields to plow.

With the sun beating down 'cross the field I see
That mule, old Rivers and me..."

From then on I was hooked.

Walter was one of the great actors of all time, including the first to win 3 Academy Awards, and the only to win 3 for best supporting actor.

I cannot wait to karaoke the song.

So there it is. The first post is done. WHEW!