Some more LA fun

I've been flying the same trip all month, but we really had a great time this week. The second day of our trip, we fly a transcon flight from LA to Orlando and all month we have had the same #5 FA, Jacquie, who is LA based. For our layover this week, she came to the hotel to take us out and show us around Manhattan Beach.

We all met up at the Rain Bar, our hotel's lobby bar and grill. After some wine (I had beer) Marty, Marguerite, and I hopped into Jacquie's car and she drove us around and down to a part of town she likes to visit called Manhattan Beach. I had never been there before, but it was awesome. It kind of reminded me of San Francisco or Seattle. It was very hilly and had a great view of the Pacific Ocean. It totally changed our opinion of Los Angeles.



We ended up going to this place called Sloopy's. It was just normal American cuisine, but it was a very funky atmosphere and very unique. The restaurant is actually a covered atrium and there is a fire pit in the center of the building. The weather was rather chilly and it had rained earlier in the day so the fire pit was quite welcome.



I ordered the pastrami on a poppy seed bun and some onion rings and finished it off with what has to be the best peanut butter milkshake I have ever had.

After dinner, Jacquie drove us around the area before heading back to the hotel.

Marty and Marguerite and I went back the lobby. They have free Wi-Fi in the lobby and they needed to borrow my laptop to get online and work on their schedules for June (our bids had just come out for the next month).

The next day we met up with Jacquie again for our scheduled flight from LAX to Orlando, which was pretty uneventful. We were full because of the holiday weekend. After Orlando we said our goodbyes to Jacquie and then flew back to base and up to Tulsa for night two of our layover.


This morning we had a full flight back to base. A lovely older woman gave me a nice smelling Amish candle. Our turn-around to Reno was long, but we were not full so it wasn't too bad and the folks were nice.

Our Captain, Paul was gifted in calligraphy so he made us a thank you sign out of ACARS paper.

They're Baaaaack!

Well, my arch-nemesis (or is the plural nemesi) the Armadillo, the state animal, the Texas turkey has returned. I was checking on my sprinklers last night and I'll be d@mned if there wasn't the biggest armadillo I have ever seen just digging away in my backyard.

I chased him around my yard screaming until he finally took off.

They don't normally show up until July or August, so this is going to be a long, difficult summer.
:(

Irving and Ana

Did a quick escort trip today, but it actually didn't involve leaving town. I went to the airport and helped a young man named Irving Adolio Juarez and his mother Ana make their connection to St. Louis. Normally the child is traveling alone, hence the need for an Airline Ambassador as an escort, but Irving was able to have his mother come along.

He has a condition called Tetrology of Fallot, which is a heart defect resulting in low oxygen levels in the blood.

This was their first time on an airplane, their first time out of El Salvador, so they were a little shell shocked. I was asked to come to the airport and help them maneuver thru the airport to make their connecting flight. They were both super nice and I enjoyed spending some time with them. Irving is one of ten children with Ana and her husband. Now that Ana is in the states, her hubby is holding the fort with the nine other children. They must be good Catholics.

They were a little late on the arrival but luckily their flight to St. Louis was delayed for a mechanical so they made it in plenty of time.

Little Irving will be in St. Louis thru the summer and will have a series of operations to try to fix his heart defect.

The Perfect End of a Long Day

I picked up a 14 hour two day trip to make a little extra money. It also got back early enough that I could still take my mama to dinner for Mother's Day. The first day involved a Fresno turn and then down to Austin for a short layover. Storms in Austin delayed us a bit and then to make matters worse, two other crews (with longer layovers I might add) kind of shanghai'd the crew van to the hotel and we had to wait an additional 20 minutes in the sweltering and humid heat of Austin for the next van (I felt like I was in Florida again).

I was in for a nice surprise when we arrived at the hotel and the front desk clerk had complimentary beers for all of us. Nothing closes out a long and stressful day like an ice cold beer, in this case, Shiner Bock.

Sunday we got off to LAX on time, but then had a little mechanical that slowed us up for our flight home. To make matters worse, the latch on the forward trash can in First Class was broken (I was not aware of this). When we rotated off at takeoff, the trash can flew out of the container. Normally not a big deal except that the liquid drain in First goes into that trash can so literally gallons and gallons of old coffee, water, soda, etc can gushing out and into the cabin.

It was all pretty much contained in the galley cart housing , but then when we started to descend, it all came gushing forward. Fifteen blankets later, I managed to keep it from rushing into the galley and cockpit. It was nasty.

Lesson learned.... double check the latches.

Another trip to the Coast

This month my regular trip is a long LAX layover and a short Tulsa layover on the 757. I bid the trip because when I did it last month we were at a layover property in Manhattan Beach, with an ideal location (close to restaurants, Trader Joe's) and fantastic amenities (free WiFi, great exercise room). When bids came out, I was sad to learn we would be spending the month at the other long layover property in Torrence. So I was going into the month with a bad attitude.

I was pleasantly surprised however. The property is not that bad and I ended up having a great time. We left home at 6am and fly one quick leg to LAX, arriving just before 8am. After a quick ride from the airport to the hotel, we all got checked in and headed to our rooms to crash. I got up at 3:45am that morning, which no matter how you look at it, is nasty. I had played cards with some co-workers the night before so I was spent.

I slept great for about two hours and then headed down to work out. I will always be shaped like a pear, but getting 30 minutes of cardio can't hurt in the long run. Plus if I did not work out right away, I would never have gone down.

There is a Trader Joe's nearby, about a mile away, which is a lot further than at the other property, but I figured I would walk down there and then take the bus back if I bought too much stuff to carry, or was too tired. My co-worker Andrea went along. We stopped at a sandwich shop called ToGo's for lunch. I had a BBQ Chicken Ranch sandwich that rocked my world. We got to Trader Joe's and I went to the wine section, planning on buying a few bottles of Two Buck Chuck, but one of the First Mates (that is what they call their employees) showed us a Famiglia Pinot Grigio that were selling for $2.99, so it was an easy sell. I also got some Roobios Red Tea (I first discovered it on my trip to West Africa a few years back), some social responsible rain forest gum called Glee (don't be glum, chew Glee gum - http://www.gleegum.com/), and some organic breath spray for my dog.

We were feeling pretty energized, so we walked the mile back to the hotel no problem. Andrea, being a woman, naturally purchased more than I did, but I was a gentleman and offered to carry some of her items.

We met up with Kris and Marty at the Rain Bar in the hotel lobby for Happy Hour. Our waiter was a dude named Dan and he was pretty funny. I think we might have been a bit too demanding, but he took it in stride, or he spit in our food to get even, but I guess we'll never know.

We had this strange lady show up at the bar while we were sitting around. She had bleach blond hair, wore a tight black cocktail dress, but had what my Dad would call "a rode hard, put up wet look" about her. I got Marty and Andrea to pose so I could take her picture. We think she might have been a prostitute and we started calling her the "Painted Whore" which was not very nice, but we were drinking and her behavior was so odd. Whenever men approached her she would put on her iPod and blow them off, but it was obvious she was "trolling" for something.

Being that it was Pacific Standard Time, we all got pretty tried early on and called it a night. The next morning we had over 8 hours of flying ahead of us with a non-stop to Orlando, then Dallas and on to Tulsa.

Our flight to O-town was filled with celebs. In first we had Marcus Allen, Ed Marinaro, and Vanessa Minnillo. In coach we had Kevin Sorbo and his family. When Ms. Minnillo came up to use the lav, I mentioned that my sister was a big fan. Vanessa (we are on a first name basis now) suggested she and I get a picture for my sister. Luckily I bring the digital camera for just such an opportunity.

Our captain, Phil, was a riot. He must of told me a dozen jokes, but the only one I remember was "Why don't Baptists do it standing up? They don't want people to think they are dancing". He also carried an "Easy" button from the Staples commercial wherever he went so I got him in a picture with Kris and the "button".

We made it to Tulsa and we were just exhausted. The hotel has those Sleep Number beds which I hate. You see it has two chambers separated with a metal rod, but I like to sleep in the middle of the bed, which you cannot do with the rod. I also can never figure out which number works best for me. I think I am a 70, but by the time I wake up, I am so stiff.

Our third day was long as well, with one leg to base and then a Reno turnaround. We had an interesting woman in First, Ms. Howe. She was an 83 year old retired school teacher who's husband sat in coach because she says "he's cheap". She told me something good would happen to me soon, so we'll see if that comes to fruition.

Seattle

I flew up from Austin to Seattle today and had about 45 minutes on the ground before flying home. It was beautiful outside. Judy, my co-worker and I, went down the aft airstairs and sat on the tarmac enjoying the sun and fresh air while the ramp rats cleaned the plane. I wish I would have brought my camera so I could have taken a picture. Of all the times I have been to Seattle, I think today was the prettiest day I have seen there.