Are you looking at my Wiener?

Have not posted anything in the blog in quite a while, mainly because nothing exciting has really happened recently. However, this weekend I got to spend it in Austin with my sister Jennie and my old college friend Jenny, who live's in the vicinity.

The main catalyst for the visit was the 11th annual Wiener Dog Races in Buda (pronounced B-yoo-da). Jenny and I have been talking about it since they moved to Austin last year. It is a country fair sponsored by the Buda Lions Club, with the highlight being the Wiener Dog Races. (http://www.budalionsclub.com/)

Since loads were not looking too great for flights, Jennie and I decided we would drive it. Kind of a bummer to be driving 250 miles when you work for an airline that can fly you there in 31 minutes, but it is what it is.

Our drive down was not too bad and we made it in about 4 hours. My sister was excited to be going because she is crazy about Samson, Jenny's Husky. We even had a puppy topper for Samson made of UNF blue and gray.

Saturday morning we arrived at the park where the fair was being held around 9am. There were dachshunds everywhere, although none of them were as beautiful as Gretchen, my dachshund. Before the races started, we got to watch the parade, where the racing dogs were marched around in outfits.

The races themselves were hilarious..... they open the gates and the six dogs run towards their owners about 10 yards away.... some run like hell and others get distracted and never make it to the finish line.

There were tons of vendors present, including the All Texas Dachshund Rescue (http://www.atdr.org/) which hosted a kissing both and I got to kiss a doxie named Manhiem Steamroller for $1. There were burgers and hot dogs, snow cones, funnel cakes..... great food.

Jenny's son enjoyed all the bounce houses and this huge inflatable slide. I tried to snap his picture going down but he was moving like a bullet.

Once the afternoon came around, we were starting to get tired and hot so we packed it up and headed home, but not before we all posed in our offical Wiener Dog Races T-shirts.

We all took naps, showered up, and then spent the afternoon at the outlet stores in San Marcos, about 10 miles south. My sister was anxious to go to the Coach store, to quench her thirst for Coach purses. We ate at Johnny Rocket's for dinner. This was fun for me and Jenny because we used to go there with our friends in Jacksonville when we were in college. It never really gets better than a Vanilla Coke and a milk shake!

We drove home Sunday around noon, making good time again, getting home around 4pm. It was a nice weekend.

Paradise

A recent flight to Guadalajara. Not one person booked in my cabin. I had it all to myself. We actually turned it into a "crew lounge". Of course on the return leg we were packed to the gills. But it was nice while it lasted.

Adios Miami

Because of all the freakish winter weather we have had here as of late, I lost time from busted trips. I put myself on the make up list last weekend and was fortunate enough to get the two day Miami trip on the 777. It's delightfully easy, with one leg to Miami, long layover, and one leg home. The sad fact is that this will most likely be the last one I get to do, since the aircraft is being redeployed for new Moscow service this spring and it is going off the bid-sheet at the end of this month.

The trip was enjoyable mainly because a bunch of my friends were flying it. I also got to fly with this gal named Pat, who I had not flown with in like 8 years (the last time was when we were MIA based and I had brought my friend Michael on a Toronto layover for his "Bachelor's" trip the weekend before he got married.

We got to Miami and did our usual "de-brief" at the hotel. Our captain for the trip, John, was also married to one of the flight attendants and he went across the street and got us a couple of pizzas and we sat around and drank and chatted well into the night.

I lucked out with a poolside room, which is kind of rare. I did get a final shot for posterity.

I slept in later than usual since we "sprang forward that night" but still had time for a work out and then went across the street for my usual bagel sandwich at the NYBD (New York Bagel Deli) before pick up.

I will miss the 777 Miami trip, but am glad I got one more in before it goes away for good.

Farewell my friend. (tear)

Beware the "Ice" of March

More pictures..... it's getting worse.

March Madness

Second snowstorm in a week. No snow all winter, and now this....

They call this work?

The bad news is vacation is over, but my first trip back was a nice layover in Los Cabos, Mexico. I was flying with my friend Valerie and a nice lady named Josie. We got their Sunday evening and left Monday afternoon. The flight down was very light, with only 29 people in coach, but of course I was full in First and had to serve a full dinner. We did have this one crazy woman who was upset there was no meal in coach and she would ring her call button, ask for a can of diet coke, take two sips, ring her call button for us to take it away, then five minutes later she would repeat it all over again!


The hotel is one of those all-inclusive places so we got yellow wristbands and we could eat and drink whatever we wanted for free (well, I guess the airline technically paid for it).

We went down after getting checked in and made our way to the bar. They had a lot of "young people" acting like asses, so we ended up going to the restaurant. The pilots wanted to eat, and it was a bit quieter.

After leaving the restaurant, it was kind of chilly so we went by a fire pit and sat around drinking. I had three margaritas that night (but they were small so it is ok).

The next morning, we all met down by the beachside cafe and took advantage of the breakfast buffet. They had an incredible array of food, and I had some huge pancakes and instead of syrup, I had cajeta, which is like a dulce de leche caramel topping.

Valerie and Josie and I walked down the beach to work off our breakfast. We joked that our feet were reduced to bloody stumps because the sand was real rough. After dragging ourselves back to the hotel, we sat around the pool and relxaed for a while before we headed upstairs to get ready for work. Valerie and I sat next to this man at the pool who was like a hairy sasquatch.

Not bad for a first trip back to work. I will have to remember it when I arrive in Boston tonight, where I am sure the temps will be a but lower than Cabo San Lucas.

Grand Finale

I decided to round out my 21 days of freedom from the airline with a quick trip to Austin, TX. I was very lucky last summer because Jenny, one of my best friends, whom I have known since freshman advising in the summer of 1994, and her family relocated to Austin from Alabama. Now instead of an hour and a half flight and a one hour car drive, they are now just 31 minutes by plane.

I left on Sunday afternoon and stayed thru today, Tuesday. We always have fun and most of the time the visit revolves around eating. I always joke that it is a good thing that Jon, her husband, did not get a job in Dallas or we would all be in elastic pants! We had some birthday cake leftover for Jenny's thirty-something birthday the week before. I have given up chocolate for Lent, but the cake was cinnamon, so my lucky day, huh? We spent the rather warm afternoon washing the family car and hanging out outside.

We had Papa Murphy's that first night. You pick up your pizza and then take it home and bake it. After a heavy gorging, Matthew, their little boy (he calls me Uncle Ron, how adorable) went to sleep, and we watched the DVR'd episode of SNL, the first new one since the Writer's strike ended! Very funny, including the parody commercial "Annuale" (http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/#mea=221774). I laughed so hard I almost peed my pants.

I slept like a log that night thanks to some lingering jet lag and some OTC sleeping pills.

My days in Austin are pretty much always the same:

1. wake up at precisely 8:30am

2. eat breakfast

3. play with Matthew for a while

4. take a shower

5. we go somewhere for lunch

6. we all go home and Matthew and I take a nap.

7. we play some more

8. Jon comes home from work

9. we eat dinner

10. we play some more
11. Matthew goes to sleep

12. we watch TV

13. we all go to sleep.

It may be routine, but it is enjoyable. I enjoy the nap part the most since I am not used to a very active three year old with a lot of energy.

For lunch on Monday we went to Red Lobster. It's kind of been our tradition for a while because Jon doesn't eat seafood, or as he says, anything that comes from the water, so my visits are an excuse for Jenny and I to go eat some ocean dwelling creatures.

The highlight of lunch was when the hostess took a lobster out of the tank for Matthew. He was all about the lobster until she actually took it out of the tank, and then he turned a little chicken, and would not go near it, as evident in the photo.

After the Monday nap, we went to a local park and played. I got to swing, and attempted some creative shots with the camera.

For dinner that night we had "Mustgo" as in everything must go! Leftovers and some homemade fried rice that Jenny made. After Matthew went to bed we devoured some more cake and watched Dirty Jobs, the show where Mike Rowe is always doing something that involves mud, poop, or both.

Today, Tuesday was the last day of the visit. For lunch we met Jon at Cannoli Joe's, this sort of all you can eat Italian restaurant. I ate a bunch, but had to tone it down for dessert since most of the options included chocolate.

The flight home was uneventful and now I have the next 6 days off to enjoy the end of my vacation.