Monday, July 20, 2009

aerially challenged

I've adjusted to the fact that I'm going to be a person who just has trouble with airlines. Remember that time I had to board last so that they could install my seat, or when I slept in O'Hare after having made an emergency landing in Cedar Rapids. Oh, and there's the time I was stranded in Houston when I missed my flight by mere seconds. And who can forget my trip home from Australia, that ended in a 4 hour drive with a car full of strangers from Dallas to Austin. So, it's no surprise when things go awry, and I've learned to just roll with it. Why did I expect this flight out to LA to be any different?

The first leg was fine, Austin to Phoenix. It was hot when we left, it was hot when we arrived, the flight was short and uneventful. There was something like a 45 minute layover and then we'd be off to LAX. Our flight was first delayed by a few minutes, then a few minutes more. Then they began the boarding procedures. And most everyone was thinking, here we go!

They would have been wrong.

After we'd all been sitting on the plane, at the gate, for about 35 minutes the captain comes on and tells us that there's a small problem. You see, an instrument in the cockpit that is encased in a glass casing has cracked. While the instrument works just fine, they can not fly with the cracked glass. The captain alerts us that the ground crew has rushed back to the hangar to remove the same instrument from another plane to install into this one. It should take about 20 minutes, and we'll be good to go.

Another 35 or so minutes later the Captain gets back on the horn to tell us that "this plane isn't going anywhere". And that we will all have to get back off the plane, but they have to figure out how to do that appropriately. We "sit tight" for another 20 minutes.

After we've deplaned, and are sitting back in the gate, people are angry. There is a lot of grumbling. They switch us to the next gate over, and in pulls a new plane. I think some people were sighing in relief that this hiccup wouldn't be too costly.

They would have been wrong.

We boarded this plane, or started to. The families with children and passengers requiring extra time got on. The bums in first class got on. And Boarding groups 1, 2 (me), and 3. And then, the halted this procedure as well. Turns out, our crew was about to time out and wouldn't be able to make this flight. Rewind, we all pour out of the plane back into the gate.

Cue the grumbling. It was like a stand-off. Angry passengers, annoyed gate workers, everyone yelling and snipping and moaning. I just curled up in a chair to watch. It was a sight to see. I think we sat here for an hour. Then, up rolls a flight crew - hooray. And we start boarding the plane. Many people seemed happy.

They would have been wrong.

Turns out, this flight crew had somehow arrived without a pilot. I'm not sure if they lost him along the way, or what, but we had no pilot. In fact, there was no US Air pilot in the entire airport at this time. In fact, they boarded us all on a plane without really knowing that. So guess what we did then? We all got OFF THE PLANE!

Now, it's a real mob-scene. I watched one gate worker lean over to another guy and she said something in his ear, and he was off. Pretty quickly he returns in a cart with boxes. Boxes full of snack-packs. And water. The scene that ensued was much like what you might imagine happens in third world war-torn countries when the red cross rolls in to pass out food and water. I mean, paper was flying, people were shoving. It was insanity - and we'd only been stuck for maybe 3 hours at this point. Stuck in the friendliest airport in America, mind you, with plenty of food courts, shops, and free wireless internet.

US Air called up a few pilots. I imagined those conversations went something like this:
US Air worker, "Hey, Joe, you wanna come in and fly this plane for us?"
Joe the Pilot, "Well, nah, the game is on and I'm kinda comfortable."
US Air, "But see, there's this mob of people, and they're quite angry."
Joe, "In that case, heck no! Call Bob!"

It seemed to take a while, but the gate worker was very pleased with herself when she was able to announce that they had located a pilot and he was in the building. Everyone began to cheer and clap and jump up and down chanting.

They would have been wrong.

Apparently once the pilot arrives to the airport he has one hours worth of preflight paper work to do?! Who knew. The cheers turned to grunts, and the gate workers tried to toss more water bottles around - hoping this would help.

After about a 5 hour delay, boarding and unboarding 3 planes, we finally had a plane with working instruments, a flight crew, a pilot, and were pulling away from the gate. I was waiting for the cheers, it didn't happen. The flight attendant announced that they were going to give everyone on board a free cocktail for our troubles. I waited for the cheers.

Forty-three minutes and one glass of red wine later we landed in LA. And that's when the crowd decided it was finally ok to cheer. Welcome to LA!

Friday, July 10, 2009

2009, Third Quarter.

We can sum up 2009, Second Quarter as complete slacker.

Ok, that's not entirely fair - but I did slip into a dismal abyss when it comes to things I usually like to do quite often. We can make a list:

1. frequent blog entries
2. Project 365
3. cooking
4. running
5. bathing

On the plus side, today I finally switched the wall calendar in my office from April to July, last week I moved from one apartment to another, and a few weeks ago I got back into the saddle with my running - I'll be doing 6+ miles on Saturday morning. The outlook for the 3rd quarter is brighter, but I suppose there wasn't much direction to go but up!

Saturday, July 04, 2009

a lesson in skin care

I'm generally the one who is slathering up with sunscreen, while some of my friends forget it, or choose to go without. Mostly, this horrifies me, so I figured I'd offer my Happy 4th of July wishes by talking about skin care.

Some of my friends aren't freaked out by the prospects of skin cancer, I guess that's where we differ. I'm all for not looking pasty white, but at the same time, I understand it comes with some risks. I generally like to find a good balance between lack-of-see-throughness and too-much-sun-exposure. There was a rumor for a while that any sunscreen over SPF 20 was a joke. This is only partly true. There are two types of rays - UVA and UVB. UVB causes the burns, while UVA generally causes the wrinkles, and is generally more responsible for skin cancer. Typically US sunscreens only contain protection against UVB, but not UVA. Then for a while there was one product that was approved to be included in sunscreens to protect from UVA, and that was only in some sunscreens at SPF 20. There is a new product, in Neutrogena, that has a broad spectrum UVA-UVB protection, and combine two different chemicals to not only block UVA but also to make that protection last longer in direct sun exposure. You can be sure, my sunscreens (yes, I said sunscreens, plural) of choice have this type of protection.

My daily routine is to use a face lotion that has SPF 15 in it, every day, on my face. I also have a body lotion with SPF 15, that I'll use on my shoulders and arms when I'm wearing a tank top. This is just everyday. To go to school, the grocery store, sit in my apartment.

When I'm heading out for a run, I generally use this face stick, which does not clog pores nor run into your eyes. I also use a sport spray on my arms and shoulders, and lately I've been running with a hat.

On days, like today, when I am heading to sit directly in the sun pool side, I do have an extensive routine. I start with an SPF 55 cream sunscreen. I put this one BEFORE I put my suit on, to make sure I even get under the edges of wear the suit would go. And I let it dry a bit before pulling my suit up over it. I do this as I get dressed, generally HOURS before I'm actually IN the sun. I also use it on my face. Then, when I first get out in the sun, I reapply using the sports spray and the face stick. I do not get in the water for at least 30-45 minutes after this. From here on out, when I reapply - and I do try to often - I use the sports spray. As you're applying, don't forget things like your ears, the tops of your feet, the backs of your knees. They are often over looked, and hurt quite badly when burned.

And, after the sun, if I am burned (which does happen sometimes, even with all this effort), my favorite after sun lotion is Burts Bees. And just remember to keep any sunburn moisturized, this will help much to get it to heal quickly.

Happy Fourth of July to everyone, wishing you lots of BBQ, watermelon, cold beers, good friends, and a beautiful sun-safe day!