One Hot Minute

So alot has happened since I last posted anything other than pics of 777LR's and 737 nosegear from the pushback operator's view.

I applied for a position with our SOC in the FLIFO dept. I flew to HQ and had my interview. It went well, as did the follow up interview. Unfortunately, I found out yesterday that I didn't get the position. They gave it to someone who was equally qualified, but already living near SOC. :(

This will be hard for many of you to believe, but I've got a beautiful girlfriend now. She's a saint.

Gotta cut short, NORTH TEXAS HOME OPENER TODAY! I'm out!

Fucking Beautiful....

I must be trippin'

It's been an interesting week or so.

My car is still inop...but as I type this, Mel is scoring the parts for me and it will hopefully be fixed by tonight. The peice of shit will FINALLY be paid off this coming week, but I'm gonna have to look into the possibility of having to get a new one. We'll see...having HORRIBLE credit isn't going to help me at all. :(

So yeah, non-rev'd all over the place the other day. 25 hours, 5 flights, 16 alcoholic drinks on said flights...a very interesting day. Routing of DFW-BWI-BOS-PHF-ATL-DFW.

I guess I should preface and say that I met a darlin' of an F/A a couple of weeks ago while covering someone's gate for them. She was scheduled to take one of our LAX flights out and I was a total smartass to her when they checked in. She was a smartass right back to me (something I'm inexplicably attracted to) and we kinda joked around about getting a beer when she came back to DFW that night. Well, I wasn't sure if she was joking, so I left her a note with my number for the gate agent to give to her when she returned to Dallas. She called...we hit it off over the course of her off days and the next thing I knew...I was on my way to PHF to hang out with her.

I caught a few snags on my trip. Non-rev travel is almost always space available standby. I was cleared through to Boston from DFW...but I got pulled when I got to BWI. I wasn't going to make the next flight to Boston, either...but I kissed a little butt while I was there and they got me to Boston. My flight from BOS-PHF was wicked delayed due to a fucking monsoon coming through BOS...so I wound up helping the gate agents in Boston with all the delay questions and helped them get a flight boarded. My F/A came in on a flight from PHL that turned around to PHF...so I finally got out of Boston and we were on our way to PHF.

The flight to PHF was possibly the best flight I've ever been on. The flight ahead of us for takeoff was an AerLingus A330...such an awesome takeoff. The clouds were really dark in the bay, but the sun was setting just below the cloudline and that made for a beautiful sunset over the waters. Tack on the hardcore thunderhead off the right wing for most of the flight, the continuous drinks, and the Texas Rangers game on the XM radio...oh yeah, and the cute flight attendant...it was the best flight ever.

We just hung out and had a good time in Virginia...I was catching the 0530 flight through ATL to get home in time for work at 1200 the next day. I got to the airport and they had 2 available seats on the flight. I was the number 3 standby. Grrrr. But, good luck came along in the form of an airstart. The ramp crew there was mostly new guys and airstarts in PHF are few and far between. None of them knew how to do one. I, however, DID. So I told them that I would airstart the plane if they gave me the last seat on the flight. It was a deal.

So, there I was, in my business casual clothes...hooking up an airstart and telling the captain to "spin one"...then running up the jetbridge and jumping in my seat. Good times.

I got back to Dallas at 0901 CST, started working at 0930. I was exhausted at the end of the day. My F/A and I haven't really talked much since then...I guess I scared her off or something. Oh well. She was really cute, though. But, then again...I'm just her layover buddy in Dallas. So I guess I'll hear form her soon enough...or whatever.

I'm on my day off today...I wanna go out tonight...but my car is still dead. Melinda is here working on it as I type this...but it's not being nice. The bolts to the u-joint yoke are tighter than...well...something that's air-fucking-tight. The airtools aren't even budging it. Hopefully it'll be up soon.

Well, back to handing her tools and watching her 5 year old.

Really fun non-rev weekend...details soon.

Dragging Driveshafts, Happy (Emergency) Landings, and Smartass (however, wicked cute) F/A's!

Once again, I've let WAAAY too much time pass since my last entry.

I guess the big thing that's happened since I last bitched about stuff is the fact that Blackie, my '98 Explorer and all-around peice of shit car, is currently in the driveway...and her driveshaft is sitting on the front porch. Therefore, she's completely inop. And like the old "Ugly Duckling" car ads used to say, "Life Sucks Without A Car".

>>A week ago, myself and a bunch of my co-workers went out to the Hooters north of the airport and had a few beers, some wings and, and shot the shit for a little bit. Margee was coming back through the airport when she called me, so she came out as well. When it came time to leave, I decided to go to Denton with Margee and get a few more drinks with our friends there and then just crash on her couch.

We stopped at a stoplight on northbound 121 and, when the light turned green, I hit the gas and heard a big BOOM!. My car stopped accellerating and it felt like I was dragging something. I WAS dragging something. My driveshaft was still connected to the transmission until I stopped on the side of the road. Basically, my car blew a u-joint and, because it dragged on the ground, there was a little bit of damage to my actual driveshaft.

One of my co-workers, Melinda, fixes cars as a hobby. (I am aware of how sad it is that I have to get a chick to fix my car for me.) She came over the other night and tried to fix it...and it turns out the u-joint bracket is practically rusted onto the car. Not good. We're still not sure how we're going to get the damn thing off. I mean, she brought the airtools and everything. It sounded like a NASCAR pit row in my driveway when she was working on it. So, here I am....stuck at home on my day off. It's killing me. I have so many things I NEED to do, but at least I'm not wasting gas.

>>Things are getting better at work. School starts soon and the loads are getting lighter. We've mastered the art of quick turns with heavy loads...so we should kick some ass until November. I think management is considering sending me to CI training this month. Imagine that...ME...training people. HA!

Ahh, who am I kidding. I've already trained half of our new crew in the nuances of the ramp. I just can't sign them off on equipment. And I think they've all turned out to be quite good. In fact, the ones I trained are EXCELLENT. I'm quite proud of that.

Had a little drama at work yesterday. My first emergency landing. One of our outbound flights turned back to Dallas due to indications of a right-side hydraulic failure. They had to manually drop the landing gear...which means they landed with the main gear doors open...dragging them like a driveshaft on a '98 Explorer.

The aircraft landed safely...much respect to the captain for such a smooth landing in overweight and emergency condtions. It was swarmed by fire trucks & EMS vehicles and a crew of us were escorted out to runway 17L to tow the plane to the gate. When we got there, we could tell it WAS a complete hydraulic failure on the right side thanks to the thrust reverser still open on that side. It never retracted.

We kicked a little ass to get the plane off the runway ASAP. A plane on the runway for more than say, 25 minutes, becomes a PR nightmare. News choppers were probably scrambling. Gear pins were put in, towbar hooked up, and we tried to get the gear doors in place (that wasn't happening thanks to damage). We got her back in the gate 24 minutes after she landed....including a 8 minute tow from 17L.

Knowing that everyone was safe and we got them to their destination safely, though a few hours late, allows me to say that it was exciting. It was my first time out on the runway...and my first time dealing with that kind of situation. One of our rampers brought his digital camera with him to the runway, but I won't be posting any of those pics here since they would be a dead giveaway of who I work for. Not that you guys don't already know...but I just want to stay on the safe side.

>>Not a whole lot else has been going on. I met a smartass F/A the other day...I let her get away with it because she was really cute...and we've been talking the past few nights. I wouldn't say she hit on me...but she's definitely the only female F/A to (unofficially) give me her number...HAHA! Either way, apparently, I now owe her dinner and a few beers. I wouldn't owe her if my car were working the other night when she overnighted in Dallas...grrrr. Hurry up, Dirty Blackie, get fixed! You're killing my social life.

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Current Music: Bowling For Soup - Almost
Current Weight: 223

Tales from Airside...

So I owe you guys a couple of fun stories...mainly because I just checked The Jumpseat Diaries and remembered I owe Noorster the one about me telling one of our F/A's to "fuck off". So...ummm...here goes.

The Bitchy F/A

So, as I stated in my last post, we've been hardcore shortstaffed and really busy. We had a bird roll in just after we had unloaded another plane. After we got it chocked in the gate, the other 2 rampers went to load up the other plane as quickly as possible while I stayed to unload the new flight.

We had about 3 gate checked stollers (carriages, prams, whatever the hell you want to call them)...just enough that I'd have to make 2 trips up to the jetbridge to take them to the pax. Instead of wearing myself out, I decided to do something we've done a million times before...reach up and hand them to the person catering the aircraft. The caterer is already on the aircraft, so they can take them across to the passenger door. We don't do that often, but if we're pressed for time or short of people, it's not uncommon and, as far as I know, there's no company policy against it.

After the caterer ran the first 2 strollers across, I tossed the third onto the catering catwalk...where there was an F/A standing there staring at me. She immediately starts screaming at me. No "can you please not do that", no "it would be better if you didn't do that"...no niceness whatsoever. To make matters worse, I remember this F/A from my catering days. I remember her for being a total bitch that made a scene when I told her we were out of a certain item (a central supply problem)....when she had MORE than enough in the galley.

She stood there on the catwalk, screaming "YOU CAN'T DO THAT...YOU MUST BRING THEM UPSTAIRS YOURSELF!" I replied, "Darlin', I'm down here by my bloody lonesome down here, I'm exhausted, and I'm trying to knock this out as quickly as I can..."

Her reply? "I DON'T GIVE A SHIT...THAT'S YOUR JOB AND YOUR PROBLEM. If you're shortstaffed, take it up with your station director, not me. You knew what you were getting into when you signed up for your shitty little job."

Ooooooooo.....I was out for blood now. I want to preface my reply to her by saying that I know F/A's work hard. I know that it's alot more than being a waitress in the sky. I know there's tons of lifesaving training that goes into your job. I love most F/A's I've met. But, I was already having a bad day and this one just set me off...

"Listen here, missy. My 'shitty little job' is to ensure your happy little ass gets the hell outta Dallas as quickly as I can safely get you out. Shouldn't you be serving up some sodas or sitting your fat ass on the jumpseat reading the latest on Brad Pitt? Because, Lord knows, you haven't done half the work I've done today. In fact, you probably haven't done half the work I've done today in weeks of pushing your little beverage cart up and down the aisle. Damn, I bet that's fucking hard. So ya know what, I'm gonna help your lazy fat ass maybe lose a couple of calories. (at this point I pulled the stroller off the catwalk and put it on the ground) Come down and get it, bitch! And FUCK OFF the next time you decide to rip on people whole actually fucking work for a living!"

So maybe, just maybe, I was a little harsh. But, I was exhausted, covered in sweat and jet A burnoff, and in no mood to put up with this woman. I apologize if I've offended anyone...but she deserved it. Here's another fun story of what we get to deal with UPstairs.

There's No Place Like Home (Especially When You're A Drunkard)

On our last outbound flight of the night, the ramp turned the flight in under 15 minutes, so I decided to run upstairs and see if there was any way I could help the gate agent get the flight boarded.

When I got upstairs, I saw a supervisor, another lead, and the gate agent about to go onto the aircraft and pull a passenger off in order to evaluate if he was too drunk to fly. The conversation between the supervisor and the pax was hilarious...and I bring it to you. For better effect, read the "Drunk Pax" lines in your best Cheech and Chong whiney-stoner voice...this coming from a businessman in his late 40's.

Supervisor: Sir, are you aware of why we've asked you to step off the aircraft?
Drunk Pax: Yeah, man...you probably think I'm drunk. Well, I kinda am.
Supervisor: Yes sir, we noticed you stumbling down to the aircraft and the flight crew has asked us to evaluate your whether or not to let you fly.
Drunk Pax: Man, I've just been at my nephew's wedding and I just wanna go home, man. Yeah, I've been partying all day...so I'm a little drunk. But I just wanna go home, man. You guys are good guys, man.
Supervisor: Well, thank you, sir.
Gate Agent: Sir, the lady that you boarded the plane with. Are you two traveling together?
Drunk Pax: What? No. No! I just met her in the bar. I'm MARRIED, man! (shows ring)
Gate Agent: I see, I guess I was just thrown off by the fact you were kissing that lady a moment ago.
Drunk Pax: Please don't tell my wife, guys. She's already mad at me, man.
Supervisor: I can understand that. Sir, I think we're going to ask you to come upstairs with us and we'll rebook you for tomorrow.
Drunk Pax: Please, no....please...I just wanna go home. You guys are good guys! Trust me, I'll be a good boy. I just wanna go home...to my wife. There's no place like home! If I could, I'd just click my heels and I'd be home. But, please, I promise, I'll be good. Can I please ask the Captain? Plllleeeeease?

At this point, I was about to bust out laughing at the Wizard of Oz reference and had to leave the situation. The captain allowed him to fly...the F/A's came back through DFW the next day and said the man was a perfect angel...but his little girlfriend on the side puked at least 8 times inflight. Maybe we should have pulled her.

And this is what we deal with everyday.

Oooo, baby, baby it's a wild world...

It's been wild for the last few weeks...where to begin...

Summer travel season still hasn't let up at all...and working full loads with only three (yes, THREE) ramp agents during the midshift has been taking it's toll on us. The only thing that has saved us is weather, either here or at destinations, causing ground delays and letting us slow down a little. We had 2 planes on the ground last week that had identical departure times...so the other 2 of us loaded one while I unloaded the other by kicking a bunch of bags out of the cargo bin, loading them up into a bag cart, and diving back in to repeat the process. Entire plane unloaded by one person in 12 minutes. None too shabby, sucker.

Luckily, we've got a bunch of new hires on the way. We've got a new class of something like 12 rampers right now...and we've been training them the last few days. Some will be really good, some won't last long...but a few is all we need. We had another class of something like 8 in training a few weeks ago, but I heard a couple failed either drug tests or FBI background check minimums. So I think we wound up with 4. Of those four, we have 3 left thanks to a minor catasrophe....

So these new hires weren't signed off to drive ANYTHING. No tugs, no beltloaders, hell...they weren't even supposed to move the bag carts. However, one of them drove a tug to run some late bags out to a plane....and barrelled into the right wing. He dragged the cart along the wing, putting some pretty deep gashes into the slats, about a 6"x20"x1/2" deep dent in the number 2 inboard slat, and almost ripped off one of the carbon fiber air separation pylons. Obviously, that bird was going nowhere.

We canceled the flight, hardstanded the aircraft and we had our A&P mechanic on-site in about 15 minutes. He and I took the pictures to send to the MX control folks and they sent out a 4 man crew with a new slat and carbon fiber thingamajiggy. 25 hours and $500,000 later...that bird was ferried back to the hangar at our hub for further inspection and put back into service a couple days later. Either way, this little thing cost the company alot of money...and cost this new guy his job.

Anywhos...I worked the gates a little this week. Not by myself, but I'm trying to learn the gate agent end of the job a little bit...just so I can have the skills I need to move up someday. That shit is stressful. With the exception of dispatch and ATC, that has to be the HARDEST job in the airline industry. Dealing with people who think that they're entitled to yell at you because they bought the cheapest ticket they could find. Uuuggghhh...they make me sick.

I also FINALLY got pushback certified this week. I've been doing it for a while, but they never officially signed me off. About damn time. Executed my first turn this week...135 pax on board...and i'm playing around with the plane on pushback. Scary, eh?

My birthday was last Thursday. I'm a whoppin' 23 now. Mom called me on my cell at 0941 (the minute I was born) like she always does. Like Recklace, I definitely didn't get enough presents...so click here and redeem yourself. And speaking of Lacey...I have a present for her. :)

More to come...

It's my birthday....on Thursday, anyway.

My birthday is Thursday...so...uh...go to my wishlist and buy me something.

Good night, pretty sunrise...

You know it was a fun might when you see a Texas sunrise on the way home.

Such a cool ass picture...

Photo by Aleksandar Knezevic, U2005.com

Amen, U2...Amen.

Grey Sky Morning...

Long week...rough couple of days thanks to medical diversions and weather on the east coast...more to come. Just feeling this song right now...not sure why.

So you sailed away
Into a grey sky morning
Now I'm here to stay
Love can be so boring

Nothing's quite the same now
I just say your name now

But it's not so bad
You're only the best I ever had
You don't want me back
You're just the best I ever had

So you stole my world
Now I'm just a phony
Remembering the girl
Leaves me down and lonely

Send it in a letter
Make yourself feel better

But it's not so bad
You're only the best I ever had
You don't need me back
You're just the best I ever had

And it may take some time to
Patch me up inside
But I can't take it so I
Run away and hide
And I may find in time that
You were always right
You're always right

So you sailed away
Into a grey sky morning
Now I'm here to stay
Love can be so boring

What was it you wanted
Could it be I'm haunted

But it's not so bad
You're only the best I ever had
I don't want you back
You're just the best I ever had
The best I ever had
The best I ever...

When I die I may not go to heaven…

I don't know if they let cowboys in…

If they don't just let me go to (North) Texas…

(North) Texas is as close as I've been.

No news...

I'd love to give you some kickass update or something, but really...there's not a whole lot new going on. Just alot of work, not alotta play.

I've been waiting around for a call to help a (now former) co-worker get moved out. But, as it turns out, my phone has been on silent all day and she's been trying to call all day. Oops!

I guess I'm gonna hit up Denton. Then, from there, who knows. Probably hanging out with my boy Cody...perhaps some drinking...perhaps.

Only really exciting thing today is the fact that I'm almost at the 40 mark. Almost 40lbs. lost since February. I was 265 when I went to training for my airline. I stepped on the scale today and I'm sitting at 228. 37 lbs gone. I need to drop 40 more, but I'm getting there.

I know it's almost July, but summer is only now official. I'm going to get a Sno-Ball snocone in Gainesville, right....NOW. "Tiger's Blood" snocone, here I come. And there's a liquor store next door now. Hahahahahaha!

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Current Music: Cross Canadian Ragweed - Carry You Home (iTunes Linkage)
Current Weight: 228

All hail the internet...

Ahhh, finally a new blog post. For the record, I spent an hour last weekend updating this thing on Dearing's computer...only to have said computer eat my damn entry. So I'll try to remember all the crap I touched on in that entry.

Not a whole lot of new things going on. I now work a 0430-2030 shift pretty much at least once a week. I've started calling it "working the slate"...as in working our entire slate of outbound flights. I did it this week on zero sleep...that was an adventure. They let me go around 1700, yet I wound up staying until almost 2100 due to our operations agent needing a hand and helping work a gate. Me and Brian, the other guy that works the 0430-2030 mess, were both running on almost no sleep...yet our flight was the only on-time departure for the afternoon. Eat that, afternoon shift.

Those 16 hour shifts are ass kickers and require a 45 minute shower just to get that funkiness off my body and outta my hair. I've never seen so much nastiness go down the drain. Just the pure black water from when I wash my hair after work. I look like a damn coal miner.

With the weather getting hotter (it was 100-plus with 98% humidity this past week), the funk just gets worse. I've been drinking at least 15 liters of water/Gatorade a work day to stay hydrated, yet I never pee because I sweat it all out. That's alot of sweat. Tack on the smell of Jet A burn off...and you get an idea of what us "below-wing" folks smell like at the end of the work day.

Somewhat exciting news from last week...I did my first pushback last week. I still need to get with the CI to finish my other 3 certification pushes, but I now have one under my belt. It ain't easy to do, either. When you grow up as a Texas country boy like I did, you're used to hauling trailers behind pickup trucks and turning opposite of where you want the trailer to go when maneuvering it. With a pushback, you're using a dual-joint towbar, so you turn into the maneuver...and that takes some getting used to when you're accustomed to a hay trailer.

For those of you non-aviation folks, a pushback is where we hook up a big ass tractor-like vehicle to the nose gear of an aircraft and push them out of the gate (or off of the hardstand) to where they will begin their taxi to the runway. We do this because a plane can't exactly just throw it in reverse and go. Sure, almost all commercial passenger aircraft have reverse thrust...and sure, the MD-80,-88,-90, the 717, the DC-9 and other rear mounted engine aircraft can safely powerback using reverse thrust, but there's FOD and safety issues with wing-mounted engines powering back, so it's safer and more economical to do pushbacks.

For that few minutes or so you spend pushing the aircraft, the pushback operator is the person responsible for the aircraft and everyone on board, so that's a little nerve racking. On a busy ramp, you really have to depend on your wingwalkers to be your eyes. I know in my nervousness, I jolted the plane a few times by letting off the gas a little too much. I asked the flight deck to pass on my apologies to the f/a's since it wouldn't surprise me if I nearly knocked them on their asses. (Noorster, does this ever happen? Bad pushback turning into someone being almost knocked on their backside?)

So, the internet has been down all day. I'm actually typing this entry in a notepad file and will cut and paste later when the damn DSL comes back up. Apparently, some jackass cut a fiber optic cable between here and Dallas...and that's affecting DSL and 911 service. Screw 911 service...just gimme my internet back!

Luckily, I have alot of music on iTunes I haven't had a chance to really listen to and "Groundhog Day" is on TV. Bill Murray is a golden god.

Been trying harder to hang out with friends lately...had a few chances to hang out with new friends as well...Linds and Miss Cooper rock my world (Miss Cooper just a little more than Lindsay...lol). It's been a good couple of weeks.

I went to the Frisco RoughRiders game last night with Robbie Mac. He scored SWEET tickets from the doctor he's house sitting for...behind home plate, 2nd row, free beer, free chili dogs and sitting next to a smokin' hot girl from Frisco. And to top it off, the bat boy is one of my old campers (Scott, the KPFC radio all-star), so I got a couple of game used balls. After all of that, whos cares that the Riders got shelacked to the tune of 13-0. ;)

Last week (or was it the week before?), I got to see Bob Schneider 2 nights in a row...meaning I got to hang out with old friends that I haven't seen in ages like Margee, Phil, Katie, Rica, Cody, Justin, Micah, Holly, and others. That was a blast and a half...few things bring us all together like a Bob show.

Hmm, what else? Not a whole lot going on. I bought new steel toes and kneepads...that's exciting. Hahahaha! I didn't get the Ramp Lead position I really wanted, but I understand my seniority was much lower than the ones that got the positions. I'm gonna try to get outta town next week if I can pull it off. Getting outta Dallas/Ft. Worth as a non-rev on our airline is close to impossible right now. Damn summer loads.

Well, I'm gonna go fire up the TiVo and watch "Groundhog Day" until the internet comes back up. I need to shop for car insurance...c'mon SBC! I need my DSL!

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Current Music:
Current Weight:

I love staring these bad boys down...

Pot Pies, Wild Ass Weeks, and New Stuff...

In a change of pace from the usual airline rant (don't worry, that's coming), I want to start by voicing my displeasure with frozen chicken pot pies. It's so much work for such little food. I mean, c'mon, I grew up with a microwave. I'm used to being able to throw a frozen food straight from the freezer to the microwave and be eating in less than 4 minutes. None of this preheating, burning myself on the oven rack, and having to wait 33 or more minutes for a 7 oz. pot pie that I will eat in less than 3 minutes. Such a waste of time.

So yeah, it was another one of those weeks at the airport. Weather at our hub for almost 3 days straight royally screwed things up. One ramp crew, 3 planes on the ground...at well into 2100 (our last outbound flight is scheduled for around 1945). Rough going for the DFW crew.

Yesterday takes the cake for rough days this week, though. I'm no longer working nights...I'm now on middays...which is great for my social life, by the way. Because I'm actually getting sleep, I agreed to cover 3 hours for our Operations agent. On a normal day, that would have been great. However, I walked into a shitstorm when I got there at 1700. A flight cancelled due to maintenance issues was still sitting in the gate, that flight caused an aircraft routing issue since that tail number is supposed to come back through Dallas from it's original destination, then on to our hub as an overnighter. On top of that we had cargo and mail that was pulled from other flights in order to make weights & balances work on previous flights.

Our planners at HDQ decided to turn one of our terminator overnighters into that flight back to our hub...with the pilots flying that overnighter in from Baltimore flying the delayed flight and swapping out the flight attendants. Well, the pilots decided to be total arrogant douchebags and took off for the crew hotel even though they were notified mid-flight that they needed to fly back to home base on that next flight. Crew scheduling canceled their hotel rooms, but these guys were adamant that they weren't coming back to the airport. After about an hour and a half of haggling, begging, and getting the top brass involved...the captain and F/O came back to the airport. They were total dicks to everyone upon their return, but we pushed that flight out as quickly as the F/O could hammer out the weights and balances.

My 3 hour (1700-2000) cover shift turned into a 6 hour (1700-2300) fiasco, but I learned alot. I'm gonna start coming in on my days off and getting trained as an (unofficial) operations agent just so I know how to handle messes like that without help.

Wednesday night, I got to hang out with Kari after work (I was 3.5 hours late). A fun Wal-Mart run, Whataburger, Ace Ventura, and other good times were had. :) Hopefully, now that I live in the metro-mess, I'll get to see alot more of her.

Thursday night, after the mess at work, I got to go see Margee and Rica, Justin and Cody, and a bunch of my Camp Sweeney buddies...all in one night! I like being off before midnight! I kinda have a social life now.

I'm kinda rushing because I've gotta pack ups some more of my crap and get it loaded in the car...then go see a friend of mine before I go back to the apt.

One last thing though...I've added (ANOTHER) box on the right hand side. It's called "Downline Connections" and it will be airline/aviation industry related links. The first three are Airliners.net, The Queen Of Sky, and The Jumpseat Diaries. Airliners.net may have replace GoMeanGreen.com as my daily timewasting obsession...the QueenOfSky is the blog of a former Delta F/A that was shitcanned for nothing more than blogging (ever notice how I never refer to who I work for or where the hub is even if it's incredibly obvious?)...and The Jumpseat Diaries is the blog of another F/A who was lovely enough to comment on my last entry. Thanks Darlin'! I'll add more links in that box as I come across them.

Until next time...please refrain from yelling at the operations agent when he comes up to try and help the gate agent prepare his paperwork...DAMMIT!
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Current Music: Everclear - El Distorto de Melodica (Instrumental)
Current Weight: 233

Getting my ass kicked and my breath taken away...

I feel like I've had my ass kicked...repeatedly. My back is all kinds of outta whack. I had to call in sick to work Thursday because I can do little more than sit or lie down.

I'm sore all over. Two days in a row it was just myself and one other ramper working the last outbound of the day. All thanks to our corporate office's decision to fly half our afternoon crew to recurrent training this week. Well, that and the fact that none of the other half of that crew gives a shit about helping one another, so they haul at right at the time their shift ends (1830).

Well, Wednesday I was already worn down from being overworked the previous day. I unrolled the PCA (pre-condiontioned air) duct when the plane rolled in and hooked it up, then dove into the aft bin to unload the local bags. I felt a slight tweak in my lower back as I unrolled that hose...but it got alot worse while in the bin.

See, the good folks in our hub city didn't do their job correctly (big surprise there, the fucking retards) and failed to properly tag several small bags as "HEAVY" and, in my rush to get the plane turned, I tweaked my back even more. After the aircraft was pushed, I sat down in operations and the pain got progressively worse. I fought through it the rest of the night and hoped to go back and finish the week out strong (I'm in OT and I'm a total whore for OT). Alas, the pain is still pretty hardcore so, here I am with a 3 day weekend.

I've been a total lazy bum. I've sat on my ass, slept, watched TV, and that's about it for 2 days. I did drive around town by myself for about an hour the other night...that brought back memories. Almost 23 years old and making the drag in small town Texas like a high school kid. Awesome.

I did manage to get off my duff last night just long enough to go see the man, the myth, the legend Jack Ingram in concert in my hometown. I've now seen the man in concert almost 50 times, yet he never gets old. Such a great show. Got to hang with my old buddy Ben Smith for the whole show. Ben is an up and coming songwriter just getting started with his musical career...so you should check him out (and buy his CD's, of course).

I saw an old friend last night who's family, when we were in high school, were a host family for an exchange student from Germany. The exchange student was a cute blonde girl who I was just absolutely in love with back then. Hell, I still have a little thing for the girl. Well, last night, while talking to the the slightly inebriated old friend, she mentioned to me that the cute German girl still asks about me when she emails. I was like, "whatever, she does not...quit messing with me". To which she replied, "No, really...I swear you're one of like 4 people she still asks about all these years later...you need to go get that girl. Go get her, Dub."

I'm not really sure where to go with this...not really sure if she was just messing with me because she knew how I felt about the girl back then...or because she was kinda drunk. But she told me to call her today and get the girl's email address. So, I guess later today I'll give her a shout. I don't want to read too much into this whole thing, but I really want to talk to this girl...I'm a little giddy at the thought. :)

Well, I need to ice my back, take my drugs (over the counter, not the illegal kind) and get packin'. I'm moving today. A place closer to work with one of my coworkers. I move in today, he leaves for Germany for 2 weeks tomorrow. Hmmmm, maybe he can bring me a cute blonde souvenir from Lübeck... :-)

"I know who Charlie Robison is, I know who Randy Rogers is, I know who Wade Bowen is, I know who Cross Canadian Ragweed is, I know who Jerry Jeff Walker is, I know who Pat Green is, I know who Waylon was...and I feel a change comin' on...WE NEED A CHANGE!" - Jack Ingram, 5-27-05

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Current Music: U2 - One
Current Weight: 235

Fun things found in airplane cargo bins

This sums me up pretty nicely...

I tear my heart open,

I sew myself shut.

My weakness is that I care too much.

And my scars remind me that the past is real,

I tear my heart open just to feel.

The Green Monster! Pt. II

The Green Monster!

I've got stickers!

Allllllllllllllllllllllright...I'm so tired, I'm wired. Does that make sense?

I put in close to 40 hours over the weekend (Sat-Mon), so my sleep schedule is still screwed up. Luckily, though...we have a new shift bid coming up, so I just have a week or 2 more of the night shift.

We've been short-handed all week (any surprises there?) thanks to the suspension of the girl who caused damage to a 737 in a jetbridge accident. Gotta watch out for those probes on the side of the plane. She's back to work later today...we hope. We need that extra body on the night shift.

Yeah, that little accident cost the company a whole helluva lotta money. Of course, they charter a LearJet to get an inspector, a mechanic, and the part to Dallas...just to get here and realize they brought the wrong damn part. Idiots. They wound up swapping out parts with "An evil DFW eMpiRe" for a price and the plane wound up taking a 3.5 hour delay thanks to the repair. On a Friday. With tons of misconnecting passengers. Not good. Oh well, shit happens.

I worked morning shift twice this week on top of night shift. Wore me out, but I enjoyed it. I just worked in the operations office one of the mornings...that was easy cheese. I got to yell at people for screwing up...proving once again the fact that I was made to yell at underlings.

We've been having problems with the rampers in our hub city incorrectly loading bags. Mixing local, thru, and connection bags altogether. Sometimes behind mail and cargo. And throwing gate claim items behind bags...and sending an entire day's worth of mail shipments on the last flight of the day (screwing the night shift over even more). I dunno which one pisses me off most, but I'm ready to catch a flight to our hub and knock some people around. Them and one of our west coast stations. The ramp isn't rocket science, but for the morons on both coasts...it's damn close to it. I mean, c'mon, a trained monkey could do most of this job. Grrr....

This weekend is my trip to Fenway. I can't fucking wait. I leave for Boston on Friday morning, check into my hotel a few miles from BOS, meet up with Suzanne, and head to Fenway to see the Sox kick the Braves' asses! I'm so excited! I'm so excited! I'm...so...scared! Uhhh, sorry...Jesse Spano moment there. I'm gonna be seeing Suze for the first time in a long time. 2 years I think. That's gonna be a little weird, but it'll be nice to see her again. I'm looking forward to the whole trip. I plan on killing some of Boston's finest booze while I'm at it all. :)

Lastly, I'd like to share with you another proof that I'm the least lucky man alive. This week, I ordered new contacts online, as well as a new lanyard for my ID badges (ok, ok, and some of those cute little pudgy airplane stickers) from Boeing's webstore. Really, all I need is the contacts and the lanyard. Both are fucking backordered. Yup. Two separate orders from two separate companies...both of the necessities are backordered.

But hey, at least I get my pudgy airplane stickers! Boeing went ahead and shipped those babies!

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Current Music: Dropkick Murphys - Tessie

Oh, the irony...

Oh the irony...I fucking HATE ATL. With a passion. And I LOVE Chicago...

American Cities That Best Fit You:

65% Atlanta

65% Las Vegas

60% Austin

55% Denver

50% Chicago

Traffic, TAT Probes, and The Sox!

Rough day/night...good ending, though.

Took me 2.5 hrs to get to work today thanks to the worst traffic in history. I got "written up" for being almost an hour late to work. Hooray!

All planes were 15-20 minutes late tonight...that didn't make things any easier.

Then, the catastrophe of one of my co-workers damaging a 737 while pulling the jetbridge up to the aircraft. She elevated the cab of the jetbridge while too close to the a/c and bent the TAT (Total Air Temperature) Probe that is on the side of the plane. It was a complete accident, but all in all, it's an accident that is going to cost the company a boat load of money. We're talking in the tens of thousands of dollars. Hell, they had to charter a LearJet to get the part and a mechanic to Dallas.

Good news when I got home though...I have tickets for next Friday's Red Sox game at Fenway Park in Boston! Fuck yeah!

I'm off today...looking forward to doing NOTHING! Yes!
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Current Music: Ben Folds - Landed

One Broke Douchebag

Does it make me a douchebag that I've watched the movie "Love Actually" something like 5 times in the past week? I think it does...:-\ Damn sappy movie.

I have managed to offset some of my douchebaggery with watching lots of Texas Rangers baseball and a killer 40 point win by the Mavs.

I've been broke for close to a couple of weeks. I get paid every other Monday, so doing anything on my days off on every other weekend has been kinda out of the question. I literally left the house once this weekend in an attempt to save money.

It's Mother's Day today...be sure to NOT follow my example and be sure to at least call your mom. I still need to do that. I'm too poor to give her anything now...so, I'll get her something tomorrow.

Well, off to work...I kinda miss the smell of jet fuel.

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Current Music: None...Texas Rangers on the TV

Where Did I Go?

So yeah, it's been a little while. Uhh, sorry. I never realized people read this thing until I started getting threatening emails and text messages about my lack of updates. So, here goes...I'm gonna backtrack a little.

Things are starting to settle at work a little bit. Things at the new terminal have gotten a little better and things on the night shift, though every night is a pain in the ass, have gotten better as well. We've kinda got a routine down now. Except when all hell breaks loose. :) About a week ago, actually exactly a week ago we had a little incident.

Well, not 'we' per se...but one of our planes took a bird on the nose during final approach. Birdstrike, baby! Nothing left of that little fucker except blood and feathers on a newly delaminated radome. OK, so maybe that was speaking Greek to some of you. I'll explain.

Dictionary.com defines a radome as a domelike shell transparent to radio-frequency radiation, used to house a radar antenna. In the case of this (and most aircraft) the radome is the nosecone of the airplane. It's made of composite materials and is pretty damn sturdy considering the light weight of the materials.

Well, composites are typically in a "laminated" state that support the structural integrity of the item. When hit hard enough (like hitting a fucking bird at 400mph), the composite item can become misshapen and the integrity of the composite is compromised.

Basically, long story short, radome+bird(speed)=grounded airplane.

We're an outstation, so we have contract mechanics...very good at what they do, especially when they have to improvise. One was on site when the plane landed around midnight, checked the plane out through and through for about an hour to ensure the bird never entered the engine intakes or anything like that...then began the business of hunting down a radome.

There was alot of drama in between in all of that with our night crew. Basically, alot of pissiness because of lack of communication and lack of similar views on what the real goal needed to be...was it getting to leave work on time? or was it helping the mechanics when asked and avoiding the lost revenue of a canceled flight? Anyone in the airline business knows the correct answer to that...

We're an 'outstation', therefore we have no hangar, and few spare parts just lying around. Usually, if we need a part, it can be there in a couple of hours...or we can "rent" the part from another airline. In this case, we rented a radome from "Evil DFW Empire Airlines" that runs similar, very silver a/c. Must be nice to have VERY expensive parts just lying around.

Our mechanic managed to get the radome and began the replacement by 0330. He recruited me to help him out off and on through the night. I started helping him full time at around 0630 and had to hold the damn thing in the air after the supports were disengaged. My arms were sore the rest of the weekend. The thing is lightweight, but standing on a ladder and holding something in the air for about an hour is kinda tough.

That plane was supposed to leave at 0700, but a tail swap pushed that a/c's push time to 0810. New radome was in place and had it's airworthiness signed off at 0830. Not too shabby for one A&P licensed mechanic and a lowly ramp rat.

Anyway, so there's my "I got to play with a 30 lb. nosecone that costs more than a really nice house" story. The rest of the week was pretty uneventful. We've been a man short at night all week. We finally replaced our smoky-ass, dying piece of shit of a pushback tug. I pushed a solid turd into a hole with a big waterhose in the pouring ass rain (yes, I just typed that). Unloaded "precious cargo" into an armoured truck. Got to work my first full on triple-ops. Good times, eh?

I've accomplished nothing today. I was thinking about non-revving to somewhere fucking random like LA or Tampa, but decided to sleep all day instead. So I've sat on my ass all day and talked to people online, played around with the blog, watched some TV.

I did leave for a little bit with Robbie Mac to go eat. We went to Ye Olde Smokehouse II and had BBQ sandwiches and onion rings. When we got there, we saw our old Sunday school teacher from when we were in high school, Dave James his wife, kids, and mom-in-law. Dave was definitely the coolest Sunday school teacher I ever had and honestly, one of the only people from FBC Gainesville that I still like. He sat with us for little bit and we played catch up. Still very cool. I actually miss that guy.

Robbie says he was contacted by someone with the military in regards to Cpl. Compton's security clearance and that he referred them to me. Well, I'm gonna act all skitzoid if they call me and tell them Cody's an Islamic radical. :)

So yeah, I really wanted to do something this weekend...but really, I'm down to 10 bucks until my check decides to direct deposit itself...any minute now. I'm finally gonna be almost caught up on bills for the first time in a while. There's still a ton of credit card debt, but I can deal with that. My car is ALMOST paid off and I'm gonna try to work some OT and get it paid off ASAP.

I'm still looking for a place. Something has opened up, but it's kinda in the other direction from where I want to be and it's gonna be open at the end of the month. I dunno if I'll have the cash to do anything by then. We'll see.

Saw some of my Sweeney buddies last week. Met them at the airport...that was fun. Saw Skip there, too...that was kinda awkward. Oh well...I can't make them like me. I can only know that I changed that place for the better, no matter what Ernie thinks.

Hmmmm, what else. The lovely Kari intro'd me to a pretty sweet ass band. They're called SouthFM. You can get my favorite song from their new CD at iTunes using the link below. Great song...and I leave you with the lyrics. Be good, folks...and be good to each other.

so save your breath
for the rest of this relationship
cause it will get harder
and harder
for us to breathe
and when you fall find my hand
to help you stand again
cause times will get harder
and harder than these

where did you go
I thought I'd be the first in line to know
you know that I have trouble letting go
and when the world has taken
everything you have to give
I promise I will never say
I told you so

we'll prove two people can stand
when everybody else is falling apart
in a world that keeps ending
I know you and I could
make a new start
my days go by

Oh, one last thing...the BWI supervisor chick, Gina, on the show Airline is wicked hot...I might have to make another BWI trip. :) That's all.
-----------------------
Current Music: SouthFM - Where Did You Go

Your Wrap Up Of Another Wheels Off Broadcast Day...

OK...so it's not The Ticket Top Ten...Dear Lord, today was a crazy one. Let's see here...where to begin?

I actually rolled into work early today, just in time to get pelted with some hardcore rain. I flipped from my usually spot on the dial (1310 The Ticket's FM repeater on 104.1) over to KRLD just in time for them to mention a tornado was seen southwest of the airport. Now I LOVE storms. I love rain. I wish for rainy days the way most people hope for sunny days. I'm weird like that. However, I am NOT a fan of even just the idea of a tornado.

So, I'm driving down the service road that leads to the south employee parking lot already slightly freaking out about the whole idea of a tornado. I make the left merge into the crossunder that leads to the parking lot and my car decides to hit a slippery patch and come out from under me. I spun around a little more than 90 degrees and went up onto the curb and into a chain link fence. Yep, I got into a wreck in the middle of a massive thunderstorm 5 minutes from work. That was a somewhat decent sign that my day was gonna be crazy. I started predicting right then and there that today was the day I was gonna get sucked into a 737 engine.

I got into work and decided I would pop my contacts in my eyes before hitting the ramp (which was temporarily closed thanks to lightning in the area) so I could wear sunglasses. I grabbed my glasses case out of my gear bag and made a run to the restroom where I washed my hands and pulled my left contact out of the case. I put it in my eye and it immediately felt like someone was pouring acid into my fucking eyeball. Yep, it hurt so bad I was literally blind for a good 5 minutes. Blind. And to top that off, I lost the contact. After recovering my sight, I began counting the minutes 'til that 737, with it's roaring wing mounted engines, was to pull into the gate. Today was my day to get sucked in.

That flight came and went without incident...hell, it didn't even take me that long to cater that sucker in the rain. So, I started thinking all would be well in the world. Things were looking up.

Then the next flight rolled in and I knew everything was gonna be okey doke. Our last flight of the day is a through flight that originates in our hub city, stops in Dallas, then goes on to LAX. In Dallas, the flight crews allow the passengers going on to LAX to deplane and stretch and maybe catch a bite to eat on the concourse. Well, tonight...we had a Buddhist monk on his way to LA who didn't quite understand the concept of the through flight and thought he was in Los Angeles when he obviously was in Dallas. He sat around and waited for his bags and came to the realization that he was in Dallas/Fort Worth right around the same time the plane was supposed to depart.

He approached one of our ticket agents and tried to explain as best he could with the little English he knew. She called the gate agent and the captain decided to let the guy board. They were already over an hour behind thanks to delays...what was another 5 minutes, right? Well, since he wasn't middle class or white, he had the dreaded SSSS on his boarding pass and he had to go through extra screening. 5 minutes quickly turned into 15 minutes. At this point, I was asked to let the flight crew know what the delay was. After a few more minutes, here comes the monk (in full monk garb), waddling down the jetbridge.

I swear to God, that man reminded me of E.T. for some reason or another...but you couldn't help but smile when you saw him smile. It was that infectious of a smile. Big and toothful. And I realized that I don't do that enough. I let everything stress me out. Here's this guy, on the verge of being stuck in big ol' Dallas/Fort Worth Intl. Airport by himself with no bags and no real grasp on the English language, yet he was still happy and showing no signs of stressing. That's pretty cool.

Planes were late, but staggered, so we kicked some ass and got outta there at a decent hour. I was the last to leave and I got out at 0315. That's not too bad for a bad weather day.

Well, I'm not sure if I ever mentioned my Cingular wireless situation here...so why not now. When I went to our hub city for training right after I got hired, I used my phone alot. Afterall, I was on a nationwide, no-roaming wireless plan, right? WRONG! I thought I was, but the good folks over at Cingular wireless decided that I wasn't really on a nationwide plan. Because of that, I racked up an $850 phone bill while in the evil city de hub.

Thanks to this, I've been having to put off moving to Denton for over a month. Thanks to the loan I took out from Shaun prior to getting a job with my airline, I'm having to pay him back in installments of $150 per paycheck. After all my deductions and taxes, that leaves me with less that $120 to last me almost 2 weeks. YES! I can't wait to not eat!

I've been doing alot of thinking lately. That's dangerous, I know, but I can't help it. I've been having all of these constant little reminders lately of how stupid I am and how I always manage to fuck up the good things in my life. Alot of this revolves around Maureen and how much I really miss her friendship. There are just so many songs and so many things that make me think of that girl. This morning on the way home it was doubled thanks to "I'll Be" by Edwin McCain being on the radio as I passed the big sign at Fouts Field while it said in huge letters "MEAN GREEN SOFTBALL". Yeah, that's a quick route to feeling like shit about how stupid I am.

But Mo isn't the only one I've been thinking about lately. I've also been thinking alot about how the only 2 girls I ever broke up with (as opposed to me being the dumpee...which is the more often occurance) are the only 2 that were keepers. Chaulk up another fuck up for me!

Oh well...I better hit the hay. Another fun day at the airport is coming right up in just a little bit!

I leave you with this...

I never wanted
This to be.
What has happened here?
I believe
I never said it
So, I must have read it
Between the lines
We find the time to grieve.
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Current Music: Jackson Parten and Folktronic - No Importance
Current Weight: 235 (it's finally coming down!)

Yet another Weekend Update...audio-tastic!

(Non) Revvin'

Ahhhh, nice to be awake before 3pm. :)

(Note that this part was written a week ago...)

Had a super good night at work last night. Damn near flawless. Everything was on time, loads were light, cabins were mostly clean. Lav tanks were full. Wait...that was a flaw. I had lav duty last night...and I swear it took me 20 minutes longer than usual. Hooray for dumping doo doo! Oh well, operationally speaking, yesterday rocked. :)

Went to D.C. to visit Lisa this weekend. I knew it was gonna be wheels off when my trip started out with me showing up at 0756 for my 0800 flight. I had to punch in the code to the jetway door myself, run down to the plane, toss my work gear bag to the gate agent so she could put it in my locker down in operations, and jump onto the plane in time for them to close the door right behind me. The F/A's were having a field day with making fun of me being late...so I made them work. I was three coffe and Bailey's deep before takeoff. Mmm...:).

Got in the air, about 100 miles east of Dallas and the plane started a sharp bank to the left. At the same time, the flight deck interphone dinged, and the F/A that answered...well, judging from her face, I was pretty sure we were under nuclear attack at that point. A look of sheer horror. Then the Captain comes on the PA and all he says is "Hi there, ladies and gentlemen, at the request of our dispatch in Orlando we're turning back to Dallas/Fort Worth. We'll have mor details when we get back on the ground". So I'm sitting there wondering "what the hell". The man sitting next to me saw my airport badges when I walked onto the plane and started asking me question after question about why we would be turning around. Of course, I don't want to tell him what I really think (malfunctioning aircraft parts), so I start making shit up about not having a proper dispatch release on hand or something like that. I don't quite remember what I told him...but I do remember it being so genius that he left me alone the rest of the day.

We got on the ground and I realized I still had my badges in my pocket...so I hopped off the plane (leaving the rest of those suckers on the plane, no less) and walked the F/A's to where they could smoke a cigarette. Stopped by operations and got the real story on the gate return...VOR2 went out and we had a replacement on hand at DFW, so it made more sense to go ahead and make the swap then. We were grounded for about an hour, then back towards BWI.

Good flight...booze and sleep. Does it get any better? Got to BWI and, since Miss Lisa can't leave the lovely Commonwealth of Virginia, I had to wait for her friend Amanda to come get me. Nice girl but I could tell she was less than thrilled about driving half an hour to pick up some dude she doesn't know. We got back towards D.C. and Amanda dropped me off with Lisa on base.

Lots of drinking and poker...lots of Lisa throwing me under the bus regarding who I voted for in the presidential election.

I've been meaning to post this entry for a while...so I'll stop here and continue later since I just got called into work early.

A Quick Note About FOD

FOD...it can mean two different, though related, things. Foreign Object Debris or Foreign Object Damage.

Foreign Object Debris is mainly just trash. Pier stickers, bag tags, plastics, etc...it can all be picked up off the ramp to help avoid Foreign Object Damage.

Foreign Object Damage can be defined as a gigantic fucking pain in the ass for all involved...from ticket, gate, and ramp agents to flight crews and aircraft maintenance.

Just wanted to make sure we were all clear on that.
____________________________________

I wanna kick shouts out to the crew over at "the airline that s-canned an F/A for doing what I'm doing right now". I heard through the grapevine (insert singing raisins...here) that they apparently read this thing. Now that I know you're reading...that means you have to donate to my beer fund...err...I mean, charitable cause by click the "Tip Jar" link over to the right. Oh...and a big "up yours" to whoever decided to let that plastic bag fly around enough to make it out to the taxiway.

Off to D.C. this weekend to see Miss Lisa...haven't seen her in over a year. Should be wheels off fun. Hopefully my direct deposit will come through before I head out...otherwise, D.C. on $90 should be interesting.

Things are better with the old crew now...except Mo. I'm done trying. She doesn't give a shit, so why should I? I'll miss that girl alot, but she's almost a different person now than the person I thought I knew. Eh, you win some, you lose some. Of course, if she ever comes around...I'll be there. I'm a sucker like that.

Baseball season is finally here. That means printing 16 pages of pregame media notes everyday, listening to a little Diamond Talk on 1310 The Ticket's Hardline (since baseball is a "talkin' sport"), and lots of time watching the Rangers on FSN-Southwest and eating ice cream just like like my Papa.

Hopefully, I'll get to catch a game at Fenway this season (the Sox made Mariano Rivera their bitch again today...you better believe I LOVED every second of that). And I sure as Hell will be catching some games at the Ballpark in Arlington, too. I'm predicting the Rangers will win 90 games this season.

So, that's about it...I need to get some shuteye...it's officially my Friday at work and I need to get packed before I leave here for work. Probably gonna put in an overnight shift, go to Denton to shower, and head back to fly out at 8am.

Oh, real quicklike while I'm thinking about it...be sure to check out Mean Eddie Walker's blog. It's a great read and always entertaining...I think alot of you will like it. I've been meaning to plug his blog for a while and just keep forgetting.

Until next time, "She's a brick and I'm drowning slowly"...
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Current Music: Terry Cashman - Talkin' Baseball

Rest In Peace, Mitch...

One of my favorite comedians, Mitch Hedberg was found dead in a hotel room...DAMN.

Rest In Peace, Mitch...

"I'm not familiar with the concept of "HH"...I didn't learn my AA, BB, CC's. God, God, Dammit, Dammit!"

"109, be advised, we have nowhere to park ya..."

So...I think I referred to last week as being pretty crazy. Yeah...that was nothing. This week was beyond wheels off. WAY beyond wheels off. Like...rolling-along-on-brake-rotors wheels off.

Monday night...wow. We have 3 gates of our own and we split one with Anonymous Eagle. Anonymous Eagle Airlines is supposed to have their plane out of that gate by 2200 every night to accommodate our flight that is scheduled for a 0005 arrival nightly.

Well, Monday night...they didn't vacate that gate. Leaving us to scramble to find someone from Anonymous Eagle at 2245. No one. Not a soul. They own half a damn terminal and no one was there. We went as far as to send someone to try to check a different terminal with Anonymous Eagle's mainline Big Sister. No one willing to help. So, here I am...on the line with our pilots, half an hour to arrival...and completely unsure as to where we're going to park this sucker.

Thirty minutes later the plane lands and we're still scrambling to get it figured out. Luckily, one of my female co-workers has an admirer over at another airline a few gates down the terminal. She used her female charms to convince him to push one of their 757's out of their gate and hardstand it on the north parking pad for 40 minutes while we deplaned our passengers. It's amazing what boobs will get you. LOL.

We got the plane parked 45 minutes after they hit the ground which made for some disgruntled pilots. We had 3 wheelchair passengers on the flight. Because the ramp was trying like hell to get everything pulled outta the bins and sent up to the baggage carousel to keep from having anymore delays for the passengers...and because the skycaps go home at midnight...there was no one to help the wheelchair passengers up the jetway. This pisses off the captain...so rather than help out, he walks down to the ramp to yell at me. "This whole night is a clusterfuck. GET SOMEONE UP HERE NOW TO HELP THESE WHEELCHAIRS!"

My reply? "All due respect, I know you're on a much higher pay scale than I am...but we're on the same team here and we're kinda in a bind here if you haven't noticed. Last time I checked, there's a captain, an F/O, and at least 3 flight attendants. There's 3 wheelchairs. Do the math. I know it's late, but we all gotta do what we gotta do to keep these passengers from getting any more pissed than they already are."

That shut him down. 2 captains in 2 weeks for me. Not that I enjoy doing it. I just enjoy shutting down the ones that have that "better than you" complex. Just because I'm a ramp agent doesn't mean I'm any less than they are. Just because a well trained monkey could do the physical part of my job....that doesn't mean I'm an idiot and deserve to be looked down upon.

Oh well...anyway. We pushed our aircraft out of the other airline's gate and parked it on the south hardstand overnight. Such a mess. Tack that on to a 4 hour late plane on Tuesday night and screwed up jetways and ground power connections on Wednesday and Thursday...and I can't wait to get our operations moved to the gates over at Terminal E this week. We hear that stuff actually works over there.

On another work related note, I just read on Airliners.net that a Midwest Express ramp agent got locked in the cargo bin of one of their 717's and wound up in Philly. Makes me rethink those little rests I take in the bins to get outta the cold or the wind...yikes! I've literally had more than one nightmare about this. That's SCARY.

On a personal note...I went to sign the lease on an apt. today...only to learn that my credit is "good enough to qualify to buy a home" but apparently not good enough to lease an apt. for 4 months without having to get someone to co-sign. Man, I've really made a mess of my life. It sucks alot because I know Mom won't co-sign on anything for me due to previous financial issues we've had. So now...I have to figure out what the hell I'm gonna do...I have to let the girl whose lease I'm taking over ASAP if I can even do it anymore. A girl I work with is talking about maybe getting a place with me, her, and maybe a couple of pilots or something like that...so we'll see.

I haven't seen any of my friends in weeks. I'm kinda getting depressed about my personal life. I really enjoy my job...but everything else has kinda got me down. It sucks...but I'm working through it. Sammy is in town this weekend...so I'm gonna hang with him for a bit. Haven't seen him in months. I miss my crew though. I miss poker nights with the guys and legitimate conversations with Maureen. I miss late night Whataburger runs. Oh well...I don't wanna be a downer...so I'm outta here.

So until next time..."The way Kathy Lee needed Regis/that's the way I need Jesus"

Happy Easter, suckers.

-----------------------
Current Music: Ben Folds - Bitches Ain't Shit

Still haven't found what I'm looking for...

Ummm...yeah....Crazy week.

Worked last Saturday...craziest day of work of my life. Long story short, I was in the bagroom all day by myself, caused several delays on my own, and nearly had a plane sent out minus about 70 bags. That would have totally screwed up the pilots' weights and balances on top of everything else...and if you know anything about flying, you know that's not a good thing. Rough day. So rough that every supervisor had seung by the ramp to check up on me since then.

The week wasn't much better...understaffed all week thanks to everyone being sick. I put in 4 consecutive days of 12 hour shifts. I really do like the job but, every now and again, I'd like to get out within an hour of my scheduled shift end. When we're understaffed like this, all it does is put us even more behind than we are...and we usually wind up with pissed off pilots because we're never ready for them at the gate and there's rarely an ops agent standing by.

Thursday night, one of our crew was sent home for one reason or another (suspended or terminated, I don't know), so it was just me and one other ramper working 4 gates. Granted, the planes were RON terminators, so all we had to do was download and drop the bags and prep them for the EMO flights...but that's alot of fucking work for 2 people. We don't have contract cleaning...so we have to clean the interiors...and that takes 2 people close to an hour and a half. So with 2 people...cleaning lavs, seatbacks, vacuuming, catering, potable water, dumping lav tanks...that takes close to 3 hours a plane. 5am rolls around and we still have one plane to go. So we left it to the AM crew. They can hate us for it...I don't care. Screw it.

So now I've been sitting on my ass for 2 days. I've decided I have no friends. I'm done trying with most of them. They've become a secretive and exclusive group and I feel like I'm no longer a member. Oh well. I'm too much of a "downer" for them anyway. I've left the house once...just to go out with my old buddy Robbie for a couple of hours...and now I'm back home.

Things with Mo have got a little better...but we'll see how that goes. I hope we can be what we were someday...but it's going to take alot of work on both ends. I miss that girl's presence in my life a whole helluva alot...

Watching the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony that I TiVo'd while I was out. U2, one of my favorite bands ever, was inducted and I'm thinking to myself....damn I wish I was like Bono. I wish I just had the swagger of Bono. That complete confidence that the man exudes. The balance of faith, awareness, energy, relentlessness, and love for his fellow man. Such an awesome guy. I hope I could someday be half the man he is.

Anyway...still apartment hunting and it sucks. I had a promising lead...but I haven't heard from that person whose lease I'd be overtaking in a few days. I guess we'll see.

That's all really...I'm out.

can't...feel....feet

Just got home from an almost 14 hour shift on the wonderful ramp of DFW Terminal B. That's right. My scheduled 8 hr. shift turned into a 14 hr thanks to being understaffed once again, as well as the US Postal Service.

Keep it tuned right here for my bitchfest coming up next right here on Dub's blog!

In the meantime...I stole this from Suzanne and decided to throw it on here...just comment, copy, paste, answer. Simple really.

What Would You do if..?~
I cried:
I asked you to help:
I died from natural causes:
I said I liked you:
I kissed you:
I started smoking:
I stole something:
I was hospitalized:
I ran away from home:
I got in a fight and you were there:
I got dumped:
I pissed you off:

What Do You Think Of My..?~
Personality:
Eyes:
Face:
Hair:
Clothes:
Voice:
Humor:
Choice of music:
Mannerisms:
Family:
Body:
Friends:
Decisions:

Would You..?~
Be my friend:
Tell me the truth no matter what:
Lie to make me feel better:
Spread rumors about me:
Keep a secret if I told you one:
Loan me some cash:
Hold my hand:
Take a bullet for me:
Keep in touch:
Try and solve my problems:
Love me:
Have sex with me:
Ditch me:
Use me:
Date me:
Beat me up:

*insert words for feeling crappy here*

Wow...I've probably slept 80% of the last 3 days. I was down and out last night...so I went to bed at midnight or so and didn't wake up 'til 1100. Crazy.

So yeah...taking three days off work due to sickness and spending most of that time by yourself gives you alot of time to think. Unfortunately, I hate thinking...because thinking is usually followed by deep depression for me. And sure enough...here I am. Down and out once again.

Lots of stuff on my mind...nothing I care to go into right now because I don't need to rehash it all. Just a bunch of personal issues...mostly financial.

But to top things off...I've been feeling really lonely lately. Not in the usual way, though. I just feel like a good percentage of my friends couldn't give a rats ass about me. I mean, I know they like hanging out and all...and they're good buddies or whatever. But, I've lost one best friend in the last month, the one that I really let it all out on...and everyone else seems to have bailed on me, too. I really need someone right now...and I just don't have anyone to talk to anymore. Like...really talk to. I'm such a co-dependent, it's not even funny anymore.

Oh well...work called me just a little bit ago. I guess they don't hate me afterall. They offered me a Saturday shift to make up a few hours I missed being sick. My station manager really came through for me on this one...I need to stop by and thank him.

Well...I think I'm gonna get ready. Take a shower, get my borderline afro cut off, and head to work. It's spring break for most of the schools around here...so this weekend should be really good times at el aeropuerto. Especially those Florida flights.

So, I leave you with a great song by Chris Knight..."It Ain't Easy Being Me"

There ought to be a town somewhere,
Named for how I feel.
Yeah I could be the mayor down there,
And say "Welcome to Sorryville".

It wouldn't be on a map no where,
You might say that it don't exist.
But if you make enough wrong turns,
It'd be hard to miss.

There ought to a bridge somewhere,
They could dedicate to me.
I'd probably come to the ceremony,
With a can of gasoline.

Walk on over to the other side,
Where I'd light a match.
Sit and stare through the smoke and flames,
and wonder how I'm gonna get back.
- Chris Knight

Ahhhh, Cable News....

So...as I stated in the last entry, being home sick means lots of TV time. Well, around 0600 this morning (I'm on a flipped sleep schedule thanks to working nights), I came to a realization. I think I'm slightly obsessed with cable news anchors.

First...I have my thing for CNN Headline News' old overnight anchor Rudi Bakhtiar...

Now...MSNBC's morning news anchor for the Imus in the Morning Show, Contessa Brewer.

Wow...she's hot. That is all.

Sick sucks...

Ugh! I can't shake this damn sickness.

Had my days off this weekend...Friday/Saturday...woke up Friday coughing my head off. Got worse over the weekend. Chest congestion, coughing like no other...

I swear to God...I can't shake this at all. Everytime I get almost-well...I get crappy again. It's been this vicious cycle for almost 2 months. Working out on the ramp in this up and down Texas weather doesn't really help matters. 70 and sunny one day...cold and rainy the next.

Yes, I know I should go to the doctor. But, I'm poor and my health insurance with the new job doesn't kick in for another 2 weeks or so. Damn being poor. Damn the lack of a universal health care system in the U.S.

So, in the mean time, I'm calling in sick for a day or 2...I'm killing Mucinex like it's candy and laying around watching alot of TV. Luckily...the TiVo is jampacked with greatness... a few The Simpsons episodes (including the classic "Monorail" episode), a few episodes of Airline (a must for those of us on the ground), Rocky, Chicago, a few episodes of Third Watch, and 24 is on tonight, too. Not to mention a little spring training baseball and some EPL soccer. TiVo is the greatest invention ever. I never get to watch TV anymore... and now I'll be all kinds of caught up.

So yeah, I guess it's time to plant my big ass back on the couch with a comfy blanket. Until next time...here's to Diet Dr. Pepper and Mucinex.

Rampin'

First and foremost, I'd like to welcome the readers of QueenOfSky. The QoS rocks my world...so I guess you folks are cool by association. :)

One of the most uneventful nights on the ramp...ever. 4 planes in...4 planes out...all on time. 4 terminators in...only a couple of specials. Quick downloads...quick caters...quick cleans. Out on time for the first time ever! Seriously. My shift is supposed to end at 0130...yet I've never left DFW before 0300. Last night, though, I left at 0130.

We did hit one snag when we had to unload someone's motorized wheelchair that had to have weighed 400 fucking pounds. I know this is just another part of the job, as is the soreness that follows pulling something like that outta the front bin, but the ass chewing we took from the passenger for "taking too long" was just uncalled for. I understand that a motorized wheelchair is someone's legs and that I know I'd be pissed if I had to wait just to walk. But, they have to understand that it's not like we can download that heavy ass thing and just snap our fingers to make it appear on the jetway. We have to reconnect the battery, put the thing back together, take to the nearest elevator (about a football field away), then take it down the concourse and to the gate. Kinda time consuming. And nothing like having the owner of said wheelchair STANDING there waiting for you and jumping your ass for not doing it quickly enough. Eh, didn't bother me that much. I just made some smartass comment about how he could now walk up the jetway and walked off. Didn't bug me that much.

The only thing that really irked me about last night was on the part of our (usually) wonderful F/A's on our flight from LAS. I had to cater it for the morning (usually not a daunting task) and good god that galley was a mess. Trash in all of the carts, empty cans in the drink trays, busted wine bottles in the alcohol coolers. Oh yeah, and about 700 little paper towels scattered on the ground soaking up a spill that could have been soaked up with...oh, i dunno...6 paper towels, maybe.

Now don't get me wrong, I love f/a's. I LOOOOVE some f/a's ...;). But, dammit, it's not that hard to throw your trash in the one of 3 available trash cans in that galley. Especially when they're damn near empty. I'll cut them a little slack because, judging from the complete lack of remaining alcoholic beverages on that plane, tere had to be a bunch of folks drinking on that flight...so maybe they had their hands full with that. I dunno, I don't ask. However, I do know cleaning up after flight attendants pisses me off more than cleaning up after passengers...because they know better. But hey...I still love f/a's.

Oh...one more thing. If the guys over at American Eagle leave their damn air conditioning cart in the way of my catering truck one more damn time...well...I guess I'll just complain about it a little bit more.

On a different note, I randomly decided to register online to be an ordained minister...and I got my reply today. So I'm now available for weddings and funerals (they're really the same thing, aren't they?). So there ya go.

And now, for random quick hits...

-> I'm eating a leftover gordita from Taco Bell. I should say...I was eating. Disgusting. Ugh.

-> As soon as I finish this post and take a shower...I'm heading to The Super Pit at the good ol' U of North Texas to work the t-shirt cannon at the Sun Belt Conference Tournament. Yes. Me...shooting t-shirts. Out of a air powered cannon. Awesome.

-> Could there be drinking this evening? In the words of Jon McCrea, "Perhaps...perhaps....perhaps".

-> I was gonna go to BWI this weekend to visit my old friend Lisa who's in the Air Force. But, stuff came up...so I'm gonna try next weekend. Sorry Lisa!

Until next time...F- Those Crackers!

Yep...

Yep, that sums it all up...

What makes you say the things you say
What did I do so wrong today
Where did you learn how to cut me so deep
When did I let you get so far away from me

And I know that we stood there and promised each other forever
God knows we’ve tried for so long now and nothing gets better
Loving you is all that I have ever known
But the truth hits and I know we’d be better off alone

And I know that we stood there and promised each other forever
God knows we’ve tried for too long now and nothing gets beter
Stand here in the silence that remains
Loving you still does not change a thing

-----------------------
Current Music: Jack Ingram - What Makes You Say

Another new week...

Well, well...how goes it. I guess I'm alive...but barely. OK..not really that bad...just sore as hell.

Started the new job with Anonymous Airways last week. I like it for the most part, but staying really late to finish up stuff that isn't really part of my job description has kinda got me irked. Hopefully, that will change soon...or they'll at least give us a little extra help on that night shift. The overtime pay will be nice...but the lack of sleep is making me a cranky boy. Putting in almost 50 hrs in 4 days will knock you on your ass.

Other than that...I've been enjoying the job. They haven't even bothered putting me inside at the ticket counter or gates. It's just been straight nothing but working the ramp. It's pretty damn easy, it's outside, and it's a little physical. I lost something close to 5 lbs. this week just working...and who knows what I could lose if I weren't living on a steady diet of chips from the breakroom vending machine and McDonalds up on the concourse. Damn terminal needs a Subway.

But yeah, the job is fun...but let me say a couple of things I request of those of you who travel on any airline.

1.) Please pack less than 70 lbs of crap in your suitcase. Sometimes the ticket counter people forget to put a "HEAVY" tag on these and we wind up straining ourselves when we don't know what we're lifting.

2.) The flight attendants come through the aircraft at least 3 times per flight to collect trash. Please use this time to throw away your goddamned trash and do not put your trash in the magazine seat pocket in front of you. This is disgusting and a pain in the ass for whoever may have to clean the aircraft.

3.) When traveling with small children, please don't let them spend the entire flight crushing and throwing cookies, pretzels, gum, etc. on the floor.

That's all for now as far as complaining about passengers.

Anyway, I guess I should backtrack and say...Atlanta sucks. The people there that I hung out with were cool....but in general...the people in ATL sucks. Rude ass people with serious attitude problems. Oh well, screw'em. I don't have to go back anytime soon unless I get some kind of promotion or something. Not counting on that happening.

North Texas basketball last night...another tough loss. This season's team had the talent...unfortunately, they lacked the personal discipline to do anything with it. Hopefully, they'll get their shit together before next weeks conference tourney.

Hit Fry St. last night...good times all around. Tavern had $2.50 blasters...that should tell you enough. Somewhere between the game and total drunkeness I decided it was a good idea to rip on Mo for the way she's been a total bitch about how she's handled what was a pretty good friendship... but I'll save that for tomorrow...The Big Mo Rant...you know you can't wait!

Right now, I've gotta finish doing some laundry, find food, and get my stuff together for work...I love toting around steel toes, knee pads, and earplugs everywhere I go.

I'm gonna miss Sweeney so much...

Wow...I'm gonna miss my campers so much...:(

Auto response from ZiPPY 9126: justin winters is no longer the program director of KPFC. im off crying. things i will miss....

1- begging him for weeks to play "love me do"
2- ashlee simpson having lunch with us
3- asking him who is hot and why
4- mail call
5- 5th period fishing.
6- his smile
7- kpfc. because it will never be the same, ever.

Auto response from chels8574: justin isnt coming back... it hurts worse when a friend breaks your heart.


And poor Chad...the pressure is on.

ChadH4055: im going to be like colin quinn taking over the news on SNL

Yep...

Well don't you see, don't you see
That the charade is over?
And all the "Best Deceptions"
and the "Clever Cover Story" awards
Go to you...

I'm home...big update coming soon.

Ugh....

4 buckets of Bud Light
+ karaoke (I'm aware that I make fun of it all the time)
+ getting up at 0545
----------------------------------------------------------
headache and fear of bombing my training final exam

Just a quickie...

For the record...

1.) I hate Atlanta.
2.) I hate the Atlanta Airport.
3.) I'm so ready to get back to good ol' North Texas.

That's all.

Greetings from ATL

Got me a job with an airline. If you know me, you know which airline that is. But, after I got to thinking about the "Queen of Sky" debacle...where a Delta F/A was canned for blogging...I figured I should take down WHICH airline I work for on here.

Anyway...Anonymous Airlines flew me out to Atlanta (well now...that narrows things down) for training. I've been here for a week now. Got here last Sunday afternoon. It's now Sunday morning. We've been doing classroom training Mon.-Sat...lots of crap to remember. This week we do classroom on Monday, on-the-job at ATL Tuesday and Wednesday, our big final exam on Thursday, then working early morning on Fri. and Sat. on the ramp. I'll fly home on Saturday afternoon and start my new job on Monday. Hoorah! Finally employed!

I never knew how much I could miss home until yesterday when I realized I had a week to go here in ATL. I really miss North Texas. There's one guy here based out of DFW like me...and we talked last night about how much this place sucks compared to home.

The main difference? The people. Everyone here is rude and has an attitude. Like I told someone yesterday...I come from the land of "Yes Ma'am, No Sir, Please, Thank You, and Excuse Me". I'm not used to people having bad attitudes with you for no reason other than you're just standing there.

For example...we (my classmates and I) went out to the city last night...decided to check out CNN Center. While we were there, I decided to get a couple 5 piece nuggets from Wendy's (the first floor of CNN Center is like a food court). The lady that took my order seemed nice enough, but she was going off work right after she took my order. They didn't have 10 nuggets handy, so they had to cook some. She told me it would be 3 minutes. No worries, right? Then she leaves and I watch 7 people get their orders before me and I watch my bag with ONE order of nuggets sit there. I'm just standing there drinking my Diet Coke...waiting on my order...but being cool about it. Then one of the guys in my training class, Mike, walks up and asks about the fresh fruit bowl. The little advertisement on the front of the register says "Fresh Fruit Bowl and Cup". So he says, may I see the fruit cup. (I should mention that Mike is from the St. Lucian Islands, so he has a little accent. He was an airline rated pilot there and is coming to work for us to get his foot in the door with an airline in America while he trains to get his FAA transfer license...so he can fly in the US.) Anyway, the Wendy's employee pulls out the little fruit cup and Mike says, "No, no...I'm sorry, I meant the bowl." The Wendy's guy replies, in the rudest tone imaginable, "You said the cup...now this is the cup...now you sayin' you want the bowl?" and then rolls his eyes right at Mike. Mike just nicely says, "Yes, the bowl, I'm sorry.", buys the bowl and walks off.

At this point, I had been waiting for something like 6-8 minutes for my nuggets. After Mike walked away, the man behind the counter looks at me and says, again rudely, "What do you want?". I was fed up with the guy and his tone just made me snap. I fired back, "Well, I'd like to get the goddamn chicken nuggets I ordered almost ten minutes ago and, so help me God, if you get rude with me or another customer again while I stand here, I will see to it that not only do you lose your already shitty little job, but I'll also see to it that you recieve a nice-old-fashioned Texas ass whoopin'. I'm from Texas, where we treat our customers, and everyone else for that matter, with respect." The guy was flabbergasted. Couldn't believe that happened. Honestly, I have no clue where it cam from either. I just snapped. Everyone here acts like they're entitled to talk down to you and I can't take it. Ugghhh...

But yeah, I really miss home. I miss my friends more than anything. The training class folks are nice people from all over...but they're just not the crew.

It's amazing how one week away can bring you down. I miss the crew, I miss basketball games this week...hell, I just heard that I'm gonna miss Micah Effin' Bracy poster night, I miss poker night. Grrrrr...just one more week...just one more week.

Anyway...I'm out. I'm gonna study the afternoon away (reservation and check in systems are a pain in the ass)...so I have a little bit of time to do nothing today...and I will use that time. :)

Miss you all....can't wait to see you all next Saturday.