Yes, this kinda sucks

Bringing mom and the dog home to my house last July 4. Mom hates to fly, Lily had never flown and everything went fine. Flew first class, mom had breakfast and a movie and I had a Bloody Mary.

That trip was surreal. Her PA in Florida called me and said the doctor had reviewed her chart and wanted her in the hospital. Yea, the docs don't check the patients or their charts in a timely manner. As I had experienced Florida medicine before I was not going down that road. I called mom and told her after her needle biopsy on Wednesday I would be there, load her bags and dog and take her to Orlando to fly home to Michigan. She did not ask one question, just said okay.

So she went in and had the biopsy, finished packing, and Big Daddy and I arrived. I knew I could not do this alone. We packed the car and went to the breast clinic to pick up her records. This took one hour but the doctor was so nice and gave me his personal mobile number and said text if I can help. Best doctor in Florida.

Then we drove to Orlando, got rooms at the airport Holiday Inn and crashed. Fed mom and us and that was it. The next morning I loaded up the car, gave everyone a Dramamine and we were off. I dropped BD and mom at the curb and turned in the rental car. When I got to Delta First Class they were waiting and ready with the wheelchair and mom had TSA Precheck thanks to BD, or Mr. Diamond as he likes to call himself.

I was amazed how well this went. Only hiccup was I had to take Lily out of her crate and carry her through the machine. Well now, Lily had never before been in a crate and taking her out in the middle of TSA was kinda scary for me. She loved it, really loved it. Problem was at the other side I had to put her back in the crate all by myself. 'Cos of course I did not have the leash handy.

When we got to the gate I let BD go to the Sky Club as he was looking stressed. Everything was fine until we got back and BD had a problem getting the car back at Airlines Parking, they get shitty when you don't have your parking ticket. So from Tuesday's put her in the hospital, Wednesday's needle biopsy and Thursday's flight--Friday she was at my Internist and Monday at the Oncologist. What a trip.

As I predicted the UAW shut down the assembly plants.

New news everyone is unhappy with the "kids" not taking this seriously. HMMM.

The tale of the traveling luggage.

Reed College

Well because of the volcano explosion in Russia Delta decided to send all the luggage to Heathrow and have Virgin Atlantic fly it to Hong Kong. A bunch of bags did end up in Hong Kong, just not Big Daddy's. So now every night he washes his clothes before bed.

He is more upset about the Aero something coffee press he uses there, the Chinese do not know how to make good coffee.

The Chinese are not very big and certainly not tall and BD cannot find clothes to fit him in China. Bummer.

I put in application to a pet adoption agency for a dog. I doubt this will work out as the questions were stupid and I do not have a lot of patience for bullshit right now.

And Delta does it again.

Well, after what seemed like a century of travel to China Big Daddy arrived to find that Delta had lost his bag. They sent him an email. Everyone can track the lost bag, Delta, BD, aliens and such-I guess everyone but the rampers who put about 100 people's bags on the wrong plane. Because that is the way Delta rolls, slightly off kilter.


My kitty cat was in my bed this morning so that means she is not happy either.

BD tells me Waze is working in China, Shenzen area. Don't know about Hong Kong.

I was so bored last night I bought the movie, My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2, biggest waste of $15.99 in a long time.

About this evil jackass in Orlando, WTF is wrong with these people? I wonder if the tags of hate crimes, terrorism, and such is just bullshit. I think these may be just sick assholes that want fame and somewhere in their twisted minds they really believe that they are God. All the way back to Jim Jones and the Kool Aid. Maybe these fucks are just nut jobs. Except for those asshats and the virgins. Why do guys want virgins? So no one knows they are crappy at sex?

Peace be with you.

Just not in the spirit, could be the 64 degrees

Sammy Dog being cute.

It is too warm and foggy for Christmas. Big Daddy finally put the mulch away this weekend, we figured we had pushed the limits of the moderate climate. I am finished with the Christmas shopping and sent some of the items straight to the kids. They won't be wrapped but you can't take wrapped on the plane with any guarantee they won't be opened. And that would really tick me off if TSA unwrapped my presents.

Punkin Head tells me Curly is regular at the rolling over and rolling back. So far she is not rolling clear across the room. The NICU persons have declared her just fine and normal and nothing to worry about so we are all thrilled. Except I have never been a fan of normal. Oh well.

I need to start getting ready for our trip to Vermont for Christmas. We are going to Burlington and they seem to be needy in the good hotel arena. We will see. We do have reservations for Christmas dinner in town, the only snag the car parking lot is guarded by a towing company and you need a pass of sort some on the car. I will need to get the pass and walk it back while Big Daddy guards the rental car. This does give me some worries.

BD has finally been given the lowly Silver Status by Delta Airlines again so he was able to snag us Exit Row Seats on the plane. Woohoo.

Settling back in at the Old Homestead

A Portland garden.

Well, we are now caught up on sleep and just fine.  I am losing my cat sitter, she is allergic to cats. Rats.

Getting unpacked and organized and thinking I need to freeze all the last minute purchases at the Portland airport. Scottish Shortbread made with real butter. Biscoff from the Delta flight. Big Daddy did not eat the Salmon jerky from Trader Joe's, he can eat that at work next week.

I am not going back until Tuesday. I figured out I spent 2 weekends a month working on shit to take  care of Monday because no one working weekends will do so. So, I am never going back from a vacation on a Monday. Works for me. And there were some shitty emails I can't wait to hear about, on Tuesday.

Miss Curly, but she is too tiny to miss Grandmama yet. Gotta work on the photo's for the Great Grands. They want old fashion prints for brag books and refrigerators.

Figured out we cannot reasonably go to Vermont for Thanksgiving so trying to figure out where we can go or should we stay home. Ticket prices are high and it is such a short time frame. Gotta be an in and an out, no layovers eating at that precious time.

Snowdrops

Well, it has been a few days. I just have not been well for a few weeks now. Nothing in particular, I am thinking a low grade virus.

Easter was wonderful with great food that I can not remember all the names of. Big Daddy made Creme Brulee and we did not even touch it with all the other wonderful fare.

I went to the New Plant again today and it was a wild, hairy ride. We have a few problems there. And they have a few problems living within their reality.

Big Daddy is winging his way to Mexico on his second most hated airline Delta. Yes, American Airlines has replaced Delta as the most reviled asshats in the flying industry. But Delta is fighting to regain their title, for instance, on today's flight from Detroit to Atlanta there was no service. Yep, no Coke on a flight to the Coke capital. And the FA got snippy when BD rang the bell and asked for water. Then they, Delta, begged and begged for volunteers to give up their overbooked seats for the promise of snot and warm yogurt, a few unusable Sky Pesos and no possibility of ever leaving Atlanta as every plane for the next year was also overbooked. Gotta love it.

Me and Sammy are hunkering down for an ugly week. No one to feed us or take care of us. Every dog for themselves.

I am home

I cannot believe I did not take one picture. Except that I forgot to take my phone charger so I was quite stingy with the phone time, my boss borrowed a charger for me once, good but that only went so far.

Knoxville was the same, hot and humid. It was quite green but they are under flash flood watches. Only rained the last day where we were and late in the afternoon so it was not too bad. I had to watch what I ate after the food issue last week but I did get to finally try Chick-fil-A and it was great. Best fast food ever and I don't eat fast food.

Delta and I got along fine as it was not really a Delta flight, just a Delta Connection. The Hilton at the airport was acceptable, the best part of that hotel was the bar. The a/c was the loudest I have ever heard and the sound-proofing was non-existent.

Can't say much about the plant except 10 hour days in 110 degrees and it is no wonder my pants needed pulling up all the way home. Of course maybe they just stretched.

Big Daddy got me a new car while I was gone so will have to look at that tonight when he comes home. He is driving it one last time to make sure it is okay for me, yea right. Then I need to take it in for the remote start to be installed and my phone to be sync'd up. Also looks like a clip is not engaged in the side of the console.

Yowza, and I am flying Chiquita Banana airlines

You know everyone says some of those Asian airlines are the cat's ass, I just never bought into it. I mean as much as I despise Delta the grey haired but young looking guys up front give me a bit of confidence that the plane will make it to the destination in one piece. I flew Chinese airlines domestically and felt that whatever will be, will be. But one thing that always gave me pause, these people cannot speak good, solid, understandable English. Makes you wonder if they are hesitant to take on the busy US air traffic control with their poor language skills. And losing face. Unlike the pilots on Chiquita airlines who do not seem to notice when they are losing face. Sometimes I wonder if the kids can spell airline. One Christmas day our flight was carrying a large group of stranded Pinnacle pilots and I heard one of the pilots tell a part time flight attendant that she made more money than he did. Does not give me confidence.

So anyway, tomorrow I take off for Knoxville for another work trip. This one should be fun. Big Daddy is dropping me off and picking me up at the airport mostly to save me time when I get in. Getting picked up at the curb versus taking the shuttle saves about a half an hour and we are arrive mid evening.

Punkin Head called and we have finalized the menu for the rehearsal dinner, biggest hurrah will be the shrimp and grits. Also a wild mushroom risotto so everyone should have something to eat. We are only serving 2 white wines and beer. PH says a nice Pinot Gris  and also a Sauvignon Blanc should cover it. Then a coffee and brandy, along with the chocolates in the bar for the old folks after. It should be fine. Oh, and I made an appointment with the hairdresser for uglier than shit hair I now sport, let us hope she is talented.

This is going to be a fast month, I leave Monday, The Fiancee leaves Monday, when we get back Punkin Head flies to Portland, Oregon for a job interview, the next up is the wedding. I need shoes.

Is it just me,

Yes, it is. Big Daddy called before he left Paris and Air France upgraded him to first class. I had to fly steerage how many times on Delta because they refuse to upgrade on an international flight unless you meet stringent and expensive criteria. He snags an upgrade on his first trip with Air France. And the food was great from NY to Paris, great seats in some Voyager class and he said the flight attendants were wonderful. WTF.

And his upgrade is with the lay flat beds. I am gonna cry.

Oh and he was upgraded from Detroit to NY, grrrr.

A Safety?

Tom, WTF, a Safety? Watching the Super Bowl, this is great. Now 12 men on the field. WTF. This is getting ugly in the first quarter. 

Just had our first at home dinner and it was fantastic, I had a filet and Big Daddy had a veal chop. Baked potato that tasted like a real potato, real sour cream, kidney bean salad with real mayo and real asparagus. We could not get the pastrami yesterday, it was sold out for Super Bowl. Huh? But we did get some nice corned beef so we had great sandwiches last night. The best thing is having real china and flatware, glasses and cups. And ice cubes readily at hand. The food prices here are around 3x less than China, amazing. 

We only had a few foibles on our way home, first was when we checked in. Delta now allows only 2 checked bags for Plats when the seat is booked in coach. Paid 400 dollars for 2 bags and went to the lounge and called Delta and they were so confused by the new rules they refunded the charges. That was good news, will pay for a couple meals in New Orleans. We landed very, very early and sailed through CBP  so we had to get a taxi home, Punkin Head planned to pick us up 2 1/2 hours later. Our driver was from Pakistan and talked the entire way, he was quite a character only slowing down when he passed the State Police. Did not slow down when passing, got in another lane and said that is way the traffic slowed down as we whizzed by the cops. 

Upon arriving home I opened the door and turned off the alarm system, but it would not turn off. All the buttons stuck down. We had to convince the alarm company we were us, and then make arrangements to retest the system Monday. I think no one living here has made the house very dirty and everything needs a major cleaning. The buttons on the phone stick too. We should have done that rich people thing and covered  every thing with drop cloths.   

Seems like we may not have the bad jet lag this time, we were both so grateful for our fabulous beds, I slept for 11 hours last night, and that was after a nap or two. I woke up a couple times in the morning and just thought "this bed is too wonderful to get up". 

Tomorrow morning BD has the first of his job meetings, this a conference call with a guy he has talked with for about a year or so. This guy is the one who sent an email last week that said, Game On. BD wants me to tell him who wins Super Bowl so he can act like he knows sports, as it seems Game On may be a fan. 

I might post  later on the game and the commercials, so far nothing special. 

Shanghai Surprise

Another view of Lake St. Clair

The surprise is the trip went very well.

The last minute packing and organizing was no problem with my faux computer bag, aka Trader Joe's insulated zippered grocery bag. It was the cheapest option for carry-on luggage that I could handle and put in the overhead. It is hell being a short person.

Big Daddy told me of his fiasco checking in, so I just went to the curb side check-in and this big black woman tried to help me and told me that I could not check-in there. She gathered my bags and took me to Miss Nancy and got me all taken care of. And she told me George Clooney is a hunk in real life and a really nice person. The movie, Up In The Air, used DTW for filming. The Sky Club or whatever they call it these days was full to the gills, I have never seen so many people crammed into so little space. I was lucky to get a seat. And the flight attendants were fairly good, not great but not nasty.

We flew well into Russia and the terrain was fascinating, looked like frozen flat tundra with frozen flat rivers cracking into the ground. One thing I appreciate from all my travels is seeing places I never dreamed of being able to see. The Alps, Russia and Great Britain from the air, driving in Mexico and walking in Asia. It is daunting to think I have these memories and there are people in Detroit that have never seen a farm or a forest or a beach.

Of course baggage claim was the usual cluster fuck and this time led by the Europeans. I think they decided to take on the Chinese for rude and obnoxious behavior. However they do understand when you call them out for being an imbecile. They don't care, but they do know that you know. They also feel the pain of the odd baggage hitting their shins. I was blocked in by 2 Asians not allowing me to pull my bag to the cart and a big black man speaking English dove in to help me out. Contact sport finals, me no contact, them 3 shins and 4 feet.

Scary part, I actually feel that I am home. Home is where the heart is, Big Daddy is here.

Toilets r me

Toto toilets rule. And anyone who tells you different plunges once in a while or is dating A PLUMBER. My temporary job now seems to be fixing every toilet in China. No pay. Yepper new hotel-new toilet that won't flush.

China Southern screwed up my FF miles on the way down here and then claimed they can't fix it. Well, they can't fix toilets either. They served breakfast. 3 different breads, fried peanuts, and fruit. Cling wrapped fruit. Do they think the weirdo fruit cuts the bread factor.

Rich wood Garden Hotel-their spelling-is expensive and not worth a penny of the cost. Mediocre room size, shabby decor, poor food quality, and stupid outdated uniforms for the staff. Picture Doris Day and Rock Hudson in a bad Chinese movie with Tony Randall pretending he is channeling Jerry Lewis.

Funny of the day: Shanghai is trying to present a more "wordly and gracious" face to the world for EXPO 2010, so they are asking people not to wear their Hello Kitty Pajama's in public. Shanghainese are reported to be snobbish and unwelcoming of people that are different. WTF. Who wears Hello Kitty Pajamas around town. These people either don't comb their hair or have do's that beg the imagination of what kind of drugs does it take to make you think longish thin auburn locks really look good on a skinny dude with no posture and a bad suit. Auburn is not a good Chinese look. Gotta get a camera and start capturing this stuff.

80 degrees F and so smoggy you can barely see in Shenzhen. Hair not frizzed.

Lies, Lies and more lies from Volkswagen, Delta, and once again the three headed dog

What is it with people. Do they all really think that we are that stupid? Come on now, most of us are not; some of the people-some of the time. We are really not that stupid.

The Routan is German engineering? You can't get to Memphis, Tennessee for less than 500.00 on Delta (hint,hint it is a hub). You can't poop on a Delta flight out of your class seating when they tell you it takes two days to get to your destination? Chrysler is taking all their business to China and they won't pay for their tooling?

WTF.

I think the three headed dog is having an affair with Volkswagen while they are secretly screwing Delta, who is actually married to Northwest Airlines, and they all think we are watching American Idol and no one knows why Paula Abdul is so popular. That's just me.

The Routan is simply a Chrysler Mini-van with some different taillights and such-built on the line at Windsor with the mini-van and Volkswagen bitches they don't like what they paid for. One thing NO car company tells you is they don't pay for perfect. Perfect costs money. They pay for 1.33 CPK. Period. Ask around, most of the assholes left in the auto industry do not not what 1.33 CPK is.

Delta, now here is a different story, Doesn't Ever Leave The Airport is the motto of the airline. Now I know why. Tried to look into booking a flight Detroit to New Orleans. Used to be $200 to $300 tops for a layover in Memphis on non-crowded days. HA. It is now hundreds more, takes 2 days, and for 1500.00 you cannot fly straight thru. How can it take 2 days in the United States Of America to fly from Detroit to New Orleans? 2 fucking days. Oh, and by the way do not call Delta unless you are a masochist.

Delta also has a pooping policy. You can only poop in your designated poop spot and in the designated poop time schedule. THIS is not transferable. Pooping is a serious offense if the regulations are not followed.

Chrysler can take their tools to China if they pay for them, same as we are supposed to able to poop where we pay for it. The three headed dog should have put into their contracts that they were only paying for coach tools, same as they should have told Volkswagen "If we like this should, you should too".

We like Paula because she is cute, funny and reminds us of ourselves. Just normal people who think it should not take 2 days to fly within the US, people who have to poop should be able to poop, and German engineering should not be a scam on a Chrysler mini-van.

What is wrong with the airlines or why is Delta competing with Chrysler?

OK, I felt really depressed today and thought that maybe trying to plan a get a way to New Orleans would perk me up. HA.

It now takes at least triple the cost and "next day" ticketing to even land in The Big Easy unless you are wealthy and spendthrift. WTF is next day ticketing? You leave Detroit and it takes until the next day to get to New Orleans. And you get the added benefit of seeing all sorts of nasty airports on your way to your destination.

Have the airlines gone mad?

Amtrak is cheaper and gets you there the next day, without seeing nasty airports and they have food and beverages, along with sleeping cars and no COKE POURING WHORES that want to castigate you because they can.

That is the problem with giving the less educated authority, COKE POURING WHORES and union reps, they think they are now the sheriff of Sherwood Forest, by goodness you will bow and kiss my filthy foot and also my very fat ass as I am a union rep. Yea right.

So, Delta Airlines has decided I will not be flying being out of Detroit in the near future, okey-dokey, the union wants to shut down Detroit, okey-dokey, and Timmy still can't get Wall Street to work with him. And Debbie, our Michigan senator still can't get her husband to get a real job.