a few airport adventures

I was in NE last week and my flight to NE was delayed an hour due to a mechanical issue with the aircraft. My initial thought was, "Well - good thing we didn't identify the mechanical issue while in flight." But most people's responses were, "WHAT?? a delay?? This cannot be!!" Then they subsequently get loud and obnoxious and start yelling at the counter people at the gate. I get the frustration of your plans having to change but did they miss the beginning of that message?... a MECHANICAL issue!! Not to mention, while we were all sitting in Albuquerque, the airline was calling us up one by one if this delay was going to cause us to miss our connection so our connection could get rescheduled. I thought this was incredible because usually they send you on your way and you have to figure it out when you're at your next location. I got my flight all figured out and I got to Lincoln safely and successfully.

This got me thinking about other airport stories throughout my 29 years of life. One that sticks out the most was when I was flying by myself(don't recall where) and I was sitting at the gate. This gentleman turned to me and asked, "Could you watch my bag while I run to the bathroom?" I stared at him and said in all seriousness, "Well - they say you should never take unknown baggage or packages from someone you don't know. Sorry." His mouth dropped open and he grabbed his bag and walked off. He was not impressed with my response but hey, I was following the rules!

Another was when I visited Mike down in FL(while he was training for 6 months in GA prior to us moving to DC) and when I was leaving, I was hysterically crying(like 'can't catch my breath' crying) because I didn't want to leave my love. This older woman came over and sat down by me. She asked me if I was ok, gave me a tissue, and said that everything was going to be ok. How nice of her, huh?

My last story involves Mike and I and our first flight was delayed so we had to jump off our first flight and run to our next. We must have been going somewhere warm because I was in flip flops...so off we ran(and it was quite a long way) and I left Mike is the dust!! Now it wasn't officially declared a race but I definitely beat Mike to the gate. :)

Any interesting airport stories you want to share?

In other news ~ Mike has been at the AZ/Mexico border for almost 2 weeks on a work detail...he gets back on Tuesday(which also happens to be his birthday)! Can't wait to be reunited with my hubs again!

some things just don't get better!!

You know how I mentioned Mike and I are working out in the morning a few days a week?? Well...we've gone five times and hearing the alarm go off at 5:15am is still not an enjoyable experience. I also despise hearing my husband telling me to "wake up"(in the nicest/semi-quiet way possible of course) 10 minutes later as he opens the bathroom door and the light shines into my face. It is just absolute torture I tell you!! BUT ~ it still feels incredible afterward. I've gotten back into some consistent strength training(by consistent, I mean about 3 times a week) and getting my runs done in the morning is great so I don't have to worry about it after work.

So, I guess there are some positives...but, I again tell you that hearing the alarm at 5:15am is TORTURE! Maybe some day I'll get over the 5:15 alarm but that day will not be today!

News Bulletin ~
Just wanted to share this link to a news video about one of Mike's cases last week. The BLM "agent" that is referenced is my beloved husband. My Hero!! I think I'm more excited about this than Mike...I think I've told practically anyone who will listen to me about this. :) His 10-hr work day on Friday turned into about a 15-hr work day because of this case. Boo! BUT I did get to go out to dinner with my hero after he got home at one of our fave's, the Guadalupe Cafe. YUM-O!

Happy New Year...a few days late

Happy New Year!!

We rang in the new year at Buffalo Thunder Casino("Santa Fe's Playground") with friends Anne, John, & Natasha. It was a really great time and we were so happy to start the new year with new friends in our new city!

A new year means a new gym for me...right when we moved to Santa Fe, I paid a 3-month membership to the local community center. It's an amazing community center but they don't have a single TV! Since I am best friends with the treadmill lately due to the snow and cold, it's pretty much torture to be on a treadmill for long periods of time without being able to watch TV. SO ~ I joined Anytime Fitness, which is the gym Mike joined awhile ago since he could go to other centers when he is traveling for work. And the absolute best thing about the gym??...Individual TV's on each cardio machine! A-MAZING! It's also great to go to the same gym at the same time with my hubs again. On that note ~ Mike works out in the morning during his first hour of work(let me remind you his work week is Wed-Sun and he only works out Mon-Fri) so I suggested, "Well, why don't you go at 6am instead of 7am Wed-Fri so I can go with you so I can be back to be logged in to work by 7am." Uh - right - brilliant Kirsten! This morning was the first attempt and although it was absolute torture for me to hear the alarm at 5:15am, we made it and I felt super when I "got" to work this morning. We plan to give it a try again tomorrow.

Any New Years Resolutions, you ask??
Not really - I never keep them so I'm not putting things on paper this year but my major goals(well I suppose 'goals' could be considered 'resolutions') this year are:
1. Run two half-marathons(first one is scheduled for March - not sure on the second) ~ depending how the first half goes, I might be convinced to try a full marathon again...I'll report back in March.
2. Get better at snow-boarding - I think we're heading out to Ski Santa Fe sometime over the next week to work on our skills.

Welcome to 2011 everyone!(Can you even believe it's 2011?) Hope everyone makes a point to be a little healthier this year than last year and get/stay active!

Christmas wrap-up

We spent Christmas at Mike's parents this year! We drove up to Wyoming on Saturday, December 18th and got back to Santa Fe on December 26th. It was great because Mike's sister Robin and her family also came up to WY from San Antonio. It was a full house...there was a lot of game playing, eating, wii playing, lazying around, movie watching, keeping Stuart out of trouble, sleeping in, and spending time with each other. I even managed to get in a couple runs so my half-marathon training wasn't shot to heck.

Mike and I took snowboarding lessons while our nephews Jarod and Jordon took skiing lessons. Needless to say, I think they had better luck skiing than I had snowboarding. Mike and I will have to head up to Ski Santa Fe or Taos to perfect my snowboarding skills.

I spent most of the time in this position.

Wipe out...again!
Mike didn't appear to have too many problems.

And ~ I'm up!

L to R: Jarod, David, Me, Mike, Jordon, & Robin

This is what I look like after getting woke up on Christmas morning at 7am. Coffee please!!

Boulevard became good buds with Jarod and Jordon. Blvd even slept on Jarod's sleeping bag with him at night. Buddy(Mike's parents dog) was less than impressed with Stuart and Boulevard...but I guess if someone tore apart and ruined all my toys, I too would be less than impressed.

Family Picture Time

Back row L to R: Don, David, Cheryl, Mike

Front Row: Robin, Jordon, Jarod, Me

That's a wrap ~ I think next Thanksgiving is potentially slated to be at our house with the entire clan again. Not sure we can pull it off but we shall see...

today was a tough one

Today was totally and completely exhausting! I realize my title is a Business Analyst so by definition I am to analyze. :) But today I analyzed my brain to moosh! Glad the day is over and I hope I am well prepared for another exhausting day tomorrow with more brain-mooshing analysis to be done.
How many times can I use analyze/analysis in one paragraph?!! :)

On to more uplifting topics that don't need any analysis. (LOL-ok, I promise I'm done with that word!) I am home and my hubby is home and we are one big happy family...well actually a small family, but a happy one at that. I got home last Saturday and it's great to be back. It was an ok drive -I'm really not convinced that the drive from NM to NE or the reverse will ever be good so I'll take an "ok" drive.

Mike ordered a new TV on cyber Monday so we(or maybe he) decided we needed to paint the wall that the TV was going to go on, which lead into painting the entire living/dining/kitchen area. There is still a little painting left but I love it! And I'll give Mike 90% of the credit as he did all the trim and most of the rolling. I did partake in rolling the bottom half of two walls but he did it on Monday and Tuesday and I work during those days.(Apparently that's my excuse but it's a pretty good one if you ask me)

Which leads to me to Mike's new schedule - now that he is through with training and allegedly knows how to do his job now, he's back on a semi-weird schedule. The good news for me is that he will normally work daytime hours(no more 3rd shift and we get to sleep during the same hours) but his weekends are now Monday & Tuesday.

I think that's all for now - once the living area is finished, I'll post some before and afters - It's really quite amazing what paint does to a room!

another drive to NE under my belt

When you drive 12 hours by yourself with two pups that don't talk back(thank goodness), you have a lot of time to think and observe. Here are my observations for my first drive from NM to NE.

* This drive is incredibly desolate. I often wondered when I got down to 1/4 tank of gas if I was going to hit a town that had a gas station before I ran out of gas...I follow a lot of back-roads through Colorado and Kansas and am "in and out" of cell service so I'm quite thankful I have a reliable car.
* Rural America makes me smile so much ~ you get a lot of the one pointer-finger(not the other "one finger" obscene waves) waves from the farmers and ranchers. I find myself feeling rude if I don't return the pointer finger gesture.
* Speaking of the drivers ~ I love when I come upon a vehicle and I can see the silhouette of the cowboy hat of the driver. It makes me smile everytime!
* I love the NE Cornhusker pride in Kansas and western Nebraska. I saw lots of Husker flags and numerous shops and cafe's with some sort of Nebraska reference! Go 'skers!
* The Starbucks near my house wasn't open when I left Santa Fe so I thought, "I'll just hit another Starbucks on the drive since Starbucks are everywhere." Well - not so much! I think the first Starbucks I saw advertised wasn't until I hit Colby, Kansas which was more than half way through my drive. Needless to say, I survived the drive with only one Dr. Pepper of caffeine.
* I panicked when I got to a gas station that had the "old-fashioned" gas pumps. No credit/debit card option?? I have to share the pump with the car on the other side of the pump?? I seriously almost went to find a different gas station because I didn't know the proper etiquette of using the pump and paying. But I survived and was able to settle my tab inside the store - who knew something so silly could cause a little stress?!!? :)

So - here I am in NE and so excited to see family and friends. But I am definitely missing the Santa Fe sunshine...it's so gloomy in NE!

a mini tribute to the pups - Love them so much!

Life has been pretty steady lately ~ nothing too earth-shattering to report. I think I'll dedicate this blog to a few stories about the pups.

* I was playing fetch in the back-yard with Boulevard a few weeks ago ~ threw the bouncy toy into the air, it hit the ground, took an odd and very high bounce, Boulevard jumped up to grab the toy in the air, and BAM...face plant into the fence on the way down from his jump. An appropriate response from a mother would be to freak out and I DID JUST THAT! I expected a bloody mess, chipped teeth, busted nose...but Boulevard just ran on back, "released" the toy, and was ready for another throw. I checked out his face, mouth, and teeth and there was no damage. However, I looked up to see a panel in our fence was split in half.(something for Mike to fix when he gets back!) Guess Boulevard won that fight!

* Boulevard really loves ice cubes so when we get ice from the freezer door, he comes over and we toss up a ice cube and he chomps away. Stuart doesn't like to be left out so I usually slide one on the floor for him to naw on. But the funniest thing is that right when the cube comes out of the freezer and Stu starts chewing on it, it usually gets stuck to his long chin hair and he just lets it hang there. HA! It's pretty comical.

* Since we've been in our new house, and a couple times when we were in MD, Stuart finds it necessary to leap into the tub at very odd times. In the middle of the night, I can hear him flop into the tub and then jump out a little while later. Mike says it's because he wants a bath(I can get a little lazy about giving Stu regular baths) and I say it's because he's trying to quench his thirst(even thought there's no water in the tub and they have water available to them at all times). Weird!

* Boulevard likes to chase flies. It's not very often a fly is found in the house, but Boulevard will seek it out and pounce at just the right time. He's actually caught a few and then spits them out...guess the chase is better than the catch.

There's many more puppy dog stories I could share but Boulevard is giving me the "I'm ready for dinner" growl so I'm off to get them fed. What would I do without them?? Especially when Mike is away!!