MILES to GO || before I sleep

I recently spoke to a gentleman named "Itai." His last name might have been English or Welsh or something, but I've never heard of anyone named "Itai" before. It's funny because I have a splitting headache and I was thinking "Itai!" in my head, and so when this guy called, it was a bit amusing. I hope he never goes to Japan.

Got my paycheck, which means two things:
* Pay bills
* Get airline ticket to DC for August. Fares are only going up. Problem is, the rooms are only comped for 8/11 through 8/15, which means I could either a) pay an additional amount to stay on the night of the 16th and leave on the 17th (airfare's surprisingly not that different from Sunday to Monday; I already am paying $200 for a double room instead of a quad) or b) find a flight that leaves at an appropriate time on the 16th. "Appropriate time" is late afternoon or early evening, because I'd have to be there in the morning for the closing ceremonies and I want to participate in the Day of Service (and Sightseeing).

Most of the nonstop flights leaving DC are ONLY morning flights, so if I want to stick with that same plan for my return flight to the West Coast, I'd miss out on the last day (16th) of events. Since that's an icky plan, I'd rather save the money from staying an extra night (unless, of course, I could somehow get Associated Students to cover it as part of the travel expenses, but I'd rather use that for a student that wouldn't otherwise get to attend the Convention, e.g. a member that's not me) and leave the evening of the 16th on a flight that has one stop.

What do you think of Frontier airlines?

They have a semi-cheap, but there's a layover in Denver, Colorado for a few hours. I suppose I wouldn't mind the layover; it's short enough where I won't feel like I'm doing nothing, but it's not enough time to leave and explore (which might actually be fun, now that I think about it). But I'm more concerned about whether or not the airline is:
a) on time
b) the kind that loses or mishandles baggage
c) the kind that charges enormously for checked bags
d) has nice flight attendants

So, what do you think?

Also, part of the whole NSCS Convention is this Honor Gala, which is basically a formal event. I don't know how formal it is-- black tie vs....charcoal-gray tie or whatever, but I imagine ladies can't go strutting around in the same stuff they'd get away with in Vegas.

That said, I thought this dress looked divine. (What do you think? Any other suggestions for dress styles, colors, or stores to try?) The honor society's colors (and a color I look damn good in besides, if I do say so myself) is scarlet-- which is "Apple," by David's Bridal standards. I thought about adding a cute "Saffron" color sash and "peek-a-boo" slip/skirt, which would be in the honor society's colors. Cheesy yes, but I think I'd look fabulous in it. And the price isn't too bad, either. It's not like I'd be caught dead wearing my prom dress. I really ought to give that thing away to the Princess Project or something. o_O

I got the "Taste of Home" ultimate cookie book today. Ultimate though it may be, the only recipe in it that called for cereal was one for cereal bars-- not what I was looking for. Of course, I'm going to keep the book because it's got hundreds of other delicious-looking and sounding cookies, but the thought of that one cookie recipe I made back in Home Ec in... what, 7th grade? reminded me of the recipe folder I had-- an old purple paper folder with brads in it.

So I started to look for it and didn't find it in any of the usual places (my filing cabinet, or with any of my cookbooks), so I've started to rummage through all the giant bags o'stuff that I had stashed away in my closet. Going through them (because I'm in a cleaning mood, shocking enough), I found this:

This is a non-complaining, non-whining, non-smoking flight. If you smoke, we'll ask you to step out on the wing and you'll be our feature presentation of "Gone With the Wind" and "Bye Bye Birdie."

Later on, during the safety talk, "...stop screaming, let go of your neighbor's leg and grab the buttercup-yellow mask in front of you."

Considering the only airline I ride (let alone the only one with flight attendants with a wicked sense of humor like this) is Southwest, I'm attributing it to them. All the more reason to LUV SWA!

Interestingly enough, this was written on an envelope addressed to me that said "anti-air-flight boredom" device: To open upon flight ONLY!" I don't recognize the handwriting, though. Who was it from?

I also found a card from Eva from a birthday that's probably ages past-- probably middle school or early high school, judging by the coupon that mentions "Xander." But there's another coupon that interests me more, cutieme4u. It's one that is valid for a whole top-to-bottom room cleaning.

...Eva, what are you doing April 6th-11th? *grins* I have no plans for Spring Break.....

So, at least an hour after I started this post (I began with Para Para 2nd Mix, and have reached the end of DDR 4th Mix Nonstop Megamix), I still haven't found my Home Ec folder from middle school with the cereal cookie recipe. I will, though, but probably when I'm looking for something else or not looking at all. That's always how it goes, isn't it?

But I have made progress to be proud of-- I've got two piles of paper, each about 18 inches high (!!) and a box full of paper to recycle. A lot of those two 18 inch piles will probably end up going the same route as that box, but I don't have the energy to sort through it at the moment.

COOKIE RECIPE, I WILL FIND YOU!

Have I mentioned lately how much I LOVE Southwest Airlines? I mean LUV LUV LUV.

A few things you should know (or could probably guess) about me:
(1) I am NOT a light packer; I've tried: I've failed.
(2) I used to be indecisive, but now I'm not so sure.

Keeping those in mind, it's not hard to imagine that, despite having returned to L.A. prior to Thanksgiving, the stuff I brought back with me wasn't nearly enough. On the way from LAX to SFO the first time around, I got charged $25 for an overweight suitcase.

I've taken to checking in baggage because, with my back and the fact that people simply aren't courteous ANYWHERE anymore (not that I have low expectations of others, but it's easier not to assume and make an ass out of myself by whining when no one helps short little me get my bag out of the upper baggage compartment), it's just easier.

My suitcase, when full, just barely skims the 62 total inch limit-- it's 30 inches long, 20 inches wide, and around 9 inches thick. STUFFED, it can easily surpass the 62 inches, but I've never seen anyone whip out a tape measure and check my bag for that. Weighing it, on the other hand....

Anyway, I was nervous about how much my bag weighed for the trip back to L.A. today, because even though it was mostly vacuum-sucked clothes bags, I also had all my shoes, two hard drives, random books and papers, and a bag of cosmetics.

The total? 77.5 lbs! WTF!?

So I started by taking out my Jewish cookbook (it's sitting behind my CD album in my wheelie carry-on), and that knocked it down to 73.5. I didn't want to try and take out much more that wasn't flat, but was somehow still substantial enough to knock down three pounds, if only because I'd have no place to put it. I'm already hefting my PS2 and 2 stuffed animals (ssh!) as my "personal item." Thankfully, the guy at the baggage check outside was super-nice, and let me slide for the extra 3 pounds, so he said he'd have to take me inside to pay the $25 fee.

I gave the guy my WaMu debit card, because I checked the balance last night AND this morning, and there was enough in there to cover the fee (I KNEW I was going to get some fee) and my cab once I get to the Van Nuys Flyaway. But for some reason, it wasn't going through. They suggested I go to an ATM. I got to the ATM, expecting MORE fees, but it says "Card not authorized" or some shit. Freaking out (because my Macy's Visa wasn't working either, and that didn't surprise me; I owe the most on that card at the moment, and I think they've been calling me incessantly -but never leaving messages- but my payments haven't been the full amount. They've been whatever I could manage, but apparently THAT'S NOT GOOD ENOUGH), I called my bank.

When I finally got hold of a live person, he told me that while my checking account was still open, my debit/MasterCard had been closed since NOVEMBER!? WTF!? They didn't even notify me, not even on the site, which I check fairly regularly! So I had to be transferred to another line, explain the whole situation again, and have them "reactivate" the card (with the stipulation that the "activation" might not actually take effect until midnight).

Then, by the time I got back to the SWA counter... the guy said "It's okay, go on."

NO FEE.

I LUV SOUTHWEST!

So yay to that, and yay also to the taxi ride from Van Nuys FlyAway that was cheaper than I expected. Yay to Grandpa shelling out $12 because the guy didn't want to try swiping my potentially-bad card.

NOT YAY to the fact that I may have lost my USB stick. I called Mom to see if she could spot it in the areas where I was hanging out, but she didn't see it. Then again, she was half-asleep. I'm hoping it turns up somewhere really obvious -here or there- and I can get it on my hot little hands again. I DON'T want to have somehow lost it at SFO or LAX or on the plane or in the taxi. I'll call the airports if I haven't found it within 3 days, because that particular USB drive is important, but hopefully it's extremely identifiable, WHAT WITH MY NAME PRINTED ON IT AND ALL.

Think positive, think positive.

YAY to the fact that Baba and Grandpa now have an iMac! Sure, it's a G5, but it's working pretty well! Plus Erin left all of her awesome software on it, so if for whatever reason I don't or can't use my laptop, there's this one. It's not on Leopard, but because it's a PowerPC, I can run old-school Mac programs! WHOO!

Anyway, mom's been nagging me to make sure I get enough sleep lately. My problem is that I stress too much about things (LITTLE things, both literal and figurative). I think I should just chill and be glad to be home safe and (mostly) whole. I somehow managed to scrape a piece of skin off my right hand earlier at SFO when calling WaMu. I don't know how, but it hurts. :P

Ah well. Emails to read and send, LJs to catch up on... I can only relax by feeling accomplished somehow.

Yesterday my aunt Joyce called up my grandparents, frantic to tell them that airfare to Seattle over Thanksgiving weekend had skyrocketed and looked like it was only going to keep going up. It turned out she had just barely managed a reasonable fare by getting tickets for Thursday (aka Thanksgiving) morning, rather than beforehand, allowing her and the family enough time to spend together.

So how was it that I managed to get tickets for my grandparents for only $198 round-trip WITH taxes? Well, I have my method, and because I think it's silly not to share, I'm going to. I hope it does you some good in your vacation or business-trip planning.

( Secrets of the Cheap Airfare Gurus )

This gets a whole new post due to the insanity of it all.
On the return flight back to Burbank (SFO -> BUR), I found out 5 minutes before we were due to arrive at the airport (approximately 1 hour before our flight was scheduled to take off, the recommended time to come in to deal with security and whatnot) that our flight had been cancelled. The automated message didn't say why. But we didn't turn around; being so close to the airport, we all just decided to find out what was what and see what we would be compensated with. The message DID say we had been rescheduled for a flight to Burbank the next morning, but that would mean schlepping all the way back to SFO and imposing on my mom-- plus unpacking, after we'd spent so much time PACKING!

So Scott, Mom, and I all got out while Gary guarded the car; Mom and I (more Mom, since she is not fun to deal with when you piss her off) talked to a customer service person. Mom went a little over the top, but in the end, Scott and I got our flight changed to one that was supposed to leave at 9:30 (instead of 7:15, our original flight). So it was a few extra hours at the airport, but SFO had lots of food and stores, so why not?

We noticed that on our new boarding passes, the original time for the flight (SFO -> LAX) was actually 8:07, and it had gotten rescheduled. But we thought nothing of it, so we went to get some food at the food court nearest our gate. As I went to the bathroom, I noticed there were no outbound flights to Los Angeles leaving at 9:30. There was one at 9:40, and after I checked with Scott, I confirmed the flight number-- our flight had been delayed by 10 minutes. No big deal, right?

We'd already hung out at the bookstore and I'd had a Noah's bagel from earlier; now after dinner, we just decided to head to the gate, about a half hour before our boarding time. But when we got there, the flight got rescheduled to 10:00. Then 10:20. Then 10:30. Then finally, 11:20. Initially, it was because of monsoon/thunderstorms over the middle of the state, which the airline refused to fly over. So why not fly over the ocean? We ended up doing that anyway. Then it was because they had no pilot, and even when we finally got a pilot, we didn't have enough flight attendants. Then the flight attendants came-- three more than we needed. We finally got underway, after five hours.

The plane was nice, and I even got some shut-eye, but when we got to LAX, there was more confusion. The rep from SFO had told us to tell a United Representative at LAX that we'd initially been scheduled for Burbank, and we had a shuttle waiting there for us. Since everyone from our flight had either been directed toward this flight or the one for the following morning, we wouldn't be alone; we'd all take the shuttle from LAX to BUR, and just take a shuttle from there, right? Wrong. 41 people from the rescheduled flight cancelled, so we had no way of getting any sort of upgrade or compensation. We basically waited HOURS for nothing.

On top of that, Burbank closed at midnight or so, so there was no point in having United shuttle us there if Super Shuttle wouldn't pick us up. So after standing in plenty of lines, schlepping our luggage around (I got a SmartKart for $3, but it made my life easier for a few hours), and talking to plenty of people, another United rep gave us a $51 voucher for the shuttle. We paid $31 for the shuttle from Burbank; from LAX it would have been slightly more, so the $51 *was* generous, but it hardly made up for all the waiting and the lack of information. Matter of fact, it almost didn't help at all, because Super Shuttle apparently didn't have enough shuttles (3 7-person vans -_-) to take us back to Northridge-- they were all going elsewhere, like to Glendale, Pasadena, and Anaheim. We had to do some juggling with Primetime Shuttle (the company I hate, because I feel unsafe with them), and we got to Northridge-- I even slept in the car, while Scott directed a driver who had NO idea where the hell he was with where to go.

And we got home... at 3:30am. It was still blazing hot though, so we slept with no blankets, the fan on full blast, and the air conditioning on. Neither of us got much sleep; Scott woke up around 9:30 or 10 to start getting ready to leave, and though I was still dead tired and even more overheated, I woke up with him, because I wanted to say goodbye and everything. And so it went, and we said "goodbye" or at least, "I'll see you later."

Scott seems to have made up his mind about the Peace Corps; he doesn't want to wait until next year to MAYBE get an Asian assignment, so he'll settle for whatever he gets in Central Asia, i.e. Kazakhstan or Azerbaijan. If I had to do the picking, I'd pick the latter, but... well, I just wish Scott wouldn't feel like he HAS to pick the Peace Corps because he got all those medical tests for it, did all that paperwork, etc. Yes, it looks great on your resume, and yes, it's longer, possibly more rewarding... but I just don't want him to be unreachable, or in danger because of wars in that area (very close to the Middle East).

He also has the option of getting something guaranteed IN JAPAN from the Oxford TEFL seminars, but who knows when and where that will pan out? I just hope he lets me know soon, and everything will somehow work out.

But needless to say, neither of us are flying United again if we can help it. I think I'll have to, for Japan, but I hope international flights are the exception. :P Still, I want to write a complaint letter. I also want to make sure my mom doesn't get charged for a shuttle we couldn't arrive on time to take, considering we weren't even at the right airport. :P