Crazy couple of days...

This last week has been so busy for both my husband and myself. I've been working so much at work, that by the time I get home, I make dinner and then go to bed... No time or energy to get on my computer to change my header picture so it is correct...

A has done a lot of work on the plane this rotation home, more than either of us expected him to do. You can see some before and after pictures here. He's done a great job on it so far. All that is left is the seats and the window trim.

Yesterday, we celebrated our anniversary for this year. We got married on Leap Year, so it's not TECHNICALLY our anniversary, but 9 years should be celebrated...

We went to dinner at a really nice restaurant. We've eaten there before, when they were "Mediterranean". However, their menu has changed to primarily "Greek", which is fine, because I wanted lamb with cucumber/yogurt sauce anyway... It was really good. A had an exquisite rib-eye steak. He still had to do laundry before leaving this morning, so he did a load after we got home and we were going to watch a movie before going to bed... This is somewhere around 11:00 PM... We only made it through the first 30 minutes or so of the movie before I was falling asleep. (It was 2001 - A Space Odyssey, in case you are wondering...) We turned off the movie and went to bed...

Now here is where my frustrations start... A tends to save (or procrastinate) everything to the last minute... Packing his suitcase, taking a shower, you name it, he waits until he HAS to do it... It always irritates me because I like to be ready before hand so there is no threat of being late and you have some time to play with if you need to adjust your schedule... Whatever...

So, of course, he wanted to get on the first plane to Anchorage this morning (which means we have to get up at 5 to get ready, but didn't). I get up and I find him still packing. I'm dressed, ready to go, go warm up the car, and start taking the stuff that's ready to go out to the car... Anyway, we ended up leaving the house later than he wanted (by no fault of mine, BTW) and he was freaking out about missing the flight. I drop him off with plenty of time to make the flight... Then I head to the store to get a juice and then to my office... If I have to be up early on a Saturday, I might as well take full use of it and get some stuff cleared off my desk... Well, he calls me as I am trying to open the door to my office saying he forgot his batteries... Great... I rush over to the house to get his brick of batteries (if you shop at Costco, you'll know of which I speak) and rush back to the airport. In the mean time, he's been calling my cell phone like a frantic man, which I haven't been able to tell... There's something going on with my cell phone and it may need to be replaced... So the messages from him are like "Why do we even have cell phones if you aren't going to answer it? The plane is boarding in like 5 minutes..." etc... you get the drift...

I know he probably doesn't mean it this way, but it always seems in these situations that it is MY fault he didn't have his batteries in the first place, that I wasn't home when he called so that I could get them to him faster, that he MIGHT miss his flight... and so on and so on... I love my husband very much, but this morning I could have slapped him... Especially since there was no "Thanks" for bringing him is forgotten item, when I could have told him, hey, you're screwed...

Then, after I got back to my office, he called again and told me he made the flight and that he'd call me when he got to Anchorage... That's great, but again, where is the thanks that I deserve for not only getting up early when I could have told him to take a cab, and then rushing around to get him something he forgot and needed? (If you can't tell, I'm not exactly a morning person, and my venting/frustration is a product of lack of sleep and the early morning hour on a Saturday... If it were a more reasonable hour, I would probably be more forgiving of my husband's harsh attitude this morning...)

So this is one of those times where I will be happy he's gone, at least for a few days anyway... I gotta get back into my routine, and clean the house... I will probably start missing him around Wednesday...

I have a feeling that I will be so busy during this rotation that he'll be home before I know it.

Incorrect Tag!

I really shouldn't try to do a new header picture when I am really tired...

I labeled my new header picture as "Salmon, ID"... This is incorrect. While I love Salmon and have been there several times, this picture was taken at Johnson Creek, ID... One of our favorite places to go camping... You get the best of both worlds... Sleeping in a tent and cooking over a campfire AND showers/toilet facilities...

Sorry to Johnson Creek... I will correct the photo when I return home this evening...

Going Green...

I am sick of winter, so I am taking advantage of the up-coming holiday (St. Pat's) and updated my blog for spring. I vow not to change the header/background of my blog again until the trees start budding here for spring (which should be around April, I hope...)

A list of things that could be done at any time (at least in my opinion)

Winter...

The interior project on the airplane...

My house projects...

The board meeting...

I guess that's about it....

I do not have a title...

I normally love my husband very much... But, at the un-Godly hour of 5:24 AM, I kind of hate him at the moment...

Yesterday, we had a really great day. Kind of lazy, with the added touch of pizza out, followed by dessert. It was awesome. Well, after a long day, and knowing that I needed to get up to prepare for my first official, by myself, day as the Office Manager, I went to bed. He was busy doing something downstairs that involved the airplane and told me that he would be to bed shortly... This was at approx. midnight...

For those of you who don't know, our bedroom is a loft that is open to the downstairs...

At around 4:30ish, I woke up to the sound of something scraping on crinkly metal and the smell of contact cement. I could not go back to sleep. I went downstairs at some point, in my sleep induced haze, to get a glass of water and kind of glared at him... I think...

While I've been typing this, in his sleep deprived state, he proceeded to get mad at me for zeroing in on a problem in one of the difficult side panels when he tried to show it to me. Whatever. I can tell it is going to be an AWESOME day...

The Oscars

I don't usually write about stuff like the Oscars, but I couldn't help myself tonight. I felt like I needed to share my opinion about the whole thing.

First, I don't usually watch award shows. There's usually something better on the Science Channel, for example. Well, I can't usually avoid Hugh Jackman when I see him, so of course, that's the reason why I watched it. Although, I missed the first 10 minutes or so. I have seen him host the Tony Awards, and thought he was phenomenal. Prior to that, I had no idea he was a "song and dance man." Anyway, I digress.

Overall, I enjoyed the whole format of the Oscars. I loved the way they honored the (main) nominees. I loved the tribute that was made to those who have passed on this last year, and the song that Queen Latifa (sp?) sang. It was very beautiful and moving.

However, all was not right in Oscar-ville for me.

I felt that the musical numbers were weird at best, and painful at worst. (Sorry, Hugh...) They felt out of place and awkward. What ever happened to a well put together musical number? And combining the "Best Song" nominees into one musical number? In the words of Simon Cowell, "That was DREADFUL!"

I am a firm believer that politics do not belong in award shows. I figured that when Sean Penn won Best Actor for his role in "Milk" that it would turn into something political, because that is who he is. I very much prefer my actors to act and not try to force their beliefs on me, or try to make me feel guilty for my beliefs. I have no problem giving the man his props for portraying such an interesting character, but don't feed me a line of Bull-Crap while you are trying to "thank the academy for this award." Personally, I could care less what anyone believes. I do have a problem with anyone who will discount my personal beliefs while shoving their own down my throat. But then again, I believe that everyone is entitled to their own opinion in life, especially in religion and politics, and there are some in this world who do not (like Sean Penn). [I believe that Sean's best performance to date is when he got eaten by a panther (ie: Black Kitty Cat) in Team America. - Is that wrong?] Again, I digress...

I liked that they didn't keep a running total as "Slum Dog Millionaire" won award after award. It is like a constant jab into the other nominee's sides when you hear "This is Slum Dog Millionaire's 8th Oscar" etc... And they kept everyone's speeches short and ended the program in time, WITHOUT reminding them to get off the stage with the orchestra... So Kudos! to who ever decided that! It was awesome!

Overall, it was a pleasurable experience, with a few uncomfortable places. I do have to say that I was surprised that Sean Penn's acceptance speech was the only one that got "off topic". Maybe that's a sign of things to come.

And Yay! for my favorite film of 2008! Wall-E won best animated film! Woo-hoo! I love that movie, and it deserved to win.

UPDATE: I just saw the opening sequence of the Oscars on YouTube. It is sad to say that I missed the BEST part of the Oscars last night. Who knew Anne Hathoway could sing like that. I know I didn't. Hugh Jackman is HILARIOUS when he's doing a number on his own. I loved that he didn't actually see "The Reader". That was awesome!

Saturday Stuff

On my agenda today are the following:

Go to work to try and get caught up from the week...

Chat with the lovely ladies @ PWC

MAYBE cook dinner for the husband... If he's nice...

One more day...

I am going to miss my friend... My boss... My mentor...

She has been good for me, and I am very saddened that she is leaving, but also excited for her. She will be a lot happier after this move.

In the mean time, as predicted, I have been crazy busy (I know I use that term a lot, but with good reason...). We have been trying to make sure that I know what I am supposed to know for my new position. Not quite there yet, but getting there...

I also haven't had much time to devote to my normal duties, as we've been working all week on getting her caught up so she can get me caught up... Whew, what a mouthful! To remedy that, I will be going into work at least an hour (if not an hour and a half) early to get myself caught up from today... Then the morning will be spent going over the last of the instructions that she has for me. The afternoon will be me moving my desk items from my office to hers. It will also include me working this weekend to do all the stuff that I would usually do on Friday to end the week, but I won't be doing tomorrow. Hopefully, that will get me all caught up to start my first official week (by myself) as the Office Manager.

Man, I'm going to miss her...

Surprise!!!

I received a phone call this evening on my cell phone. Most of you would think, what's so strange about that... Well (1) I never receive calls on my cell... Seriously, no one calls me... and (2) It was my husband calling from his cell phone...

While in Bethel, he is unable to use his cell, so he usually calls the landline and then hangs up to signal me that I need to call him back... But not today!

Calling me on his cell means that he is in Anchorage! And he was! And he got on the last flight to Juneau TONIGHT!!!! I wasn't expecting him until tomorrow! I have to go put my shoes on to go pick him up as his flight lands in about 15 minutes!!!!

YAY!!!!!

Trying to see the bright side...

The man is freaking out about new regulations that could pose/have already instated restrictions to private aviation. I don't blame him. We have our own plane, and it allows us the freedom to go where we want, pretty much when we want, with very little hassle. The gov't is trying to change all that.

Already in place is a bit of legislation that requires private pilots to register any flight in to or out of this country (currently voluntary, but will become mandatory in May of this year). Most people's first reaction to this is, "It's OK, it's for safety and security." Excuse me, but one of the freedoms that we have is the ability to come/go as we please, provided we follow the rules of whatever country we are trying to visit. It's not a huge departure from existing post-911 rules, which require a passport to re-enter the United States and go through customs. That is fairly reasonable. But when they tell me that I have to have authorization to EXIT my country FROM MY OWN GOV'T, I have a problem with that. (If the country I were to visit required extra steps, I would have no choice but to comply... And I would do so willingly.)

I have to go on a website to register my personal, private flight with customs, give them detailed information about who and what is on my plane. Then they check their "lists" and tell me IF I can go... If someone who is on my plane is on the "No-Fly List", then the flight gets delayed, and that person cannot go, etc etc...

Then, I have to register AGAIN to come into my country, by internet only!!! WTF!!! Places that we have wanted to go in Canada are in the bush... We have always made arrangements to go and then we call Customs here in Juneau on the radio on our way back in, so they can meet the plane... Apparently, this isn't good enough any more.

I've even seen in some of the posts in relation to this that IF you don't have the proper "clearance", they will go so far as to scramble jets to "escort" you out of the air... Seems a bit extreme to me...

Then today, the man clued me into another bit of legislation that is currently in the "proof of concept" stage, involving Anchorage. Basically, the FBO's (Fixed-Base Operators - where you buy your fuel, get weather data, etc...) are to participate in a "secure" setting, requesting information on all flights using their facilities. At this point, it is optional. If you "opt-out" of this, your flight gets listed as "not-secure". At this point, nothing happens to you if you are listed as "not-secure", but if this actually comes to fruition across the country, JUST WHAT WILL HAPPEN IF YOU ARE LISTED AS "NOT-SECURE"? I haven't found anything stating the ramifications of not participating in this "security" measure...

He was also spouting off about us not being able to carry survival equipment in our planes anymore (guns, knives, food, etc). I haven't found where this documentation is yet, so I won't comment on it at this point. But, if that is actually going to happen, that is completely STUPID! In Alaska, you pretty much have to fly with survival gear INCLUDING a gun/rifle. If you go down in the wilderness, they want you to be able to provide for yourself while you wait for search & rescue to find you. It's one of the things that extends your chance of survival. I, for one, will not be participating in that bit of garbage, if it actually comes to pass. I take responsibility for my own actions, and I don't go anywhere in the plane without a backpack full of supplies.

I am seeing my personal freedoms slowly go away... All under the guise of safety & security... It's scary and maddening...

Holy Cow!!!!

I did not realize just how busy I would become by accepting my new position... Whew... I'm glad it's the weekend.

I forsee that the next month and a half are going to be hell until my replacement is hired. Since the upper management people are traveling pretty extensively until April, they decided they won't hire my replacement until then... Joy... Nothing like doing the work of 3 people!

On the plus side, I'm teaching my self notehand so that I can take minutes at the next meeting.

All the little things...

I have been inundated with little things that needed to be done today...

I had to order some new checks. I ran out, and since I have moved since the last time I ordered checks, I had to call a person to get it fixed... Hopefully they come in before the end of the month.

I had to call the credit card company to find out if there was anything I needed to do for my card expiring next month. It's a good thing I did, because they said they automatically sent me a replacement card on Jan 10... Guess who didn't get it... Yeah, that'd be me... So we had to cancel that number... And now I have to watch my account like a hawk to make sure there are no fraudulent charges... Oh, joy...

As I am not usually home during the day, I had both of these financial institutions send my stuff to my work address... Hopefully that means that I'll get everything without too much hassle...

I have to work on our taxes sometime soon... Mostly I need to organize my receipts from moving to Juneau...

Man, sometimes it sucks to be an adult...

Crazy-Busy Day

Between the massive numbers of claims I received in one day, massive numbers of medical bills that needed to be processed today, and training for my new position that needed to start today, I was crazy-busy... I put in a 10 hour day... Normally, I work a 7.5 hour day...

Now, I am going to go get ready for bed to get an early start on it tomorrow...

Tomorrow should be better...

News!!!!

I was promoted today! (crowd cheering)...

On one hand, it is sad, because our old office manager is leaving and moving south to stay with her ill mother. But on the other hand, how cool for me! Ever since I knew she was thinking about going south, I thought that they would just hire another office manager and leave me where I am (or was) since I don't have a whole lot of experience. But I guess I kicked butt in the last year+ because they think that I can handle it. I know they never would have offered it to me if they didn't think I could do it.

It entails a lot more than what I was doing. I won't have time to do claims anymore, so they'll have to hire another person to do those. I'll be traveling more, starting next month.

I'm excited!!!

Another Avalanche, Anyone?

Yesterday, my power went out again. It was only off for about 15 minutes, but I couldn't help thinking that there was another avalanche, like the one that took out our power lines a few weeks back... I was right...

Although it wasn't in the same location as previous avalanches that cut off Juneau to hydro-power, it still interrupted service for a while.
The bad thing about this particular avalanche is that it cut off a community called Thane from Juneau. The road to Thane is completely buried in this section. The paper reported that they should have the road clear by tonight, but they aren't sure if anyone was caught in the avalanche. I hope not.

When we were living in Hawaii, a friend of ours told us of another avalanche in the same area. That one was caught on camera.
We've looked at living in this community before. If we ever decide to, we would definitely have to take these occurrences into consideration.

What a GREAT Day!

I love Saturdays... I get to sleep in... I usually get to do what I want...

Today was AWESOME! I didn't sneeze once and the only time I really coughed was because some water went down the wrong pipe... Just AWESOME!! There must be something to drinking a whole lot of water and not eating simple carbs (ie: sugar/candy) while you are fighting off a cold.

Since I had been ignoring the house all week and not cleaning up after myself in during my illness, I took some time today to do so. I also had to get ready for my company's Christmas Party... Yes, I realize it is the middle of February, but this is how they do it. During December, there are so many conventions/meetings and family visits that it is hard to get everyone together for an office holiday party. There are only 5 of us in our office, so if someone is gone, it leaves a hole... So a long time ago, they decided to hold the Christmas party in January, when everyone was back from traveling. However, this January, the week before we were supposed to have it, one of the employees had a sudden death in the family, so he wouldn't be there. We postponed it to February so he and his wife could join us.

Anyway, that meant having to do laundry (something I usually put off until Sunday) and making a dessert to bring to the party. I made some caramel the other day, and I thought I would dip it in chocolate and put some sea salt on it... I saw it on the Food Network, so don't call me freaky or something. I happen to like sweet/salty items. The chocolate I got to dip the caramel in didn't turn out like I wanted it to, so I only dipped like 2 of them. The rest I wrapped individually in wax paper and took to the party. They were a big hit. Last year, I took cookies and went home with quite a few left over... This year, I came home with an empty bowl...

So, now I am all partied-out and ready for bed. It was a great day all around :)

And so it begins...

We have finally received our new interior for the airplane. It is currently held in several different boxes. Once the man gets home, we will be very busy.

Heigh Ho, Heigh Ho...

It's back to work I go...

Not coughing nearly as bad as I was, so that's a good thing...

I have a dr's appointment later this morning to determine if this is the start of something crappy, or just a cold... I'm hoping for the latter...

It's snowing.... again...

Sick...

Found the stash of Nyquil last night, but I didn't get a good night's sleep. I kept waking up. When I was supposed to get up to go to work, I called in sick, slept until noon, got up, let the dog out, ate a sandwich, then went back to sleep. Been sleeping most of the day, except when our mortgage company called me for the second time in 2 days to pitch me their deal of paying our mortgage twice a month... Needless to say, I wasn't that happy... I basically told the guy that if I didn't respond to the constant mailings from them, why in this green earth would I look favorably on phone calls reiterating the same deal? Maybe I didn't need to be so mean, but I'm sick, so he can deal...

I think my dog ate my new chap stick that I had sitting on the nightstand next to my bed. It was there when I went to sleep last night and it wasn't there when I woke up. I was using it to help keep the raw and red nose at bay...

I saw a mouse in my hallway shortly after I woke up... I wonder if it is the same mouse that I heard under the stairs the other day. I know I could go get traps and stuff, but I would feel bad bringing death to a living creature, especially one that is cute and fuzzy. I never felt bad if my cat killed a mouse, because, that's nature... If only I wasn't so allergic to cats, I could get one to deal with the mouse problem..

AAACCCCKKKK!!!!

I can't tell if I am getting sick or not. I have had times when I had a severe allergy attack that let to a sinus infection with bronchitis. I have also had severe allergy attacks that didn't lead to anything and I was fine the next day...

Well, today is a severe allergy attack day... One where I feel like I am going to die (ok, that may be a little dramatic, but I still feel like crap)...

I can't tell if this is going to be a long-term illness or if I will be fine tomorrow...

I can tell you though, right now, I am really tired of sneezing...

Crappy End to a Crappy Day

It started with my alarm not working right this morning (apparently, I hit the wrong button in my sleep-induced haze). Had my friend not text messaged me at 7:45am, waking me up, I would have been late to work...

Then, the brain was fuzzy and I had to keep asking the first person who called me this morning to repeat themselves (especially their name... and this is someone I speak to on a fairly regular basis)...

Then I had coffee, to break up the brain fuzz... This made me jittery... Which made it harder to do the massive amounts of work piling up due to the time of year...

Then I couldn't find what I needed at the dollar store, so I actually have to venture out to WalMart at some point...

Then I received a box of crap for the airplane... Not a particularly heavy box, but one large enough to make it seem heavy and completely awkward to pick up by yourself...

I had help getting the box to my car, but not getting the box from my car inside my house... So I tried to get it inside and my grip slipped and the box ended up breaking one of my nails WAY past the quick... Blood dripping, me cursing... That was fun... Oh yeah, and now I have to buy another first aid kit because I forgot that I gave the one I usually have on-hand to the man (because he is MUCH more accident prone than I am, at least in my head he is)...

I decided to make a trial run of my mother's carmel. I'm going to a shindig on Saturday that I need to bring a dessert to... It was requested that I bring my Famous Oatmeal Cookies, but I didn't want to make a bunch for just a few people, so I decided that carmel would be interesting. If it works out OK, I can try to dip them in chocolate and sprinkle sea salt on top like I saw on the Food Network... We'll see... I hope they don't take away my pearls since I made the batch in my wok instead of a saucepan... I have been asked to bring some of the trial run to work tomorrow (since it is a work shindig) for everyone to try. If they like it, the'll green light the carmel. If not, I will have to make cookies... Well, I guess I don't HAVE to, but I have to see these people every day and I would rather not have them telling me they want me to bring more cookies on a regular basis. If they know I can make something else, they can mix it up a bit... Oh, and the reason for the trial run is so I could prove to myself that I can make candy... At least carmel... I can't make peanut butter fudge to save my life... At least I have an Aunt who makes really good peanut butter fudge and sends me some when I ask.

Wow... quite a rant/tangent... I should probably go to bed and look forward to doing it all again tomorrow...

I know.. I know...

I am a horrible American... I missed the Stupid Bowl Super Bowl.

I should be drug out in the street and shot... I don't even know who was playing... The only thing I am upset about missing is the commercials, but the last few Stupid Bowls Super Bowls, the commercials have sucked... I mean, do I have to bring up those creepy "thriller" lizards? No, I didn't think so... Besides, I'm sure the funny ones are already up in massive numbers on YouTube. I haven't cared enough to check.

So, congratulations to who ever one. I had a much more enjoyable day watching Gilmore Girls on DVD.