Wedding update

Well the invitations have been ordered and to my mom and my surprise they will be here in about 10 days! That will be nice because it will give us plenty of time to procrastinate addressing them.

I'm talking to the florist Tuesday and looking at the engagement pictures the following Tuesday. (He's hard to schedule with so I just decided to plan a day for me to see them and look for another date where Dave can see them too) That way if they are all icky pictures then we can re-take them soon. Hopefully they will be wonderful like we think they will be.

Other then that... the wedding rings are picked out. Now all we have to do is find a good place to buy them for a good price. :-P

The first shower seems to be well planned by my mom, and many of my mom's friends. By the way Dave and I are fully registered at William-Sanoma, Dillards, Bed Bath and Beyond, and Target (although I'm sure there are more things we would love to have). We are excited about all the items we have registered for but since I'll be moving from Texas to Georgia it means that hauling MORE STUFF will be interesting... so if you are sitting there thinking to yourself.... "gee I want to get Dave and Allison something GREAT"... just know that a gift card would be PERFECT. All gifts are welcome but, cards are much smaller and lighter to move to another state. (o;

That's all for now folks.

iPod photo & CRJ's

I recently made the decision to purchase an iPod photo through my sister's Mac hook-up. And now I'm in "sit-in-front-of-the-computer-for-hours-playing" world. These little boxes are amazing. I have yet to mess with my photos. There will be plenty of time for that later. But isn't it cool to think I can carry ALL my digital and scanned photos AND music with me WHEREVER I go?!? I thought so. I opted for the A/V cable as well so I can connect it to a TV to show pictures a little bigger.

Also, my dad stopped through Atlanta a couple days ago on his way to Ft. Lauderdale for work. I had a flight that night so I went in to work early to keep him company at ATL. Well, with a little luck, I was able to get him onto a CRJ so he could see my office finally. It was quite ironic because the aircraft we happened to tour was N876AS, the FIRST CRJ I ever flew back in Nov. '04. Cool! So enjoy the photos below. Comments are always appreciated. :-)

Me in my office.

Dad's private CRJ charter.

"Thanks for flying with us! Watch your step!"

Hurry up and take the picture!

Longshot. Who's the funny guy?

CRJ silhouette by TCG

I am POSTING! - A Super Sized Post

So I haven't really posted much. Dave has more opportunity to blog then I do since he gets stuck in hotels often. (Well that is my excuse anyway)

Dave and I watched "Super Size Me" and holy cow I will never eat fast food again! Okay well that is an over statement but, after watching that movie... I dunno. Dave was avoiding fast food after watching this and I agree with him. The movie really brings the reality of the fast food JUNK that we put in our bodies. It's amazing how terrible the guy's health was after 30 days of McDonalds. WOW it was crazy! Heart, liver, energy issues, and depression.

I couldn't believe it... if you are still regularly eating fast food, check this movie out and tell me what you think after watching it.

Continental vs. Delta

Since it's late, I'm going to keep this short. My body still thinks it's 9:50pm due to being in LA for 4 days but I'm tired none the less. Quick recap: I went to LA on Friday morning after getting back from Charleston, WV at about 0715. Got first class out there, arriving around noon LA time. Allison joined me later that day around 9pm or so, via Salt Lake due to Delta's unfortunate closure of Dallas. Have to go through SLC, CVG or ATL if you want to get anywhere else on Delta out of DFW.

Flights were so bad for Allison to get home on Sunday via buddy pass that she didn't even make it. Problem was getting her to SLC. Once she got there (in theory), the flights looked fine to DFW. But it wasn't meant to be. We ended up using my mom's frequent flier miles on Continental Monday morning, sending her back via Houston to Dallas. I think maybe Denver's awful snow might have had something to do with it. Who knows.

Either way, we had a good weekend of adventure. Saturday we drove north out of LA toward Owens Valley and Lone Pine, CA. It's up along highway 395 south of Mammoth and Yosemite if you're looking at a map. Gorgeous country. I mentioned it here in a recent previous entry, as you may recall. We did some hiking and enjoyed the majesty of it all. Very nice. Sunday morning we went sailing with my dad on one of his club's 26.5' Hunter sailboats. Not a ton of wind but enough to make it enjoyable as we went uh-crashing through the 3-4 foot ocean swell. Then we headed for the airport and hung around for almost 4 hours because we both just love sitting in airports for no reason. At least we had each other to keep, uh, each other company.

Okay, I'm tired now. I'd write more about it but those who read this will probably hear more details from each of us individually anyway. So I leave you with a few photos to enjoy. Click on them to make them bigger n stuff. Uh huh huhuhuh.

Allison stands along Whitney Portal road in front of Mt. Whitney. It's not visible, though, due to the clouds. Be advised I say this again for the next photo because I posted these in reverse order due to how the picasa program works. Sorry for the redundancy.

Here we are in front of Mt. Whitney which is unfortunately obscured by cloud to the right of our heads.

A herd of cows crosses the road and Allison captures the moment in a series of 6 photos.

Allison in front of the CLOSED Frosty Chalet in Lone Pine, CA. Where have you readers seen a similar photo before? Hmmmm...

Allison takes the helm of a sailboat for the first time inside the MdR harbor. She was a little nervous with such a big responsibility.

Allison watches Dave play Jack "I'm the king of the world" at the bow of the mighty ship.

Allison at the helm again out in the open waters of the Pacific. Marina del Rey along with the Santa Monica Mountains in the background.

Charley West

Everyone feel free to celebrate in my honor after you read this as I made my 100th landing in the CRJ today in Charleston, West Virginia!! I'm excited! And yes, it was a good landing. ;-)

We even had 4 old folks, one who was 88 and needed our assistance off the plane, who commented on the good flight. It's always nice to see/hear that people leave with a smile on their face. One of the people with her asked me, "How'd you like landing on our postage stamp of an airport?" It's a bit mountainous here so needless to say, they have a lack of flat land required for a long, hub-style runway. But it makes it more of a challenge and thence, more satisfying when everything goes well.

How Many Bars Do YOU Have?

2? 4? Even perhaps 5? Does Cingular actually think they'll get more customers because their new AT&T/Cingular juggernaut offers 5 bars instead of 4? What difference does it make whether you have 4 or 5? It's a full signal, either way. Does it really make a difference? I'd think it's simply the way the phone presents the data. But the common man will be retarded as usual and see it as, "Oooo, this phone has FIVE bars so that HAS to be better!" More is better, right?

We seem to be living in a society that is defined by cell phones. Remember like 6 or 7 years ago when you didn't have one? HOW DID YOU FUNCTION?!?! I remember I was against them. Everyone around me was getting them. And I hated how people were connected to the damn things. But I was eventually swayed while working at Best Buy where I could get an "amazing deal" through Sprint because I was an employee. At the time, it was an amazing offer. Piddly by today's standard. And then I was hooked.

I guess it really gets to me when I walk through a mall or somewhere where teenagers are and they ALL have a cell phone. Family plan! Talk for free! I'm 25 and I'm already saying "back in my day...." Is that wrong? I mean, I welcome change and new innovation, but cell phones are the epitome of rudeness. I HATE being forced to listen to another's conversation. It's an invasion of privacy. Besides, when I'm on the phone, as those of you know who've talked with me on my cell phone before, I try to be as quiet as possible.

Don't get me wrong, I welcome the convenience afforded through cell phones. It's come in handy many times. But I also think a line needs to be drawn. There should be an etiquette book that comes along with every new service plan. Or maybe even phones that shock you if you speak above a certain decibel level if the phone senses other people around. Just a thought.

Frosty Chalet

You know, I was thinking about it. There are a lot of words in the English language that are really fun to pronounce incorrectly rather than the way they're supposed to sound. At least I think so.

For example, anything that ends in the suffix, "et." I find myself eagerly awaiting the use of one of those words in conversation just so I can purposely annunciate that final T that's always left so rudely behind. I guess the French like T's like they like America, right?

My favorite word to apply this to is, of course, CHALET. Here in the USA, there really isn't a common need for the use of this word but I try and work it in there.

Let's see why:

Chalet: from dictionary.com

1. A wooden dwelling with a sloping roof and widely overhanging eaves, common in Switzerland and other Alpine regions.
2. A cottage or lodge built in this style.
3. The hut of a herder in the Swiss Alps.

Notice the multiple references to areas not in the USA.

There are 2 occasions which may bring you to using this word here in the states. One is if you go skiing. There is always a Chalet to be found somewhere at the slopes. Two is if you find yourself driving north on 395 through Owens Valley to the chalets at Mammoth Mountain ski area, you'll pass through Lone Pine, CA, home of the Frosty Chalet. It's the first place you should stop. Read this article if you don't believe me. Nearby is the famous Mt. Whitney, the highest point in the lower 48 states standing 14,494 feet. Check out the picture following this entry.

Therefore, I encourage you to go forth and mock the French. But make sure you only do it around people who are familiar with your humor and/or intelligence level as this could possibly make you sound quite ignorant.

And you thought this blog would only have entries about the wedding.

HA!