Tequila, tequila, to-kill-ya

¡Hola! from Mexico. It is day three of our trip to Puerto Vallarta, and so far it´s been jam packed. We arrived Saturday at about 5pm and headed for the hotel in Nuevo Vallarta. It´s absolutely beautiful. We're staying at the Mayan Palace. We're staying in a two room suite with three beds! There is so much room! After getting settled we took a tour of the grounds and headed off for dinner at a resteraunt called Tumtah. I started vacation off right with two margaritas, two strawberry daquiris and a steak and lobster dinner! Wow, it was excellent, and you can't beat the price: $260.00... uh, pesos that is. $26 in US dollars.

After dinner and a long day of travelling, we were pooped. We headed off to our room for our first and only sunburn free night of sleep. We started Sunday off right with an excellent champagne brunch at the resteraunt Balack, then a couple hours later Beth and I had a Swedish couples massage at the Kaana Spa. That was amazing. The facilities there are very, very cool. It was off to the pool after that. After getting our sunburns off to a good start (depsite multiple layers of SPF 45), we headed back to the room for some R&R before going to dinner and then off to the little, and I mean little, market. The main purpose of that trip was to scout out where the shuttle stops and to see if we could take it to our excursion rendevous point.

This morning started off bright and early with a quick breakfast and a bus ride to Vallarta Adventures. Today we took a boat tour to the Marietas Islands where we got to snorkel and see some amazing fish up close and personal. We didn't see any dolphins on that trip, but we saw some from shore yesterday. After snorkeling we headed to a secluded beach where we took in more sun. We got back to the hotel about six, just in time to take a quick dunk in the pool, shower and get ready for a Mexican Fiesta on the beach. That was pretty cool, too. It's fun to eat on the beach, play games and dance. We even toasted marshmellows over a bon fire. Now I'm here, writing this.

You just can't help but have a lot of fun here. There is so much to do, yet it is so relaxing. Beth and I, along with Amber and Lori are having an amazing time. The resort we're at is unbelievable. We still have so much to see and do. More on that later!

Vamos a Mexico!

We're headed south, south of the border that is, to spend several days basking in the warm sun in Puerto Vallarta (not that it isn't hotter than Hell here already!). But there it's tropical, here, it is not. Our plane leaves just before noon today. We are very excited, although sleep deprived, from a short night of cleaning, packing and generally getting things ready for being gone a while.

I've promised several friends I'd drink ten or so margaritas for each... sounds like I might spend the week blitzed! Is there any better way? Hasta luego!

Transition

It's difficult to go back to work after being off for several days. My absences from work have increased a lot these past six months due to chronic sinusitis. My doc is a little concerned about why I have so many -- six since November -- and ordered a CT Scan for me a couple of weeks ago. The results show I may have a small cyst in my right maxilary sinus, which I guess is the cavity above my right eyeball. The good thing is headaches aren't usually one of my side effects, in fact, my symptoms are usually quite mild.

If I didn't work in a pressurized environment, with a cabin altitude as high as 8,000 feet, they wouldn't be such a big deal, but they are, and I usually have to ground myself for a week or more to ensure I am over the infection. Sounds fun, I know.

I say I am in transition for a couple of reasons. First, I've been away from work the past week. When I was last at work, it was for three days of training in Dallas. I'm going back to work this morning, but for more training. This time two days in Dallas. I have my final trip in Chicago on Thursday, before my transfer takes effect to New York on June 1. On top of all that, I need to clear the stuff out of my crashpad in Chicago, bring it home, prepare for the new base, but first, prepare for our trip to Mexico.

We leave this coming Saturday and will be gone for several days. Beth and I are really looking forward to a break, especially Beth, since she has been working her ass off with her master's program and work. It's not easy. Speaking of Beth's master's program, she walked this past Saturday. Her program isn't officially over for another three months, as she's working on her internship as a school counselor, but the hard part is over and she got to celebrate this past weekend.

Dan and Rene were able to make it to town to see her walk across the stage and collect her "diploma," which was really a piece of paper that said you better pay all your bills and complete your final courses or your S.O.L. We got a kick out of that. Nonetheless, it was nice to see Beth get the attention she deserves for working so diligently on this master's program, literally every week, for the past 18 months. Way to go Beth! I'm proud of you, and jelous as hell you now have three degrees and I'm still working on my first (although progress is being made!). (Three? Beth dual majored in elementary education and special education, which she holds a bachelor's in each. Her master's is in educational counseling.) Again, way to go!

Mexico is definitely the highlight on our radar right now. On Monday we're going sailing on the Banderas Bay and will eventually end up snorkeling at the Marietas Islands, hopefully swimming with some dolphins and checking out the islands. Another highlight is Thursday where we'll zoom along zip lines hanging from the canopy of the rain forest as we make our way from tree to tree, the way birds and monkies do, to explore the lush, tropical forest. In addition to zip lines, we'll cross rope bridges and repel down the tree tops. That should be one hell of an adventure. I am very much looking forward to that!

Flight Attendants, Happy Birthday!

Today the flight attendant profession celebrates its 75th birthday. I found this cool history of flight attendants and funny stories from the Macon (GA) Telegraph. Enjoy!

Go here.

Don't rock the boat, baby!

Having fun here in Dallas, um, not, but I am trying to make the best of it anyway. Today we did an exercise called "Don't rock the boat, baby!" whereby we simulate a ditching (crash landing in water). First, we gathered around the pool and inflated our lifevests. Then we jumped into the pool and gathered together to practice heat saving techniques while in the water. Those techniques were actually quite effective, and I am glad to have learned them.

After we staved off hypothermia while braving the (fake) high seas, two classmates, acting as actual flight attendants, threw a raft into the water and pulled the cord to inlate it. Then we all climbed in. It's the only part of this training that is truly fun. I put a picture on my photoblog of the 'passengers' gathering around and entering the raft. Click here to see the picture.

I am done with training for today... just waiting for the cafeteria to open for dinner then head back to the hotel and read, watch TV or whatever. I am thankful there is an internet cafe here at the training center since I elected not to bring the laptop with me... I didn't know which hotel I'd be staying at and didn't know if it would have internet access or not. As it turns out, the hotel I'm at has free wi-fi. Oh well.

I should be done here tomorrow around two or three, then I get to head home for a three-day weekend.

My child hood friend, Teresa, is coming to town for her birthday. I am looking forward to having her in town so we can go and have a good time together. It should be a lot of fun!

Over the river and through the woods, it's off to Dallas I go...

Ug... I'd rather not. I am headed off to Dallas for training in the morning that will last what should be three short days, but I am sure will feel like two weeks. Since it has been over a year that I've had recurrent training for "overwater" flying (which is what differentiates domestic and international flight attendants), I get to return to the infamous "Charm Farm" to earn my wings with floaters.

The part that makes it boring is this: Procedures are fairly similar for all aircraft, but there are slight differences in the type of rafts each contain. Despite the similarities, you have to painstakingly go over the same thing, in excruciating detail, for each aircraft for which you are qualified. I am qualified on five that fly over water, so I get to do the same thing five times. And, it hasn't been that long since I first did this training so it is still easily recalled--which won't make it any easier, just more boring.

The only fun thing is I get to go for a dunk in the drink, otherwise known as the pool at the Flight Academy. This is your typical indoor pool, but it just so happens to be surrounded by three aircraft mock-ups from which you evacuate from onto a simulated wing in the water, jump in the water, then haul your ass up into the raft. It's actually quite fun, and certainly breaks up the monotony of the day. That happens Thursday afternoon.

I am sure I'll survive the three days there, but I'll have to still get over the fact I'll be headed back there on the 24th and 25th for my normal, annual recurrent training. Good thing I'm headed to Mexico for a week with Beth and friends at the end of the month. It'll be a fantastic trip and ever so deserved, especially by Beth. She needs a tropical vacation. FYI: We're headed to Puerto Vallarta.

RNC Propaganda Survey

How funny that a bleeding liberal like myself gets a questionaire from the Republican National Committee. Are they stupid? They want me to contribute to their cause so they can mail even more surveys to "registered Republicans." Ha, I'm glad to know they wasted some of their precious money on me. They're even asking me to contribute $11 to pay for the cost of tabulating my survey. Not in a million years would I even give them a penny.

Never-the-less, I was curious of the questions they were asking. They are so vague, I couldn't even begin to answer most of them. Here's a sampling:

1. Should Congress focus on cutting the federal budget deficit by reducing wasteful government spending?

Duh, of course they should. But I bet the Republican party has entirely different opinions on what I consider "wasteful." I think Iraq is wasteful... hell, get out of Iraq and the deficit will take care of itself. But you know the Republicans won't go for that. They'd rather cut funding to education, Planned Parenthood and wellfare programs.

2. Do you agree that teaching our children to read and increasing literacy rates should be a national priority?

Um, duh again. And do they really think teachers don't feel that way? How about the Republicans put to action their own preachings by properly funding education. That would be an amazing start, but then again, that would be in direct conflict with question 1 above.

3. Do you think Congress should pass legislation on the Federal Marriage Ammendment?

Yeah, I do, but the Federal Marriage Ammendment isn't the ammendment I want passed. I want the Constitution to be upheld, I want discrimination to be illegal... oh wait, it already is. Ah, that's what the Federal Marriage Ammendment is about. They want to legalize discrimination... and even worse, for religious reasons. The Federal Marriage Ammendment should be to protect the rights of all citiznes, regardless of sexual orientation, and ensure everyone the protections and rights that marriage offers.

There are over 15 questions in all, most of them as ridiculous as the ones above. Some are cut and dry, and there, I can give an answer I know they can't skew. To the casual party member, the questions sound reasonable. But they are so vague most won't really know the causes they are supporting by answering yes to those questions. This is one of the worst propaganda, money generating schemes I've seen... and is it really any surprise it's from the RNC?