Where Have I Been?

So where have I been? I have often wished I kept track of all the places I've been, the routes I've flown and the aircraft I've flown on. I can recall much of it, but not all of it, and I certainly can't remember how many times I've flown from here to there. It's never too late to start right?

Now there is a way to keep track and share the statistics with all of you; It's a website called FlightMemory.com. It's free and easy to use, and once you've entered your flight details it gives interesting statistics like how many miles you've flown anf how many hours you've spent aloft. It'll even tell you how many times you've circled the globe, made it to the moon and back or how far you've travelled to the sun. Sure, much of it's useless, but fun nonetheless and fascinating for me. I have entered most of my flight details from June 2006 through today. Some info is missing, but most of it's there and the statistics are staggering.

In the past 14 months I've flown enough miles to make it to the moon and back or circumnavigate the globe 20 times! I've spent a litte more than 1,051 hours in the air, or about a month and a half. I've been on 330 flights and have travelled a little less than 493,000 miles. I've been to 45 cities in 20 countries! All in the past 14 months. Amazing! And the cool thing is you can see all my statistics for yourself. I've placed a link under the links column to the right. Each time I update my flight data the statistics will be updated.

I only wish I could go back and get all the details of the flights I've taken or worked since April 1999 when I became a flight attendant. Until I can figure out how to do that, we'll just have to settle for a start date of June 2006 and we'll keep track from here on out.

48 Hour Film Festival

This past weekend I flew to Portland, OR to participate in the 48 Hour Film Festival with Jenn and hubby and their amazing production team. Although I was originally courted to act, I didn't land the part. That was fine with me as I got to enjoy some good time with Jenn while working on props and costumes. Jenn was nicknamed the Prop Mistress so I nicknamed myself "Prop Whore." It was enjoyable.

I arrived in Portland Friday night just in time to learn the genre of the movie we'd be shooting. Meetings were held to shore up the details and a script was written. It was a short night's sleep before we hit the ground running. Saturday was busy busy as we travelled to several different locations to film the movie. The insanity (for Jenn and I) ended late Saturday night; Jenn and I got to spend a leisure Sunday together while Aaron and the rest of the crew edited the movie and added the final touches.

Jenn took me to this great Mexican restaurant called Autentico. It was as the name implies, completely authentic. It was some of the best, real Mexican food I've had. From there we drove around Portland a little checking out a few places before heading back to her place. We lounged on the sofa before deciding we wanted some nummies from Trader Joe's. Off we went. I left late that night to catch a red-eye flight back to New York. It was a quick weekend, but it was great fun and I really enjoyed the experience. I also thoroughly enjoyed spending time with Jenn. That's something that doesn't happen nearly enough.

Happy 30th Jenn!

Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Jenn... happy birthday to you!

Happy 30th SpyC!

Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear SpyC... happy birthday to you!

One year later

Here we are one year later. In some ways it seems it has been much longer and in others, I can’t believe it’s been that long. When we look back over the past year, it’s been filled with change, most of it good.

It was a rough start for SpyC getting used to a new school, new norms and a new staff very different from the one she had worked with before. Now, however, as the new school year has already begun, she has found a happiness at work she missed all of last year. She attributes the positive change with having rapore with the families, something that took the past year to build. She already has a reputation among the students and parents as the teacher to have for third grade. She won’t tell you that, but I will. And it’s true.

The past year since we moved to North Carolina didn’t see a lot of change for me. I am still based in New York and fly international. The commute is much shorter and I am very thankful for that. On August 22 I will begin taking classes at East Carolina University (ECU) to finish my bachelor's degree in Communications/Public Relations. It's an exciting program and it appears I can finish farely quickly. I look forward to having this accomplishment finally behind me, and to new opportunities.

We’ve also had traumatic things happen since moving to Raleigh. In May we lost our kitty Noah. His death was sudden and unexpected and we’re still coming to terms with his passing. We miss him tremendously. Noah’s brother Joey seems to have adjusted and has become a new kitty in some ways. I think he enjoys being an only kitten, but I am sure he’d rather have his brother back given the option.

We’ve also had a tough time with one of our dearest friends. He has gone through Hell, literally, and SpyC and I have tried to help him. We have fallen short, but feel confident we did the best we could and gave it our all. The past few months have been filled with emotional roller coasters, pain and anguish, even fear. We can only hope he is healing and we look forward to a friendship that is as close as possible to the way it used to be. SpyC has said this whole incident feels like a death occurred in the family; it has been that traumatic.

It has been a few months since this all began and SpyC and I have started to find peace within ourselves over all that has happened; we’re healing and beginning to move forward.

Since we’ve been in North Carolina we’ve had some good opportunities to explore the beauty of our new home state. We’ve swam off the southern most beaches and canoed the northern most river of the state and have sampled a bit in between. We have yet to go out to the west side of the state, which is probably our next big adventure. We’re anxious to visit Asheville, drive the Blue Ridge Parkway and enjoy the Biltmore Estate. I have a feeling we’ll do all three in the coming months, especially when mother nature shows off her spectacular display of Fall colors.

Last weekend we drove to Williamsburg, Virginia (our second time since we’ve moved here) to spend a day at Busch Gardens. What a fun place... very much a cross between Disneyland and Six Flags. All the character and theming of Disney with Six Flags style roller coasters. A fun place indeed that I am sure we’ll return to.

In all, we are very pleased with our decision to move here. We love our home, our neighborhood, the weather and the cost of living. We also love the city itself. Our only goal now is to get all of our friends to come visit so they, too, can see why we like it so much.

One year ago

SpyC and I packed our bags, our kitties and our lives one year ago today and boarded a plane to North Carolina. A lot has happened in the past year and mostly for the better. We are absolutely happy with our decision to move here and like it quite a lot. We were looking for a cheaper cost of living, plentiful higher education opportunities, plenty of outdoor activities and four seasons. We've found all and then some: new friends, a beautiful home on an acre of land and new opportunities. All of which add up to make a successful move.

We've enjoyed our first year here so much, we've considered this may be a place we end up living in for sometime. Time will tell.