Sunrise in the TWIN CITIES...

         

I took these from my hotel room after a very short overnight in Minneapolis. 

 

Click on the thumbnail of each image, to take a closer look.

Colorado Springs at sunset...

Now that I have my new phone/camera/mp3 player, I thought that I could share some of the things that I see when I am on the road!

 

 

 

I took this picture in the parking lot at the Colorado Springs airport, while we waited for our hotel van to pick us up...

Heather's Flying Circus...

 

School’s out, summer is here and it’s only just begun…

     

 

 

It’s that time of year again…  SUMMER!  The time for once in a lifetime vacations and trips to see grandma.  Everyone and their screaming kids seem to come out of the woodwork to fly on airplanes.  Here are some of my favorites from my hall of shame.

 

Getting ready to go to Columbus, OH, I was walking up the isle closing overheadbins, and in the first overhead bin there was someone’s bag stuffed right in front of some of my emergency equipment. I pulled it out, and asked the frat boys, who were sitting in the front of the airplane, whose it was.  They claimed the bag, so I asked them to PLEASE move it, because it was blocking emergency equipment. 

 

When I go to walk away, they yell, “Thanks for being so friendly!!”  I stopped dead in my tracks, and turned around and went back to were they were sitting. 

 

I turned to them, and in my best bimbo, valley girl, voice I said, “Like OMIGOD, I am like SOOOOOOO sorry!  It’s like my job to be here for you SAFETY, not like to pamper your preadolescent ego, like OKAY?”

 

They just stared at me, with mouths wide open, speechless.  Mind you I had been in Cleveland a total of nine hours the night before, and I wasn’t about to take crap from some nineteen year old.

 

Coming back from Columbus, I had this mother and her two young children, both under the age of two traveling alone.  She was really overwhelmed and had requested assistance when she got to Chicago.  Another passenger had volunteered to help her on and off the plane with her, her kids and her car seat, but she needed help to her next flight which was with another airline. 

 

Come to find out, when we got to Chicago, the only assistance available is wheelchair assistance.  There was no one available to help her carry her car seat to her next gate for her.  Upon learning this from the gate agents, she screams, “WELL…  THANKS FOR ALL OF YOUR HELP  I’M NEVER FLYING THIS AIRLINE AGAIN!!!!!”  She then throws the car seat on top of her stroller, almost hitting her child in the head, and takes off, all the while refusing the offer of help from the other passenger who offered to help her.

 

What I want to know is, if she can’t handle a simple task, like getting fromone gate to another with her children, how does she get day to day things done, like grocery shopping, ect?   Maybe some of you mothers might like to enlighten me on this?

 

So you want to be a flight attendant

Here's an e-mail that I recieved from a girl who wants to be a flight attendant.

 

 

 

Thank you so much! More like, what kind of questions will they ask. Is it as bad as they say it is, as in "it's like a cattle call"? I think that fact has me more nervous then anything, I know I can't be over the top but being quite and researved sure wont help. Lol Just those basic type of things that could help me get through.

 

Thank you so much : )

 

Brandi

 

 

 

Yes it is like a big cattle call, more like a beauty pageant.  It's been awhile since I have been to an interview.

 

Here's a little fact:  In a typical year 100,000 people will apply to be a flight attendant to just ONE major airline.  Of those 100,000 resumes received 15,000 will be given an interview.  Of those 15,000 interviewed, only about 3,000 will be hired.  That's only 3%.

 

Being reserved or shy won't help you get a job as a flight attendant.  This much I know.  Airlines are looking for people who are outgoing, and who will be able to handle themselves in an emergency situation. 

 

Think about it this way, the people conducting your interview are interviewing thousands of people, and YOU need to make yourself stand out from the other faces in the crowd. 

 

The first question that they will ask you is to stand up and "tell us about yourself."  Having good public speaking skills is a must in this business. because well, hello all of those PA's that we have to give.

 

Here are some key points that you want to cover:

Name

Place of residence

Current employment

Skills that you have that will make YOU a good flight attendant

(IE foreign languages that you speak)

Why you want to be a flight attendant

 

Some common questions asked at an interview:

Are you willing to relocate?  (the only answer is YES)

Why do you want to be a flight attendant?

What do you like about your job?

What don't you like about your job?

How do you handle a co-worker that you may not get along with?

Have you ever had to deal with an angry customer?

 

Those are just some questions to give you an idea about the flight attendant interview process.  If you go to Amazon.com there are several books about how to interview to be a flight attendant.  That's what I did, and the books that I got helped me to interview better.

"United 93"

The flags that once flew, as a display of our pride as a Nation, have all but disapeared.  It's been less than five years since that day, and I think that we as Americans need a wake-up call.

 

There has been alot of talk in the media lately about the movie that immortilizes the last moments of the fourth hyjacked plane on September 11, 2001.  People have stated that they don't want to be reminded of that tragic day.  Some think that it's too soon.  I feel that most Americans have already forgotten, and have slipped back into the same habits that they had on September 10, 2001.  It's only been five years, and our Nation's selfish and self-serving attitudes are worse than they were before the attacks.

Everytime that I walk on an airplane, I am reminded of that day.  Reinforced cockpit doors, having to take my shoes off to go through security, and many other things that have changed my life forever.  I can't forget about 9-11, and the rest of the Nation shouldn't just sweep it under the carpet.  Refusing to see the movie United 93 will not change the brutality and distruction of that really happened.  This is a part of American history, that needs to be remembered.

The men and women on board United 93 sacrificed their lives, to keep another plane from killing even more people.  What if the terrorists whould have succeeded?  There is no telling just how much more devistation there would have been.

I am planning on seeing United 93 this weekend.  I know that I will need to bring a box of tissues with me.  But it comes down to the fact that my Union brothers and sisters were brutally murdered that day, and I owe it to them to hear their story.

What do the rest of you think?

A Letter From An American Airlines Pilot

A Letter From An American Airlines Pilot

This is the same question that many of us have been asking for the past several years....this well spoken man says what is on his heart beautifully....read, absorb and pass on....it's time to get answers from those who claim their terrorist members do not represent them..why are their leaders not LOUDLY AND FIERCELY AND CONTINUOUSLY condemning their visible murderous brethren.
By American Airlines Pilot - Captain John Maniscalco

"I've been trying to say this since 9-11 but you worry me. I wish you didn't. I wish when I walked down the streets of this country that I love, that your color and culture still blended with the beautiful human landscape we enjoy in this country. But you don't blend in anymore. I notice you, and it worries me. I notice you because I can't help it anymore. People from your homelands, professing to be Muslims, have been attacking and killing my fellow citizens and our friends for more than 20 years now. I don't fully understand their grievances and hate but I know that nothing can justify the inhumanity of their attacks.

On September 11, nineteen ARAB-MUSLIMS hijacked four jetliners in my country. They cut the throats of women in front of children and brutally stabbed to death others. They took control of those planes and crashed them into buildings killing thousands of proud fathers, loving sons, wise grandparents, elegant daughters, best friends, favorite coaches, fearless public servants, and children's mothers. The Palestinians Celebrated, The Iraqis were overjoyed as was most of the Arab world.

So I notice you now. I don't want to be worried. I don't want to be consumed by the same rage and hate and prejudice that has destroyed the soul of these terrorists. But I need your help. As a rational American, trying to protect my country and family in an irrational and unsafe world, I must know how to tell the difference between you, and the Arab/Muslim terrorist.

How do I differentiate between the true Arab/Muslim-Americans and the Arab/Muslims in our communities who are attending our schools, enjoying our parks, and living in OUR communities under the protection of OUR constitution, while they plot the next attack that will slaughter these same good neighbors and children? The events of September 11th changed the answer. It is not my responsibility to determine which of you embraces our great country, with ALL of its religions, with ALL of its different citizens, with all of its faults. It is time for every Arab/Muslim in this country to determine it for me.

I want to know, I demand to know, and I have a right to know whether or not you love America. Do you pledge allegiance to its flag? Do you proudly display it in front of your house, or on your car?
Do you pray in your many daily prayers that Allah will bless this nation, that He will protect and prosper it? Or do you pray that Allah with destroy it in one of your "Jihads"? Are you thankful for the freedom that only this nation affords? A freedom that was paid for by the blood of hundreds of thousands of patriots who gave their lives for this country? Are you willing to preserve this freedom by paying the ultimate sacrifice? Do you love America? If this is your commitment, then I need YOU to start letting ME know about it.

Your Muslim leaders in this nation should be flooding the media at this time with hard facts on your faith, and what hard actions you are taking as a community and as a religion to protect the United States of America Please, no more benign overtures of regret for the death of the innocent because I worry about who you regard as innocent. No more benign overtures of condemnation for the unprovoked attacks because I worry about what is unprovoked to you. I am not interested in any more sympathy...I am only interested in action. What will you do for America - our great country -- at this time of crisis, at this time of war?

I want to see Arab-Muslims waving the AMERICAN flag in the streets. I want to hear you chanting "Allah Bless America ." I want to see young Arab/Muslim men enlisting in the military. I want to see a commitment of money, time, and emotion to the victims of this butchering and to this nation as a whole. The FBI has a list of over 400 people they want to talk to regarding the WTC attack. Many of these people live and socialize in Muslim communities. You know them You know where they are.

Hand them over to us, now! But I have seen little even approaching this sort of action. Instead I have seen an already closed and secretive community close even tighter. You have disappeared from the streets. You have posted armed security guards at your facilities. You have threatened lawsuits. You have screamed for protection from reprisals.

The very few Arab/Muslim representatives that HAVE appeared in the media were defensive and equivocating. They seemed more concerned with making sure that the United States proves who was responsible before taking action. They seemed more concerned with protecting their fellow Muslims from violence directed towards them in the United States and abroad than they did with supporting our country and denouncing "leaders" like Khadafi, Hussein, Farrakhan, and Arafat. If the true teachings of Islam proclaim tolerance and peace and love for all people then I want chapter and verse from the Koran and statements from popular Muslim leaders to back it up. What good is it if the teachings in the Koran are good and pure and true when your "leaders" are teaching fanatical interpretations, terrorism, and intolerance?

It matters little how good Islam SHOULD BE if large numbers of the world's Muslims interpret the teachings of Mohammed incorrectly and adhere to a degenerative form of the religion. A form that has been demonstrated to us over and over again. A form whose structure is built upon a foundation of violence, death, and suicide. A form whose members are recruited from the prisons around the world. A form whose members (some as young as five years old) are seen day after day, week in and week out, year after year, marching in the streets around the world, burning effigies of our presidents, burning the American flag, shooting weapons into the air. A form whose members convert from a peaceful religion, only to take up arms against the great United States of America, the country of their birth. A form whose rules are so twisted, that their traveling members refuse to show their faces at airport security checkpoints, in the name of Islam.

Do you and your fellow Muslims hate us because our women proudly show their faces in public rather than cover up like a shameful whore? Do you and your fellow Muslims hate us because we drink wine with dinner, or celebrate Christmas? Do you and you fellow Muslims hate us because we have befriended Israel, the ONLY civilized democratic nation in the entire Middle East?

And if you and your fellow Muslims hate us, then why in the world are you even here? Are you here to take our money? Are you here to undermine our peace and stability? Are you here to destroy us? If so, I want you to leave I want you to go back to your desert sandpit where women are treated like rats and dogs. I want you to take your religion, your friends, and your family back to your Islamic extremists, and STAY THERE! We will NEVER give in to your influence, your retarded mentality, your twisted, violent, intolerant religion. We will NEVER allow the attacks of September 11, or any others for that matter, to take away that which is so precious to us: Our rights under the greatest constitution in the world. I want to know where every Arab/ Muslim in this country stands and I think it is my right and the right of every true citizen of this country to demand it. A right paid for by the blood of thousands of my brothers and sisters who died protecting the very constitution that is protecting you and your family. I am pleading with you to let me know. I want you here as my brother, my neighbor, my friend, as a fellow American. But there can be no gray areas or ambivalence regarding your allegiance and it is up to YOU, to show ME, where YOU stand." "Until then .. you worry me" ""
**********************************************

LET'S COVER THE COUNTRY WITH THIS ONE!

 

 

In print?

I have been doing some contimplating lately about putting my essays to hard copy.  Putting my best blog entries along with some never before posted ones, I wonder if there would be a market out there for my silly stories. 

 

 

Any feed back good or bad?