Falling off the Face of the Earth

It has been long enough. I have so much to say, but always find thoughts hard to recall when I actually have an internet connection. So many hotels want $10 of my hard-earned cash to merely allow me to check my email that I am not as connected these days.

Christmas was fun; I took off for two weeks. How great is it that my job allows an 8-month employee to do that without calling in sick?

In January, I worked hard, flying out of Orlando, Baltimore and Phoenix. Follow the money trail. On a flight from Las Vegas to Burbank, I had Jamie Farr of M*A*S*H fame on my front row. This was my first real celebrity sighting on a plane, and I was quite ecstatic. He was very polite and told me I was pretty; I still charged him for a drink. The other senator from Illinois (not Obama) was also on a full flight I worked out of Manchester into Chicago the morning after the primaries there. I took a photo of him with some other passengers.

People continue to amaze me in airports across the nation. Wherever there is a moving sidewalk, there are stationary people. It's as if they think the sidewalk is moving in order to relieve them of that task. No wonder obesity is out of control.

I experienced severe turbulence at the beginning of the month. The part when I say, "Position your seatbelt tight and low across your hips and wear it whenever you are seated" now has a special meaning to me. Coming across the Rockies from Oakland into Chicago, all three of the flight attendants were sitting on the back row, awaiting a few 'bumps' we had been told about. Before we knew it, we were all on the ceiling. Joal and I were unbelted and hit our heads on the bottom of the overhead bins, and I was tossed into the aisle and thrown forward a few rows. Joal was knocked unconscious for a few seconds. Paige took these photos of the back galley. On the lower left photo, where the single blue can is standing, is the bin where there are normally about 120 cans. They are on the floor. Some exploded inside the bin. Thankfully, no passengers were injured and the rest of the flight was smooth. There was only one more leg to Orlando, which Joal and I did not work. After visiting the doctor, I went back to Cape Girardeau and sat around like a slug for nearly two weeks before returning to work last Wednesday. Again, I say, always wear that seatbelt!

More later.