Sunday, January 15, 2006

Just a little less than six hours until the premiere of 24: Season 5.

I can’t wait! Beau is a little less enthusiastic, but he’ll catch up, I’m sure.

In honor of what surely will come, there is a new category for 24 blogging.

Saturday, January 14, 2006

Beau and I have been working on getting things unpacked and organized and cleaned up. We’ve made good progress, but there’s still a ton to do.

We have a storage issue in the kitchen - we received so many wedding gifts that we’re running out of room. We had talked about getting a rolling kitchen island/cart for storage and additional counter space, but then I had the thought that we could use a corner cupboard that was in the bedroom instead. So after an hour of manuevering it down the stairs without maiming or killing ourselves, it’s now filled to capacity with kitchen wares in our kitchen. I managed to get four more boxes of kitchen things unpacked and started a yard/sale-Goodwill box of things that we need to simply get rid of.

Beau bought himself a new desk yesterday and we put that together last night. He spent the morning unpacking his computer and setting that up. He’s unpacked about 2/3 of his books. We’re in need of additional bookcases - I threw two out and he lost two because he was living in a furnished apartment. So they are next on the must buy list. The basement is in much better shape these days.

At the rate we’re going, I figure we’ll be done unpacking by about June.

Friday, January 13, 2006

I ordered a new birth certificate from Vita-Check through the VA Department of Health and paid the extra bucks to have it FEDEXed to me. I was told it would be 3-7 business days before it arrived. I got it in two days. Very impressive. Now I need to schedule a couple of hours off to get that Social Security account and card updated.

Our last official honeymoon day was Saturday. Remember that we had tickets with the now defunct Independence Air - our original flight was to depart Las Vegas at about 11:30am (PT). A couple weeks before the wedding we were notified that the flight had been cancelled and we had been rescheduled for an 11:30pm (PT) red-eye flight that would arrive at Dulles at about 7am (ET) on Sunday morning. At first, I wasn’t too happy with that idea, but then I started thinking that a red-eye might help us to adjust back to the eastern time zone. Then we got word while we were in Arizona that FlyI would not be flying past January 5 so we were left with trying to negotiate for standby tickets with another airline.

So our new plan was to get to the airport reasonably early in the morning to begin the work with a new airline. After we had dressed and repacked, we put out bags into the car and then headed back into the hotel to hit the breakfast buffet. Jaynee had asked me to play $5 on number 29 at the roulette table for her, so I did that and she lost. The bummer is that I was thisclose to playing $5 on red - the ball landed on 3 (which is red), so I would have won something. Oh, well.  I also played another slot machine and lost. So for those keeping track, I left LV with $.45 in winnings after all was said and done. I don’t include the $5 played for Jaynee, since that was hers.

After returning the rental car, we hopped the shuttle to the main terminal. We had decided to start with United since they are a large airline and they fly into Dulles. We approached the line to the ticket counter and a lady standing at the rope line asked she could help us. We explained our situation and she directed us to the First Class ticket counter. The guy at that counter asked how he could help, we explained our situation and he said that we needed to have some letter from FlyI and directed us down to where their ticket counter was to get a copy. So I stepped back with our bags while Beau ran down there. He returned empty handed because there was no one at all at the FlyI ticket counter; as I would have expected since at that point they were three days past their last days of flying operations. The United guy went to get someone else who could help us.

This next lady spent a very long time with us, trying to help us in every way she knew how. Our problem was that while United was happy to assist FlyI passengers, United’s computer system required a specific series of digits that are found on tickets that we never got. We had a copy of the confirmation letter Beau received, with a confirmation number and proof of payment for two tickets, our flight information and everything you would think was necessary. What was not there was a ticket number of any kind.  It got to the point that Beau called his credit card company to see if there was a ticket number on the statement from the purchase (and we do think that a number we were given over the phone was the number the lady needed, but she insisted that part of the number should have three specific digits that were not in the number we had). The upshot is that in order to get on a flight that day we ended up just buying two one-way tickets to the tune of several hundred dollars - about twice what the FlyI tickets had cost originally. Beau is now working to get a refund from United for the bulk of that charge. But that’s just the first part of the story of our long day.

The rest is in the extended section to save space on the front page…

Thursday, January 12, 2006

Now that I’m fully embroiled in the email swap over this thing, I thought I should post the link to the original call to local bloggers. So far the meeting will be dinner on February 4 somewhere along the Metro.

Princess Cat is organizing the shindig, so if you’re interested, email her.

Our last official fun day of the honeymoon was Friday. We packed up our gear, cleaned up the condo, and hit the road for Las Vegas by way of Hoover Dam. What we saw on Friday in the bright, sunny daylight that we missed in the very dark night of Sunday was that a lot of northern Arizona is barren desert with the occasional town way off in the distance.

Speaking of desert, we did drive by the Painted Desert area a couple of times early in the week, but we didn’t take pictures because the first day was not very sunny and the colors were muted and we weren’t sure our camera would capture it effectively. With hindsight and having seen how well all of the other pictures we took turned out, I’m wishing we had taken a couple shots anyway. Oh, well.

Anyhoo...we got the dam and took their Discovery Tour, which was somewhat interesting. Click around the official website for better info than I can give you. Here are our pictures:

One - approaching the dam from the Arizona side.

Two - that’s Lake Mead above the top of the dam; this resevoir provides water to Las Vegas.

Three - I had a bit of vertigo taking this shot over the side. It’s very high up there.

Four - The Colorado River.

Five - I took this picture since I thought it was cool that they had a couple of the old USMS badges in the case.

From the dam we headed into Las Vegas. We knew we were getting close when we came over a hill and saw the city with its lovely brown smog cloud in the distance. We hit town at the beginning of rush hour, so there was some traffic. After a week of smooth driving and clear roads, it was a bit of a jolt. We got to our hotel and after some initial confusion on parking we decided to stop at the “stop and drop” in order to check into our room. On the way back out to the car we asked a bellman to take our bags, then we parked the car. Once in the room, which was nice, we had our bags delivered.

The one thing I do not like about Las Vegas hotels is that smoking is allowed pretty much everywhere. It surprised me at first until I remembered that these were casinos that happened to have rooms for people to sleep in when they weren’t gambling.

We changed into dressier outfits and headed over to the Bellagio to get our tickets for Cirque du Soleil’s O. Tickets in hand, we wandered trhough the casino before getting some dinner. I played a nickel slot and lost. Then I played two quarters and won - $5. We cashed in my winning ticket and I was handed a crisp new $5 bill. So I’m a big winner in Las Vegas!

O was fantastic. If you’ve seen any Cirque du Soleil shows on TV, then you know how amazing their stuff is. To see it in person was fun and this show was extraordinary with the water element. Beau and I enjoyed it tremendously. We were both tired after a long day, so we went back to our hotel pretty much after the show. We did drive most of The Strip, though, so we got to see that.

Next up: How Will We Get Home?

Today is the day we celebrate the birth of my new and dear husband, Beau.

He has reached the mid-point of his fourth decade. I hope to spend at least the next four decades at his side.

And in your in-laws’ fine tradition:

Oh why was he born so beautiful?
Oh why was he born at all?
He’s no bloody use to anyone.
He’s no bloody use at all!

Happy birthday, love. I hope it’s a great one!

Robbo launched his own Which is Better? post. Go forth and vote.

Wednesday, January 11, 2006

My whole day tomorrow will be paying the numerous vouchers that stacked up while I was out of the office. I had just sorted and compiled them by vendor when my boss added about a dozen more to the box. Fortunately, these were from other vendors and I didn’t need to recalculate anything that I had done previously.

My church is starting a choir and since I’m on the worship team I am required to participate in the choir. That requirement is easy for me since I like group singing, but also is needed to keep folks who are in the choir but not on the regular worship team from feeling resentment that they aren’t quite as special as the worship team elite. Not that we’re elite, just differently gifted. Anyhoo, I have practice with the choir tonight.

Beau will be attending a ministry orientation thing at the same time at church since he’s sure he’ll want to help out with something or another as we get more involved as a couple. I’ve already attended the orientation, which is very good, and I’ve signed up to help with the quarterly pastor’s lunch-in (informational thing for inquiring potential members) and event planning (which includes a ministry banquet in the fall and anything else that comes up during the year). Since I just spent about 9 months planning a rather large event, it seems a natural fit. Beau mentioned last night that he’s interested in helping with the parking lot team to start. He’s well suited for that with his hugely warm and welcoming smile, but he’s got a lot of other gifts that I’m sure will be tapped at some point.

His brother is coming to town next week and we’re trying to coordinate dinner with him. I look forward to the chance to get to know him better and to chat about some mutual acquaintances we have through his former career in the Army and my job here. Trust me when I say that a conversation that I had with a contact here before the wedding was very amusing when we realized that we both knew my new brother-in-law.

And with that, I’m heading home.

Thursday was our day to stay in Sedona proper. We wandered the uptown area, going through the local tourist trap stores, having lunch in a local diner, killing time before our appointment for our Pink Jeep Tour at 1pm. Before I get to that, I forgot to mention that on Monday we had lunch at the Red Planet Diner (that is not us in the photo, btw), which was a kitchy, cheesy, hilarious little place that’s geared toward the Area 51 crowd. We got there a little early for the lunch crowd, but it was filling up by the time we left. Good food.

The Pink Jeep tour was the most fun thing we did. Because we endured The Spiel, we were able to do one of the combo tours (Broken Arrow/Scenic Rim Combo) for a little more than half price. The combo tour was 3 hours, with the first 2 hours being the Broken Arrow portion followed up by a trip to the Scenic Rim over Sedona. Gorgeous scenery, heart-stopping off-roading through the red rocks, and a delightfully knowledgeable and witty guide made for a memorable and thrilling afternoon. Pictures:

One
Two
Three - that jeep is where we had just been. There were a bunch of screaming girls on that one that we could hear all over the trail.
Four
Carousel - so called because the rock formations do look like a merry-go-round
Cowpie - so called because this rock formation does look like a giant cowpie

In this picture, check out the lady in the red dress and heels. I took this picture surreptiously before we got into our jeep. I couldn’t believe this lady was going off-roading in that getup - however, if they did the scenic rim tour then she would have been fine because that’s probably the most tame of the tours. Broken Arrow would have been a severe challenge to those shoes because we stopped to walk around several times and there was some serious hiking up and down the rocks involved.

After the tour we were ready for dinner, so we went into the Cowboy Club (as recommended by our jeep guide). The host invited us into the Silver Saddle Room, but we opted for the more casual Cowboy Club Grille since we were all dusty from the jeep tour. The history of the old Oak Creek Tavern is interesting - there’s a cool list of old Hollowood stars that frequented the place when they were in Sedona to shoot a movie. The service and food were excellent - Beau had some of the most delicious beef ribs that we’ve ever tasted and I had a wonderful lamb shank. We highly recommend that if you get to Sedona, make this restaurant a priority to visit.

Next up: Hoover Dam and Las Vegas

Tuesday, January 10, 2006

Here’s where you can find the instructions for making the beaded bridal bouquets.

I moved this post up since I think it got missed in the immediate aftermath of my wedding last week. And I don’t know why the comments aren’t working on this post - they are turned on so it is a mystery.

This is sad news to me.

Jared, it’s been a pleasure reading your thoughtful and witty posts at all three blogs to which you contributed; to discuss and debate our views on movies and books; to be challenged by your essays on theology and living the Christian life; to be graced with the honor and privilege to read both of your (as yet) unpublished novels. You are a Godly man, writer, husband, and father. Godspeed to you as you hang it up in the ‘sphere to attend to things much more important.

You will be missed greatly, friend.

A few things:

1. Now I know why I’ve never taken too many long vacations - coming back to work is tough. I had a huge stack of snail mail in my chair, about 150 emails, and only 14 voicemails. I’ve managed to weed through those things to prioritize follow-up and I’m just starting the timekeeping to ensure we all get paid on time.

2. I took the time to go to my local Social Security office yesterday to get my name changed. I realize it was something that I could do by mail, but since the office was actually very close to home, I thought I’d go in.  That turned out to be a good thing as much as it was a frustration. I preface this whine item by saying that our trip to the county office to get certified copies of our marriage license was easy - almost too easy - and we’re reassured that our marriage is in fact legal. Woo! So…

We walk into the SSA office and the security dude takes one look at me and says, “Name change?” I nodded in slight surprise and then punched the number on the computer that he indicated to get my number - 24. Then we turned to enter the waiting area, which was p-a-c-k-e-d. But we managed to find a couple of empty seats and began the wait.

I think we were there for about 5 minutes before anyone called a number like mine - previously called numbers were like D421 or something. A woman came out of a side door and called, “Seven?”

I looked at Beau, “Seven? Good grief.” And then we strategized a bit by my sending him to the DMV to get his new driver’s license (he has a birthday this week and it was going to expire) while I waited for my turn, which seemed was going to be a long, long time. He left at about 1:05pm. Yes, I looked at the clock.

Number 8 was called at some point, but I must have missed that because at about 1:50pm number 9 was called. After that the numbers passed quickly - a lot of people bailed out. At about 2pm my number was called and I happily hopped up to the counter.

“I just got married and I’m here to change my name,” I explained as I handed over my paperwork.

The lady clicked around on her keyboard for a few seconds and then asked, “You have a brother or sister who was born in April of the same year you were born?”

Huh? I was born in March. I do realize that there are freak instances of twins being born in consecutive months, but really? The lady turned her computer screen for me to look at and pointed at the date of birth, which read, “04/27/1967.”

“You have got to be kidding me,” I muttered.

“Do you have your birth certificate with you?” she asked next. “Because I can’t change this without having your original birth certificate.”

*sigh*

“No, that’s at home.”

“I’m afraid you’re going to have to come back in to the office to change this birthdate, you can’t do this by mail. We need to see the original birth certificate,” she explained. “I know this is probably a typo, but that’s all I can tell you.”

“It’s been like that for more than 20 years. Thank you.” And with that I stormed out.

I spent an hour this morning looking for the little card that Virginia used to give as the birth certificate. The last time I had it was when we went to get the marriage license in November. I thought I put it with those forms and the wedding rings, but it is not with that stuff.

*sigh*

I guess I’ll have to call the county to get another copy. Bureaucracy stinks.

Oh, and the reason the guard knew why I was there? I was pretty much the only native English speaking woman under 50 years of age. All others were Asian, Hispanic, or of Arab descent or eligible to collect their SS pensions.

3. I love my husband and married life.

That is all.

HD4 was Wednesday, which started with our appointment to hear the timeshare spiel. We could have opted out of this, of course, but I wanted to hear what they had to offer and also get the free gift, which was a cool thing we were able to do on Thursday at about half price. But you’ll get that post later.

To sum up The Spiel, we opted not to buy at this time and our sales lady’s warm and open demeanor instantly changed to cool and closed. Hilarious. But we still got our huge discount and some good information for when we are ready to jump into the timeshare deal.  Since my parents and sister/bro-in-law have timeshares, we figure we will at some point too, but we aren’t ready for that just yet.

Anyhoo, after The Spiel we headed south for Clarkdale and the Verde Canyon Railroad. We enjoyed seeing the region on this train ride so much that we fell asleep about halfway through. We woke up when we arrived in Perkinsville and managed to stay awake for the return trip. Actually, it was a nice tour that we took with a large crowd of senior citizens. Very relaxing.

After the train ride, we headed out to see Jerome, which is an old mining town that hangs on the side of a mountain. We drove up this winding road at the begging of sunset and came around a curve to the most amazing view of the valley and red rocks in front of us. There was nowhere to stop to take a picture, so we went into the town itself and parked to try to get a couple shots. They aren’t that good at all, which is such a shame, but you can see them here and here.

From Jerome we were headed back home when I saw a Sonic. Since we don’t have Sonic here in Northern VA, I asked if we could eat there (we were going to try for a Chinese place originally) and I enjoyed a lovely, made with real ice cream, milkshake. Yum. The other food was pretty good, too.

We then headed back to Sedona and went to see The Chronicles of Narnia. I liked it a lot although the special effects were not all that special at times. The kids were well cast. I thought the voice of Aslan was too recognizable, but the right kind of tone and quality. Overall, I give it high marks - 3.5 stars out of 5.

Monday, January 09, 2006

I forgot to mention that on HD2 we got a phone call from my dad with the news that Independence Air would not be flying past Thursday, January 5.

We had tickets with FlyI for Saturday, January 6.

This is a problem.

So...we called a couple other airlines to see about our options and there didn’t seem to be many that wouldn’t cost us a lot of money. One airline said two one-way tickets would be about $1000.00. There was no way we could afford that.

My dad called again later that night and told us of the Passenger Bill of Rights that was signed into law in November 2001 and that other airlines were required to accommodate passengers in our exact situation.

(Sec. 145) Requires: (1) each air carrier that provides scheduled air transportation on a route, to the extent practicable, to provide air transportation to passengers ticketed for air transportation on that route by any other air carrier that suspends, interrupts, or discontinues air passenger service on the route by reason of insolvency or bankruptcy of the other air carrier; and (2) passengers to make such alternative arrangements within 60 days after the date of suspension, interruption, or discontinuance.

Then he advised us to just enjoy the rest of our honeymoon and get the airport as planned on Saturday, pick an airline and see what they could do for us. And that is just what we did and there’s a tale with that as well, but you’ll have to wait for me to finish the chronology of the rest of the honeymoon first.