Story Time

Boy it has been a crazy week and do I have some stories for you folks!!! : )

First I will post the photos of the horses that I promised from before I left. They are the pictures of the mustangs with the saddle on their backs and the stirrups hanging down. Look they are so good and are mostly done eating AND they let me come out there with the saddle and no halters!!!

Above/Below: Shoni with the saddle on her back

Above: Tabasco wearing the saddle

Ok now for story time. I went to Virginia to finish training with my new job and got to stay at a conference center. I'm scheduled to go on a plane and am kind of nervous since it is my first time flying alone and the last time I flew I was 13 and didn't pay much attention to the airport. On my way there I flew out from the Fargo, ND airport through United Airlines. I got to the TINY airport at 5:10am and my plane leaves at 5:40. There are about 20 people in line ahead of me. I finally get up to the check in at 5:20 and the machine is not recognizing me. We talk to the guy behind the counter and he says, "Oh that's because your plane already left." What?! I thought the plane wasn't leaving until 5:40. Hmmm... Long story short they had already given my seat away to a standby passenger so I was up the creek.

So dad and I ask the guy what we're supposed to do now and the guy replies, "It's not my fault YOU missed your plane- now get out of my line so I can help these people going to Denver." Then we ended up talking to his co-worker behind the counter and she had to help us get a standby ticket since that guy wouldn't even do that. Then we got to drive back home and wait until after 1:00.

I went home and slept for a while then mom suggested calling the customer service line to see if we can get a ticket through a different company to get to Virginia faster. The people on the phone could not tell me but said there was a possibility and that I would have to speak with someone at the airport... soooo we make the 30 minute drive BACK to the airport and right up to the counter. The same guy is working the line. We talk to him and he still has the same attitude and cockiness. They said, "It's not our fault that you missed your flight and we can't get you on a different airline since YOU missed your flight." Then mom made a comment about his attitude and about how we were standing in a line forever and that they had already given my seat away. The 2nd guy who was working behind the counter made a comment about how he was working at the counter 5 minutes before we were waiting and there was no line. So he basically implied we were lying to scam them into a trip on another airline.

So now we go back home again (I had forgot my cell phone anyway) then we went and ate at McDonalds. We drive BACK out to the airport and I head upstairs to go through security. I say goodbye to my parents and stand in line. I get to the front and all of my stuff is in the bucket (including my shoes that they make you take off) then they tell me I have to remove my belt. Okay. So I do all that walk through the metal detector and do NOT beep. Then the people at the end ask me to point out my stuff so I do. Another long story short they took me and my stuff off the the side where they frisked me and went through all of my belongings and swabbed everything. Then when they put everything back they didn't even do it right so some of my books and things got ruined. Jerks.

By this time I am tired, ticked off, and I am feeling like this god forsaken airport is messing with me big time. So I am sitting at my gate which took me 2 seconds to get to after the frisking (I told you it was a small airport) and I'm waiting for them to start boarding the plane. Well the check in gal and the guy from the front desk stop at my gate. So now I'm thinking that he's going to mess with me again and make sure I don't make this flight either. Well everyone who had a ticket boarded then they called us standby passengers. So I get on this 2 seats on one side 2 seats on the other side and an aisle in the middle plane and my seat is all the way in the back. Hmmm maybe that guy did mess with me after all?

Oh well I am on the plane and going where I need to be... then I get to Chicago. That place is a zoo and it is kind of confusing. I am on standby in Chicago also and am on a list with 50 other standby passengers. Needless to say I was number 15 and did not make that flight, but I did make a friend who was trying to catch the same flight to DC and she has a friend who is on the Internet telling her which gates to head to and she is nice enough to pass that information on to me. Then I waited in line at the next gate and managed to be number 4 on that list and get a seat on the plane.

I finally get to DC and get on a taxi over to the conference center. The taxi driver was grouchy and hard to understand so that was an experience as well. Then I finally get to the conference center and there is a lobby full of people waiting to check in. I'm beyond grouchy at that point but I hang in there. I get my room information a map and directions then I head off to find my room. A half hour later at 11:30pm I FINALLY find my room.

At 5am I wake up to get ready for class and head out in search of the cafeteria. This conference center has been around for years and is built like a college campus and a hotel mix. There are rooms, classrooms, a cafeteria, a courtyard, a bar, exercise room, pool, ect.

I eat breakfast and get my class over and am having a great day. Things are looking up. After class I went to my room to relax and do homework. It is such a beautiful day outside I decided to change into a pair of jeans and take my homework outside to work on it. I put on my tennis shoes and have a pebble along the right side of my foot in the one shoe. I take it off and dump it over and a cockroach about 3 inches long falls out. Now I am freaked out, the cockroach is lying on the floor twitching, and did I mention I am freaked out?! I have never seen a cockroach in real life and I only knew what it was from watching fear factor and from the size of it. I call down to the front desk and they tell me they are going to send maintenance over to check my room and that they are going to move me to a different room. He tells me to check my shoe for eggs to make sure that they don't spread to other parts of the building. I hang up and squat down and pick up the shoe that is lying next to the cockroach who is on his back dying. As soon as I pick up my shoe the cockroach flips over onto his stomach and takes off running under the bed! OMG! I drop the shoe and hang out in the hall waiting for maintenance to come. About 10 minutes later a bellboy comes. Wait! Where's maintenance?! He calls to get a guy from maintenance down there and sat with me and asked for details with the bug. He doesn't like bugs either.

Maintenance finally shows up and shines his flashlight under the bed. No bug. He pulls out one side of the bed then pushes it back and pulls out the other side. Still no bug. He looks around the vent and the desk. No bug. We are talking then out from now where comes the cockroach running. The maintenance guy kicks it around a bit to see what kind it was then squashed it. "Well it's not an American cockroach so it doesn't lay as many eggs... and we just sprayed for cockroaches so they are running trying to get away from the poison... no one else has complained..." Oh well isn't that nice! It would have been better if you could have sprayed to prevent them and make sure you didn't get infested don'tcha think?

After they moved me up to the new room I did not have any other bad experiences (thank goodness!) and I was able to have some fun with class and my classmates/friends. Some of us even went to DC for a few hours one night. I will post a story on that with photos in a new post since this one is so long.

Thanks for reading my little rant and sorry if I gave you the willies with the bug story... just be glad it wasn't you! : P