Its been a busy last few days
Wow, where has all the time gone! Time flies when you're on vacation. I'll get to my short vacation in a moment but first the finals that I had today. Geography was first at 7:30 in the morning. Arrrghhh! Brain doesn't work that early in the morning. I don't think that I did very well, but I had an A going in to the final so I am not terribly worried. Guess I should have gone to class more though. Then I had to do an english portfolio and turn it in before 5PM. I lounged around instead of getting to work on it right way after getting home around 9 from my geography final. Hey, I was tired from traveling the day before. I had written out revisions I wanted to make to my paper on the plane, as we needed to revise our last essay for our portfolio. It took a while longer than I thought but then I had to do a two-page cover letter talking about the paper and the entire semester. My teacher wanted the cover letter to be single-spaced though, essentially making it a four-page double-spaced paper. It took longer than expected and I had to rush to campus to turn it in. Parked by the music building where your not supposed to park but hey, whats the odds of getting a ticket in the five minutes it would take me to turn in the paper. Ran to the Humanities Building where my english teacher's office is and ran up the stairs in turned it in at exactly 4:59. I guess I am officially the master procrastinator!
It was hot as well today getting up to the mid-80's and they finally turned the air conditioning on in the apartment complex last week. Apparently to them the building needs heat until May and that it doesn't get until May? It has been really frustrating having the apartment be real hot in April. What else has been going on around here, not much to say the least, have to study for my final in economics which is on Friday. A final on Friday the 13th? Whose smart-aleck idea was that?
TRIP to Maryland/Virginia/DC
I left friday morning to go and meet my mother and sister for a weekend in DC. Was running late a little bit to the airport, but I always run late in the morning. Got to the park and ride facility at about 8:50 in the morning and my flight was at 9:40 but I was not worried. I had printed out my boarding pass the night before online and the lines are almost never long at the Sunport. (For all my Washington friends you have never been to New Mexico, that's what they call the airport, the Albuquerque International Sunport, I know, kind of cheesy.) Anyway, no line for security and had plenty of time to walk around the airport before my flight boarded. I was flying Southwest so they board by groups A, B and C since they have no assigned seating. I was in the A group since I had printed my pass online. My first flight of the day was Albuquerque to Orlando. Jay Leno had a joke one time that mocked the Southwest commercials, he said, "Ding, you are now free to move about the country. As long as you're willing to stop in Oakland, Phoenix and Albuquerque first." He was mocking how you have to make a bunch of stops on Southwest. Anyway, just thought I'd through that in there. Flight to Orlando was about 3 and half hours, and the flight attendants were very funny as they often are on Southwest. On landing one of the flight attendants said, "We have a first time flyer on board, and its their 98th birthday. (Passengers applaud) Say happy birthday to our captain on the way out." That was completely hilarious, I hadn't heard that before. The Orlando airport is really nice and modern looking in the concourse. Had a little less than an hour and a half in Orlando before my flight to Baltimore/Washington airport. The flight to Baltimore/Washington was about 2 hours and I final arrived at about 6:30 in the evening. After that we drove into DC to get a visual of the city as my sister and mom had been there before, but I had never been there. From the city we drove out towards our hotel, partially getting lost along the way but we found a Bennigan's to eat at and then our barrings to get to our hotel in the Virginia suburbs.
Saturday would prove to be a very tiring day. We had to get going before 9 o'clock in order to get to the Washington Monument to get tickets to go up it later in the day as they only let people up in tours at certain times. We got tickets to go up at 3 o'clock in the afternoon. From there it was on to a long day of seeing monuments. We started out with the Jefferson Memorial and the George Mason memorial, from there it was on to the Vietnam and Lincoln memorials and then the Korean memorial, all before lunch. After lunch we drove back to the Washington Monument. The view from the Washington monument was absolutely incredible, you got to see the whole city from the four sides of the monument. After the Washington monument we went to what was one of the most enjoyable parts of the trip for me personally. If you really know me well, then you know that I love airplanes. And if you thought that you knew me and you didn't know that I love airplanes, well you learned something new. So its no wonder that I loved the Smithsonian Air and Space museum. We got there only an hour before the museum closed so I concentrated on the air part of the museum. Got to see old planes including two of the Wright Brother's planes including their very first plane, but it was fenced off and I couldn't go right up to it. They also had many other planes on display, including military planes. I felt like I was in heaven. (Side note when the most pleasurable experience you've had in a while is a museum, more excitement is needed in your life.) You would have that with all the walking having been done so far that day, we would be done for the day. I know I was ready to head back to the hotel, but no we weren't done. From there we walked about 15 blocks or so back to the car and my feet were really tired. We went to the World War II memorial and that was quite impressive with a big fountain in the middle of it and a lot of quotes including quotes about the role women played in the war. Each state and territory had a pillar in the memorial too. If you are ever in DC, it is definitely a must see. Of course the parking lot is a few blocks away from the memorial so hey, more walking. If it seems like I am a little annoyed at this point, its cause I was, I just wanted to eat dinner and go back to the hotel. You would think I would have my wishes respected since I am part of the family and I had paid to fly out here (albeit on a really cheap fare when southwest was offering $99 one-way fares). No, we had to go over to Arlington and go to the mall because my sister is a shopping freak and always gets her way. Drove by the Pentagon on the way to the mall and it is really huge! They won't let you go up to it and take pictures for security reasons so there was no real reason to stop. My mom said she would each buy us something at the mall if it was within a reasonable price (I guess under $50, I don't what she was willing to spend). I ended up getting a nice shirt for under $30 but my sister decided to go into all of the expensive stores where you can't get anything for less than $70 or so and didn't find anything that my mom would buy her. Seriously, my sister is incredibly dumb, why look at expensive clothes that you can't afford and you know your mom won't buy because she doesn't have that kind of money either. So except for my shirt the mall trip was a bust and waste of time and it was 9PM and we still hadn't eaten dinner. By now I was pretty pissed and tired, I didn't even care if we eat, I wanted to get off my feet, but of course now my sister and mother wanted to eat. We got directions to an Olive Garden which was actually somewhat on the way back to the hotel. By the time we got to eat it was after 10 and I was not pleasant dinner company. The food was good, but I kept trying to get the two girls to shut up but they kept jabbing through dinner which didn't make me in a better mood. Finally we got back to the hotel and I crashed out on the bed. Ahhh, that was exhausting just trying to write all about that day.
Sunday was a little less busy. We lounged around the hotel in the morning and didn't get going 'til almost noon. After stopping at a grocery store and starbucks (yes, my sister's demand) we made our way back to Arlington, (why couldn't the shopping have waited til we were going to be in Arlington anyway) and went to the Arlington National Cementary. That place is huge and quite impressive and sombering. At Arlington Cementary there is so much to see. JFK and Robert Kennedy are buried there and the hill they are buried on provides an outstanding view of DC. There is the Arlington House where Robert E. Lee used to live, what a big house! Also there are memorials at Arlington Cementary commemorating those who died in Pan Am flight 103, the Iran hostage rescue, and the space shuttle disasters of the Challenger and Columbia. Put the most impressive part of Arlington Cementary was the tomb of the unknown soldier. We walked up to it right as they were doing the changing of the guard so I was able to take pictures. There is a lot of walking to do around the Arlington Cementary so I was already feeling the affects of the previous day. After Arlington Cementary it was time to head back into DC. The ladies wanted to go to an art gallery and I went into the Smithsonian National History museum. I had about an hour before they closed and thought it would be similar in size to the air and space museum. It was huge though, I only got to go through three or four exhibits and there were many, many more I wanted to see. Anyway, from there we went on to view the outside of the white house, the capitol building and the supreme court building. After that it was time to go to dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe and add to my Hard Rock t-shirt collection. Our day in DC was done, and we ready to head back to the hotel. Gave my mom her mother's day gift, which was an American Flag to put on a pole in your front yard since she is in to the whole patriotic thing.
Monday I would be leaving in the afternoon but I was looking forward to the day is I would be doing something I wanted to do for once on the trip. We were going to drive by the Iwa Jima statue and then drop my sister off in DC so she could, guess what, do more shopping. Then my mom drove me up to Baltimore to go take a tour of the Orioles ballpark. We were running late and had a real rough time finding the stadium and finding parking. My mom dropped me off to pick up the tickets for the tour, but then we couldn't find each other and we thought the tour had already left. Luckily we were the only ones who had tickets for the 12:00 tour and someone in the Orioles office found the tour guide and we had basically a private tour of Oriole Park at Camden Yards. We got to tour the club level, and our tour guide Harry was very knowledgable about the history and design of the ballpark as well as the history of the team and city of Baltimore. But the best part of the tour was yet to come, we got to go down underneath and see the umpire's locker room and use that tunnel to go out to the field where they were preparing the field for the night's game. Then we went into the Orioles dugout and I had my picture taken there. The tour took a little longer than expected and we didn't get out of there until 1:45 and we had to haul butt to get to the airport so I could catch my 2:55 flight. Took awhile to get to the airport as the airport is kind of out in the middle of nowhere southeast of downtown Baltimore. Checked in for my flight at around 2:15 and checked a bag. The only thing that annoys me about Southwest is that the boarding passes didn't have the gate on them so I didn't know where to go without finding my flight on the monitor. Figured out where to go and security was quick to get through. Walked all the way to the end of the B concourse where my flight was departing from. On the way back to Albuquerque I would be connecting in New Orleans. The New Orleans airport definitely didn't seem as nice as Orlando or Baltimore airports. The terminal seemed underused and outdated although there was a good smoked sausage hot dog vendor. The food at New Orleans is overpriced, my smoked sausage and ice tea cost $7 and that was like the cheapest food on the concourse. Finally my plane was ready to depart for Albuquerque, making a short stop in Dallas to pick up and drop off passengers. We were literally on the ground for about 20 minutes, people off and people on. On my flight I studied for my geography final and worked on my essay for english. In no time we were to Albuquerque and I was ready to go home and relax. Relaxed for about an hour and then went to bed.
I know this has been long but hey I want to share what goes on in my life when there actually is something. Laterz!
It was hot as well today getting up to the mid-80's and they finally turned the air conditioning on in the apartment complex last week. Apparently to them the building needs heat until May and that it doesn't get until May? It has been really frustrating having the apartment be real hot in April. What else has been going on around here, not much to say the least, have to study for my final in economics which is on Friday. A final on Friday the 13th? Whose smart-aleck idea was that?
TRIP to Maryland/Virginia/DC
I left friday morning to go and meet my mother and sister for a weekend in DC. Was running late a little bit to the airport, but I always run late in the morning. Got to the park and ride facility at about 8:50 in the morning and my flight was at 9:40 but I was not worried. I had printed out my boarding pass the night before online and the lines are almost never long at the Sunport. (For all my Washington friends you have never been to New Mexico, that's what they call the airport, the Albuquerque International Sunport, I know, kind of cheesy.) Anyway, no line for security and had plenty of time to walk around the airport before my flight boarded. I was flying Southwest so they board by groups A, B and C since they have no assigned seating. I was in the A group since I had printed my pass online. My first flight of the day was Albuquerque to Orlando. Jay Leno had a joke one time that mocked the Southwest commercials, he said, "Ding, you are now free to move about the country. As long as you're willing to stop in Oakland, Phoenix and Albuquerque first." He was mocking how you have to make a bunch of stops on Southwest. Anyway, just thought I'd through that in there. Flight to Orlando was about 3 and half hours, and the flight attendants were very funny as they often are on Southwest. On landing one of the flight attendants said, "We have a first time flyer on board, and its their 98th birthday. (Passengers applaud) Say happy birthday to our captain on the way out." That was completely hilarious, I hadn't heard that before. The Orlando airport is really nice and modern looking in the concourse. Had a little less than an hour and a half in Orlando before my flight to Baltimore/Washington airport. The flight to Baltimore/Washington was about 2 hours and I final arrived at about 6:30 in the evening. After that we drove into DC to get a visual of the city as my sister and mom had been there before, but I had never been there. From the city we drove out towards our hotel, partially getting lost along the way but we found a Bennigan's to eat at and then our barrings to get to our hotel in the Virginia suburbs.
Saturday would prove to be a very tiring day. We had to get going before 9 o'clock in order to get to the Washington Monument to get tickets to go up it later in the day as they only let people up in tours at certain times. We got tickets to go up at 3 o'clock in the afternoon. From there it was on to a long day of seeing monuments. We started out with the Jefferson Memorial and the George Mason memorial, from there it was on to the Vietnam and Lincoln memorials and then the Korean memorial, all before lunch. After lunch we drove back to the Washington Monument. The view from the Washington monument was absolutely incredible, you got to see the whole city from the four sides of the monument. After the Washington monument we went to what was one of the most enjoyable parts of the trip for me personally. If you really know me well, then you know that I love airplanes. And if you thought that you knew me and you didn't know that I love airplanes, well you learned something new. So its no wonder that I loved the Smithsonian Air and Space museum. We got there only an hour before the museum closed so I concentrated on the air part of the museum. Got to see old planes including two of the Wright Brother's planes including their very first plane, but it was fenced off and I couldn't go right up to it. They also had many other planes on display, including military planes. I felt like I was in heaven. (Side note when the most pleasurable experience you've had in a while is a museum, more excitement is needed in your life.) You would have that with all the walking having been done so far that day, we would be done for the day. I know I was ready to head back to the hotel, but no we weren't done. From there we walked about 15 blocks or so back to the car and my feet were really tired. We went to the World War II memorial and that was quite impressive with a big fountain in the middle of it and a lot of quotes including quotes about the role women played in the war. Each state and territory had a pillar in the memorial too. If you are ever in DC, it is definitely a must see. Of course the parking lot is a few blocks away from the memorial so hey, more walking. If it seems like I am a little annoyed at this point, its cause I was, I just wanted to eat dinner and go back to the hotel. You would think I would have my wishes respected since I am part of the family and I had paid to fly out here (albeit on a really cheap fare when southwest was offering $99 one-way fares). No, we had to go over to Arlington and go to the mall because my sister is a shopping freak and always gets her way. Drove by the Pentagon on the way to the mall and it is really huge! They won't let you go up to it and take pictures for security reasons so there was no real reason to stop. My mom said she would each buy us something at the mall if it was within a reasonable price (I guess under $50, I don't what she was willing to spend). I ended up getting a nice shirt for under $30 but my sister decided to go into all of the expensive stores where you can't get anything for less than $70 or so and didn't find anything that my mom would buy her. Seriously, my sister is incredibly dumb, why look at expensive clothes that you can't afford and you know your mom won't buy because she doesn't have that kind of money either. So except for my shirt the mall trip was a bust and waste of time and it was 9PM and we still hadn't eaten dinner. By now I was pretty pissed and tired, I didn't even care if we eat, I wanted to get off my feet, but of course now my sister and mother wanted to eat. We got directions to an Olive Garden which was actually somewhat on the way back to the hotel. By the time we got to eat it was after 10 and I was not pleasant dinner company. The food was good, but I kept trying to get the two girls to shut up but they kept jabbing through dinner which didn't make me in a better mood. Finally we got back to the hotel and I crashed out on the bed. Ahhh, that was exhausting just trying to write all about that day.
Sunday was a little less busy. We lounged around the hotel in the morning and didn't get going 'til almost noon. After stopping at a grocery store and starbucks (yes, my sister's demand) we made our way back to Arlington, (why couldn't the shopping have waited til we were going to be in Arlington anyway) and went to the Arlington National Cementary. That place is huge and quite impressive and sombering. At Arlington Cementary there is so much to see. JFK and Robert Kennedy are buried there and the hill they are buried on provides an outstanding view of DC. There is the Arlington House where Robert E. Lee used to live, what a big house! Also there are memorials at Arlington Cementary commemorating those who died in Pan Am flight 103, the Iran hostage rescue, and the space shuttle disasters of the Challenger and Columbia. Put the most impressive part of Arlington Cementary was the tomb of the unknown soldier. We walked up to it right as they were doing the changing of the guard so I was able to take pictures. There is a lot of walking to do around the Arlington Cementary so I was already feeling the affects of the previous day. After Arlington Cementary it was time to head back into DC. The ladies wanted to go to an art gallery and I went into the Smithsonian National History museum. I had about an hour before they closed and thought it would be similar in size to the air and space museum. It was huge though, I only got to go through three or four exhibits and there were many, many more I wanted to see. Anyway, from there we went on to view the outside of the white house, the capitol building and the supreme court building. After that it was time to go to dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe and add to my Hard Rock t-shirt collection. Our day in DC was done, and we ready to head back to the hotel. Gave my mom her mother's day gift, which was an American Flag to put on a pole in your front yard since she is in to the whole patriotic thing.
Monday I would be leaving in the afternoon but I was looking forward to the day is I would be doing something I wanted to do for once on the trip. We were going to drive by the Iwa Jima statue and then drop my sister off in DC so she could, guess what, do more shopping. Then my mom drove me up to Baltimore to go take a tour of the Orioles ballpark. We were running late and had a real rough time finding the stadium and finding parking. My mom dropped me off to pick up the tickets for the tour, but then we couldn't find each other and we thought the tour had already left. Luckily we were the only ones who had tickets for the 12:00 tour and someone in the Orioles office found the tour guide and we had basically a private tour of Oriole Park at Camden Yards. We got to tour the club level, and our tour guide Harry was very knowledgable about the history and design of the ballpark as well as the history of the team and city of Baltimore. But the best part of the tour was yet to come, we got to go down underneath and see the umpire's locker room and use that tunnel to go out to the field where they were preparing the field for the night's game. Then we went into the Orioles dugout and I had my picture taken there. The tour took a little longer than expected and we didn't get out of there until 1:45 and we had to haul butt to get to the airport so I could catch my 2:55 flight. Took awhile to get to the airport as the airport is kind of out in the middle of nowhere southeast of downtown Baltimore. Checked in for my flight at around 2:15 and checked a bag. The only thing that annoys me about Southwest is that the boarding passes didn't have the gate on them so I didn't know where to go without finding my flight on the monitor. Figured out where to go and security was quick to get through. Walked all the way to the end of the B concourse where my flight was departing from. On the way back to Albuquerque I would be connecting in New Orleans. The New Orleans airport definitely didn't seem as nice as Orlando or Baltimore airports. The terminal seemed underused and outdated although there was a good smoked sausage hot dog vendor. The food at New Orleans is overpriced, my smoked sausage and ice tea cost $7 and that was like the cheapest food on the concourse. Finally my plane was ready to depart for Albuquerque, making a short stop in Dallas to pick up and drop off passengers. We were literally on the ground for about 20 minutes, people off and people on. On my flight I studied for my geography final and worked on my essay for english. In no time we were to Albuquerque and I was ready to go home and relax. Relaxed for about an hour and then went to bed.
I know this has been long but hey I want to share what goes on in my life when there actually is something. Laterz!