Thankful

Well, it's Thanksgiving and I have so much to be thankful for this year.  It's been so busy, but I'm so happy with where I am in this world.  So much has been happening and I've been constantly busy.

I'm thankful that I have even one job, and it's a bonus that I have more than one.  And my main job is even one that I love!   This year I have been able to keep a roof over my head, nearly finish off my credit card debt and even save a little up for a house!  

I'm thankful for my family and friends, even though they often feel too far away.  That simply makes me appreciate them all that much more when I do actually get to see them.  It even looks like I'll be able to see a friend of mine who's in the Navy this year.  He's now stationed in Japan, so I wasn't sure if I'd be able to see him this year.

I'm thankful for my awesome boyfriend who does so much that makes me happy.  Often it is a bunch of little things, but it doesn't take much to make someone's day!  He even made a whole fifteen pound turkey for Thanksgiving along with stuffing and mashed potatoes!  And he just did that because he wanted to try it.  And he did almost all of this while I slept.

I hope everyone realizes what they have this year.  What are you thankful for?

The start of trouble...

I just signed up for Pinterest!

I already have a bunch of recipes to try.  I've been trying to cook more at home to save some money.  So... Wish me luck!  I'll keep you updated.

Drive home with Zen...

This morning when I left work, I took the long way to the time clock and wandered out onto the ramp.  I love seeing my planes at rest on the weekends and it was still nice out.  After stepping outside I noticed the sliver of a moon and a bright star right next to it.  That just made me smile.  Then I walked out to my car and saw a ton of stars in the sky.  I rarely get to see stars anymore, so it is a rare treat.

When I saw those gorgeous stars, and the tail of one of the planes, I just thought of how strange life can be.  If you had showed me that five years ago and told me that it was my life, I wouldn't have believed you.  At that point in my life, I was working my tail off at AutoZone after finally having made it to a management position.  I was barely scraping by, but, as usual, I had hope that I would pull out of it soon.

In the last five years, I've gone to school and graduated, gotten my FAA Dispatch License, gotten a job dispatching airplanes all over North America, found a place that feels like a decent home, and even gone on a cruise!  It's been one hell of a ride, but I wouldn't trade any of it.  I know that I've worked very hard to get to where I am and I'm still working hard to get ready for whatever is lurking around the corner.

So these are the zen thoughts that come to my mind on an early Sunday drive home while watching a beautiful sunrise and looking forward to snuggling my boyfriend.  Thanks for tuning in!

Big news!

So, as usual, I've been keeping really busy with work.  But last week, I got a very promising e-mail...

See, I'd applied for a position as a part-time trucking dispatcher at a nearby company.  It's actually closer to my house than the AutoZone at which I usually work.  Well, I applied months ago and even got an interview!  Sadly, my availability is quite restricted due to my shifts at the airport.  But the interview had even said that he was very impressed with me and would like to work something out.

Well, work something out, he did.  Tomorrow morning, I start training as an on-call dispatcher!  It's very hard for me not to say anything at either job, because I want a solid confirmation, before I tell anyone.  It would hopefully be the end of my stint at AutoZone, but I also don't want the airline to get the wrong idea, and think that I don't love them.  

With the cruise coming up, and Dale still working hard in school, this is a very exciting opportunity.  It would hopefully be a bit more money than the Zone, but I would also be learning a whole new industry.  Lately, I've been looking at taking some classes because I feel the need to always be learning something.  It looks like I don't have to look any more! 

Now, I have to find a "business casual" wardrobe.  I have a few pairs of khaki pants (thanks, Stacy!) and some nice shirts, but I can only hope that I can pass as a professional.  I can't wait to tell Dale's mom in person when she gets back into town.  I'm hoping she would be able to help me spiff up my wardrobe!  Any suggestions?

Sometimes, the logical decision stinks.

With Dale in school, finances have been tight. I expected it, but that doesn't make it much easier. We also have a friend who is struggling financially, Sean. Well, Sean's lease is expiring soon. He has been looking for a roommate to move in with him where he is for a little while, to no avail. So, all of us got together and decided that it would be best, financially, for Sean to move in with Dale and I.

I've really gotten used to being on my own (well, with Dale) and having a roommate again wasn't what I was hoping for.  I feel bad for not wanting to help a friend, but I've simply gotten used to feeling like my apartment was actually my home where I had "carte blanche" and had no real worries.

Now I'm worried about coming home to roommate-induced stress.  Yes, it would seem I'm stressing about stress.  Plus, now we have less than a month to empty the second bedroom, get the apartment all cleaned up and ready to combine two fully-furnished apartments.  Then we have to decide what to do with the rest of the leftover furniture.

Sorry, y'all.  Just needed to vent. I feel like a horrible person for avoiding this, but I feel like I'm giving up my home.

Convair flight!

I finally got to ride in a Convair!  Since I started with this company, (I've been enthralled with this aircraft.) They have so much history and still work their tails off!  They were made in 1956 if that gives you any idea :)
When I got to work last night, I found out that this plane was about to leave for Opa Locka to pick up freight and bring it back to our base.  After a bunch of phone calls and texts, I was all set and headed to the plane!  We took off at night, so I stared at lights until they went away.  Don't worry, I saw plenty of lights after we leveled off.

While we were talking to Atlanta Center, I pointed out a big cluster of lights on the ground and asked if it was Atlanta.  Turns out it was Greenville, SC!  Oops.  I'd never seen a major city from the air at night, so I had no real idea.  When we got close to Opa Locka, one of the pilots pointed it out.  It was a halo of light because of the humidity hanging over it.  When we got closer I saw what a major metropolitan area looks like from the air.  Then I realized how wrong I really was earlier!

When we got there, our freight was already there.  We had to rebuild the skids so they would fit on the plane, but we had already planned for this, so in all reality this went as close to perfect as possible in our world!  The FBO where we did our paperwork was very posh.  Leather chairs and couches, duty-free alcohol and even caviar!  I felt a bit under-dressed in a t-shirt and jeans, but everyone was very friendly and helpful.

We finally left (and on the runway we wanted, even) and headed back home.  Because we were climbing it was hard to look at the city lights, but there was a storm a few miles away, so I watched a lightning storm.  I'd never seen lightning from above before, so it was really neat!  At one point I got to sit in the captain's seat because he had to change out the charts since they were expiring.  Of course, I had orders to not touch anything, but I still loved it!  I asked the First Officer a bunch of stuff about the gauges. and took some time to enjoy the even better view.

Most of the cruise home was uneventful.  I got to see the sunrise from 23,000 feet in the air.  I kinda felt like it was just for me since I was one of the first people to see the sun come up that day.  We actually had pretty clear skies until we were almost home.

We had a line of big clouds with some rain that we would have cruised right over if we could still cruise.  Instead, we had to descend right through it all to get to where we were going.  It got pretty bumpy through all of that, but the cargo didn't complain.  It was probably the roughest turbulence I've been through yet, which isn't really saying much.  It hit pretty hard right when we got into the first cloud!  But it's all part of the learning experience, so I was cool with it.

We landed quite well considering the weather we had just come out of and I was very proud of these pilots.  It was raining quite a bit when we landed, but it hasn't rained in a while, so it was all good.  There ended up being a problem with the truck, but it got ironed out and all was well with the world.

In summation:  Can I go again?!  Please?

(I'll try to add pics when I have a few more minutes, sorry.)

Purpose.. or lack thereof

Sometimes I think I need to concentrate on a certain area for this blog, but there are so many options!  I could go on and on about the little bike rides Dale and I take (and the lack of sidewalks) or I could wax poetic about car stuff but that gets old pretty quick and nobody cares.  I could even post all of my amazing attempts at getting organized and still not accomplishing any organization.

Being random just suits me so much better!  I keep seeing all of these blogs with an actual purpose, but then I get to thinking that I've gotten this far by just doing what I do in the world and not caring about how everyone is doing the same project. 

But to overview my life lately... Work, bike rides, work, dishes, work, cleaning, work and a DVD or two.  And I'm still broke!  Oh well, such is life.  You can't take it with you, so what's the major concern, right?

Today turned out to be a pretty great day!

Dale had to go to the junk yard to "shop" for parts for the new car.  He pretty much found what he was looking for and brought it home.  He got home just as I was waking up and we spent the rest of the afternoon together.

He needed new pedals for his bike since his broke, so we went to the bike store then went to the park to test out the new pedals.  We ended up biking TEN miles!  We rode from the park by our house to a nature center in an adjacent park.  It turned out that we got there about five minutes before they closed, so we decided to go check it out really quick.  

It was a cool little place and had the absolute best entry area ever!  You had to stay on the concrete path because otherwise you might step on one of the birds or turtles that hang out in there.  Yes!  We counted five turtles and two flightless birds in that foyer area.  Seriously the best entryway area ever!

We kept wandering until Dale realized that one of his tires was losing air.  At that point we headed back to the truck and almost made it halfway back before the tire went flat.  Walking bikes for almost a mile is no fun...  We ended up finding some sort of sharp little object in there and replaced the tube.

I guess it turned out to be a bunch of little ups and downs, but I really enjoyed today.  Sometimes I just get to the point that I miss hanging out with Dale and simply being able to spend the afternoon together just makes my day.  Tomorrow he is off again, so maybe we can continue this little trend.

 

New addition to the fleet!

So in the quest for a fuel-sipper, Dale found a Daytona that needs some love.  It needs a bunch of smaller things, but it's a turbo 4 cylinder.  It's fun to drive (or so I hear) and should get really great mileage!  I'm really hopeful about this project.  It may actually stick around!

Keeping busy

So lately I've been keeping pretty busy.  I guess that would be obvious since I haven't posted in over a month!  Between the two jobs and real life, I don't have much time to chill out and type.
At AutoZone there is some construction, rather, deconstruction going on.  My store used to house the regional office.  That has since moved and so they are tearing out that area in order to expand our parts availability.  Just last week they tore out the main wall separating that area from the rest of the store.  Hopefully they finish up soon.  They had to redo a lot of ducting and add another heater/air conditioning unit in addition to tearing out two huge freezer units from back in the day that the building had a grocery store.
When they are done tearing things apart, a setup crew will come in and build out all the shelving and set everything in the right places.  Then a ton of our product will have to move in addition to a ton of new part numbers being added.  Hopefully this will be done sometime this summer.

At the airport, it's just generally been busy.  Mother's Day made us a bit busier, too.  But busy is way better than not busy!  I'm hoping it will stay pretty busy.  With the new commission  schedule, it's even better!


And now the part that's been keeping me even more busy than usual... Dale and I have been riding bikes around town more often.  We've borrowed a couple bikes from his parents and have been using them as  much as we can.  He even rides his bike to work!  It's a great workout  for us both and it's a great reason to get out and about on such nice days.


This is a great use for my new birthday present... A FitBit Ultra!  It's an awesome pedometer.  It counts all sorts of things like flights of stairs climbed and calories burned in addition to number of steps taken!  It also uploads the info via wireless to my computer and that ties in to the app on my phone!  The app lets me track what foods I eat and other workouts, too, so it's all in one place.


Okay, I think I'm caught up on the major stuff... for now.

Alabama!

A few weeks ago was DOF's annual get together in Alabama.  It was a 4-day weekend that was full of fun!

The main highlights for me was taking my truck down a 1/4 mile track for the first time and also putting her back on a dyno to measure her power output.
 On the track, I kept playing with Mike who was the only other person there with a Dakota.  We were pretty evenly matched power-wise.  I even beat him once!  I also lined up with Rich, whose truck has more power in it's pinky toe than my whole truck, but it was still fun.  He has pretty nice-looking taillights.  :)
 On the dyno, I had the lowest numbers of the day, but my truck also had the least power from the factory, too.  If it was a competition, I might be sad, but it was all about the fun. 

Overall, the trip was a blast.  Dale and I took our time getting there and back, which made for a less stressful journey.  There was some amazing food and even better company and I think everyone had as much fun as I did!  I love meeting new people, and seeing some old friends every year, and was not disappointed this year.  There were a few people that I would have loved to have been there this year, but I understand how life gets in the way of plans.  I will be seeing them next year, though! 

Another tick on the to-do list!

So for my trip trip to Bermuda, I have a few goals I would like to reach.  Of course I have to save up the money.  For that, I've been working tons of hours at another store and totally running my butt off.  But it's paying off so far, literally.  Heck, my last paycheck for two weeks was what I would normally make in three weeks!

But the other thing I'm working on is getting in shape, watching what I eat, and overall losing weight.  I have taken a few steps toward that one already.  I signed up for SparkPeople, which is an online community for losing weight.  The website helps you track what you eat in a day, how much exercise you get in a day and a whole bunch of other helpful tools.  I've actually been keeping up with it pretty well.  I've found that I eat too many carbs, but I'm totally not surprised by that.  I love carbs.

Also, today Dale and I went and got me an AbCircle Pro.  It's one of those things you see on TV, but it's pretty neat so far.  As long as you keep yourself away from just using momentum, it seems like it will be a useful tool.  And it's so much quieter than I thought it would be!  I can totally use this while watching TV.  And right now it's in the middle of my living room, so it's easily accessible.

Looks like this cruise is an awesome motivator for me so far!

Bermuda!

So my sister has convinced me to go with her and our grandparents on a Bermuda cruise.  In October we will be going on our first cruise!  We are both currently working on getting our passports.  Hers is already in the works.  I still need to get my birth certificate, so mine will take a little longer.  But at this rate, we will both have passports before our trip.

I might even be able to warm mine up by flying around on one of our trips that goes out of the US.  I'm almost as excited about getting my passport as I am about the cruise!  I've never been on a cruise ship and this one look huge.  We will have a bit of time to hang out and explore the area while we are there and I will make a valiant effort to fill my 16GB memory card on my camera. 

I can't wait.  259 days!

Pull- apart bread

This just totally made the list of thing to make SOON!  I even already have all the ingredients except for the yeast.

http://www.joythebaker.com/blog/2011/03/cinnamon-sugar-pull-apart-bread/

2012

So it is officially 2012.  As usual, I have a couple resolutions for the new year.

Last year I paid off two of my three credit cards.  This means that number three is on the chopping block for this year.  It has the highest balance so it's going to be a bit of a challenge.  But I think the most challenging part will be that, with Dale in school, I won't be able to attack this one as hard as I did the last two.  We'll see how it turns out.

The second resolution is to lose some weight.  I have already started to attack this one!  My mom steered me to an app that follows your phone's GPS as you walk and tracks how many calories you've burned.  I can share these walks on Facebook, too. 

My mom and I share our walks and get a little competitive with them.  She walks in the morning with the dogs. She has a nice place that is away from civilization a bit, so she can walk on the soft ground instead of a hard sidewalk, which is nice. 

Dale and I have been exploring a bunch of new places to walk.  With the weather getting colder we have been looking into more indoor places such as malls.  On warm days we go to parks, but those are getting rare.  But it's getting me out and moving, which is the point.

What resolutions do you have? How are you working on them?