Off Kilter

I woke up today in Columbus, OH. I've never been here before. I have a 32 hour layover. I chose to do this trip because of the layover and in hopes to finally meet my favorite digital artist, a lady who I admire so much for her passion and love and work. Genevieve and I have been friends for almost 3 years via phone, text, IM, Myspace, Facebook and most importantly through art. I have 4 pieces of her work. One that wasn't for sell but my Rick had called her and convinced to her to put this piece for sale in a size that was insane. It's a poster sized picture of a battle that Genevieve constantly battles... her lungs. To me the picture is something that says, "this is me. there is hope." That's why I fell in love with the piece. Genevieve and I became friends around the time I was going through my divorce. I used to go to work in the morning, get my coffee, sit down at my desk and sign into my Yahoo chat. Genevieve would sometimes still have not slept since the night before creating a new amazing piece to show me that morning. She would ask my opinion on it. Most of the time the piece was perfect. Sometimes the piece would scare the hell out of me and I would tell her and sometimes she changed it to make it more subtle. Then we would proceed to pick amazing names for the pieces. It was my favorite part of my day. It helped me take my mind off my own problems. Genevieve also took a picture that my friend Stephen Boatright had taken of me and together the three of us created my favorite piece of art. The cover of my book. The final touch to a chapter I never wish to revisit.


I think it's the ugly weather in Columbus today that has me sitting here in a lump-like state. I was going through my friends status updates on Facebook and saw that my friend Nathan Lee has his album coming out on May 15. I will tell you that I will be one of the first to buy it. His music has and has always had a major effect on me. It's so raw, so honest that it makes you want to leave everything and do what you love. It's so intense that it makes your heart want to jump out of your body and go on an adventure of it's own.

I feel so lost today. I doubt it's because I'm in a new city. I think it's because I have so much time on my hands. I just read this book called Eat, Pray, Love. There is a part in there about how Americans don't know what true happiness is sometimes because we have to be constantly entertained and we can't just be in silence with ourselves. Usually I do ok with this but it wasn't always this way... and today is like old times. I can't sleep. I have no desire to do my studies, to read, to do my yoga, listen to my podcasts, work on my clients pages or go to the gym. I just want to sit in my 18th floor room and over look the overcast day and listen to U2, The Walkmen, Ryan Adams and I think I'm so emotional today that if I even played another Nathan Lee song I might burst into tears. Gosh, I'm such a girl today. I hate that. I'm glad I have the day off... I'd be a mess flying.

I need to pull myself together today by 4pm my time because I have a conference call to a new company in San Antonio that I was just hired to help. It's actually really exciting. Rick found an ad on Craigslist for a Myspace, Facebook, Twitter Guru. Being that I am that person... Rick forwarded me the link and I sent them an e-mail. I'm sure lots of people think that they are Myspace, Facebook, Twitter Guru's because they are addicted to social networking... but I take all of that to a new level. I've been making money off social networking sites for almost 3 years. Starting when Kevin Max's myspace mysteriously disappeared one night and he needed a new one ASAP. Ever since then I have a small problem dreaming and thinking in html codes. I love it. I love designing pages. I love taking ugly pages and giving them makeovers. So I had a meeting with this poster of the ad in Craigslist and it went great. Next thing I know I have been hired to re-do the pages for a 4 chain restaurant/pub in San Antonio... and to be creating a campaign to promote Aretha Franklin when she graces San Antonio with her R-E-S-P-E-C-T... then apparently after that there are quite a few more big artists that I will be working with, such as Crosby, Stills and Nash. Not too shabby for a girl who makes money off Myspace. :)

I think maybe I need some breakfast and a good work out to get my blood pumping to shake whatever is haunting over me today. I need a mood boost. If only the sun would come out. I hate that my moods can depend on weather. I feel a little helpless. I'd really like to sit by the pool in the sun and take a nap... who wouldn't?!

Well... I'm off to change my mood today.
Things you should definitely think about...
1) Buying Nathan's CD on May 15 and supporting indie music at it's BEST.
2) Pick up a new book. It doesn't have to be mine, if that's what you were thinking. :) Anybook... something that makes your brain think, opens new doors and gives you passion.
3) Check out Genevieve's art. Support indie artists. It's as good as a book. It will make your brain think and open doors and perhaps give you a passion. :)

Scam company of the year goes to: T-MOBILE!

Current mood: aggravated

So I work as a flight attendant for the very few of you that
didn't know... and as a side gig I run myspaces for people. I design
them and keep them up so I need constant internet connection. While I
am in Atlanta I can work by picking up an internet hotspot. So this
story goes back to May of 2008. I was based in New York at the time and
we fly out of 3 airports. Each airport has a different hotspot. So I
signed up for Boingo which was 9.99 I believe a month with NO CONTRACTS
and I signed up (reluctantly, I might add) to T-Mobile for 19.99 a
month. Now I have to admit that I have not always had the tightest
reign on my money and I can be a little absent minded about signing up
for contracts such as this T-Mobile incident.

In June I got transferred to Atlanta and the Hartsfield Intl Airport
supports both Boingo and T-Mobile. So I called and tried to cancel the
more expensive service... that being of T-Mobile. This is where I
discovered I was on a contract for a year. If I canceled this service I
would be charged $200. So I kept T-Mobile and being that I preferred
Boingo I kept Boingo until about November.



In November I thought well I need to start taking better care of the
money that I barely have so I canceled Boingo and started using my
T-Mobile account. Little knowing that it would have been cheaper to
keep paying full price for both services. In my head it made sense to
pay one account for $19.99 and use it rather than pay for both. Simple
math, right? Wrong.



In December I notice a withdraw from my account of $44.95 for a
T-Mobile hotspot. I thought that was peculiar and made note that it was
probably some scammy fee that was hidden in the contract for the new
year or something stupid like that. I made a mental note to call them
and ask them about it but I forgot as I usually do.



Today, In February I notice another $44.95 withdraw from my account for
a T-Mobile hotspot. This time it affects the rest of my bills being
that I alloted (like any normal person) a certain amount to each bill
and just like the rest of America and the world right now I am on a
tight budget. So the $300 that was set aside for my car payment has now
been tampered with because someone took more than was budgeted. Yay for
overdraft fees!



So I call up T-Mobile. If you have a customer service number you
probably want it to be a very clear number to prove you have good
service. Well I could barely hear them through the static so we were
off to a good start. I got transferred 3 times until I got connected to
the right guy. I tell him the situation and he tries to figure out what
was going on. He seemed completely baffled at first just as I was. He
tells me that I acquired roaming fees.



"Roaming fees?!", I said.



"Yes."



"Sir, I go to work at the Atlanta Airport every time and log into my
account in the same way every time on the same Airport web page every
time. Sometimes I get a $44.95 bill sometimes I get a $19.95 bill.", I
said.



He says, "Do you sit in different places of the airport? Like outside
the airport or in a different concourse or a crown room or a starbucks?"



"No. I go into the A concourse, I go downstairs to the flight attendant
lounge and I even sit on the same couch every time. It's yellow so I
know its the same couch. And I have never been to a crown room and I
cannot afford starbucks when you are withdrawing $44.95", I said.



"Do you notice a different screen when you log in?", He said.



"No, sir, I've never seen any other page besides the airport page that
has a T-Mobile button on it which I proceed to click every time where I
log in and do my work."



"Well you've been roaming."



"What? Seriously? Same yellow couch every time. I don't even roam from that couch."



So we proceed to fight back and forth for 30 minutes relentlessly.



I ask him if perhaps he could admit that it did seem weird and that
maybe there was some sort of kink in his system. He said that there was
no way that his system would be wrong. I asked him if he had 100%
confidence that his company didn't make a mistake. He said yes. He said
he believes ONE HUNDRED PERCENT in his company. I said "Wow, I don't
even believe that much in my company. That's amazing!" (I kinda said
that a little sarcastically though). :)

Finally when I realized he was getting me no where I asked to be transferred to his supervisor. I waited about 5-10 minutes.



The supervisor gets on and tells me go to the hotspot web page where it
clearly tells me all the roaming locations. Sure enough. It did. But do
you think I was surprised that they covered their own butts? Of course
not. I'm growing accustomed to fine print backstabbing me months down
the road. I tell him that I think that what they are doing is shady. I
told him that his customer service is also shady. I told him that for
future reference that T-Mobile should talk to the Atlanta Airport and
have a place where when you login it tells you that you are roaming...
whether it's a click box or whatever. But in my understanding if I see
a T-Mobile button for wireless internet hotspot, I think. HEY! I pay
$19.99 for that service I must be able to login here. And sure enough
it logs me in with no problems. I don't think about roaming fees in the
biggest airport ever. In fact I haven't thought of roaming fees since
the late 90's and early 00's when I used to have a T-Mobile phone which
I canceled over 7 years ago and have been a faithful and happy
Cingular/ AT&T customer since.



So I told him all that and I also asked him when my exact sign up date
was because it doesn't tell me on the website when I login. It just
tells me that I have been paying them for nothing for 9 months. He
muttered and stuttered around and said "... Um... I think it might be
in May." I said, "You THINK? no. Not good enough. I need an exact date
so I don't get charged any shady $200 cancellation fees." He told me to
cancel my account before May 17 and that he would also give me a free
month of service in March. I told him that would be fine especially
considering that I will never logon to my T-Mobile Hotspot again. I
will be going back to simple Boingo that has no roaming fees for half
the price.

As usual I do my civic duty to share with you about the corporations
who are ripping off the little people and the crazy things that get
made up as you reason with these poor saps. Don't use T-Mobile. If you
google T-Mobile Customer Service you get a LOT of threads of unhappy
people talking about that specific corporation being a scam. They
haven't heard the last from me... and neither have you. :)

day two of new job: conquering the subway

ok. SO. I went to bed early last night like i needed. I was soo sick. I couldnt even eat pizza if that tells you anything. I estimate that I fell asleep from like 7-10 and then 11 to 8am this morning when I got called in to work. i LOVE bein on call (totally sarcastic if you didnt catch the caps).
LUCKILY they gave me 4 and a half hours to wake up, shower, and get to the airport... they only HAVE to give me 3... technically. Well it takes me 3 to go anywhere... not including hair, shower and make up.
So I hurried up and my angel friend gave me detailed transportation directions to the LaGuardia airport from Jersey. SO. I showered, changed and packed and was out the door in an hour and off to conquer the NJ & NY transit system on my own (kinda)...
So I did real good at first. I took the PATH train to 33rd and I remembered being in that same station yesterday so I remembered that the subways station is also down there so I just followed signs and found it and new that I had to take either the N or the W subway to Astoria Blvd. Cool.
Found it. i get on it. It sucks to be so smart sometimes... or arrogant.. cause when I started feeling like I shoulda been there by now and recognized some subway stops from last week in new york... I kinda thought maybe I should get up and look at the map... but no... i would feel foolish... so I stay on the friggin subway until they yell last stop... and im almost in coney island. TOTALLY opposite of where i needed to be. but NO worries because I still have 2 hours to get to the airport. cool. so I get off kinda confused of what I did... go up the stairs and realize that DANG I went downtown instead of uptown. DUH. I didnt even think of that before. So I got on the right W train and went uptown and got off on the Astoria Blvd exit and then took the M-60 to LaGuardia...

you think my day ended there? no.

So the bus lady says Delta so I get off the bus... but somehow im in the American Airlines terminal and feel like an imposter or a spy cause im in full Delta uniform. (im sure i made all this up in my head but i swear I could feel peoples wonderings about why i was there)... so THEN I ask a TSA lady and she was so nice and helped me get to the Delta terminal by telling me to get on the B bus... so I did. I went passed security and went to where my little ny book told me to go. I get there. I dont have the password to get in. EFF! So I call the inflight service people and they send someone up to get me. So the lady comes to get me. I go downstairs and find where i go and then ask a lady where i should sign in. Well she was rude and grunted at the computers across the wall. So I try to sign in and it tells me im in the wrong terminal. SERIOUSLY? It's not even noon at this point and my day sucks.... but honestly I was ok... cause I still had like 15 minutes to sign in and I felt like I conquered the whole city. but im not gonna lie... when the computer said i was at the wrong terminal i almost cried and laughed at the irony at the same time.

So.

I asked the rude flight attendant where the crap i was supposed to go to get on this Boston bound shuttle... and she grunted at me to find a manager. BiAtch.
so the very nice manager signs me in over the phone gets me directions to the Marina terminal on the A bus. cool.

So I meet another flight attendant on the A train who I just decide to follow since I assume she knows where she is goin and that is much faster than tryin to discover LaGuardia blindly. So I follow her without tellin her im new. cause I feel like a dummy for not knowin anything.

she sees me lookin around everywhere and finds out on her own that im a new hire. but she was sooo nice. I get all the way down to the Marina Terminal's crew lounge and my crew had apparently already briefed. So I trek BACK upstairs with a heavy bag (why there are no elevators when they know we carry heavy bags, I will never know) .... I get to the gate and introduce myself to my crew. they have no idea who i am or why i am there.

awesome.

so my flight leader says they are over staffed so I will unofficially be deadheading... which means I get to sit down for the flight and get paid to do my nails. HECKyes! THIS is what I signed up for!
So after finally 5 hours of New York I was Boston bound.
I made some new friends and then got to Boston, grabbed some fruit and found my gate and waited for my West Palm Beach crew.
They were AWESOME!

Senior mammas to say the LEAST! They were in the top 60 senior flight attendants... lemme tell you... that means she had been flyin since the 60's... since it was mandatory for weigh in's... mandatory for green eyeshadow and false eyelashes... dang.

So they were great and I was the rule follower... (that doesnt happen often.. i know) so a guy asks me for a crown and coke before we take off and since he's not in first class i wasnt gonna give him one... but she said it was ok... so he gave me a $20 tip. i LOVE this job! he got snockered on the flight but I got like $5 more in tips... cool.
I love cash.

So I flew to west palm beach and then back to boston... uneventful really... i collected all kinds of great magazines so i will never have to buy another new magazine again. heckyes.
So no I am in Boston in a hotel with two of my favorite classmates from the H class and I ordered in pizza and we are watchin starsky and hutch while i work.
tomorrow is one flight from boston to Laguardia and then I get to see my new favorite band in new york tmorrow.. SCRATCHTRACK, check'em.

Welcome to your new job!

let’s talk about my last 2 days...
Tuesday night... 4 hours of sleep.
Wednesday morning I woke up at 6am... took a cab to the airport in Nashville...
where the driver was from ghana and invited me and my friends to come stay with his family in accra whenever we fly there. :)

then waited with a terrible cold to fly non-rev with continental which is a sky team alliance member so i can fly with them for free... and it was the only direct flight from nashville to newark.
ANYWAYS... you know those days when you wake up and you just KNOW that it was gonna be a bad day?
So the gate agents at continental call me over like 5 minutes to boarding and ask me for these documents that i didn’t know i was supposed to have..
and told me that i needed to go back through security and get them and come back. so there was no making that flight. I had choice words for them.

i went back to the delta concourse and the lady was as confused as i was about these mystery documents... so she booked me on a jumpseat from nashville to atlanta and atlanta to newark... nicest lady ever.
so i go to atlanta and the flight attendant on that flight was one of my fellow classmates... his very first flight. ironic. i slept like 5 minutes.
then i run to make my next flight and made some new friends on the flight and slept some more and had some crackers which was the first thing i had eaten in 24 hours cause all i had was $25 in my pocket and that was gonna be for transporting to the airport and to my friends house in jersey... well...
my sister is amazing and wired me money to the newark airport ... so i could eat and get around. nice.

SO. I get to Newark, change clothes, get the money, im now sweating and tired and irritable cause i havnt eaten or had a good sleep and only half the challenge is complete because now i have to get to my friends house in jersey...

ive never been to jersey.
ive never ridden a train.
check. check.

i got a little lost and had to turn around and finally got to my friends house at around 8 or 9 and got some delicious chinese food.
at this point all i knew is that i was on call starting at midnight and that i needed to check my schedule at 8pm. so I got to the house and checked and low and behold delta hates me because they scheduled me to be on standby at JFK at 5:30am in the morning until 10:30am... which means i just sit there until they decide to use me. So the next hour or so my friend calls and makes a route for me which means we have to leave his house at 2:45 am to catch the train to catch the shuttle.
at about 10pm i shower, get everything ready and finally get to sleep at 11 with alarms set for 2am.
Meanwhile my little angel friend steamed my uniform and shined my shoes, brought me cough medicine cause i couldnt sleep and even took me on the train at 3am and dropped me all the way to the shuttle. i seriously dont know what i would have done without him.

so 2 subway rats and a hot chocolate late i barely make it to the sign it at 5:30am. NO one was there... it was like the rapture happened and I didnt get the memo.

but as long as i was signed in i was in the clear. so i just sat in a chair and waited and fell asleep in my chair. people came in and out to sleep and snorers and talkers and then came the shushers.. but i just waited... 10:30am and i didnt get called out... so I signed out and got clearance to leave and made my trek back to jersey with detailed step by step instructions from my friend and i made it. with food in my belly and myspace work almost done... i’m gonna take a nap until 8pm and check my little schedule again and then pray there is nothing on it so i can sleep some more.
so! my body hurts and im tired but i have had quite some adventures.
naptime. see you around. xxoo

Week FOUR!!!

I’m getting closer to the end... THANK the LORD!
I have a test today and a mid-term tomorrow... after my flight Saturday night I feel completely confident. Our flight was one of the lucky ones that actually got to leave the airport... some of my classmates have to reschedule until Tuesday... others almost had to use their emergency evacuation procedures... Our flight was delayed 3 hours and we had to sit in the airplane while hail hit the plane and while we got drilled by our OE instructor... I have never sweat so much. (is that TMI?)

We all passed our tests and we took turns helping out in the plane... I did first class on the way to Dallas... It baffles me why people pay soo much for first class on such a short trip. so weird. ANYWAYS... then we had a 20 minute layover in Dallas which consisted of us cussing at the food court places in our heads because everything was closed and we were huuungry... I’m so sick of eating vending machine food for lunch & dinner. So pretzels and snickers for dinner again... I worked coach on the way back and one girl read the safety demo while we did the presentation but the funnies thing ever... where I almost peed my pants in front of 150 passengers was when she went to go sit on the jumpseat to read... she pulled down the seat but not quite enough so it snapped back up making a loud noise while she fell on the floor. DANG. It was so funny... I was impressed cause she laughed and composed herself enough to get back up and read the demo. wow. We got back to Atlanta around midnight. WHEW.

Sunday I slept in off and on until about 3... glorious. I finally got to talk to my mom... who sounded great! My little sister and her boyfriend are there now and got there safely. My mom had her surgery last week and just now can stand on her feet but only with crutches... they are gonna watch her for 2 weeks and then see about operating the other leg. I pray this works... cause she is so active and she is way too young to not be able to walk. So your prayers are much appreciated for her recovery and her second surgery.

Like I said before... I was so tired of eating vending machine food that I finally had to con the class player into buying me dinner... steak and baked potatoes never tasted so good. Then headed over to my other place where I conned my friend at the local restaurant/pub into dessert... I’m so happy to be a girl... hey and don’t judge... hunger makes you do crazy things :)
So I was sitting at the bar with dessert and studying my flashcards for city codes... and freaking pilots just never quit... no matter how old they are... eww. So this one sits next to me and kinda makes fun of me for thinking the city codes are hard. Basically he kinda told me I was dumb. I know only about half of the 200 and something codes... so he asked me to test him... hell if he didnt know even one of them. JERK. That made me smile inside. Who in the world would know that NRT was for TOKYO or YYZ for Toronto?

My classmates have lost their minds when it comes to graduation tickets... I don’t need mine cause I didnt invite anyone... so I put mine up for grabs... bad idea. They’ve actually compared graduation tickets to food and water rations. These people are WEIRD. So I promised one ticket to one girl so her kids can both come... and all of a sudden I have one friend who said he wants to come from Nashville to see me graduate... so maaaaybe I will have someone there... I really don’t care... I just want someone to take pictures so I can send them to my parents. They are truly acting like they just graduated from Harvard... its a six week flight attendant program people! Yeah, its hard... but not enough to fly in people to see it! Crazy.

anyways... I have a test in a couple hours... pray i do good cause I need to bring up my average after my last city codes test. Peace out homies!

xxoo

Training Day Three

Current mood: accomplished
Yesterday was a 12 hour day... not including the 2 hours spent working on myspaces prior to that. Perk Place is going to be my favorite part of the day, no doubt. Their playlist matches my itunes... minus the booty droppin hot playlist.... sigur ros is playing now. lovely.

Today is my first test. I'm not worried... and as I say that all the nerves in my body tense up and I can't feel my left arm.... heart attack?
We've already lost a few students... leaving at lunch and never came back. Wonder how many of us will graduate. I had a talk at lunch with some girls that are a few weeks ahead of me in training. They were so nice and encouraging. We sat in 4 or 5 different airplanes yesterday and played with emergency exits... those doors aren't little and they sure as heck aren't light... I'm a little girl... I'm gonna have to start pumping iron. I really thought I was stronger... whew.

I made some friends yesterday and after starving for 14 hours finally made it over to ruby tuesday for a well deserved margarita and a real meal. Salads at the speedline just aren't gonna cut it for me. I think I am making more friends since I have a car and most people here don't. haha

I found out yesterday that my friend from Texas that moved to Tennessee is now moving to NYC around the same time as me... I'm trying my best to convince my friend, Lena, to move with me as well... We can all share a Uhaul and drive up together... I'm NOT driving a Uhaul into the city. I can't wait to sell my car and get started.

Next week is Emergency Training Week... CPR, Immunizations, Evacuations Procedures and hell if I know what else. It's supposed to be your hardest week. It hit alot of us yesterday that we aren't just joining a cool job... we are in charge of saving peoples lives, dealing with puke, jerks, urinating children... and doing it with 21st century grace. Flight attendants are the epitome of a "lady"... in appearance and mannerisms. But surprisingly enough it's actually coming natural to me. Who knew there was a lady underneath it all? :) I'm actually waking up with energy at 5:30 in the morning and excited to do my hair and make up for 40 minutes... and wear a skirt, hose and heals. I look amazing! haha Sure its the first week and I will probably be so over this by Tuesday next week. Ha!

I picked up a new myspace management client and a new design client. I will give you more information soon. I can't wait until the 14th & 15th... Sterling Y is coming to GA and I will be in desperate need of RocknRoll and cute boys.
OH... which brings me to the MOST asked question by my friends and family.... NO. not all male flight attendants are gay. I saw one guy show up in a suit and tie the first day with tennis shoes on... no way a gay man would ever make that faux paux. There are about 1/3 male flight attendants and maybe out of that 1/4 are obviously gay. I'm really not sure why people think you must a gay if you are a a male flight attendant... it's a great job... why wouldnt EVERYONE want to do it?

Tomorrow I get fitted for uniform and put in my order... the uniforms are HOT. I get a $400 starting allowance and then another $150 to spend in September. I love clothing allowances. :)

Anyways... keep me in your prayers. Love Love Love--- See you soon. JulieK

Thursday, February 07, 2008

*I'm starting by posting old blogs from other social sites so everyone can catch up. These are oldies but goodies. :) Enjoy!


I’m moving again!!!
Nashville is great... but I've been here over a year... I'm ready for a change... (you know me) =)
so yesterday I had an interview with the airlines in Atlanta.... and out of 50,000 applicants I happened to be chosen for the face to face interview... and out of 100 people yesterday morning at the face to face... I was one of the 17 that made it! I feel like the winner of American Idol!

SO... no, I am not moving to atlanta... (i'd rather go back to texas, no offense georgia)... I will be in atlanta for a month and a half for training but then I will be off to NEW YORK! Oh glorious day! Not sure any exact dates... or anything but I will keep you posted... I will probably be moving withing the next 2 months... and I will be needing to sell my little mustang... and probably rent out my little apartment until my friend takes over the lease in the summer.

I'm so freaking excited! For some people flight attendant jobs would keep you from your family... for me it will bring me closer to them since they are spread out all over the world! It will also help my traveling bug, and my home-sickness, wherever home might be. :) Delta flies to Chile so I'm sure I will get to go back there frequently to see my parents...

I will still be doing myspace work... so fret not my dear loving clients... I will still be your myspace empress. :)

I've been dreaming of the day when I get to give my 2 weeks notice to my horrible boss lady... the time is soon... sweet day.

xxoo
-juliekristine!