Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Things I Wish Everyone Knew: Air Travel Edition

(This has nothing to do with Disneyland. Unfortunately, I haven't been in about a year- my longest dry-streak yet. Maybe after this little girl gets here, I'll take her sometime.)

There's nothing like spending a few minutes on facebook to remind me how "judgy" and self-righteous I can be. When I'm feeling especially annoyed at people's lack of understanding of basic grammar rules, sometimes I compose a mental list entitled "Things I Wish Everyone Knew." I'm always too afraid to actually write and post these lists because they will expose me as the judgmental person I am. But, here goes anyways. I'm going to avoid grammar for now in the hopes of offending less people.

Things I Wish Everyone Knew: Air Travel Edition

  1. Flying is NOT a right. Nowhere in the constitution does it mention an inalienable right to convenient travel by air. You have no more right to fly than you do to buy a burger at McDonald's. Flying is a privilege. Airlines are businesses and as such, can chose to provide you service or not. It does not matter if you flew a week ago, or your sister flew two days ago, or your cousin's neighbor's doctor's friend's dog flew an hour ago, or if you once heard about someone who heard about someone else who flew. You still have no RIGHT to fly. (Can you tell it drives me crazy when people complain about their "God-given right" to fly?)
  2. Checking luggage is taking a calculated risk. You are choosing to put your possessions in the hands of someone else and hope that it gets there the same way you sent it and at the same time as you. Airlines rarely lose or misplace baggage, but it can (and sometimes does) happen. Your ticket, buddy pass, life savings, driver's licence, passport, and medications don't belong in checked luggage. Common sense, people.
  3. You are not the only passenger flying today. If you wear offensive clothing, try to bring your refrigerator as a carry-on, or drink a copious amount of alcohol prior to boarding, you might have an issue getting on the flight.
  4. CSAs (Customer Service Agents) cannot tell your child's age by merely looking at them. It doesn't matter if your child is an hour old, the airline will still ask you for your birth certificate if you want them to travel for free. Before you complain, please refer to #1. (Also, when there are multiple announcements saying that your flight is completely full, please don't keep your lap-child in a seat and act as though they can't possibly be referring to you.)
  5. Airline employees are not weather Gods. Your whining, screaming, shouting, and general temper-tantrum-ing will not change the fact that your flight is grounded or weather-delayed. Additionally, just because it's sunny and clear in PHX, doesn't mean your flight cannot be weather delayed. Let's keep in mind the fact that your plane might be coming from New York, where it might be snowing.
  6. If you show up 30 minutes before your flight and you miss it, you are at fault. When the airline offers to let you be on the standby list for a flight 4 hours later, you should smile and graciously accept their more than generous offer. This is like you missing a movie you pre-paid for and the movie theater saying, "We'd be happy to let you in the next showing at no additional charge if there is room available." It's an act of generosity on their part.
  7. The seats at the back of the airplane get you there at the same time as the seats at the front of the plane. You don't have to fight to sit in the front. It's okay to sit somewhere else.
  8. Overhead bins are for large carry-on items, not your shopping bag or sweater. It's selfish of you to put all your worldly possessions in the bin. That's what the space under the seat is for. Please refer to #3.
  9. TSA stands for Thousands Standing Around. Yes, they are annoying. Yes, it is a nuisance. No, it's not fun or convenient or easy. Regardless, you will still need to be screened. You will still need to remove your shoes and jacket. You will still have to take your laptop and liquids out. Just deal with it. Please refer to #1.
  10. Southwest is the best airline. :)
Preachy enough for you? Thanks for humoring me and allowing me to self-righteously express my thoughts. I'm sure I have more pet-peeves than this, but I'm sick of typing for now.

Sunday, July 24, 2011

Simple Act of Service

Most of my summer break has been spent getting ready for the upcoming school year. School is pretty much all I know how to do. It is what I eat, breath, and sleep.

A large portion of this prep work has been creating file folder games. Dozens and dozens of them. They take FOREVER.

I'm going to start working in my classroom this week, so I made a goal to finish my file folder games by today. It was a lofty and pretty unrealistic goal. I finished coloring everything yesterday, but I still had a rather hefty stack of papers that needed to be cut and glued. Imagine my surprise when I woke up this morning to more than half of the work completed by my sweet husband who stayed up till who knows how late just to help me out. Suddenly my goal is not so lofty and unrealistic.

It's the little things in life that let us know we are loved. :) I'm grateful for a man in my life who cares so deeply about me, who gives with no expectations of anything in return, who sacrifices his own time just to see me smile. I love you, Nathan!

Friday, June 10, 2011

As long as I'm drafting...

Adventures

It seems like everyone I know is going on adventures. Cruises. Disneyland. Disney World. Kauai. California. New York. Utah. Road trips. Movies. Hikes. Pine.

And I am S.T.I.R. C.R.A.Z.Y.

I need to travel. I NEED to go somewhere.

Now, please.

Preferably a cruise. To the Bahamas. To Nassau. To Atlantis.

Also. Alaska.

And Disney World.

And Disneyland. Ariel and Star Tours have been calling my name since the 3rd.

And Scottsdale resorts. Like the Montelucia.

Can we go yet? Please? Now? NOW?!

Blogging Obsession

I often construct blog posts in my head. Often. Almost everything that happens in my day-to-day life causes an automatic mental status update or blog post. Today, for example, I mentally blogged about the power of friendship, the importance of a team, the difference one person can make in your life, how much things can change in the span of one year, how true friends are sometimes more excited for your accomplishments than even you, and most importantly about the power of prayer. Today I had some awesome things happen and some amazing people share in my joy. And it's funny to me that in the world we live in, we can immediately post, text, email, call... spreading good news has never been so easy. And yet, aside from texting my closest friends and posting a semi-cryptic status update, I mostly kept my news to myself. This happens frequently. Something amazing or sad or funny or cute or ironic or awesome happens. And I instantly think about how I can share it through this wonderful social media-crazed society. And status updates are carefully worded and thought out in my head. And blog posts are wordlessly drafted. About 0.10% of my thoughts actually get posted as status updates (which I'm sure my facebook friends can be grateful for. No one needs to know every second of my life.) And about 0.001% of these thoughts make it to the blogosphere.

However small my presence in the blogging world appears, I actually am slightly obsessed with blogs, more particularly with bloggers themselves. The authors of the blogs I read basically fall into two categories, which I have made up for the convenience of this post. One group is people who write newsletters. Post pictures of family events. Birthdays, holidays, baby's firsts, rainy day fun... The other group of bloggers write about their thoughts. They put it all out there: the good, the bad, the shocking, the controversial, the judgemental, the happy, the conceited, the miserable.... anything goes.

I love both types of blogs. I love living vicariously through people's everyday adventures. Newsletter-type bloggers seem to find the joy and beauty in everyday events that others would find monotonous or dull. Emotional bloggers lay it all out on the line. I feel like they are letting me sneak a peak at their personal diary. And I'm hooked.

I think these people have something I don't. They see the joy in everyday things. They are brave and sincere and open and honest. They let the whole world in on their secrets. Just a few taps and clicks on the keyboard and a click of the almighty publish button and just like that...pop... it's up for the whole world. I wonder sometimes, aren't they afraid? Aren't they scared to let people see?

Bloggers who gush about their perfect house and their perfect husbands and their perfect kids.
Bloggers who confess random, sometimes embarrassing facts.
Bloggers who write about their amazing vacations AND their trips to the ER and AND their daily, uneventful walks to the park.
Bloggers who talk about the changes they wish. For themselves. And in themselves.
Bloggers who can't construct a sentence or spell check to save their lives. (I realize I often fall into this category myself.)

I envy these people. Because they won't think twice about pushing publish. Because they don't edit and delete and clip out parts until their post doesn't exist.

Because 99.999% of my posts get clipped and edited and filtered and saved as a draft (mental or physical) until they become nothing more than, "Today was a good day." "Today was..." "Today."

Because today I won't post this. Because tomorrow I'll remember why I'm not brave like them. Why I envy them. Why I have blogging obsession-itis.

But meanwhile, I'll keep reading. And respecting. And envying.

And saving as drafts.

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Top Ten...

Places I Want to Re-Visit Right Now

In no particular order.










Can you guess any of these amazing locations?

* I can't shrink any of the pictures. :( If you click on the photo, it goes full-size. It also usually has the name of the place in the URL so if you are guessing, don't cheat! :)


Wednesday, February 16, 2011

2010 Year in Review: March

I had an idea to start this post off in the following way:

Silly, teacher! Blogs are for people with time on their hands!

Then I realized that most of the blogs I follow are written by moms, people who work full time, pregnant women, etc. It's true that I'm in up to my ears in things to do, but somehow these amazing women (okay, and a few men too) find time to blog. I just haven't (and probably won't if we're being honest) made it a priority. It goes without saying that this post is long overdue, but truthfully, I'm surprised I at least made it to February before the Kindergarten tidal wave came rolling back in on my life.

Tonight, "lucky" readers, you get to take advantage of my lack of motivation to complete my homework for my SEI 45 class. Procrastination: 1 Emily: 0.

So back on topic...

March. I honestly have no clue what I did in March. Allow me to consult my photo library and I'll be back shortly.

Evidently, March was a month of randomness filled with super inexpensive dates. Fun. :) Cue the photographic evidence of our simple, awesome lives:


On a GORGEOUS Saturday, we went to one of Nate's mission buddy's rugby games. It was really interesting, but I had no clue what was going on. My wonderful public education never included rugby rules.

Inexpensive (aka free) Date Night: Game Night- Cities and Knights

Bowling with friends

More fun with friends: Ugly outfit night (Nate's was complete with lovely pit stains... Thank you missionaries of Cleveland, Ohio)
Inexpensive Date Night: Painting random pictures? Not sure why exactly we chose this, but we did have fun.
Hiking at Peralta (my personal fave)





Fun with family: Bowling and arcade games

Justin
Anna
Les and Nate

Hopefully I'll get to April before next year. :) Love ya'll.

You're welcome, Mom. ;)

Saturday, January 1, 2011

2010 Year in Review: February

Happy New Year!

In February, Nate and I spent Valentine's Day together. :) At the time, Nate was looking for a job and I was working for a preschool at an hourly wage. Being on a smaller budget just made Valentine's Day more fun. I can home after a long day of work to find Nate waiting for me in a suit. He had decorated the dining room. We had a nice dinner and danced in the living room.
In February, I also went to Disneyland with my family. We had a great time with lighter crowds. I got to visit my BFF, Morgan who now works at Disneyland.


Hidden Mickeys