Friday John and I sat with our boss, David, at the Corporate Office while he showed us things specific to our job. It was a really productive day! On the way out, I snapped this picture of the fountain in front of the office.
Then we got to the airport and our flight to Atlanta was significantly delayed - like to the point I'd miss my flight to Seattle. So we all got on the wait list for an earlier flight. Which we didn't get on. There were over 95 people on that wait list!! Finally we got on our plane - I sat next to David - they closed the door then announced that Atlanta had shut down all flights coming in for two hours because of a rain storm. Off the plane. Had dinner. Back on the plane. Fly to Atlanta. Late.
My flight for Seattle had taken off on time. One and a half hours prior. So I got in line for customer service. There were FOUR HUNDRED people ahead of me. All told, some 1500-1600 people missed their flights, but they were spread out amongst the other terminals and cs desks. I got in the line at 11:15 pm on Friday night, stuck my iPhone in the air and snapped this picture. And we crawled forward. Between 2:00 am and 3:00 am, we moved less than 20 feet. At 3:00 am, a supervisor FINALLY came to terminal B and started barking into his phone. Shortly thereafter, we went from 2 Delta reps to 10 Delta reps. FINALLY we could do more than shuffle forward every 10-15 minutes.
I was confirmed on a flight that left at 9:30 pm the next night. Sunday night. Fortunately, I was also put on a rolling wait list for each flight prior to that. I laid down on the hard floor - and it was not good sleep. Because every five minutes, some HOMELAND SECURITY announcement would come blaring out the speakers at a much higher volume. So I downloaded an app to the iPhone that was "white noise", plugged in the headphones and listened to a waterfall. My back still hurts on the lower left side from that experience. I got maybe an hour sleep.
Did not get on the 8:30 am flight. Then for the 10:15 am flight, after they did the final boarding call, there were four empty seats and I was number five. I about got up to shuffle down to the 1:00 pm flight terminal when they called my name! One of the four that got called no showed! Woohoo! At about 2:00 pm Pacific time, I pulled into our town exhausted. 24.5 hours after I left the Corporate Office for the Fort Lauderdale airport.
I slept for around 15 hours Saturday night.
My sister tells me that soon Alaska airlines will start non-stop flights to Atlanta and I am thrilled. YAY! An airline I like! And if I have to go to Fort Lauderdale again? I'll fly to Miami direct via Alaska Air and drive the extra 20-30 miles.
After work today, I weeded. First with the machete on the blackberry invaders. Then I used the weed eater on the strawberry and weed patch below our fruit trees. I got messy!
Lydia! "Dad, stop taking pictures of me!"
After a day of conferencing, we had a group outing at a cool bowling alley called 10-pin, I think. This is a picture of the shoe rack. I liked the way the light came in.
And here is a picture of Shawn bowling. He's one of the bowling studs and studettes that were there. I didn't bowl that great, but I had fun!
The family went to Remlinger farms today and had a blast. You pay a flat cover fee then can ride as many rides as you want. Plus, being a farm, Jill brought home a nice huge watermelon :)
Afterwards, Jill stopped and smelled the roses.
We worked hard on the playset area today. It took me about half the day just to get the site final prepped and weed blocked. Then I began working with the kids, teaching them how to do it. Here is Maranda emptying the wheelbarrow. Eventually Maranda took over primary duties of filling it from the bag and wheeling it back! Alexander and Lydia smoothed it out while Lydia hunted for any steel wires that might have slipped through the shredding of the tires. Until Maranda took over, I did the initial bag removal:
My flight for Seattle had taken off on time. One and a half hours prior. So I got in line for customer service. There were FOUR HUNDRED people ahead of me. All told, some 1500-1600 people missed their flights, but they were spread out amongst the other terminals and cs desks. I got in the line at 11:15 pm on Friday night, stuck my iPhone in the air and snapped this picture. And we crawled forward. Between 2:00 am and 3:00 am, we moved less than 20 feet. At 3:00 am, a supervisor FINALLY came to terminal B and started barking into his phone. Shortly thereafter, we went from 2 Delta reps to 10 Delta reps. FINALLY we could do more than shuffle forward every 10-15 minutes. 
A rather intense day of formal "New Hire" training followed by a party.
After the training we had a tour of the corporate office by the incredibly energetic Viv and we got to meet the CFO, Scott Scherr, and the COO, Marc Scherr. We then had a dinner at a local delicious restaurant called Capriccio's that had very possibly the best tortellini I've ever tasted. There was some Karaoke. :) Fortunately for all attendee's, I did not sing.
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