I thought they put a law in place,,,,

Hello People! How are you all doing? I hope this blog finds you well and that you are safe and most of all WARM! It is still snowing here and we are almost into March...freakin' groundhog seeing his shadow! I am so looking forward to SPRING!!!!

SO what has everybody been up to? I know this weather has been CRAZY for everyone in these United States, it doesn't matter where you live it is hitting us all...

I just came back from a trip to the southeast coast over in Florida! Daytona 500 it is a must see in person. The track is old and they don't have vendors walking up and down the isles like they do in Phoenix and Vegas BUT it is a nice track! Also you can BYOB in Daytona which I have never seen at any track before. ANYWAY....

the trip started out WRONG which should of been a clue then of what was to come. We flew out on US Airways and on the flight back we flew on United. TALK ABOUT ATTITUDE! Their so called customer service reps (ticket agents and gate people) are remarkable! Trust me that is sarcasm....they act like they are doing you a favor by allowing you to fly on there airline. NOT! United airlines policy is and I quote "we sell out the back of the plane first then we start moving forward and increase the price of the ticket." Gary and I had two different seats on the first part of the flight back and a layover in Denver...we asked if we could get different seats together, preferably isle seats, and close to each other since we were six (6) rows apart AND stuck in the middle. The 'ticket agent' said 'yes I can put you two together for an additional $49.00 each. See we have seats that have better leg room that you can purchase for an additional $49.00 each..." I know it was early in the morning but apparently she had been sipping on gin and juice if she thought that was actually a viable option! She said it with a straight face and a smile too...yeah she was seriously demented if she thought we were going to pay additional money on top of what we had already paid to fly in the first place, PLUS the $40.00 bucks they charged us to put our luggage on the plane! Who flies without luggage? SERIOUSLY! Then she says we could check at the gate and see if they showed anything different BUT the flight was full. I said what we can do is choose not to fly your airline again!!! She said well yes you do have a choice and I said yes and I choose not to fly with you again! I am sure that she put a flag on our names because little Miss Sunshine at the gate was SO helpful...she said she would put our names on a list and call if something changed. THEN she proceeded to call every stand-by person she could find (I think she even went out and was recruiting people waiting at other gates) and put them on the plane AND if they were a couple guess what???? YUP they were seated together in better seats! Yeah believe me when I say DO NOT FLY UNITED AIRLINES! THEN of course if you want to eat or drink on their airline it is also an additional costs and they take credit cards only! All I can say is that I am thankful that happened on the way home 'cause seriously! That is no way to start a vacation!!! It is no way to end a vacation either but they pretty much have you by the proverbial nuts at that point. You know what I mean?!

BUT speaking of the start of the vacation...we flew out on US Airways...what a lovely airline! NOT! We get to the airport and I have on 'layers' of clothes...so we stand in line for the security people and they are just a joy aren't they?! Yeah right! As I go to walk through the metal detector machine they tell me I have to take off my sweatshirt. WTF?! My choices were to either, take off the sweatshirt or, be patted down by one of the TSA agents. Well that just sounds like LOADS OF FUN doesn't it?! SO I am standing in the middle of the airport trying to take off my sweatshirt without my undershirt coming up with it. JOY and RAPTURE! I walk through the detector collect ALL my clothes, shoes, purse, etc. and then we start off for the gate. We get there just before they start loading so we don't get anything to eat or drink. We get on the plane and there is some kind of trouble with the computer or something so even though we are ON the plane we are not going anywhere. We wait..and we wait...and we wait...a half hour goes bye-bye...then an hour...still waiting....and I am thinking didn't they put a law in place that says they are not allowed to keep you on a plane for an indefinite amount of time? TWO HOURS LATER we finally get pushed back from the gate to start the flight. After we take off the charming waitresses...I mean stewardesses start coming through with the beverages and 'food'. WELL they had drinks anyway...you know how they start at the front of the plane and work their way back??? Well they got to about the middle of the plane and THEY RAN OUT OF FOOD! Can you say riot?! There was about to be one one that plane. I asked the waitress/stewardess, whatever, how is it possible for the to be out of food when we just took off and you have only gotten to half the plane? As I was asking her this question the lady next to me and the man behind me are yelling over me at the waitress/stewardess and she has her head down and is trying to explain. She says, "I am really sorry about this but we don't usually put food on the plane to equal the passengers we put a percentage based on the passengers...I am sorry." I said are kidding me, you have a FULL FLIGHT and you don't put food on the plane to feed each passenger, especially AFTER WE HAVE BEEN SITTING ON HERE FOR TWO HOURS! You had plenty of time to get more food put on the plane based on the SITUATION forget about the percentage! "I know I am sorry and I am doing the best I can we have never had this happen before, I am shaking...." Gee I guess we should feel sorry for her...but that is not the sentiment of the people on the plane... especially the man behind me with the wife and three (3) kids! Oh did I mention that US Airways charged us $54.00 to put our luggage on the plane? Yeah they did!

Since we sat on the tarmac for TWO (2) hours that made our flight get into Orlando two hours late which meant we missed our shuttle and gave my friend two more hours of drinking ,which of course made her unable to drive, which costs us an additional $35.00 to be taken from Daytona to New Smyrna Beach....I hate US Airways and UNITED! Seriously they suck!

BUT the bright spot of the whole thing....Jr. came in second and he came out of nowhere! It was GREAT! AND they did have some crashes..nobody went end over end or upside down but there were some pile ups, which is why most people go to the races anyway!!!:P)

See ya when I see ya!

Peace! Mattie

Funny how you think you have it bad....

Hello People! Long time no 'see'... how is every little thing with you? I hope this blog finds you well as can be in your circumstance. I must admit I could complain, actually I have tried to complain but every time I do that I always find out that my complaints fail in comparison to someone else.

It's funny how when you think you have it bad you find out someone else has it worst. What is that saying misery loves company? I seriously doubt it! Whether it's a little worst or a lot worst, someone else is always worst off than you thought you were. I was thinking "oh poor me, I don't have a job or money, blah blah blah"! My violin was getting a lot of use, if you know what I mean... THEN I heard about a friend whose house was broken into and their belongings stolen including Christmas gifts...can you imagine the trauma of that? You wake up thinking this is going to be a good day. You go off to do your daily routine and then you come home...a place you once felt safe and secure in...and find your door has been broken open...your things are missing! Someone has been in your house while you were not there and they have gone through your things your personal, private things....what did they do while they were in there? How long were they in there? Did anybody see them in there? What did they touch while they were in there? What else did they do beside take all they could carry? Security is now luxury you don't have it is a thing of the past and you try to fend off paranoia. WHAT'S THAT? WHO'S THERE?! Crazy its just the wind blowing and your cat moving around stealth like in the middle of the night as they usually do. But your mind plays tricks on you now every sound is magnified every shadow is the 'robbers' coming back for more...will you be able to truly rest in this house anymore? It is a house now...no longer feels like a home in the true sense of the word now does it? Will your stolen stuff be found...probably not.... BUT your one consolation here is that neither you nor your family members were home so no one was hurt or worst. Property can be replaced, the uneasy feeling you have will eventually subside and life will go on as 'normal'. AND yes although things seem bad for you believe it or not someone else has it worst. Sad isn't it, that even in this circumstance there is someone else who has it worst than you!

I was feeling sorry for myself about being unemployed and not being able to shop when I want to and pay ridiculous prices for sunglasses or shoes 'just cause'...but in the grand scheme of things compared to my friend and others who not only are unemployed but also homeless and hungry...my situation??? Is that really something to feel sorry about?

See ya when I see ya!

Peace! Mattie