So I Married A Mailman....

....and therefore I enjoy taking pics of post offices and mailboxes. 

And as an AFWingMom I've had the opportunity to capture these pics...

Lackland AFB Post Office, San Antonio TX

The Sheppard AFB Post Office, Wichita Falls TX

And on my many travels I've been able to snap these lovely photos...

San Antonio TX PO

Hebron Nebraska PO

Wichita Falls, TX PO

Wall, South Dakota PO

Rapid City, SD PO

Some mailbox pictures...

Post Office and mail truck from back in the day...

Here's a close up of the hottie running the Post Office window.

~M~ has been a mailman for 26 years and is a city carrier.  He likes what he does and he's good at his job.  All his patrons love him. 

Anytime I see a Post Office or a mail truck I think of my husband and smile.  :) 

Technorati Tags: Post Office,Mailman,mail truck,Lackland,Wichita Falls,Sheppard,Hebron Nebraska,Rapid City,SD,South Dakota,AFWingMom,Wall,travel

It's A Wrap

The Price Is Right Adventure....conclusion.

After the taping of The Price Is Right we took one last look at our wonderful camping spot.

It sure looked different in the daylight.

And made sure to get a shot of a palm tree lined street before heading back to the hotel.

We dropped off our t-shirts and other souvenirs' that we bought from the micro-mini gift shop and headed off for some much needed nourishment.  Our parents had found a fabulous place called Rodeo Mexican Grill.  It was pretty much super awesome and they have very generous dinner portions at great prices. 

Now that our bellies were full we headed back to our hotel where we all crashed.  To say we were tired would be a grand understatement.  We were exhausted and ready for a great night's sleep. 

We woke up the next morning refreshed and revived and ready to head back home to Dallas.  On the flight from LAX to ELP we were by ourselves, no one on the rows around us.  That's just fine and dandy with us although we really enjoy meeting new people.  Carson was our flight attendant on our flights home.  He is based out of Houston.  We were taking a look around the plane and a lady a few rows back had taken her shoes off and put her funky shoeless feet in between the seats.  Anyone else think feet are nasty?  I do.

We told Carson that it was our parents' 40th wedding anniversary and he said they would make an announcement when we started our descent into Dallas.  We thought that was pretty cool.

Also on the way we had to deal with hacking/coughing man.  It seriously sounded like he was trying to dislodge a small cow or something from his left lung.  Another lady was eating something on a paper plate.  Seriously.  When we landed in ELP we were allowed to change seats after everyone that was getting off had gotten off.  The paper plate lady wanted to move.  She then (with the help of an attendant) moved one row up.  That's right, ONE ROW!  And whatever she was eating apparently some of it was left behind in her previous seat because the attendant was stuck cleaning it up.  GROSS!  Clean up your own mess paper plate lady!!

Gina was in line for the bathroom during our brief layover.  She is waiting patiently in line as she normally does.  An older, shorter gentleman pushes her out of the way to get in line ahead of her.  Uh, no you didn't!  But yeah, he did.  Melinda (another flight attendant) saw this and said to Carson, "This lady (pointing to Gina) was in line for the bathroom first" and then says to Gina, "You go stand up there" and helps her get up to the bathroom.  Not that Gina is helpless or couldn't stand up for herself.  She is patient after all but it was cool that they didn't allow cutting in line.

The passengers from El Paso were now beginning to board.  A man stopped by our row and said, "Anyone sitting here?"  We said, "No."  He said, "No one's sitting here?"  We said, "You are!"  Sheesh, sit down already.

So he sits down and gets out his iPod and it's playing the soundtrack fro Chicago.  It is on song 14 of 18.  He's also in the seat and leaning towards Gina like he's conversing with her or something.  Only he's not.  Just kind of in her space for the whole trip. 

He's also reading OTC Growth Stock Watch or something like that.  Anyway, he's listening to his iPod and every now and then will make these weird moaning noises.  Yeah, weird right?  We're not sure what that's all about.  He also was breathing weird.  Like every 5th breath he would blow out harder.  We don't know what was weirder, him doing that or us noticing.  It was hard to keep or composure.

Because we are really friendly and inquisitive Texans we did find out that his name was Roger and he was a retired physician who did workman's comp reviews.  He also was now listening to Gershwin Rhapsody Blue 1 of 7. 

As we were preparing for our descent Carson announced that our Mom and Dad were celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary.  Everyone clapped our parents looked really happy.  It was pretty cool, see?

All in all our TPIR adventure was really totally awesome and we just love watching (and re-watching) the tape of our show and reliving the fun and the memories. 

Technorati Tags: TPIR,The Price Is Right,AFWingMom,travel,40th wedding anniversary,Mom and Dad,Rodeo Mexican Grill,Dallas,LAX,ELP

Inside the Studio

The Price Is Right adventure continues....

Have you ever been to a taping of a TV show?  Gina and I have actually previously attended a taping of the now defunct "Mohr Sports Show".  That was during "The Great Road Trip of 2002", which, when all was said and done, ended up being a 10 day road trip with my five kids and Gina...and it was freaking awesome.  But that's another story.

Anyway, what you see on TV is not what you see in the studio.  We did not sign any confidentiality forms or anything that we know of so I feel at liberty to disclose to you, my wonderful readers, the behind the scenes look at TPIR.  We walked up several flights of stairs.  Our anticipation and excitement was building with each step.  We were getting closer, and closer and closer until.....

Uh, wow.  Not quite what we expected.  We were somewhat underwhelmed.  It was considerably smaller than you would imagine.  The chairs are like movie theater seats and the ones that are in the middle towards the back are folding chairs.  They are on a small platform.

There are different colored sheer curtains with lights behind them.  Monitors hang from the ceiling that you can watch what is going on while they are taping.  There is an "applause" sign on each side of the audience.  Up on the stage there are two cameramen behind large cameras that are on rollers and one man holding a camera.  If you look up above the stage you can see some of the signage that is used during the show as well as some of the props.

We were able to sit towards the middle and if you are looking at the audience from the stage we are on the right side.  We sat next to the large Navy group wearing our blue t-shirts that said, "WE LOVE PLINKO" on them.

The pages direct everyone to their seats and after everyone was settled the announcer, Rich Fields, comes out to warm us up.  Everyone is energized and ready for the taping to begin.  The music starts, the camera is on and the taping has started!!  WOOT!!WOOT!!

Now because the noise level is tremendous inside the studio, they write the names of the contestants on cue cards.  Well, they write the names of the first few on cards. The rest of the names you have to listen very carefully otherwise you'll look around bewildered until someone else has jumped up and you see them screaming and waving their arms as they run down to contestants row. 

If you've ever watched TPIR you may wonder why other people seem so excited when someone else's name is called.  After spending 16 or so hours overnight with someone, you build a bond.  A California friendship.  It's a brotherhood/sisterhood of sorts, an extension of your family.

Nine people are called to be a part of contestants row so our odds of being called were about 1 in 36 since there are approximately 325 people in attendance that particular day.  Between each commercial break, Bob (we're on a first name basis) talks to the audience.  Some people raise their hands to be able to ask a question.  And some of those people should have taken their medication before the opened their mouths.  One guy raised his hand and said, "I want my wife to give me a pedicure every night" or some other crazy nonsense like that.  We were all thinking....whaaaattt??

TPIR changes sets and the camera moves with such ease and agility it's pretty amazing to watch even if you don't get called.  They roll out the big wheel when it's time to spin, other pricing games are rolled smoothly from one point to another.  It's just pretty cool to watch.

We did make a pact with all of our new friends that if they were called down to contestants row, made it up to the pricing game, were one of the two contestants to make it to the showcase showdown and won.....well we were going to join them at the end on stage to celebrate. 

So that brings me to the point of my story when I need to discuss who did get called up to contestants row.  I'll end the suspense for you now.  We did not get called up.  The only person we "knew" that got called up was Seattle Bob, but we sure had high hopes to the very end.

If you don't get called as a TPIR contestant all hope is not lost!  There is a door prize given away.  On that day that we were there the winner received a TPIR DVD and a $100 in cold hard cash.  After that, the magic of the afternoon was quickly fading and it's time for everyone to leave.

By the way, don't forget to check the board that's at the front of the audience.  It lets you know when your taping will air.  Our particular show aired 4/19/07. 

My TPIR adventure will always be one of our most cherished memories.  We all had such a fantastically awesome time, met some amazing people and had a fabulous adventure.  Let me know if you've had a chance to visit TPIR!  I'd love to hear about it.

Technorati Tags: TPIR,The Price Is Right,AFWingMom,travel

I Was Benched

The Price Is Right Adventure continues...

The pages handed out these little cards that we needed to fill out in case we were called to be a contestant.  You had to fill out your legal name, social security number and address I think.

You'll be asked to prove your eligibility for the show and to do this, you'll need two pieces of identification.  We brought our driver's license and we had to bring something with our social security number on it.  Gina had brought her Social Security card and an insurance card and the rest of us just brought our licenses.  If you forget to bring something that shows your social security number you can still be called as a contestant.  You will just have to produce proof of it within thirty days of the taping. 

Seattle Bob continued to entertain everyone and there was a lot of chatting, laughing and bonding.  Our energy levels were starting to drop just a bit and then the pages began the name tag process.  We ALL got very excited again and eagerly awaited our turn.

You had to put your legal first name on the name tag and you could not write it yourself.  I asked the page to put a heart on mine but she said that she could only write the name in all caps.  The pages also tell you to attach your large contestant number to the bottom of the name tag.  Try to barely attach the number so it stays put, but won't be crazy hard to take off because eventually you remove it. 

On the row behind us sat Carlos and his wife Chanda.  You pronounce her name like panda but with a 'ch'.  At least that's what she told us.

Carlos was in the Navy and in his white dress uniform.  We told him he was a shoe-in to get on contestants row because they like military people.  The page had worked his way to Carlos.  He jokingly said, "Are you from the Love Boat?" and Carlos says, "Yes, I'm Isaac, you know, the bartender."  The page starts to write ISAAC on the nametag.  Then Carlos says, "No, my name is Carlos!  I was just playing along with your joke!"  Joseph, the page, says, "Well I am not familiar with the show."  We were thinking, then why did you try and make a joke about it?  Sheesh.

Again we sat for forever on the benches.  Finally a little after 12:00p.m. they started taking groups of people around the corner.  About this time a large group of people showed up and they were let in first.  Unfortunately for Carlos they were a large group from the Navy.  We didn't think Carlos was going to get called.  More than likely it would be someone from that group.  Darn it!

So we were thinking to ourselves, YES!!  This is it!!  At 12:40p.m. we were the next row to move and we were so excited as we rounded the corner to see.....more benches.  Are you kidding me?  This time though, we were waiting to be interviewed!  The excitement was building as we saw the rows before us being interviewed. 

The interview process began with groups of 10-12 people standing up in front of a guy that was talking to them.  There was a girl in a directors chair taking notes and every so often whispering to the guy.  We had watched the groups in front of us being interviewed so we were kind of seeing what to expect.

It was a little nerve wracking especially when it was our turn to be up there.  We were sitting on benches, waiting and hoping.  At this point in time, while trying to function on little or now sleep after being awake for nearly 33 hours, our primary goal was to just get inside the studio.  But there was still that glimmer of hope that we would be chosen as a contestant. 

Our brief "interview" consisted of the guy saying our names, asking where we were from and what we did for a living.  Even if you did practice saying something witty or unusual that would make you stand out, the reality of it all is you have very little time to impress the interviewer or clipboard girl. 

We forgot to mention that it was our parent's 40th anniversary, or that we were road trip junkies, or that we LOVE Plinko, or that....well, you get the idea.  One of the Boston Boys, this time Jared I think or maybe it was Justin, did tell the interviewer that he wanted to be a meteorologist and study the flight patterns of the African Swallow.  Not sure if that was made up or not but we thought it was funny. 

After the interview process our energy levels took a huge jump because after we were done we were headed to the studio!  WOOT!! WOOT!!  As we turned the corner we heard cheers!  This was it!  Our moment we had been waiting for!  We entered the canopied area and saw...

More benches.  That's right.  More waiting on more benches.  ::sigh::  We tried to look on the bright side.  We were that much closer to getting inside the studio so we resigned ourselves to waiting a bit longer.

I guess it was actually our lucky day because we were sitting right in front of the men's restroom.  As we were waiting this man starts to walk out and then instead of turning the corner to come out, walks into the wall.  We were wondering what he was doing.  We realized that he thought it was a good idea to fix his zipper right there in front of us.  Nice.  Oh how special is that?  If there is one memory we would want to forget, I'd say it would be that one.

Finally, at 2:00p.m. we were headed inside the studio.  FINALLY!!  We stayed together as a group, Stacy and Mark, the Boston Boys, our Mom and Dad, Gina and me.  This was it folks!!  We were going inside!!

Technorati Tags: The Price Is Right,TPIR,road trip,AFWingMom,Plinko

Worth The Wait

The Price Is Right Adventure continues...

After a long night waiting and trying to sleep, without much success, we were now ready to move along in the process.

The next step is to receive your "Order of Arrival" (OA) ticket.  They were supposed to start passing them out at 6:00a.m. and we were anxiously waiting for the line to begin moving.  We heard some excited screams and the line started slowly inching forward.  We thought it was funny and crazy that people were so excited and wouldn't you know it, that's exactly what we did when we received our OA tickets at 6:15a.m. 

We were told to return at 7:45a.m. so we "thought" we had enough time to go back to our hotel and freshen up.  If you remember, we left Dallas the morning before and so, 24 hours later, we were more than ready to shower and change.  We headed that way and soon found out we barely had time to change into our awesome "WE LOVE PLINKO" shirts (made by my brother-in-law Jarrett and his brother), drop off our bags and go to the restroom.  :::sigh::: That's the life of a road tripper. 

Well, we got back to the studio and we were ushered into the first area of benches.  One thing to keep in mind if you are planning on attending a taping is that you will be doing a lot of waiting and a lot of it will be on benches.  And when I say a lot of waiting, I mean A LOT of waiting.

We randomly sat down and waited for the next set of instructions.  Everyone is talking and feeling energized because we are one step closer to getting in the studio.  Bethany & Tayla (CBS pages) arranged us in order of our OA ticket numbers.  They then passed out our Priority Tickets and we were told to return at 10:00a.m.  Once again, we were one step closer to being inside the studio!

We left to go and eat some breakfast.  We walked down the street to a nearby restaurant.  I think it was called Duparis or something like that.  It was in the Farmer's Market and we had a wonderful breakfast.  There were a lot of people there who were also sharing our TPIR adventure. 

We had to go to the restroom while we were at breakfast and there was a man/woman on a pay phone.  I say man/woman because there is a disagreement on the actual of said person.  My Mom said you could tell it was a man because his legs were hairy.  I said there are lots of women who prefer the natural look.  Dad said that you should have been able to tell by the shoe size because men have bigger feet.  I said you and Mom wear practically the same size.

Regardless, this man/woman had some serious issues.  He/she was on the phone yelling "f-ing stupid, f-ing dumb, f-ing this and f-ing that, you are a stupid piece of sh*t Debbie.....".  It was totally mad crazy.

The whole point of me telling you this is because to get to the restroom you had to pass the man/woman.  So we left my Mom standing near the restaurant and she assured us she would not leave and we began inching our way towards the restoom and when we got close to the man/woman I shoved Gina towards the restroom in a hurry.  The thought ocurred to me that now we were in an enclosed space so if man/woman came in there and got crazy on us there wasn't much we could do about it.  He/she didn't and when we left he/she was nowhere to be found.  And neither was Mom.

Gina and I began walking around looking for Mom & Dad when we came upon the man/woman again.  He/she was in front of us and he/she was talking to his/herself and as he/she walked past an ATM machine he/she paused and said, "Wait 'til Phyllis hears about this!!" and then walked back to the pay phone and started shouting the obscenities all over again and talking about Debbie.

We headed back to the CBS studios and sat down on the benches.  Nobody was sitting in any particular order and this was odd to me.  If, when we arrived back, they let us know a general area to sit it would simplify things.  But that of course is my personal opinion.

After waiting for a bit we were organized according to our Priority Numbers.  Wouldn't it have been easier to put us in general order as we arrived?  Maybe all the moving around is a ploy to take our minds of the interminable wait.  Who knows?

Throughout our time waiting, first out on the street and now on the benches, the Boston Boys played this "hand slapping against their legs" song.  I don't know if you've heard it but we sure did.  Many, many times.  They had also seen the Lakers play and saw a taping of the Leno Show.

There is a "micro" gift shop located by the benches we were all sitting on.  It was so super tiny that at first we thought they were joking and that there must be a bigger gift shop around the corner.  There was not so we made do with what we had.  We noticed that there was some American Idol (AI) stuff in the gift shop.  Come to find out, CBS rents out space to AI.  You learn something new every day.

One of the Boston Boys, Justin, went into the gift shop.  Near the doorway there was a child sized mannequin with it's hands outstretched in front of it.  As Justin was leaving he gave the mannequin "five".  We thought that was pretty funny because you know I love a high five!

We were all in order of our Priority Numbers and now it was time to take the next step in the process.....

Technorati Tags: The Price Is Right,TPIR,CBS,American Idol,high 5

Mind Tricks and Concrete Dreams

The Price Is Right Adventure

If you are interested in attending TPIR (The Price Is Right) there are generally two tapings Monday thru Wednesday.  You have to pre-order your tickets by one of four ways, online, through the mail, pick up at the ticket booth or order by phone.  Even after receiving these tickets it does not guarantee you a seat in the studio.  I'll share more on that later.  We were going to a Tuesday taping which was at 2:30p.m.  The times for the tapings has changed since we went so check out TPIR taping for more info. 

The key is to get there early.  How early?  We got in line at 10:45p.m. on Monday night and we were at least 100 people back.  When we went in 2007 the studio was seating approximately 325.  Some people that were in front of us were 'saving' spots for friends.  Add to that any large groups (which don't have to arrive at the studio until the next morning) and you could quickly be pushed back further in line.

Now, those of us who were waiting in line were in various stages of preparedness.  Some had brought lawn chairs, blankets, etc... and others did not really have anything.  We had packed my daughters' old comforter and my folks had brought a couple of blankets as well.  My dad rented some chairs from Bagel Break (a shop across the street from the line) so we'd have somewhere to sit.  They are $5 and in the morning a couple of guys walk the line picking up all the chairs.

We were in line with some wonderful people.  We were surrounded by

Stacy and Mark from Utah

The Boston Boys

Minnesota Bonnie

and Seattle Bob

They were all super sweet and fun to be around.

Now Seattle Bob at the time, was a window washer by trade but he's also a magician.  Throughout the night and the next day he entertained everyone with his tricks. 

He asked me to visualize in my mind, the name of a friend from elementary school.  He wrote my name on one side of a piece of paper and on the other side he drew an 'X' and a line.  He asked me to write the name on the line and then turned around while I did that.  He turned back around and tore up the piece of paper into little pieces and made it disappear by shoving it into his fist.  I was amazed.

Then he asked me to visualize a giant blank movie screen and write the 1st letter of my friends name on it.  He said, "Does it start with a T?"  YES!!  He then said "I see two m's, is it Tammy?"  I said no it was Tommy.  Now I know he didn't get it exactly right but the friend that I chose was a random obscure friend so it was kind of freaky.

He asked Gina to believe that she could bend a fork with her mind.  Then he took what appeared to be an ordinary fork and asked Gina to blow on it.  As she did one of the prongs started to bend.  He had another person in line bend more prongs and twist the handle and bend it in half.  All of this was right in front of our eyes and it was really, really cool.  He let Gina and I keep a fork as a memory.  Coolness magnified.

He asked Stacy to see her watch.  He asked her what time it was and she said 12:04a.m.  He said pick a number between 1-10.  She said 9.  He put the watch in her palm and closed her hand around it.  Then he put his hands near the watch and started shaking his hands a bit and he looked like he was either constipated or concentrating really hard.  Then he asked her to look at the watch and the watch said, 11:51p.m. - 9 minutes until midnight.  Super freaky.  We couldn't help but think to ourselves, why didn't it say 11:55p.m.?  That would be nine minutes back in time.  I guess we should just be happy we were entertained. 

Around 12:30a.m. (2:30a.m. Dallas time) a random ambulance drove by and over the loudspeaker said, "Come on down to The Price Is Right!".  Also throughout the night there was a lot of traffic on the street.  Hard to sleep with all the noise.  There were also several helicopters with their spotlights on.  Not sure who or what they were looking for but we probably didn't really want to know anyway.

Gina and I needed to take a potty break and so we headed down to the Exxon on the corner.  While we were there we heard some screams from across the street.  There was a woman trying to get away from a man.  There were two people already in the store and they both kept telling the clerk to call 911. 

As I am paying for my water (you have to buy something to be able to use the facilities) here comes the lady who was in trouble with the guy following her.  This blonde woman that stepped outside of the store was grabbing the lady and dragging her back inside and yelling to the clerk to call 911 and FAST!!  The lady that was a part of the drama just kept crying and saying, "I just want a cab so I can go home."  Gina walked outside the store and I was trying to hurry up and follow her. 

As I was leaving the store the man was approaching and had one hand inside his jacket.  Now I am not saying that he had a weapon and I am not saying that he didn't have a weapon.  All I am saying is that I wasn't going to stick around and see.

I ran out of the store and Gina and I hightailed it back to our place in line.  Other people that were standing in the TPIR line had no idea what had just happened and they were yelling at us, "Run Forest, RUN!" which ordinarily would have been very funny to me.  It's hard to laugh and run when you are as out of shape as I am.

The random ambulance came by again and this time over the loudspeaker the person shouted, "Go home all you b*&$%'s" which we did not find very friendly or funny at all.

Now if you are going to be in the TPIR line I would recommend being prepared.  In addition to that being the Boy Scouts motto, it would also be a great thing to make your stay more enjoyable.  If you are going to try and sleep, blankets, pillows and earplugs would be awesome to have.  If you are going to stay up all night, snacks and something to do (hand held game or something) would be sweet.

We tried to sleep but it was cold and the concrete was hard.  Some of the people in line didn't plan on napping or anything and they were up to party.  We overheard the following statements:

"We're gonna play Texas hold 'em now?"

"Are you gonna find out about the bathroom?"
"She's the reason jeans are expensive."

"Ready for cribbage?  What are we going to play on?"

"I need a cigarette."

Random statements like these and the conversations they were intertwined with made it difficult for us to sleep.  We did take turns "sleeping" in the car but it's hard to get comfortable there and I just went back to my concrete spot leaving Gina in an unlocked car near where the helicopters were searching.  Sorry about that Gina.

Gina rejoined me during the night and we discovered that the noises coming from the bushes was indeed rats.  Not one or two rats, but several rats were joining us for the evening's fun and follies.  Gina and I decided to switch from having our heads facing the bushes to having our feet there.  One reason we stayed up most of the night was because we were waiting to feel a nibble on our toes.

Now I know this appears to be a pic of the bushes but I was trying to catch a glimpse of one of the rats on film.

6:00a.m. was now fast approaching and we had survived the night.  It was nearly time to receive our "Order of Arrival" (OA) tickets!!

To be continued...

Technorati Tags: TPIR,The Price Is Right,road trip,AFWingMom

Shades and a Random Magnet

March 19, 2007

The Price Is Right Adventure

Jarrett drove us to the airport and we arrived with plenty of time to spare.  Before we entered the ropes to go thru the first part of security, I bought some sunglasses for the trip.  They were larger than I normally wear but I was going for the Hollywood look.  They were only $10 and I thought they looked cute on me.  I promptly nicknamed them my "Hollywood's" in honor of our trip. 

As we headed toward the security checkpoint a woman asked if I was an actress or something as my face was familiar.  I told her no, we were just two sisters on a road trip but I smiled and thought to myself, "WOW!!... somebody thought I was famous!"  This was going to be a great trip. 

I am not sure if you travel much but in my adventures I've come to realize that all kinds of people travel.  First time travelers and seasoned travelers.  Demanding travelers and those that are easy going.  Travelers with stories to tell, odd travelers, nervous travelers...you get the idea.

My sister and I were flying Southwest Airlines and we sat down to wait for the boarding time.  We were in line and behind us there was a woman in a wheelchair.  Her companion that was with her went to get her some water so that wheelchair woman didn't have a "moment".  We weren't sure what that meant exactly but we were pretty sure we didn't want to find out. 

The lady that was in front of us was on Weight Watcher's (hereafter referred to as w3 - Weight Watcher Woman).  Aaahhhh, something we have in common.  She had already made lifetime but she had gained a lot of the weight back.  So w3 was sharing with us that she had a friend that was three times her size.  w3 said that her friend wanted her to cook for her to help her lose weight and w3 let us know that she didn't have time to cook for herself much less her friend.  She said the lady was Hispanic and didn't know how to measure.

At this point I am looking at her and thinking...are you kidding me?  Do I have some internal magnet that draws weird and random conversations out of people?  And what does the fact that her friend was Hispanic have anything to do with knowing (or not knowing) how to measure?

Anyways, we survived waiting in line and boarded the plane.  We were all seated and started to back out from the terminal when we noticed that the attendant kept looking to the back and was talking on the phone to someone.  There apparently was a problem.  My sister and I had never experienced this so we were very interested in what was going on.  It seems that someone wanted off the plane.  Are you kidding me?  Are you serious?  The answer was yes to both questions.  Everyone on the plane was whispering and looking back to see who it was. 

The plane pulled back into the terminal and everyone stared as a girl from the very back of the plane stood up to exit.  I didn't have a mud pie to throw at her but I thought about it.  That probably would not have been a nice thing to do.  I have to admit, this did add a bit of excitement to our trip but it also caused some people to be late for their connecting flights.

The girl got off the plane and everyone was situated so we again pulled back from the terminal and prepared to depart.  We enjoyed talking with our seatmate and other than the girl requesting to be let off, the flight was uneventful.

We landed in ABQ (Albuquerque) where the air smells like root beer according to Weird Al, and waited for those passengers who were deplaning to deplane and then waiting for those passengers who were waiting to board, board.  This leg of the trip we sat next to Jason who was a very nice real estate guy.  The LA area was his home so I asked if he had met any famous people and he said that he was not "into the LA scene".  Darn!  One thing though, we were on a night flight and Jason asked me if that was Tuscon, motioning to the city lights below us.  So I thought to myself:

A)  How would I know?  I stink at geography!

B)  It was nighttime and there were no huge neon signs indicating city names or state boundaries.

I turned to Gina, who probably wouldn't know either but is better at geography than me, and asked her and she said that it was.  She said it with a lot of confidence.  Jason heard her response and let us know that there was about an hour left on our flight. 

Drew, our flight attendant who is based out of Houston, did give my sister some things to take back to her class.  That was pretty cool.  Everyone needs to give Drew kudos for that.  If you ever meet Drew be sure and give him a high five. 

Our Mom and Dad met us at the airport with a homemade sign that said our last names on it like they were limo drivers or something.  We thought that was a very LA thing to do. 

While waiting for our bags we noticed a man that was talking on his cell phone with a Kleenex sticking out of his nose.  Yes, that's right, he had a Kleenex just sticking out of his nostril and he was talking and acting like nothing was there.  I was trying to inconspicuously take a picture by saying, "Mom, Dad - stand there and let me take a pic of y'all" when all I was really trying to do was get a good angle.  The picture that came out the best is very blurry but you get the idea. 

Now Gina had thought that we were going to get a chance to go to the hotel room first and freshen up but Mom and Dad wanted to go and see if there was a line at CBS first. 

Good thing that we did that.  We got there around 10:45p.m. and there was already a long line of people.  YIKES!!!  We quickly jumped out of the car and got in line while Dad went and parked the car.  We estimated there to be about 100 or so people ahead of us. 

And so our TPIR (The Price Is Right) adventure begins....

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The Theory of the High Five

A high five is a gesture of greeting or elation.  Put simply it is one person's upraised palm slapping the upraised palm of another person.

My theory, or to be more accurate my oldest son's theory that I've adopted as my own, is that NO ONE can resist a High 5.

Trust me on this.  Or better yet, test the theory if you'd like.  Next time you're in the grocery store, gas station, or library - anywhere really - as you are walking toward someone raise your hand to give them a High 5.  Now they may look at you a little strangely but it's an almost subconscious reflex for them to raise their hand to return the High 5.  

I've personally tested the theory in random places.  It has always worked.  Here are some of my favorite High 5 pics. 

Giving someone a High 5 immediately puts a bounce in their step and a smile on their face.  It's energizing.  Since it's generally done as a greeting or when celebrating something people's moods are lifted, especially when it's random. 

Try it.  You'll like it.  I know you want to.  Heck, you know you want to.

Here's a video from Improv Everywhere that shows an awesome High 5 experience.

Now it's your turn to tell me about your random High 5 experience....

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Bathrooms

One of the things I enjoy taking pictures of is bathrooms.  As you may have noticed, I have a bit of an obsession with the odd and the unusual.  I'm not sure when I become fascinated with bathrooms but I've found quite a few bathrooms that have something unique about them. 

Now what on earth could make bathrooms so special?  I'm glad you asked.  I'd love to share some of my favorite unusual bathroom pictures for your enjoyment.

MEPS, Spokane Washington, 2007

At first glance this might seem like an ordinary restroom.  At least that's what I thought until time to flush.  Take a closer look.  The pedal near the floor on the right is what you step on to flush. 

Sands Motel & Restaurant, Van Horn TX  2007

This is obviously not a picture of a bathroom but of the sign pointing to the bathroom.  I love how it says, "ALSO WATCH-U.R-STEP".  It's a classic homemade sign.  Love it.

Portland Airport, Portland OR  2006

Ever visit the restrooms in the Portland Airport?  Well you're in for a treat.  They feature water saving dual function handles.  Those are always nice.

Rudy's BBQ Restaurant,  TX   2004

Notice the metal thing at the bottom of the door?  Wonder what it is?  Well wonder no more. 

There's a sign right above the handle that says, "Our Employees open the door with the Footpull After Washing Their Hands".  I'm also curious about the odd capitalization in the sign.

Random Bathroom somewhere in TX

 

Here's a close-up of the sign.

I can't remember where I saw this one but I thought the sign was pretty awesome. 

OKC Airport, Oklahoma City OK   2004

While on an overnight trip at the Northwest Baggage Claim (it's a story for another time) we were able to use these fancy restrooms.  They had plastic covering the seats and when you waved your hand in front of the sensor new plastic rotated around the seat. 

~~And the story behind the frog is I used to try and put the frog in all my pictures kind of like a "Where's Waldo" thing.  It never really caught on.~~

Volcano Bathroom, Granger WA 

So on RoadsideAmerica.com I found out there is a Volcano Bathroom in Granger Washington and I knew I had to check it out.  It ended up being just this volcano shaped mass of fiberglass over the building housing the facilities.  It had cool "lava" painted on it.  Still it was unusual and I'm glad I saw it.

Seattle WA

The cool tubular bathroom was discovered on a road trip to Seattle Washington.  I think I'd feel just a bit claustrophobic if I actually used it.  Did you happen to notice the frog on the left hand side?

Dr Pepper Museum, Waco TX  2009

Again, not technically a bathroom picture but an interesting sign.  They want you to take the dirty diaper with you?  Ahhh-hahaha!!  I wanted to go and ask for a bag just to see what they would do.

Hotel near NASA, Houston TX

Not actually the bathroom but this is a picture of the sink.  What I thought was funny is the thing hanging down from the left side of the wall is the hair dryer.  It's like this tube thing.  Very weird but it did work.  Also there isn't much elbow room.  Not that I'm a vigorous tooth brusher or blow dryer but not much wiggle room. 

NASA Space Museum, Houston TX

If you are ever planning on traveling into space on one of the space shuttles then be prepared to use this restroom. 

Lackland AFB, San Antonio TX

And finally - these are the bathrooms in my son's dorm that he used during BMT.  He said they agreed to use only the first stall on the left so when it was time to clean they only had to clean one.  An interesting concept. 

You'll probably take a second look the next time you're in a bathroom and think of me....haha!

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