Jamie Patterson's Blog, page 26
August 15, 2011
VIP Movement
Little bit of excitement at the airport this morning because President Obama flew in. This means that all traffic stops around the airport and within the airport. About 20 minutes before he landed they closed the ramp, which means no planes are parked or pushed, and there can be no humans on the tarmac or driving on the tarmac. No planes could land or take off, either.
So the excitement was just as much in seeing Air Force One (below) as much as it was trying to pick up the pieces once the ramp opened and planes could land and take off again. The delay is coded "Excessive ramp delay. VIP movement." Which means people who miss their flights or are diverted just have to deal with the inconvenience.
It was pretty incredible, though, to see the motorcade. We counted two buses, almost 30 cars (sheriff, highway patrol, airport police, black sedans), and an ambulance. Even more incredible were the helicopters that got clearance about 40 minutes before the President landed to do sweeps of the area.
And to think--they'll have to do everything in reverse again tonight when he leaves!
So the excitement was just as much in seeing Air Force One (below) as much as it was trying to pick up the pieces once the ramp opened and planes could land and take off again. The delay is coded "Excessive ramp delay. VIP movement." Which means people who miss their flights or are diverted just have to deal with the inconvenience.
It was pretty incredible, though, to see the motorcade. We counted two buses, almost 30 cars (sheriff, highway patrol, airport police, black sedans), and an ambulance. Even more incredible were the helicopters that got clearance about 40 minutes before the President landed to do sweeps of the area.
And to think--they'll have to do everything in reverse again tonight when he leaves!
Morning at the Airport
I only have five more morning airport shifts. It took me a year but I can confirm: I'm not a morning person. At least not a 4:40 in the morning kind of morning person.
I was thinking this morning that I really won't miss walking Huey in the silent, dark morning. I won't miss sitting at a red light even though I'm the only car on the road (okay, so I don't always sit). I won't miss being at the airport so early the trams aren't operating yet.
But there are some things I'll miss. I love airports in the morning. Less frantic, more controlled. The day is just starting so even if something goes terribly wrong, there are so many alternatives nothing is really that bad. One of the best things, though, is watching the sun rise on the city from up here in Ops. You can't see it in the picture below but a little farther to the right is the river, which sometimes has fog rising from it. Far in the distance on the left is downtown Minneapolis.
I'm enjoying the scenery now because in four short weeks from right this very moment, I'll be at home, asleep, in bed!
I was thinking this morning that I really won't miss walking Huey in the silent, dark morning. I won't miss sitting at a red light even though I'm the only car on the road (okay, so I don't always sit). I won't miss being at the airport so early the trams aren't operating yet.
But there are some things I'll miss. I love airports in the morning. Less frantic, more controlled. The day is just starting so even if something goes terribly wrong, there are so many alternatives nothing is really that bad. One of the best things, though, is watching the sun rise on the city from up here in Ops. You can't see it in the picture below but a little farther to the right is the river, which sometimes has fog rising from it. Far in the distance on the left is downtown Minneapolis.
I'm enjoying the scenery now because in four short weeks from right this very moment, I'll be at home, asleep, in bed!
August 14, 2011
Amazon Listing!
The amazon.com pre-order listing for Lost Edens is up!
Thanks to Stephanie and the BPP folks for making this happen. Readers can't leave reviews just yet on the amazon listing. If you'd like to leave a review you can on the goodreads.com page.
Just a few weeks to go before Lost Edens is out![image error]
Thanks to Stephanie and the BPP folks for making this happen. Readers can't leave reviews just yet on the amazon listing. If you'd like to leave a review you can on the goodreads.com page.
Just a few weeks to go before Lost Edens is out![image error]
Home and one Good Decision
So good to be home. I made one really good decision yesterday and that was to get on an earlier flight back home from Orlando. I hesitated because I work with some of the loveliest people and because I travel so much on my own, I wouldn't have minded a nice little travel adventure with them.
But the promise of bed before midnight was a little too strong to resist and I jumped on a direct flight (first class!) that got me home and in bed long before midnight.
There were a few surprises before and after curling up into bed.
First surprise: I stopped at Target to grab a seat cover for the new car (I'm going to try to contain Huey hair). I went straight to the aisle, saw the item I needed was sold out, and walked straight back out. Might be the first time I not only left Target without anything I had not walked into the store to buy, but I actually didn't buy anything at all.
Second surprise: My brother John and his wife, Dash, surprised everyone and arrived in Minneapolis just a few hours before me. It was so great to walk into my sister's house and see them sitting there as if out of nowhere.
Third surprise: This is the surprise that made me feel really good about taking an earlier flight. My colleagues were stuck on the ground at Orlando while the airlines dealt with fuel issues airport-wide. They were on the ground so long they missed the connecting flight in Atlanta and had to stay the night. If I had stuck around it would have been a true travel adventure and probably not one I'd care for with or without good company.
I feel like I make a thousand small decisions in a day and rarely get confirmation that I'm on the right track. Despite feeling just terrible for the experience my colleagues must have had it was kind of nice to feel like I got one decision right.
So good to be home.
But the promise of bed before midnight was a little too strong to resist and I jumped on a direct flight (first class!) that got me home and in bed long before midnight.
There were a few surprises before and after curling up into bed.
First surprise: I stopped at Target to grab a seat cover for the new car (I'm going to try to contain Huey hair). I went straight to the aisle, saw the item I needed was sold out, and walked straight back out. Might be the first time I not only left Target without anything I had not walked into the store to buy, but I actually didn't buy anything at all.
Second surprise: My brother John and his wife, Dash, surprised everyone and arrived in Minneapolis just a few hours before me. It was so great to walk into my sister's house and see them sitting there as if out of nowhere.
Third surprise: This is the surprise that made me feel really good about taking an earlier flight. My colleagues were stuck on the ground at Orlando while the airlines dealt with fuel issues airport-wide. They were on the ground so long they missed the connecting flight in Atlanta and had to stay the night. If I had stuck around it would have been a true travel adventure and probably not one I'd care for with or without good company.
I feel like I make a thousand small decisions in a day and rarely get confirmation that I'm on the right track. Despite feeling just terrible for the experience my colleagues must have had it was kind of nice to feel like I got one decision right.
So good to be home.
August 11, 2011
Your Life is That you Will
Every once in awhile I get a nifty report that shows some of the search words that brought readers to my blog. Usually it's things like "towards vs. toward" or "APA style." Tonight, I got a little report that said a search for "your life is that you will" in a Russian google search actually linked to my blog.
Fascinating.
My dad says I was blessed with an incredibly complicated intellect (I take this as a compliment), which might explain why seeing "your life is that you will" pop up has lead me down many different roads. Let's go down one or two (or three):
Today I met with PhD students who have endeavored to become doctors of philosophy in order to create significant change: in their lives, in their communities, in the world. I tend to be rather cynical but today some of these passionate souls convinced me that they could, indeed, change their corner of the world.
Today I also read story after story about 9/11 families that published recently in the New York Times. I realized after reading four or five that I was looking for a girl who haunted me for months after 9/11. Just before I was set to come home to Kansas from New York I was reassigned by my employer, the Red Cross, to the pier in Manhattan where, among other things, families of victims had to come to seek Red Cross assistance. I sat right at the entrance at a table to direct everyone who came through the door (one of the most difficult jobs of my life). The door was actually two large sliding doors, like you'd find at a hotel or a grocery store. The door was covered in fliers for the missing.
There was one particular flier of a girl about my age who was on one of the doors, so every time the doors opened or closed her smiling face slid right past me. She caught my attention because the picture was a sorority picture and she was wearing the standard black v-neck drape of all sorority pictures and her smile reminded me of my friend and sorority sister, Mandy. It was too close to home. I remember looking up the name on the flier on Google months later and learning that she, of course, had been in a sorority in college, she had a younger brother who missed her, and that she had loved Michael Jackson.
She stayed with me for years.
Two other major thoughts today: (a) I read a wonderful blog post on the London riots by a friend in London who I respect and admire very much, and (b) a student came and thanked me for the work I had done with her, which made me feel like maybe what I do really could at least make a difference to an individual.
Your life is that you will.
When I first saw this pop up I thought something might be missing: your life is that you will be...you will do...you will learn... or something like this. But considering the roads I've gone down today I'm going with the simple thought that your life is that you will. That you willfully and purposefully live, passionately. It is what you make of it, for better or worse. It is what you choose to focus on, for better or worse. Far too short, far too painful, but in the end more hope, beauty from ashes, and unexpected joy than you would think.
Fascinating.
My dad says I was blessed with an incredibly complicated intellect (I take this as a compliment), which might explain why seeing "your life is that you will" pop up has lead me down many different roads. Let's go down one or two (or three):
Today I met with PhD students who have endeavored to become doctors of philosophy in order to create significant change: in their lives, in their communities, in the world. I tend to be rather cynical but today some of these passionate souls convinced me that they could, indeed, change their corner of the world.
Today I also read story after story about 9/11 families that published recently in the New York Times. I realized after reading four or five that I was looking for a girl who haunted me for months after 9/11. Just before I was set to come home to Kansas from New York I was reassigned by my employer, the Red Cross, to the pier in Manhattan where, among other things, families of victims had to come to seek Red Cross assistance. I sat right at the entrance at a table to direct everyone who came through the door (one of the most difficult jobs of my life). The door was actually two large sliding doors, like you'd find at a hotel or a grocery store. The door was covered in fliers for the missing.
There was one particular flier of a girl about my age who was on one of the doors, so every time the doors opened or closed her smiling face slid right past me. She caught my attention because the picture was a sorority picture and she was wearing the standard black v-neck drape of all sorority pictures and her smile reminded me of my friend and sorority sister, Mandy. It was too close to home. I remember looking up the name on the flier on Google months later and learning that she, of course, had been in a sorority in college, she had a younger brother who missed her, and that she had loved Michael Jackson.
She stayed with me for years.
Two other major thoughts today: (a) I read a wonderful blog post on the London riots by a friend in London who I respect and admire very much, and (b) a student came and thanked me for the work I had done with her, which made me feel like maybe what I do really could at least make a difference to an individual.
Your life is that you will.
When I first saw this pop up I thought something might be missing: your life is that you will be...you will do...you will learn... or something like this. But considering the roads I've gone down today I'm going with the simple thought that your life is that you will. That you willfully and purposefully live, passionately. It is what you make of it, for better or worse. It is what you choose to focus on, for better or worse. Far too short, far too painful, but in the end more hope, beauty from ashes, and unexpected joy than you would think.
Temptation: Drat, Dang
Had a delightful night last night playing cards and sipping wine with the lovely ladies of Walden: Heidi, Amber, and Erica. As we're chatting away the concierge mentions that there are outlet malls a short distance away from our hotel that provide excellent bargain shopping.
Drat.
When I landed in Orlando I realized I had forgotten two essential things: chewing gum and sunglasses. Heidi had also forgotten sunglasses so after dinner we went out looking for a pair. Amber and Erica just happened to ask about how NSFY has been going just as we found a store that had racks of sunglasses glistening from the back, beyond the registers.
Dang.
Sunglasses would fall under what I'm avoiding (clothes, shoes, and accessories), wouldn't they? What would I do, after all, with a second pair of sunglasses when I get back to Minneapolis?
I resisted the sunglasses temptation pretty easily but then to have the concierge flaunt the outlet mall shopping so soon after was sad, so sad. But I feel pretty good about things. I know I would have ended up in an outlet mall buying a sweater with a $2.00 price tag that didn't fit and had a hole in the back (but it would have been $2.00!). I just went and bought a nice pack of Trident Tropical Twist so I have one of my essential items that I'll chew away at happily.
Drat.
When I landed in Orlando I realized I had forgotten two essential things: chewing gum and sunglasses. Heidi had also forgotten sunglasses so after dinner we went out looking for a pair. Amber and Erica just happened to ask about how NSFY has been going just as we found a store that had racks of sunglasses glistening from the back, beyond the registers.
Dang.
Sunglasses would fall under what I'm avoiding (clothes, shoes, and accessories), wouldn't they? What would I do, after all, with a second pair of sunglasses when I get back to Minneapolis?
I resisted the sunglasses temptation pretty easily but then to have the concierge flaunt the outlet mall shopping so soon after was sad, so sad. But I feel pretty good about things. I know I would have ended up in an outlet mall buying a sweater with a $2.00 price tag that didn't fit and had a hole in the back (but it would have been $2.00!). I just went and bought a nice pack of Trident Tropical Twist so I have one of my essential items that I'll chew away at happily.
August 10, 2011
March of the Peabody Ducks
Words cannot express how happy I am knowing that this little procession exists in the world. Every. Single. Day. Twice a day. It's so silly and yet somehow just as sweet.
People went crazy for these ducks!
People went crazy for these ducks!
Uploaded by www.cellspin.net
The Peabody Ducks
More to come on the Peabody Ducks. For now, a quick video by way of introduction and as evidence of one more job I'm glad I don't have (the poor woman having to clean up after them!).
Uploaded by www.cellspin.net
One Reason to be Glad you're not a dog
Watching the short clip of Huey and Toohey below made me think this silly thought: Thank goodness humans don't have to sniff each other to figure out whether or not we like each other!
