lost

US Airways lost David's bag on our trip home from Florida. We've been home now for 36 hours and we haven't heard anything from the airline, even though we've called many times and checked online. The online tool says that the bag still has not been found.

The thing is, the agent at the Orlando airport knew he put the wrong tag on David's bag, but he didn't bother to fix it. The exchange went something like this:

Agent: "Going to Seattle?" (holding 3 bag tags in his hand and looking around to see who was going to claim them. We only have 2 bags to check).
Us: raised our hands- "we are".
Agent: puts tags on the bags, puts them on the conveyor belt.
Agent: "Can I see your ID's?"
Us: Sure, here they are
Agent: Huh. that's odd. I've got an extra bag tag here. Accusingly, " you didn't tell me who you were before I put the tags on"
Me: (thinking in my head....I thought you were supposed to verify our identity before you slapped the bag tags on. Is it our job to tell you who we are without you asking? )
Agent: "Oh well, the bag will still get to Seattle." (turns his back to begin dealing with someone else).
Us: Confused...walking away...trying to feel better we reasoned that he said the bag would still get to Seattle, so we didn't need to worry about it.

US Airways apparently has the worst record for lost luggage among the national carriers. I don't doubt it given the lack of concern on their agents part.

Merry Christmas!

To those of you who celebrate-- Merry Christmas!

I hear there is lots of snow going around parts of the country-- hope those of you with snow enjoy your wonderful white christmas.

golfing for christmas?

We are thinking about going golfing. There are three 9 hole courses - I think we'll only be able to do 9 holes as we aren't really in golfing shape. It is amazing how much work golfing can be. I'm not any good, although I'd like to be better. Can't get better until you start practicing! David really wants to go golfing too. Actually- he is the impetus behind us going. Makes me think that we should try to find a nice cheap 9 hole course in Seattle and try to go more often. The problem is, it isn't usually one those thing we think about doing on the weekend (for some people it is the only thing they think about doing on the weekend), so we'll have to make a conscious effort to try and go.

never as cute on the second day

There is a sort of magic that happens at salons. They bewitch your hair to look just right and cute, and then once the clock strikes midnight the spell is over and never again will it be as cute as the day you left the salon with the new cut.

It still looks good, but I'm just not very good at fixing my hair, I guess. Maybe I can get some pointers from my fashionista sister?

haircut

I got a haircut today. It was about time. I went to a new salon that opened up in October, whose owner is a friend of one of my work colleagues. The owner cut my hair and she did a great job. The true test is the next couple of days as I figure out if I can make it look as cute as she did. I'll try to take a picture to post, or something.

Also- the shampoo was the most comfortable shampoo I've ever had at a salon- I didn't feel like my neck was being wrenched and my back didn't hurt. It was great.

The salon has a real contemporary vibe--concrete floors, italian modern furniture, and the owner designed some of the furniture pieces herself.

Did I mention that all cuts are $20? More if you want a blow-dry, but that is a fabulous price!

I know not many of my readers are in the Seattle area, but if you are- try out Ten Pachi www.tenpachi.com

ps. I was not paid for the above advertisement ;-)

Ready to relax

I've had a long week. Tuesday we planted trees, wednesday I flew to DC, thursday I participated in a site review at the National Science Foundation, today I am working all day in DC, probably mostly from coffeeshops (they only gave me until 1pm for late checkout). BUT...tonight J picks me up, and we get to hang out tonight and tomorrow in DC until I fly home on Sunday morning. I am definitely ready to relax, and am looking forward to the next couple of days.

twitchy

I've had a twitch near my eye for the past few days. I can always tell that when I start to get a twitch that means I need to move things off my plate, and do some relaxing. I think I'm going to have a hard time doing that until the holidays are over. I've got a work trip to DC next week, which slows down my work and my home task lists. I tried last night to read a fun book for awhile, but it didn't seem to help.

Well, maybe some hard labor this weekend will help? We need to dig holes in our yard for the privacy screen trees we are having delivered. That also means moving some plants to other places in the yard. Good thing we live in the pacific northwest and our ground doesn't freeze.

record rain?

From what I hear on the news, we are headed for a record breaking amount of rain in 24 hours. The record amount is 5.02 inches in 24 hours in 2003. Many areas around the Seattle area are experiencing significant flooding. Here are a few pictures of areas around town that have been flooded. I keep checking our basement--luckily we are sort of up on a hill, so less likely to get that kind of flooding.

snow and now rain rain rain

December 1st we got a good coating of snow. It was so pretty on Saturday with the snow coming down. I didn't want to be anywhere that didn't have a window to look out at the snow. When we got back to our house on Saturday evening our whole back yard was covered in beautiful white snow.

When we woke up the next morning it was all gone as the snow had turned to rain overnight. I don't think it has stopped raining since then. It was coming down hard last night and has been coming down pretty consistently all day today. One of the buildings on campus thought they were going to have to evacuate after the electrical room of the building was flooded with water. Luckily the pumps started working and they didn't have shut down the power to the whole building, or evacuate anyone.

I keep checking our basement to make sure we aren't getting any dribbles of water down there. No problems so far.