Jennifer-By-The-Bay

Greetings from sunny, gorgeous Seattle! Hi everyone. Just have a few quick seconds (the hotel's got this strict "thirty minutes only" policy for their free PC), but I wanted to pop in and say hello and check in. I made it to Seattle safely, albeit along a VERY bumpy road, and my DEU training class is in full swing. I miss home.

Yesterday was QUITE the odyssey. Why Southwest can't book a thru flight from Kansas City to Seattle, I'll never know. I left Kansas City at 11:00 a.m. local time (which is 9:00 in the a.m. Seattle time). THREE FLIGHTS LATER, I arrived in Seattle just past 6:00 local time (which is, for those of you playing along at home, 8:00 Kansas City time). Kansas City to Los Angeles, Los Angeles to Sacremento, and Sacramento to Seattle. After an entire day in the air, I was exhausted and wanted nothing more than to get back to my hotel and SLEEP. Thanks to an adorable, hilarious, and gayer-than-a-box-of-fruit loops shuttle driver from Shuttle Express, I arrived safely at my hotel. (By the way, if you need shuttle transit in the Seattle area, DEFINITELY call Shuttle Express. They were fantastic.) All's well that ends well, I suppose. But my day most definitely did NOT get off to a good start. Although we are authorized to use commercial transit to get from our homes to the airport (when we go on official duty or, as we Feddy folks call it, "TDY"), I never do. I mean, NEVER. Firstly, I like being able to come and go as I wish. Many times, I come in to work early on the day that I leave (or I come in to the office after my flight lands). It's just easier to have my car there with me and I can come and go on about my merry day as I choose to. (Plus, I get paid for mileage and parking, which, of course, is nice.) When we lived in Overland Park, I called QuickSilver once and requested a ride to and from the airport. This was, oh, four years ago, give or take. The driver was horrible...he damned near killed us coming back. He was rude. It was just a bad experience. And then he had the audacity to HASSLE me when I didn't leave him a tip. So I called QuickSilver and, of course, complained. Fat lotta good it did me. Wouldn't you know that the SAME EXACT DRIVER came to pick me up yesterday. And he, again, drove recklessly. And, again, I didn't tip him. This time, however, the bastard took his "I'm-pissed-that-you-didn't-tip-me" schtick to a new level. HE FOLLOWED ME IN TO THE AIRPORT. Yes, friends, your minty girl was standing at the ticket counter at Southwest checking IN and the guy walked up to me, interrupted my conversation with the gate agent, and hassled me for a tip. CAN YOU BELIEVE IT? When I told him I wouldn't give him one, he actually got an almost violent look on his face, snubbed his nose at me, and said (in an incredibly sarcastic tone) "You have a nice day, now." So that's my last experience with QuickSilver. In all honesty, I couldn't even tell you why I chose this time not to drive on my own. What I will say is this...if you live in the Kansas City area or are coming here and need transport to and/or from Kansas City International Airport, do not contact QuickSilver. Period. Your safety and personal comfort are obviously not important to them. As is evidenced by the fact that twice now, I've been shuttled unsafely and hassled for a tip after the ride. Unreal.

The class is going OK. Unfortunately, there are a ton of people in my class, and almost all of them came together. Pockets of people. Five from one agency, six from another. So here I am, the lone woman out. You know, it would really be nice if one of these little pockets of my colleagues would invite me to lunch or something. Nope. Instead, your favorite minty lady had lunch all by herself today...while a "pocket of personnelists" ate TWO TABLES AWAY! (Thanks for the invite to join you guys!) Oh well. It just makes me miss home more. And I do miss home. Something fierce.

I snapped a few quick photos on my camera phone (wish I'd brought the digital!) and I will try to get them uploaded when I get home. Two of the gorgeous Space Needle, one of the beautiful view of the Bay from my classroom, and one of a cooky, hilarious guy on the street flashing a sign at drivers-by that said "SMILE!"

Have a great night, all!

Jen