Sunday, January 9, 2011

A disaster in the making

So far, the year has been pretty good. I got Denver reserve in the first few days, and while I worked a lot over them, it was nice to be home and flying out of home. Then I had a nice stretch of days off. Combine that with my workout schedule has been good, and you have a good start to the year.

Then last night happened.

Pull up a chair.

Normally, when I commute to Greensboro, it starts on a Delta flight from Denver to Atlanta. I leave Denver around 4 pm and get into Atlanta roughly 9 pm. Then I catch a 10:00 flight to Greensboro, getting in there around 11:30. No problem. It usually goes really smooth. Typically, what I have to do is check my rollerboard to Greensboro though since there's no overhead room by the time I'm on the airplane. Again, no problem. It's never not gotten to Greensboro.

This time, though...

When I got to Atlanta after a very pleasant flight, I called scheduling to see if they had anything for me in Greensboro. They did not, but they asked if I would be able to get to Milwaukee that night. I quick checked on my phone to see if there were any flights to Milwaukee leaving that night, and sure enough, there was one leaving at 10:30 at night. All I had to do was get there, and it would mean no going to Greensboro, lots of work, and reserve in Milwaukee. Ok, fine, no problem. I thought about it, realized I didn't have my bag, but didn't think that would be an issue. I would just go to the Greensboro gate, explain the situation, and have the gate agent grab my bag from the plane.

I did just that, and she said no problem. Well, as the departure got closer and closer, no bag. They couldn't find it. And the ramper said it was probably not there.

Uh-oh.

So the flight to Greensboro departed without me on it. And now I was not going to be able to make it to Milwaukee, since I didn't have any clothes! I called up scheduling and explained the situation. I was not calm, btw. The scheduler on the other end though was quite calm, reassuring, and basically told me to find my bag, that I was not in trouble, just find my bag. Ok. I can do that.

I went to Delta's baggage office, and let's just say that they are not helpful people. She basically told me she didn't know where it was and that I would have to check back in the morning. Great, that meant spending a night in the Atlanta airport. Triffic. I begged her for an overnight kit, which she reluctantly gave to me, and then I called scheduling again to figure out what we would do. The scheduler this time chatted with me for a few minutes, explaining that this happens quite a bit and that it's not a big deal. We talked about my options and determined the best thing was to get to Denver, where I have an extra rollerboard, more clothes, a uniform, etc. They would put me on Denver reserve so I can attempt to track my bag down and be good to go. All I had to do was sleep.

Yeah, on an airport floor. Great.

Regardless, I made it back to Denver yesterday and life is good. Today, I'm sitting here, on reserve, waiting to work. I am quite content if they do not call me with a trip. I'm just enjoying life. Yesterday T and I went for a run in the afternoon snow, and I'm sure she'll post pictures of it shortly.

Why am I blogging about this on a fitness blog, you ask? Because simply, fitness isn't just about having rock hard abs and a resting heart rate of 40. It's also a mental game. I explained what happened to my mom and she said she was so proud of me for my maturity and how I handled the situation. I told her I didn't know how to do it any other way. She said it's a good sign for the rest of my life.

Anyway, don't know what I have planned on the workout schedule today. Probably hitting the gym for some hardcore lifting. Peace, homies. :-)

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