Halloween at SWA

Before I started with SWA, Halloween was just another minor holiday. It was mostly uneventful, except for the occasional great costume party. But since coming here, it's skyrocketed to one of my favorite days of the year. Here's why.

Every year, Southwest Airlines headquarters here in Dallas essentially shuts down, except for those folks who are critical for the operation to continue, like dispatch and crew scheduling. Nearly every department gets in on the fun in one way or another. Most either do a walk-through haunted house or carnival; the rest do full-on production shows. They're amazing.

And on top of that, nearly everyone dresses up in costume, hopping from show to show. People bring their kids. It's a hoot. I love watching new people watching the chaos, completely wide-eyed. It's certainly a celebration of fun and of all the hard work put in throughout the rest of the year.

When I first got here 6 years ago, Technology's skit was just pathetic. We tried to do a variety show based on TV shows. We thought it was pretty good, but then we got a peek at the one the Executive Office was doing and theirs was Broadway compared to our high school quality skit.

The next year, the gauntlet was thrown and we brought it on!

We finally figured out that the winning shows required a lot of musical productions. Believe me, none of us can sing worth a hoo-ha, but man, this group of computer geeks can really get the enthusiasm of the crowd going. For 4 years running we won first prize among all the skits.

Last year was especially hard with many huge projects going on, so we only put together a walk-through. It didn't win a darn thing.

After a year's hiatus, the Technology musical skit is back; this year titled, "Not Another Southwest Airlines Technology Department Halloween Musical!" And yes, it's filled with campy musicals and wit. And men in drag.

Men in drag? Yes, it's true. Some of them(straight and gay) manage to find a way to get in drag every year which should set off some kind of alarm, don't you think? Around here, it's almost second nature. Scary, isn't it? I mean, if Gary Kelly, our CEO as Edna Turnblad in Hairspray last year, can do it, why can't everyone!?

The lineup this year includes quite a variety from favorite musicals (SWA-fied of course) past and present including:

Grease (something about fuel hedging)

Airspray (a song from Hairspray)

West Side Story ("I like to be on American")

SWAmma Mia (mine)

Rocky Horror Picture Show (yes, it includes pelvic thrusts!)

High School Musical finale including a well choreographed basketball sequence

Parts of it are hilarious. Others are just meh, but the ending should be enough to get the audience full participation. It builds well and the costumes are really going to rock this show.

I can't wait to tell you more as the week progresses and hopefully post some pictures shortly afterwards.

Why I love my cat

She could smell fear.

She stared at me, taunting me of the night to come.

That sweet little coo and giggle while her parents were around was all a ruse. I think she's an Eddie Haskell in the making.

The fun started as my brother and sister-in-law (SIL) were getting ready to leave for a wedding Saturday afternoon. I was holding my 7-month old neice, Chloe and trying to get to know her a bit before they left. Geula (the SIL) ran down the list of dos and don'ts, most of which I promptly either ignored or forgot. I mean, I had a rather successful babysitting business as a teenager, how hard could it be? Pfftt!

Let's just say, I think my tolerence threshold for noise has gone down considerably over the years.

She started fussing a little early, so I took her outside to enjoy the pretty afternoon. We stooped it on the front porch for a while, her back to me so she might forget that she was with a relative stranger (pun intended.) I saw my neighbor, Debbie, out in her yard, so Chloe and I wandered down to say hello. Deb told me that if I wanted, we could take the baby and her new granddaughter out for a walk later and I thought that a great time to kill some time.

Deb had to finish her lawn so we wandered back to the house thinking it might be time for a nap (the baby, not me at this point.) I figured I'd feed her, according to Geula's guide to baby care, and put her down. Well that's when the howling really started. I must've looked like Frankenstein to that child because every time I had her on my lap or would look at her, she'd cry. And we're not talking just a whimper, folks, we're talking full-on, blood-curdling scream. She would neither take a bottle, nor any solid food. Crap. Now what?

Oh crap! Crap! That could be the problem. I checked her diaper and it was a bit wet, so we got that changed . Did that help? Nope. But one thing was checked off the pissed-off baby list.

No food for her. No nap in sight. I consider whiskey...for her, not me.

Thankfully, my other neighbor, Marsha, who also has a 2-year old grandson, loaned me a stroller. I strapped Chloe in the seat, strapped her in and headed out for a lap or two around the block. Things calmed down and life was good for a few short moments while we enjoyed the fresh air.

No sooner had we gotten back to the house that the howling started again. I gave her toys, which soothed her for a moment or two. I tried feeding her again. No luck. I tried even just putting her in her crib for a while (blowing off the whole swaddling crap Geula tried to tell me about.)

While she was screaming in her crib, I called my mom who was a pediatric nurse and all around good source for anything baby related. And she knows the over-protective nature of my SIL .

She threw a couple more ideas at me, including trying to give Chloe a bath and play with her. I heard my step-dad, Jim pipe in from the background, "Don't put her in head first!" Yeah, great advice, Jim! But it made me laugh...and consider putting her in head first... She also suggested I put Chloe's back to my chest and try to disguise who was feeding her.

Alas, none of that worked either, and they'd only been gone about 2 hours at this point. I called Debbie to see if she was ready for that walk. Nearly the minute I put that kid's butt in the stroller, she stopped. We took the babies for a nice, easy walk around the neighborhood, checking out a new development; then finishing up through the park and home. Were gone about an hour and thankfully, Chloe sacked out for about 30 minutes or so and it was pure relief.

So now we have about 4+ miles of walking in so far. Really. As I take her in the house yet again, I try to hold her and the crying starts up again. I try to feed her and it continues. I try to put her in her play-jumpy-thingy and still no luck. I wonder if she's ever going to stop.

I text my brother, "CALL ME!". This is at about 7pm.

I put her back into the stroller where she calms a bit, but when I look at her, the crying starts again. I begin to understand how people can get to the point of shaking a baby. I step away.

Are you getting as agitated reading this as I probably felt that night?

I leave a phone message for Bob, nearly in tears, "I'm done. She hasn't eaten or slept since you left and you can hear what she's been doing since you left. Please, please call me." This is 8pm.

Mom calls again and can hear the screaming in the background. She's laughing softly. "I'm thankful for birth control, mom," were the first words out of my mouth. I don't know how people do this. She and I chat a bit more about some ideas, then she tells me to just put her down in her crib. "The baby is so exhausted, she'll probably just cry herself to sleep," she tells me.

As it turns out, this is the best advice of the night. By 9:15, the crying turns into tired sobs, which turn into silence. I grab a glass of red wine and plop down on the couch.

I'd planned on possibly taking her to a party with my old TWA friends, but once that was scrapped, I hoped to even possibly work on my resume for a job that might come open at work. Nope, couldn't get to that. The only thing I could do was type a few frantic notes on my Facebook account. Apparently people thought the updates were funny. In hindsight, they were.

Bob finally called around 10:30 (good thing there wasn't a real emergency) and asked how things were going after he saw my messages. I told him that she'd finally fallen dead asleep, but needed food when they got home. They asked if they might stay out longer or if I wanted them home. I was pissed at that reponse and said, "Well if you want your kid fed..." and I think he understood the tone. They were home around midnight, partially relieved to have gone out for once together and frustrated that the night went so bad for me.

Bob woke up Chloe to give her a bottle and the pint-sized terrorist in pink who had been torturing me all night was all coos and giggles once again. She didn't even scowl when I looked at her, but smiled. It was like some mental horror movie to me. He fed her, then she dropped off for the night, sleeping until after 8 the next morning.

Let's just say that the babysitting door is shut until she's at least 3.

I love my cat.

Survivor analysis and commentary

I had to get the previous topic moved down a little, so I'll just prattle on about other stuff today.

Survivor: Gabon started last week with a bang and two episodes. I was stoked! We finally got to see more than a little of the tribes and got a flavor of more to come.

I've been reading some of the message boards out there, trying to stay away from spoiler information, but focusing on analysis. There are two themes going on this season. The first is all about Earth's Last Eden. Given that clue, which I can't remember when it was coined, I wonder if we'll have a male/female final two.

There also has been an underlying theme started possibly by some of Jeff Probst's commentary that there is an underlying current of Good vs. Evil. We've seen a lot of the characters this season who can readily fit into one of the two categories, and not necessarily all on one tribe.

Putting these two simple concepts together along with some of the editing we've seen during the show, I'll go on record right now to say that I think this might be a final two of Corrine (Eve/Evil) and Marcus (Adam/Good).

Corrine is a self-described bitch. Jeff agrees with her. One of her first quotes, and it may end up being the subtle "money quote" for the season, was, "I'm going to be a total bitcha nd I"m going to get rid of who I want to get rid of and hurt people's feelings and gonna laugh when people cry and gonna own it."

Contrast this with the relative hero's edit we're getting with Marcus. He's smart. He's beautiful. He's a doctor (though he said he was merely in the medical profession during the you-pick-em). He has the ladies and even the gay guys fawning over him. That could be a lot of power to weild throughout the game. Jeff, though, said that he can be arrogant. This may be his downfall.

Marcus has created "The Onion" alliance, keeping Corrine and Charlie close to him. He's planning to bring Jacquie into the fold and then round it out with Professor Bob. New clips out on the CBS website show hidden clips with Corrine and Marcus talking early. They bond quickly, then bring in the rest. I wonder if he will lose by taking a bite out of the apple and trusting Corrine to the end? Temptation is yet another theme this season, though it may apply more with just the Exile Island stuff.

None of the rest of the survivors really pique my interest this season as far as strategy is concerned. I don't doubt we'll see a fall of the Fang tribe similar to that of the Ulong tribe in Guatemala. I think our winner will come from the Kota tribe and probably from the Onion Alliance.

I hope Bob turns out to be this season's Yau-Man. That man is amazing and again, if you take a peek at the CBS extras, he's one whose mind is always turning. He's my sentimental favorite for the year.

Be sure to check out articles online at http://www.realitynewsonline.com/ . I post a "Who Will Go" column each Thursday morning with my picks as to who will fall next.

Difficult topic...avoid if you're having a bad day

A dear friend's brother took his own life this morning.

It wasn't a surprise to any of us, but still, it's a shock knowing that someone you knew was so despondant that s/he felt the need to leave life.

He was about 63. He spent about 20+ years in prison; then got out about 3 years ago. He started his own house painting business and was actually talented when it came to faux finishes. He did good work and was getting to the point where he was supporting himself for the most part.

He'd been having problems working, climbing ladders and having enough energy to do his job. Recently, he went to the doctor and was diagnosed with lung cancer and had an extremely nasty blood clot in his thigh. He could live 6 months. He could live 3-4 years. He wasn't able to work or have insurance, and his family was already supporting him through some tougher times. He felt as if he was a burden to them.

He called my friend Saturday night crying and telling her that he was going to end things. He didn't have much quality of life left and postponing it possibly a couple of years by having chemo and going to the county hospital. He asked if she would understand if he did it and admittedly, she did. She loves him, but she knew that he might just do it.

A friend of his was up all night with him Saturday and prevented him from going through with it. Finally, after a long night, she too, said that she understood his dilemma and left him.

He made a few more calls to family, telling them goodbye in different ways.

My friend woke up this morning to a phone call from her brother's roommate. His car was running in the garage. The roommate was afraid, but knew what she would find there. My friend had her call the police. They confirmed what we all expected, that he took his life.

So now it's a question of wondering if he did the right thing or not. Did he do it so he wasn't a burden to his family to support him? Did he really have only a meager life left? Could he have been pulled out of this spiral? We'll never know.

You know there are some really good reason why Dr Kevorkian should be able to do what he does. In this instance, I can see where it would be the right reason.

Paceline

Holy cow, riding in a cycling paceline is a blast! The rush of speed and of bodies working in harmony is exhilarating!

One of my friends at work and volleyball partner in crime recently started riding his bike again after a long, 10-ish year hiatus. He knew I rode to work regularly and wanted to get back into the sport again.

A few weeks ago one evening, I got a text from him, "Wanna ride at lunch? Bring your bike to work." The cooler fall weather and an opportunity to get out of the office for a while made this an easy choice. I loaded up my steed and couldn't wait to get out of a meeting to go play.

The first time out we rode around the lake, then headed over to the "rich" part of town near Love Field and just rode around the neighborhoods. He struggled to keep up and I enjoyed an easy pace. We did 10-ish miles in that hour and both came back grinning.

Last week, I had a meeting cancel so it was my turn to text him. He'd ridden a longer ride over the weekend and was tired, but jumped at the chance to again enjoy the crisp, fall lunchtime ride. As we went, I asked him if he'd want to go do a 44-miler that weekend in Bonham. He thought that if he could do this lunchtime ride and recover well, he would do it.

Sure enough, Friday he said he could go and wanted to give it a shot. This was my first road ride ever the year before and I made it through. He plays sand volleyball regularly and is in shape. There was no doubt in my mind he could make it through, maybe being a little tired at the end.

So Rick picked me up early on Saturday and we met up with his friend, Linda, on the way in McKinney. We raced to get registered and just start.

Rick was like a jackrabbit for the first 10-ish miles, and I silently wondered if he'd burn out at about 35 miles. I had a tough time keeping up with him, especially with all those hills early on. We decided to skip the first aid station and move on.

About 12 miles in, Rick spotted a guy with a "classic" bike; one that was about 20+ years old and struck up a conversation with him. Turns out Wayne, originally from South Africa, was here from China on business and some friends conned him into doing the ride. It was a great bike in its time, but a little old technology compared to today. He was enjoying himself despite the older frame and getting a good view of the Texas countryside.

After a while, we realized we were all pacing about the same and decided to try a paceline. Rick started us out, then Wayne pulled for a while. I stayed trailing. I noticed a shadow behind me and realized that someone else had jumped onto the train. He introduced himself (John maybe?) and chatting. Nice guy. Before long, we had several others. Through this point, we were averaging about 17-18mph

We decided to stop at the 2nd rest stop, just to get the butts out of the seats for a few minutes and grab some ice for the bottles. Four of us continued on the paceline and it started to get hilly. Just as we started to get into a small hill, dang Rick, who was up front at the time, piped up and asked everyone to raise hands to see if it was Kari's turn to pull. Well crap! I didn't think I could go fast enough for these guys, especially on hills, but what the heck. They all raised their hands in agreement.

We'd already started up the first small hill and I broke to get to the front. Turned out I sped up too much because Rick, who was behind me at that point, told me I'd dropped a couple of them. Ha! I slowed down a bit so they could catch up, then led the pace for a few miles. Fun! I didn't think I could do it, nor did I think I was fast enough for it. The guys were really encouraging.

We continued swapping out spots until about the 33 mile mark and averaged about 18-19 the rest of hte way. An extremely nasty car accident split us all up. Rick and I stopped to help initially; the other two stopped for a few minutes then went on. I won't go into the details, but it was bloody and required 3 medical helicopters to come take some of the vicitms away. There hasn't been a news link to see what happened to them.

On a brighter note, I'm so freakin' hooked on pacelines now! Wow! Fun stuff. It makes me think I might be able to move up into the next group in the Corinth bike riders. Whee!!