The unfriendly skies

Wow! I overslept this morning. I haven't done that in a long time - I think the last time I did it was after a long night at some meeting or other, at which we decided to do something real important, I'm sure. So I do apologize if any of you noticed that there was no blog this morning. Here you go - a 'late edition.'

I had to get up and go deliver a spa today. That's a real plus! We have had this one in our warehouse for over a week. We set it up for delivery last Friday, but they wanted to get the electrical all wrapped up so we could hook it up, fill it up and heat it up. They did, and we did. They are in Hot Water now!! Or will be in a few hours... And the check is on it's way to the bank right about now.

In local news:

My daughter is coming home from University!! Yay! I can't wait to see her. I may borrow a mini van so I can take the dog with us to the airport - is that bad? I mean, Kristen has never met Sienna, so let's get the two of them together sooner? Right? OK - maybe the dog will just have to wait. We'll see. If Hope doesn't go with me, then KJ can ride up front and the dog will go with us. If Hope ends up going with me, the dog will stay at home. Done. Settled, Phew!

Speaking of bad airline customer service: Hope got an email today announcing that United Airlines had changed our travel plans for Kristen. We are broke - duh - so we have been using our air miles to get KJ around the country. We used to have money, and we used to spend it like crazy, so we have hundreds of thousands of miles. But we are very tired of United, and if we were able to spend any money at all, we would start immediately building up miles with some other airline - ANY other airline. Here's what the newest fun is about:

Hope booked Kristen's return flight from Southeastern University in Lakeland, Florida back in August. We got confirmation right away, of course. Then they sent us a note saying the plans had changed. New flight, new time, new stops, new everything. We were fine with that. Then after some time went by, they sent another note saying it was all changed again. And then they did it once again - and then one more time just for fits and giggles. Oh, and this fourth time was just yesterday, AKA the day before the travel was to take place.

KJ has arranged a ride to the airport so we don't have to leave one of her cars in the parking garage for $150, nor do we want to pay the same amount for a one-way ride on a van or limo. But United wanted to move her departure up so that her friend would have to pick her up at her dorm at 3 in the morning - AND she would still arrive in LAX late in the evening. She would have had some huge layover in Maine, or Muskeegan, or Latvia and another stop in Denver, or Dallas, or Des Moines or Duluth or some such place.

But no! Hope went to bat for her beloved offspring - consumer of our retirement money. After four changes, and now this!? Not a chance, not on HER watch, baby. She spent over an hour on the phone to do it, but she got them to book us on a flight on another airline, at a better time, with only one stop - arriving at LAX at a reasonable time instead of the middle of the night! Right on, wife!! Don't ever get this lady mad at you - I have, and it isn't pretty! SHE is pretty, but - forget it.

Oh, and not only will this not cost us any extra money or air miles, but as a way to show they are sorry for trying to mess with her, they are including a $100 bonus certificate for me to spend on a new Blue Ray player! OK - the certificate is for future travel, but it is still $100 we won't have to take out of pocket, so I'm going to rush right out and, uh, never mind.

Wow and anon!

So excited to see my offspring together in one place again - soon - I will certainly keep you posted.