8.5 - Brown
4 - Green
1 - Blue
11 - Yellow
8 - Red
6 - Purple
13 - Pink
3 - Orange
54.5 individual Smarties from a box marked 56 grams
Saturday, January 13, 2007
Eat the red ones last!
8.5 - Brown
4 - Green
1 - Blue
11 - Yellow
8 - Red
6 - Purple
13 - Pink
3 - Orange
54.5 individual Smarties from a box marked 56 grams
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Dissection of M&M's
8 - Brown
5 - Green
12 - Blue
9 - Yellow
5 - Red
0 - Purple
0 - Pink
18 - Orange
57 individual M&M's from a package marked 48 grams
Monday, January 08, 2007
Dissection of a box of Smarties
11 - Brown
4 - Green
4 - Blue
2 - Yellow
6 - Red
4 - Purple
10 - Pink
12 - Orange
52 individual Smarties from a box marked 56 grams
Sunday, January 07, 2007
Travelling on New Year's day!
We’ve all seen movies involving the horrors of holiday traveling, or heard stories of terrible trips. Well, here’s my own story. This year had me flying from St. John’s to Ottawa (stopping in Halifax for a 7 or 8 hour layover) at 5:30 AM on January 1st – the only flight available when the bookings were made. The next flight available wasn’t until sometime in the middle of January and my work commitments wouldn’t allow that.
As I was staying in Clarenville, I would have to drive about a 1 ½ hours to get to “town” which wasn't so bad; well except for the falling snow. I had borrowed my father’s Jeep for the holiday so I wasn’t really worried about the drive, (my 10 year old son told me to “make sure it was in 4 wheel drive” just as I left, which in hind sight would have been a good thing to do). I left “home” about 11:30 PM, and about 25 minutes outside of Clarenville the highway turned treacherous! The Jeep, (although set up with 4 new and studded snow tires) went crazy on the ice! OK, so now it really was time for 4 wheel drive! And I continued, the weather steadily deteriorating, my traveling speed with it; around an hour later there was a full 6 inches of snow on the road and the wind was picking up – about 2 hours later, I was in a full on storm, lots of snow, blowing snow and white outs, (anyone who has made this drive will know that it is open barrens for much of the way) and still barely half way there! Four hours (and a tank of gas) later, I finally made it to “town” (get me to a Tim’s!)!
At least I was on time for the flight - I checked my baggage, got my boarding pass and did the security screening, (St. John’s has a nasty screening!). Air Port security had everyone stand with our arms up, undo belts and even had some people removing footwear, even after walking through the metal detector portal! One young lady was even having her bra closures checked, (by a female agent) – she was understandably terribly embarrassed by the ordeal. An elderly couple went through ahead of me, and the security agents went through every item in their carry on luggage and took everything from toothpaste to cans of pop from them. They were simply baffled by it all. When I left Ottawa to go down to Newfoundland, it wasn’t as…involved as this!
Conspiracy or not, I checked while waiting, it costs $2.50 to get a bottle of water inside the security gate whereas it is about $1 outside the terminal!
Anyway, I digress. Pre-boarding was called and we were finally getting on the move. Almost. The ground crew stopped that; mechanical trouble, the flight will be delayed! Uh oh, now the fun begins.
There were several things happening here so bear with me. First, as we were sharing a common bad experience, several of us were making “friends” within the terminal - a few college students heading back to Nova Scotia, a military guy and his girlfriend heading to Regina, a lady heading back to Ottawa with her 9 year old daughter, an elderly lady who wasn’t sure where she was going but her daughter and son in law were going to meet her there and a very nice lady who took to helping the fore mentioned elderly lady since she was going to the same place.
Next, another flight had its capacity restrictions reduced, (reportedly because of the bad weather) and stranded about 50 other people, (now we were all getting worried)!
At my gate, another Air Canada flight was successfully boarded and gone, but we still didn’t have any information.
Over the intercom system, there were a lot of announcements trying to get people through the line up, (because security screening was taking so long) and giving little tid bits of information about the delayed flight(s).
In an effort to ward off all the increasingly upset inquiries at the boarding, the agents were giving out the Air Canada customer care phone number so people could start to make alternative plans, (it was now about 6:30 or 7:00 am) but still could not tell us whether or not we had a flight out that morning, (they were saying something about flying a part in for the plane!).
At first I thought it was funny to look around the terminal and see so many with cell phones all trying to make other arrangements but then one of my “new” friends came back he told us that there was nothing available until January 10th! With that news, I too had my cell phone out and patiently waited on hold – for 45 minutes! While I was waiting, the lady going to Ottawa was actually talking with an Air Canada CSR and was keeping us up to date on her schedule changes, (remember we were all sharing in this) and although she first had to explain to customer service that the flight was indeed delayed, (appears that no one had alerted the rest of Air Canada about the air craft failure), there were no flights available out until January 12th! She was going to have to hope for the delayed flight to go, (maybe 2:00 pm), missing the connecting flight and so stay overnight at Halifax, then on to Montreal the next day before finally getting to Ottawa. Yikes! A young couple opposite us had similar arrangements.
By the time I was talking with a CSR I was stressed and the guy told me that there was nothing available until January 15th! I talked to him explaining, (as I am sure he heard many times that day) that this was not acceptable, I had to get back for work. It must have taken some effort because it took so long but the guy somehow got me a seat on a flight heading out within a couple of hours but I probably wouldn’t meet my connection in Halifax. At this point I didn’t care, just get me to Halifax and book a seat the next day, which is how it finally was arranged. I now had to leave the secure area, get back in line to get a new boarding pass and my baggage was still on the dead plane out on the tarmac!
Getting the baggage was surprisingly easy and it was here that all we “new” friends were comparing notes and schedules. Of the people I was talking with, my new schedule was one of the best, (as far as I can tell, I got the seat because I was flying alone where most were flying as couples, and families). Getting the new boarding pass and the second trip through security is not worth the mention and my new flight from St. John’s did leave, although a little late. My original flight was now officially cancelled and there were rumors of bringing another plan to accommodate all the other stranded travelers, (I think there was about 125 or 150 people in all). My trip to Halifax was not at all comfortable; I was squat between two other upset and rather large people who did nothing but bitch about the morning’s events.
Once I landed in Halifax however things turned better, well a lot better - my original connecting flight was still there and not boarded! It too was delayed! I showed the gate agent my boarding pass but it was from before remaking the flight plans and with all the troubles in the morning in Newfoundland there were 4 other people in that same seat, (remember I was now booked for the next day) and several other seats with more than one person in them. This lady was great though – it took some doing but she arranged it so everyone got on the flight – and she passed me a new boarding pass and told me to go. The seat number was 02C. Never saw that number before so I asked her about it; she just waved her hand.
“Hurry hurry” she said.
I asked the flight attendant about the seat too.
“Oh, you’ll like that one” was all she said.
I still didn’t clue in. “Dumbass” is what a friend of mine said when I told her about this!
Seat 02C is in the second row of the plane, (aisle) and with Air Canada, that means first class!
Woot!
First Class is the way to go baby! I’ve not had such an enjoyable flight as I did that day coming from Halifax to Ottawa. Hot towels, free drinks, real food and elbow room! It would be worth the double cost to fly first class.
A first class flight would have made a great end to my holiday travel adventure, but that was not to be the case. Not surprisingly, my baggage was nowhere to be found! I pretty much expected that; I had changed schedules, jumped a flight and with all the mess ups of the day; missing baggage was pretty much a forgone conclusion.
And just to make things a little more fun, my ride was also missing! Earlier in December, (the 22nd) I lost my cell phone in my Dad’s driveway when clearing snow off of the Jeep and just couldn’t find it – well that is until I drove over it the next day, (I got another “dumbass” for that too). The screen display is smashed and it’s roughed up but the phone still worked! I needed to call my ride; is he still coming, or do I grab a cab – but I couldn’t read the numbers from the phone!
It is bit of a story and I've left out a few the details. I grabbed a taxi home, my bags have since been found, (it took 2 days), I have a new cell phone and I am back to work once again. What a way to start the New Year!
As I was staying in Clarenville, I would have to drive about a 1 ½ hours to get to “town” which wasn't so bad; well except for the falling snow. I had borrowed my father’s Jeep for the holiday so I wasn’t really worried about the drive, (my 10 year old son told me to “make sure it was in 4 wheel drive” just as I left, which in hind sight would have been a good thing to do). I left “home” about 11:30 PM, and about 25 minutes outside of Clarenville the highway turned treacherous! The Jeep, (although set up with 4 new and studded snow tires) went crazy on the ice! OK, so now it really was time for 4 wheel drive! And I continued, the weather steadily deteriorating, my traveling speed with it; around an hour later there was a full 6 inches of snow on the road and the wind was picking up – about 2 hours later, I was in a full on storm, lots of snow, blowing snow and white outs, (anyone who has made this drive will know that it is open barrens for much of the way) and still barely half way there! Four hours (and a tank of gas) later, I finally made it to “town” (get me to a Tim’s!)!
At least I was on time for the flight - I checked my baggage, got my boarding pass and did the security screening, (St. John’s has a nasty screening!). Air Port security had everyone stand with our arms up, undo belts and even had some people removing footwear, even after walking through the metal detector portal! One young lady was even having her bra closures checked, (by a female agent) – she was understandably terribly embarrassed by the ordeal. An elderly couple went through ahead of me, and the security agents went through every item in their carry on luggage and took everything from toothpaste to cans of pop from them. They were simply baffled by it all. When I left Ottawa to go down to Newfoundland, it wasn’t as…involved as this!
Conspiracy or not, I checked while waiting, it costs $2.50 to get a bottle of water inside the security gate whereas it is about $1 outside the terminal!
Anyway, I digress. Pre-boarding was called and we were finally getting on the move. Almost. The ground crew stopped that; mechanical trouble, the flight will be delayed! Uh oh, now the fun begins.
There were several things happening here so bear with me. First, as we were sharing a common bad experience, several of us were making “friends” within the terminal - a few college students heading back to Nova Scotia, a military guy and his girlfriend heading to Regina, a lady heading back to Ottawa with her 9 year old daughter, an elderly lady who wasn’t sure where she was going but her daughter and son in law were going to meet her there and a very nice lady who took to helping the fore mentioned elderly lady since she was going to the same place.
Next, another flight had its capacity restrictions reduced, (reportedly because of the bad weather) and stranded about 50 other people, (now we were all getting worried)!
At my gate, another Air Canada flight was successfully boarded and gone, but we still didn’t have any information.
Over the intercom system, there were a lot of announcements trying to get people through the line up, (because security screening was taking so long) and giving little tid bits of information about the delayed flight(s).
In an effort to ward off all the increasingly upset inquiries at the boarding, the agents were giving out the Air Canada customer care phone number so people could start to make alternative plans, (it was now about 6:30 or 7:00 am) but still could not tell us whether or not we had a flight out that morning, (they were saying something about flying a part in for the plane!).
At first I thought it was funny to look around the terminal and see so many with cell phones all trying to make other arrangements but then one of my “new” friends came back he told us that there was nothing available until January 10th! With that news, I too had my cell phone out and patiently waited on hold – for 45 minutes! While I was waiting, the lady going to Ottawa was actually talking with an Air Canada CSR and was keeping us up to date on her schedule changes, (remember we were all sharing in this) and although she first had to explain to customer service that the flight was indeed delayed, (appears that no one had alerted the rest of Air Canada about the air craft failure), there were no flights available out until January 12th! She was going to have to hope for the delayed flight to go, (maybe 2:00 pm), missing the connecting flight and so stay overnight at Halifax, then on to Montreal the next day before finally getting to Ottawa. Yikes! A young couple opposite us had similar arrangements.
By the time I was talking with a CSR I was stressed and the guy told me that there was nothing available until January 15th! I talked to him explaining, (as I am sure he heard many times that day) that this was not acceptable, I had to get back for work. It must have taken some effort because it took so long but the guy somehow got me a seat on a flight heading out within a couple of hours but I probably wouldn’t meet my connection in Halifax. At this point I didn’t care, just get me to Halifax and book a seat the next day, which is how it finally was arranged. I now had to leave the secure area, get back in line to get a new boarding pass and my baggage was still on the dead plane out on the tarmac!
Getting the baggage was surprisingly easy and it was here that all we “new” friends were comparing notes and schedules. Of the people I was talking with, my new schedule was one of the best, (as far as I can tell, I got the seat because I was flying alone where most were flying as couples, and families). Getting the new boarding pass and the second trip through security is not worth the mention and my new flight from St. John’s did leave, although a little late. My original flight was now officially cancelled and there were rumors of bringing another plan to accommodate all the other stranded travelers, (I think there was about 125 or 150 people in all). My trip to Halifax was not at all comfortable; I was squat between two other upset and rather large people who did nothing but bitch about the morning’s events.
Once I landed in Halifax however things turned better, well a lot better - my original connecting flight was still there and not boarded! It too was delayed! I showed the gate agent my boarding pass but it was from before remaking the flight plans and with all the troubles in the morning in Newfoundland there were 4 other people in that same seat, (remember I was now booked for the next day) and several other seats with more than one person in them. This lady was great though – it took some doing but she arranged it so everyone got on the flight – and she passed me a new boarding pass and told me to go. The seat number was 02C. Never saw that number before so I asked her about it; she just waved her hand.
“Hurry hurry” she said.
I asked the flight attendant about the seat too.
“Oh, you’ll like that one” was all she said.
I still didn’t clue in. “Dumbass” is what a friend of mine said when I told her about this!
Seat 02C is in the second row of the plane, (aisle) and with Air Canada, that means first class!
Woot!
First Class is the way to go baby! I’ve not had such an enjoyable flight as I did that day coming from Halifax to Ottawa. Hot towels, free drinks, real food and elbow room! It would be worth the double cost to fly first class.
A first class flight would have made a great end to my holiday travel adventure, but that was not to be the case. Not surprisingly, my baggage was nowhere to be found! I pretty much expected that; I had changed schedules, jumped a flight and with all the mess ups of the day; missing baggage was pretty much a forgone conclusion.
And just to make things a little more fun, my ride was also missing! Earlier in December, (the 22nd) I lost my cell phone in my Dad’s driveway when clearing snow off of the Jeep and just couldn’t find it – well that is until I drove over it the next day, (I got another “dumbass” for that too). The screen display is smashed and it’s roughed up but the phone still worked! I needed to call my ride; is he still coming, or do I grab a cab – but I couldn’t read the numbers from the phone!
It is bit of a story and I've left out a few the details. I grabbed a taxi home, my bags have since been found, (it took 2 days), I have a new cell phone and I am back to work once again. What a way to start the New Year!
My fridge - ain't this something!
A friend sent me a picture of her fridge contents last night...so this is the contents of my own...it's either really funny, or simply pathetic!
What's in your fridge?
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