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Imk2's Journal

imk2
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04/30/2008 17:47 #44193

i'm going back to flying
i got called back to work by usairways, and i accepted. so i'm going away for training this sunday through the 14th. and then starting the 15th, i'm back to being a flight attendant.

i haven't separated from roswell yet. we're going to try me working part time for a while. we'll see how it goes. hopefully, usairways won't be calling me much since i'm at the bottom of the seniority list and i'll be collecting a fat paycheck, while working for here.

i don't want to leave roswell, but the offer from usairways was too good to pass up. plus, i would have lost all of my flight privileges had i passed on this recall. the nice thing is, is that i'm based in philly, so most of our international flying goes out of there and i'm hoping to get me some of that. i'm looking forward to 36 hour layovers in zurich, amsterdam, shannon, london, paris, greece, belgium, stockholm....etc.



plus we've just put in to fly into beijing. i can't wait to work that 18 hour flight!

i'm starting practicing now....coffee....tea....me?

fellyconnelly - 05/01/08 07:43
maybe i should be a flight attendant.
mrmike - 04/30/08 21:13
Coffee and tea would finish a distant second and third in that question :) Congrats on seeing the world once more
tinypliny - 04/30/08 18:58
Would you then be living in Philly?
tinypliny - 04/30/08 18:56
Is this for real? Have you broken this news to the department?
paul - 04/30/08 18:54
Wow, that is such a big change. I wonder what would happen if I got an awesome German job offer. I doubt I would leave now that I got everything going on here but it would be tempting to be in other places. Fortunately for Roswell, I hate travel. Don't get me wrong, I like being in other places - I just don't like the getting there part and I love my house. That does not mean that I am not totally jealous.
tinypliny - 04/30/08 18:53
Wow. This is unexpected. What happens to the summer plans?
museumchick - 04/30/08 18:33
I never knew you used to be a flight attendant. That sounds like a fabulous job!
janelle - 04/30/08 18:33
So, were you a flight attendant who was laid off? It's awesome to be getting a good offer for another job with the economic problems now.

The concept of being a flight attendant on international flights seems really appealing for the reason you mentioned...but to be a flight attendant, I imagine you have to convey a sense of calm while flying...something I haven't managed to do yet!

Good luck with everything...
metalpeter - 04/30/08 17:54
I would take you but I don't have enough money, HA!!! No seriously I don't have enough money, HA! Congratulations I can't imagine being on a plane for 18 hours let alone having to work. I'm sure you'll enjoy your job and the benefits and all the traveling, again congratulations and I wish you luck on the training.

04/29/2008 12:57 #44184

Free Viagra to Chilean citizens
A Chilean mayor plans to give out free Viagra to men 60 and older in his town to improve their "quality of life" four times a month, according to media reports.

"This has to do with quality of life and it's done responsibly. It's not just like handing out candy at the corner," Gonzalo Navarrete, a physician and mayor of the poor town of Lo Prado south of Santiago, told Las Ultimas Noticias daily.

He said any man 60 years and older who wants it can have up to four Viagra pills a month after undergoing a thorough medical exam to avoid potentially harmful side effects of the drug Sildenafil.

"We'll give out four, 50 milligram pills, in other words, for four sexual relationships per month," Navarrete said, adding that the program would have a starting cost of about 20,000 dollars.

The mayor said the idea for his unprecedented move came from hearing older men in his town complain about not getting enough sex.

He did have some advice, however, for the Viagra seekers: "Sildenafil doesn't get you going without direct stimulation."




Apparently, next month, they're planning on giving out free women, to provide the needed direct stimulation. However they are only giving away one woman per month per man, which will undoubtedly result in a shortfall of three stimulation encounters per month since studies show that three out of tour times, Chilean women develop headaches when presented with the opportunity to have sex. Fortunately, plans are underway to speed up the cloning process of sheep and goats intended to fill the stimulation deficit. As expensive and time consuming as the cloning process appears to be, it still provides a substantial cost reduction compared to the exorbitant amount of money the government must pay to the girlfriends and wives of Chilean male citizens in order to provide the direct stimulation services required for the four sexual relationships per month **

  • Ok fine, I made this part up.

04/28/2008 20:45 #44173

holy fucking shit
i just read that a woman in austria was imprisoned in a cellar dungeon by her father for 24 years, during which she gave birth to 7 of her father's children!

holy shit, talk about the most horrid thing i've ever heard of. he had her locked in a secret dungeon, accessible by a secret door which opened by a code. for 24 years they never saw sunlight, never left the rooms. one child died shortly after child birth, and the father burned it. the children learned how to speak, but never received any education. the kids, the oldest being 20, have never, EVER seen the outside world, never seen sunlight, trees, flowers, never saw any other people. they were born and raised in total captivity.

this is the most disturbing thing i've ever read.

this fucker needs to be skinned alive and showered in acid.

this is what the devil looks like. wait...the picture upload thingy is gone...




james - 04/29/08 09:43
Drew, this is the worst possible time to say that. Next time I dog sit, I am spot checking your basement for Austrians.
drew - 04/29/08 09:36
My wife hates the basement. I'll bet I could keep a few people down there without being caught.

Not that I would. I'm just saying that she hates the basement, that's all.
fellyconnelly - 04/29/08 08:49
seriously? the wife didn't know of a secret hidey hole containing good number of people that her husband kept visiting?
james - 04/29/08 08:48
Apparently, this isn't a unique case in Austria
:::link:::

creepy.
uncutsaniflush - 04/28/08 23:03
To me the most amazing thing is that the guy's wife (the mother of the raped and imprisoned daughter) apparently knew nothing of this. Wow!!! If it is true that she knew nothing, she's got to feel completely freaked out.
libertad - 04/28/08 21:52
That is so horrible. Just freaking horrid.

04/27/2008 10:48 #44164

wanted
has anyone see the tailer fo this movie? it looks so fucking sweet! seriously, this is on my MUST SEE THIS SUMMER list. angelina looks so hot and james mcavoy is my ultimate dream man. i can't wait for this movie to come out.


metalpeter - 04/28/08 17:26
I have seen the trailer but it was a short version that does look pretty sweet.
ladycroft - 04/28/08 09:57
sweet!!!

04/26/2008 18:07 #44158

my new phone; the "not iphone"
for those of you who have been trying to get a hold of me....i finally got a new phone. i could not stand my ppc 6700 anymore. it didn't hold a charge anymore, even though i just got a replacement phone a few months ago, it was so bulky and ugly and slow that i felt like i was using a cell phone from 1995. also, i was ready for windows mobile 6.0. it just seems like 5.0 was so outdated and old. i heard that the upgrades they added to it were pretty nice.

i wanted a new phone for a while now, but i was locked into a contract with sprint until october. i did not know how i was going to get through the summer without a phone, because i refused to use my phone anymore. it's been laying at the bottom of my purse, turned off, for months now. so i went to sprint to see how much a new phone would cost me.

apparently i was only able to get a $75 discount, and had to wait for a $150 discount come august. so, unfortunately, if i wanted a smart phone, i would have to pay full price which was around $500 - $75. um...no.

if i was going to pay $500 for a phone, i might as well get an iphone. but i couldn't even do that, because i was still locked into that contract, and i was not about to pay sprint even more of my hard earned cash so that they'd release me. so i went up to the customer service agent and asked if there was anything they could do for me.

no. they couldn't.

they did say that if i called customer service, maybe they could do something for me, but there was nothing they could do for me in the store.

ok, fine.

i called customer service and told them that i've been a sprint customer for the past 8 years. i have 4 lines with them, and have never, ever paid a bill late. i explained how much i hated my present phone, and how i needed a new phone now, because i was not able to use my piece of shit phone anymore. (you turn it on, it dies after an hour or two) (the same thing happened with my other ppc 6700, which is why i had it replaced) i was not about to go through the hassle of having it repaired/replaced again. this phone was done. i was done with this phone. i didn't want to touch or look at it anymore. i was prepared to go phoneless until my contract ran out if it meant having to deal with this craptastic piece of junk.

but i also said, that if i had to wait unitl august to get the new customer pricing, i would just wait out the duration of my contract and go over to AT&T and buy an iphone. i said that if they could not do anything for me, a loyal customer that has spent a shit load of money every month for the past 8 years, then i was no longer going to be a customer, and i would wait until all the contracts on all 4 of my lines expired and i would no longer do business with them. i said that i was really not trying to be a bitch (and i swear (e:fellyconnelly) i wasn't) and i wasn't bluffing. i was just being honest. i gave them a choice of either giving me the new customer pricing on a new phone early, or having me move to another carrier.

so the girl i was on the phone with, came up with an offer, saying that she could not give me new customer pricing on a phone, but she would give me a $50 credit on all 4 lines, if i extended the contract for an additional 2 years on those lines.

i was like "yeah, riiiiight, GOOD ONE! but NO THANKS"

so i said no deal and was ready to hang up, and the chick transfered me to the cancellation department, saying maybe they could do something for me.

so the woman in the cancellation department said she was the customer retention specialist, or something like that and said that she was told that i was thinking about leaving sprint. i told her that yes, i was going to let my contract expire and would get an iphone, because i wanted a new phone now and since i couldn't get a deal with sprint, i would take my business elsewhere.

so without any further discussion or deal pleading, she said she'd be happy to offer me the new customer pricing on any phone i wanted. so i told her that i was thinking about the HTC Touch, and within about 5 minutes, it was all done and over with. i should be getting my new phone on tuesday. it costs $250, which is about $250 less than what they wanted me to pay.

i am super stoked. now i will have a new, sweet phone, that is kind of, sort of like the iphone, AND i don't have to wait until august to get it!

here is a pic of what it looks like.


image


here is their website


here are some quick specs

Key Features
+ TouchFLO� screen technology
+ Windows Mobile� 6 Professional
+ Direct Push Outlook� email
+ Compact at H: 99.9mm, W: 58mm,
D: 13.9mm and lightweight at only
+ Tri-band GSM with GPRS/EDGE
+ 2.0 mega-pixel camera
+ Stereo Bluetooth� 2.0 and Wi-Fi
+ HTC ExtUSB� cable for PC

i'm excited that this has the option for stereo bluetooth headphones. my old phone did not, and it sucked.

on the con side, this doesn't have a qwerty keyboard, but rather a touch screen one like the iphone, that isn't as user friendly as the iphone's.

imk2 - 04/27/08 11:34
felly, yeah, i heard the writing/texting part is not so good. that's one of the cons i saw when i read the reviews. they said that the touch typing is not as good as it is on the iphone, and since that is your only choice since there is not qwerty keyboard, you're basically forced to use the stylus (and who wants to do that?)

and tiny, yes it has wifi, but i won't get rid of the data plan, because i want to be able to use it when there is no wifi available. like in my car, at a friend's house, in a store, etc. plus i want the ability to tether my laptop when there isn't any wifi available, or when my connection at home goes to shit.

actually, i don't know if it'll do that. i know my ppc 6700 tethered my laptop, but i never looked into this one to see if it has that ability. but either way, i have to have a data plan. i don't want to be tied to being near a wifi hotspot.
fellyconnelly - 04/27/08 09:38
Good job on the deal making! Honestly, the retentions department is the only department that will really give you any sort of deal, and that is only if you have several phones that are in jeopardy. You played your cards right and got a good deal!

the only thing i have tos ay about that phone is that a couple of my friends have it and either a) they don't like texting me anymore or b) they are finding texting on said phone rather difficult.

But I do hope you like it and congrats on the good deal!
tinypliny - 04/26/08 22:33
Can that device log on to free wifi networks? If it can, then you can ditch your data plan.
:::link:::
libertad - 04/26/08 21:53
That's awesome. That was pretty smart of them to give you the new customer discount instead of losing you.
paul - 04/26/08 20:56
I would only go back to sprint if they got wimax here in Buffalo and the Nokia 810 with wimax support comes out :::link:::

I love that device. It is definately, the best mobile device I have ever used - if only it had wimax or its own gsm connection.
jenks - 04/26/08 20:32
I think a guy at work has that phone and likes it.
But- does this mean you might actually answer texts now? woot woot!

But yeah- saying 'ok then I want to cancel my account' is usually the kick in the ass they need to give you a deal.

I think you've inspired me to write the nasty letter that I've been composing in my head for a while now...