"Just" a housewife

A Jet Set Life Less Glamorous!

So I traveled on an airplane on Wednesday, the first time in 3 months. Considering last year I traveled approximately 60,000 air miles and 50,000 of those were on United, it had been a long break away.

Unfortunately, due to the route and my new job (I had the tickets booked for me) I was flying Continental Airlines. An airline which I rarely fly. Given that and the late booking, I was in economy, in a middle seat (squwashed in between a large man who was about 270 pds and a strange woman who was making grunting notes!) and with no chance of an upgrade. Not only that, but the hope of a movie was shot down early on as the stewardess informed a fellow passenger that this plane was one of the only ones that didn’t have TV screens! Just my luck.

It hadn’t been a lucky day as I’d left the meeting as soon as I could to dash to the airport to see if I could get on a flight to NYC instead of SFO. David had left California on Wednesday too to spend 6 days in NYC for work, and yes unfortunately would be away for the weekend. We’d decided last week that I’d stay home and not incur the expense of an extra flight, but on Thursday night on the phone, after a busy week for both of us, the prospect of a fun weekend in NYC together seemed more appealing than a lonely one apart.

However, upon arriving at the airport, I realized that changing my flight from SFO to NYC would cost more than $400 and it wasn’t quite worth it. That price wasn’t counting the single ticket I’d have to purchase on Sunday for my return home to SFO.

Oh well, a weekend of hair appointments, more gym work and the washing beckons! On the plus side I still get to see the new Jennifer Aniston movie with my girlfriend Amy. Yay.

P.S. Both days in Houston I woke up at 5:30 a.m. to work out – all the more impressive when you consider the time difference, as it felt more like 3:30 a.m. PST.

The Texas and California Differences

I am writing this on the plane back from Houston. On my first trip to Texas I was struck by the differences between the city I was visiting Houston and my home city, San Francisco. There were three main differences;

1)      The advertisements on TV.  In San Francisco the advertisements are about Crate & Barrel furniture specially designed for ‘small paces’ and discounts on your first month’s rent at the local storage warehouse. In Houston, the advertisements are for the latest lawn mower machine that you can sit on which has the latest SUSPENSION!!! (It’s the size of a mini cooper!) A further TV ad was for swimming pools. Neither product would have any use in SF. You’re lucky if you have a yard let alone grass and the closest you get to water outside is the incessant rain that’s been failing in the Bay Area for the last 6 weeks.

2)      TV anchors. In Houston there's a variety in TV hosts. In California you have to be attractice, skinny as hell and between 25-40. In Houston, it seems anything goes. Cool hey!

3)      Weather. While San Francisco has recently broken the record for the number of consecutive rainfall days (about 25 I recall) and is lucky to reach temperatures of 60-65 at the moment, on Monday Houston reached a record temperature of 87 degrees for this time of year. Unfortunately, since my trip consisted of airport, car, meeting rooms and hotel room, I got to experience none of it. I experienced shivers and colder temperatures than SF given the Southern love of air conditioning.

Note: One advertisement I was grateful for in Houston was a 3M designed laptop screen cover. Apparently the new device will ensure laptop privacy on planes. After reading magazines, I’m thoroughly bored now and I can’t do any work given the confidential nature of my tasks. I shall be purchasing one of those very shortly.