McMullenWeb.com

Currency Exchange

I have the worse luck with traveling and foreign exchange. Invariably the Canadian dollar drops for what ever country I am going to just as I plan my vacation.

The Canadian dollar has been riding high for the past year. Putting up good numbers againt the UK pound and American dollar. As I was nearing my trip to LA in early November the Cdn dollar started losing ground against the US dollar. While cashwise I have the US dollar account I still have to pay for certain things with a credit card. It was 1.12 during the summer. My credit card rates came in at 1.15 at the beginning of the trip and 1.17 toward then end. Jeeze!

So, when planning my trip to the UK and Thailand at the end of October the CND to UK rate was 2.12. All of what I have to repay Bev and Fraser at will be UK pounds. So that is the figure I was working on for budgeting. The biggest expense is for the airfare between London and Bangkok at around 430 pounds. Well, I have now exteded my foreign exchange luck on the UK pound which has done nothing but climb since then. It is now at 2.24. At least the Thai Baht increase doesn't seem so bad but then again, it's such a iny amount, 1 Baht, that by the time you blow it up to 1000 Baht it adds up.

All I can say is that at least the UK pound is not as bad as it was last time I was in the UK (April 2004) when it was almost 2.50!

Standby Hell

Oops! I did it again!

I overslept. When I opened my eyes I could see light behind the curtains. Not a good sign when it's supposed to be 3am when waking up. Looked at the clock and it said 6:20. 6:20? That's the time my flight is!

Got up in an absolute panic. No recollection at all of a wakeup call let alone of an alarm going off. Grabbed my flight info email, called American Airlines and explained the situation. She said I could go to the airport and try to catch a standby seat. There was a flight at 10:30am to Dallas with a connection later on that would get me to Montreal by 9:30pm. Ok, I would miss the Grey Cup. I asked how early I could check in and she said to be there at least 2 hours before the flight for an international flight. Just to show my general confusion, I didn't call anyone in Montreal to let them know to not come to the airport to pick me up at 5pm because I was thing Montreal is 3 hour BEHIND and I would be calling too early! ;-)

Grabbed my stuff. I had already showered the night before in preparation so I was able to hightail it out fairly quickly pauing by the front office to get my receipt and grab an orange juice. Wanted to eat more but too stressed.

Luckily Norwalk is at the end of the freeway that has the airport at the other end of it so it was a fairly fast trip. Turned the car in, grabbed the airport shuttle and arrive at about a quarter to 8. Monster lineup (of course). They had only two or three agents handling this line while the line next to us for self service with less that half the people waiting had twice as many agents. Go figure!

An hour later I finally make it up to an agent. She suggested that I don't try for the Dallas connection as there are not as many flights between LA and Dallas and only one shot at Dallas-Montreal. She suggested Chicago. She tagged my luggage as standby and said this will probably go through. The first Cicago flight was at 10:20. I trudged to the gate. I was 15 on the standby list. as it got closer to the takeoff time I actually moved up to 9. By the time they called the flight and then the standbys they only took a couple. They moved the list to a flight leaving at 11:30am from another gate.

I checked that gate out and I was still number 9. I took off in search of an internet hookup to send emails concerning my situation (still under the assumption that Montreal is three hours BEHIND). Found it in the bar so had a bloody mary at the same time, I deserved it after all the stress. Anyway, wound my way back to the gate and now I was number 12. What? They only let a few standbys on this flight so now the list was being transfered to a flight leaving at 12:45pm.

So, I hung out, ate a bit, sent out a few more emails, checked hotel prices in Chicago in case I missed the last flight to Montreal and had to spend the night. Finally it was time for the flight and I finally got on! Uneventful flight, pulled into Chicago at around 7:20pm. The flight to Montreal was at 7:40pm, on the other side of the terminal! But alas I guess not as many people fly between Chicago and Montreal as they do between LA and Chicago so not problem getting on the flight although the gate agents took their sweet time processing stuff so that just added to the stress levels.

Pulled into Montreal around 11pm where I actually had two pieces of the luck that had eluded me all day. Just as I was arriving at the stairs to the customs booths an Air Transat jet from down south disengorged their 200 plus passengers and I managed to get there before them! The second was at the luggae carrosel. I had no idea where my luggage was. I went to the carrosel for my flight but nothing had started yet. I noticed some clusters of baggage here and there but none of it was mine. Just then an agent came up and said there was going to be a delay with the baggage because the baggage door of the plane was stuck and they were waiting for a technician to come and fix it. I asked him about standby. He asked "Is your name Patricia? Your luggage is right over there" and pointed to a desk. So I dodged another wait.

Last Day in LA

Well, my last full day.

Didn't do much. Was another sunny, warm day. Inland temperatures in the low 80s. Beach time!

Did a few errands in the OC then headed down to Huntington Beach, the beach we always went to as a kid. It was foggy along the coast with patches of sunshine and the temperature reflected that. The outdoor temperature gauge on the car went from around 70 to 64 as I hit the beach. Some sections were completely fogged. I drove up the coast to Long Beach as I was in the hunt for my lunch and therefore searching for an In-n-Out Burger. Finally found it in Long Beach. Got myself a double double, fries and a chocolate milk shake.

Took the food back down the coast to Huntington cliffs. By then the sun had come out for this stretch so I sat on the cliff watching the surfers while I ate the heavenly burger. Can't beat an In-n-Out burger!. Walked down to the beach and actually got my feet wet!

Spent a bit of time there then just drove around Surfside and Sunset Beach looking at the houses and such. Stopped off in Seal Beach and walked out to the end of the pier. There is a diner out there so I has a beer while watching people fish ourside. Caught some good shots of sunset and birds.

Drove back to the hotel as it was getting dark and just spent the evening packing and preparing for the next morning. I had an early flight so it meant getting up early. I called the front desk to request a wakeup call for 3am and I set the alarm clock for 3:15am.

Two and a Half Men

More playing tourist today.

Drove up to Burbank to the Warner Brothers Studio lot. Got to the proper parking lot at Gate 8 around 4:50 and joined a small line to one side of the parking structure. A couple of pages came by and confirmed the ID of the people standing there. Just about 5:15 a group of us were led across the street to the gate, through security and to the sound stage. As we were on our way to the sound stage we passed the back of building fronts that had a camera on a crane over the top of it. We were told they were filming Gilmore Girls on the back lot there. As we arrived at the sound stage we stood a bit longer then went through security and metal detector again before entering the sound stage. We were led down a hallway then up some stairs to the studio audience seating. Looked to be about 175-200 seats with two main middle sections with two smaller sections to the left and right of the main sections. There were 6 rows. I lucked out and sat in row 6 on the aisle right in the middle.

In front of us were two main sets, the living room and the kitchen. I sat right in between the two. To the far right there seemed to be cafe set, to the far left were bedroom sets. As we sat there and waited while the studio audience filled up there were tall screens that blocked the sets. I could see over the top into the set because I was sitting on the top row.

The warm up guy came out around 6:40 (can't remember his name), did a few schticks then had us a watch a recently finished but unaired episode on the studio monitors located above the audience sitting. When that was done the cast was introduced.The rest of the evening followed the same formula of taping the scenes (about 6 or 7) plus some retakes along with audience participation activities organized by the warm up guy. Half way through the taping they served pizza and water to everyone. As soon as all of the live scenes were taped they played back over the monitors 3 scenes plus an end tag that had been taped the day before so that they could record the audience laugh track.

With all the audience participation activities going on the warm up guy was giving out bits and pieces of merchandise, signed cast photos and the such. At the very end he had 6 scripts of that night's show and I managed to snag one! There was a final curtain call by the cast, they milled about the set with crew and invited guest while the studio audience filed out. I managed to get the script signed by Conchata Ferrall (the housekeeper Berta), Holland Taylor (Charlie and Alan's mother) and Jon Cryer (Alan).

Quick Rundown

Ok, here is the week in quickie form:

Sunday - Got up and had breakfast with about 15 other alumni. While packing up in my room I listened via internet radio to the Alouettes playoff game. Checked out at noon but didn't have to be anywhere until one so I sat on a bench on the water in front of the hotel and continued to listen t the game.

Met up for lunch with two other members of the Wise Women list, Anne Zumwinkle and Virginia Hetrick. After that went up to Norwalk, checked into the hotel and rested a bit. Drove back to Long Beach in the evening to have dinner with Frank, one of my brother's friends.

Monday - woke up with a massive headache and really stiff neck. Spent most of the morning trying to recover from that. Managed to drag myself out of the room in the late afternoon to do some errands and to go to Canter's Deli in the Fairfax district to indulge in a Coney Island Pistrami sandwich with a Dr Browns Black Cherry Soda. Came back to the room and attempted to sleep but my neck was unbelievably sore and I just could not find a good position to sleep in. Finally fell asleep around 4 in the morning..

Tuesday - woke up arounf 6 (yep, a whole two hours) with yet another headache and stiff neck. Had no choice but to take it easy mosy of the day until mid afternoon when I went up to Arcadia to have dinner with my cousin Graham and his wife Bobbi. I had brought up a copy of Grandfather Heath's service records from WWI so he really found that interesting. Spent most of the evening talking.

Wednesday - You guessed it, a headache again. Had to cancel out on the plans to go to The Price is Right. Muddled through the day, laid out by the pool to just relax and try to snooze a bit. I was slowly running out of time and I hadn't done some of the things I wanted to. I decided to try and change my flight back from Saturday to Sunday. After a couple of false starts I was actually able to do it and it didn't cost me much. Called to guys in Plam Springs to see if things were still ok Thursday and they thought I was coming today so I said sure, I'll leave soon. Called my other cousin Bob (had called and left messages earlier with no response) and made arrangements to meet up with him and another cousin Ron for dinner Thursday night.

Finished up with the phone calls, packed an overnight bag and took off. Of course it was rush hour so I didn't get out there til around 8. Andy prepped me up a little food and we sat around talked for a while. Their B and B is really nice (shameless plug: The Three Thirty Three B and B ). Did a quick sit in the hot tub before going to bed.

Thurday - Surprise! No headache. The bed there was really compfortable. Had decided the night before to go to Joshua Tree National Park. The guys left me a nice breakfast, water bottle, fanny pack and maps of the park. I took off just after 8 and got to the Keys Summit just around 10 after stopping 29 zillion times to take photos. Drove back to the Barker Dam area and did the nature hike around it. I had hoped to get back in time to take Tim and Andy to lunch but alas that was not to be. It was after 2 when I arrived. Tim had already returned to work and Andy was out. I wandered around the neighborhood a bit until Andy got back. We yakked a bit but I left much later thatn I wanted tp and got stuck in traffic hell coming back into town.

I didn't arrive at Bob's until 8ish. By then Ron had already left as he has to get up early for work. Bob, his wife Mary and myself ended up having microwave pizzas and gabbed for the evening. I left there after midnight.

Friday - Hey, woke up again without a headache! Didn't do much though as I was really tired and just puttered until it was time to leave for the studio taping.

Misc - Still haven't got hold of some people. I had sent Leslee a message through Classmates and she finally responded on Thursday but I didn't have a chance to call until Friday morning. Left messages but haven't heard back. I was supposed to call Tamaralee to try to get together again after the reunion but I haven't. Also haven't called an old neighbor, don't think I will get around to that.

Supposed to be 81 on Saturday so that may end up being a beach day. Certainly don't want to hang around the hotel room on my extended day. Still have one or two more places to hit foodwise and I do have a litt;e bit more shopping to do so I shall have to be diciplined.

Santa Fe Reunion Day 2 The Reunion

I'm so far behind on this so here is just a quick recap:

The reunion was a lot of fun. Many people were there that I knew but unfortunately a lot of people who I thought would be there were not. C'est la vie. Will put up all of the pictures later but here is my "official" photo:

Updates

Just a quick note to my faithful reader or two, I have actually made a few entries so if you scroll down you'll see 3 or 4 entries that I backdated. Now I must prepare for closeup....back to the regularly scheduled programming.

Santa Fe Reunion Day 2 Afternoon Walkies

Decided to go for a stroll so I wouldn't be a complete slug. Walked over to the Queen Mary which is nearby. Didn't go inside but it brought back memories of the last time I did go inside.

It was on a date when I was around 18. I was hanging around with a clarinet player whose name, I think, was Lance. Actually around the time I was hanging around with teo clarinet players, wither they both went Sierra HS or one went to Sierra and the other to Cal High. I met them both while participating in the district Honor Band. The other clarinet player, Rick, was also a licenced pilot and so on our date he took me up at night with the hope of seeing the fireworks at Disneyland but we just missed them so flew along the coast instead.

Back to Lance. He was a big fan of ocean liners. He had even been on a couple of cruises (not quite as regular a thing back then as it is now). So we went on a date to the Queen Mary. It was just starting to be used as a tourist attraction but they were still redeveloping parts of it. As soon wa we got in we snuck around a couple of ropes and spent the next few hours exploring the bowels of the ships, old abandoned room piled with furniture, long hallways with no one else around, etc. That was about it. It was a fun night.

While I was walking back I looked across the channel to the Long Beach waterfront. I could just see a ferris wheel. I was startled to see last night when I was driving around to see signs for The Pike. Ok, it's not the original Pike but it's nice to see they paid hommage to it. Back in my days The Pike was quite a seedy place, not exactly a place for kids to go. Long Beach Blvd came down somewhere near there and that was also quite seedy. The navy base was nearby as well as the shipping harbor so Long Beach Blvd was full of pawn shops, tattoo parlours, strip clubs abd dives. The Pike wasn't much better.

Against my better judgement when I was around 16 or so I got talked into attending some sort of church revival thing with a couple of girls from school (no, not from my normal crowd). We went to some church in Bellflower where people were running around speaking in tongues and they had a christian rock band on the pulpit. It was some sort of Friday evening youth thing. We then had to go out and spread the word of god by passing out tracks to people. They took a bunch of us down to The Pike where I guess they were hoping to spare the souls of drunken sailors and the hookers. Anyway, yet another one of my strange evenings while growing up. Needles to say I didn't hang around with those guys any more. Can't even remember who they were but there was a bit of a youth evangelical movement happening around that time (mid-seventies).

As I continued walking past the Queen Mary I could see sailboats out in Long Beach Harbor sailing amongst the big tankers sitting out in the bay. That brought back a couple of other memories. One was of one of my fellow work collegues at Xerox (whose name completely escapes me even thought we did go out a few times) who had an 18 foot Hobie Cat and invited me to go sailing with him. We took the boat to a stretch of beach in Long Beach and launched it from the shore then proceeded to spend the afternnon sailing amongst the tankers pretty much like they were doing today.

The other memory also has to do with sailing but in Los Angeles Harbor (it's all part of the same harbor but with one occupying the eastern section behind the breakwater and the other in the western part). The last year I was in LA (1978-9) I was a Girl Scout leader along with Tamaralee Brighton of the Senior troop we had belonged to. Tamaralee was a bit busy but I tried to plan a big activity avery month or two. One of those was to go camping at a Boy Scout camp just inside LA Harbor in San Pedro. They had 14 foot Hobie Cats which are fiberglass/plastic monohull cats. I spent the whole weekend taking the girls all out in pairs for sails around the big boats. This part of the harbor was quite a bit more busy than the Long Beach section so it meant for some harrowing sailing and me trying not to panick because I was supposed to know what I was doing!

Santa Fe Reunion Day 2 Morning Laziness

Woke up at 4:30am (woo hoo, slept all the way into 7:30 est!). Tried to get back to sleep to no avail. Went out for a walk around 7am. Took a few pictures then came back to the room and took a shower. Spent the morning just relaxing and catching up on blog entries. It's noontime so I suppose I should get something else to eat other than the guacamole and chips I have in the room...

Santa Fe Reunion Day 1

Flying day today. Didn't sleep in this time (see SXSW) and got to the airport in plenty of time. There was a big lineup for customs but Susan Keese from the LCB Band was on duty. I got her attention and she wisked me through the crowd. Nice to have friends in high places ;-)

Flight was rather uneventful. Typical flight, no extras but at least they showed some TV and a movie (Talladega Nights), about thre and half hours. Arrived in Dallas/Fort Worth for a layover of about and hour and a half, had some lunch. Next leg to LA was also about three and a half hours but no entertainment.

Arrived in LAX around 3pm, go the shuttle to the rental car place and got that all fugured out. Of course I had to pop into Fry's (an electronics store) before heading down to Long Beach so that meant I was traveling smack in the middle of rush hour but it wasn't all that bad. Got settled into the room then made phone calls. Suddenly my week is feeling very crowded. First, I had a response from Tamaralee (classmate) through Classmates on my home email that she was also going to be spending Saturday night in the hotel but wouldn't arrive til later in the aft as she had an appointment. She still lives in LA area. Then there was a flurry of emails and then voice mail to set up a luncheon on Sunday with a couple of the gals from the Wise Women web development list. Then I called and left a message for Bob (cousin), no answer back yet (hope I didn't ahve the wrong number, need to check into that). Call Tim and Andy (brother's friends) in Palm Springs and set it up that I would go out there for Thursday night. Called Graham (cousin) and narrowed meeting up with him to Monday or Tuesday evening, probably Tuesday. Then I called Frank (brother's friend) and set up dinner on Sunday.

So I spent the rest of the evening wandering around Long Beach before heading back to the hotel with some takeout from Del Taco and assorted other munchie and booze fro the supermarket. Finished out the evening by watching a little TV before hitting the sack.