November 2013

One of the silly things I enjoy is trying to figure out the celebrity voice overs in commercials. Why, hello, Susan Sarrandon and Keifer Sutherland and Martin Sheen.

Fall TV:

I'm still enjoying Scandal way more than I should. However, the weakest link has always been the same. The Voice is decent but I'm not as into it as I have been previous years. I tried The Trophy Wife because of Bradley Whitford and Marcia Gay Harden but I gave up on the 3rd episode. It was trying too hard. The Blacklist and Marvel's Agents of S.H.E.I.L.D are really good. Try them. I watched Sleepy Hollow's first episode and it finally "got me" the last 5 minutes. I'm not caught up at all but I'll continue. Once Upon a Time is still good and I started Once Upon A Time in Wonderland. It was okay. I'll give it a few before I give up or not....and as I finish this blog, I've given up. It's stupid and poorly acted.

I continue to love the Create Channel. Tons of cooking shows from classic Julia Child (Julia and Jacques) to Simply Ming and Nick Stalino. Learning a lot.

Work:

First day in uniform!

My first shift bid ending up being 5am-1:30pm, Wed - Sun. I lucked out. Although, I'm up at 3am to get there on time which means bed time by 7-8pm. If you swipe your garage entry by 30 minutes prior to your shift, you're not late. There is a draw bridge at the Chelsea garage where we park...it goes up and you wait like 20 minutes. The T doesn't run that early so I have to drive. The next bid is December 4th. I'm hoping that I have just enough seniority to at least keep the 5am shift instead of getting the 330am-12pm shift. I'd have to be up by 1:30 to make that one.

OJT - got to hang with a plane!

OJT went well. I've had 2 weeks of working the ticket counter. It's interesting to say the least. I love using my people skills. I can turn around a terse and negative customer pretty easily. The stuff you have to remember is insane. I think I'm doing okay. Everyone is very helpful. I messed up big time one day and everyone scrambled to fix it (International Flight stuff). The supervisors pulled me aside to talk to me about it but that was just an informational thing, thankfully.

Got to dress up for Halloween!

I started gate training this past week. That was interesting...stressful to get the planes out on time. Again: A lot to remember. I think it will be fun, though. I have gate mentoring next week and should get jetbridge certified then. Driving that thing is nutso!

My friend John and his fiance', Victor got married yesterday! I saw some pictures and they looked very happy. jetBlue was cool and let him switch around his training so he could have off 2 days.

Fun Stuff:

Since jetBlue is the Official Airline of the Boston Red Sox, we had the trophy here for us to see. We raised the championship banner and had some Sox players and the mascott in our terminal. I missed it because I was working at the gate but...I have a picture of myself with 2 of the past trophies from last year so I'm good.

Not only do we have a Red Sox Plane (painted with the Sox on the tail), we have Blue Bravest: the tribute to the FDNY. It was here Friday and I took a picture...then the move team brought it to my gate and the MCO flight got on it! I got to drive the jetbridge up to it and be on it. Very cool.

Blue Bravest

Me with Blue Bravest!

I'm starting to plan Thanksgiving dinner. I'm off that Monday and Tuesday but have to work the actual day (double time). Daniel will be home around the same time as I will that day. It'll be relaxing. I'll prep beforehand and finish cooking when I get home. I'm not doing a full turkey. That's a waste for just the two of us. I'll do my brick baked turkey breasts (skin on so I can stuff them with spices)...and Leigh's stuffing...and maybe a casserole or two. Leftovers!!! Daniel loves that. He takes it all on the road with him and it keeps his food choices open. Eating the same truck stop and fast food every day gets tiring. 

We're starting to plan for Christmas, too. It'll be just us up here. I'm not going to attempt to fly yet since I'm on my 90 day initial probation at work. Hopefully it'll snow and I'll have my first ever White Christmas! We're getting a couch and an electric fireplace so that'll be nice. We're getting kind of tired of living like college kids with no furniture. I'm thinking of a trip to FL at the end of January...packing up some of my stuff and visiting a bit. 

That's about it from Boston (Roxbury). Everyone have a great holiday. Much love!

 

Jini

Even More New Adventures!

Hey, everyone. Sorry I haven't blogged in awhile. I've been crazy busy...in a good way.

As you know, I interviewed with jetBlue and I got the job. It's "Airport Operations" which is customer service: ticket counter, baggage claim, working the gate, etc... It was a part time position but they offered us full time so...FULL TIME for me! 

The whole process has been insane. 
Online application. 
Recorded phone interview (recording answers to questions they show you online). 
Quick phone interview with a person. 
FOUR HOUR group presentation and interview. Crazy fun and informative. I met a couple of awesome future co-workers there.

It was intense. Very. This company is crazy awesome, btw.  They get over 100,000 applications this year and hire about 3,000.

jetBlue University is in Orlando and we were all flown down for 2 weeks of training. This is their campus in Orlando. It's specifically for training their crew members. The inflight and pilots have flight simulators (real planes) and one is over a pool so they can practice water evacuations. So cool. They are about to break ground on a hotel next door so they can lodge crew members instead of shuttle bussing to and from local hotels.

jetBlue University - Orlando Florda

When I got into Orlando, we checked into the hotel and then Jessica and Lisa picked me up to take me to Dade City. I had dinner with Mom & Dad and Lisa & Billy at Koko's (I know you're shocked). I brought Dad's Expedition back with me so I could have a vehicle to use. Very awesome perk.

Ashley making Bananas Foster for Dad

The first day and a half was "orientation." Senior leadership was there from the CEO to the CFO to VPs of Marketing and other high level positions. There were 133 of us: Airport Operations, Ground Operations, Reservations and Pilots. We got the history of jetBlue. We got benefit information (flying, health, investment). We got access to everyone and everything. All the employees stood around the room and one by one introduced themselves to us. Then WE had to stand up and introduce ourselves. That was interesting for me but in line with my new, "stepping outside my comfort zone" mantra. I did it and did it with confidence and humor. After one session there were pilots talking to the CEO so I got behind them and stood in line to speak with him. He is very approachable and he remembers everyone. I mentioned Uncle Mick being a pilot and he was like, "Torsten?" LOL. Very cool.

Hangin w/Dave. No big!

Day 2 - 11 was intense classroom lecture and hands on practical learning of general information needed for our jobs. We learned about the computer program and how to book, change reservations and all the rules associated with that. Ten tests. Crazy stress but oh so worth it.

Since I have so many friends and family in Central Florida, I was able to fit in dinners and evenings with Kevin and Brian and Cousin Kristi Anderson and Uncle Walt & Aunt Cathy and Marcus and Lauren. It was a full two weeks, definitely.

Deb & CJ

Kate

Karen, John and me

Karen and Me

Kate, Karen, Deb & CJ

I even got to see Aunt Leigh, Uncle Courtney and Uncle Scott down at Tinker Field. Sean was playing a lacrosse tournament so I got to see them all for about an hour or so. So, where the heck has lacrosse been all of my life? Fast, violent and fun. Love it.

STS in action

Scott & Sean post-game

All in all it was a great experience. I had a blast and am very happy to be back in Boston and starting on the job training tomorrow. My first 4 days' schedule is 2pm-11:30pm and I'm cool with that. We bid for our next schedule tomorrow. Since everything is based on seniority, I'm sure we (BabyBlues) will get the 3:30am-11am shifts or the late one that ends at 1:30am. Never fear, in less than 2 weeks, another group of BabyBlues come in and we'll have seniority...then another class 2 weeks after that. Woot!

There are tons more pictures but they're mostly of food. I definitely had a food fest down there. 

In other news, Daniel and I have decided to do a destination wedding over New Years 2015. We're thinking Aruba or St. Lucia. With my flight perks, it's super cheap to fly down. I have a travel agent looking into inclusive resorts for us. Most include a wedding package if you stay 6-10 days. No worries there. You have to be there 3-4 days before for paperwork so we'd vacay a bit, get married then stay for the honeymoon a few days. 

We'll have a party state side in the spring 2015 to show pictures and celebrate with family & friends. Mom said we could have it at her house so that's good. 

That's about it for now. It's all jetBlue all the time for me at the moment. I'll keep you posted on what's going on!

Airport Sim Room

Dexter's Thornton Park - LOVE IT

Graduation Day with Miny, our instructor!

Diploma and Airplane Cookee

Everyone be good to one another.

Much Love,

Jini

Fall is almost here...

It's almost fall, y'all! I'm so excited. My A/C gets turned off sometime this week (I only pay for summer months and then she turns it off). It's been upper 70s/lower 80s so I think I'll be okay. This humidity can hit the road, though. I'm not a fan! Speaking of fans, Nury (landlord) bought us 2 and Daniel installed them. They help a lot. We're going to stay here awhile so we're starting to plan things to do to the place... knobs on the cabinets and new blinds and maybe some paint. Definitely some paint. Everything is so very stark white; except the living room, which is yellow. I'm keeping that b/c it's sunny. 

I think it's going to start to cool off by the end of this week. The forecast says less humid (YAY) and low to upper 60s in the evening and mornings. The days are getting shorter, too. Well, you know what I mean: the daylight. This time last year I was driving around exploring with Kevin, having just gotten here the night before. It was lovely. If I recall correctly, it was warm but not humid until about mid September; then it was Fall. I'm hoping it's like that this year, too. Fall in New England is gorgeous. 

Since Red Cross/AmeriCorp ended, I've been on Daniel's Friday runs with him a couple times. It's relaxing to ride through eastern & southern Massachusetts. His job is a pain in the rear sometimes. If he has a delivery appointment and he's late, they can make him wait hours and/or charge him. If he's early or on time they can still make him wait HOURS. It's so unprofessional and well, rude. Frustrating, especially when he has other appointments afterwards. It throws everything off kilter.

Fall River Battleship

Patriots Place

The Patriots released Tim Tebow yesterday. I knew it was going to happen but it's still sad. He's a really nice person and a hard worker and motivator. However, he's really not an NFL Quarterback. I hope he finds something. Still, it would've been cool to be able to root for him. I'm still not quite into the Boston teams yet. I don't want to be "that girl" who roots for her former home town all the time. I'll still love my Bucs and Lightning and to some extent, The Rays.  I think once hockey starts again I can get into The Bruins. I'm still meh on The Pats and Sox. I've always liked The Celtics and since there's not a team in Tampa to which I was attached...voila! Go Celtics. LOL

The job hunt continues:

View 1 from my office

I'm working with a couple placement agencies for temp, long term contract and permanent positions. I am currently placed with a Public Relations firm in Downtown Boston. I'm posting social media updates for clients and recording/editing podcasts and vodcasts for them. It's pretty interesting. They like my recorded voice. I only had three days to learn the systems & software they use and that is not enough so I'll be watching tutorials later today to see if I can get it. The main part of the job is really not my cup of tea. I send out emails to companies and follow up to set up appointments. It's sales and strict quotas (no excuses) and I'm neither comfortable with it nor am I remotely good at it. I think that the VP (my supervisor) knows this and realizes my personality because she discussed maybe giving that stuff to someone else and leaving me with the podcasts/vodcasts, social media and putting me with a public relations team. I don't know what that entails. We'll see. I'm also in the very back of the office away from everyone. As it is, I only talk to people if they call me to ask for something. It's a bit isolated for this social butterfly. Oh well. It's a 2 month temp contract and I'm networking and learning new things. I'm determined to turn all things into positive experiences. Make it so!

View 2 from my office

I really liked the lady whom I'm replacing. Unfortunately, she's moved out of Boston back to Maine. After January she's going to Tanzania to work at an orphanage. I envy people who can do that. I mean, I'm pretty adventurous about new possibilities but I need toilets and running water and air conditioning. My friend, Kelly did a two year stint with The Peace Corps in (I think) Uganda. She loved it. Again: toilets, running water, a/c...and roads. Roads are good.

I have a big interview on Friday and am very excited about it. I can't really publicly talk about it right now but needless to say, it'll be good if I get in!  I'll be interview prep and company research all week. Fingers crossed. I promise I'll post about it asap!

Since we're on a crazy budget, I've been cooking all during the week and sending leftovers with Daniel for his weekly meals. He has a fridge and microwave in his truck. That saves a lot of money and is way convenient for him as well as giving him variety beyond McDonalds, Wendy's, Subway and the same stuff they serve at every truck stop diner. Plus, you know how I love to cook. It's cathartic for me. If Sandra Lee hadn't already created a multi-billion dollar empire with her "Semi Home Made," I'd so be the Queen of that. We all know how much I love Julie and Julia, the movie based on a couple books about Julie Powell's blog adventure with Julia Child's, "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" and about Julia and Paul's life in France. Well, I made Lobster Thermador Saturday night. OMG. Yeah. No words. Well, this is a blog so I'll find the words:

Sometimes Daniel can get super cheap or free food from his deliveries. If a box is damaged (not even the merchandise) this can happen. I've gotten chicken breasts and pot pies and recently: LOBSTER MEAT! So, I decided that I'd cook a fancy meal since he was home Saturday (not ever!). Although I didn't have the whole lobsters like the recipe says, I prepared the boiling water with the wine and herbs...and then steamed the lobster meat in it (instead of having the whole lobsters boil in it). I did everything else like the recipe said...no cognac, though. That's way expensive. Anyway, OMG it was so good. Very rich and fattening. I swear there is a pound of butter in that recipe. I served it with blanched asparagus (evoo and lemon juice) and a London broil cut of steak. I haven't mastered the art of cooking good beef yet. I need a George Foreman grill!

MMM - So so good!

That's about it from Boston (Roxbury). I'm just job hunting and settling in with plans for the apartment...and hanging with my boo, Prince getting ready for Fall!! 

Prince says, "hi" and he's glad to live with me full time

Brooklynn already cutting coupons!

Much love and everyone have a great couple of weeks! Oh yeah: GO GATORS!!!

~Jini

August 2013 - Free at Last!

Well, it's done! Over! Ka-Put! My AmeriCorps service has ended. *whew* That was both an excruciatingly slow and super fast 11 months.

Proof!

I thought my last day was going to be slow and a wrap up but it was busy as heck. Shawna was out and we were frantically trying to hire my replacement. We got the process started late because of the bombing response. Then we had 3 people accept then rescind their acceptance. It was frustrating. I think that we picked a good person for the job, though. Time will tell.

ARC threw us a going away party complete with gifts (AmeriCorps swag!) and ice cream cake. It was a very nice afternoon. 

 

Ice Cream Cake!

After work we all went to the local watering hole. Woot. Fun times just chilling out and having a good time. Typical Friday but still fun.

I spent my first week of unemployment going on interviews and doing much needed stuff around the house. Not very exciting but still... hopefully there will be good news soon. Some of my interviews have been what agencies call "Informational." The companies aren't actually interviewing to hire. I see the value in them, although others don't. I figure it puts my face in front of them with my resume. Also, they are giving me valuable free advice about my resume as well and suggestions about networking for employment within their industries. And finally, I don't think you can get enough practice interviewing.

Christian Science Park

I was early to an interview so I sat in Christian Science Park and enjoyed the weather. I love Boston so much!

View from the tent on the beach

Daniel and I had a wonderful time at the annual beach weekend to celebrate Amma Jeane's life. Our room was great and Aunt Leigh outdid herself with the theme and swag and food. This weekend is always relaxing and fun.

 

Daniel and I are the Disco King & Queen

Music lovers, watch Dave Grohl's documentary, Sound City. What a great story about a studio where tons of music was made...including Buckingham Nicks, Fleetwood Mac, Rick Springfield and ... here's the Grohl connection: this place is where Nirvana recorded NEVERMIND. Yeah, some cool people in the doc like: Neil Young, Butch Vig, Tom Petty, Corey Taylor, Trent Reznor, etc... Must watch. The studio is out of business now but Dave bought the famous soundboard for his personal studio, 606. He recorded some

The BBC did an on air special to announce the new Doctor: Peter Capaldi. Excellent choice, imo. If they are going the Valeyard route with John Hurt's character then they'll need gravitas mixed in with the humor. He can do that, I'm sure.

I'm pretty boring lately. Sorry!

Everyone have a great couple of weeks. I'll keep you posted on the job front.

Much love, Jini

Aah...July 2013

I moved to Boston, right? It's in the 90s and Florida Humid up in heeee-aaah. What? Stop that, please. Thankfully, there is only about a month and a half left of this. Last year when I moved up here on September 1st, it was gorgeous and wasn't humid. Hopefully, it will be the same(ish) this year. I'm ready to open up my windows again!

One of the fun things to do up here (and there are Living Social Deals and Groupons all the time) is Paint Nite

This company sets up in various bars, pubs, restaurants and has you paint a picture. You choose the picture/place. The instructor walks you through it step by step. Even people who can't draw (ME) come away with awesome paintings. Seriously, this was so cool. I have a coupon for another one PLUS, the girls in the office (with whom I attended this one) pitched in and got me one. SO much fun.

The budding artiste'

The Final Product

Dinner is Served

Fourth of July was an awesome experience up here. Daniel was here so I decided to get all domestic and cook up a storm. I wanted to do something major and something I hadn't attempted before. I had chosen Oso Buco over risotto but was having difficulty finding the meat on such short notice. Instead, I prepared surf & turf: London Broil w/Manhattan Sauce, Procuito Wrapped Shrimp and Thyme Marinated Scallops [Sangria = "new" recipe]. OMG, it was so good. There are things I'd do differently but hey, we learn by doing, right? Especially in the kitchen.

All the boats on The Charles

After dinner, Daniel and I headed to my office in Cambridge to meet up with Shawna and Paul to watch the fireworks. As it turned out, the fireworks barge was directly behind the MIT building across the street from ARC. We had a perfect view of everything that was medium height and higher.

Fireworks view from ARC Balcony

 

 Being smart people, we decided to stay at ARC a good hour after the fireworks were over...because of this... which doesn't even show how bad it was...

Crazy amts of peeps...bottleneck to the T

Daniel was home all last week and we took advantage of that time...moved our stuff into the Master Bedroom finally. We also did a little organization and rearranging. Plus, we got a big 42" LG Flat Screen TV. Daniel hooked that up to a digital antennae so we get about 20 local channels. I like watching the morning news while I get ready for work. If I want to learn Spanish by watching tv? About 10 of those 20 channels are en espanol! We also took Prince to get his shots updated and get his hair did (lol). I love how he looks all full grown Bob Marley but it's way too hot for that and he starts getting matted so...

My Boo, Prince

 

There are officially 3 weeks/18 days left to my AmeriCorps service! Woot. Leighton finally snagged us some gear. Saturday was my last YAB Meeting with the kids. Shawna bought me a cake. MMM.

Sportin' my AmeriCorps/ARC Gear

Cake...can't get it to rotate. Sorry

Me with the 2013-2014 YAB Members

Nothing much else to report. Everything is good up here still. Job hunting and finishing up everything that needs to be done in the next 3 weeks to prepare for the new AmeriCorps. If I don't have a job immediately, I'm going to come volunteer and train the new person for Shawna. It'll give me something to do while I continue the search.

Everyone be well!

 

How is it the end of June already?

Hey, everyone. It's June 28th. What? Also? It's 2013. I have no idea how either of those things came to be. It's crazy how time flies.

We got a very sweet thing in the mail at the beginning of the month. A 3rd grade class in Ohio made us a sweet poster to show us their support for Boston after the bombings. Sweet children. I have yet to take it down.

Shawna took her vacation this month so I house sat...which included sitting for 2 dogs (an older dog and a puppy) plus their 10+ lizards (or whatever they are...shiver). That was an interesting experience as we got a heat wave that week and they hadn't gotten their a/c unit out yet. I have central heat and air at my place but that's rare up here. Anyway, Malden is nice but I prefer Roxbury/Jamaica Plain (ish). I didn't kill anything so that's good. I was really worried about that.

I got to go to Florida at the beginning of this month to attend Tyler & Rachel's High School Graduation Party. I had a great time. It was a super fast 2.5 day trip down and back. I didn't get to fit in as many visits as I'd have liked but the ones I did fit in were lovely. 

Friday afternoon I got to spend with Wendy, Rachael and Baby Brooklynn. GiGi loves that happy girl. 

Always the happy face.

Friday night I got to have dinner with mom and dad at Kokopeli's. What a great time eating the awesome food and drinking Randy's yummy margaritas. Dad ordered a Bananas Foster that looked so good. I love watching them make it!

Fun and Yummy

 

Saturday was the Graduation Party. It was nice seeing everyone and getting to spend time with Tyler, Rachael, Mr & Mrs. Sutton, Kevin, etc... It was a great turnout with good food and better company.

 

Tyler and Rachael at the Party

Sunday I got to spend the day with the McClelland/Killeen side of the family. Aunt Leigh outdid herself (as always) and  cooked cornish hens for dinner. It was so great. Then I got to go see Brittany's condo. She did a wonderful job picking out all the flooring and cabinets and things. I'm very excited for  her. I think she's planning a trip up here soon. That will be fun.

At work, I was tasked with heading up the Volunteer Appreciation Event Committee. So basically: I got to plan the party. We did this all last minute on a less than shoe string budget. We had it at a place called Lombardo's. It's a lovely event center in Randolph. The big attraction is their spiral staircase with the huge chandelier. It's lovely.

Picturesque - nice for posing!

The committee did a great job and I think everyone from the CEO to all the volunteers were happy with the results. Heavy appetizers, cash bar, lots of great raffle items (including 2 sets of 4 box seats to 2 different Red Sox Games next week). Awards were handed out by each department head to their Volunteer of the Year and then I got to pick raffle winners. We all know how much I love public speaking (not). It did turn out nicely, though.

Free goodie bag, program and candy. Simple but nice.

It is looking more and more like there won't be a position available for me here at The Red Cross. I've started looking outside ARC and there are some interesting possibilities. Stay tuned! I'm keeping positive about it all. I'm sure there's something great out there for me.

The week of the Volunteer Appreciation Event was crazy as we had a couple other things going on here, too. It's the end of the fiscal year so our annual meeting was held next door at The British Consulate. Leighton, our Director of Disaster Services, is British so he has contacts there. They have a lovely meeting space that is open and full of windows looking out the 7th floor onto Main Street here in Cambridge. We had volunteers give the yearly update and tell their, "how I came to volunteer at ARC" stories. It was quite nice as opposed to having the executives do it. 

British Consulate in Cambridge

After the Annual Meeting, we had a Service to Armed Forces/International Services mixer back at Chapter to celebrate International Refugee Day. Lynn Levine is the head of those two programs and it was a nice party. Daniel got to come to it as it was our weekly date night. We stayed a few minutes and he got to meet people and put faces to names he's always hearing. After, we went to Champions at the Marriott and had margaritas and fattening appetizers. LOL.

Rare but nice pic of us!

The weather has gotten quite warm up here. It's been sunny and lovely so we all spend as much time outside as possible. Last Friday we had our Volunteer Programs bi-weekly staff meeting out on the 5th floor balcony. Between the view and the weather, it was a great way to get things accomplished!

Beautiful View

That's about it. Next week is 4th of July and I hate crowds so I think we're going to see if we're allowed to go to the balcony here and watch the fireworks from across the river. Fingers crossed. 

Everyone be safe.

Love, Jini