forget Moab

How about Nassau?

I booked the trip just yesterday while at work (thanks to my foresight in realizing that I would be out late celebrating Cinco de Mayo and thus unable to make reservations until the following day - far too late for such an extravagant purchase). The booking was made quickly, as I had a meeting to attend within 10 minutes of making the decision.

In retrospect, it was not the wisest decision I have made recently... But with the way my week was going, it was just about par for course.

I received a call this morning from the travel agency with whom we had booked the getaway. They had a question about the personal information of one of the passengers. As it turns out, I had unwittingly sent his nickname flying through the void of the world wide web, where it was taken and turned into a fully issued non-refundable ticket for a person that, according to A's passport, birth certificate and drivers' license, does not exist.

Their advice to me was to call The Airline and try to use my customer wiles to convince them to change the ticket without charging a fee. If that didn't work, I was told that I would have to forfeit the cost of the ticket and purchase an entirely new $414 ticket. After calling The Airline and learning that a.) they would not touch a ticket that had been purchased through a travel agency and b.) that if anyone was going to decide to help me, it would have to be the travel agency, I decided to call the travel agency back. After all, they were the ones who were said to possess the power of divine airline ticket reissuing.

If only it had been so easy. The woman I spoke to emphasized once again that there was nothing they could do, and that they couldn't reissue a ticket for the same reasons that The Airline could not.

On the verge of a nervous breakdown (there would have been multiple contributing factors, this being the final straw), I called A. I called my parents. I sat at my desk with my head in my hands. "Don't let them push you around. This is unacceptable," my dad declared.

And how right he was. That such an injustice was being inflicted on A, me and my exotic vacation was unthinkable!

So I called The Airline once again. I was connected with a nice old lady - in my mind, I am envisioning a grandmotherly figure, wringing her hands with worry - who was still unable to assist me, for a number of reasons, all of which I had already heard by this point.

I called the travel agency once again and THIS TIME the winds of fate were on my side. At first the kind fellow read in his "records" that I had twice spoken to his counterpart, who had already explained why I could not be helped. But then, for a brief magical moment, his voice faltered. There was a slight pause before he said the words I had been so longing to hear:

Can I put you on hold?

YES, for the love of all things holy, YES!!! I waited for what seemed like days... OK, not really - I did manage to get some work done while listening to canned telephone "island" music. Mr. Helpful soon came back on the line, and said, "I think I can help you out." After my expression of shock and disbelief, he said, "What can I say? I'm the man!"

The man indeed. He simultaneously hooked me up with a free reissued ticket complete with full legal name AND made a certain customer's Friday turn out to be much happier. Or, at the very least, that much less UNhappy.

feeling adventurous...

May 30th is fast approaching, which means that I have a 3-day-weekend to look forward to, as well as a joint bday celebration with A - if things between us continue to be more than amicable...

Since I fail to see any reason why that would not be the case, we are forging ahead with plans to visit Moab, UT! True, the logistics of such an odyssey are unclear as of yet. I am, however, well-armed with a slew of piss-poorly designed tourist websites that I am sure will provide us with adequate info to plan a reasonably exciting five - count it, FIVE - day weekend!!

Our backup plan is to go to a beach somewhere on the Gulf, which has already been done in years past. At this point, any suggestions for alternative vacation destinations are still very welcome. So to all 3 of you, my loyal readers, I say: bring it.

let's rewind

Hello, everyone. It's been a while, I know. Since March, much has happened, so I shall try to summarize briefly.

A & I are currently in a very happy place, albeit ambiguous. Things are just about as great as they were when we first met, but with a little of that "older and wiser" part. His dad is still in the hospital but making tiny steps toward recovery each and every day. A has spent a lot of time in DFW with family, and an increasing amount of time with me as we work towards a happy and healthy new phase of our relationship, or whatever the future holds for us.

I attended my very first horse race! And bet quite well, until I pushed my good luck too far... Us, before said equestrian madness:

I spent lots of quality time with my girl Jess! Lots of laughs & interesting new memories... Too bad the camera wasn't around for each unexpected twist. What we did manage to capture:

I hung out with my new Russian cousins! Excellent opportunity to bond with a couple of truly great kids. I hope I don't corrupt them TOO much - at least not until much later in their young adult lives...

I enjoyed my first tailgating party. It was a fantastic success, complete with oversized TX state flag & massive gluttony. The gang at what turned out to be a blowout Rangers loss:

Just yesterday I fulfilled my role as fuschia-clad bridesmaid in my girlfriend R's beautiful, elegant and perfect wedding. Congrats to the happy couple!

And today I enjoyed the fruits of my labor: a successfully organized Jumbo alumni outing to see the Rangers vs. Red Sox! Sox won - clearly our attendance gave them that extra boost they needed. That and my Manny Ramirez t-shirt.

I know there is much that has been left out, but this will have to suffice for now. Will try to update more frequently in the future, as hectic schedule and extracurricular activities permit.