San Antonio - Week 2

Dear READER,


I'm sorry this has taken me so long to get to. I was really dedicated and working hard on my posts from San Antonio until I tried to add photos. It takes forever and a day to upload photos to a blog page. So I am still pushing away at getting this done but honestly will probably not have as much to say any more as it's been over a week since I've been home. I wrote down key points but you won't get any detail with it. SORRY


Week 2 in San Antonio. This was the AFPM 2013 International Petrochemical Conference or 'IPC13'. This meeting was crazy. It wasn't as busy as the last weeks Annual Meeting but it had more people there. 3000 plus. And they all were in business suites and ties and working the entire time. The point of this meeting is really for people to get together and network and they did. The lobby's of hotels were full and restaurants, anywhere you went you saw them and they were all doing business with each other.

I stayed in the same place as my last meeting which was nice other then at that point I was ready for my own shower and sheets. I the bathroom in the Marriott was so tinny. You had to walk in and close the door in order to use the toilet or get into the shower. I was surprised by it because the room was so big and then there was this very small bathroom. Well it did have the extra counter space and such which I loved.


I have four main points I want to share that deal with this meetings. As it wasn't as interesting as the last one but it had its weirdness all the same.

1. Military Dads

As all of you know I am a military child. I LOVE it. I does come with its ups and downs and makes me a bit crazy but I LOVE it. I was talking with this gentleman at the meeting and found out his son had just joined the Army. (GO ARMY!). I don't know why I asked, maybe it was the tone in his voice or just my military curiosity but I asked how he felt about it. His answer was amazing and of course teared me up. He said '1/2 of me is so proud I could just burst, the other 1/2 is scared to death'. I may be wrong but I think that is how every parent feels about their children joining the military. I was so happy though because you could just tell how happy was and how proud he was to have a son who was willing to serve our country. It was such an honor to meet him and shake his hand.
In my last post I mentioned that San Antonio has four based around it so I was seeing men in uniform the entire time and was AMAZING. I love it and am pretty much obsessed with it.
On my way home in the airport I got to witness another side of the military, one I've now been through twice. The airport was filled with families sending their loved ones off for Active Duty. For those of you who have loved ones who have served in the military you will know how this feels. For those of you who don't -- well the feeling is like the man said at the meeting half proud as anything, and the other half scared to death. These families are literally saying good bye. They don't know if their loved ones are going to come home again. They don't know if they will see there children again. They HOPE but they say there goodbyes all the same knowing that this might be it.
As I was checking in my bag there was a mother (in uniform) who was saying goodbye to her two daughters and her husband who was also military. Those little girls didn't want to let go. It was so sad. My heart went out to them. She was so brave and kept telling her girls how they were going to have a great summer and they she would be back before they knew it. She didn't cry until she got into the arms of her husband. The saddest thing is that he had already been deployed once and knew exactly what she was going into.
The second experience was as I was getting onto my flight. A dad was leaving - the rest of the family was flying to be with family so they were in the airport at the same time. This man had three little boys and little girl on the way. The wife cried and one of the little boys kept on saying 'it will be ok mommy'. The dad who was right in front of me to get on the flight was doing pretty well. He couldn't keep from looking back each step just to see them one last time. As we turned the corner in the tunnel he broke down sobbed. It was heart breaking.

GOD BLESS OUT TROOPS AND THEIR FAMILIES!!!!!


I cried both times ok so pretty much through the whole airport as I saw loved ones saying goodbye and remembered that we had just said goodbye three months ago to my Dad.


2. Indian Man Drinking

So I had someone buy me my first drink every. I don't drink so you will understand how awkward this story is going to be. We as the staff went out to dinner on the riverwalk one night and all of meeting attendees were out as well. It was exciting to see everything and feel the energy of these people at night in San Antonio. Well we had to wait for a table for forty min. which we were told was actually not that long. As we were waiting, this waiter brought me this fruity looking drink. 'Mame your drink'...'I'm sorry I didn't order a drink'. He left and came back not two minutes later. 'Mame your drink'....'I didn't buy a drink, thank you.' 'Mame this is yours', where I then proceeded to tell him it wasn't and that I didn't drink. Where he responded as he shoved the glass into my hand, 'it was bought for you and now belongs to you.' I was shocked and he just walked off, leaving this fruity, alcholic drink in my hand. I quickly found the nearest waitress and returned the glass saying I was done. When we finally got a table that some waiter who brought me the drink was our server. I found out that this little Indian Man who was only three tables away had bought me the drink. The entire night he tried to get my attention. I wanted to die and all my coworkers were there. Embarrassing to say the least, but that's not all no before he left he came over to the table and gave me his number. He then showed up at the registration desk the next day and wanted to talk. I have a stocker! HELP. He lived in India so I won't have to worry about him until next year, as he informed me he attend every year.


3. President George W. Bush

Yes I met him and it was amazing. I was still young when he was president but I remember what his presidency meant and what happened while he was in office. They are things I will probably never forget. But I'm not going to get into that or the political side of it. I do want to share some things he said though because I thought they were inspiring and worth repeating.

• You can't destroy Knowledge
• We fight for freedom to bring about peace
• Admit that you don't know what you don't know

I will admit he wasn't the greatest speaker and was a little surprised by that. Were as with Dr. Rice you were captured by every words she said.
I LOVE my job look at all the cool thing I do and the people I get to meet. It's amazing.


4. Sponsorship

We had forgotten to make a sign for our sponsors. It pretty much is just a way of saying thank you for sponsoring us and everyone get their logo on it. Well because we had forgotten and because 'well Jenessa is a communications major and took one class in graphics -- have her put together a sign and have it printed a FedEx or something. Oh and we need it in 20 min. no pressure. Yes that is pretty much how it went. Isn't that wonderful. Well it turned out ok and I was very proud of my work. I tried to fit the sign in my bag but it was to big.



oh ok so there are actually 5 points

5. The ALAMO

I went on the last day after we had packed everything up, we went and saw the Alamo. My team was really good at making sure that the entire two weeks we were there we walking on roads where I couldn't see it because they wanted it to be a surprise. So I understood that it was a fort, but was small. So in my mind I was thinking ok in Salzburg Austria I saw the fort on the hill so if this one is a small one it probably the size of a castle or a church or something along that line. I wasn't exactly expecting what I saw. It's like a house. Anyways it was interesting to see and next time I'm in San Antonio I will make time to tour it.





All in all it was a great two weeks but I was grateful to be home.

- I tried putting photos on this one as well but  two hours later I deceided it was just not worth it. Photos of my trip can be found on Facebook if you wish to see them.



Yours Truly,

Jenessa

March 14, 2013 - Heading to Texas

Dear READER,


As you can tell I named this post a bit differently. I made it 8 days of writing consistently an then I missed my first day yesterday. I ended up getting home really late and had the worst headache ever. So I got right into bed and slept a good 5 hours. But I realized that there are some days i just might not be able to write so instead of doing days (day 1, day 2, etc...) I am going to put the date down and the main heading of that day. It just seemed like a smarter thing to do.


I procrastinated packing for my trip today until this morning. That's right, I hadn't packed one thing until 6am this morning. (My flight was at 10am) It went well, the only things I forgot that I know of at the moment were, deodorant, shampoo, and a razer. Not to bad though if I do say so myself.

My bag was overweight by 7 pounds at the airport. It was all the paper I was carrying from the office that we had forgotten to send in the boxes. If flying with Delta it cost you $90 if you are overweight, plus the $25 you pay just to get the bag on the plane. Can you believe that $90 I wanted to cry just hearing how much 7 pounds was going to cost me. Well I ended up putting it all in my carry-on and suffering through the back pain and shoulder pain instead of the mental pain of $90.

Let me tell you a little bit about Delta. They are the best!! They have the most flights they are always full. They get lots of money because they charge you for everything. Their planes have more leg room then others, and they usually have the best snakes. So they are the best. However with that said Delta has the snobbiest flight attendants out there. They are the type that know they are the best and just act like it. Customer services wise they are not the best. This is not just because I flew with them today and saw that. I have been flying with Delta for year, their the best remember. They weren't always this way actually when I first started flying I remember loving them. They would small, say hi and really care about you, when they talked with you they were funny and charming. They always wanted to make you happy, to make you feel like you were experiencing something great. Because flying is great practically impossible yet we do it. In the bast few years that has changed and now we get really snobby flight attendants who are just their to look good. It's really sad for Delta but good for other airlines because I start flying with them because they have better customer service - United is really nice.
Know that I've totally dissed Delta let me tell even though they are snobby they are the best looking group out there. Their red and blue outfits are so snazzy. Today one of my flight attendants had these big red glasses on that put his whole outfit together it was pretty sweet.

One of my petpieves is when you are going through the security check point and you get stuck behind some stupid person. I was behind one today. I was in and ready to walk through the check point before he even took off his coat. It was amazing how slow he was and he knew we were all waiting behind him but he wanted everything floded and set exactly right in his bins and it drove me crazy. So once we got through i grabbed my stuff and was gone before he even had collected his bins. Don't every be a stupid person at the security check point. It the same thing ever time just be prepared and do it quickly.

My flight flew right over DC as we were leaving and when I say right over I do mean literally. I had the best tour of DC since being here while on the plane. We were flying really low which I don't think is usual but we did. I literally could see my office building. So yes I did wave at everyone there and the women next to my laughed but it's ok. Office you should feel loved.
From the plane I also got the best view of the Washington DC Temple. OH my heavens it was amazing. And as beautiful as ever. This is one of the things I miss about taking the train from West Virginia in to the office. The train passes the temple everyday and you get a very clear view of it on the beltway. I loved seeing it ever morning and night as I would head home from work. Even just seeing it brings the spirit and them you are thinking about it there on out it's pretty amazing.


I have how they do airplane seat belts. I feel like they are not meant to be comfortable but just there to say that we have a seatbelt on. I always have to stretch it out to the end in order to have it fit. But today I didn't have to put it all the way out. It was still stretched pretty far but not all the way. One day I am gong to sit in an airplane and not have to worry about the seatbelt fitting around me because I will be small enough that it won't matter wherever I go. One day!

I hate the saying that 'Nothing taste as good as skinny feels'. While I was in Atlanta waiting for my connecting flight I could think and smell a whole lot of things that would taste so much better right than, than skinny felt.


Lets talk about Carnival Cruises for a miniute. So about a month ago Carnival had a cruise ship that got stranded out in the ocean. People were stuck on it for days and they finially flew everyone home or something like that. I didn't really pay much attending to it. Well yesterday it happened again. A Carnival Cruise line was on the news and had some big problems this time. The electrical system or something had stopped working. The biggest thing on the news was that 1. the toilets on the ship were clogged up and actually overflowing. Their was human waste all over the place. The 2nd thing was that they were at a port but would not let the people off even with the bad conditions. Well they are now trying to fly everyone home from this port and it's been crazy. To bad for Carnival as they have made the news twice in two months and it hasn't been a good thing. Makes you rethink about going on a cruise anytime soon.

SAN ANTONIO
Oh my heavens I love Texas. I just love it. And San Antonio is great. It's actually quit pretty. Their is the riverwalk which is right outside my window. There is a huge mall, I mean huge!! There are churches all over the place and the Alamo is here. I am sooooooo excited. AND to top everything off it was 75 degrees as landed. So warm and sunny. I am going to LOVE this trip.

The Marriott hotel is were I am staying and it is pretty amazing. I have a junior suite or something like that so the room is huge. I have a fridge and so much space it's lovely. I'll have to upload photos when I get back home so you all can see. I have posted them on Facebook if anyone can't wait that long to see them.

Last thing before I head off to bed. The food - of course we need to talk about food. We went out on the river-walk and to this restaurant right by the water. I got coconut shrimp. I'm not a big shrimp eater but it was their best seller so why not. IT WAS AMAZING. I am pretty sure I will blow my diet while out here but will eat really well.


It was a very eventful day but I've been traveling for 11 hours and my tummy is full. So off to bed it is so that I can get up early in the morning and do emails.


Yours Truly,


Jenessa