Air travel has changed so much since it began and as I was at an airport recently, I had a lot to think about.

What should we talk about first, attitude or mode of dress? Both have pluses and minuses.

Let’s talk attitude, (why do I have a certain song running through my mind?). They wouldn’t make TV reality shows, movies about airline travel if there weren’t any truth in it. Now, the attitude comes from both sides, employees and travelers, for some reason, the one group doesn’t seem to take the other into consideration, I’m sure not completely true all the time, just feels like it, doesn’t it?

For those of you who travel a lot, you’ve seen all kinds of attitudes at the airport, both good and bad. As I have always said, if you don’t like your job, get another one, if the one you have is the only one you could get, then have a better attitude and deal with it. It’s not my fault that you don’t like your job. I try to be pleasant to everyone I meet and sometimes it’s a tough one.

I know you’re stressed out if your flight is late, is it the desk agents fault? I don’t think so, Mother Nature is more likely to blame than the person who you are yelling at. Don’t forget that if you’re late, everyone on your flight is late as well, everyone has families to go to or places to be, chill out. Oh yeah, it doesn’t matter how high up in your frequent flyer program you are, the plane won’t get there any faster.

On the flip side, if you work for the airline, you need to have a little more sympathy for those traveling with you, you are the face of the airline and yes, you should be treated with respect, the same you want. You don’t know what kind if day that person has been having, what they are going through. You’re no better than they are and vise versa. Maybe the passengers are nervous, flying for the first time, think they want your attitude? Smile as best as you can and make them feel like they are guests in your home, a cramped, no leg room, teeny seat, tiny snacks, but your home none the less. Think your first one bedroom shoebox apartment!

In conclusion, please and thank you go a long way.

Moving on…let’s talk about dressing (all of a sudden it sounds like I’m talking about food!) One of my favorite movies, “View From The Top” stars Gwenyth Paltrow as a flight attendant for Royalty Air, it’s a great movie and shows everything from their point of view. There is a scene where Candice Bergan, who is a famous flight attendant, in that world, who talks about when people used to dress to travel. If you look at any old footage or movies, you would see men and women dressed to the nines to travel, suits, skirts, dresses, heels, pearls, hats, gloves, very formal.

Today, it’s another story, the only time you see people dressing for a flight is when they have a business meeting to go to. Ok, now that was a huge assumption, but when you fly, do you dress in a suit? Wouldn’t you be more comfortable in jeans? I know I am! I have worn a skirt once or twice to travel and it was nice, but normally, I wear jeans.

The other thing that’s tough, you never know if the flight is going to be warm, even if you have an air control, what if it’s not working. Then sitting next to the window gets very cold, so we seem to dress for the weather and in the winter it’s tough, once you get to the airport you’re sweating! I was in Chicago recently and it was -8, so I dressed for being outside, thermal top, sweater, knee high socks, overcoat, gloves, the whole package. I get to the airport and it is warm! So here I am in too many layers, which we have to carry through the airport, especially if you’re not checking a bag, just more to schlep around. So, you might wear short sleeves, you’re comfortable in the airport, freezing on the plane and outside, help!

I think it’s ok to not dress to the nines, but what about putting some thought into what you’re wearing. I’m all about being comfortable, but actual clothes might be nice, let me explain. I’m all for comfort when you travel, long skirts, shorts, sweats, running pants. There have been some articles recently about women wearing running or yoga pants to travel, why not? They’re comfortable, cover you up and the majority look like runners, I haven’t chanced it yet, I don’t quite look like a runner. Yoga pants as well, they cover, are comfortable and if you’re on a long flight, we need that.

It’s the shorty shorts and skirts, I don’t need to see certain body parts! Pajamas are another big one, if you’re over the age of 18, come on, well, 21/22, college graduate, I’ll give you that. Little kids are so cute when they wear their pjs, but that’s what they are, little kids! If, and I say if…you’re going to wear pajama bottoms (hopefully that’s all you’re wearing in terms of your jammies) they are in one piece, no holes in all the wrong places or at all, not frayed on the bottom or dragging the floor and looking nasty!

Today I saw something that was a definite first! It was a woman, I’m pretty sure younger than me, hair up in a top knot, wearing an adult’s one piece pajama, not sure if they were footed, she was wearing boots, red and blue striped with a sock monkey on the upper left! I don’t know if it was flannel, just looked fuzzy. In addition to carrying what looked like a fur coat, hopefully it was fake. Was she dressing for the frozen tundra? (I actually found a picture!)
http://www.ebay.com/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=380789566187

Bottom line is, well, I was going to say take some care in your appearance, you were able to afford the ticket, so you could afford to dress, but maybe you couldn’t, someone got the ticket for you. In any case, you should still take some care with your appearance, no one needs to see all your business.

A few weeks ago, I talked about pet names, some human, some fun, some silly. Tonight, I thought it would be fun to talk about what people name their wireless networks.

Do you ever look at the list of available networks in your area when you go somewhere new? Maybe the network connection drops when you’re at home and you have to search for your network to reconnect. This is something I’ve wanted to blog about, but…remember last night’s post [brain spasm].

When I look, some of the names are funny “This is not the router you’re looking for” an obvious Star Wars reference, medulla oblongata, possibly a Waterboy reference, that’s what I was thinking anyway. Some of the names are obvious, like a family name or a business, not as much fun as the silly ones and movie references and then some are just nasty, those I chose not to include. Mine in Atlanta is a shortened version of my name, something people have called me over the years. If you know DCM, you might get an idea of what ours is [not telling].

When you look at the names, do you wonder what type of person created the name? What they might be in to or what they think is funny. This post just reminds me of the old [ha ha] Arseneo Hall late night talk show and his “Things that make you go hmmm”

Here are the more fun ones that I found when I was looking today:

This is not the router you’re looking for
pinkalicious
not yours
medulla oblongata
MACattack
Navy Strong
hen house
Oh Snap!
DEA_van1
Sexybeast

So…what’s your wireless network name?

I wish my brain worked all the time!

Does anyone’s brain actually work all of the time?

You’ve probably heard of pregnancy brain, you can’t remember anything, a friend of mine who’s mom is going through chemo and forgets a lot and asks the same thing over and over calls it chemo brain. And then the funny about having babies is that your brain cells go with them when you give birth.

How about those posts on Facebook, “you know you’re of a certain age when you walk into a room and forget why you walked in there” has that happened to you, yet? I’ve done it, you’ve done it, we’ve all done it at one time or another. Or, when you have a thought and two seconds later you wonder what it is.

I get like that about my blog posts, I have a great idea, think, “oh yeah, that would be great” then turn around and duh…sometimes I remember to write them down, but most of the time, it’s chance.

I’ve had this particular thought a lot, about not remembering what I wanted to blog about, so here I am telling you about it fingers crossed for my Swiss cheese brain the next time!

Do you remember when the movie Twilight first came out and everyone was either “Team Edward or Team Jacob?”

It’s interesting how we put that label on so many things, we take sides on so many things. It was even put to me recently regarding some friends that are getting divorced, since they’re splitting up, it’s assumed that I’m on Team X instead of Team Y, since I was friends with one party before the other.

Do we have to take sides? I guess it all depends on the situation. When I got divorced, it seems that most people went with Team Me, but I never asked anyone to take sides, it just worked out that way, I felt very lucky the people I “got to keep” as they say. It’s tough when you’re splitting up; there were friends that you had prior to becoming a couple, maybe you keep them or maybe they got closer to your now ex and it becomes too uncomfortable to stay friends with them, so you lose that friendship, that’s part of the business of splitting up, messy, but that’s how it is.

I will say, staying neutral is a crap shoot, sometimes you can do it, other times, it gets too complicated. Can you have a true alliance to both? Will they worry that you’ll be reporting back to the other? It can put a lot of pressure on you, that’s for sure!

As I said, it all depends on the situation, I have a friend that I’ve known since middle school who recently split with her husband, I became friends with him a few years ago and when I found out about the split, I tried to stay friend with both, but he didn’t make that possible, so I am definitely Team Her.

And of course, there are times, when you pick a side that you are “rah rah rah Team Your Friend” that you jump on that band wagon and blah/bash/grrr the other team, if it helps your friend, sometimes that’s what you have to do. So as much as it is not a great situation to be in, and unfortunately, they put you in that situation, you just have to make up your own mind, what you are going to do and to that I say, good luck.

Today on FaceBook, a friend of mine, EV, posted something “I can’t decide if people who wear pajamas in public have given up on life or living it to the fullest”. I love it!

I commented that I’m living life to the fullest and her very wise comment back to me? “This could be a good blog topic for you!” I said it would be and another wonderful comeback “Looking forward to reading your prattle on pajamas! ” So, EV, this post’s for you!

The thing I love about this statement is that it is so true, and not just wearing pajamas, but in almost anything, isn’t it “you say tomato, I say tomato?” well, that one doesn’t work as well, but I know you were reading it out loud with the correct pronunciation of each word! How about this ‘The glass is half empty/full” or better yet…”One person’s trash is another person’s treasure” [yes, I know it’s one man’s…but I’m a girl, so it’s person!] That being said, let’s delve into this.

The statement really is true, there are some people who just don’t care anymore, have given up and just walk around in whatever they had on when they went to sleep and got up that morning. Maybe they are having a rough time and can’t seem to get motivated to do more than get up and go. You don’t know what is going on in their lives.

Maybe it’s just being lazy, come on, haven’t you ever gotten up, thrown on some sweats and didn’t feel like getting dressed, but needed to run to the store for something quickly, you knew you’d be in and out? Please, there is not one of you out there who can tell me they have NEVER done that! I know even the classiest people have gone out in sweats, granted, they were expensive, but they were sweats!

Then on the other hand, you have a cute pair of pajama bottoms and/or top that you love and want to go out in. There aren’t a lot of people who do that past the age of 16, ok 18, or after you graduate college, but there are a few, please…we wouldn’t have websites or songs called “The People of Walmart” if they didn’t!  [I am not responsible for your reaction to this video if you haven’t seen it, but you have been forewarned!]  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvxNgdFeWqM

I remember in college getting up, rolling out of bed and going to class, lucky enough to put on a coat and maybe brush my teeth, 8am classes are very hard to get motivated for! [and who would have guessed that the person who had trouble getting to an 8am class would get up between 5 and 6am to make it to a job/teach a class! and be bright eyed and bushy tailed!] Those days,Ii would wear what I had on and a lot of times it was a great pair of red flannel pajamas, no embarrassment there!

How about that fabulous slip or nightgown that looks like an evening gown, who’s going to know? Your favorite pair of pajama shorts that you wear to the beach? Tuck those plaid flannel pj bottoms into your boots and away you go, are you telling me that those plaid golfers pants don’t look like formal pj bottoms?

You might find me walking around in my jammies, my current favorites are black with skulls and crossbones and pink hearts and some of the skulls have little pink bows. Yeah, stylin!  And I have a feeling no in surprised by any of these revelations!

So, in answer to the query…Given Up on Life or Living Life to the Fullest…I leave that up to you and what you are feeling day by day. Besides, who are we to judge?

As for me…I am living life to the fullest! 

Are we really almost at the end of the year? Didn’t it just start?

They say that time flies when you’re having fun, and it does!  do do you remember when you were a kid and you couldn’t wait to grow up and your parents said. Take it slow, you have plenty of time to grow up!  You thought the teens would never get here and then you would never get your license, go on dates, go to the prom, well you probably weren’t thinking about the room, or maybe you were.

We couldn’t wait to grow up and move time faster and then after you got to the teenage years, then college, you wonder where the time went and could it slow down?

on a much smaller scale, it’s December already, wasn’t it just Spring? And now it’s winter and the year is almost over! We start the year out with so many ideas and things we’re going to do and we have plenty of time, all of a sudden, you’re scrambling to get all your shopping done in time, rushing to finish a project and realizing there are only a few days left to finish whatever it is.

and here we are, December 10th, with only 21 days left to the year, where did the time go?

we watched the children grow, the parents grow older, ourselves change and wonder where the time went.

All I can say is enjoy the moment, each and every moment we are in! Because as they say that time flies, blink and you’ll miss it!

Let me just say that the elf on the shelf is not a Jewish thing and I didn’t learn about it until a few years ago living in the south, and that is not to say it is a southern thing, I just didn’t learn about it growing up in NYC.

There have been shelf elves for years, but the ‘Elf on a Shelf’ story was created in 2004.

So, for those of you not in the know, the elf on the shelf is a naughty/nice detector for Santa. Basically, the elf on your shelf is a scout elf sent to your family who reports back to Santa each night at the North Pole. The important thing to remember is that no one can touch the elf and it can’t speak or move if anyone in the house is awake; christmas magic and all!

Kids love to wake up and find the elf, wherever it was transported to the night before. As I mentioned, it’s a nice/naughty detector, kind of a way to get your kids to behave, hmmmm…

When you receive your elf, you give it a name and it becomes part of the family.

There are photos of the elf all over the web, including Facebook, where kids found him in the morning, where he was hiding and of course, there are also some great photos of elves gone bad, also all over the web and Facebook, naughty naughty elf!

So…where did you find him this morning?

http://www.elfontheshelf.com/content/about-us

Nope, that’s all I have to say.

Something I realized when I was going through a tough time, something I have shared with others going through tough times, something that I was reminded of today and shared with someone today. Wow, that was some…thing! (?Sorry, couldn’t resist)

And here it is…

When you are going through a tough time, your problem is all there is in your world and it consumes you and then you look around and realize that your problem is not as big as so many other things in the world so how can I focus on me and my problems when so many others are suffering.

Well, this is what I say to that. Everyone has problems and there are some that are huge to them and may seem like nothing to someone else, but they are your problems and it’s ok to focus on that.

Perfect example, when I was going through my divorce and I mean when the you know what first hit the perverbial fan. I was devastated and thought “woe is me, woe is me, how could this happen to me.” (ok, I didn’t actually say woe is me, but you get the idea) and after a bit, I began to think “how can I be so selfish, there are so many awful things in the world happening to everyone else, why should I be so focused on me, how could my little problem be important to anyone but me.” Or something like that. And I didn’t want to burden my friends with my problem and boo-hooing, they have their own worries to deal with I need to grow up and get over it. But my friends stood by me and let me boo hoo and get it out and I was so appreciative for that.

What’s important is to realize that our friends are there to help us, and we want them to boo hoo to us so we can help them. When we’re dealing with stuff, we want normalcy, even though we’re down, we want to know what’s going on with you, it might help us cope with what’s going on.

Also…you’re friends are there for you and you know who your true friends are and they will let you boo hoo as much as you want and/or need to, those are the ones who will still be there for you months down the road when you’re still confused and walking around in circles.

I have told my friends that once we’re friends, it’s forever and they’re stuck with me and if they need me, day or night, I’m there and when they’re going through something, if they want to call me and say whatever including boo hoo, even months later, go ahead, I’m here for a good boo hoo (please don’t ask, I’m on a boo hoo kick) because there may be a day in the future when I need to call you for a good boo hoo.

So, bottom line is..your problems are just that, your problems and no matter what size, they are important to you and therefore, should not be belittled or lessened, especially by you because they seem so insignificant.