- Tomorrow is my annual “Merry Fitness Boxing” class! I like to do something cheesy for it, and this year I created a special Pitbull playlist. It’s all Pitbull songs, with a few holiday songs mixed in, so we’ll box to the Pitbull songs and do something different when the holiday music comes on. I hope everyone likes it!
- On Tuesday I had a twelve-hour day trip to Cleveland for work (via flight) all for a thirty minute meeting! But it was a construction inspection and acceptance – that has to be in person. And I would have shortened the day as much as possible if there were better flight options.
- Ahh, flight options. Air travel is amazing and I’m grateful for the time it usually saves. But the way tickets are sold now – basically a la carte where you have to pay for any bags and to select seats – makes me a bit nuts. (Please don’t recommend Southwest to me. It never works out for us.) We were trying to find flights to Kansas City for January and every time we’ve checked, the total for both of us was around $600 if we bring bags and get to sit by each other (and not in middle seats, separated). It seems steep. I think we’re going to drive instead.
- Back to Tuesday – I was able to get more baby blanket knitting done on the flight, and I stopped when I was tired! I’m over 75% done with the knitting part of the blanket. Once I am done with that, I will weave all the loose yarn (from color switches) in and wash and iron it.
This is the “wrong” side (back side) of the blanket
- I am SO excited about some of the gifts we are giving on Christmas! I can’t wait! (And on the other end, some people couldn’t come up with a single thing they wanted, and I don’t want to give someone something random, so giftcards it is… and we should just not exchange next year. Most people in our lives buy what they want all the time. Which is totally fine. In that instance, I’d rather not exchange, or do an activity together, or donate to charity instead.)
- Apollo let me know how he felt about posting a photo of Starbuck, instead of him, on Instagram!
Ah, THAT’S one of the things I was going to blog about today and then forgot! Flight options! I’m a loyal United flier. I am VERY picky about where I sit on a plane. Flying makes me anxious, and I feel a lot better when I’m sitting in a row with numbers I like. Silly? Yes, but it makes me feel better and doesn’t hurt anyone, so it’s fine (or at least that’s what my therapist says 😛 ). I’ve booked flights for two trips within the past few weeks, and the first one was totally normal: picked the seats I wanted no problem. By the time I booked the second one, though (this past weekend), United had rolled out their new “Preferred Economy,” which means that I now have to pay $9 extra each way for the “privilege” of sitting in the rows I like. WHAT. It’s still economy!! It’s not even Economy Plus with the extra leg room! The only difference is that it’s closer to the front of the plane! I was outraged, so I did some digging into it, and apparently Delta and American have been doing this for a long time, and for a LOT more money. It’s not the end of the world for me, because I’m certainly willing to shell out $18 more if it means I’m going to be more relaxed. But, as a lot of people in comments sections about this pointed out, it is a big problem for families. If you’re a family of five, that $18 suddenly turns into $90, and that’s on top of however many hundreds of dollars you’re already spending to get your family on the plane in the first place, plus whatever other vacation expenses you might incur (hotels, car rental, food, excursions while on vacation, etc.). I’m sure for plenty of families, that makes flying for vacation not an option – which then limits where you can go, of course. First world problems, I suppose, but still. No one likes to be nickled and dimed, especially for things you used to get for free. Like, you know, a decent seat in economy included in the ticket price.
Totally FWP. But totally feels like being nickled and dimed. I was talking to a coworker yesterday about this and he said that is why his family is DRIVING from Chicago to FL. It got too $$$ for them to all sit together on a plane! It is just ridic! I paid for cheaper tickets and sat unassigned (aka middle) to Dallas and back because I was going solo, and the way back kind of freaking sucked. And for you, and it sounds like it’s even more important, with your superstition. (What #s do you like? What if they change planes and your row gets changed? That happened to me this week when I got bumped from 11 to 23!)
It sounds like United is the way to go, with only a $9 charge for seat selection, if there are not a lot of you. Ours was a $120 dollar charge (total for round trip).
And that makes me feel better that United JUST rolled it out… I felt like I was losing my mind or doing something wrong when I was trying to find reasonable tickets.
It’s got to be even numbered. I just hate odd numbers! I blame it on being born on an even day, haha. I’d prefer 18 or 12 (my favorite numbers), but that’s almost always impossible on United, since that far up is usually Economy Plus. On Southwest I can get it sometimes, though. Otherwise, I’ll take anything even numbered in the 20s. I’d do an even in the 30s if I HAD to, but I’d much prefer the 20s, so it’s totally even numbers. I especially like 26, for 26.2, naturally 😛 Fortunately since I started flying a bit more regularly a couple years ago, I’ve only had a plane change once, and I was still in the same row (and seat) after the change. I don’t know what I’d do otherwise! Panic, most likely. Hahaha.
Ahh, I wondered if you were going to say specific numbers that made it much harder! Even numbers gives you a 50% chance of getting in a good row! So, if you were upgraded to first class in row 1, would you decline?! 😉
Pitbull and boxing and Christmas? Sounds like it will be fun and I bet your clients will have a blast…which is always nice when you’re working out, right?
Weaving in ends makes me nervous. You’re not supposed to tie a knot but a lot of times I do, then I weave – I’m so paranoid something will work its way loose otherwise. I really should find a class on end weaving…I’m sure it exists somewhere in the knitterverse.
We got to experience the airline nickel and diming a lot in October/November – both with United and American, and they both stink. Kind of have you over a barrel, though, especially if you are on a time frame that won’t allow for driving (not that I wanted to do that anyway – it takes a full damn day, I’m talking 12 hours, to get out of Texas when you’re driving west from our town).
I love that shot of Apollo (and Starbuck) – your kitties have so much personality!
It is! And that’s my goal for each class (along with safety, inclusion, and attainability).
I have had good luck weaving in with out knots on everything I’ve done! I weave in A LOT though. Ha. Let me know if you learn any tricks!
Oh exactly – it’s rare you can say “screw it, let’s drive,” right? Sigh. It is usually NOT worth the time to drive.
Thank you!
I agree – I hate buying gifts that I know that the person may not like 100%, at that point you are just buying them for the sake of it and you should need to buy a super generic gift to show someone you care about them!
I keep telling Martina she’ll always win with running shoes or socks or a race entry but she refuses, I think she considers them generic whereas I’d be trilled lol!
Sorry your flights were so shitty. It seems crazy to have to do a 12 hour trip for a 30 minute meeting but what can ya do!
Right! And I don’t feel like I need to do that. But I love them and want to give them something. But don’t know them well enough (apparently) to get them something they like without help. And that makes ME feel bad!
Ha ha ha! I would like that stuff too. You really can’t have too many socks!
Exactly! We had to see it in person, no way around that!
Air travel! I read “Cockpit Confidential” this year, and one point the author (a pilot) makes is that it’s silly to complain about baggage fees when you get a really cheap (and safe!) flight, which I get. However, $600 for seats near each other plus bags? That’s really frustrating. I think we talked about this when you were here, but I don’t love Southwest either because Harrison and I never get to sit together, despite being very on top of things.
I love that you brought knitting on the plane though!
It is silly to complain, for so many reasons. But it’s hard not to when how you buy a ticket has changed so much over the last few years! Southwest sounds like it would stress me the eff out until I was actually in my seat!
Thanks! 🙂 I like to get as much done as I can in those free moments!
Ooh, your workout class sounds like a lot of fun! Boxing to Pitbull! How cool!
Air travel makes me so crazy because I can never seem to find the price I want to pay for it, and I’m just not very skilled in searching out the best deals. Or if I find a good deal, the flight times are insane. Ahhh.
Thank you!
Exactly. Is there some trick we don’t know? Is buying on Tuesdays still a thing? I track flights in Google Flights and all that, but I feel like I am missing something!
I actually knew that was Pitbull from the photo before you said his name. Not that I know any of his songs. LOL
I am wondering if my students knew who he was when I posted this photo on our facebook page!