The ability to control fire is one of humankind's great achievements. Fire making to generate heat and light made it possible for our ancestors to ward off wild animals, to migrate to colder climates and also enabled them to cook their food, an important step in the fight against diseases. The discovery of how to make fire is considered one of our most important advances, yet sometimes it can also be our demise.
In October 2003 more than 250,000 people had to leave their homes in southern California. Twelve wildfires burned more than 100 000 acres from Santa Barbara to San Diego near the Mexican border. This was considered the State's worst wildfires, and they caused at least one death.
The day the fires started was the last day of the Chorus' retreat in Palm Springs and we could not make it back home as the freeways were closed. We spent the night at Randy's parents trying not to worry. When we finally were able to make it back to San Diego, fires were burning in several locations and as we drove south on highway 15 we could see the flames on the eastern side of the road. Fire came really close to Matthew's work but far enough to were we live.
It is amazing that almost to the day the same thing would happen again 4 years later. I was driving back home from the Palm Springs' Retreat with Alberto and Lyle. Our drive had been uneventful until we reached San Diego County. Lyle noticed in the distance what at first looked like the marine layer that comes in from the ocean. It looked a little odd though. Driving a little more, we then got a glimpse of a mountain top and we could see that what we thought was fog was actually a column of smoke rising to the sky. We turned the radio on and learned the awful news.
The past few days have been challenging for the population and the firefighters. Thousands of residents had to be evacuated and relocated, as the fires got closer to populated areas. Weather conditions, (high temperatures and strong winds) made it difficult to fight and control the fires as they spread faster and farther. Freeways were shut down causing havoc. The freeway that I take to go to work to Los Angeles (the highway 5) was closed for several hours last Wednesday as the fire in Camp Pendleton jumped all 8 lanes and started on the other side. The fire was somewhat contained and the road reopened but when I drove up on Friday morning, I could still see the flames within the perimeter of the military base.
As of now all the fires (about 20) have destroyed over 1,700 homes and burned almost 500,000 acres since erupting October 21. Some fires have been contained, some are still burning and are not expected to be out until November 4 or 5.
The latest sad news is that some of the fires are blamed on arsons. Even sadder is the death toll: 10. 4 people who died directly by the fire and 6 who died during or after the evacuation.
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Pretty cool
Something fun and useful
I was reading my PCWorld magazine and came across a review of this online site that turns your pictures into a video clip with music. It is definitely more appealing than just a regular slide show (like the ones I've been making so far).
I was reading my PCWorld magazine and came across a review of this online site that turns your pictures into a video clip with music. It is definitely more appealing than just a regular slide show (like the ones I've been making so far).
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Friday, October 19, 2007
Older and wiser? Nah!!!
I have been thinking a lot lately though. It all started with issues that I had at work. My supervisor had been trying to meet with me for months. I had succeeded so far in avoiding her. First I really dislike her. She's an idiot and I had no desire to talk to her. Second, she had scheduled a meeting a while back and failed to show up. She gave me a bogus excuse but after that I just decided that was not part of my job to make any effort and go out of my way when she obviously did not care. She then went on vacation, then I went on vacation and time went by. Finally she gave me a direct order (that I couldn't refuse without disciplinary repercussions)to meet with her. On the day of the meeting I was so mad. I was upset that she threatened me when she failed to show up for a meeting that she had scheduled herself. Were any disciplinary actions taken against her? Of course not. But there I was to get reprimanded for three dependability issues.
The first time we met I was borderline rude, telling her that I was an adult and did not need to be lectured like a kid because I was late for work. She gave me her "What can I do to help you?" speech and I told her to hurry up so I could go to my flight.
The second time we met, I obviously had calmed down and thought about the situation. As the saying goes, "you catch more bees with honey than with vinegar". So my approach was totally different. I finally accepted the fact that these people will never know me for who I am, nor know how I work. Their perception of me is what comes up on the computer screen: "Late for briefing in March; called in sick in December...and so on". There is no supervision when I work, so this put the lazy workers and the people who do a wonderful job on the same level. As long as you're never late and you never call in sick, you can go on for 40 years being the laziest flight attendant and never be called on it.
As I was talking to the supervisor, I made the conscious decision that I would not let any of this affect me anymore. First, whether or not they know that I am a good flight attendant is not important, as long as I know that I am! Second, I can only control what I do. I have no power over anybody else's actions. Someone's laziness will not affect my personal performance. I do my job well regardless of my co-workers' own will to work or not. I will not get upset when someone does not meet the standards that I hold myself to. If they can live with themselves, more power to them. Third, while being sympathetic to a customer issue or problem, I will not take on United's shortcomings. A co-worker described our situation in a few words that really summed it all: "it's like working in an office where you have to bring your own chair, desk, and supplies in order to work". We get to work, and the company does not give us the tools that we need to do our job. "You don't have any ice? Well we don't want to take a delay, so no ice". "Not enough cups for 2 services? Have the passengers hang on to their cups". "5 pillows for 156 customers? Tell them to use their jackets". The sad part is that no matter how great your crew was, what the passengers will remember is that they asked for a second drink and were told that there were not enough supplies. Since the company does not listen to us, now I give out the Customers Relations phone number, so people can call directly and express their unhappiness. I used to get upset and frustrated, because I wanted to help but there was nothing I could do. Now, I listen, I emphasize, but i will not look like the bad guy anymore.
Although I was always great with the passengers, I feel that I am in a better place now, just because of this shift in my attitude. I will do all that is in my power to make sure I remain under the radar but I know that I cannot stress about that either. Things happen. If there is an accident on the freeway and I get to work late, I will not lose sleep over it. I will get written up but that is not the end of the world. The exceptional service that I give to my passengers is what I focus on, not the doings of a few who are just trying to keep their jobs.
I am older for sure, but maybe I am a little bit wiser as well.
The first time we met I was borderline rude, telling her that I was an adult and did not need to be lectured like a kid because I was late for work. She gave me her "What can I do to help you?" speech and I told her to hurry up so I could go to my flight.
The second time we met, I obviously had calmed down and thought about the situation. As the saying goes, "you catch more bees with honey than with vinegar". So my approach was totally different. I finally accepted the fact that these people will never know me for who I am, nor know how I work. Their perception of me is what comes up on the computer screen: "Late for briefing in March; called in sick in December...and so on". There is no supervision when I work, so this put the lazy workers and the people who do a wonderful job on the same level. As long as you're never late and you never call in sick, you can go on for 40 years being the laziest flight attendant and never be called on it.
As I was talking to the supervisor, I made the conscious decision that I would not let any of this affect me anymore. First, whether or not they know that I am a good flight attendant is not important, as long as I know that I am! Second, I can only control what I do. I have no power over anybody else's actions. Someone's laziness will not affect my personal performance. I do my job well regardless of my co-workers' own will to work or not. I will not get upset when someone does not meet the standards that I hold myself to. If they can live with themselves, more power to them. Third, while being sympathetic to a customer issue or problem, I will not take on United's shortcomings. A co-worker described our situation in a few words that really summed it all: "it's like working in an office where you have to bring your own chair, desk, and supplies in order to work". We get to work, and the company does not give us the tools that we need to do our job. "You don't have any ice? Well we don't want to take a delay, so no ice". "Not enough cups for 2 services? Have the passengers hang on to their cups". "5 pillows for 156 customers? Tell them to use their jackets". The sad part is that no matter how great your crew was, what the passengers will remember is that they asked for a second drink and were told that there were not enough supplies. Since the company does not listen to us, now I give out the Customers Relations phone number, so people can call directly and express their unhappiness. I used to get upset and frustrated, because I wanted to help but there was nothing I could do. Now, I listen, I emphasize, but i will not look like the bad guy anymore.
Although I was always great with the passengers, I feel that I am in a better place now, just because of this shift in my attitude. I will do all that is in my power to make sure I remain under the radar but I know that I cannot stress about that either. Things happen. If there is an accident on the freeway and I get to work late, I will not lose sleep over it. I will get written up but that is not the end of the world. The exceptional service that I give to my passengers is what I focus on, not the doings of a few who are just trying to keep their jobs.
I am older for sure, but maybe I am a little bit wiser as well.
Friday, October 12, 2007
United's tricks
United Taking a Flier With Pensions By Rich Duprey - October 4, 2007
Back in 2005, United Airlines -- later reincarnated as UAL (Nasdaq: UAUA) -- terminated its employee pension plans, creating the single largest corporate pension default in U.S. history.
The belief was that it simply had more liabilities than assets and was under bankruptcy protection already. If it was going to emerge from bankruptcy (which it did in February of 2006), it would need to reduce costs further. Putting the federal taxpayer on the hook for the $6.6 billion in pension plan costs through the federal Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, or PBGC, was an easy out.
It seems, though, that the unions, shareholders, creditors, government -- and, most importantly, the retirees -- got hoodwinked. (read more)
Thursday, October 11, 2007
United's Punchline
Click on the picture to access the video.
This is a video of UAL's "parrot mouthpiece" Jean Medina telling some retirees' wives (as she has told the press for a 1000 times following Glenn Tilton's instructions), that UAL had to terminate the almost fully funded A-Plan, to survive. She added how much her stock option bonus check was. I would describe it as a "right cross combo overhead jab" to Medina's corporate brown nose...
You don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out that happy employees work more and better. I know that most big companies are the same, and the more employees, the harder it is to treat people as individuals. You become a "number" in the gigantic machine. However when all those "numbers" work together in harmony, the company thrives.
I believe that even before 9/11 we had poor management practices but because we were making lots of money, nobody really paid attention. We had layers upon layers of useless paper movers. It would take so long for any request to be processed because of the many people anything had to go through before reaching the appropriate desk. And I don't mean days or weeks. It would literally take months for anything to happen. And that was the best case scenario. Most of the time, you had to file the same thing several times because your request would get lost somehow.
After bankruptcy, finally everything was streamlined to be more efficient and cost effective. However right now it just seems to most employees that the people making decisions for the company are only in it for the money. That would be fine if some of that money was handed down to everyone who made sacrifices to make sure that United survives. That is not the case. Since we exited bankruptcy, a system of rewards was put in place. Every quarter that we meet or exceed our goals (those numbers are determined by the company), we get a "bonus check". The amount is based on your salary. It doesn't seem fair because most front line employees took such a pay cut that the bonus checks feel like a slap in the face.
Most of us gave up about one-third of our pay to help the carrier survive the bankruptcy that followed the 9/11 attacks. We also lost most of our benefits and that doesn't necessarily equate to a dollar amount. Altogether it has been a huge drawback.
Some of the anger stems from stock and options worth millions, given to senior management after we emerged from bankruptcy in early 2006. All talks about reclaiming lost salary and benefits are frozen to at least 2009 when the Flight Attendants' contract is up, and 2010 for the Pilots. However we just learned that the company is exploring spinning off the frequent-flier program, maintenance division and other assets, which could reap billions. Why this was not an option before, I don't know. An article in the Chicago Tribune stated that "an investment bank has estimated the value of United's Mileage Plus as a freestanding company at $7.5 billion. When Air Canada spun Aeroplan off as a separate company two years ago, its market value was $4.3 billion. United itself, including Mileage Plus, has a market value of just $5.5 billion".
United claims that it will be difficult, if not impossible, to restore pay to 2000 levels, although we are again making money. I do understand that they carry staggering debt loads and I know firsthand that we need to boost spending on planes and technology in order to remain competitive.
Analysts have said that United could raise about $16 billion if it sought buyers or business partners for units that weren't integral to our core flight operations. "Doing so now would enable the highly leveraged airline to pay down debt and repair its balance sheet, pay shareholders a special dividend, build cash to help fund merger activity or perhaps attract a private-equity buyer". In all this there is no plan to give back anything to the employees. I'm guessing management will give themselves big fat bonuses for coming up with the idea of the century.
Maybe one of them will go in front of employees and retirees and brag about their latest bonus check, and get punch in the face.
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
Christmas is here!!!
Ok, maybe not quite but it feels like the end of the year is approaching at the speed of a bullet train. I came back from vacations on September 2nd and dove back into work the next day. I also started rehearsals with the Chorus and as we are getting ready for our next show we are already singing Holiday songs. Christmas is here!!!
The month of September went by so fast. Or maybe I was still high from my wonderful vacations with my family. I really hope that we can keep on doing something together every year. Maybe it is because I am getting older. Maybe it is because mom is getting older. I just want to make sure I do not wake up one day wishing we had done more together. God forbid anything happens to either one of us for a long time, but life is anything but certain. I am going to Guadeloupe for a week in November. It will be my sister's, one of my nephews' and some of my friends' birthdays. My other nephews and niece have birthdays in October so it still will be fresh enough. Maybe we will have a huge party again like we did 2 years ago. And Christmas will be just around the corner so I will have gifts for everybody. Wow. Christmas is really here!!!
Last month I had a regular schedule with flights to Philadelphia via San Francisco. Although most of the trips had issues (delays, mechanical problems, cancellations...), it was nice to actually have some consistency. Now October is here and I am back on call so who knows where the friendly skies will take me. I try not to hope for anything so I will not get disappointed when I get sent to Buffalo, NY. Not that there is anything wrong with Buffalo!!! I had put a transfer to be based in SFO. It was awarded last week but I declined it. For now. Although I probably would have better trips, the cons outweigh the pros. I am just tired of my lack of seniority in LAX after 12 years with United. At the same time I do not want to make my life more complicated by commuting to San Francisco. I will keep an eye on my classmates' schedules who are based there to see what they usually hold and I will reconsider in a few months. After Christmas maybe!!!
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