Vacation to Oregon

My wife and I decided to take a little vacation to Oregon to see our friend Jo. Last time we went we drove and it was about a 10 hour drive. We decided that we would rather take the one and a half hour flight this time. I’m not sure which one was faster in the end.

We flew out of San Francisco through United Airlines. When we arrived at the airport everything was chaos. There were people everywhere and very few attendants to help people get in the lines they were supposed to be in. Luckily we managed to get in the line we were supposed to be in but people around us were complaining that they had been in a few lines before they got to the line they were supposed to be in and it took them hours to get any help. What’s more we noticed some people had even missed their flights due to the incompetence of the United Airlines staff. When we finally made it to the front to get our boarding pass we hit another conflict. Turns out that Expedia.com screwed up when I made a change to my ticket and United was going to charge me an extra $150 even though I had already paid Expedia.com $300 to make the change in the first place. I complained and luckily they made the change without charging me any extra fee. (If they had required payment I would have paid so I could make my flight and then worried about complaining until I got my refund once I got home)

After that whole crap-fest we got to the security lines. I had to empty all my pockets, remove my shoes and go through the metal detector scanner thingy. When we were getting our belongings together after the scan they said that my wife’s bag didn’t clear and they had to search it. They removed a bottle of hairspray and re-scanned the bag, it cleared this time. We had no choice but to throw out the hairspray. I do understand the issue with the hairspray bottle, security said that with the elevation change it would explode in her bag. I didn’t believe them at first but when we got to our destination her lotion bottle had exploded in her bag and made quite a mess. Probably a good thing we didn’t have the hairspray as well.

Once we finally got on the plane we had smooth sailing all the way to Portland. We got off the plane, quickly met up with Jo and made our way to her house. The weekend was filled with movies, laughs, good times and good food. We celebrated Jo’s birthday with Hanna and her family, we saw the waterfall in Falls City and we laid around like lazy bums.

Wonderful time with JoAnn but it had to end. She drove us back to the Portland airport and we made sure to get their early in case we had to deal with the same bullshit we did at San Francisco. The Portland airport was FANTASTIC. We flew back on Alaska Airlines and they had a little kiosk where we typed in our information and got our boarding pass without needing any assistance from airport employees. The line to get through security was quick and although we still had to empty our pockets and take off our shoes everything flowed so much faster and smoother. When we were through we still had an hour until our plane took off so we sat down at a little café for breakfast. I was starting to think everything for our way home was going to be wonderful and easy.

Once we arrived at our gate we got the notice that our flight had been delayed due to heavy fog in San Francisco. We had to wait an extra hour for our flight and once we did finally start boarding we were told that we couldn’t keep our carry on luggage with us, it had to be put on carts and put into the back of the plane. The flight home was much more bumpy and shaky but we arrived in San Francisco safely, got our luggage and started our trek through the airport (which was once again a madhouse of people everywhere) to the BART station to catch a train back to Pittsburg.

I had arranged for my brother to pick us up from the BART station in Pittsburg but due to the delay in our flight he would no longer be able to pick us up. I tried to call my Mom but the train kept going underground through tunnels which killed my cell phone reception. Getting through to my Mom was a pain in the ass but I got through and she agreed to pick us up.

I enjoyed my time in Oregon with JoAnn but I wasn’t fond of the flying and BART train ride. I think that perhaps driving was a better option. Next time we decide to head out to visit JoAnn I’ll plan for more days off and we’ll drive and stay in a hotel along the way or something. We’ll see what happens.  

Homeless People - To Help or Not To Help?

I see homeless people everyday. Usually they are standing at the exits to freeways or they hang out in front of drug stores. They all have a cardboard sign that says something about needing money for food and usually end with “god bless”. The smell of booze and weed is a constant and they all wear ragged clothes and obviously haven’t showered in months.

To be perfectly honest I don’t feel sorry for these people at all. They made the choices to take up drugs or drinking and do nothing with their lives. They may have had horrible home lives or had no inspirational role models but they had to know the difference between right and wrong. They are where they are in life because of the choices they made.

I’ve given my loose change to them a few times in the past. They are always as respectful, thankful and happy to get the money as they can be. They obviously don’t know how to talk real English and usually speak in street ghetto. I’m glad they have the manners to thank me for giving them the money but I feel like I’m just enabling them. I highly doubt the money I just gave them is going towards food, pretty sure it will go straight to their drug dealer or to a local liquor store. It’s now my policy to never give money to homeless people.

My wife was standing on a table a while back and fell off. She was fine but her arm really hurt and was getting swollen. Luckily she didn’t break it but she needed a sling and some pain medicine.

We went to the local CVS Pharmacy to fill the prescription our doctor provided us and on our way through the parking lot we were approached by a homeless man. My first reaction was coming automatically, just say “I don’t have money” and keep walking. I didn’t say or do that. I stopped and listened to this man. He was African-American, dressed in nice jeans and a button up t-shirt, kept a comfortable distance from me so he could still talk to me but didn’t invade any of my personal space or comfort zone, and he spoke intelligent English. He explained to me that he is just down on his luck. He lost his job, lost his house and his pregnant wife was down the street at a fast food restaurant (so as to stay out of the cold and rain). He wasn’t looking for money. All he wanted was canned food that wouldn’t spoil quickly, preferably in easy open containers because he didn’t have a can opener.

This man was either telling me the truth or he was a damn good liar. I believed that he was just down on his luck; the way he presented himself, the way he talked, no smell of booze or weed anywhere. I wanted to help this man and his wife. For a moment I seriously considered offering he and his wife a warm place to sleep and plenty of food to eat at my apartment. They could get a warm shower, wash their clothes, use the internet in an attempt to find work. I really wanted to help but I was hesitant and didn’t offer it to him simply because I didn’t know him. I handed him $5 (which really was all the cash I had on hand) and wished him the best.

Life should be about helping each other and being a better person. I have no doubt that I did help him with the $5 I gave him but I could have done better. I had the means to provide he and his wife more than just $5 but I didn’t do it because I was afraid. What if he was lying? He could have been telling me that story just so he could get money to buy drugs, but he didn’t smell like he did drugs or look like he had been doing drugs. He could have had a gun hidden on his person and once he got to my apartment pulled it out and robbed me, of course he could have also robbed me right there in the parking lot.

There are so many things that could have happened to me if I had opened myself up to him in the way I wanted to. I took the safe way and just gave him the money because I was scared. I was scared because so many other people make it impossible to trust a stranger. I wish I could go back and give myself the strength to make the offer available to him. I think about my encounter with him often and I truly hope his luck has turned around. 

First Post EVER!!!

I've never had a blog before. I've had various journals where I write my ideas down but I've never published any of them, well except that one time but that was quite a disaster. I've got a lot I want to say, a lot I want the world to be able to hear, and a lot I want to hear from the world.

I'm kinda shy in some ways and extremely outgoing in others. I'm writing this blog to get my thoughts and feelings out there. I'm not one to speak up about things I believe in or things I feel. Maybe no one will read this ever and that's ok because as long as I say what I want to say I'm happy. Maybe people will read it and leave mean comments, hopefully they will leave nice comments and I'll make a few new friends.

I hope to update this at least once a week. We'll see how that goes. This is really just an introductory message, I already have my first real post ready so I'll be posting that tomorrow.

Here's hoping I'm able to keep up with this, meet some new friends, and find the outlet I'm looking for in sharing what I feel inside.