The Streak Has Ended

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I went to school with a girl named Megan. She had lots of good qualities, but the most significant was her perfect attendance record: Not one year. Not two or three. Twelve years. From first grade to senior year, she didn’t miss a single day of school. I think her older sister did, too. I always admired her for that and didn’t know how she did it.

I’ve worked at Southwest for over 7 years now. During that time, I haven’t used a single sick day. I don’t even know how many I’ve earned, but it’s probably several weeks’ worth of sick time. My “streak” came to be a goal I pursued, a source of pride, a way to contribute to the company’s success. Unlike with a normal job, when I call in sick, the company has to pay someone to work my shift at either time and a half or doubletime, which equates to hundreds of dollars each time. Although I’ve been sick a few times, it’s always occurred during my days off.

Until now. After dragging myself to work the last two nights when I would have been justified in calling in, I finally gave up and used my first sick day for tonight. At my appointment this afternoon, Dr. Phillips diagnosed me with bronchitis. Yuck. So I’m chilling at home, trying not to talk or move too much, letting my new meds work, and resting while I watch the U.S. Open and Palin’s speech at the RNC. I’m already starting to feel better and plan to return to work tomorrow night.

Another Reason to Like SWA

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As you’ve probably read, Hurricane Gustav is churning in the Gulf and appears to be headed straight for Louisiana. It’s already a Category 4 storm and could reach Category 5 today, so the residents of New Orleans are evacuating. The New Orleans airport (MSY) is closing at 6:00pm on Sunday. Since Southwest has lots of employees who work at MSY and need to evacuate, dozens of volunteers from other SWA airports are flying in yesterday and today to work our flights so that the local employees can wrap up their affairs and hit the road.

I spoke with one such volunteer last night, a great guy who normally works at Dallas. He said he grew up in the Bay Area and understands about natural disasters, so he wanted to help out in New Orleans. He’ll probably return on the last flight out of MSY this evening. I am proud to call him a coworker.

Forwarded Emails

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One of my pet peeves is forwarded emails that are intended to scare or anger people or give them something for free. You know what I’m talking about: emails about the latest serial killer techniques, a politician’s religious beliefs or recent meeting with troops overseas, fake printable coupons to Blockbuster, computer virus warnings, etc. People receive something inflammatory or scary from a friend (who got it from a friend at work, who got it from their aunt in Muskogee) and blindly send it out without doing any kind of research or even using any common sense. I just found a great article on factcheck.org on this phenomenon and how it relates to political email forwards.

If you receive a forward, you can investigate it through several websites that do the legwork for you. My favorite is snopes.com. If you send me a bogus forward, there’s a good chance I’ll write back with the appropriate Snopes link. I might even copy all the other people you included. Other options include breakthechain.org, factcheck.org, and urbanlegends.about.com. Before you forward something, PLEASE do your homework and try to ensure that it’s true. The chain won’t stop unless you stop it. Do the right thing, people!

Presidential Poll

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I must also congratulate Gov. Sarah Palin on being the first women chosen as the Republican VP nominee. She seems tough, smart, and energetic.

OK, now that the two main presidential tickets are set, let’s take a poll! Granted, we haven’t seen any debates yet, but what’s your call based on what you know so far? Vote on the right side of the page.

Random Facts About Me for Today

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By request from my lovely bride, here are ten more random facts about me. I hope I don’t run out of these!

  1. I hate makeup and wish no one used it, except possibly in theatrical applications. Ladies, you don’t need makeup to be beautiful!
  2. In no particular order, my favorite beverages are water, Coke, coffee, and wine. Three of the four are diuretics. Hmm.
  3. I have a huge mole on my scalp just above my right ear. Until I shaved my head, only a few people knew it was there because it wasn’t visible.
  4. My political views don’t align well with any party, which makes it hard to vote. I think the person is more important than the party and can’t stand straight-ticket voting. I think America would be better off without political parties.
  5. Growing up, my favorite toys included Pound Puppies, Legos, my bike, and Nintendo and Super Nintendo.
  6. Traveling is one of my favorite hobbies, particularly cruises because they are so easy. Someday I would love to cruise Alaska, Hawaii, and the Mediterranean. And maybe even Antarctica.
  7. Due to limited competiton, I was voted Best Supporting Actor in high school for my performance as John Brooke in our one-act version of Little Women.
  8. I auditioned for the role of John Brooke partly because I would get to kiss the girl who would play Meg, John’s love interest.
  9. Right after college, I sang bass and baritone for a year with the Irving Chorale, a great local choir. Since the group comprised mainly retired people, I was by FAR the youngest singer there. I think there was one guy in his 30s. If you like choral music, I recommend attending one of their shows.
  10. I prefer singing bass because A) it’s a relatively easy part (just hit the lowest note in the chord) and B) my sightreading skills aren’t great. I can sing baritone or even low tenor, but it wears me out both mentally and vocally. I miss choir and would rejoin one if I had time.

A Historic Night

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I’ve been trying to make AndyBox.com less political, but I do have to mention something about Obama’s speech at the Democratic National Convention. Like him or hate him, you have to admit that Thursday night marked an important milestone in our nation’s history. For the first time a biracial man (contrary to most media reports, he is only half black) is a party’s main candidate for President. He fittingly accepted the nomination on the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr’s “I Have a Dream” speech. It’s easy to forget, especially for someone my age, that just a few decades ago public buildings still had separate water fountains for blacks and whites. Certainly racism is still an issue in 2008 America, but Obama’s very real shot at the Presidency shows how far we’ve come over the last few decades. And that’s all I have to say about that.