Has it really been a week?!

Hello once again peoples. Sorry it has been a week since last exchange. I realize some of you quite enjoy reading about my life. I appreciate that. As you can see from the opening picture at the very top of this page, I climbed a tall tall mountain this past Saturday. The name of the mountain was Mt. Shavano. It is near Salida, Colorado-about an hour from me here in Gunnison. Some fun facts about the peak can be found by clicking on this link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Shavano.

Hmm, well there is a lot more pictures from the climb up too. On the left toolbar, you'll see the heading FYE (For your entertainment); click on the link Al's Pictures Online to see all of my web albums through Picasa's website. Sorry to say the pictures can't show you how tired I got climbing to the top. Obviously the lack of oxygen at 14,000+ feet starts to exhibit effects on the still-acclimating soul. Scott, the lucky bastard, has been scampering up peaks for years now and he made it look easy; but following him was quite a challenge. I will improve...I haven't been here a month even yet so there is room for such improvement:)

On Sunday I worked my 1st big day at Hertz. It went fast. I worked/trained with Terri still and got to learn more and more. We cleaned cars (inside and out) when we weren't renting them at the counter. See here in Gunny, the flights come at known intervals and so therefore we can go do other necessary things in the mean time. It's funny how fast we cleaned a car. We'd pull 2 into the garage, she'd clean the inside of one while I washed the outside of the other and after it was said and done no more than 10 minutes elapsed for complete turn-around of a clean car. Goes to show you just how "clean" rental cars really are. Yummy.
I work again at Hertz tonight and tomorrow night. Once my training is complete, I will be working probably every week night and every other weekend. The week nights are easy b/c I go with my word search book and sit at the counter for an hour waiting to see if anybody off the flight needs a last minute rental. Most of the time, all the rentals of the day show up on our manifest and getting a walk-up/last minute rental is more rare. So basically I get paid an hour's worth of work to do whatever. Not too shabby. Glad to have work; and once summer comes Terri will go on hiatus for her and her husband's guiding service.

So what else is new? Well, the lab isn't busy busy but it has it's points. The students and I are becoming better acquainted and I have made a few friends. As you can see from some of my more recent pictures, I attended a cocktail party and knew maybe 10 people there by name so it goes well.

Can't think of too much more. I will hopefully try to update more but sometimes having appropriate material to share gets a little slim. Haha (*nervous laugh*)-no worries though...I continue to do well and am staying out of trouble for those that may worry. Be good to yourselves and find sometime to get out of the house and exercise while winter is still here! I know sounds funny b/c it is summer that we cherish, but make a good habit year-round. Stay warm.

-Alan

Sucess!

Well good news came this morning in the form of a phone call from Hertz Rent-a-car. The administrative assistant (aka secretary-a nice one at that) gave Scott and I the heads-up last Friday that perhaps there was a position open at Hertz for me to apply for. Terri (our secretary's name) also put in a good word for me because the manager of Hertz at the airport rarely hires men so I had to impress her. Being a Smith I just smiled and instantly was hired. Haha, I wish it was that easy. I did smile though and made it a comfortable situation (seeming so) and convinced her that I was worth the hire. Talked about dealing with customers back home working for Steph at Gatti's.

Anywho, I will be getting not a whole lot of hours but hey it's a start! I begin work/training this coming Wednesday evening at 9:30pm. For the remainder of winter (probably till mid-March) I will be in charge of the night flight. Speaking of night flight, that is the name of a great song by Led Zeppelin...fyi. I'm also fairly sure she said I'd be working some Saturdays as well. The manager Rayna has 2 kids and is going through a divorce I hear so she needs some time off or at least in the evenings.

So that is a brand-new development as of about an hour ago. She had said she was going to call me but you can never be sure until you actually get confirmed. So what about the Census job? Well, if the hours of the new job at Hertz allow/permit me, and the Census job offer comes up-perhaps I will work both! The Census job is only temporary so if I can eek out a number of weeks doing that then props to me.

Otherwise, things continue to go well. Yay Steelers! Glad to see Pennsylvania is far superior to any other state in the Nation. Makes me proud of my home...Western PA that is. Hosh-posh to Eastern PA, except for the few good souls living there-Amy/Andy etc.
Lastly, I went hiking this past weekend with Scott and Liz and then to a genuine hot springs! Though as you can see in the pictures (REMEMBER: to look at my photos click on the link to your left that says "Al's Photos Online!!") the hot springs flowed/were pumped into a swimming pool but still pretty sweet.

Hope things are going well. Ttys ya'll

No. 21.11

Okay, so I finally manifested a way for you the readers to see all my photos since Day 1 when I left Indiana. If you look under the heading :

Related Info (For your entertainment)

you will see I created a link to my pictures online. It should (and will I hope) take you to Picasa Web Albums were I have made my photos public. From here on out, I will tell you that new photos have been posted and a reminder of where to look again. Hope all is well. Stay warm.

Alan