Frequently flying...

Frequent flyer miles apparently are good for something other than…well, flying. A while back, I got some promotional thing in the mail, which allowed me to exchange my frequent flyer miles for magazine subscriptions. I know you’re thinking… but you like to travel, why would you get magazines? Well, because the miles had been accrued on airlines like United and Continental… airlines, which don’t top my list of favorite airlines. In fact… United is no longer considered an option due to that little “drop me off at the Ontario Airport instead of the Orange County one at 1:30 in the morning…and not provide me with ground transportation to the airport which I paid to travel through” incident. I digress…

So the deal was, exchange my miles for magazines. I had accrued maybe like 4,000 miles, which made me a little more than 20,000 miles short of that illusive free round-trip flight. I’m in, I thought. I travel quite a bit you see, so magazines…they’re actually quite useful to me. Particularly, free magazines.

Now, before you all get excited, let me first tell you magazines like People, would cost me like 4,000 miles…ones like Newsweek were more around the 600 miles range. I diversified and submitted my request. That was months ago – and most of these magazines don’t actually get opened – mostly because I’m too busy with things like the Internet and DVR’d episodes of the Real Housewives and other things equally academically stimulating. So off to the recycling container they go – so my free time can be spent ruminating about how these women can tolerate so much drama in their lives.

I’m happy to report that 8 different issues of 5 different magazines are with me en route to Washington DC today. I got some good tips and suggestions from Money magazine…but as I read through Sunset and Travel + Leisure, I began to feel this feeling of gratitude sweep over me. No, it wasn’t my astute reading capabilities that had me feeling grateful as I flipped through the pages; I came to realize how lucky I am. Lucky because I’ve seen so many of the places that are pictured in these pages. Lucky fond memories of each instantly came to mind. Lucky to have had the opportunity to visit these places. Lucky to have experienced their people and their culture. Lucky to have the drive and inspiration to visit so many more.

Of the 100 best hotels in the WORLD, I have stayed at two of them – one in my former backyard, Laguna Beach and the other on the other side of the world in Cape Town, South Africa. Of the seven continents, I’ve slept in and explored four. While my list of places I’d like to visit grows almost daily…I sit on the Southwest flight to my 4^th trip to our Nations Capital, Washington D.C filled with gratitude for the places I’ve been, cultures I’ve experienced and architecture which I’ve taken countless pictures of. I know that travel is something so rooted in who I am. Because of my countless flights here, there and everywhere….I am rewarded with more magazines I can possibly read in a month’s time AND my world grows, while I realize how small I really am.

Now, who wants to go to Bora Bore or Kenya with me??

The Gambler

I know we’ve all been let down. I know that we’ve all sat in that place of disappointment, anger, irritation and contempt when we’ve been let down. But it seems that no matter how many times it happens, you’re never really prepared for it…and it somehow always feels worse than the last time.

A few weeks ago I got a call from a friend of a friend here in Austin. She had a proposition for “work”…and money for me. I agreed to meet her for coffee to discuss – I mean, it’s money, right??

I’ll spare the all of the details, and just say that the woman seemed honest, open and trustworthy from the get-go. We were almost instantly talking about more than just this opportunity she wanted to talk about – we were talking about our lives. A few weeks pass – I’ve meet with her a few times by now – and NOW the deal is sweeter. Now the deal is she wants to hire me to act as a project manager for a kitchen remodel she’s working on. Obviously, since this was something right up my alley…and would undoubtedly lead to other gigs, I took it. I took it after I evaluated the pros and cons . But for me to take it…it took some rearranging on my part. The project was right smack dab in the middle of 4 trips I had on the books in August. I could take the job, but I’d have to cancel or rearrange all four of those trips. While, these are some pretty incredible trips I had planned – it seemed to me that the benefit of successfully executing the management of this project would lead to be being hired again, and again. That benefit outweighed the disappointment that I knew I’d be causing to some really incredible people – and the disappoint I’d have in myself for disappointing those I care about.

So I drafted up the contract and sent it off. After a few revisions, I was told if I was “cool with the edits, the contract will be signed upon return” and “consider these projects good to go.” Cool. So I started rearranging, calling, apologizing and cancelling.

With the project start date quickly approaching, I contacted my client to go over last minute action items. I wanted to ensure the project was a success – and it certainly needed to start off on the right foot, right? I got a call Monday morning. Somewhat frantic, somewhat crazed, wholly disappointing. My client indicated she couldn’t move forward with me, and it didn’t make sense to “hire” me. But she had – in legal terms, that contract was binding. While I was upset with the thought of not getting the money, which I desperately need at this point, I was more upset with having had to rearrange all of August, and disappoint my friends.

I knew there were two ways to deal with this. I could be headstrong and demand to either work the project, or be compensated for the entire contract amount. Or I could cut my losses and be done with her. This is clearly not the type of clients I’d want to do business with, so I saw it as a blessing. That day, I decided to take the high road. I could have been disappointed in all of humanity – or I could be disappointed with her, and not dwell in it. My world has shown me SO many people of integrity, why should I let one person ruin that for everyone else? Why give them that power? I moved forward and forgave within a few hours. I have sympathy for the decision she made, and the life she’s living – it became clear to me that life is teaching us both a lesson – but that day, I was the only one really looking for the lesson. I was the one looking forward to the things I want my life to be, I was being proactive – not reactive. I was carving out my destiny and not allowing myself to be a victim to the circumstances. Good things are on the horizon, I know that – and I see the lessons I needed to be taught. With that, I’m looking forward, not back. And I’ll take a little lesson from Mr. Kenny Rogers with me… “don’t count your money when you’re sitting at the table…there’ll be time enough for counting…when the dealins done..”

So…deal me in!