Following Santa's "gentle nudge" -- and in the hopes of getting a real neat gift (just kidding!!) -- here's the info on me: Yes, I'm a Certified Public Accountant in Los Angeles. However, my origin was in Philadelphia, over 50 years ago. Came West when I was 12 and lived here ever since.

Just celebrated anniversary #31 last week -- in London (twelve days, also touring South: Stonehenge, Salisbury, Brighton, Royal Pavillion -- all interesting & surprisingly in good weather!!)

Travel mainly AA -- Gold this year -- and usually in business via purchased upgrades, on a discounted ticket: remember, as a CPA I watch the bottom line!

Max -

From one All State Radio News performer to another (All state 1992 and 1994 Radio News and 1992 Group Improv)....welcome. I LOVED doing Radio news and was pretty unhappy that you can't perform in the category for a year after you go All State....what great memories.

I grew up in Donnellson, Iowa and lived in Davenport for 2 years after I graduated. I moved there for a job, but since I am not sure how the company in viewed up there now since I left...I will decline to mention what job it was.... :-)

Since I am on a roll with sharing here...my name is Stephanie and I have given up my Iowa residency to be an East Coast dweller. I live in Connecticut with my husband, my 6 month old son, and my cat, Cartman. We've been here for three years.

I am a trade show director and part of my department's job is also to coordinate company travel.

I lurked on the board for a long time before I became a registered user. I learned a lot of good info that helped me make travel a little less painful and in October I completed the Gold challenge on AA.

This board is great and though I don't get a lot of chances to post and participate I make sure I read as often as possible.

Happy holidays to everyone.

Welcome WebCrawler! Glad to know you and I hope you too have happy Holidays http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Max M ... this initial post of yours really got lost in all the new FT biogs. Sounds like a superb run to me, and I have a lot of orphan CO points to do it with for the Caribbean destinations.

Is it worth starting a stand-alone thread on this to see what interest there is?



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~ Glen ~

Bringing back an oldie but goodie that has been dormant for a long while.

Time to bring this forward. Hoping all the new people take time to post to this thread.

Hope I did not miss a "Who We All Are 9".

William

William, I don't THINK there's a #9...

OK guess it's my turn… I decided I'd better go public here before I actually hit the dreaded 250 posts, but that slipped up on me. Oh well ~ My name is Jane Dennis, and I live in Lexington, Kentucky. My husband, Scott, is also a Flyertalker; he's LexPassenger, as some of you already know. He was a lurker on FT for more than a year before something he said made me decide to come and have a look. And I liked what I saw, and started posting, so he started posting, and we had dinner with Captain Mike, and we did a sort of mileage run, and I wrote a trip report and… whew! A busy three months!

I don't know if I'm the only person here who's ever admitted to being afraid of flying, but I spent quite a few years as a real "white-knuckler". But not for the usual reasons: I've been flying practically all my life. The first flight I really remember was in the co-pilot's seat of a Cessna 172, with my Dad as the pilot. I was about 5 then. I learned to bank… and how to talk to the control tower… I can still see the sky from those windows. As a teenager, I used to fly at least twice a month between LEX and STL to see family - wish there'd been FF programs in those days! I had my share of "adventures" as everyone does if they fly enough - those never fazed me. Then, for reasons that are still unclear, I got more and more nervous about flying. I still did it now and then, but I'd get on each flight figuring it was gonna be my last. It was not pretty. We didn't do a lot of flying in those days, but if you need to go to England or Australia, a boat is not usually a very economical method. I flew, but not happily…

break here for background - we're both graduate school dropouts. He was in International Politics and Economics, at the school Johns Hopkins runs in Bologna. I was just an English Lit person. At least he got to spend 4 years in Italy as a consequence of his major. I did live in England for about a year, but that was because I went to riding school in Yorkshire for a bit (and stayed around after). That was then. Now is better.

Scott and I run computers and do accounting for the Community Development Agency in a nearby town, a job with a lot of flexibility; and that flexibility is worth a lot to us since we also run a business called Fo' Paws Productions. We do merchandising at science fiction and mystery conventions (produce and sell T-shirts, embroidered polo shirts, tote bags etc. etc.) - not something easily described in a word or two. I sometimes say Graphic Designer because I do all that sort of thing for us, and it's something that people can "get" easily. (I've also sold art for a couple of book covers - would like to do more of that!)

Fo' Paws lets us/forces us to do a lot of traveling, although in the last few years we've cut back some. We used to do 150 nights/year on the road - for over 10 years. If you think air travel is tough, try 50,000 miles a year by car! We know soo-o-o many places in this country, which is mostly great, though there are places I never want to see again. We still own and occasionally drive a 1986 Plymouth Voyager with 446,000 miles on it. Then there's the Grand Caravan with only 250,000 miles on it… and I have to mention my "Horatio," the Horizon that we sold after it had 210,000 miles on it. I don't know how you can cry about an inanimate object, but I cried when we sold that car. I cannot even think about selling the Voyager. Crush it and make into some kind of statue for our yard? Although we always made a few plane trips each year, in the last four or five years we've switched a lot of our travel to air. I grew up on TWA (St. Louis is my home town), and until TWEE put terrifying torture machines (19 pax turboprops) as their only connection into LEX, we still mostly flew TW. But I've also flown Delta occasionally since the '60's, and now we live in Deltaland.

My fear of flying has gradually dissipated. Maybe it's just a matter of getting more philosophical about it all. After a few years as Silvers, last year we made Delta Gold Medallion - and I'm back to enjoying flying most of the time. That pre-flight drink does smoo-o-o-th out my few remaining butterflies!

Nobody ever comes to Lexington, but if you do, let us know. We live about 5 or 6 minutes from the airport (if both lights work ok). It's beautiful country.

[edited by LexPassenger & GG only complained a little - all he changed was the stoplights! He's right: there are only 2 - GG]

[This message has been edited by GG (edited 03-14-2001).]

CG,

When did they install the SECOND light? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Thanks for the bio.

Lexington is a beautiful place.

William

The second light is at Airport Drive and Man 'O War Blvd. People tend to forget about it, because you can make a right turn on red into the airport, so it almost never slows you down on the way to that last minute plane.

I'm new, but, what the hey.

My name is Terence Ma. I am a tenured associate professor of Anatomy and Neurology at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson. As such, I am supposed to be a professional scientist and teacher.

I also have been playing around on computers since 1981. My first on-line accounts were on CompuServe starting in 1982. Currently, I oversee several web sites (professional and for water polo) and am a partner in a web design and consulting firm.

A few years back, I returned to refereeing water polo. Unfortunately, there is no water polo in Jackson, so I have to fly to practically all my games. Within the past year, I've had a couple instances of driving off the road coming back from sites about 4 hours away by car; so no more driving unless it is under 3 hours.

With my real job, I go to two or three conferences a year. Unless the meeting is in New Orleans, I fly there. This year, the conferences I plan to attend are in Chicago (just past) and in Nashville (late June).

But, with water polo, I go around the country (and sometimes out of the country) many weekends (one year, I did water polo 43 weekends). I am currently a National rated referee, serve as the Editor of the US Rule Book, the Editor of the Officiating Manual, and Co-editor of the international rules video. And I was recently elected vice-president of US Water Polo, the national governing body of water polo (several times a year to LA area and COS).

As far as traveling is concerned, my earliest memory is that when I was 10, my family moved to the US. My father had already gone ahead to New York at the time, but I will never forget flying in 707s from Hong Kong to Tokyo and the Tokyo non-stop to San Francisco. My memory was staring out the window from seat 1A the entire night long thinking that there should be something more to see than the flashing red light that was chasing our plane http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif.

Another memory of that trip was that we were supposed to be on JAL but my father changed us to Pan American at the last moment. I remember being disappointed that the Pan Am flight was to arrive in SFO a whole hour later than JAL, thus would deny me an additional hour seeing SFO. Actually, the JAL flight somehow or another landed in the water short of the runway and our Pan Am plane flew over it as we landed. I remember telling Mom that I was sorry we missed out on the adventure of landing in the water. She was not amused.

The last wonderful memory of that first trip was the cross country flight from SFO to New York. The FAs brought me into the cockpit (as it was called in those days) and I got to stand behind the pilots and watch them fly over the Great Plains. What a sight! I'll never forget it.

Other early memories of flying was carrying a totally separate outfit to wear on the plane instead of the more "formal" wear to get on and then off the plane. I remember being scandalized that my mother would actually wear pants on a plane (but, of course, not when she was getting on/off). I also remember flying on the second trans-Pacific Pan Am 747 flight ever and collecting "crossing the international dateline" certificates then being given out by JAL and Pan Am (the only two airlines I remember flying trans Pacific in my youth).

My family moved to California after only a year or so in New York. Since my father was an executive with a major motion picture company (the Vice President for International Division), he travelled a lot. I remember him doing an itinerary of six European countries in five days on a regular basis. I also remember him doing three cities in Australia and one city in New Zealand in less than a week! So, you could say I have travel in my family.

There were several times I accompanied him on trips, and those were always exciting.

As part of my father's benefits, he got "home leave" every other year. This meant that I went to Hong Kong every other year until I went to graduate school in 1982 (my last trip back to HKG was in 1983 and I have been meaning to go back every year for the past 5 years - unfortunately, not easy on DL).

I was in undergraduate college in Baltimore while my family was in LA. So, lots of cross country trips then. I was in grad school in Detroit and my family was in LA. Then Dad retired and moved to Connecticut, and then to Vancouver BC.

Nowadays, my sister lives in New York, my father lives in Vancouver, and I live in Jackson MS. So, we always have to get together by plane.

Anyhow, I was wandering around recently and found FT. I have enjoyed reading here and the opportunity to participate.

Thanks for that great post, Water Polo Ref. If they had been giving frequent flyer points when you first started flying you'd never have to pay for a flight again. Hope you get to HKG someday...heck, hope I get to HKG someday.

Hi, my name is Larry, and I am a flightaholic. I have traveled for business for over twenty years. Started before I was old enough to rent cars and now I am 43. I am married, two kids, work in marketing in the real estate and mortgage field. Travel alot, almost every week. My brother, den1k, introduced me to flyertalk and I have been hooked ever since.

Used the Platinum challange to get status with AA and then flew 3 mileage runs to europe for the eur00 bonus. Love the board, have learned tons, thanks everyone.

Dallasflyer

My name is "ClassicalGal" because I'm a classical music radio announcer. I work at the National Public Radio station in Houston (KUHF). My name is Regina. I'm single, over 21, with no kids. Grew up in NY and came to Texas about 20 years ago. Had a few stints living/working/school in CT, WI, IL, NC, CA. But I've lived most of my adult life in Texas.

With all my years flying on CO, I've never had status, but will have it for the first time this year...by the end of April. "A lowly CO Silver at IAH..." we all know what that means. Anyway, I love this board and look forward to meeting my first fellow FTer sometime soon. My other interests include movies, reading, wondering if I'll ever get upgraded as a CO Silver out of IAH, and planning my trip around the world...someday!

An official welcome to FlyerTalk, dallasflyer and ClassicalGal.

df, if I may call you that, this is the best place to learn the ins and outs of our favorite pasttime, frequent (and some not-so-frequent) flying. You're in a great place to start with my favorite airline, AA.

ClassicalGal, glad to hear you're working for a classical music station. I was so sorry when my favorite classical station, KKHI in San Francisco, went off the air many years ago. They came back on, but with a weaker signal. It just wasn't the same. Hope your station prospers (you too, with all the good info you'll get here).

Greetings! My name is Paul. I had never participated in anything like this before! That is why my handle is so boring, it is just my own name!

I work for a big University in London, and get to travel far less than some of you do but quite enough to keep me amused. I visit the USA 2 or 3 times a year, and the rest of my peregrenations are in Europe. My interests are varied, I am told that I am a good cook, and I love the theatre and cinema. I am 51, try not to look it, and today actually feel it. I speak several languages, do the Daily Telegraph crossword every day, read extensively, train in the gym (trying not to get too bored), and love entertaining guests in my home. I have been in the same relationship for 24 years, and would love to have a dog except that we are gone too often. I love animals, loathe this particular government (UK ), and am pro-euro (in principal). I have visited 29 states of the USA. My favorite food is fish, and my favorite drink is Champagne.

I first flew from Croydon Airport (when it was still one of London's airports) in 1952 in an Avro Consul. When I was very liitle, I was terrified of aeroplanes, now I love aviation and everything to do with it. My first jet flight was on an Air France Caravelle in 1963, and my first transatlantic crossing was in 1976 on a TWA 707 charter. I loved that airline in those days. Nowadays my favorite carriers are British Airways, and American Airlines. Those are favorites, there are carriers that I try to avoid after fairly disasterous experiences (Alitalia, Lufthansa, and Turkish).

I live about 60 miles from London in Suffolk. I have greatly enjoyed meeting a few people from this Board, and communicating with others. I hope that some of my experiences may be of assistance to others, as theirs have been to me.

Paul