My name's Goat. I'm 26, and I live in downtown Chicago near a fellow FTer who's an UA 1k who likes to peep into my windows at night. My business card says that I'm a software architect, but my job generally involves R&D, cleaning up other people's issues and rebuilding poorly engineered processes to make projects work. I was originally hired for my shapely legs, but eventually recognized among my peers for my technology and management skills.

I also volunteer at a large Natural History museum as a docent/stand up comic. I also am a member of two world renowned yacht clubs (CYC, RTYC) and am an active sailboat racer who has done some large North American regattas (both Mackinac races, Newport-Bermuda). And I start on private pilot certification in February. And working on that MBA, albeit very slowly.

In my spare time, I raise a choir of squirrels that do a song and dance routine to Madonna's "Like a Virgin." I am widely considered a voice of reason and the best looking Executive Platinum on American Airlines. Most importantly, I am loved by all who meet me and respected by those who walk in my shoes. I wear a size 12E.

Hello,

Just thought I'd jump in on the GSB connection. I'm 22, home airport ORD/MDW and am in the senior year of my Econ program at the U of Chicago while working part time at the GSB Alumni office helping with communications, events and other um, chores. I live in Hyde Park, and was wondering if anyone else does. So it's rather possible that you've got my emails, opened envelopes sealed with my saliva, etc.

I don't do nearly as much flying as many folks here, but schlepp back to SIN (home) at least once a year) and fly as much as I can. That's pretty much all about me ;-)


[This message has been edited by inkoherent (edited Feb 14, 2004).]

Well, if you wouldn't put on a show, I wouldn't peep.

BTW, your legs aren't the only things that are fab.

Im not sure if I should say...

" Man, am I in love or what ???!!!! "

or

" Shucks, this Doode has more pickup than 007 "

Can someone please help.....?

It is good to be here. :)

My name is Jordan and I'm a frequent flyaholic.

I was born 32-ish years ago in Nottingham, England. I've been a traveler since I was 10 months old, my first airplane experience was on a trip back to the States to visit my grandparents near Pittsburgh. My parents decided to stay and we lived on the family farm until I was 6 before moving to Charlotte, NC.

I've certainly had the travel bug from an early age, although most of my early trips were to England to visit my dad's relatives. The bug must run deep in my family, my (mothers side) great grandparents, grandparents, and mother had traveled all over the world, to Europe, Africa, Japan and China. I had been across the pond 4 by the time I was 16, the 4th trip was the first time I flew by myself. My future as a travel junkie was sealed when I opened my first Frequent Flyer account at age 17 (USAir). I was heading off to college at Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh and decided flying back home to Charlotte was better than a 9-hour drive. I had developed an interest with computers in my early teens and by the time I entered university (1989) I had learned to navigate and book flights on Easy Saabre. It didn't take me long to figure out the rudiments of mileage runs, instead of flying directly PIT-CLT, I would do PIT-PHL-CLT, etc.

After graduating from CMU in 1993 with a BS in Math/Computer Science, I was hired by Dell in Austin, where I've now been for the past 11 years. My job duties at Dell include developing custom software configurations for enterprise customers, with a focus on systems management. I've occasionally been sent to such exotic locales as Provo, UT or Lexington, KY. I am now up to 5 weeks vacation a year which only encourages my dromomania.

In 1995 I came across the travelogue of a couple who had taken 12 months out of their lives to do a RTW trip. I was hooked and started the lengthly planning process to do my own trip. I was going to go everywhere: 8 months visiting Easter Island, Rio de Janeiro (Carnival), South Africa, Egypt, Europe, India, Nepal, Southeast Asia, Australia, New Zealand and Cook Islands before returning home. Unfortunately at the time my father was ill with colon cancer and I postponed the trip for several years. After he passed away in 1997 at the far too young age of 52 I took off two weeks to visit San Francisco and Hawaii and I haven't looked back since. In December 1997 I started my RTW, visiting New York for NYE, then headed down to Peru and Chile. Unfortunately there my trip came to a quick halt, only two weeks into the journey I ended up in the hospital in Santiago, Chile with Guillain-Barre Syndrome. GBS is a rare disease and particularly nasty, the immune system attacks the insulation on nerve cells, causing a loss of strength. I was bedridden for 10 days and couldn't walk or even squeeze toothpaste. Needless to say this brought a quick end to the trip and had to head back to the USA to recuperate. After undergoing physical therapy for several months I felt the need to get back on the road, and resumed my trip even though I still wasn't 100% back to normal (I still couldn't run or jump very far). I decided to only do half the trip, visiting South America and Africa and spent four wonderful months there. I made separate lengthy trips to New Zealand/Brazil and Australia in 1999 and early 2000.

My mileage running didn't really take off until mid 2000, when I flew from Austin to Paris, via Los Angeles for a quick weekend. I had made Platinum on AA the previous few years but didn't think to go for EXP until a coworker was bragging about his new card. I came across Flyertalk in early 2001 where I found my true calling. I made EXP and 1MM on AA in Oct 2001, BA Silver in 2002, EXP again in 2003, and just recently hit QF Platinum. I've done maybe 5-6 mileage runs a year to keep or renew status since 2001. When I'm not traveling I'm busy planning the next trip! 9/11 didn't affect my flying habits, if anything it strengthened them. My first time to meet other FlyerTalkers was on the famed AA Taipei run the week after 9/11.

I met my future wife at a party in 2000, and quickly gave her the travel bug as well. She had only been to Hawaii but since we met we have visited Italy, England, Paris, Africa, Chile, Thailand, Australia, Japan, Egypt, and many other places. I proposed to her on a sailboat in St. Thomas in July 2001 and we were married in April 2002 in Austin. Our honeymoon was a monthlong safari in Africa, using first class tickets on British Airways (thanks to Diners Club!). She tolerates my mileage addiction and she definitely enjoys the benefits! She recently finished culinary school and was working at the Lake Austin Spa until last month.

StarG you have mail and


Goat, you must be a double-agent.

Agent double 0 9 and a half...

Hello everyone.

I'm Mario, known here as the Phoenix. I've lurked the forum for a while but only joined last month. Some of you know me as mirrodie on airliners.net.

I come from a family where 3 aunts work (2 recently retired) for AA, so I have always been partial to AA.

I grew up around JFK and was lucky to be able to watch planes take off and land right from my front yard. There my love for travel started.

In high school, I wanted to fly Air Force planes ,but upon taking the ASVAB (sp?), they said I would be great in the cockpit, but in the back seat, like Goose, from TOP GUN. Why? Although I have perfectly healthy eyes and vision, I wear contacts and glasses. And back in '93, LASIK was not an option.

Uh, hello? Goose dies?! not a great selling point there buddy ;-)

So I researched Embry Riddle and realized that flying would not be in my best interests as I am too social and wanted something require more face to face time with people.

So I earned an honors degree studying Evolution of Vision in Primates in College and went on to Optometry school.

Graduated an O.D. in 2001 and been practicing ever since. Amazing how one limitation opened another door, isn't it?

Unfortunately, I have always been a lurker here. My AAunt tries to throw mileage tickets or D-3's my way, so my fiancee and I, while lucky to have gone to Australia and now to Hawaii, have flown for very cheap but lost out on those miles. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif Oh well, I can't complain.

I love soccer and was lucky to play in a few tournaments in Europe when I was younger.
Bayern is one of my faves as well!

I love music of many types, expecially good percussion. I try to have a glass of red wine once a night. Also, I am a big movie buff.


Up until Oct 24, 2003, I used to fly solely for the purpose of being on certain planes. I love Concorde and also loved the 727s and DC-9's so I would route myself around to get onto these a/c.

But once I flew Concorde, that all
changed.

The retirement of Concorde has been a major tragic distraction on my life this past year. In fact, over the last 3 years, the only 3 inert ties to my childhood were taken away.

-First, our local railway retired its golden age diesel fleet (as a toddler, my mother worked where the fleet was maintained).
-Then, in April 2003, my dream to fly Concorde was fulfilled (thanks Fairy Godmum and Hub), only to hear that 2 days later, she would be retired. All those years of watching Concorde ended on Oct.24.
-Lastly, WLIR 92.7, the radio station I grew up, with closed shop last month, to give way to Spanish music. <b>I'm so distraught, I can't even have salsa with chips anymore.</b>


DIVINE INTERMISSION
Lord,...no more trains to watch.....no more concorde to watch....Did you have to take my radio station too?!! Now, only now, do I feel old.
end DIVINE INTERMISSION here
April 2003, my dream to fly Concorde came to fruition. And would you believe that, on the flight, Marvin Gaye's song "FLYING HIGH" was in the IFE?


My last bachelor dream was realized (the wedding is this May). And what an experience it was. For once in my life, I was not that child looking up as she seared the sky. As I hoped, prayed and worked for, I was now looking outside of her.

I savored every part of it. My cohort from airliners.net wanted to know what it was like. So I wrote about it here:

http://www.airliners.net/discussions...d.main/31702/4

Some months later, I was contacted by a production team doing a show for the Travel Channel. They read my article and wanted to interview me. (Seems they had never interviewed a supersonic wingnut before http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif)

So I've been interviewed for the following show. Now I can get on with the less important things, like wedding plans, buying a house, etc. ;-)

http://travel.discovery.com/schedule...7566&gid=12045

Concorde: The Final Flight

is due to premiere here in the US on Febuary 16 at 9 PM, Eastern Standard Time. Repeats will air on Feb.17@12 AM and Feb.22 @ 6 PM. (For our friends in UK, Australia and worldwide who may not have access, we are working on that.)

The show will cover the weeks and days leading up to the final scheduled passenger service on British Airways Concorde.

Now that you know the title, please check local listings OR The Travel Channel Website for any up to date changes.
Don't forget to set your VCR's! Also, the website has a nice reminder feature.

So you might get to see who I am on the Travel Channel in the US.


Now that this chapter of my life has closed, my goals are different.
We are planning the wedding at full throttle right now and also looking for a place to call home.

I now want to grasp the most out of all our travel experiences. So on flights less than 4 hrs, I go coach MRTC if possible and I try to go to bus or F on longer trips.
I've learned not to try to route myself on diff. a/c merely based on your comments on service and seating, etc.

I've learned a lot, in fact, just got another 10K bonus of AA miles today and things are great.

I really appreciate all I have learned here.
My fiancee thanks you too, as she reaps the benefits as well. She is a great gal, think of someone with a beautiful smile and a great loving heart.

Thanks for being a welcoming community! I have met and made good friendships with many wonderful folks at airliners.net and concordesst.com and I hope to do the same here.

Thanks for reading!

[This message has been edited by the phoenix (edited Feb 09, 2004).]

[This message has been edited by the phoenix (edited Feb 09, 2004).]

just bringing forward as it is tough to find. Maybe the moderator can put a sticky on all the who we all are threads?

WWAA spreadsheet
 

all the who we all are (1-10) can be found in a spreadsheet at:

http://members.shaw.ca/deercroft/wwaa.xls

Hello my name is...
 

UA_Eagle and I live in Northern Virginia. I'm a senior consultant for a major consulting company working in the software engineering field.

I was born here in DC and grew up in Northern Virginia, except for stints at high school and college and stayed in the area until about 5 years ago, when I moved to Austin to join a startup as a software engineer. I took advantage of this relocation to fullfill my love of flying and start flying frequently between AUS and WAS and trips elsewhere.

Around that time I came up on my own various frequent flying secrets, like always connecting instead of flying non-stop, etc. Around 1999 or 2000, I discovered WebFlyer & Flyertalk and after lurking a while, I registered in Jan/Feb 2001 as "UA_Eagle". The reason I picked this was that I have always loved UA and I was flying UA frequently at that time. The "eagle" part is because of my love of flying high above in the air.

Early last year I was laid off from my company in Austin and took the opportunity to do a couple of quick trips (to Frankfurt/Munich and Zurich) while looking for jobs. After a too long search (although I did manage to get 3 free trips to VA in the meantime!), I found my current job and relocated back here. So, after a trip to New Zealand for a couple of weeks, I'm back at work earning more money for future trips!

My hobbies, in addition to travel, are astronomy and collecting jigsaw puzzles (and sometimes put them together too). I also love to read and keep buying more books than I have time to read--if it wasn't for flying, I'd never make any good progress in catching up with my books! :D

I'm a 51-year old travel fanatic who's an actuary the rest of the time. It pays for plane tickets. Moved to KS a year ago after 25 years in NJ.

When I was little, my Dad used to fly out of CAK on sales trips- sometimes all 5 of us would line up with Mom at the chicken-wire fence and plug our ears as the jet engines backfired and the plane took off. I always wanted to go to Europe- can't explain it, since none of my siblings cared one way or the other. I took a few domestic flights in college between exciting places like CAK, CMH, CVG and Indianapolis, and finally went to Europe on my own at age 25. Went again 3 years later, then married a spendthrift whose idea of fun was deep-sea fishing. I still get seasick when I think of those trips- and the cost would have paid for 2 R/T airfares to Europe with money left over. But, he was a miserable traveler. Even on trips to MYR to see my parents, he blew up at every little inconvenience. Motherhood also slowed me down, although I managed to get to Europe and other great destinations a few times on business. Casualty Actuarial Society meetings brought me to places like the Boca Raton Resort, Bermuda, Disney World, Marco Island and a lot of wonderful cities- so I didn't do badly in those years.

Divorced the Ex in 1997. (Long, sad story.) Started dating a wonderful man and, on a wild urge, asked him to join me at a meeting in Palm Desert, CA only a few months later. The rest is history. We've been married a year and have been to about a dozen countries together including Brazil and Russia. He knows history; I grope with the languages. Whatever happens, we deal with it and always enjoy the ride.

My son is turning out to be a great traveler, too- he's 19 and has been to Bermuda, Australia (school trip), Rome (with us last year) and Spain on his last Spring Break. While he was in Spain, he took a train to France for the day. That's my kid!

I love FT, but it's blocked at work. Still, I've learned so much about destinations and making the most of loyalty programs. Have met only 2 FTers but hope to meet more!

I was thinking of writing a witty dissertation on the origins of the universe, but I figured that I would get flamed faster than a SSM thread poster in the Christian Travel forum. So...just the facts. :)

My real name is Ernie, and as many know, I am currently living in China. I got here by annoying the wrong people back at my company's corporate headquarters in Broomfield, CO which is also where my home is. My wife and I, and all our children were born in San Diego, but we relocated to Denver area in November 2000. Actually, I'm working on what is the largest petrochemical project currently underway in the world as a project controls manager, looking after cost and schedule. I figured, "What the hey...get some international experience, do a little travel, eat some fish heads and I'm all the better in a year and a half." After spending a few months in Shanghai, we moved to Aotou, about 40km up the coast from Shenzhen/Hong Kong. To get to the airport for us is similar to going from Ensenada to LAX, including the border crossing.

I came here with Mrs. Redbeard and little Miss Redbeard, who are leaving when LMR is finished with school in July. I had travelled with work to Europe and Latin America but my wife and youngest daughter haven't. I've been 1K for now in my third year, and they both made Premier last year. We were fortunate enough to see parts of China, including Hong Kong and Macau. We also were able to see Australia, Thailand and Singapore. They both filled the standard issue US passport in their year here. We also have three grown children, who have been the subject of a few threads here on FT. My oldest daugter is a model in NYC, the middle daughter is getting married in September, and my son did a poor job of watching our house while we were in China. He also has just graduated HS and is working at DIA.

The best part of our experience has been the experience of the wide range of cultures as a part of this project. We have Chinese, English, Dutch, Singaporean...true diversity. It's strange to go home and nobody has an accent. (Coloradans don't have accents ;) )

I can't remember how I found FT, but started posting while working on a proposal in Romania. We had a good internet connection in the hotel, and nothing to do at night. I've met many people online, and a few in person. I'm looking forward to meeting more at dos and by displaying the magic yellow tag. Thanks to all in FT for being a fun place to hang out.

Thanks for reading. Cheers.

Suggestion: Combine the Who We All Are Threads
 

Because the links in the second post of this thread are all broken, here is a revised list of all of the Who We All Are threads (except for #9, which I cannot find):

who we all are
Who We All Are 2
Who We All Are 3
Who We All Are 4
Who we all are 5
Who We All Are 6
Who We All Are 7
Who We All Are 8
Who we all are 10

...plus a few ancillary threads that might be of interest:

Who we are (as a group, not individuals)
Who we all really are
Who We All Are - The Complete File
Who we all ain't

Because the vBulletin bulletin board software has an improved search engine (if one wants to search the name of a FlyerTalk member within a thread) and because threads can now be combined, I suggest that all of the Who We All Are threads be combined into one and made into a “sticky”.