Saturday, July 21, 2007 ;
10:41 PM
It's good to be back! Yay!
First of all, I must apologise for not updating regularly. The house is in a mess, the kids need looking after and I need to prepare 3 meals a day again. (Enjoyed the vacation when I didn't need to cook, haha).
Also, we took more than a thousand pictures, and those need sorting out. I am doing it slowly, bit by bit everyday, after the kids sleep.
Finally, so many unfortunate things happened to us that we need to settle also. Here's the list, and hope you can understand why I am kept from blogging (my fav activity). :-(
1. On the way back from Boston, we took US Airways, which stopped at Las Vegas and we changed planes to a smaller one from LV back tp SLC. We arrived at SLC at 2am and of course both kids were sleeping.
We had 4 carry-on bags and so I carried ds2 and 1 backpack, dh carried the 3 other bags and carried ds1. We were already the last to leave the plane. Whilst we struggled with the bags and sleeping kids, the staff were quite oblivious to our presence.
As we made our way to the exit, dh's PDA dropped out of his pocket onto the plane's floor. He put ds1 down on one of the chairs and started searching for the PDA, which had miraculously disappeared. Maybe the US airways planes had Black Hole floors which sucked things up. He searched around the area for 10 min. A lady flight attendant assisted him briefly.
Finally, the staff asked us to leave the plane because they had to "get ready for the next flight". It was only maybe 15min, and hello? It is a PDA which contained a lot of impt info and an SD card with 2 days' worth of pictures inside. But they didn't assist us in locating the PDA and were just very insistent in getting us off the plane.
They told us to approach the counter to leave our particulars.
So we did, but the counter girl refused to take our particulars, asking us to call a number instead, which is a Lost and Found number. Dh called it and it says "mailbox full". Dh told the counter girl. I mean, the plane's just there, if they don't want us on it, at least search that area for us. It couldn't have dropped very far away from where we were!
We were loathe to leave because of how impt the PDA is, and how easily it might've been found had they just helped us. They know the plane well and can easily see if there're crevices the PDA could've fallen into, right?
The counter girl refused to assist further and we weren't allowed back in the plane. What can we do or say? I guess, never to take US Airways in future.
So now, I have 2 days' worth of pictures I cannot blog about or have memories about. It includes the Children's Day Harborfest 4th of July celebrations and the Harvard and MIT unis pictures.
Dh? He lost all his contacts, impt info, Bible software, other programmes... you name it.
After that, we called the number many times and finally got to leave a voicemail. They have no direct officer to speak to us, we can only leave a message. We also emailed them online. But guess what? We didn't receive any reply at all! If anyone knows how we can complain or request them to take notice, let me know! Just can't believe they take such a matter so lightly.
2. Our trusty reliable and fuel-efficient car broke down and cannot be fixed unless we do an engine overhaul. It actually broke down while we were on the way to the Teton camp. When the whole car was packed to the brim with camping stuff!
But fortunately we were only 1 hr away from home (about 50 miles). We called for help, and a church friend kindly came to pick me and kids and the stuff up. He has a big car. Dh called the tow truck already and he waited for the tow truck, which came around the same time as our friend.
The 1-2 hr delay was excruciating. It was summer and extremely hot, and I couldn't let the kids roam, cos we were along I-15, a busy interstate freeway. Yet in the car it was like an oven, and we had to wait so long. Kids being restless, it was a long long wait. A kind soul (stranger) actually stopped and asked if we needed help. He said he saw the 2 young kids and thought it was too hot to have a car breakdown, and was concerned the kids might have heatstroke. Utah really has very friendly and helpful people! So nice.
So now, we are looking for a new car. We are in a hurry to get one because my driving skills test in coming and cannot be postponed further due to limited time validity of my theory test.
Later we are going to a dealer to look at cars.
K, will update about trip once the pictures are sorted! Thanks for being patient!
rainbows every day, do not worry for the morrow
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