Going Down With The Ship

Given the current sad state of the airline industry, it is pretty easy to understand why most people look at me like I have some kind of terminal disease whenever I tell them where I work. In response to that, I have to tell you what I did this past weekend.

On Thursday, E&Y invited our internal audit and corporate accounting managers to the Astros game. They had some extra tickets, so financial planning went too (aka Stephen and me). We got to hang out in the corporate suite and then sit in the Diamond seats for a while. In those seats, you can hear the guys curse when they strike out. Plus, it's all you can eat and drink. Mmm... ice cream sundaes in mini-baseball hats. You can't get any better than that.

Saturday, I flew up to NYC and forced Brian to entertain me (yes, it sucks to be my brother). We ate brunch at Bubby's Pie Co and half-heartedly shopped around Soho. Then, Brian took me to The Cafeteria for dinner (it was in Chelsea, so imagine South Beach as a restaurant), and we met up with Sandhya at The Gallery. Brian's buddy Mike joined us later. Of course, everyone at the lounge was Indian... and very drunk. I had fun, although most of the night consisted of the following... wander around the lounge with Sandy (Sandhya's roommate) looking for Sandhya, run into yet another Indian person from UT, dance for 2 seconds, get hit on by one of Shilpa's fiance's friends whenever Brian and Mike went to the bar to get a drink... repeat. Mike, Brian, and I ended the night at Crif's Dogs. I wasn't in the mood to eat, but I was inclined to believe that it did have excellent hot dogs since it was packed at 3:45 am.


The Gallery


Mike & Brian

Sunday, I woke up and caught a taxi to the airport. The Standby Gods were smiling down on me, because I got the last seat on the 12 o'clock flight. An employee and her buddy were ahead of me on the list, but they couldn't split up without the buddy getting screwed, so I got the seat. Who knows if I would have been able to get out of NY if I hadn't lucked out on that flight.

My job may be kicking my ass at the moment, but I really should put it in perspective. I'm the youngest manager in the company, and the only external hire at that level. At the end of our budget meeting last week, the CEO turned to me and jokingly said, "Bonnie, you were gainfully employed before this right? It's too late for the rest of us. We have the stench of airline on us, but you can save yourself."

Nah. I'm definitely not afraid to go down with this ship.