http://www.world66.com/

Since my job is selling travel...I encourage everyone to see the world. Test your travel experience by making a map of your travel experience with World 66.

I've been to 33 states or 64% of the United States by way of moving, family vacations (thanks Dad) and trips with SWA.

create your own personalized map of the USA

For the world...I'm a little less experienced...with 16 countries visited and only 7% of the world explored. Any one what to go with me to visit my friend Ginny in China? Or Reese in Brazil?

create your own visited country map

Nothing overly interesting….

Well the last few weeks, I've searched for funny stories, new ideas or something interesting to blog about…but I've come up with nothing. School is getting busier so my life has been focused on school work. In my capstone course my team is the decision makers for a brand of athletic shoes therefore my life has been studying reports for market share, reject rates, profit margins, etc…but it isn't interesting to blog about that.

The NBA All-Star Game was this weekend which provided great delight to me and Sam. Saturday night's events…the three-point contest, the skills challenge and the slam dunk contest…are my favorites. (Plus…Sunday nights' game conflicted with my extreme dedication to watching Extreme Home Makeover and Grey's Anatomy so I missed the game). The slam dunk contest was one of the best...in the years I've been watching. I've included pictures so my friends who didn't watch can see the greatness. The five foot nine inch (one inch shorter than me) Nate Robinson jumped over Spud Webb (5' 6'') displaying alien like ups.

Well all for today. Sam and I are heading to Salt Lake City with our friends Rick and Shara to play in the snow.

Your not so average day...

What does a Southwest Airlines Marketing Manager, local law enforcement and the CIA have in common? On a normal day nothing but today was no ordinary day at Love Field.

As I start to write this article…I can hear the hum of the Air Force One engines. How many people can say that as they look out their office window…they look upon Air Force One? Okay so I might be a bit of an American geek or airplane need but my co-workers at Southwest Airlines shared in my enjoyment.

Since my arrival to work today…we have anxiously waited the arrival of George and Laura. Starting at 9 am when the fire trucks, hazmat vehicles and SWAT vans arrived and lined the fence the separates our parking lot from the area where the Bushes would soon deplane. The dog sniffed the area from about 9:30-10. Around 10 am the convoy of motorcycles, large black Suburbans, white vans, then more large Suburbans, then the Presidential limousine, followed by more large black Suburbans, white vans and finally motorcycles. The media arrives about 10:15 and we all wait (while still doing working of course). At 11 we walked to the fence to stake out our place to catch a good view of the W. Within a few seconds a few men in black appear (from out of no where) and asked us to return to our building. We quickly obeyed and stepped back watching from my friend Ram's truck bed. The first snipers we could see arrived about 11:30 and staked out the whole situation from the air traffic tower. Around 11:45, my co-workers and I were approached by the local law enforcement and informed us that we were "being watched" and it would be best if we would step out of the truck and watch from the ground. The air space was cleared about 12:50ish. The airport tarmac was cleared at 12:55ish…so we knew the time was soon.

Right at 1:15 pm…we could see the plane coming in for a landing. The Air Force One Boeing 474 is a bit larger than the Southwest Airlines 737. Right as the plane landed a helicopter started circling the area. George and Barbara stepped out and they were onto the limousine headed into Dallas. A morning worth of waiting for a quick look at Mr. and Mrs. W.

Two things I learned from this experience…being the President is pretty important. Secondly, don't trust your co-workers to take an important picture. After all the CIA, local law enforcement and the barricade left we took pictures of each of us with Air Force One. Well that is everyone but me. See my co-workers couldn't seem to get my camera to work and right about that time…Air Force One took off back to DC. So I wanted to give you all a picture with me to appreciate this whole experience but instead you get a picture with my sad face.