Welcome to Sue's Muse

It’s been a couple of weeks since my last post (thanks to a little incident involving a sharp knife and one index finger) and a lot has happened. I’ve updated my resume…again! And, as I wanted to do, I’ve posted it to this site! Check out my new “About Sue” page.  I’m also a couple weeks closer to completing my coursework at the Resume Writing Academy and lastly, I’ve found myself in a state of wonder over the Olympics–moreover, the stories of the athletes.

One of the things that I’ve been thinking about lately is this idea in resume writing of “sell me, don’t tell me.” Generally, the strategy is to “sell” the value an individual brings to an organization and not to “tell” the individual’s accomplishments with facts and credentials. And while this makes sense, there is an aspect to the “tell” me part that isn’t represented. Yes, there are different impact words that are used when “selling” an individual, but what I’m talking about is the collective of all those words and the story it “tells” me. I’m okay with “sell” me, but I want the resume to “tell me a story” about the person.  There is an art to creatively weaving each and every personal instance and experience into a series of words on paper that offers more insight into the person’s story. This is the job of a good resume writer.

And, since I am fascinated by stories, how could I not be mesmerized by the stories of the Olympians at this year’s winter games in Vancouver. Listening to the stories of these athletes, I couldn’t help but wonder what their resumes looked like. What story does it tell? It seems like the 2 words “Olympic athlete” would say it all. And, whether the athlete won or not isn’t the point (although it makes for a great “selling” point), it’s the story behind those 2 little words that piques interest. And, piquing interest is what a resume is all about. It’s meant to tell you just enough that you want to invite the person in to learn more about them and their story. Everyone has a story to tell and it’s in the story where people connect.

Last week I talked about attending the resume writing academy and how it sparked me to update my resume.  Well after another class session I have discovered that a resume is a living document.  I find myself updating it every time I look at it.  And now, I want to create a page on this site for my resume and samples of my work–a portfolio if you will.  If I want to make money being a writer, I need to put my writing out there for people to see.

I call this an adventure, because I am walking in a direction I have never walked before.  I started working when I was 14 years old and by 19 I landed in a Corporate environment and have lived there ever since.  I’ve always felt there was a security in Corporate America, but recently learned any sense of security I felt was false.  Additionally, there is no freedom there.  So, being unemployed and working towards my goal of writing is an opportunity to step out of what I have always known.  It is also an opportunity to explore this idea and interest in storytelling with my own story.  What is my story?  And why am I doing what I’m doing?  Who do I want to be and what are the things I want to do?  I’ve made a commitment to give this a year before I consider going back to a full-time job in Corporate America.  I have also made a commitment to blog at least once a week.

So, I’m off to learn more about Word Press and how to create new pages for my resume and such.  More on this next week…..

When I was laid off almost 7 months ago, I was excited about the opportunity to do something different–to finally pursue those things I love, and try to find a way to make money doing them.  Writing is one of those things and so is learning about people and their stories.  So, last week I started a new adventure.  I enrolled in the Resume Writing Academy to become a professional resume writer.  Class is once a week, for 8 weeks, with homework.  And at the end of the class, I’ll have 3 professional resumes and cover letters to create from the information I am provided on 3 fictitious people.

Last week was my first class and I was excited to learn about the strategy behind resume development.  This sparked me to wipe the dust off of my own resume and start over, such that it reflected what I want to do, rather than what I have always done.  While I believe it is a process, I have a solid working draft and have already sent it out to a prospective employer.  The fun news is through this process, I have discovered something else that I love–storytelling. I loved retelling the stories of the people I met on our road trip.  Even yesterday I was telling someone that I can more remember the people we met in each of the cities we visited, than the scenery or places we stayed.  This idea of storytelling seems to be a theme that keeps coming up lately.  It’s a part of my writing, it’s a part of a good resume writing strategy and the word even ended up in my resume, because I like to tell stories that make an impression on people or cause them to think differently than they did before.

I’m looking forward to this new adventure and discovering what other possibilities may await me.

Taking a road trip this past Christmas made me realize that being born and raised in Cupertino, California, I have been privileged in ways that I wasn’t even aware of.  Recently, we watched the Ken Burns documentary on the National Parks and I became very interested in seeing the parks, as many were so close to my own back yard.  While we knew Sedona would be our destination for Christmas, the Ken Burns documentary got me thinking that we could take a road trip AND see a couple of National Parks along the way.  We would stop at the Mojave National Preserve on the way there and on our return, we would visit Joshua Tree National Park.  What I saw and learned along the way was far greater than the vast lands we drove through or any of our National Parks.

Barstow

Our first stop was Barstow, California, which is about a 7 hour drive.  It’s pretty clear when you leave the Silicon Valley and are onto Interstate 5 — the land of wide-open space.  While I knew this about I-5, driving through Central California seemed very desolate and the few towns we came upon seemed vacant.  I was pleasantly surprised with the Holiday Inn Express, as the accommodations were clean and more than comfortable.  I found it strange to see outlet stores when there was really not much else in Barstow,  but thought maybe this is a gateway to some place else?  At breakfast the next morning, we met the only other person in the dining room, an older gentleman from Barstow.  I asked him about the industry in town and what people did for a living.  He said it was mostly railroad and that he had worked for the railroad for 35 years and was about to retire in January.  This made sense given what we had seen driving down.  He talked to us a little bit about the Mohave Desert, how long it might take us to get there and what we might expect to see along the way.  We congratulated him on his retirement and got back in the car headed for the Mohave.

Mohave Desert

We knew we wanted to explore some of the Mohave National Preserve, but we were not really sure what was out there.  As we came upon the entrance to the park, there were two options: 1) Mitchell Caverns or 2) Hole in the Wall.  I had read that Hole in the Wall was a good place to do some hiking and had some interesting sights as well.  My husband had read about the Mitchell Caverns.  We could kind of see the Caverns along the rough dirt road, which seemed to go nowhere in both directions, so we decided to go there.  It took us about 15 or 20 minutes at 25 miles per hour on the dirt road, and up this hill to get to the Park office.  How interesting that this place exists out in what seems to be the middle of nowhere.  Six dollars to take a tour of the cavern and the tour started in an hour.  Okay…we decided to wait for the tour and check out the area a little bit.  While there isn’t much there, the fact that we were up on a hill provided us with a spectacular view of the Mohave desert.  While we could see the main highway, there were miles and miles of desert.

Jack and Ida Mitchell were the first owners of the caverns back in 1934.  Next to the visitor’s center was the house that Jack built.  The house looks like an igloo of sorts, made out of brick and mortar.  Later we learned that Jack made his own mortar.  There was a short nature walk that highlighted the plants (and some trees) that grow in the desert.  It seems the beauty of the Mohave Desert is the fact that any plants can survive  in those harsh conditions.

One of my favorite things to do on vacation is talk to the people we meet along the way and learn about their stories.  We spent some time talking with the California State Park Ranger and learned about his love for the State Parks, as well as his disdain for the State budget.  While he had spent a lot of time in the State Park system in Southern California, he had been at the Caverns for about 4 years.  I was surprised to learn that his home was 4 hours away, and he only went home once a month.  He rented one of the 5 houses (not sure I’d call it a house, it was more like a shack) up there on the hill from the State.  It seemed to me that the State should be more than happy to let him live there, given his work was there –but, this was not the case.  He told us that the closest burger was an hour away and that the other park ranger that worked with him lived about an hour or so away, in what we would learn was the closest town.  Here we were out in the middle of the Mohave Desert, with no real amenities, and there were people that loved living there.  This was a foreign concept to me .  My husband summed it up nicely when he said, “there are some people who like living on the fringe.”

We took the tour of the Caverns, which I would highly recommend!  What an amazing display of stalactites and stalagmites.  I learned that the stalactites, with a C, are the formations that grow out of the ceiling.  Stalagmites, with a G, are the formations that grow out of the ground.  When they meet, they form a column, which is very cool.  An interesting tidbit about the caverns — Oliver Stone filmed a scene in the movie, The Doors, and evidently ruined a portion of the wall in the cavern.  And, while he was fined for the damage, it resulted in the State Park refusing any future access of this kind.  So, you’ll have to go in person if you want to see it.  And, it’s worth it.

London Bridge

There wasn’t time to explore more of the Mohave, with daylight limited and a drive still ahead of us to Kingman, Arizona.  Somewhere along the way to Kingman, we made a pit stop and my husband said he thought the London Bridge was somewhere near by.  “Huh? I said, ” London Bridge? Isn’t that in London?”  He looked it up on the car’s GPS navigation system and found it was 20 miles down the road in Lake Havasu City, Arizona.  Not sure if it was a tourist attraction that required payment, or if it was just available for all to see, we asked the  station attendant if it was worth the 20 miles down the road.  We were thrilled with her response,  “This is the best time to see the London Bridge!”  She went on to say it’s the best time, because it is cold outside (not a lot of people go at this time) and the bridge (along with the village of shops under it) is decorated in lights for Christmas.  We took the detour to the London Bridge and not only was it fun to see, it peaked my curiosity.  I wondered, how in the world did the London Bridge end up in Lake Havasu City of all places?  Well…it seems the City of London sold the bridge back in the late 60′s, when it was no longer structurally sound to support the modern traffic across the River Thames.  Some guy, named Robert P. McCulloch, bought the bridge and brought it to the planned community he built in 1964.  He had the exterior granite blocks of the bridge numbered, such that they could be put back together in the same order.  Some of the numbers on the granite are still very visible.  All-in-all, a very cool (and very cold) sightseeing adventure.

Kingman, Arizona

I think Kingman was the town that had the most profound impact on me.  Much of the trip to this point was spent on or along side the famous Route 66.  Why I thought Route 66 was going to be a wonderland of sights, I don’t know.  Maybe it’s the song that had me thinking you really could get your kicks on Route 66.  Not so much the case.  Again, we drove through what seemed like a vast land of nothingness.  There weren’t many towns along the way and when we did stumble upon one, it was small and appeared as though no one was home.  Driving into Kingman was much of the same.  While it was clearly bigger than what we had seen along the way, it too looked deserted.  We used the car’s navigation system to find a place to eat and thinking it would be easy, what we got back was a wealth of fast food restaurants.  We found a place that looked like it might work and as we pulled in, I got scared.  The place looked like it was a falling down shack.  There were very few lights and it was connected to an alley that led to what looked like hotel rooms, or apartments and a man walking in the alley, who looked like he had a cast on his face.  Yes, a cast…or a Freddie Krueger mask, we couldn’t tell.  It was enough to freak me out!  Fortunately, there was a big, well-lit, barn of a place nearby–so we pulled in there.  We went inside and thought the place was closed, because it was so empty.  No one was at the hostess stand, so we walked into the bar area to find a few people sitting inside.  A football game was playing on the big screen TV, so we found ourselves a booth and sat down.  With menus in hand, we saw we were in the Dambar Steakhouse.  Everything on the menu had the word “dam” in front of it.  I do believe it was probably the best meal option in Kingman.  Not only that, we did get our kicks there, laughing about the dam meal.

We stayed at another Holiday Inn Express and again found the accommodations to be clean and comfortable.  This morning, we wanted a good cup of coffee and so I did a search on the Internet to find a local coffee shop.  I am not a big fan of Starbucks, and particularly in small communities such as this, I like to give my business to the locals.  Plus, the locals are more fun to talk to and I get to learn more about the city and community I’m in.  I find a coffee house a few miles down the road and we pull in to what appears to be the “downtown” area.  There are only a handful of cars on the street and parking was more than easy right in front of the coffee shop.  It was 11am on a Sunday morning and we are the only people in the place.  We order our lattes and I ask the kid (probably in his late 20′s), “where is everyone?”  He tells me that they usually get a church crowd around noon or so.  I go on to ask him a dozen or so more questions about Kingman — What do people do here?  What is the industry?  Why does everything look so deserted? How did he end up here? etc., etc.  Again, I hear about the railroad, but to my surprise, he tells me that Kingman is the meth (methamphetamine) capital of the U.S.  Unfortunately, this is not the first city where we have heard meth is a problem, and even more unfortunate is that it wasn’t to be the last city where we heard it’s a problem.  This young man goes on to tell me that he was born and raised in Kingman and he helps his mom out at the coffee shop.  He told me about his girlfriend, who is the daughter of a Pastor, and together they work with the church to help troubled teens in the area.  It seems he was a troubled teen and wished there was someone to have helped him when he was that age.  I was moved by his story.  Again, I think about how spoiled I am to live where I live, have the access to the things I have access to, and here this kid lives in Kingman and in spite of his situation, is working to do something good with his life.  He was very gracious as we chatted him up for 30 minutes or so.  Before we left, he told us about a place in Flagstaff, near downtown, called Heritage Square, that we should stop and check out.  He said there were lots of shops and places to eat in the area as well.  We wished each other well, and we were back in the car headed for Sedona, by way of Flagstaff.

Flagstaff, Arizona

We stopped in Flagstaff for lunch and found Heritage Square and a great brew pub, where the food was outstanding.  I was so excited to have a salad, after the less than nutritional choices we had to choose from the prior two days on the trip.  The downtown area of Flagstaff was situated right next to the railroad tracks.  Again, more railroad.  We walked around town a bit and there were a lot of artsy, kind of boutique (if you will) shops.  While we only spent a couple of hours in town, it was nice to visit a town that was bustling and had more activity than where we had previously been.

Sedona, Arizona

The drive into Sedona is just amazing.  In stark contrast to the nothingness of the Mohave Desert, Sedona is an abundance of red rock mountains, set against the backdrop of a jet blue sky.  We had been to Sedona before, but honestly, I had forgotten how beautiful the place really is.  We spent 6 nights in Sedona, including Christmas.  It snowed 2 days before Christmas and while it didn’t stick around for very long, it made the scenery even more beautiful — cold, but beautiful.  On Christmas Day, we awoke to clear, cold and sunny weather.  We went for a  hike UP Bear Mountain–and I do mean UP.  The views from atop that mountain were stunning.  We were headed up and we passed a couple of hikers as they were headed down the mountain and one of the women said, “it gets more beautiful as you go.”  We didn’t think it was possible, but found out she was right.  We sat high atop the mountain, ate the lunch we had packed and pondered how small we are compared to the big, beautiful splendor of mother nature.

Later that evening, we went into Talaquepaque for dinner at a nice restaurant, which was recommended by some of the locals.  Unfortunately, the food wasn’t as good as we had hoped it would be (maybe the hike had something to do with how hungry we were), but sitting at the table next to us were 3 young Indian people.  I started chatting them, because that is what I do — and was fascinated to learn their story, as well as learn more about their culture.  One of the young men lived in Minnesota and the other young man and his wife lived in Tuscon.  Both the men were in the information technology profession and moved out of Bangalore to come work in the States.  They shared much about the culture and history of India, including the tradition of arranged marriage.  The couple had been married just about a year and told us that they didn’t even get to meet each other until they were engaged.  Wow!  This was another foreign concept to me.  Again, I was able to gain some perspective on how priviledged we are to live in the United States, and the choices we have everyday as Americans.  It is not to say that the Indian people don’t have a choice, it’s just that the world they were raised in is different from the world I was raised in.  I found them so interesting that I didn’t want them to stop talking, but realized that the restaurant was closing up and that they probably wanted to get back to their hotel, as they had an early morning, all-day trip planned to the Grand Canyon.

Many of the people we met in Sedona were from someplace else.  Many of the locals I spoke to had come to Sedona on vacation and never left.  We visited a few more National Monuments, Tuzigoot, Montezuma’s Castle and Montezuma’s Well.  The Tuzigoot is a dwelling built on a hillside and Montezuma’s Castle is a 20-room dwelling, built in to the side of a cliff.  Both dwellings were built by the Sinagua farmers back in the 12th Century.  It was interesting to learn about the Sinagua (meaning without water in Spanish), their culture and to ponder how they were able to build these places.  One of the volunteers at the monument approached us and asked us what we thought it would be like to live as a Sinagua farmer back in the 12th Century.  We pondered ideas together and he shared his knowledge of the people and dwellings with us.  Interesting, too, was that he was originally from Texas.  He came to Sedona on vacation and after 10 visits in 2 years, he and his wife moved there.  He’s now retired, volunteering at the Montezuma Castle National Monument.

Joshua Tree

We left Sedona the day after Christmas and headed for Joshua Tree.  While I’ve never been to this part of California, I had an image in my mind of a single, lone tree against a backdrop of sand.  Suffice it to say, I really didn’t know what to expect. It wasn’t long before we were out of the splendor of the red rocks and back into the abundance of wide open space and very little, what I would call, civilization.  Joshua Tree is about 30 minutes outside of Palm Springs/Palm Desert, so driving in, we could definitely see the lights of the bigger cities.  Our hotel was in Yucca Valley and at 3 or 4 stories high, it was just about the only tall building in town.  I noticed that there was a lot of space in between buildings and businesses.  Many places were closed as we rolled in about 6pm, which is so not the case here in the Silicon Valley.  Finding a place to eat was a bit of a challenge, but in spite of the Mexican restaurant looking deserted and only having one other couple dining, the meal was very good.  It’s becoming more clear to me at this point that looks can really be misleading.

The next morning, we set out for Joshua Tree National Park.  Seeing Yucca Valley and the surrounding area in the daytime is a little more dramatic than seeing it at night.  The only thing green are the Joshua trees.  There is no grass, no flowers, just Joshua trees and sand–not so completely far off from my initial impressions.  A quick stop at the visitor’s center and we realize, we are not the only ones with this idea.  We pick up a map of the park and head for the entrance.  We pay the $15 vehicle fee (good for 7 days) at the entrance and we’re off to explore.  The thing that struck me about the park itself is how the decision was made to preserve it. When I looked across the vastness of sand, rock formations and Joshua trees, I wondered, how did someone have the foresight to preserve these 800,000 acres of land?  It didn’t strike me as the most beautiful place I had ever seen, certainly the red rocks of Sedona were more beautiful.  Yet, thanks to the Antiquities Act of 1906 enacted by Theodore Roosevelt, Joshua Tree became a National Monument in 1936 and was only elevated to National Park status in 1994.  The park has been inhabited for more than 5,000 years and boasts some of the most interesting geologic features in the desert.  There is much to be learned about the geology of this area, such as the tectonic and erosional forces that shaped the scenery we saw.  Similar to the Mohave Desert (of which Joshua Tree is a part), the wonder is in the nature that survives these harsh conditions.  I wondered how the people in the area survive.  I can imagine that the spring is even more beautiful with the wildflowers in bloom, but I can’t imagine what the heat of the summer sun brings.

We spent about 4 hours in the park, driving out to Keys View, where we could see the San Andreas Faultline.  We took a hike out to Skull Rock, which was pretty cool, because the rock really does look like a skull.  We drove through campgrounds and saw people camping — another foreign concept to me, especially in the desert in December.  For those interested in rock climbing, this place is surely the Mecca.

Leaving the Desert

We left the desert and drove to San Diego to visit family for a couple of days and what I found interesting, besides the many cacti, were the recession 101 billboards.  The billboards say things like, “Bill Gates started Microsoft during a recession.” And, “It will be over long before those responsible are paroled.”  I have never seen any such billboards in the Silicon Valley.  And after seeing the abundance of vast land, vacancy and desolation on this trip, I wondered how bad it was out there that billboards were needed to re-energize Americans.  And, who was behind the billboards?  I did a Google search to find out, and learned that the person behind the campaign chooses to remain anonymous.  It seems the person was depressed with the way Americans were responding to the economic tailspin and decided to pay for billboards across the country–2,000 I think so far.  Yet, still, no signs of recession 101 here in the Silicon Valley.  I wonder how the locations are selected for such billboards?

Final Impressions

I know this blog has been long, but the trip was long and full of new people, places and learnings.  It’s made me think about people and my surroundings in a different way.  As people, we really are all the same, it’s just our surroundings are different and the decisions we make based on our experiences in those surroundings.  I heard a line in a 3 Doors Down song recently that captured how I felt about this.  The line says, “My friend, this life we live is not what we have, it’s what we believe in.”   Now, I’m left pondering what I am going to do as a result of this experience in 2010.  More to come on that….

Theater experiences technical difficulties– so who is responsible for the refund?

Let me start by saying that we do not go to the movies.  It’s just not something we do.  But, last Thursday night was different.  It was a ‘One Night Event’ in movie theaters across the nation, featuring the debut of “Race Across the Sky” – a documentary covering the 2009 Leadville Trail 100 bike race.  As cyclists, we want to support movies of this kind coming to the Bay Area, but also we were out to celebrate a friend’s birthday.

Movie Night

It was to be a birthday celebration in Redwood City – dinner at 6, movie at 8.  Since we live a fair distance from Redwood City, we purchased our tickets online at Fandango.  And, since this was not just any movie, tickets were $12.50 each, plus a $4 service fee (for the convenience of Fandango).  We were a group of 12, so we hurried through dinner to get to the theater by 7:30 for good seats.  Upon entering the theater, there was a good sized line forming just to present your ticket.  We waited, handed over our bar-coded paper from Fandango and in exchange, received 2 Century 20 Theater tickets.  Up the escalator we went and into the theater to find the theater filling up fast.  We found a row of seats and got settled in quickly….as it was now 7:45.

Bad News

Within minutes, a young guy, dressed in a suit, carrying a walkie-talkie, enters the theater and fairly soft spoken, tries to get the crowd’s attention.  My first thought is he is going to tell us it’s a full house and ask people to move over one seat towards the middle so they can accommodate everyone.  After his 4 or 5 callouts, “can I have your attention please”, he finally rallies the crowd and says, “Unfortunately, we are having a technical difficulty and will not be able to show the movie tonight.”  He goes on to tell us that the theater will offer a refund, or try to play the movie at a different time.  He then says, “You can go to the Mountain View or the San Mateo locations to see it.”  Really?  At 10 minutes to 8, does he really think there is a chance of getting tickets and getting into another theater?  Not to mention we need to get these tickets refunded first.  The crowd is in a state of shock.  Some people exit the theater right away, while many are left pondering what to do next.

As we head to guest services for a refund, the lobby is full of chaos and confusion.  There are lots of people, crowding around the poor guy who took our tickets earlier, trying to get their Fandango receipt back.  It’s not clear to anyone, even the ticket taker, whether we actually need the Fandango receipt to get a refund, but I grab one of the receipts, just in case.

As we stand in a long line to get our refund, I’m thinking they will refund me the price of the tickets and I will have to eat the $4 service charge from Fandango (it’s not their fault the movie theater couldn’t deliver).  The people in front of us are turning in their Fandango receipt and movie tickets and the Century employee is handing out complimentary movie passes.  The offer is 3 movie passes for their 2 tickets (I believe the thinking is the extra movie pass will make up for the $12.50 admission price, plus the service fee?).  The guy in front of me says, “Can we have another ticket to even out the number?”  The employee hands him a fourth movie pass.  We get to the counter and I ask, “Why can I not get a refund?”  She goes on to tell me that it is Fandango’s policy not to refund money.  She says, “Once you hit the purchase button, it is part of their terms and conditions.”   She offers me 3 movie tickets.  I don’t ask for a fourth.

I walked away more than disappointed– I don’t want another movie pass (did I mention we don’t go to the movies?).  I wanted to see this movie.

I return to my group of friends, only to find out that everyone has received a different refund.  One friend got his money back (because he purchased his ticket there at the theater) and 4 free movie passes.  Another friend, whose ticket was purchased by someone else, almost didn’t get anything for a refund.  They finally gave her one free movie pass.

Who’s Responsible?

As we drove home, we had an interesting discussion about a refund.  I wasn’t aware of Fandango’s policy when I purchased tickets, so I had no leg to stand on when the movie theater employee told me about the policy.  So, with my curiosity peaked, I went to the Fandango website to check out its terms and use and found this:

“In accordance with our Terms of Use, Fandango does not offer refunds or exchanges of tickets purchased on the Fandango Web site or via our mobile site or phone (1-800-FANDANGO). In addition, tickets purchased through Fandango may be subject to a per-ticket Convenience Charge, which is non-refundable except in extraordinary circumstances where a theater was unable to honor your tickets purchased through Fandango (i.e., if a show time is cancelled, no seat was available in the theater, etc.). Before purchasing your tickets we urge you to confirm the title, time and location of the movie you wish to see.”

It goes on to say:

“Any refund or exchange is at the discretion of theater management and can only be conducted at the theater box office where the movie is playing. If a refund is available, the theater box office may only refund to you the ticket price, in which event you should contact Fandango’s customer service if you also wish to request a refund of our Convenience Charge in the extraordinary circumstances described above (otherwise, the Convenience Charge is non-refundable, as stated above).”

Good News

After reading this, I decided to call the Century 20 Theater in Redwood City.  All the numbers listed for the theater are for a fax machine, so I went directly to the Cinemark Corporate offices in Plano, Texas. 

I left a message at the customer service desk and within 1 hour I had a call back.  The woman left a voicemail message saying that a refund could not be issued at the theater level (not sure why this is) and if I gave her my electronic confirmation number and my email address, she would issue me a refund.

Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised with this response.  It’s not very often we take the time to read the fine print, or the terms and conditions of using popular web sites to make purchases.  In today’s economy, with more and more people unemployed (including myself), it is important to understand where your money is going and if something goes wrong, how to get it back.  Now, I can say that I understand Fandango’s policy and will be more aware of where I make my purchases in the future.

……In the midst of something different, I found we really are all the same.

I am a cyclist, not an RC (Radio or Remote Control) pilot.  So I’ll admit it, when I showed up at last Friday night’s indoor flying event at the Sunnyvale Indoor Sports Center, hosted by Don Cohn of BayRC.com, I didn’t “get” it.  To think that people would come out on a Friday night at 8:30, and pay to fly their RC toys indoors was a bit of a foreign concept to me.  See…my brother invited me to write a story for his website.  And, while I went in to it with the idea that I would report out on the evening’s events, what happened while I was there left me feeling humbled and excited.  See, I learned that no matter what the hobby, sport or craze, we really are all the same.

Camaraderie
I arrived 10 minutes early to tailgaters. While it’s true you could find me in the parking lot hanging out with other riders before or after a ride, I wouldn’t have considered RC flying a tailgating sport.  There they were–a handful or so of pilots, hanging out, chatting over hot cocoa and pastries.  I was instantly struck by the camaraderie they shared for flying and I thought to myself, “These guys are serious.”  Once the doors were open, more than a dozen or so pilots were huddled about the pay table to get their “pilot’s license” (i.e., name badge) and get to flying their aircraft in this premier venue.

See…this was a premier venue.  This is what I would call their “Tour de France” of indoor flying.  If you’re not familiar with the Tour, it is undoubtedly “the” premier cycling event of the year (made famous by Lance Armstrong).  And, while these pilots had experienced indoor flying before, nothing compared to the ideal conditions they saw at the Sunnyvale Indoor Sports Center.  It was ten thousand square feet, the volume of air space to match it and hardwood floors.  (I would later learn the smooth surface of the hardwood floors was ideal, because the pilots could practice their taking off and landing skills.

More pilots arrived, as did many spectators.  It was cool to see such a great turnout on this, the first indoor flying event hosted by Don and BayRC.com.  It was still a bit puzzling to me, but I could clearly see that this was a group that shared the passion and excitement for RC flying.  I asked one of the pilots (in my somewhat surprised tone of voice), “What (in the world) brings you out here at 8:30 on a Friday night?”  I loved his response.  Because…it is something I would say if someone asked me why I rode 100 miles in the Livestrong Challenge and raised over $3,000 for the opportunity to participate.  He said, “What else is there?”  His response helped to set the direction for how I would observe the rest of the evening.

Pride & Passion

Photo courtesy of Mike Bowns

Like cyclists, RC pilots like to show off their ride.  And, like the name of the bicycle means something, the name of the RC aircraft means something too.

Imagine…the bleachers in the gym are closed and stacked up along both sides of the gym, with one row of seating available at the bottom.  Each of the pilots prominently displayed their RC aircraft boxes along the top of the bleachers—there were Blades, Mustangs, Vapors and Sukhois, just to name a few.  Proper gear is also important.  And, while I bring along an extra inner tube, patch kit and pump on a bike ride, these guys brought out all the necessary equipment to support an evening of flying–table, tool kits, battery packs, and other things I wouldn’t even begin to name.  One of the pilots brought in 7 or 8 aircraft to fly and I thought how cool it would be to have 7 or 8 bikes that I could ride in any given period.  I quickly realized that the price points of a bicycle and an RC aircraft may be different, but the pride and passion one has around the investment is not.

Photo courtesy of Mike Bowns

Community
Don held a quick pilots’ meeting to discuss flying direction and safety.

I wondered how this was going to work.  How were 17 or so pilots going to fly their aircraft without crashing into the other?  I asked my brother if there were “rules” for flying, and he said, “No, not really.”  And, like cyclists know how to navigate their way through the organized chaos of the peloton (a large body of riders in a bicycle race), these RC pilots knew the unwritten rules for how to navigate within their airspace.  And, yes, there were a few collisions and a few aircraft that were temporarily lost in the bleachers.  But, there was no shortage of camaraderie and community to help a fellow RC pilot.

Cycling is both an individual and a team sport and the strength of any given rider is considered strength for the team.  This is true in RC flying as well.  While I wouldn’t say there is an actual “team” in RC flying, there is something greater and far more valuable—a community.

In talking with the spouse of one of the pilots, I learned that each of these pilots has his/her own unique skills they bring to the field.  What is more, is that each of these individuals is willing and ready to share what they know with their fellow pilots and spectators.  Most of these folks know each other through their flying time at Baylands Park.  I was told that everyone that flies at the field is really helpful–willing to help repair aircraft, teach newcomers to fly, or just talk tools and tricks of the trade.  I felt as though any one of them would have been willing to take me under their wing (ha, ha, no pun intended) and teach me a thing or two about their aircraft and how to fly it.

Common Welfare/Unity
However, unlike cycling and the Tour de France, there is no single winner in the world of RC flying. Everyone is a winner and everyone is welcome to fly.  I saw fathers and sons, a husband and wife, teenaged boys and friends.  They came not only to fly, but to be a part of something bigger—the RC community.  See, even though each of these pilots is independent–their common welfare and unity come first.

Photo courtesy of Mike Bowns

I was pleasantly surprised that I had such a good time at the Friday Night Indoor flying event and I stayed much longer than I had originally planned.  I enjoyed being a part of their community and learned that it is really no different than the community of cyclists of which I am a part.  RC pilots—you’ve got a good thing going here!  Keep it up and maybe I’ll see you out at Baylands.

We did it!!  We rode 100 miles on Sunday, July 12th  in the Livestrong Challenge and together we raised $4,500 to support the Lance Armstrong Foundation (LAF).  Thanks to everyone for your support!  We are truly fortunate to have such a wonderful community of friends, family and supporters.  And, we once again joined an even bigger and broader community – all those joined in the fight against cancer.  I wanted to share a few highlights of the weekend, because it was just so amazing for both of us.

Awards Dinner:

I raised enough money ($3K+) to earn myself two tickets to the LAF Awards dinner on Saturday night at the Hayes Mansion in San Jose.

My good friend Patt is a VIP fund-raiser with LAF, as well as a breast cancer survivor (5 years yesterday).   Each year, she continues to raise more money, (this year $25K) and with that, she gets the VIP treatment from LAF, including a front row table at the awards dinner. Patt made a call to LAF and asked that we be seated at her table.  In addition to this, we were also invited to the VIP reception prior to the dinner.  It was such an honor to see Patt recognized, and more of an honor to be invited to join her!  We met LAF employees, as well as other VIP fundraisers.

We were escorted upstairs to our dinner table, where we really saw what it meant to be VIP’s!  We enjoyed a fabulous buffet dinner with so many selections our plates were overflowing before we reached the end of the line.  As we finished up dinner, the MC for the event, Renee came to the stage.  Renee works at LAF and is responsible for its development efforts.  She discovered a lump in her breast a few days prior to the Livestrong event last year.  She shared her story of surviving her first year and how she is living strong, in the same way all the survivors and participants in the Livestrong Challenge are.  She then introduced the keynote speaker….

….Carly Fiorina, former CEO of Hewlett-Packard.  While we had learned earlier that evening that she would be the speaker for the event, I forgot that she is currently battling breast cancer.  Turns out she just finished her last chemo treatment on Tuesday and is about to undergo radiation.  While she is not done with her treatment, she is a survivor.  Bob and I have very different opinions on Carly, given our number of years working for HP.  We did agree that no matter how we felt about her business decisions, or her political position, battling cancer requires an inner courage and strength that we have not experienced.  I have always admired Carly’s courage to walk forward in the face of tremendous judgment and criticism, but listening to her talk about fear and strength and courage in the face of this disease was poignant– she and all the other cancer survivors inspire me to do more to make cancer a global priority.

Award Winners:

MC, Renee, came back and introduced the award winners for the San Jose event.  There was a “messenger” award for the team with the greatest number of individual donors.  An award was given to the team with the most members, Team Fatty – Fighting for Susan, with 83 members (check them out at FatCyclist.com).  Team Pedal Out won the award for the most money raised, and a New Yorker named Alex won the award for most money raised by an individual.  Alex’s dad died from cancer at 43 and on Sunday, Alex turned 46.  He calculated that he has lived 1000 days longer than his dad did and said, “When you pass me on the 100 mile ride tomorrow, and you will, wish me a happy birthday.”  We did just that – every time we saw him.

The 100-mile Ride:

Wow!  There are so many things to say about the ride on Sunday, but to put it very simply, we couldn’t be more proud of what we have accomplished.  Not only did we raise a lot more money than we did last year, we have now ridden further than we ever have before.  I will admit that I was a little nervous at the 40-mile mark, out in no-man’s land.  We knew we were committed and the voice inside my head kept saying, if my mom could endure 9 months of cancer, chemo, sickness and setbacks, I could endure 100 miles on the bike.  All I needed to do was to keep pedaling.  We met lots of people that looked like they were “feeling it” too – but, together we kept pedaling.

What a wonderful community to be a part of!  We met lots of survivors, and others riding in memory or in honor of their loved ones along the route.  We thanked countless volunteers making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, cutting fruit, holding our bikes, filling our water bottles with water and/or Gatorade (we drank so much Gatorade that day, I thought I would turn into a lemon-lime) and for just being there to support us along the route.  We couldn’t have done this without those volunteers!

We woke up at 5:30 on Sunday morning to be at the starting line by 7:30.  And, we rolled across the finish line 8 hours and 20 minutes later — Bob’s and my hands joined and held high in victory.  I am looking forward to seeing that photo the professionals took as we rolled in.  We parked our bikes and enjoyed the pasta, pizza, subway sandwiches, chips, and let’s not forget the beer that was provided at the finish line.  There was a live band playing, so we enjoyed the music while we sat and rested our tired legs and ate.

Lights were out by 9:30 on Sunday night – tired, but still reeling from the day’s accomplishments.  And, with each day, we find we are more inspired and motivated.  And, we know that next year we are going to do more and get better as we continue to join LAF in the fight against cancer.

Thank you again for all of your donations and support!  We couldn’t have done this without you!

To see all the pictures we took at the event, go to:  My picassa album

All the best,

Sue..