The temperature today is going to be tricky to share with you guys...because today I was in so many different places I couldn't pick just one! This morning in Nashville at 4:30 am when I got to the airport it was about 50 degrees Fahrenheit. In the air at 31,000 feet somewhere over Memphis or Little Rock it was -45 degrees Celsius. In Dallas it was a brisk yet sunny 60 degrees when I arrived at.... ohhhh about 8:30 am. Back in Lawrenceburg this evening it was about 55 degrees.
My quick four hour trip to Dallas was for a medical screening with American Eagle airlines. I made my way back to the AMR headquarters where I had my interview back in October. I was directed to the medical area which was like a giant doctor's office waiting room with student desks and a vending machine. I finished several packets of information paperwork...medical history, that I agree to have a drug test, no tattoos to claim, etc....and was quickly called back to a stark office facility that was eerily quiet. But around the corner came the head nurse instructing me (very loudly and in her most stern voice) how this drug test was going to work. I wanted to ask her that we save the hearing test for another time, but I figured she would get offended.
Who ever knew that a drug test for the Department of Transportation could be so complicated?! I haven't done anything that complicated since I left college. It's no joke. I suppose there are people out there who would try and cheat (really? they made me turn my pockets inside out to prove I wasn't hiding any test tubes of urine on my person) but that would be way too difficult! Two plastic specimen cups, 2 different bathrooms, 4 hand washings and 85 signatures later I was ready to move on to the next step. I was the only person in the office at the time and I felt like I was being watched like a hawk. We tested my eyesight-20/20...whew. Although I can tell as I get older those D's are beginning to look a lot more like O's and vice-versa.
Afterwards, I was taken to a private room where blood pressure, height, blood sample and verification of medical history took place. The girl was a trainee, yet very professional, and I had to crack a few jokes to keep the atmosphere up. She was more unsure of drawing blood than I was (which those of you that know me is quite the feat) but I was patient and she got it worked out on one try....thank goodness. I'm afraid I would have had to have the mouthy one come back and give it a go if she had not succeeded.
A quick hearing test in a soundproof booth with goofy headphones and a button like they use to have during elementary school knowledge bowl sessions to push when you hear a sound was last. This is the part I was most unsure about because the test results went immediately to the computer and I couldn't hear any nurse comments from the peanut gallery. Ask anyone in my family-I seem to have excellent eavesdropping capability so I think it will be just fine.
I barely made it back to the airport on time. AMR headquarters is not too far from DFW airport, but, you have to take two different shuttles to get there. The shuttle that runs from the south remote parking lot to the terminals runs pretty regularly-every 3-5 minutes. The shuttle running the Trinity Rail Express from the south remote parking lot to parts of Arlington and Forth Worth and the employee parking lot are further apart...probably 10-15 minutes. I made it through security by 12:35 and the plane left the gate at 12:55. Which, to make a long story short, means that I was in Dallas a total of 4 1/2 hours...give or take a few minutes. Seems like an awful long way to go for a crazy drug test and a "reach and stoop" test.....
I can only hope it will be worth it!!
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