Prospects….

0Josh • 2nd Dec 2004 • blog entries, nome., station life

Today I got a little lesson in getting my hopes up. WARNING: “The following blog entry contains plans and ideas that have not yet been confirmed.”

Yesterday I was working on our newsletter, and a simple act of going to a website sent me off into a tailspin, and right now has my emotions and hopes hanging by a thread. I was writing about the visit of Don Young to the radio station, and wanted to see how long he as been in elected office. When I got to his website, I saw a link that said “Alaska residents get your Presidential Inauguration tickets here”. Something clicked in my head…and I instantly decided that I needed to got the presidential inauguration in Washington DC. I filled out the form, and then because I wasn’t sure if I would be considered an Alaska resident, I called up Patty Murry’s office and put my name in with the Washington Senator’s office. I then realized that as a member of the media, I might be able to get to the inauguration going that route. I started investigating how to go about getting a senate correspondent’s pass which is what I was told I would need. I then realized that even if I did get a ticket to the event, I lacked the, oh say…..presence in Washington DC! I asked Dennis our station manager what he thought, he said that if I wanted to go he would love to take some updates and stories about what I see.

I got on Alaska Airline’s website and considered using one of my frequent flyer tickets. It turned out that for the dates that I was looking for; they did not have any mileage tickets available. When Lydia called yesterday evening, I told her what had transpired over the day, and she too thought it would be great to go out to Washington and report on the inauguration. I thought maybe I would keep looking into it.

Today I realized that the dates I was looking for originally were wrong (I don’t know who forgets that inaugurations are always on January 20th). So, I called Alaska Air back up, and gave them the new, correct dates. At first the lady told me that they did not have any tickets, but then asked if I would be willing to have a few layovers. I told her that I would consider anything she had and she put me on hold for 10 minutes as she worked the problem. She came back with the following schedule:

Depart Nome 9:92am, arrive in Anchorage at 10:58, and leave for Seattle at 11:31. Arrive in Sea-Town at 4:00pm….and stay there for OVER TWO DAYS! Then take a red-eye from Seattle to Dulles. She asked me if that was ok, and informed me that they could not provide hospitality while in Seattle. I told her that was great! After all her work, and such a great schedule…I told her to book it, as long as I had a few days to cancel if I needed to. I paid the tax, and had myself a $4 ticket to Washington DC……a savings of over $900!

I then decided I should finish filling out my senate correspondent application. I had a question, and decided to call the number on the document. I talked to a guy named Mike who told me I was misinformed, and that there would be a completely separate application for the inauguration, and it would be out tomorrow! He told me I should have no problem gaining admittance because I worked for a legitimate FCC licensed radio station, but to call back in an hour because he would have more information about the application process then. I called back, and he said that it would indeed be ready tomorrow on their website, however that I would need to be in DC by the 10th in order to start the security screening. I thanked him for his help, and said goodbye. As I hung up a million things were racing through my head.

So, now we wait. I’m waiting to hear back and see if the media personnel really need to be there that early, to see if I could just get a regular person ticket, and wait to see if my Aunt who works in Don Young’s DC office has any answers for me. Will I be going to Washington in mid-January? Right now, I’m pretty sure I’m going to have to cancel my ticket…but you never know 😉