One tradition at Southwest Airlines is that all of the Inflight classes host what we call a “Liquor Mockup.” It has been done as long as I have been around and a lot longer than that. I went to the liquor mockup for Flight Attendant class 246 to meet some of my new Coworkers and to try to find out when this tradition started and why. I interview one lady who got back from her honeymoon and started training the next day (pictured right) and during class met singer Richie McDonald from the band Lone Star. I was determined to find out about the first liquor mockup, did I find the answer from a 28-year Employee? Maybe it was the 30-year Employee? Listen to Red Belly Radio to find out and while you are there, learn about how the koala, the red panda, and the Internet are connected. What’s that, Flight Attendants not your cup of tea? I can't imagine that, but we now have the opportunity for you to phone in your show ideas. Call our new Red Belly Radio hotline 214 792 4300 and leave me a message. Your voice might be on a future show. Or you can always email me at redbellyradio@wnco.com.
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12-03-2008
07:53 AM
230 Loves
This episode of Red Belly Radio actually began back on October 2 with a telethon to raise funds to send a number of families with special needs kids to the Disney parks in Orlando Florida. Listeners of the Kidd Kraddick syndicated morning radio show pitched in and called a phone bank where volunteers took donations. Southwest Airlines manned that call center and later flew the families of these special-need kids to Orlando for four days of fun at the Disney theme parks. Before the flight, we hosted the families in one of our hangars where they were treated to food and drink. This marks the 17 year for the Kidds Kids charity and the third year that Southwest Airlines has been involved. More information can be found at kiddskids.com. Pictures from top down: the special decal aircraft that flew the families to Orlando and back; Kidd Kraddick with one of the Kids; Spirit and Spirit Jr. with one of the Kidds Kids;
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11-26-2008
05:49 PM
270 Loves
This episode of Red Belly Radio actually began back on October 2 with a telethon to raise funds to send a number of families with special needs kids to the Disney parks in Orlando Florida. Listeners of the Kidd Kraddick syndicated morning radio show pitched in and called a phone bank where volunteers took donations.
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Our Headquarters Reservations and SOS serve up Thanksgiving dinner at the Dallas Ronald McDonald House where our Chairman of the Board, President and CEO, Gary Kelly carved the turkey. Also on this podcast, I ask his wife, Carole, about their traditions and Employee Lydia Montes tells a story of a family from Mexico that she "adopted."
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BTW--After making both the sweet potato-pecan pie and the spicy whipped sweet potatoes, this week, I have remembered a few details and some tips. On the pie--Chef Paul specs a cake pan. This works fine, but is awful for cutting a piece out of. Next time I make it, I am going to try a spring-form pan with foil lining and see what happens. On the sweet potatoes, I have found that Stephan Pyles measurment of "two large sweet potatoes" is woefully inadequate. In fact, I think they would have to be "Huge" sweet potatoes. I actually used yams this year (smaller and available at Sam's in a 10# box.) I measured 2 1/4 lbs. (before cooking weight) and used all of it. I suggest cooking too much so that you have something to add if it is too spicy. I used 1/2 of the cayenne and added almost that much chipotle powder. It gives it a smokey flavor and is tasty. Also remember the recipe calls for pure chilE powder--which is the powder of a chilE. Chili powder is a powder made to make the dish chili. Chili powder usually contains cumin, salt and other seasonings that will confuse the flavor.
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In this episode, I talk with three co-workers. Bill Owen, Whitney Eichinger, and Olga Romero to learn what their favorite dishes are on this, my favorite holiday. If you listen to this episode of Red Belly Radio, you will hear about our favorite dishes. In fact, when you get four foodies talking, we racked up 21 dishes that I want to highlight here and the blog lists one more; a contest-winning recipe that our own Chairman, President and CEO made last Thanksgiving.
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You’d have to go all the way back to last week to read my blog about why Thanksgiving rocks, but this blog is dedicated to the food. On this episode, I talked with three co-workers. Bill Owen, Whitney Eichinger, and Olga Romero to learn what their favorite dishes are on this, my favorite holiday. If you listen to this episode of Red Belly Radio, you will hear references to our favorite dishes. In fact, when you get four foodies talking, we racked up at least 20 dishes that I want to highlight here. (The picture above shows most of my cookbooks in my kitchen; below is Michelle in her paper towel Pilgrim headdress holding an authentic Indian headdress. Well, authentic if you're in the second grade and not an Indian) This just in: I learned of a contest-winning recipe that our own Chairman, President and CEO made last Thanksgiving. OK it wasn’t the Pillsbury Bake Off, but I understand the competition within his family is fierce! That is listed first and the rest are listed in show order. There is a link to a PDF of all of the recipies at the bottom of this blog. Enjoy! Crawfish-Cornbread Dressing Gary’s award winning dish from Southern Living. recipe Mama Stamberg’s Cranberry Relish The NPR perennial favorite that looks like Pepto-Bismol but I am told is excellent. recipe Sweet Potatoes With Pecan Topping and No Marshmallows I found this recipe that seems to cover Whitney’s strict requirements on sweet potatoes. recipe Sweet Potato-Pecan Pie With Chantilly Cream I have made this pie for a number of years and I have never thrown any away. The Chantilly Cream is really just a fancy whipped cream, but it is fantastic. It calls for Grand Marnier and brandy, but I have used only off-brand orange liqueur and it is still good. recipe Homemade Rolls With Room Temperature Butter Here is a link for some homemade yeast rolls like Whitney spoke of. Her recipe for room temperature butter is easy. Take butter out of your refrigerator and place on the counter until its temperature becomes ambient with the rest of the room. If the butter if frozen, it will take longer. recipe Greenberg Smoked Turkey From Tyler, Texas. I have only had this one time but was very memorable. If you check out their web site, you might note there is no place to put in your credit card number. That is because, sometime after they ship you the turkey, they send you a bill. Yes, this is 2008. gobblegobble.com Bill’s Leftover Mashed Potato Casserole Bill describes this in the podcast and it sounded good there. I saw the recipe and heard angles singing. You know, the traditional Thanksgiving Angles of Tastiness? The recipe for this tasty dish can be found under the link at the bottom of this post called "Red Belly Radio Recipies and Links." Alton Brown Turkey and Brining Even if you don’t follow this recipe, I highly recommend brining. It’s a science thing about the cell wall of the turkey meat. It makes for moist, delicious meat that is forgiving should you over cook the bird a little—however you decide to cook it. Be thinking of a container to brine in. A cooler, very large zip-lock bags, dish pans all work. If you live in a cold place, you may not need to ice it down—just put it in your garage if you can’t make room in the fridge. What goes in to a brine solution is really pretty debatable. The only truly necessary items are salt and water. One cup of salt per gallon of water will work, but you will probably want some sugar to balance the flavors and while you’re at it, throw in some pepper corns or allspice berries. Since you will need heat to get the salt/sugar to saturate the water, don’t make the full amount with water, add ice to the hot mixture so that you finish with cool brine. All about brining | A bunch of brining recipes Bill’s Beer Brined Turkey Did you see the recipe for his Leftover Mashed Potato Casserole? Did you try his homemade bannana pudding? This guy knows food. I trust him with my gastronomic life and will be trying this brine. The recipe for this tasty dish can be found under the link at the bottom of this post called "Red Belly Radio Recipies and Links." Olga’s Rum and Orange Juice Brine Olga doesn’t so much follow a recipe on this one as a guideline. Add rum and OJ to a basic brine. Then add Rum and OJ to a glass with ice and drink. It’s hard to go wrong and if it does, you won’t care. Mofongo I so badly want to try eating this, I just don’t know if I am up to attempt cooking it. Either way it is fun to say—I don’t care who you are. recipe Turkey Ballotine This shows the procedure in illustration. link This next link is a video and it is very good to about the 5:18 point. That is where I would stuff and then tie the turkey back around whatever I stuffed it with. Keep in mind that a turkey has a lot more tendons and sinew in the legs than a chicken—I just cut them off, along with the wings and make turkey stock with all of the parts. video Turducken A portmanteau of the words TURkey, DUCK, and hEN—a deboned hen, inside a deboned duck, inside a deboned turkey. For those of you in England, it is also referred to as a multi-bird roast. This might sound odd, but it is a practice dates back at least to the early 19th century with the zenith, a 17 bird roast in France. Sweet Potato Tamales These sound good. Since I am trying a sweet potato tamale turkey ballotine, this is what I will make to go inside by turkey breast. Yes, I am only using the breast—after a rather bad knuckle slash last month, I am going easy on the knife requirements this year. recipe Cajeta I mentioned a dessert tamale with cajeta in the podcast. Cajeta is my favorite caramel ever (I am trying to think of a caramel I didn't like.) The homemade version is best but there are pretty good grocery store versions—probably in the Mexican food isle. recipe Roasted Brussels Sprouts Who knows, maybe Gary and Ina Garten are on to something? recipe Grandy’s Rolls The easy way out if you live near a Grandy’s. Chocolate Pecan Pie Bill casually mentions this dish so I found this recipe. New Texas Cuisine by Stephan Pyles This Texas chef defines food for us chichi Texans. about Spicy-Whipped Sweet Potatoes My must-bring to all good dinner parties and department events. Serve it in a black bowl, the color contrast is fantastic. Also, be sure to tell people it has a kick—especially older people who may be wondering where the mini marshmallows are. Go easy on the cayenne—you can always add more, you can't take it out. recipe Mojo Sauce I talk about a mojo sauce in this episode, but wasn't sure about it. Then I found this version. Cranberry Mojo Sauce Cranberry Chipotle Sauce Another possibility for a sauce is my adaptation of Stephan Pyles cranberry chipotle sauce. The recipe for this tasty dish can be found under the link at the bottom of this post called "Red Belly Radio Recipies and Links." Whether you make everything from scratch or just go to your freezer for a TV dinner, I hope your Thanksgiving is wonderful. And for the comments regarding my last blog, I hope you get your fill of football, too! Certainly a Thanksgiving tradition. This link contains all of the recipes and links to those that are on web sites.
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Now THAT'S a specialty store! Next week's blog will list a recipe for it, along with about 20 others. I have a feeling you can find a recipe if you Google mofongo.
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I'll be by with several bags of peanuts molded like a turkey.
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To me, there are two definitively American holidays—July fourth and Thanksgiving. No other country can claim our nation’s birthday and even though fall harvests have been celebrated around the world for millennia, no one does Thanksgiving like we do. Food aside for the moment, I love Thanksgiving because it crosses every boundary I can think of. Geographic, racial, economic…It is like Christmas lights, but that’s a different blog post. It doesn’t matter if you are first generation or if you are a descendent of Squanto, (the Native American who resided with the Wampanoag tribe and helped the Puritans adapt and survive in the land that would become the United States.) On Thanksgiving Day, you will probably slow down for at least a few hours and enjoy a meal with someone you love (or are connected to genetically or by marriage.) Ok the food got into that at the end. I’ll just say it. The other reason I love Thanksgiving is the food! Duh! I guess you could say I am a foodie. I don’t much care for that term, but it is better than gourmet (expert cook) or gourmand (expert eater). Thanksgiving differs regionally around the country. On the east coast, oyster stuffing is traditional, a throwback to colonial days when the mollusks were cheap and plentiful. Southern cooks typically prefer cornbread stuffing. A throwback to...well it is just good—and if anyone says it is too dry, that’s what gravy is for! I suppose there is someone out there touting oyster-cornbread stuffing but living in land-locked Dallas, those thoughts don’t even cross my mind. I have never eaten Thanksgiving in New Mexico, but I’ll be there are some green and red chiles incorporated. You get the idea; people use what is available and regionalize the traditional with their local or their own epicurean traditions. I feel it is this aspect that makes Thanksgiving so great. Listen to Red Belly Radio to learn more about what Thanksgiving means to four Southwest Airlines Employees. On this episode, I sit down to talk with three co-workers. Bill Owen, Whitney Eichinger, and I discuss some of our traditions and why we love the holiday and Olga Romero chimes in with some traditions of her homeland, Puerto Rico. Can you guess which one of the four is going to make mofongo? We also discuss the history of this holiday. Did you know that Florida and Texas can lay claim to Thanksgivings decades before the “First Thanksgiving” in Plymouth? Or that after decades of Thanksgiving being held on the last Thursday of November was moved to the fourth Thursday as a financial stimulus? For you “Foodies” out there, be sure to read my blog and to tune in to Red Belly Radio next week, when the discussion moves to the food and recipes! You’ll eat it up! Photo: Balloon Pilgrims from one of the Communications Thanksgiving feasts!
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Length: 15:36 Learn more about what Thanksgiving means to four Southwest Airlines Employees. On this episode, I sit down to talk with three co-workers. Bill Owen, Whitney Eichinger, and I discuss some of our traditions and why we love the holiday and Olga Romero chimes in with some traditions of her homeland, Puerto Rico. Can you guess which one of the four is going to make mofongo?
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11-05-2008
03:53 PM
304 Loves
Lengty: 16:20 You have to do what you need to do to get those great interviews. In this case, I was on Southwest flight 296 where I had noticed a Flight Attendant in training. I jotted down a few questions on the back of an air sickness bag (unused) and grabbed an interview with Jaimy on one of her Operation Experience flights (actually a test) before she could graduate with her class 245.
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11-05-2008
12:26 PM
268 Loves
I was recently traveling to Raleigh Durham when I noticed my flight had four Flight Attendants. One more than our normal three, I noticed the fourth had a name tag and realized she must be going through the Inflight training program. I asked one of the Flight Attendants if it would be alright to interview her for Red Belly Radio and he didn’t see any problem. I knew I liked Jaimy from the minute I met her as she (wisely) questioned my authenticity and asked to see my Employee ID. At this stage, she was dealing with some ribbing and practical joking from the three Flight Attendants so—like I said, wise to question me. Of course if the prank these guys pulled on Jaimy was to put a sign on her back that read “Tell me I’m Cute” I guess the worst thing is that someone might actually tell her she is cute. BTW—she totally is! She had never heard of Red Belly Radio (I will be talking to Inflight Training about that) and was of course concerned about saying something that might get her fired—or at that point not hired. Since I interviewed her, I decided to go see what the Inflight class 245 graduation was all about. I have only been to one other and that was years ago. I got to see Jaimy get her wings and seemed happy to see me again. I presented her with a photo of the prank the Flight Crew played on her and she totally loved it. The graduation ceremony is a rather large event. Family members attend and if the new Flight Attendant wishes, he/she can select someone to present his/her wings and I did catch and interview a father/daughter pilot/new Flight Attendant couple who will probably both soon be referring their friends to apply. This podcast has a lot. Manager Inflight Training John Zenici hosted the event; Director of Inflight Training Steve Banegas shared an inspirational poem; Vice President Fuel Management Rob Myrben teaches us the origin of the word "travel;" and Senior Director Inflight Standards and Training David Curry talks about future classes. The training is lengthy—four weeks—and there are a lot of tests. It is not easy to get picked to go through training and once there, it is not easy to graduate. Congratulations to Jaimy and all of Inflight Class 245!
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10-28-2008
02:57 AM
245 Loves
Length: 20:09 This is the spirit party to end all spirit parties. Taking up four hangar bays, 6000 Employees, former Employees and friends attended this Smokin' Spirit Party to celebrate two Southwest legends Herb Kelleher and Colleen Barrett.
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OU can hold their own in football. Over the past 6 meetings of the two teams in football (the same years as the plane pull) Texas and OU are tied. Over the past 10 meetings, OU is ahead 6 to 4.
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10-22-2008
05:29 PM
241 Loves
Length: 21:32 This episode of Red Belly Radio was recorded at the Dallas Maintenance Center at our 6th annual, 2008 Southwest Airlines Pigskin Plane Pull—pulling one of our Boeing 737s with human power! It is all part of the event known as the Red River Rivalry. Photo of Jim from Maintenance on the Tug and the nose of the plane.
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10-22-2008
05:20 PM
366 Loves
This episode of Red Belly Radio was recorded at the Dallas Maintenance Center at our 6th annual, 2008 Southwest Airlines Pigskin Plane Pull. Footballs have not been made of pigskin; nor have planes been moved around by hand for years, but that is exactly went on—pulling one of our Boeing 737s with human power! It is all part of the event known as the Red River Rivalry or the Texas-OU football game (OU-Texas for those fans from Oklahoma). This year marks the 103rd meeting of the teams (football) and the sixth meeting of the other teams (plane pull). The contest is simple enough, 10 people, drawn at random, pull an 83,000 lb. plane 50 yards. They take turns and race against the clock. (We don’t have a race between two planes—that would be silly.) It works out that each person has to pull the weig ht of a Chevy Suburban and a Mini Cooper—with a 150 lb. person sitting in each of the cars. The team with the best time wins stuff but mostly bragging rights. Over the last six contests, the team pulling for The University Oklahoma has a lot to brag about. Losing only in 2007, they have won five of the six contests. Be sure to check out the video of the event on our video blog. The gambler in me wishes to find some correlation between the plane pull and the actual football game, but sadly, I have found none. Although I heard there were some scouts here from Vegas checking out the event for odds-making next year. Listen to the play-by-play and all of the interesting goings on of this quality podcast. Jump over to the archive to listen to all of the Red Belly Radio episodes, or subscribe in iTunes to the RSS feed and get a new one every Wednesday. Photos top to bottom: Nose of plane to be pulled adorned with the Red River Rivalry Logo; Southwest Airlines sign at the game at the Cotton Bowl--why are light always on during daytime games?; the team pulling for OU with the cheerleaders; and with Southwest Airlines references were all over the stadium, the scoreboard with 7:37 left in the game.
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You can find a link to Red Belly Radio at the bottom right corner of the blogsouthwest home page. Or jump straight to the archive page at www.redbellyradio.com. Or in iTunes, search Southwest or Red Belly Radio. I should add something like this to each blog post.
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Have you ever wondered what things are considered when picking a new city? In this episode of Red Belly Radio, we hear Chairman, President, and CEO Gary Kelly announcing the newest Southwest Airlines destination, and then I interview Nicholas Haan from our Schedule Planning department about how we pick new cities. To answer your obvious question, it does not involve a map, blindfold, or darts, but speed dating is involved! I don’t know much about Minnesota, but I have a feeling that whichever Southwest city holds the record for the most de-icing fluid used is about to drop to second place. And even though I live in North Texas, Minnesota is a lot farther north. Also Minnesota elected Jessie Ventura, a former pro wrestler, as governor several years back. I really don’t know if he was a good or bad governor, and I’m sure I could find people on both sides of that fence, but the fact he was elected tells me that Minnesotans are independent thinkers or at least have a sense of humor—two things I admire.
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Length 15:14 Have you ever wondered what things are considered when picking a new city? In this episode of Red Belly Radio, we hear Chairman, President, and CEO Gary Kelly announcing the newest Southwest Airlines destination ,and then I interview Nicholas Haan from our Schedule Planning department about how we pick new cities. To answer your obvious question, it does not involve a map, blindfold, or darts, but speed dating is involved!
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10-08-2008
06:24 PM
285 Loves
Length: 16:03 This episode is about the fall 2008 LUV Classic on Friday, October 10. I interview Barbara McDermott, executive director of the Dallas Ronald McDonald House and Lori Skinner an event specialist currently working on the LUV classic golf tournament. Over the years, Southwest Airlines, through the LUV Classic, has donated more than $9.5 million to multiple Ronald McDonald Houses and this year we expect to top the $10 million mark!
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10-08-2008
06:16 PM
229 Loves
The fall 2008 LUV Classic is upon us—that’s the big golf tournament that Southwest Airlines holds each year to benefit the Ronald McDonald Houses. Tee off is at 7:00 a.m. or at 1:00 p.m. depending on what group you are in. Don’t get too excited, though, if you are not already on the list, or the standby list, I’m afraid you won’t be playing golf this year. However you still can help the Dallas Ronald McDonald House—come to the party, which starts at 6:00 p.m. Or you can attend our spring LUV Classic in Phoenix on May 15, 2009, but more on that in a few months. On this episode of Red Belly Radio, I speak with Barbara McDermott, executive director of the Dallas Ronald McDonald House (RMH) and Lori Skinner an event specialist currently working on the LUV classic golf tournament. The Communications department where I work recently served lunch at the Dallas RMH and while I was there (multitasking at its finest) I spoke to Barbara about their plans for the forthcoming new building and she hints at a surprise announcement. Lori tells us about the LUV Classic golf tournament and how to buy tickets to attend the party. It is held at the Bear Creek Golf club which is on the south side of DFW airport. Over the years, Southwest Airlines, through the LUV Classic, has donated more than $9.5 million to multiple Ronald McDonald Houses and this year we expect to top the $10 million mark! I understand that a giant check will be presented at the event and often wondered if banks hate when people try to deposit those things.
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10-01-2008
06:49 PM
316 Loves
Length 7:41 This episode of Red Belly Radio is about viral video, specifically YouTube and the interview with the man who's video has now crossed the 100 million view mark, Judson Laipply.
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10-01-2008
06:38 PM
221 Loves
“Life isn’t always the party we hoped for, but while were here, we might as well dance.” –Judson Laipply Certainly words to live by—or at least to dance by. This episode of Red Belly Radio features an interview with Judson Laipply, the motivational speaker who created the History of Dance video which has become THE most watched video on YouTube ever! I am of course talking about viral video, specifically YouTube—the undisputed king of online-video distribution. Viral video is a relatively new term, given to videos that capture the imagination of people and gain mass popularity. Not unlike a computer virus spreading across the world through Internet sharing. Emails, blogging, IMing, etc. are all much faster than word of mouth—faster than actual viruses for that matter. A lot of people have seen Jud’s video. How many? Well let’s put this in to perspective. One of my favorite viral videos is Numa Numa—this video features a fellow who has now become known as the “Numa Numa guy” (I’m sure he has a real name but it never comes up in the video) lip-syncing to a disco song. It’s has been watched almost 20 million times and probably sold a lot of copies of Numa Numa (the actual name of the song is Hai Ai Hee (Dragonstea Din Tei)) released by Moldovan pop group, O-Zona, in 2004. A huge club hit across Europe, originally recorded in Romanian, and covered several times including in a recent release in English by Romanian model Alina Puscau. Perhaps my favorite “serious” music video is the band OK Go performing Here It Goes Again. One camera doing one shot, using tarps as a backdrop (you can see the folds) and six treadmills. The band performs while jumping, dancing and moving on the belts. Did I mention the treadmills are running? I don’t know how many tries it took the band to get it right, but the band had to do it right all the way through with no mistakes because there are no edits. It is really neat idea and the proof is almost 40 million views. The Evolution of Dance video has been viewed more than 100 million times on YouTube and probably another 10 million from other video hosting sites. You may know him as “The Evolution of Dance Guy” (I know I did) but Judson Laipply came into our booth at the recent BlogWorld Expo and I got to talk to him about his most-viewed video and future projects. I have no idea what kind of motivational speaking career Judson had before EOD, but this video has made him an international star. He just came back from an event in Belgium with Formula One race car drivers—who are veritable rock stars in Europe—where he performed his now-famous moves. All three of the above videos have spinoffs of them, proving that social media influences pop culture. At least one spinoff of EOD features a newly-wed couple at their reception dancing their first dance in Judson-style. Very funny. Coming in slightly behind Judson is the newest video by blog-o-spondent Kaci Beeler. Kaci was the winner of the month-long contest held by blogSouthwest.com that ended with a video shoot and real reality show at BlogWorld. Kaci’s training in improvisational comedy comes through in this funny look at Las Vegas. Check it out but also check out this episode of Red Belly Radio. Photos from top to bottom: the Numa Numa guy (real name Gary Brolsma), Judson with me at BlogWorld with peanuts, and Kaci Beeler (right) from her winning Blog-O-spondent video.
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09-24-2008
06:13 PM
262 Loves
Length: 17:37 This episode of Red Belly Radio features a collection of several stories on what some employees did to get their feet in the door. Pictured right: Catherine with her response (lower right corner) of "Try Me!" to the "You Are Free To Be Yourself" billboard.
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09-24-2008
06:06 PM
384 Loves
I suppose anyone who works in a human resources department at any large company sees a lot of people in varying sorts of need and desire. For any given job posting, there could be hundreds of applicants or maybe just a handful. Of those applicants, there are some who really want the job, and others who really need the job. Regardless of want or need, the recruiters have to pick the best candidate for that specific job. Most people would probably agree that a recruiter's job is not an easy job. If you are applying for employment at a financial institution the way you get your foot in the door might be different than how you get hired at a soft drink manufacturer; which would be different than an airline; which would be different still from Southwest Airlines. On this episode of Red Belly Radio: How To Get Hired at Southwest Airlines 101 is a collection of several stories on what some Employees did to get their feet in the door. Be forewarned, these stunts have been tried and may not yield the intended results. Top picture: Catherine with her fake tattoo. Bottom Catherine with her "I'm a Person Person" response to the "We're Looking for People People" billboard.
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They do. there are adult programs. Go to spacecamp.com
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“It doesn’t take a rocket scientist…” How many times have you heard that hackneyed expression meaning “You don’t have to be as smart as…” You’ve probably even used it. (As we all have—not singling you out as a hackneyed expression user) Yes, we seem to hold rocket scientists above most others. No one says “It doesn’t take a CPA or a Doctor or a plumber to figure that out.” (Well maybe taxes, surgery, or plumbing.) Certainly there are many smart accountants, doctors, and plumbers out there—seemingly, they just aren’t as smart as rocket scientists. I guess I fall into the group that has no idea how to work a slide rule and am old enough to think of NASA as the men (yes, they were all men) wearing short-sleeved-white shirts with skinny-black ties and heavy black glasses. There is just something about a slide rule that makes people who don’t know how to work one think people who do know how, are smarter. Of course gone are the slide rules for the calculator; shirts now come in colors; neckties have gotten wider, skinnier, wider, and skinner; contact lenses are even covered by insurance; and I understand women are allowed to work at NASA, even on the big machines that go “Ping!” [asset|aid=204|format=image|formatter=asset|title=Heide.jpg|width=250|height=296|resizable=true|align=left]About ten years ago, Southwest Airlines lost one of our best. A wonderful spirit, person, and pilot named Heide Cayouette. I did not know Heide, but it seems everyone who knew her loved her. She lost her life in an accident, but determined to not let her memory be lost, the Cayouette family and Heide’s Southwest Family got together and started a fund. The Heide Cayouette/Southwest Airlines Space Camp Scholarship was established to send a Southwest Airlines Employee’s child to the NASA Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama, every year. Space Camp is a program of astronaut and mission training. They simulate missions to a space station and each camper takes turns and each performs all of the different jobs of the unit. They have Space Simulators and Shuttle Mission Training and other activities, and they teach the kids to think like astronauts and stress Team-Building skills. [asset|aid=205|format=image|formatter=asset|title=HannahRocket.jpg|width=200|height=284|resizable=true|align=right]OK, so now you know how this ties to Southwest, but how does it tie to me? I don’t think there is a way for me to say this without sounding like I’m bragging, but my daughter won the scholarship this year! A big deal in the Heaser household; a very big deal! This episode of Red Belly Radio talks about Space Camp and stories about Heide including how she once climbed a fence from a parking lot to the tarmac to make a flight and how her business card read “Heavy Equipment Operator.” I interview Captain Becky Sparks, who was one of Heide’s good friends and my daughter finds time to talk to me briefly before getting back to her texting on our trip back to Dallas. [asset|aid=203|format=image|formatter=asset|title=HannahROcket2.jpg|width=100|height=203|resizable=true|align=left]I never thought too much about rocket science, I remember a TV being rolled into my classroom (a big deal then) so we could watch the moon landing and like any normal person I was impressed. But since my daughter went to Space Camp and my attending and touring the facility, along with my research I did for this episode, yes, I really do think this world needs rocket scientists and yes, they are at least one notch smarter than most bloggers/podcasters. And, yes, there just are things that call for a rocket scientists—rockets! Pictures from top to bottom: Heide in a Southwest Airlines 737 cockpit; Hannah outside of the Davidson Center for Space Exploration; Hannah inside the Davidson Center for Space Exploration with the Saturn V rocket above her.
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Length: 12:08 About the Heide Cayouette/Southwest Airlines Space Camp scholarship and the 2008 winner, Hannah Heaser. Pictured right: Hannah working the batteries out of every possible device.
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Length: 13:38 How Hurricanes get their names and how Southwest deals with them and how we help our Customers who have to change their travel plans around them.
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