Thursday, January 15, 2009

World Championships Here we Come!!!

Hellooooooooooooo Everbody!!!

WCH HERE WE COME!!!

This past weekend was a great one for my team, we qualifed for second half of World Cup and World Championships which will be held in Lake Placid, NY the last two weeks of Feburary!!!! My teammates and I are extremely excited to get a chance to race again! Our first race will be in Vancouver on the 2010 Olympic Track the first week of February!!! This track is fast really FAST we will hit over 100mph on this bad boy....so we will be living on the edge each time we go down.

Also there is a nice article written on my Driver John Napier on the USOC web-site http://teamusa.org/news/article/8858 that I think you all should read when you have time.

I have posted some new pictures of the team and I am on on my web site www.jessebeckom3.com for you all to view. In the pictures I am on the right side of the sled as the pictures are facing you, there are only a few but they are some pretty good shots. The pictures of the entire event and the rest of the Members of Team USA can be viewed on http://www.photoshelter.com/c/rtbphoto/gallery-list in the album U.S Bobsled Nationals 2009 4-Man.

Thank you all for your continued support and I wish you a great rest of the week!

God Bless you all

Jesse

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Happy New Year Everyone!!!

Happy New Year Everyone Greetings from the frozen tundra which is Lake Placid, NY! Sorry I intended this to be a short e-mail but it became rather long.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas, a safe and fun New Year Celebration!

Thanks to one of my Major sponsors International Contractors Inc. www.iciinc.com of Elmhurst, IL who covered my travel expenses I was able to head out to Calgary, Canada for a week of training, and spend Christmas with my sister Tina and her family in Pennsylvania before returning back here to lake Placid.

So as we all know my luck with traveling is probably the worse when it comes to dealing with the airports......well this trip was no different! But between some of the stress it was quit comical at times.

Before I start I do have one question for everyone and that is.... Why are we still paying extra money for baggage on planes even-though the price of gas is so low? I could have thought the only reason we were paying these extra fees were due to the high price of gas which planes burned more of due to the weight of luggage. But that in itself is weird to me since plane tickets are high due to the high price of gas, which means we are being taxed double or triple for that fact! So why are we still paying these baggage fees is beyond me but that is my gripe for the week. And now back to our original scheduled story! lol

My trip final destinations takes me from Lake Placid, NY (I fly out of Albany, NY) to Calgary, Canada, to Cresco, PA ( I fly into Newark, NJ), back to Lake Placid, NY. My flight leaves from the Albany airport at 7:33 am and arrives in Chicago O'hare at 9:00am. My next flight was scheduled to leave at 9:48 and it was on time. As I am getting on the plane I hear the flight attendant comes over the loud speaker and he says "This is a full flight and if you can not fit all your bags into the overhead compartment we will place your bags under the plane". Now guess who was the only person who's bag did not fit because there was not anymore room?...Yeah ME! I WON THE PRIZE! lol Once I realize there was not anymore room I walked back up to the flight attendant and told him my bag would not fit in the overhead compartment, he told me "oh its ok, what seat are you in I will mark the bag and place it under the plane" Now, as I am handing him my bag that has all my training shoes (track spikes, weight lifting shoes, and winter boots) along with a training ladder, only one thought is going through my head. That one thought is I AM NOT GOING TO SEE THIS BAG FOR A WHILE BECAUSE THIS GUY...THIS GUY STANDING IN FRONT OF ME SMILING AND TAKING MY BAG IS ABOUT TO MISPLACE MY BAG SOMETHING SERIOUS! LOL

As I sit on the plane I begin to think hey this flight attendant never gave me a ticket for my bag, hmm.....that seems weird! After realizing my mistake I then start to think of all the wonderful places that my bag is going to see before me. I see it in Austria, Japan or India somewhere with people starring at it thinking who is Jesse Beckom seat 12E? Then it gets thrown in a small room with a hundred other bags covered in dust with other people's names and seat numbers on it. As you can imagine I a really relaxed during this flight.

My plane arrives in Calgary at 12:42 pm on time and guess what is not on the plane...come on just guess......ok I will give you a hint it belongs to me. Ok I will tell you Yup it’s MY carry on bag! And I am thinking Yup that's about right! I go over to the baggage department in Calgary and inform them about the situation, describe the bag to them, leave them a phone number and address to reach me. They call me later that evening around 2pm and told me my bag was left in Chicago and they will have it to me between 5 and 9pm. I am like cool because I will not train until tomorrow anyway. At 8:45 pm I begin to question if they are going to make it..NOPE it did not make before 9pm imagine that. But I can accept that because the roads are covered in snow. However I was upset and happy when the bag was delivered at 1 a.m. Yippee! Thank you United Airlines I love to play the Lets Loose Jesse's bag and bring it to him early in the morning Game if my favorite game of them all!

After my adventures in flying I did get some good training in at the Talisman Centre and the Canadian Olympic Park in Calgary, which was great! Calgary has an indoor track facility like some place in the states but they also have the Ice House that we use for push training. After training each day I was able to sit in a whirl pool for about thirty minutes or so, which helped my legs to loosen up and recover from that day of working out and training. The muscles in my leg seem to stay tight for whatever reasons no matter how much I stretch and use a foam roller and the only time they really seem to relax is after I use a Whirlpool. Just for the record my legs feel a hundred times better right now!

I spent a total of five days out in Calgary from December 18-23rd. On the 23rd my flight was scheduled to leave at 7:45 am to Chicago ORD landing at 12:08 pm, and then from Chicago at 1;12p.m to Newark, NJ arriving at 4:30 p.m. Now, when traveling internationally they suggest that you arrive at the airport two hours ahead of time to make sure you do not miss your flight. Have I ever mentioned that I think some rules are optional for me to follow.....well there are of few rules like that for me and this is one of them. lol Yeah....I know! so sue me. Me and all my wisdom show up to the airport around 6:15 or so which I thought was enough time actually. Uhmmm I was wrong. lol

As I am standing in line for about twenty minutes I see one of the lady from united walking through the line telling everyone "that if you are on the 8:45 flight to Chicago then please come to the front of the line. This is kind of curious to me since my flight leaves at 7:45 and they do not seem to be calling for me. Luckily my friend I was with stayed with my bags while I walked to the front of the line to speak with someone from united. I made my way to the front counter and asked the guy at the desk distributing tickets how much time I had to get checked in. He told me that I had 15minutes to get checked in, past him and past security. Considering that I was about a good hour back in the line from even reaching the counter, I soon had the THIS IS NOT GOOD LOOK ON MY FACE! LOL. I started back towards the end of the line to tell my friend what was going on and she suggested that I go and talk to the woman who was bringing people to the front of the line. So we walk towards the front of the line and I begin to ask people if I can get in front of them because I have 15 minutes to check in. This worked until I got about two feet from the check in, where I ran into a group of people who were also going to Chicago. They pointed me to the woman who had been moving them to the front of the line. I went over to her and asked her if I could get into line behind the other people waiting for the flight to Chicago.

While I was trying to talk to her this guy who was by himself started fussing about me to everyone around him about how I thought I was better than them, and who did I think I was, and that I must think I am Big Time! And he had been standing in line for thirty minutes and I just walked up and jumped in front of them. The other people in line did not care and the more this guy kept complaining the more everyone else moved away from him. He even went so far as to call over this elderly woman from United who I believe was similar to the people that great you in wal-mart and told her that I was cutting in front of everyone. Now I am starting to get a little bit annoyed with this guy. As I am standing waiting to talk with the woman from United this elderly lady approaches me and asked me what I am trying to do. I calmly told her that I am waiting to speak with the woman from United standing in front of me. She then tells me that is fine but I cannot ask her if I can cut the line....I said Excuse me? I informed her that I am not sure what that guy back there told you but this lady has been asking who is on the flight to Chicago and have been bringing those people to the front and I am waiting to talk with her. This elderly lady continues to stand behind me looking at me like I am a 6yr old kid who just got caught sneaking desert before dinner. Noticing her still standing there I asked her if I could help her?...she told me that she was waiting to ask the other United representative a question as well.

After another five minutes passed the United representative I was waiting for was able to speak to me. I told her the situation and she said it was ok, and that everyone who were traveling to Chicago would make the flight as she is about to move all of us through together. Through all of this, this guy is still running off at the mouth to everyone around him but never directly talking to me. I begin to get more annoyed but still have not said anything to him. Everyone is starting to check into the automated machines and I see one open so I go up to it. Soon as I get there I hear the guy say look there he goes again jumping in front of us again!, there is Mr. I am Better than you I have been standing here and he just jumps right in. This is when I stop holding my tongue and I turn toward him and with some very colorful metaphors I asked what his problem was and what's his problem with me is! He starts complaining more so I told him he should calm down and stop running off at the mouth about me, I also let him know that I had been in line in the back and I did not just walk up and jump in front of him. The United representative hears what is going on and turns to the guy and tells him "If you do not shut up and keep the line moving then I am going to put you at the back of the line and you will miss your flight!" You all know me so I began to smirk a little bit as I looked at the guy. The guy began to mumble under his breath and rustle his bags along the floor like a little child. I am just thinking wow this is impressive. At this point the guy is in front of me in the line so this little miserable person is happy for a bit....well that is until he gets to the person weighing bags to be checked. Just as soon as he is about to place his bags on the scale the baggage tag prints out and the United worker calls of ONE BAG TAG FOR A JESSE BECKOM!!!! LOL The turns around and sees me walking up and he has a fit!! he throws his bags down and just starts cursing and pouting it was hysterical! I just walked past him and did not say a word. As I walked through customs I could not help but laugh at the whole situation.

I make to Chicago O'Hare on time landing at Gate B4. I am thinking this is cool because my departing gate is B8 and my flight did not leave for another forty-five minutes. I am like sweet I will be to Newark in a bit, and then off to my sisters’ place. My flight leaves Chicago on time and I land in Newark at 4:39, I have my two carry on items, my brother-in-law Mark called me and was on his way things were running smooth....well so I thought. I get to the baggage claim and am waiting for my checked luggage....I keep waiting until the carousel stops and to my dismay my bag was nowhere to be found!!!Hey imagine that lol!

Once again I go to my favorite spot in the airport....the baggage claim office! At least this time I have a Baggage Claim Number that I presented to the United Representative. After checking her computer she saw that my was still in O'hare. She informed me that since the city I was staying in was outside of the airports private delivery service they would send my luggage via FedEx and I will have it by tomorrow. Note to everyone’s ALWAYS SAVE YOUR BAGGAGE CLAIM TICKET!!!ALWAYS!!

I figure ok 24hrs and I have my bag no worries that will work! I WAS WRONG!!! My bag did not arrive on the 24th A.K.A Christmas Eve. I call United to find out where my bag is and they tell me that due to the amount of snow in the area that the bags were getting to people late and that my bag will now arrive on the 26th! Yeah not too happy at this point, but they gave me a baggage claim number for fed ex in order to check my baggage status online. I get log on to the FedEx web page, type in my delivery confirmation number and it has no record of my bag! I am Really not happy now...Actually I become Mr.ANTIHAPPY which causes me to go to the mall and smack everyone who is smiling around me! lol Just playing! I then call United using the 1-800 number I was given in an attempt to find out where my bag is, of course they tell me that my bag is on the way! Oh really I tell them....well I when I type the claim number for FedEx that you all gave me into their system it tells me the number is not recognized! The guy on the phone tells me that it is because the bag was just picked up and it has probably not hit their system yet! Wrong answer Buddy Boy, because I know that all FedEx delivery people have hand held transponders and log items in as soon as they deliver or pick them up SO....Once again WHERE IS MY BAG! Of course he has no clue because he is working at an offsite location for United Airlines in another country somewhere and is just reading me answers off a computer screen. I then ask him for the direct number for the Baggage Claim Office in the Newark Airport so I can speak to them directly but he tells me that this is a number that they cannot give out! Have I mentioned that I am not really happy right now! But instead he will note my account and have someone call me back.

True enough I received a phone call later that night from the people in the Newark, NJ Airport telling me that FedEx somehow forgot to pick my bag up from the airport and that I should receive my bag on the 27th before 10:30am. They have to be kidding me right? Nope they were serious. Then two hours later I get another message telling me that my baggage will now arrive sometime before 4:30pm and someone needs to be at the house. Here is another problem I am suppose to go with my sister and her family down to her husband’s brothers place two hours away for a belated Christmas celebration around 5pm. Not only that, but my flight back to Lake Placid was scheduled to leave the morning of the 28th. This causes me to stress out more because now I am not sure if I will have my bag before I leave to go back to placid let alone with my sister! Did I mention that this bag has the majority of my winter sliding gear, 1TB External hard drive that has all my computer information backed up on it, video camera, camera, and GPS Unit in it! This is the type of stuff people lie about having in their bag when it gets lost so they get more money. I did not want the money I just wanted my bag. By I had already purchased new clothes just to get me through the week.

Thank God My bag finally came on the 27th around 2pm that afternoon and I was finally able to smile....that is until my flight back to Lake placid. A flight that included one cancellation, three delays and a flight change. I left Newark, NJ at 10:30 a.m and was suppose to arrive in Albany at 4 p.m with another two hour drive to the training center. With all the delays I did not make it back to the training center till 3 a.m the next morning! YEAAAAHHHH that was fun!! lol

Besides all the mishaps it was a great trip and I got another fun story to tell all of you about my travels!!! Well have a great week and thank you all for your support!!

GOD BLESS!

Jesse