Oink, oink!

Oh, the good ol’ swine flu…an outbreak which caused such a media frenzy that you couldn’t turn on a TV or surf the web without seeing it. Not to mention the ‘pandemic plans’, face masks (ala Michael Jackson style), and HR policies that were created to support what now appears to have just been one helluva standard flu. Let’s see...we’ve had Monkey Pox, the Bird Flu, and West Nile, so why not? For pig’s sake!

I’m not trying to down play the fact that some people were actually seriously ill and some sadly died. I just think it’s amazing how the media gets its tight grip on a juicy flu story and tries to make the world think it may be facing its end. It’s crazy! Those media outlets just get everyone in a tizzy. And then it snowballs from there and causes all sorts of problems for everyone.

For example, Eric and I are all booked for a week in Riviera Maya for our honeymoon right after the wedding. The first concern was wondering if our passport applications were going to be held up since we indicated our travel destination as Mexico. Luckily, that was not the case. We just got them in the mail on Monday. Phew! Maybe this is the government’s new population control tactic – “Sure guys…go to Mexico…we’ll even expedite your passports!” :) I’m on to you, Obama. haha! Of course, the next concern was the huge bulletin on the resort website noting that if anyone wished to cancel, you could do so without penalty. You know that’s not a good sign since resorts and hotels (and pretty much anyone) will try their best to sock you with cancellation penalties at any opportunity they can! This, too, has now disappeared. The last hurdle we have to cross is our company HR policy regarding travel to Mexico. Assuming that sorts itself out, which I fully expect will be the case, then we’re home free and Mexico-bound. Bring on the tequila! (I still won’t drink the water, though.)

I did get a nice chuckle today when I went to the resort website and found a new bulletin posted titled, “Flu-Free Guarantee”. Of course, my interest was piqued. Upon reading the note I couldn’t help but laugh out loud. The article was the standard, “We are taking every precaution to ensure the resort is thoroughly cleaned, blah, blah, blah.” Here’s where it gets good. The site then stated that if we did, however; somehow manage to contract the flu, we get three vacations for free!!! HA! Okay, so let me get this straight…I’ll probably be very ill and might not survive, so you’re offering three vacations that I might not even be able to take you up on. And if I do manage to fight my way back to health, you think I’m going to want to come back?? Haha! Awesome.

PS - This is why I don’t eat pork. I knew those dirty little fattys would be up to no good one day. hehe! At a minimum, I’m sure Eric is rolling his eyes right now since I’ve said this before and he makes sure to remind me their meat had nothing to do with the flu…which I’m actually fully aware of. I just like to ruffle his feathers, though, so I continue to say it. ;)

~as