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Sunday, March 14, 2010
Stuck...
...and not happy about it. What's a traveler to do?
Of course this is a metaphor rife with life lessons and pithy quotes and Buddhist teachings.
But at the moment I'm talking about actually being stuck in the f'ing airport. I was supposed to take a 6 a.m. flight to Boston, but it was canceled. Not for the reason you're no doubt thinking of. (But Ms. Bizarro, the Nor'easter...) No, I was informed that it was canceled 3 hours before take off for "maintenance." If you're good at math, you can figure out that that meant I received an automated message from U.S. Air at 3 a.m. I then spoke to a representative who booked me on an early afternoon flight through Philly. Okay, well it meant less of a day with JET, my dearest friend who I essentially booked this flight to see.
I finally fell asleep at 6 a.m. Got up around 9:30, made breakfast, took my time, got to the airport in plenty of time, and after I checked in, got through security and got comfy waiting for boarding, the announcement came that the flight was 2 hours delayed. They announced this at 12:15 for a 12:30 boarding time.
And so now...stuck. In the airport with the screaming baby and his very ill mother a couple rows from me. They are a pair, these two hipster parents. I feel a little bad for them, and for the bambino (a toddler, not a real infant). But I also feel bad for me because I was supposed to have been in Boston an hour and a half ago. And I'm here, instead.
So now we've got later connecting flights out of LaGuardia, one of which will hopefully get us to Boston. And I strongarmed the U.S. Air ticket lady to give me a later return flight (Saturday instead of Friday) since I'd lost an entire day thanks to them. They tried to make me pay for it but I raised a mild tsunami and they eventually caved.
This means, however, that some lucky family member o' mine will have to get me to Logan by 6:30 a.m. on Saturday (I hadn't thought that far in advance - with spring breakers coming back to college it's going to be a mad house). Soooo I probably just traded one nightmare for another, right? I hope not. Bizarro and I have plans for our anniversary on Saturday.
This is a whole lot of venting because right now this is my only outlet. But let's take this being stuck thing to a whole...'nother....level. Being stuck is a state of mind. Yes, it's true, I cannot do much about my physical situation. I have options - stick this out and hope to God I eventually reach Boston, or cancel the entire trip and stay home for spring break. Other than that, I'm at the mercy of U.S. Air. I can be angry and indignant and walk around with a cloud over my head (which is tempting, I admit), or try to make the best of an unhappy situation. This is the reality of life in the air. Reality is what it is.
However, being the kind of person who always sees opportunities for optimizing, I would like offer this airport a few pointers:
- more outlets
- food options in the terminal (aside from coffee and lollipops)
- more seating
- more than 2 air carriers (U.S. Air and Continental Express)
That is my constructive criticism. It is much more helpful than a wanton rant.
And I really don't know where or how to end this post. I think I'll just sort of drift off into the ether...
Of course this is a metaphor rife with life lessons and pithy quotes and Buddhist teachings.
But at the moment I'm talking about actually being stuck in the f'ing airport. I was supposed to take a 6 a.m. flight to Boston, but it was canceled. Not for the reason you're no doubt thinking of. (But Ms. Bizarro, the Nor'easter...) No, I was informed that it was canceled 3 hours before take off for "maintenance." If you're good at math, you can figure out that that meant I received an automated message from U.S. Air at 3 a.m. I then spoke to a representative who booked me on an early afternoon flight through Philly. Okay, well it meant less of a day with JET, my dearest friend who I essentially booked this flight to see.
I finally fell asleep at 6 a.m. Got up around 9:30, made breakfast, took my time, got to the airport in plenty of time, and after I checked in, got through security and got comfy waiting for boarding, the announcement came that the flight was 2 hours delayed. They announced this at 12:15 for a 12:30 boarding time.
And so now...stuck. In the airport with the screaming baby and his very ill mother a couple rows from me. They are a pair, these two hipster parents. I feel a little bad for them, and for the bambino (a toddler, not a real infant). But I also feel bad for me because I was supposed to have been in Boston an hour and a half ago. And I'm here, instead.
So now we've got later connecting flights out of LaGuardia, one of which will hopefully get us to Boston. And I strongarmed the U.S. Air ticket lady to give me a later return flight (Saturday instead of Friday) since I'd lost an entire day thanks to them. They tried to make me pay for it but I raised a mild tsunami and they eventually caved.
This means, however, that some lucky family member o' mine will have to get me to Logan by 6:30 a.m. on Saturday (I hadn't thought that far in advance - with spring breakers coming back to college it's going to be a mad house). Soooo I probably just traded one nightmare for another, right? I hope not. Bizarro and I have plans for our anniversary on Saturday.
This is a whole lot of venting because right now this is my only outlet. But let's take this being stuck thing to a whole...'nother....level. Being stuck is a state of mind. Yes, it's true, I cannot do much about my physical situation. I have options - stick this out and hope to God I eventually reach Boston, or cancel the entire trip and stay home for spring break. Other than that, I'm at the mercy of U.S. Air. I can be angry and indignant and walk around with a cloud over my head (which is tempting, I admit), or try to make the best of an unhappy situation. This is the reality of life in the air. Reality is what it is.
However, being the kind of person who always sees opportunities for optimizing, I would like offer this airport a few pointers:
- more outlets
- food options in the terminal (aside from coffee and lollipops)
- more seating
- more than 2 air carriers (U.S. Air and Continental Express)
That is my constructive criticism. It is much more helpful than a wanton rant.
And I really don't know where or how to end this post. I think I'll just sort of drift off into the ether...
Tuesday, March 09, 2010
Which way the wind blows
Not sure how I'm feeling now. The weather vane of my mood is not pointing in any certain direction. Mellow, certainly. Tired, certainly. But also have had a very blahh late afternoon/evening. My classes at The Other School on the Hill went well this morning, as well as my afternoon at the community college. Was blasting my tunes driving in the bright sunshine, feeling pretty awesomesauce, but then I got home and the energy just sort of drained out of me. Tried to get some things done but ended up taking a nap. Oh, how lazy of me! Tried ordering Chinese food for dinner and that sucked. I have said it before but I will say it again and with more finality - I am done ordering from that particular Chinese/Vietnamese restaurant. I'm tired of thowing money away on tough chicken with ginger that includes NO vegetables.
I mean, can you imagine? A chinese food carton full of dried chunks of gingery chicken and NOTHING ELSE?
I wanted to take a bath earlier, but took a good look at the tub and said EW. And do I feel like scrubbing the tub? Hells naw.
And so there it is and there you have it. Oh, one more thing. I STUPIDLY ordered a vitamin supplement for what I thought was a 30-day free trial and then realized after I'd ordered it that it wasn't free, it was "risk-free," which is a bullshit marketing term that means you can return it if you don't like it. I'm a dumbass. My intuition warned me, but did I listen? No. NO. I immediately called back and asked the guy to cancel my order, but of course only a manager can do that, so I have to call back in the morning and call this manager dude Robb. Jeezus.
So right now I'm not feeling so spiffy. Tomorrow's my nasty 9-hour day with the independent study and the 7-hour straight shift of tutoring. Something to look forward to, right?
I guess feeling uncertain is better than feeling shitty.
I mean, can you imagine? A chinese food carton full of dried chunks of gingery chicken and NOTHING ELSE?
I wanted to take a bath earlier, but took a good look at the tub and said EW. And do I feel like scrubbing the tub? Hells naw.
And so there it is and there you have it. Oh, one more thing. I STUPIDLY ordered a vitamin supplement for what I thought was a 30-day free trial and then realized after I'd ordered it that it wasn't free, it was "risk-free," which is a bullshit marketing term that means you can return it if you don't like it. I'm a dumbass. My intuition warned me, but did I listen? No. NO. I immediately called back and asked the guy to cancel my order, but of course only a manager can do that, so I have to call back in the morning and call this manager dude Robb. Jeezus.
So right now I'm not feeling so spiffy. Tomorrow's my nasty 9-hour day with the independent study and the 7-hour straight shift of tutoring. Something to look forward to, right?
I guess feeling uncertain is better than feeling shitty.
Sunday, March 07, 2010
And now a real post
As mentioned earlier, my birthday was this past week. I'm not a big birthday celebration kind of gal, though it's always nice to do something fun. I usually plan my own birthday celebrations. The way I see things, it ceased being someone else's responsibility to plan my birthday after I turned 21. I'm not so keen on b-day cards because quite honestly it's a waste of paper and I just end up recycling them. It's fine to receive them and I always appreciate the thought, but the main thing is, it's not what makes my birthday special. Spending it with cool people is what makes it special, without the absurdity of "it's my birthday therefore I am queen."
This year Bizarro and I went with a couple friends of ours on the Seneca Lake wine trail. We hit about 6 wineries but paced ourselves so we could actually enjoy the wines and soak up the wine knowledge dropped on us by the somaliers. We even hit up Hazlitt, which was to us the bottom of the barrel (get it?) when it came to class, wine, and atmosphere. Our fave was Castel Grisch, followed closely by Red Newt. Our friends also treated us to a lovely lunch at Glenora winery as a birthday/ upcoming 5th wedding anniversary celebration. The day was awesomesauce - sunny, funny & boozy.
Heading now into the last week before spring break. I expect it will be crazy busy in the writing center where I tutor, and I've already heard whining from students with work due before and after the break. Honestly, I'm just getting a little too old for that nonsense. I really want to tell them to cram it and deal with it because if they think THIS is bad, just wait until six months after graduation when the first student loan payment is due.
Spending spring break in Boston with my fam and friends. Excited to see folks and spend St. Patty's day with Rrrrache (we have a long history of St. Patty's Day together). My main concern, though, is spending some QT with JET, who is going through something of a hard time right now.
Once I get there (flying) I'm going to rent an car and will hit the beach for some writing time every day. If I had a few more bucks to spare, I'd stay overnight at the hotel on the beach where I stayed last summer, but this time around I'm spending more on travel. It's all good. My brother and his wife will just have to put up with me. Heh.
Time to wind down the night and get a good sleep in before the onslaught of the week.
This year Bizarro and I went with a couple friends of ours on the Seneca Lake wine trail. We hit about 6 wineries but paced ourselves so we could actually enjoy the wines and soak up the wine knowledge dropped on us by the somaliers. We even hit up Hazlitt, which was to us the bottom of the barrel (get it?) when it came to class, wine, and atmosphere. Our fave was Castel Grisch, followed closely by Red Newt. Our friends also treated us to a lovely lunch at Glenora winery as a birthday/ upcoming 5th wedding anniversary celebration. The day was awesomesauce - sunny, funny & boozy.
Heading now into the last week before spring break. I expect it will be crazy busy in the writing center where I tutor, and I've already heard whining from students with work due before and after the break. Honestly, I'm just getting a little too old for that nonsense. I really want to tell them to cram it and deal with it because if they think THIS is bad, just wait until six months after graduation when the first student loan payment is due.
Spending spring break in Boston with my fam and friends. Excited to see folks and spend St. Patty's day with Rrrrache (we have a long history of St. Patty's Day together). My main concern, though, is spending some QT with JET, who is going through something of a hard time right now.
Once I get there (flying) I'm going to rent an car and will hit the beach for some writing time every day. If I had a few more bucks to spare, I'd stay overnight at the hotel on the beach where I stayed last summer, but this time around I'm spending more on travel. It's all good. My brother and his wife will just have to put up with me. Heh.
Time to wind down the night and get a good sleep in before the onslaught of the week.
Tro lo lo lo
I've been swept away by the latest obsession on teh intranets.
This guy rocks my world with bongos, lip syncing, Soviet-era TV budget, and raw sexual maleness.
This guy rocks my world with bongos, lip syncing, Soviet-era TV budget, and raw sexual maleness.
Saturday, March 06, 2010
I missed my own birthday
I was so busy with that thing called WORK that I had no time/focus to acknowledge my own birthday on my own blog. I had to work until 7:00, but then Bizarro took me out to eat and we had a nice evening, which included margaritas and a birthday brownie. So here I am - The Answer to Life, The Universe and Everything.
For once I'm on top of Vladurday, but LOLCATS hasn't posted today's funny. So instead:
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For once I'm on top of Vladurday, but LOLCATS hasn't posted today's funny. So instead:
see more Lol Celebs
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