Well now. Looking through my notebook from last week, it seems I skipped several pages of regurgitation. We can’t have that, can we? Sure, it’s outdated now by almost a week, but who cares? It was put to paper, so there must be some value in it regardless of the content. If not, how does Ann Coulter get published?
01JUL2006
Things I could and should change. It is just shy of 5:30am Eastern as I write this and I have had a grand total of 1.5 hours of sleep in the past 24 hours. I awoke at 3:30am for a 4:30am pickup, giving me over 2.5 hours to get to the airport, check in and work my way through the various lines. Sine I have already made it through said lines and dined on a cold chocolate croissant and the world’s second-worst mocha (thank you, Hudson News Euro-Café, conveniently located here at gates 1-10, Raygun International) I may have overestimated my time requirements by just a tad. Or perhaps a scoosh. Still, why the hell did I not go to be at a reasonable time? Vices, that’s why.
There are several things about me I could easily change and sure as hell should. I have frequently expounded upon my lack of discipline. I have probably mentioned my fondness for procrastination once or twice. And surely I have admitted that I am lazy, right? Well, let’s clear the air, add to the list and beat this dead horse further, shall we? When stressed (or traveling) I exercise less and eat more. Sort of a perverse anti-balancing act. If it were celery — like the rest of you stress eaters, right? – it wouldn’t be that big a deal. It isn’t celery. When stressed, I like to gorge on sweets and grease. Not Crisco and a pound of sugar, but still not the healthiest. My dark chocolate consumption goes way up (a good thing, damn you!), but so does my ice cream consumption. And charred flesh (i.e. barbeque) consumption. Eating until I am full is replaced with eating until it is painful. Silly me.
Sleep. Wonderful, funderful sleep. I like sleeping, or at least the fantasy worlds intertwined with sleep and almost sleep. I tend to get a lot less of it, or get it at odd times, when stressed or traveling. When traveling, I make up for a lack of cable television at home by watching all the HBO, Comedy Central, Cartoon Network and Animal Planet that I can. I wake up and turn on the tv. I get back from a long day and turn on the tv. I watch. My eyes droop. I turn up the volume and channel-surf. Next thing I know, it is 2am and I need to be up in four hours. This might explain why I am so embarrassingly spacey on-site. Yawn.
I am sure there is more (I rarely call or write friends and family, forget birthdays, spend to much time reading in the bathroom, correct other people’s spelling and grammar . . . ), but that is all I am willing to admit to now. Looking this over, it all seems to boil down to discipline. Hmmm. Someday I will change, but right now I think I want a pastry and some cocoa.
9:12am Eastern. Or is it Central now?
By the time this posts, the shuttle Discovery should have launched. Or not. I am hoping for success. Speaking of which, the French Meadow Bakery in the Minneapolis/Saint Paul International Airport knows how to make oatmeal. In the restaurant world, this is actually quite amazing. Steel-cut organic oats, milk, golden raisins, bananas and toasted almond slivers. Yum! If only they offered brown sugar, cinnamon and vanilla, it would have been a perfect bowl.
1:07pm Eastern or Central. Whichever zone I was in at 9:12, dammit!
Hey, thanks NWA! I am still on the ground. We should have left two hours ago, but the plane keeps breaking. Makes one question the wisdom of flying with an airline that is both morally and financially bankrupt. They did provide some passengers with free chilled water during our brief time on the plane. How long until they admit that they have no idea what is wrong with the plane, no spare and that we are all on our own? Not long, probably. It turns out that half the people here were supposed to have flown out on a flight NWA abandoned last night. Way to go, guys!
From what I remember on my last through trips through this airport, NWA does not make it easy to get your free food and lodging vouchers after they screw your weekend over like this. I just want to go home, you lying useless pukes! Note to self: Do NOT forget to never fly NWA again. Just another company where the customer comes last. Spokane’s slogan is “Near Nature. Near Perfect.” NWA could use “Northwest. Near Worthless”.
Hey again, can you tell I am a mite bit grumpy? I have spent far too much of my time stalled in airports. Hubs of transportation and inaction. I have a book, but I doze off every page or so. I am going to get whiplash with all the head dips and snap-awakes. Okay, I am going back to head-jerking and trying to be hopeful.
2:05pm. Still in the same damned time zone.
And they’ve given up. The gaggle of NWA mechanics have put away their divining sticks and quit shaking dead chickens at the aircraft. The latest word is we should be getting a new aircraft sometime soon in another terminal. Details to follow.
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