Awesome weekend...horrible ending
Wow…I can honestly say that I’m glad that I made it home a) in one piece and b) within one day of leaving BWI, but before I explain all of that wonderful stuff, let me explain how wonderful my weekend was (so that you can be jealous of me and my coolness or something…well, actually, the only reason I had a great weekend was because I’m dating the most awesome woman in the world).
On Thursday evening, I was talking with groovy online and (to make a long story short because I’ve been told I tend to take too long in telling stories, and yet even mentioning this fact makes the present story even longer than it should be) it was decided that we would split the cost of a ticket for me to fly up to visit on Friday evening till Sunday evening. Now, a quick note: I am not usually this spontaneous. I’m one of those people that is usually very calculated and reserved…very sure of what I want to say and do long before I say or do it. This new spontaneity has been quite fun and very refreshing. Anyway, I purchased the ticket and rushed home that evening to pack.
Friday passed in a blur. I mean, I really don’t remember much of what happened at work (except for being yelled at by one of the oldies who I promptly put back in her place (don’t you hate it when you agree on doing something at a specific time only to be yelled at for not having it completed 3 days in advance?! Don’t worry, dear reader, I was very gentle in my rebuttal)). I got to MLU at about 5 pm and was actually standing behind the Vice President of the school that I work at (that was interesting). The flight went from MLU to ATL (I got to ride the underground railway thing again: “Please hold on, the train is leaving the station”…BELIEVE THAT!!!), and then from ATL 1 hour later to BWI.
I was pretty dumb on the flight from MLU to ATL and strained my eyes which gave me a wicked headache that was MUCH worse by the time we landed in BWI. It was so bad that I really couldn’t keep my eyes open anywhere that there were lots of lights (yeah, I was dumb…but, I can’t help looking at the lights that are 27,000 feet below is…it’s amazing and very peaceful). Groovy could tell that something was wrong right away (that was the first thing she asked, actually) and thankfully once we got on 270, it wasn’t that bad.
Saturday, we got up went to an animal shelter. There were so many Pit Bull dogs there it was scary. Pit Bulls are just about the meanest looking dog that I’ve ever seen, or at least, I would never want to own one of my own simply for the fear that I would wake up one morning with it’s jaws clamped firmly around my throat. Anyway, they had several beagles, tons of cats (which includes the most vocal cat I’ve ever heard…it was like listening to the Meow-Mix commercial AT VOLUME!), 3 rabbits, and a bunch of other dogs (one HORRIBLY annoying toy poodle). Why were we there? Well, we were just looking at animals on the internet and were trying to find what all animals there were offered in that area.
We left there and went to a Sushi place for lunch (maybe I have the time table backwards…actually, I’m pretty sure I do, but that’s ok…you’ll understand why later). Now, I ordered the California Roll and then the Tuna Roll, and groovy had the California Roll and a Smoked Salmon with cream cheese roll. Believe it or not, it was excellent! There is this green pasty stuff called “wassabi” that you mix with soy sauce for a nice dipping sauce. Want to know what it’s like? Pour lighter fluid down your throat and swallow a lit match. I’m kidding, it’s nowhere near that bad. It wasn’t even that hot (until I happened on a bit that I didn’t mix up that well…whew!), and was really yummy. The California roll was also rolled in caviar for color (it was orange), so it looked as interesting as it tasted (which was really good…yes, I’ll go back and yes, I’ll order sushi again).
We ended up taking a nap on Saturday afternoon and then woke up to go have dinner with groovy’s coworkers at this place called Cacique (which is Spanish for “What” and a weird spelling for house…so I think that means, “Are we home yet?”, “What house are we at?” or something similar). Anyway, I’ll go around the table and introduce everyone (just on the off chance that anyone that was actually there (besides myself and groovy) reads this, all names are meant to be funny or something and in no way reflect what I think about anyone): At the head of the table was Mr. A. Mr. A isn’t a distant relative of Mr. T or anything like that. Very interesting person with an interesting sense of humor. To his right was Mrs. A, or more aptly named, Mrs. B. Mrs. B works in a school (I know in what capacity, but I won’t put anything too specific here so as to protect everyone’s secret identities!). Mrs. B is another interesting person. She seemed much more extroverted than I am, but then again, that could be because she was surrounded by people that she knew (except for yours truly!) and was comfortable. Next was Mrs. Ulcer, named thusly because she’s going to work in an air traffic control center, and I can only imagine, after watching such movies at “Pushing Tin” that 90% of those that work there have stomach issues of one form or another. She was very quiet (probably as quiet as I was, now that I think about it), but seemed rather nice. Next to her was Mr. Ulcer (previously named The Joker – from the snow tubing expedition). Mr. Ulcer was in rare form once again and dazzled the audience with his renditions of the Blue Collar Comedy Tour acts and Star Wars characters. This is not to say that he’s just one of those people that is ALWAYS joking…he can be really serious as well, but in a funny way. Next was Mrs. Hollow leg (please remember, this is supposed to be funny!!!). At one point in our dining experience, there were 2 empty bowls of chips, 4 empty bowls of salsa, her drinks and several empty beer bottles surrounding here (pictures were taken, I assure you). The items that were located around her weren’t exactly put there as a joke, most of it was asked for. Thin people that can eat more than me make me sick (just kidding!). She was a very funny person, although she’s prone to beating people and making poor individuals stand on balconies for non-apparent reason (inside joke…”Three walls!”). She tried to bond with me at one point, but I answered a question incorrectly and she had nothing to do with me after that (another joke). Next to her was Mr. Toothless, named thusly because of an accident involving a tooth flying through the air and landing in an orchestra pit (which was later found and unsuccessfully re-implanted in his face). He seemed like a very nice guy. The only other two people sitting at the table were yours truly and a most lovely, very witty, and dazzlingly intelligent groovy.
Sunday, we woke up and had coffee, donuts and a Washington Post for breakfast (the Post was read, not ingested!). We ended up leaving for the airport around 5 or so, and quickly realized that because of the impending snow storm and delays out of Atlanta that I wasn’t going to make my connecting flight. We sat in line (twice) only to realize that (thank you for your level headedness, groovy!) I could reschedule myself on an earlier flight that would give me an extra hour to make the connecting flight! Well, we went ahead and did that, even though it meant that we would have 1 hour less to sit and talk. I made it to the terminal with 15 minutes to spare. We boarded the plane at 7:50, and proceeded to sit, definitely not in the air, for the next hour. After ages, we finally left BWI airport (at this point, the plane was only 1 hour late, so my 2 hour 15 min window was down to 1 hour 15). We landed at ATL after flying through snow, rain, high winds and cats and dogs at about 10:25. I knew my plane was supposed to leave at 11:25 or so, so we went ahead and went to the terminal to check in so that I would be sure to be able to find it when the time came. I walked up to the counter and saw “Departure time: 1:38am” on the board. Thinking my eyes were crossed, that I forgot to read numbers and several other less nice things, I asked the ticket agent, “Um…hi. I don’t mean to sound stupid, but is that the REAL time the plane will be leaving?” “Yes,” she replied. JOY! I think to myself. Not only did I rebook my flight for an hour earlier so that I would be SURE to make my connecting flight, but the airline company had enough foresight to reschedule the LAST flight out of ATL headed to MLU an extra 3 hours later…just for me (You gotta love airlines that have THAT much customer service running through their veins!! (please don’t slip and fall on the sarcasm that is pooling under your feet)). I decided that if I was going to be stuck in ATL for 3 hours that I would get something to eat, so I did, and I also looked around for a calling card because I was going to call groovy for no more than 5 min so that I could explain the situation, but they wanted $10 for a 20 minute card (which is even more expensive than those in flight phones!) and I, wisely, decided I would rather eat than wake groovy up. Finally, at 1:30 or so, the flight boarded and FINALLY took off at 2 (yes, 2 am). After a nice 1 hour 15 min nap, I woke up to find us on the final approach to MLU. It took me 45 min to drive home, at which time I wrote a quick email to groovy, and promptly fell asleep (thankfully, I had enough foresight to set the alarm).
Anyway, it was a really excellent weekend, as long as you ignore the last 12 hours of it!
On Thursday evening, I was talking with groovy online and (to make a long story short because I’ve been told I tend to take too long in telling stories, and yet even mentioning this fact makes the present story even longer than it should be) it was decided that we would split the cost of a ticket for me to fly up to visit on Friday evening till Sunday evening. Now, a quick note: I am not usually this spontaneous. I’m one of those people that is usually very calculated and reserved…very sure of what I want to say and do long before I say or do it. This new spontaneity has been quite fun and very refreshing. Anyway, I purchased the ticket and rushed home that evening to pack.
Friday passed in a blur. I mean, I really don’t remember much of what happened at work (except for being yelled at by one of the oldies who I promptly put back in her place (don’t you hate it when you agree on doing something at a specific time only to be yelled at for not having it completed 3 days in advance?! Don’t worry, dear reader, I was very gentle in my rebuttal)). I got to MLU at about 5 pm and was actually standing behind the Vice President of the school that I work at (that was interesting). The flight went from MLU to ATL (I got to ride the underground railway thing again: “Please hold on, the train is leaving the station”…BELIEVE THAT!!!), and then from ATL 1 hour later to BWI.
I was pretty dumb on the flight from MLU to ATL and strained my eyes which gave me a wicked headache that was MUCH worse by the time we landed in BWI. It was so bad that I really couldn’t keep my eyes open anywhere that there were lots of lights (yeah, I was dumb…but, I can’t help looking at the lights that are 27,000 feet below is…it’s amazing and very peaceful). Groovy could tell that something was wrong right away (that was the first thing she asked, actually) and thankfully once we got on 270, it wasn’t that bad.
Saturday, we got up went to an animal shelter. There were so many Pit Bull dogs there it was scary. Pit Bulls are just about the meanest looking dog that I’ve ever seen, or at least, I would never want to own one of my own simply for the fear that I would wake up one morning with it’s jaws clamped firmly around my throat. Anyway, they had several beagles, tons of cats (which includes the most vocal cat I’ve ever heard…it was like listening to the Meow-Mix commercial AT VOLUME!), 3 rabbits, and a bunch of other dogs (one HORRIBLY annoying toy poodle). Why were we there? Well, we were just looking at animals on the internet and were trying to find what all animals there were offered in that area.
We left there and went to a Sushi place for lunch (maybe I have the time table backwards…actually, I’m pretty sure I do, but that’s ok…you’ll understand why later). Now, I ordered the California Roll and then the Tuna Roll, and groovy had the California Roll and a Smoked Salmon with cream cheese roll. Believe it or not, it was excellent! There is this green pasty stuff called “wassabi” that you mix with soy sauce for a nice dipping sauce. Want to know what it’s like? Pour lighter fluid down your throat and swallow a lit match. I’m kidding, it’s nowhere near that bad. It wasn’t even that hot (until I happened on a bit that I didn’t mix up that well…whew!), and was really yummy. The California roll was also rolled in caviar for color (it was orange), so it looked as interesting as it tasted (which was really good…yes, I’ll go back and yes, I’ll order sushi again).
We ended up taking a nap on Saturday afternoon and then woke up to go have dinner with groovy’s coworkers at this place called Cacique (which is Spanish for “What” and a weird spelling for house…so I think that means, “Are we home yet?”, “What house are we at?” or something similar). Anyway, I’ll go around the table and introduce everyone (just on the off chance that anyone that was actually there (besides myself and groovy) reads this, all names are meant to be funny or something and in no way reflect what I think about anyone): At the head of the table was Mr. A. Mr. A isn’t a distant relative of Mr. T or anything like that. Very interesting person with an interesting sense of humor. To his right was Mrs. A, or more aptly named, Mrs. B. Mrs. B works in a school (I know in what capacity, but I won’t put anything too specific here so as to protect everyone’s secret identities!). Mrs. B is another interesting person. She seemed much more extroverted than I am, but then again, that could be because she was surrounded by people that she knew (except for yours truly!) and was comfortable. Next was Mrs. Ulcer, named thusly because she’s going to work in an air traffic control center, and I can only imagine, after watching such movies at “Pushing Tin” that 90% of those that work there have stomach issues of one form or another. She was very quiet (probably as quiet as I was, now that I think about it), but seemed rather nice. Next to her was Mr. Ulcer (previously named The Joker – from the snow tubing expedition). Mr. Ulcer was in rare form once again and dazzled the audience with his renditions of the Blue Collar Comedy Tour acts and Star Wars characters. This is not to say that he’s just one of those people that is ALWAYS joking…he can be really serious as well, but in a funny way. Next was Mrs. Hollow leg (please remember, this is supposed to be funny!!!). At one point in our dining experience, there were 2 empty bowls of chips, 4 empty bowls of salsa, her drinks and several empty beer bottles surrounding here (pictures were taken, I assure you). The items that were located around her weren’t exactly put there as a joke, most of it was asked for. Thin people that can eat more than me make me sick (just kidding!). She was a very funny person, although she’s prone to beating people and making poor individuals stand on balconies for non-apparent reason (inside joke…”Three walls!”). She tried to bond with me at one point, but I answered a question incorrectly and she had nothing to do with me after that (another joke). Next to her was Mr. Toothless, named thusly because of an accident involving a tooth flying through the air and landing in an orchestra pit (which was later found and unsuccessfully re-implanted in his face). He seemed like a very nice guy. The only other two people sitting at the table were yours truly and a most lovely, very witty, and dazzlingly intelligent groovy.
Sunday, we woke up and had coffee, donuts and a Washington Post for breakfast (the Post was read, not ingested!). We ended up leaving for the airport around 5 or so, and quickly realized that because of the impending snow storm and delays out of Atlanta that I wasn’t going to make my connecting flight. We sat in line (twice) only to realize that (thank you for your level headedness, groovy!) I could reschedule myself on an earlier flight that would give me an extra hour to make the connecting flight! Well, we went ahead and did that, even though it meant that we would have 1 hour less to sit and talk. I made it to the terminal with 15 minutes to spare. We boarded the plane at 7:50, and proceeded to sit, definitely not in the air, for the next hour. After ages, we finally left BWI airport (at this point, the plane was only 1 hour late, so my 2 hour 15 min window was down to 1 hour 15). We landed at ATL after flying through snow, rain, high winds and cats and dogs at about 10:25. I knew my plane was supposed to leave at 11:25 or so, so we went ahead and went to the terminal to check in so that I would be sure to be able to find it when the time came. I walked up to the counter and saw “Departure time: 1:38am” on the board. Thinking my eyes were crossed, that I forgot to read numbers and several other less nice things, I asked the ticket agent, “Um…hi. I don’t mean to sound stupid, but is that the REAL time the plane will be leaving?” “Yes,” she replied. JOY! I think to myself. Not only did I rebook my flight for an hour earlier so that I would be SURE to make my connecting flight, but the airline company had enough foresight to reschedule the LAST flight out of ATL headed to MLU an extra 3 hours later…just for me (You gotta love airlines that have THAT much customer service running through their veins!! (please don’t slip and fall on the sarcasm that is pooling under your feet)). I decided that if I was going to be stuck in ATL for 3 hours that I would get something to eat, so I did, and I also looked around for a calling card because I was going to call groovy for no more than 5 min so that I could explain the situation, but they wanted $10 for a 20 minute card (which is even more expensive than those in flight phones!) and I, wisely, decided I would rather eat than wake groovy up. Finally, at 1:30 or so, the flight boarded and FINALLY took off at 2 (yes, 2 am). After a nice 1 hour 15 min nap, I woke up to find us on the final approach to MLU. It took me 45 min to drive home, at which time I wrote a quick email to groovy, and promptly fell asleep (thankfully, I had enough foresight to set the alarm).
Anyway, it was a really excellent weekend, as long as you ignore the last 12 hours of it!
posted by LaTech at 8:41 AM
2 Comments:
I can't go to Humane Societies. Ever time I do, we end up with another pet. The last time I went we got my cat. I wasn't allowed back after that.
Looks like another good weekend.
Ask }{ how his was.
Webmaster here...
Ahhh Yes, those wonderful Airlines. They make cutting a football field with scissors look like an efficent means to an end. I have my own Airline horror story that I'd love to share... Remember the American Airlines "Sick out" in the late/mid-nineties (forgive my poor recollection)? Well of all times to be travleing (and I don't travel much mind you), my dad, my brother, and I signed-up for a ski-trip through the university my father is alumnus of (6 months in advance mind you). BOY was that FUN!!! The whole group got split up. I was seperated from my family and ended up at Dallas-Love Field where some Pakistani taxi drivers were fighting over the small group I left with. Then we had to get to DFW to get a flight to Denver (DIA). We ended up losing a day of skiing, but I guess I got an interesting life experience. Gotta love those airlines...
Okay enought about that, you ate sushi? Eww... As for the Humane Society, my wife is forbidden from going to those as well. She showed up with a dog last week. I'm thinking of keeping the dog and getting rid of her (just kidding)...
Glad to hear you had a good time, and if you ever hear the term "sick-out," do yourself a favor, take the bus or train instead.
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