Houston, here we come
This post is more journal than rant. If you're looking for my usual level of vitriol, move along. I'm sure I'll have something to bitch about later.
Thursday (day 0) was scheduled to start at the usual godawful hour of 6am. Kreely got up with the alarm, per routine. I threw something clawed and furry at the alarm then rolled over and went back to sleep, per routine. That, however, was the end of the normal routine. Due to medical problems, kreely called out with a morning doctor's appointment. I slept while she was away, got up late, and by the time we left, I was two hours late. Such is life. Fast-forward through a mostly usual day that kreely spent in Redmond while I worked. I finally finished up around 8:30pm.
We looked at parking at the airport is somewhere around $20 per day, which translates to $100 for the trip. Van shuttle service to the airport is $25 per person per trip, which is, yep, $100 for the trip. No thank you. Public transit: $1.25 for her, free for me with my bus pass. 8:50 Get on the bus. 10:15 Arrive at the airport. 10:55 Check in and go through security. 11:00 Get in just under the gate as the last restaurant at the airport closes. 11:05 Eat. 11:15 Proceed to gate B-9. 11:20 Discover that airport wi-fi racket requires pay for http but not ssh. Kill some time. 12:15am Hear announcement about our flight leaving from gate B-11. Realize that the Continental ticket agent sent us to the wrong gate. 12:20, 12:23, 12:28 Announcements requesting a volunteer to be bumped off overbooked flight. 12:30 Flight scheduled to leave. 12:35 Passengers get off plane. 12:41 "Volunteer" bumped from overbooked flight. 12:47 start boarding. 1:24am Taxi down runway 34C and take off.
During the interim while the plane was being prepared for the new passengers, in my semi-unconscious state, I thought I overheard one of the Continental agents say the phrase "twenty-three foxtrot" into a walkie-talkie. I checked my boarding pass, and noticed that I was assigned seat 23F. Kreely thought I was probably hallucinating, but I was worried that I might be the lucky "volunteer" to get bumped. Turns out it was nothing so common or mundane. Once we boarded the flight, I discovered that my seat had indeed been singled out, but not how I expected. When a plane journey starts, travelers are advised that their seat cushion could be used as a floatation device. The prior occupant of one seat had, upon not having experienced a water landing during which this could be tested, so decided, I suppose, in the spirit of scientific inquiry, to keep the cushion handy in case a water landing took place after the flight. One insignificant side effect of this noble scientific spirit is that seat 23F had no cushion. I had only a seat frame and some velcro straps on which to sit. I chose to stand until the flight attendant handed me a new seat cushion.
Uneventful flight. I never left my seat. After a while my blood stopped circulating. I don't think coach class is made for normal-sized humans. The in-flight movie was the 2005 remake of The Poseidon Adventure. Maybe I'm the only one who saw the irony in showing a disaster movie aboard a plane. Kreely loved it. I tried to sleep without much success. 6:45am local time touchdown. 7:15 Baggage Claim. 7:35 Avis rental car desk. 7:50 Begin journey to conquer Houston in our Chevy Impala. 7:50:01 Fumble for sunglasses. Guess what just came over the horizon. By this time, I was mostly unconscious. We drove across Houston, found the motel, and checked in by 8:40. By Nine, I was snoring.
Friday was a blur. I woke up about noon. Kreely had been puttering around, and crashed on the bed while I showered. At 2pm we went out to help set up for the wedding, and were there until nine. It was great to see all the people, but by the end I was dead. We came back to the motel. She's out with several old friends bar hopping, and I wish her luck. I'm going to bed soon. Will post this when I can get the motel's spotty wireless to work.
Right now, I'm just tired.