Airport Entertainment and Getting Home

Well, I made it back from my travels Friday night--very late. But you know the nice thing that NorthWest does for you when they have delayed your flight is entertain you. Yes, the same folks that brought you the mechanics strike, among others, can't seem to get their plane fixed, so they play musical gates. Gate 2 at Reagan National was originally what we were to depart from... and after moving to Gate 5 via the board, we get to Gate 5 only to have the attendant there yell at us that even though the Board said it was our gate we needed to be at 2... meanwhile, over at Gate 2, the attendant is making an overhead announcement that our flight will be departing from Gate 5... now these gates are not more than 50 feet from each other, so the attendants begin to yell across the terminal at each other. Within 1o minutes, we were back at Gate 2... then 5 before we FINALLY departed over an hour later, from gate 3. I feel bad, we never utilized Gate 4. So the flight is delayed though no fault of anyone holding a boarding pass, we've been shuffled from gate to gate for over an hour and the attendant, who decided at some point it made more sense to shout from the door rather than use the speaker, began to tell us that we needed to HURRY UP and board... and that the plane, while still containing enough seat-age, was not as large as the scheduled plane, so if someone is in your seat, take another open one, if your seat no longer exists, just sit someplace and do it QUICKLY. The tone obviously implying this was all our fault.

But here's the thing... once they annouced the Southwest type seating, about 10-15 people within hearing distance shoved forward... I was nearly crushed!! So once on the plane, it became ever apparent that the attendant out in the terminal had not communicated her strategy for boarding and seating with the attendants on the INSIDE of the plane... who wanted all those with no seats (rows 23-26) to just stand in the back of the plane while everyone else boarded. I being in one of those rows, just sat down, as did 2 others and we filled up our row, much to the attendant's dismay... so she ran to the front of the plane in the midst of the meyhem to tell us all how SHE wanted this situation handled. A few seconds later, the original instruction giver appeared and yelled at those standing in the back to just sit somewhere... all in all, very entertaining.

Meanwhile, I'm trying to figure out who the hell the guy in the terminal standing next to me was and chatting me up like he knew me was... I became convinced that I must have gone out with him once or twice... that was until take off... and it became clear that he was my former Master's advisor with whom I couldn't ever get a response or agreement from... And, I would have gone back up after the seatbelt sign had been turned off except I would have had to crawl over the Phelgm Phactory that was sitting next to me and apparently was unaware of the advent of Kleenex. He was lucky I didn't have nail clippers and a file on me--I'd have had to kill him.

Fortunately, my bags were not searched at Reagan... and I only had a 90 year old woman in front of me--FOLDING everything she put into the bin. Yes, she got it all nicely into the bin, and then went through the whole body gloucoma test and magnets, but failed to actually put her bins on the conveyor... It was still early, I had no idea of the delay ahead of me... I was nice and shoved them through while the guy with X-ray vision glared at me suspiciously.

And I made it home without a homocide under my garter. The cats were not amused. They were out of kibble and had destroyed the bag of treats... gutted it like it was a gazelle on the Sahara. I think they wanted me to think that SK had done the damage while she was over on Thursday checking on them... but had she done the said deed, BOTH sides of the bag would not have been torn apart; thereby clearly giving them away.

But the weather has been good and the kitties, while not quite forgiving my absence have had almost 24-hour access to the balcony--even if it was too hot out there today (obviously my fault). Yesterday, I did a 21 mile training walk with a fellow walker who was in town for the weekend. It was good, we finished in 6.5 hours... and I learned a few adjustments will need to be made--I'm not happy about learning this so late in the game, but at least I didn't realize it on the walk.

Speaking of the walk... my 522 mile challenge to train that many miles by May 1 was met on April 18... as of today, I have trained 571 miles. It feels good, even if today was the first day I was sore... like I said, a few adjustments to the new gear are needed!

Is it still rock and roll, and do we still like it?

Well, folks, it is official... hell has come down on us--none of us are safe, prepare for the Rapture to begin... the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted Grandmaster Flash. Has it only been 25 years since his Message ruined Regan's life? Making people aware that there were problems in the ghetto? It's no wonder Regan had to bring AIDS into the inner cities--who ever would have thought that it would travel from the ghettos and gay populations to affect white suburbia? Certainly not a guy from Hollywood... that just seemed like a stretch... a perfect plan backfired. So, I'm sure if Regan remembered, he rolled over in his grave.

My point was not to return to the "glory days" of Reganomics in all its sick and deranged forms and I'm pretty certain I will get emails about how Regan didn't bring AIDS on his own country, but just save it, you can't prove he didn't. MY POINT was that we have reached a new milestone in making me feel old--hip/hop has entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Aside from making me feel old, it also makes me sad. It deserves a place on the wall out of respect, and I'm all for not needing another Hall of anything, but the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is a joke... yep, time for my yearly tirade... but I'll skip to Grandmaster's fellow inductees... because, it's a sadder state that culminates to my point that Grandmaster Flash deserves better.

After a lengthy article denoting the various Van Halen "issues" that are completely expected, old news and without any redeeming journalistic merit, the AP notes:

No such drama was anticipated for R.E.M., only a happy reunion...

Ya don't say... aren't these the Shiny Happy People? (Shiny Happy People who LOST THEIR RELIGION??)

Mr. Grandmaster Flash, sir, a word or two of advice... pull a Prince. Get in there, show up Tom Petty and walk off stage knowing that you are in fact the Grandmaster and fuck the rest of the disfunction. Ok, so maybe Tom Petty won't be there, but pick someone equally of high rank within the "community" kick their ass and call it a night... the rest of them are has-beens. You are not. You still have relevance and respect.