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Nonstop...
Dec. 15th, 2003 10:06 pmI had written a nice post last night on my Zaurus, but when I tapped the keyboard icon on the screen to get at the question mark, the Opera browser exited abruptly, taking my immortal prose with it. Moreover, I was too tired (and it was too late) to start afresh.
The day's travel to Colorado went well. I started to miss Natalie while in the car to the airport, but the urge to return home was overpowering. Upon arriving at the rent-a-car check-in, I was surprised when the young man on duty noted some scratching on the passenger side of the vehicle. Fortunately, I had enough time to go through the formalities of filling out the requisite paperwork, and I took the time to photograph the damage for my own records.
The flight to Phoenix was uneventful. I sat next to a couple of kids who appeared to be on their way home from some kind of gymnastics camp. Part of the way home, the girl sitting next to me saw me fire up the VAIO and asked me if it was for my work. I said yes. She then asked who I worked for. I said I worked for myself (I didn't feel like saying something like "NASA"). Her reaction was unusual: a genuine "Really?" said in a tone that expressed surprise (as in: "There are people who work for themselves?") I don't know what to make of it, and certainly do not expect to lose any sleep over the matter.
Upon arriving in Phoenix, I noted that the place that sells steak subs is still in business as I walked past it to the moving walkway that would take me to the second "B" concourse (where the gate for Durango was). The Burger King is in the first "B" concourse. So much for setting the record straight.
There had to be a glitch somewhere in the pudding, and I ran across it at the gate for Durango. About 40 minutes prior to departure, a minion of America West announced that there was a weather advisory for Durango, and that if the flight took off, the pilot would be flying to Durango, but that if the weather deteriorated en route, the plane would divert to Grand Junction.
To save you the trouble of running to a map of Colorado, Grand Junction is about 140 miles north of Durango, and the road connecting the two winds through some of the prettiest (and most harrowing) roads I've seen. This point is important, because - as the America West person put it - if the plane did divert to Grand Junction, the airline would consider its responsibilities under the ticket agreement to be fulfilled (i.e., we were on our own afterward). The alternative was to spend the night in Phoenix (on our own nickel) and then fly out in the morning, with the airline graciously not charging us for rebooking our tickets.
To say there were questions among the passengers is putting it mildly. Half of us called home to find out what the weather was like and what it was threatening to do. Galina indicated that everything looked calm and cloudless. Another passenger who lives in Durango relayed a report from his wife: clear skies.
Before we could appoint any committees to study the situation, the pilot suggested we board the aircraft and try to push back early from the gate. Personally, I had a certain bounce to my step walking down the jetway, as if I were off to visit some LZ in the boonies.
The plane did push back 5 m inutes early, and we took off nearly immediately. Somehow, the pilot made it to Durango with a half hour to spare (why can't they do that all the time?). To sweeten the pot, even the luggage came out quickly.
This, of course, left me in a position to wait for Galina, who was driving in assuming I was arriving at 8:39 pm.
The rest of the trek home was quiet, with Galina and me keeping a sharp lookout for deer on the road.
* * * The day started early, as Galina had to go to Durango to pick up boxes from our supplier, whose truck visits Durango on a regular basis. I walked to the store.
The store was go, go, go all day long until I left around 3 pm. I concentrated on processing UPS packages, and did probably about 100 of them, with the pile of remaining packages staying about the same size throughout the day.
When I got home, I had a late lunch and took a nap that almost became a sleep session. I got up around 5:40 pm and went downstairs to finish the translation due tomorrow (it's gone). I'm also going to have to do my invoices, except I left my notebook at the store.
It's a little after 10 as I write this, but I suspect I'll be able to go to sleep without any trouble.
Cheers...
The day's travel to Colorado went well. I started to miss Natalie while in the car to the airport, but the urge to return home was overpowering. Upon arriving at the rent-a-car check-in, I was surprised when the young man on duty noted some scratching on the passenger side of the vehicle. Fortunately, I had enough time to go through the formalities of filling out the requisite paperwork, and I took the time to photograph the damage for my own records.
The flight to Phoenix was uneventful. I sat next to a couple of kids who appeared to be on their way home from some kind of gymnastics camp. Part of the way home, the girl sitting next to me saw me fire up the VAIO and asked me if it was for my work. I said yes. She then asked who I worked for. I said I worked for myself (I didn't feel like saying something like "NASA"). Her reaction was unusual: a genuine "Really?" said in a tone that expressed surprise (as in: "There are people who work for themselves?") I don't know what to make of it, and certainly do not expect to lose any sleep over the matter.
Upon arriving in Phoenix, I noted that the place that sells steak subs is still in business as I walked past it to the moving walkway that would take me to the second "B" concourse (where the gate for Durango was). The Burger King is in the first "B" concourse. So much for setting the record straight.
There had to be a glitch somewhere in the pudding, and I ran across it at the gate for Durango. About 40 minutes prior to departure, a minion of America West announced that there was a weather advisory for Durango, and that if the flight took off, the pilot would be flying to Durango, but that if the weather deteriorated en route, the plane would divert to Grand Junction.
To save you the trouble of running to a map of Colorado, Grand Junction is about 140 miles north of Durango, and the road connecting the two winds through some of the prettiest (and most harrowing) roads I've seen. This point is important, because - as the America West person put it - if the plane did divert to Grand Junction, the airline would consider its responsibilities under the ticket agreement to be fulfilled (i.e., we were on our own afterward). The alternative was to spend the night in Phoenix (on our own nickel) and then fly out in the morning, with the airline graciously not charging us for rebooking our tickets.
To say there were questions among the passengers is putting it mildly. Half of us called home to find out what the weather was like and what it was threatening to do. Galina indicated that everything looked calm and cloudless. Another passenger who lives in Durango relayed a report from his wife: clear skies.
Before we could appoint any committees to study the situation, the pilot suggested we board the aircraft and try to push back early from the gate. Personally, I had a certain bounce to my step walking down the jetway, as if I were off to visit some LZ in the boonies.
The plane did push back 5 m inutes early, and we took off nearly immediately. Somehow, the pilot made it to Durango with a half hour to spare (why can't they do that all the time?). To sweeten the pot, even the luggage came out quickly.
This, of course, left me in a position to wait for Galina, who was driving in assuming I was arriving at 8:39 pm.
The rest of the trek home was quiet, with Galina and me keeping a sharp lookout for deer on the road.
The store was go, go, go all day long until I left around 3 pm. I concentrated on processing UPS packages, and did probably about 100 of them, with the pile of remaining packages staying about the same size throughout the day.
When I got home, I had a late lunch and took a nap that almost became a sleep session. I got up around 5:40 pm and went downstairs to finish the translation due tomorrow (it's gone). I'm also going to have to do my invoices, except I left my notebook at the store.
It's a little after 10 as I write this, but I suspect I'll be able to go to sleep without any trouble.
Cheers...
