Still Loafing on Christmas Vacation

Hi. Me again. I'm STILL lazing about, not tending to my blog. I'll likely have 3 readers when I return full strength. For those of you who've hung in there, here is the perfect video clip to bridge the Christmas-New Year's gap!

Still on Christmas Vacation

Yes, yes, I know I am being a lazy pig. And, I promise I'm going to get some stuff up later today? But for now, I'm going to enjoy my morning, and go out with The Other Half for pancakes!

Back to Ohio: Day Five - Back to Las Vegas!

Today wraps up my mini-vacation back to Ohio. As of this writing (done ahead of my trip to keep the blog fresh), I have no way of knowing how the trip went. Hopefully all went well!

In the mean time, here is my final place-holder post, this time. . .

Matt Foley, Motivational Speaker: In a Van Down by the River! from Saturday Night Live

Travelogue, Part the Second

Photo from airfarewatchdog.com

I've been in Ohio for two days now, and have just had the opportunity to check in. I'm glad to see that Stupid Monkey Planet had the opportunity to stop by as well, and that my "time release" blog posts are showing up as planned.

Since I haven't been paying attention to the news, I have nothing of substance to add at this juncture. But I thought it might be a good opportunity to recap my all-night travel "day" on the way to the heart of Ohio.

It started well. My friend Dona's brother picked me up as scheduled and delivered me to the airport with no problems. I breezed through security, and landed at my gate with much time to spare. How much time that would grow into, I would have no idea. At around 10:30 pm, an announcement was made that our flight crew was late. There were problems in San Francisco, and they would not be arriving for quite some time. Though the plane was due to take off at 10:57, we would not be boarding until 11:25!

I never heard them call my "zone," so I just got in line as it dwindled down, and took my seat (16A, a window seat, though I had "reserved" an aisle) at about 11:30 pm. For the next half hour, we sat there with no air conditioning. If it was any cooler than 95 degrees, I'd be shocked. And a screaming baby two rows behind me began his song. Finally, at midnight, the air started to blow, and it was announced that we had a pilot!

We eventually took off at around 12:15 am, headed for Charlotte, where I had originally been scheduled for an hour and a half layover. I dozed a bit, woke a bit, dozed a bit. At around 6:00 am or so, I awoke (presumably over Tennessee) to witness a spectacular lightning storm. We were above a cottony layer of clouds, with bursts of lighting popping around my entire field of vision below me. All the way to the horizon, and as far as I could see east and west, strobes were going off in a fashion I've never witnessed before in my life. I was glad I woke up to see it.

We landed in Charlotte at 7:10 or so, and the crew asked for the help of Charlotte-bound passengers to please stay seated, so that those of us with connecting flights could be allowed to make our schedules. They did not comply. The ninety or so people in front of me took their usual, frustrating, maddeningly slow time getting their things, and moving out of the plane. At the gate, I was informed that I needed to get to gate E-3. . .and I was at B-something.

I ran/power-walked the entire distance, and barely made it to the gate. After struggling with an incomprehensible (and slightly hostile) gate agent, I finally got on board, onto a little tiny express plane, and had seats A-1 and A-2 to myself! Other than spending the flight debating the gender of my flight attendant, the rest of the trip went smoothly.

I am certain that I've had a similar experience in Charlotte previously. In fact, during my trek from the B to the E concourse, I had sort of a deja vu of having had deja vu before of the exact event. So it is possible that everyone who lands in the B concourse in Charlotte has to run to the E concourse to make their flight on time. Avoid Charlotte, just to be safe!

The End of My Vacation

Photo from SEOBlackHat

I always look forward to time off from work, but rarely more so than when that week falls over the holidays, and I'm spending that time at home. But, even with the unusually long break, from Christmas Eve until today, the days zip by way too fast. The task I'd scheduled for myself didn't really get underway until Friday evening, and I've only just finished, taking away any relaxation the weekend might have brought.

So, it will be off to work in a few short hours, which does make me sad. The "event" I so long had to look forward to will now be in rear-view, and nothing much to look forward to for the bleak winter months. Martin Luther King Day? No presents, so meh. Valentine's Day? It's great that I have a valentine for a twelfth consecutive year, but we don't celebrate it much. No, I think that I will have to wait until the days start getting longer, and when Daylight Saving Time starts before I lift out of a gentle funk.

But the new office space--my big project--is comfortable, and looks great. We will spend the next few days cleaning, painting and redecorating the old space into a guest room. And of course there is the Christmas tear-down, something we usually hold off until the 9th or 10th of January. So the change of pace, and the activity of doing it will at least be a distraction.

And, we have inauguration day to look forward to, the end (no doubt, with a whimper) of the Bush Era. That alone ought to lift my spirits, if only for a little while. It's oddly anticlimactic, actually. Can't we get somebody like Patrick Fitzgerald to supply us with some orange jumpsuits and shackles for the march out of the White House? Ah, dreams. . .

Greenlee Gazette Holiday Vacation

Every year for the last five years or so, I've managed to take a week off during the holidays (no "War on Christmas" stuff here, I mean Christmas and New Year's, like most sane people). It's a relaxing way to spend the last week of the year, and removes the hassle of trying to squeeze holiday responsibilities and fun around a work schedule.

This year's week off landed kinda funny on the calendar though. Usually, it's a week between Christmas and New Year's. This year, with Christmas and New Year's Eve on Wednesdays, I had to choose one week or the other. So, I took New Year's week, giving me Dec. 24 - Jan 4 off. Pretty sweet stuff, even if some is unpaid. Today being Monday, it is the first "official" day of my vacation. But in an 11-day stretch of days off, I'm actually already at day five. Not quite half. But it's amazing how long the vacation takes to get here, and how fast it goes by.

That's a long way to go to launch my way into a post. And I don't have anything particularly profound to say just yet today. I turned on the news, and found nothing new (unless a missing cruise ship passenger stokes your "missing white chick" fire). I'll try again later in the day, and hope to bring you something interesting-ish. But if I don't, you'll understand, right?