Posted by Don Quixote
0 commentsWell, after a long day of flying, waiting, and more flying, Michelle and I finally arrived safely at Fort Wayne International Airport at 10:42 p.m.
I have lots of pictures and stories to share, but for tonight, I’m ready to hit the hay.
I’ll see you all in the morning.
Posted by Don Quixote
So I ran off to Vegas.
Crazy huh?
No for real. Honest. I’m writing to you from the 20th floor of the Mirage in partly sunny Las Vegas. It’s been, oh, about never since I’ve taken a vacation to any place for any length of time so rather than let my vacation hours rot away, Michelle and I decided to get each other a big gift this year and head out into the desert.
Today has just been utter madness.
It started at 2:30 am with some last minute packing and then heading into work. Yeah, I know, I probably should have taken today off as well, but bone head didn’t think that far ahead. From there we had to rush down to Fort Wayne International Airport to catch our 7:50 flight.
It’s been since college since I’ve been on a plane so I was sort of nervous. The one thing I’ve learned that traveling by plane is that it’s all about hurrying up and waiting. You stand in line at the ticket counter to check your bags. You stand in line to get screened. You stand in line to board. You stand in line to cram oversized bags into the over head compartment.
You sit and wait for the plane to be de-iced. You sit and wait for the plane to taxi to the runway. You sit and wait to be cleared for take off. Then your plane hits the sky and you are off.
The plane out of Fort Wayne was the smallest plane I’ve ever been on. It was 3 seats wide, two on one side, a small aisle, and then a one seater. It was crazy! Now when I booked this flight two months ago I was thinking. I had two options: Fort Wayne to Chicago to Las Vegas or Fort Wayne to Dallas/Fort Worth to Las Vegas. I said to myself, “Self, do you really want to risk getting stuck in Chicago on the day after Christmas in the cold?” So I headed south. Turned out to be the right idea. The plane to Chicago was delayed by more than 2 hours.
While on the plane I enjoyed a complimentary 4 oz Dr. Pepper and a 1/2 oz bag of cheddar snacks. A meal fit for kings.
Now we were supposed to have an hour layover in Dallas before we headed out to Vegas. However between using the bathroom and riding the train from the remote terminal to the right terminal we got there just minutes before the plane boarded. (Again, more waiting in lines).
This plane was twice the size, but the flight was 10 times worse. Our seats were right on the wing. When I looked out the window all I could see is metal. The windows were set so low in all the other seats that you could not see out anywhere else. Talk about being nauseous! I didn’t think I was going to make it. Thankfully we have different seats for the way home.
Two and a half hours later, we were in Vegas. Again more waiting. Find your luggage. Find your tram to the hotel. Wait in line for the next tram.
Just a side note, the Express Shuttle is not really express. And wholly freakin’ cow too; people drive like mad men in Vegas (even worse than Fort Wayne). I’ve been in two shuttle buses and 5 taxi’s and it’s insane. They’d run over their own mother if they had to. We actually saw a two taxi accident on the way out of the airport, I just hoped they stopped the meter for their passengers.
Any how, we are safe and having fun. I’ll keep you posted as time permits.
Hope your holidays were happy!
(Oh and being 3 hours behind totally blows)
Posted by Don QuixoteMerry Christmas to you all from Michelle and myself.
As our little gift to you, you can download a copy of Andrew Peterson’s performance of Behold the Lamb, Live from Studio B.
Currently there is only one version for your downloading pleasure, but there will be more today or tomorrow:
Small 4:3 (Standard) – 12 Megs, Windows Media File
Medium 4:3 (Standard) – 82 Megs, Windows Media File
Medium 16×9 (Widescreen) – 94 Megs, Windows Media File
Huge 4:3 (Standard) – 500 Megs
Enjoy!
Uncategorized Posted by Don QuixoteSo this is from Uncle John’s this morning. I hope you are as “moved” by it as I was:
One day, just as the job was nearly done, he was up on the scaffold, painting away, when suddenly there was a horrendous clap of thunder. The sky opened up and the rain poured down, washing the thin paint off the church and knocking the painter down onto the lawn, surrounded by puddles of the thinned and useless paint.
Fearing this was a judgment from the Almighty, he fell down on his knees and cried, “Oh, God! Forgive me! What should I do?”
And from the thunder, a mighty voice spoke, “Repaint! Repaint! Go and thin no more!”
I also found this while I was surfing this morning:
STRESS HELPS YOU SEEM IMPORTANT.
Anyone as stressed as you must be working very hard and, therefore, is probably doing something very crucial.
IT HELPS YOU TO MAINTAIN PERSONAL DISTANCE AND AVOID INTIMACY.
Anyone as busy as you are certainly can’t be expected to form emotional attachments to anyone. And let’s face it, you’re not much fun to be around anyway.
IT HELPS YOU AVOID RESPONSIBILITIES.
Obviously you’re too stressed to be given any more work. This gets you off the hook for all the mundane chores; let someone else take care of them.
IT GIVES YOU A CHEMICAL RUSH.
Stress might be considered a cheap thrill, and you can give yourself a “hit” anytime you choose. But be careful, you might get addicted to your own adrenaline.
IT HELPS YOU AVOID SUCCESS.
Why risk being “successful” when by simply staying stressed you can avoid all of that? Stress can keep your performance level low enough that success won’t ever be a threat.
STRESS ALSO LETS YOU KEEP YOUR AUTHORITARIAN MANAGEMENT STYLE.
The authoritarian style of “Just do what I say!” is generally permissible under crisis conditions. If you maintain a permanently stressed crisis atmosphere, you can justify an authoritarian style all the time.
Are you worried now about how to stay stressed? You’ll have no trouble if you practice the following clinically proven methods:
NEVER EXERCISE.
Exercise wastes a lot of time that could be spent worrying.
EAT ANYTHING YOU WANT.
Hey, if cigarette smoke can’t cleanse your system, a balanced diet isn’t likely to.
GAIN WEIGHT.
Work hard at staying at least 25 pounds over your recommended weight.
TAKE PLENTY OF STIMULANTS.
The old standards of caffeine, nicotine, sugar, and cola will continue to do the job just fine.
AVOID “WOO-WOO” PRACTICES.
Ignore the evidence suggesting that meditation, yoga, deep breathing, and/or mental imaging help to reduce stress. The Protestant work ethic is good for everyone, Protestant or not.
GET RID OF YOUR SOCIAL SUPPORT SYSTEM.
Let the few friends who are willing to tolerate you know that concern yourself with friendships only if you have time, and you never have time. If a few people persist in trying to be your friend, avoid them.
PERSONALIZE ALL CRITICISM.
Anyone who criticizes any aspect of your work, family, dog, house, or car is mounting a personal attack. Don’t take time to listen, be offended, then return the attack!
THROW OUT YOUR SENSE OF HUMOR.
Staying stressed is no laughing matter, and it shouldn’t be treated as one.
MALES AND FEMALES ALIKE – BE MACHO.
Never ever ask for help, and if you want it done right, do it yourself!
BECOME A WORKAHOLIC.
Put work before everything else, and be sure to take work home evenings and weekends. Keep reminding yourself that vacations are for sissies.
DISCARD GOOD TIME MANAGEMENT SKILLS.
Schedule in more activities every day than you can possibly get done and then worry about it all whenever you get a chance.
PROCRASTINATE.
Putting things off to the last second always produces a marvelous amount of stress.
WORRY ABOUT THINGS YOU CAN’T CONTROL.
Worry about the stock market, earthquakes, the approching Ice Age, you know, all the big issues.
BECOME NOT ONLY A PERFECTIONIST BUT SET IMPOSSIBLY HIGH STANDARDS.
…and either beat yourself up, or feel guilty, depressed, discouraged, and/or inadequate when you don’t meet them.
Uncategorized Posted by Don Quixote
Yesterday was utter madness.
The morning started with another trip to the newspaper. You can only guess how much fun that was, but I was optimistic. Wednesday was my last day at the University for the year as we have a wonderful Christmas break there (Dec. 23rd through Jan. 2nd), and it was going to be our last day.
We had planned on having a carry in dinner for all of Campus Computing and I was assigned to bring the cheese and crackers.
A cheese and crackers plate.
What do I know about cheese and crackers? Of all the things at a carry in this is like the area that I avoid the most. I’m not a big cheese guy (granted, I am cheese, but that doesn’t make me a cheese guy), and crackers, we’ll you eat them with soup. To top off all the stress, when my boss assigned to it, she added the caveat, “Be creative.”
How in the hell do you get creative with a cheese and cracker plate?
I stressed. I planned. I replanned. Finally I came up with an idea. Then I decided I hated it and picked another.
I took a keyboard (donated by Computer Renaissance) and removed the main keyboard and the keypad and lined with foil and plastic wrap. I then stacked little cheese cubes in there for people’s consuming pleasure. I had originally purchased a basket like tray to keep the crackers on, but then I got this crazy idea to super glue old CDs together and make a tray.
When I got to the office I found out that my Super Glue and gotten hard and had to make a trip to the store to get some more. Now, normally this wouldn’t be a huge deal but come one people it’s 3 days before Christmas. I was afraid to go to Best Buy on Tuesday for fear of my life and parking. Yet, the fates were kind me and I was able to go to Wal*Mart and Best Buy and get back in half an hour. Who knew?
I got my tray glued together. I got every kind of cheese you could imagine including string cheese and Cheese Wiz (nothing was too good for Campus Computing). Now, that may not have qualified as creative, but meh, what are you going to do?
So that whole thing went off without a hitch; well until I was packing up and carrying everything back to my office. I was attempting to carry every thing in one trip (I’m the guy who believes that everything can be done in one trip) and get my keys out and I dropped the CD tray and it shattered all over the floor. DOH!
The day didn’t stop there.
When Michelle and I later went to Arby’s we had this crazy guy who ordered coffee and a cup of ice sit behind us. He was hummy, crunching on ice and making really creepy noises, I didn’t know weather to laugh or run away. It was a little freaky.
To crap (yes, crap) things off when I got home, guess what? No cable modem.
So now it’s Thursday.
We have 8 inches of snow on the group. The division has no idea that we live at the end of the street and it never gets plowed. Thank God for my Element.
This crazy guy in a mini-van driving like 50 (and the roads were awful) almost ran me off the road on my way in this morning. You would have thought the guy was on the way to the hospital but I guess he wasn’t.
So here I am at the newspaper again. Killing the time until I can leave and go give Michelle the Element so she can get to work (there is no way in the world she is going to get in with her Accord, especially as long as our street isn’t plowed).
What a crazy day.
Oh, The REAL Gilligan’s Island sucked. What were they thinking?
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