I’m heading down to Atlanta for a conference. It starts first thing Monday so have to leave the night before. It’s been a bunch of ups and downs so far:
1. This morning I thought my flight was at 4:30. It was at 5:30 so gained an hour!
2. Ready to leave and can’t find a cab. Getting into the danger zone. First cab I reserve is a no show after 20 minutes of waiting. So reserve another cab to come. First cab arrives but is just a big black SUV with no signage. A bit sketchy. And the second cab guy says they’ve seen some shady dealings with this guy - he’s not licensed, etc. I decide to play it safe. But am running seriously late - a bit of a downer.
3. Second cab shows up minutes later and while racing to the airport I talk with the guy at dispatch and apparently the first cab driver calls to cancel my pick-up, to mess with me. But Marco, from the second cab company knows whats what and asks to speak with the woman (me) who placed the order. He’s got my back and this after doing some switching to get me a cab as quickly as possible. I’m in good hands.
4. Get to the airport and run to the desk. I thought I had made it in time since I still had 25 minutes plus. Nope, they shut down ticket issuing 30 minutes prior. I missed my flight and need to pay a fee to catch another flight. And I think they made me wait in line for 5 minutes. Bummer!
5. But there’s another flight an hour later. And when I find out the airline charges for checked bags I tell the lady behind the counter - never mind, I’ll just carry my luggage on. So she cancels that charge and only processes the penalty fee charge. Except the computer messes up and processes the checked bag sticker but doesn’t charge me. Sweet!
6. I’m on the plane and realize I lost one of my earrings. I look everywhere, but it’s gone. I’m going to miss the pair of earrings. They were good classics. Bummer. (But I’ll keep the lone earring in case my mom loses one of hers- I had given her the same exact pair too).
7. Turns out the plane has wi-fi - a first for me. I can get a bunch of work done!
8. The wi-fi isn’t free - bummer.
9. Guess I can’t do work and will have to watch a Netflix DVD I brought. Fun!
10. My work computer doesn’t seem to read DVDs.
11. I brought my external hardrive that has a selection of movies. Yay for being prepared with contingency plans.
12. Turns out my computer can play the movie - but only the audio part. I’m supposed to get a new laptop in the next week to replace this one since it’s wonky when it comes to images on websites. Apparently it spills over into playing videos. Even the sample video that is automatically loaded won’t play - sound only. Unfortunately for now I’m stuck with this videoless playing laptop.
13. So I get to write yet another journal entry to post later (I think this is the fourth one that hasn’t seen the light of the internet). Staying on top of things and decide to listen to RockNRolla - I just watched is last week so almost as good as originally planned!
14. Find out my keyboard is old and the keys don’t always register - mostly the spacebar. It’s really annoying! I’m glad I’m getting a new laptop soon.
15. The air hostess just gave me two bags of pretzels. Makes me feel special, especially since I grabbed a cup of clam chowder from Legal Seafood, which is not enough of a dinner. Although still very good and worth it! I love me a good chowder.
16. The battery gauge went from 1:30 left to 4:10 hours and then down to 2+ hours and now it’s completely disappeared so am driving blind. The Amtrak from Monday had outlets to plug into. I guess economy on domestic hasn’t caught up yet. This plane doesn’t even have TVs.
17. Sitting at the back of the plane has its advantages. While waiting to deboard, I figure I’ll check one last time for the missing earring. Turns out when they say you can use your seat as a flotation devise they mean it. It’s just attached by Velcro. Underneath, in amongst the crumbs was my earring!
18. A week later, I get home after running errands and realize I lost an earring. Same pair. I should have learned from the first scare. I recheck everywhere including in the car. A week later I’m detailing the winter crud away inside and here a noise that the vacuum picks up. Didn’t put two and two together at the time. But think it might be the earring. What’s the chances that my friend Aaron hasn’t emptied his shopvak in the garage for the last month? Not good. I think the earring is gone, bummer. But I have a really clean car which means I can end this post on an up note.
Do you like how I didn't even talk about Atlanta?
