Birthday parade! For me!

This was the longest day of the trip, and I mean that in the best way possible. This morning, Dad and I got up really early. We got up so early that we were too soon for the trolley. We walked around and found a shop to sell us some fruit and yogurt, then we started being tourists in earnest.

We started out in downtown Boston near the old state house and went on a trolley tour. Our first steps off the trolley were at Copley Square, where there were some gorgeous churches and Boston's own public library. It's a beautiful library. 

We hopped back on the trolley just a little while later and listened to a guide explain to us all about several things in between, but we had our eyes on the prize. Dad and I went to Fenway Park. Our tour guide there instructed us on how to properly pronounce "Green Mon-steh." 

That was wicked awesome.

Of course, after that, Dad and I went on to several other places, ending up at the USS Constitution. The tour guides there were less compelling than some of the others we had seen, but they were doing the very best they could do. I doubt they teach a session in Navy basic training on guiding tours. Here I am steering the big ship: 

Following that, we came back to the part of town where our super-fancy hotel is. On the way back, Dad and I went to the Bell in Hand, which is the longest continuously operating pub in the US. We felt obligated to enjoy our typical Sunday beers there. 

After that, we dropped in on the King's Chapel graveyard and the Old Granary burial ground, which is right across the street from our hotel. In fact, we decided to walk back into the hotel just to drop a few things off, and we managed to hit their free wine in the lobby moment. Hooray. I dig free wine. 

After that, we went to set down our extra things so we could be unencumbered for dinner. It was a good idea, too. I got my fancy Nikon camera into the hotel room about two hours before it started raining. 

Dad and I went to the Italian neighborhood and had pasta dinner. We walked back and wound up seeing a parade in honor of the feast of St. Anthony. I assume it was also in honor of my birthday. We walked behind the last float, so technically, we marched in a parade. We stopped for Italian ice, and walked back to the hotel in the rain. 

Fortunately, we had stashed the champagne Cas had sent to the room in the mini-fridge. It was cold, and I called him to have him listen to me pop the cork. He thought that was pretty clever, and of course, he wished me a happy birthday once again. 

Dad and I just drank the last bit and are about ready to sleep. We have a lot to do before we head back to the airport tomorrow afternoon. 

I'm getting my 40-year-old self to bed. Good night. 

Hotel motel holiday inn

I did not have time in my day or energy in my body last night when I was writing about my Boston trip so far to mention this, but Dad and I are staying in the fanciest hotel I've seen. It's very nice. There is a ridiculous minibar, a spare umbrella in case it rains, a yoga mat, a martini shaker and a pair of glasses to go with it- in case you want to make cocktails...

There is a stereo, a DVD player, a TV and an iHome system. It's fancy as hell. Bear all of that in mind as you take a look at the photo below of the bathrobe (there are two available) that came with the room. They are available for $90. It's just a shame I packed in such a small bag. I think every lady should have a zebra-stripe bathrobe from a hotel...

Boston, bae & beeah

This morning, Dad and I rolled into DFW airport at around a quarter past five. We were in the air for over three hours, and we were in Boston before lunch. We took a bus to the train to our hotel, but we walked in long before check in, so we stashed our luggage and went directly to the Samuel Adams brewery. Best move we could have made. 

We learned about beer, brewing and craft breweries. We had samples. Oh, the samples! 

When it was all said and done, our hotel room was ready. We checked in and went to the 13th floor. I actually admire this hotel for having a 13th floor. When we walked in, there was a pair of cupcakes and a bottle of champagne with flowers nearby. I thought, "Wow, this place goes all out for a birthday!" 

Then I read the card. Cas had arranged my birthday treat. He may be the sweetest, most thoughtful man in the history of the whole gender. 

After that, Dad and I went walking along the freedom trail for a bit. We managed to stop in a bar and have a little more Sam Adams. We hooked up with my cousin Kevin and his son Sam, then went walking around Faneuil Hall. It's nearly nine here, which means it's nearly eight at home, but given the day I've had, I wouldn't mind wrapping up the last day of my thirties just a little early.

Good night everybody. See you when I'm 40.  

Last hurrah

I'm sitting in seat 25F- the window seat. I'm a big fan of the window seat. This weekend is the first one of the school year, and it's Labor Day, as well. Oh, and I'll be 40 before this weekend ends. Dad and I are on a very crowded airplane to Boston- our once-delayed trip is about to begin.

He is a few rows up from me in a middle seat, but I guess you get what you get... 

I'm about to put the phone in airplane more and pop open the Sky Mall. See you in Boston! 

Dress rehearsal

So, all of my teacher friends and I spent the week in training and in classroom setup.  It's all set, now.  I have a room where everything is in relatively sane order and I know all of the stuff I am supposed to know.  I also have a handy binder full of reference material in case I forget anything.

Training and professional development sessions before the school year starts are some kind of necessary evil, and if nothing else, I think they give teachers a band of brothers feeling.  We were all in it together, so at least we had that.  It's all like a dress rehearsal that we have finished up.  We're all probably preparing materials and flying a holding pattern for now; the children return to us tomorrow.

I already saw a few of mine this week, though.  I ran across a couple after the convocation.  Our District has a big pep rally style event nearly every year, and some of our students performed at this one.  We have very talented singers, dancers and actors.  It was the sole redeeming quality of convocation for me, but then again, I have always hated pep rallies.  Last night, I saw one of my newspaper kids.  His father is the president of the Dads club, and I went to a Dads club gathering and fundraiser at their house.

I wasn't able to stick around for the whole thing, but I was there long enough for Austin to take a selfie with me and Cas in it.  I would have been fine with that.  I was even fine when he Tweeted the image.  Heck, I was Kool and the Gang when he wrote #booze on it because I had a beer in my direct proximity.  I was not all that cool when he tagged the school newspaper in the Tweet.  Use your head, kid.  The official Dallas ISD account follows the school newspaper.  The director over the feeder pattern area and a member of the school board follow that Twitter feed.  I have gone in and removed the tag.  I don't want the school newspaper to be tagged in a photo with the hashtag booze and a photo like this:

Counting is hard

Today was the first day back to school for the year.  Teachers go back a week before the students show up.  I presented my theory about that to a few of my colleagues today- I think the teachers have to be back in the building for a week not for training, but for a pair of other purposes.  Teachers need the week to re-acclimate to the daily schedule and to stop swearing so much.  

It was about par for the course.  We spent the full day in the school auditorium.  We have training activities for four of the five days this week, which is one more than we usually have.  That leaves only one official day for classroom setup.  I'll need more than that, I'm afraid.  I got into my classroom this morning, and it was more disorganized than I have ever seen a classroom after floor cleaning than I have ever seen.  In a computer lab, teachers often number the tables so they can be placed back in some kind of order.  This year, the tables were all jammed at one end of the room in about as random an order as they could have managed.  It was like they were deliberately trying not to place anything in order.  It seemed like they were defiantly forgetting how to count.  Counting must be hard.  

I was wearing some cute shoes today, so after the last training session, I only moved a few tables around.  I got a few things moved around and realized that this was no kind of job to do in heels.  

No matter, though.  Tomorrow, we begin the day at Brookhaven College and return to campus in the afternoon.  I think I will do a little bit of work each day until I get a whole day in my lab.  I've got a lot of work to do... 

There actually were three forks

A local news radio station does an event called Restaurant Week every year around this time. Last night, Cas and I took advantage of the event and had an extremely fancy dinner at III Forks. Fun fact- there was a salad fork, a fork for the entree and one with dessert. I used three forks at III Forks.

We were pretty dressed up for the evening. Cas put on a suit, and he can wear the heck out of a suit. I went classic with a little black dress. I gotta be honest- we looked pretty damn good. 

We had a truly spectacular meal and followed it up with a few episodes of a TV show we're watching on Netflix while we drank a bottle of Prosecco he brought over. 

It was a great night.  We were fancy just before we were bums on a couch.  It was just about the right way to end our summer.  We decided that all back to school times should feature a fancy dinner just before we return to face the children. 

We always have so much fun together. Here's another moment captured in selfie form from the summer of Cas and Heather:

Fair trade, organic, locally sourced, cruelty free music

Last night, I met Adam and Jennifer, Cas' friends for many, many years. Cas knows Adam from high school, and from the sound of things, Jennifer has been around about that long, as well.

Jennifer won some tickets to a music festival that featured four headlining bands on the main stage and a handful of bands on a second stage. I was feeling a little out of touch, since I had only actually heard of two of the bands in question, but it turns out, Cas, Adam and Jennifer were all at about the same place. 

It was good to meet his friends. They seem like nice folks, and I hope they found me an appropriate girlfriend for their longtime buddy. 

Now, the KXT Summer Cut lineup was mainly comprised of "Indie" bands. I hadn't given a lot of thought to defining "Indie" music, but apparently, I can now say that I enjoy it, though I haven't thought about it much in the past. I will say that these bands have a very specific fan base. People who like The Hold Steady, Iron and Wine and Deathcab for Cutie seem to be mostly Caucasian and heavily tattooed. There was a feeling all night like we were all a few seconds away from a hackey sack coming our way. I did see a frisbee. One band had a shoeless banjo player. 

Overall, it was a good time. I particularly enjoyed watching the bizarre dancing antics of a fella watching a band on the second stage. Someone must have told him once to dance like nobody's looking, and he must have really taken that to heart. He was having a better time than anyone else at the whole Starplex. 

I still call it Starplex, by the way. I don't care who has naming rights. I was entertained that there is a feature within Starplex (actually called Gexa Energy Pavillion) called The Low T Icehouse. Apparently, sponsorship has come so far that we're naming a bar within a concert venue after prescription medicine designed to raise testosterone levels in men. Sign of the times...

We left just a bit before the last song was played and hit up a restaurant called Velvet Taco. Holy moly, that was a good pair of tacos. It was also a good opportunity to get to know Adam and Jennifer better. We talked a little bit about schools- they have a kiddo in the sixth grade- and what should be versus what is. 

Cas was completely exhausted by the time we all said good night. He had to be at work the whole day, and as I will probably be reminded on Monday, it's tough to get back into that schedule after a few months of freedom. He and I have a dinner date tonight at III Forks, since it's restaurant week. We're going for a nice, fancy meal. I have to shift gears from music festival shorts and t-shirt date to little black dress date. In the meantime, here is some of the first band. There were over a dozen members on stage, so I don't think I got them all in this photo. 

The Oh Hellos

Cheers

Before Cas and I started dating, I had three consecutive boyfriend-free years, so this summer has been a genuine shock to the system. I truly haven't been this busy, this scheduled or this occupied in a while.

In my three years of boyfriend-less-ness, I averaged one date per year. I just wasn't that blown away by anyone. I went on a date with a guy. Meh. I went out with a different guy. Meh. Nobody was correct. Nobody was enough to get me off the couch for date number two. Until Cas. 

Cas and I met nearly two years ago. I went to a party at my friend Jerone's house. I talked to Cas all night and instructed him to walk me to my car. He obliged, but he absolutely sucks at taking a hint. I wanted him to call me. No joy. 

We met again at a happy hour Jerone organized some time later. Nothing. Dude had zero game. 

We finally met for the third time at a get together for Jerone's birthday. 

I had already endured a rather full and difficult day when I arrived at Razzoo's. I had been dealing with UIL competition all morning and I had been in God-Forsaken-Waco about two hours before I met Cas for the third time. 

I actually introduced myself. That may have seemed strange since we'd met twice before, but it took me a minute to recognize him. See, Cas got himself a gym membership. He lost a lot of weight in between my first interaction with him and my third shot at Jerone's party. No matter. I was interested in him two years ago, and I'm still down to clown today. I don't know what finally ticked for the two of us. I do know how I got him to call me- and the call itself wasn't what I was after at that moment. 

Everything came down to pocket availability in ladies' pants- or rather the lack thereof. I had to excuse myself from the table so I could go to the ladies' room. Due to rum consumption and pocket size constraints, I placed my (smart?) phone atop the toilet paper dispenser while I went about my business, then I managed to leave my phone there. 

Of course, I noticed this about thirty minutes later.  I panicked a little. Cas valiantly offered to call my number in hopes that I may hear, then locate my phone. Whatta guy... Someone actually turned in my phone to the bartender, and I got it back.

Later on- after I got home- I sent a thank you text to the number that helped me locate my phone, and before I went to bed that night, we had a date on the books. That was in early May, and we have been out on more dates, done more things and had more adventures together in the past three months than I think I have ever had with any boyfriend.

Cas is back at work this week and I go back next week, so the best summer I can remember is wrapping up. 

Cheers! Here's the hurricane I had at Razzoo's just before I finally got Cas to call me. Bottom's up and happy back-to-school, everybody.

Online courses

It may be that I have had far too much fun lately.  I finally decided to spend the time today doing my professional development as a journalism teacher.  I need to do three days of training as one of the requirements for a stipend next summer.  I'm totally doing it for the money...

While I was pinned under my laptop, I decided to knock out the compliance videos that we are required to watch every year.  I suppose the school district has probably faced its fair share of lawsuits over some issues over time, and now, they have teachers do online training every year so they can minimize the extent to which they are responsible for any miserable failures to comply with regulations, laws and policies.

Well, color me trained.  I know all about suicide prevention, professional ethics, sexual harassment, 504 accommodations, FERPA, copyright law, bullying prevention, blood borne pathogens and proper procedures to follow if I become aware of any sexual abuse or maltreatment of children.  It's safe to assume that this afternoon wasn't one of the top ten joyful occasions of the summer, but that part is done, and I am about a third of the way through the journalism classes.  Tabbed browsing is a heck of a thing, isn't it?  Several courses had minimum time requirements.  They didn't have any constraints on what else I could be doing concurrently.

Cas goes back to work tomorrow, but I get to hold out until this Monday.  He called this evening, but we're not getting together tonight.  He needs to get back into the early to bed, early to rise school year habit that we all must have.  I should probably do the same, but I may be up a little later just taking online journalism classes.  For the money, of course...

Thai up the loose ends

Because it has been way too long since Cas and I last saw one another (and by too long, I mean over a day), we went out and had dinner this evening.  He is a big fan of Thai food.  I have never had Thai food until today, but it was pretty yummy.  We sat at the restaurant and he expressed a desire to come up with a way to make sure we see one another regularly during the school year.

We tossed some ideas out there, and here's what we finally determined- We'll probably see one another a lot on the weekends, but we should have a standing date during the week (we're thinking Thursday) where we get together.  We should pick a show that's on Netflix and watch one episode each week.  We could do something simple and cheap like a Subway sandwich or something.

Tomorrow is his last day off before he has to go back to work.  Like most schools, the teachers have to be there for a week before the kids show up.  He has plans with his brother in the morning and a haircut scheduled in the afternoon.  I should get my hair cut, too.  I should also mow the freaking grass.  That crap just keeps growing...  It's the end of the best summer evah.  I guess now, we need to tie up all the loose ends and get ready to go act like grown ups again.  Meh.

You say it's your birthday? It's my birthday, too

Cas and I got back to my house yesterday at around two in the afternoon, and I had every intention of napping until bedtime. I ended up on the phone with my mom for a while, then I headed over to Holly's house. She was hosting a birthday party for her niece Autumn. 

It was a nice time for Autumn, and lots of her friends from school came to celebrate. She is 17 now, and about to start her senior year of high school. Cas decided to sit this one out. We were both exhausted, and it's not like we hadn't spent enough time together lately. 

It's now Sunday morning, and I was glad to have slept in my own bed last night and bathed in my own shower this morning. It's time to get a move on, though. I need to dry my hair and head over to Mom and Dad's house. I picked up edible souviners for them on this trip. 

Esther's follies

My big idea to finish off our trip was an evening at Esther's Follies. I have been so many times before, but Cas, despite all of his moments spent in Austin, had never been. We did go to a nice Tex-Mex dinner at a place called Maudie's first so we could then burn calories by the sheer act of laughter. 

At Esther's, I made a weak effort to steer him toward the front right hand side of the seating area, but he kind of figured anyone pulled from the audience would be pulled from the front row. He's a smartie. 

I loved the show as I consistently have every time I have darkened their door over at the top of 6th street. Cas, an Esther's first timer, was absolutely bowled over by the show. Every time I looked over, he was laughing. They do a five minute break about an hour into the show, and he remarked about how densely packed everything was. It's true. They do so very many things in a machine gun rythm. Even this morning, he was commenting about how great the show was. 

After Esther's, we stopped in the Velveeta Room to catch the end of a standup comedian's act. We went from there to a place where a man outside promised there would be two dollar Long Island iced teas. There were, in fact. We each had one before the walk back to our hotel. 

We're jamming dirty clothes into luggage now and cleaning up before we spend time in a car together. Back to Dallas with us. We kick so much ass at road trips, it isn't even fair. 

Esther's

Construction at Threeth Street. Lol. 

Chet's a biter

This morning, Cas greeted my by saying, "Horsies!" Today was the day we had scheduled to go horseback riding. We had an appointment at nine in the morning to ride with a guide. 

When we got to the ranch, they determined our experience level. Cas had been on a horse before. I had not. They gave me a nice horse named Topper. Cas rode around on a horse named Chet. Our guide Bonnie rode one called Elvis. 

Toward the end of the ride, we tried to have Chet and Topper ride side by side. Chet did not like this plan. He bit Topper's neck. Chet's a biter. He bites. 

The ride was totally amazing. This was another in a series of awesome things that I've done this summer which I hadn't known I would really love it until I did it. 

After the ride, we had to go back to The Oasis. I managed to leave my credit card there last night, and in exchange for him driving me to the restaurant to retrieve it, I promised Cas a cocktail. He said the drive was so pretty and the view so nice that no additional motivation was required. 

We're taking a moment to clean all the horseback-riding funk from ourselves and relax a little before a trip to Esther's Follies tonight.

For now, here is a picture of me, Cas, Topper and Chet (who is totally a biter...)

And we all float on

This morning, Cas and I woke up in San Antonio. It took us a little while to get moving, but we weren't on a fixed schedule. All we had planned for today was floating on a river and eating a meal at The Oasis restaurant on Lake Travis. 

When we got to New Branfuls in the morning, we drove straight to the inner tube rental place we decided to use. They handled all of the rental stuff and got us on the river by about noon. I had constructed some fruity rum drinks in some river-worthy drink containers and we covered ourselves in sunscreen. 

It turns out that we couldn't have possibly applied enough sunscreen. There was no way to get enough sunscreen for our 100-degree-plus float. We're basically pink. Yeah- but it was a great float. 

We carried on to Austin, checked our pink selves into our hotel and cleaned up before dinner. Then we went to The Oasis. I have been there before, but Cas had not. I had never actually been there at sunset. Oh. My. God. If you have never been to The Oasis at sunset, go. 

I'm too tuckered out and pink to carry on in describing. Just go. It's beautiful, and they ring a big bell at sunset. Everyone clapped. They clapped for the sunset. 

Needless to say, we totally conquered Thursday. 

Cas floating 

Sunset

No Schlitt, there I was

Jeff always says that the best Army stories start out with, "No shit, there I was." 

Today, Cas and I went to Schlitterbahn and spent about seven hours walking around and riding watersides. No Schlitt, there we were. We got up at a decent hour and drove to New Braunfels to start on the first day of our two-day Comal River extravaganza. 

Tomorrow, we check out of this hotel and head back to New Braunfels so we can go tubing down the river. I just love that tubing is a verb. 

After that, our plan is to check into our Austin hotel and head over to The Oasis restaurant for a sunset dinner. 

This is pretty much the most fabulous road trip with a fella I have ever heard of or been on. We win Wednesday. 

I nearly forgot the Alamo!

But I remembered just in time! Cas and I got to San Antonio and started off by walking from our hotel to the Alamo. It's pretty hard to forget.

After that, we went to the Tower of the Americas for happy hour. We went from there to the riverwalk, where we decided to be total freaking dorks and take one of the boat rides with a guided tour. 

After that, we had some appetizers right next to the water at one of the cheesy restaurants right on the riverwalk. All in all, it was one of the fullest Tuesdays I've had. We wrapped it all up at the pool that sits atop the hotel parking garage. We shared a bottle of Prosecco poolside and didn't leave until a member of the hotel staff came to tell us the pool was closed. 

If having spectacular Tuesdays was a competitive sport, we would totally win. 

Fine dining

Cas and I are rolling into San Antonio now, having stopped along the way for only the finest roadside food. We were at the Czech stop this morning enjoying some kolaches.

After that, we went to the New Branfuls Smokehouse for some really spectacular barbecue. They ran out of bottled sauce, but they promised to hold a few behind the counter for us if we come back. We're coming back. Cas wants to buy a bottle of sauce for himself and one for his brother Chad. They both apparently love a good barbecue sauce. 

Road trip

Tomorrow morning, Cas is coming to pick me up. We're leaving Dallas just after rush hour subsides and driving to San Antonio. We stay there for a few days, then carry on to Austin for a couple.

Because we are both such planners, there's a good chance we've over-thought this trip. Still, everything we have planned sounds great to me. We are on to do some river floating and some horseback riding. We have plans to launch ourselves down watersides and watch a comedy show. We both fully intend to have a great time. 

Because my family used to drive from Texas to Minnesota when I was a child, I habitually started to put together some snacks for the trip. I need to remember, though- San Antonio is about five hours away, whereas Minnesota is about 14. Maybe I can ease off the junk food bag just a little...

It's a frame-up

There were exactly two things I really wanted to accomplish when I boarded the airplane to go to Hawaii.  I wanted to try my hand at surfing and I wanted to get some new photos of my nephews.  I have a three-paneled frame on my kitchen wall with their lovely faces in it.  The pictures that were in the frame were several years old.  I said that they featured the boys when they had little kid faces.  Now, the boys have pretty grown-up faces.  I wanted my wall to reflect that.

Alex wanted to get a haircut first.  Jack did not want to show his teeth in his smile (we had to coax, beg and tickle), but Andrew really didn't care one way or another.  He stood where I asked, smiled on command and went back to whatever he was doing when we were all done.

I know they probably don't care- I mean they're 12, 15 and 15- why would they?  But I am very happy to have the new photos on my wall.  My brother has some pretty good looking kids.

before

 after

Tchotchkes & pieces of flair

Today, I gave out all of the souvenirs, tchotchkes and other pieces of flair that I brought back from Oahu. Dad becomes an eating machine when presented with a bag of macadamia nuts. I poured some of the nuts into a small cup so Dan and Laurie could enjoy them without risking life and limb. Dad would probably have eaten the whole bag unless otherwise instructed. 

I tried to give Cas some chocolate covered macadamia nuts, but he said he wasn't crazy about them. I traded those for a bag of chocolate covered Kona coffee beans, and we had a deal. I also got him a dashboard hula girl. It's for his desk at school- there's no way he would stick a dancing hula girl to the dash of his car- he's pretty careful to take good care of it. 

This afternoon, dad and I got all squared away for our reboot of the once cancelled Boston trip, as well. We have the flights figured out, as well as the hotel. The trolley passes are still good...

Tomorrow, though, I'm packing a bag for yet another trip. Cas and I are driving to San Antonio, then back north, spending a few days in Austin. I'm pretty excited about a road trip with the boyfriend. Maybe I can pick up some souvenirs and tchotchkes. 

Dinner and a movie

I thought about it, and last night was only the second time Cas and I have done a typical Dinner and a Movie date.  You would think, since we have been out on something like a zillion dates that we have probably done that more than just twice, but that's not the case.

I had been to Liberty Burger before, but Cas had not.  It was absolutely what I was after, though, and he really enjoyed it, too.  He even took off his class ring while manhandling the hamburger to minimize cleanup later.  Liberty Burger serves up the kind of menu where patrons should wear short sleeves, for fear that they may get some drippy burger goodness up to their elbows.

After that, we went to see Guardians of the Galaxy.  It was cute and just a little silly.  I had a lot of trouble with the raccoon character, but mostly because I have difficulty with all anthropomorphic animals in general.  It's a stupid thing with me...  We did go and see it in 3D, though, and that means we got to sit in the dark while wearing ridiculous 3D glasses.  I'm telling you, we looked good.

Mister Sandman

I took a pretty fair sized nap when Cas dropped me back off at my house yesterday. I woke up hungry, went out to buy some food, and went back to bed at a reasonable hour. I figured that would do the trick.

Yeah. Sure. At about one in the afternoon, I was back in bed. It's a pretty great bed. 

It's nearly four, and I'm hoping I can shake off the travel-exhaustion now. I really want to be alert so I can go out with Cas. We haven't had a proper date in over a week- must fix that. 

Sky mall

There is no reason to ever buy anything shown in the Sky Mall catalog that appears in the pocket in front of every airplane seat I've ever been in, but you have to look at the thing. This time, I was treated to a chaise lounge for dogs on the front cover (with a built in wicker shade for outdoor use). I laughed at it until I turned to page 27. The price made me stop laughing. Large- $224.99; Extra large- $249.99. Holy crap. 

I think my favorite items are the ones intended for the garden. There are Yeti and Sasquatch statues that look remarkably similar, though the good people at useless crap inc. have made a distinction. If any of these items made it onto my amazon wish list, I'd check myself into a mental hospital. Except maybe the life-sized monkey that hangs from your backyard tree. That one was pretty badass. 

On the ground and down to clown

At some point, Jeff asked Jack if he was ready to do something. Which thing now escapes me, but Jack's answer stuck in my head. I'm down to clown. 

Well, I'm in Phoenix at the gate for my flight to DFW. I'm on the ground and down to clown. I gate-checked my larger bag, so I will actually have to make my way to a baggage carousel when I get back to my own time zone. It's actually pretty convenient, though. I didn't have to wheel a bag down the narrow plane walkway, nor did I have to pay to check the bag. The flight from Honolulu was so full that they acted like I was doing them a favor when then waived the $25 checked bag fee. 

The folks in my row on the way here were quiet, normal sized, and had good armrest etiquette- quite a treat. Lest my faith in humanity be too fully restored, at the terminal, typical traveller behavior returns. I am sitting on the floor near an electrical outlet so I can charge my phone. There is one chair adjacent. A fat kid who looks about eight is sitting there with his very fancy laptop and his $200 headphones. His parents are blissfully unaware that their fat kid should have the manners to offer a seat to a nearly-40-year-old on the ground- not that I would actually accept. 

It's okay, though. I'm on the ground and down to clown. 

Stuck in the middle with you

I'm sitting on board the flight from Honolulu to Phoenix, and in spite of my months-ago purchase of this ticket, I managed to score the never-coveted middle seat. So far, I appear to have nice seeming neighbors on good old row 12. 

I hope we're all pleasant to one another without being obnoxious. It's a six hour flight, after all. Hopefully, since it's nighttime, we'll all snooze quietly for a bit. 

Anyhow, here goes six hours stuck in the middle...