The Argument Clinic

So my meeting finished up around 5 today, was a long day but productive for the most part so could have been worse.  Spent some time this evening continuing to work on my term paper.  Have the research organized and such so just need to commence writing.  Typically the least time-consuming part for me, so shouldn’t take much longer.

Didn’t leave the hotel except to walk across the street for lunch at a deli (Schlotzsky’s…apparently that’s a chain, not one that exists anywhere near me in ny that i know of), so not too much excitement this trip (unless you consider reading all about ferrous iron oxidation by Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans bacteria exciting…guessing you probably don’t )

Ok, am very tired and need sleep…getting up early for my flight tomorrow…am really hoping the obnoxious kids across the hall shut up pretty soon so I can actually sleep….

So I got into norfolk fine.  Flights were smooth and pretty short (both were less than an hour in the air), forgot how quick they feel on the east coast, last few trips have been to denver, phoenix and san diego…none of which are quick flights. 

Guy in line ahead of me at security at albany airport had just played with billy joel in concert, had his trumpet with him (and what looked like a baritone case as well), thought that was interesting.

First flight into philadelphia was delayed…if you ever fly in or out of that airport, that probably isn’t a surprise to you.  Very rarely go through there without a delay of some sort.  Just more stressful when your layover is less than an hour.  Also, if you have ever flown on a smaller airplane into philadelphia you also know they drop you off at the F terminal.  This is, naturally, nowhere near any of the gates that their larger planes leave through.  So you need to get a shuttle and then basically run to get to your next gate…at least if you are 30 minutes from departure and need to be somewhere in the middle of the B terminal, like I did.  Luckily by the time I got to my gate (out of breath), they hadn’t started boarding yet…though they should have been 15 minutes into it already.  Was relieved about that.

Was nice cause a friend of mine from church, jennifer fisher, was flying through philadelphia on my flight with her parents, so I got a chance to catch up with her while we waited in albany to leave.

Flights weren’t too crowded, so was nice to have some breathing room.  Second flight landed in virginia about on time.  Must not have flown us in over the nice part of the coastline around here, cause all I could see out the windows were old, rusted out navy ships and such.  But I hear if you go down the road a little ways to virginia beach, that its actually nice there.  Unfortunately I won’t have time for that. 

Airport here is pretty though, actually have trees with flowers and GREEN leaves on them.  Considering how depressingly long it is taking for any sign of spring to show up in ny, this was a welcome change for me  

Trip to hotel was fine, but got one of those talkative cab drivers.  I don’t have a problem with people being friendly, its just that I’m an introvert, traveling really takes it out of me, so when my flights have finally all landed and I am on the way to the hotel, I don’t really feel like talking much past saying what hotel to drive me to.  But I do appreciate he drove a lot slower than my san diego cab driver did, so wasn’t nearly as scary.

Had some room service and settled in for a little while before starting work on my term paper, which is how I will be occupying myself for the rest of the evening.  Just as well, never much to do in hotels anyway, especially wednesday nights when no good shows are on.

Ok, back to working on the term paper…applications of biohydrometallurgy (or using bacteria for mining of metals)…is it sad that I find that interesting?  Oh well

So I got in a few hours ago. Flight to albany was pretty smooth (only smooth one this week actually) and my headache went away right before it - YAY! It was also only about 1/2 full so we weren’t all packed in like the first flight. No one was in the middle seat for our row so plenty of room.

Relieved to be home (and my kitties are very happy to see me ), and still relieved that the conference was actually worth traveling for (cause that isn’t always the case). Came home tonight to my stupid smoke alarm beeping once every minute (this has been a recurring issue lately), tried replacing the battery (with several new 9 volts) and that didn’t work. Luckily the maintenance guy came and replaced it (seems that the old one just died or something)…so only needed to hear it beeping for a few hours this evening before he got here (luckily no one else was around to hear me yelling at the alarm and occasionally hitting it [figured it couldn’t hurt] before maintenance got here ).

The rest of the night i spent catching up on scrubs and grey’s anatomy…now its time to sleep, yay!

People are annoying, in case you were wondering…or at least they are when you are traveling…

So, if you haven’t traveled southwest (or read my previous entries about them) seating is first come, first serve (as an aside, not complaining about southwest here, just the people who travel on it). That gets back to the subject of this post. There is always at least one person who thinks that, even though they came later than everyone else, that they are too good to stand in line behind other people. One guy did that today as we were boarding. Just walked straight past everyone on the b line, said he didn’t choose southwest, his company did, and pushed his way in. I was talking to a man and a woman standing behind me (they were traveling separately). The rude, cutting-off guy was going in front of the woman I had been talking to. She was pretty funny though cause she pushed past him and said she needed to sit with her husband…that was funny cause the guy wasn’t actually her husband, they just met in line

Anyways, there were a few other people who tried the same thing in different areas of different lines.

People on this flight aren’t even standing in line, they just lined up their suitcases in line and went off and talked to whoever they wanted. I’m sorry, but if you want a better seat then put in the effort to wait in line. Grr…

Long day, didn’t sleep well last night, can never sleep on planes, have had a pounding sinus headache since before my first flight (which was bumpy pretty much the whole time)…so am just looking forward to being in my apartment completely away from people…

Ok, back to waiting for my flight.

So I am at the san diego airport, waiting for my flight to baltimore. Am in the b group, which is a little annoying (checked in a little late…meaning 23.5 hours before my flight instead of 24). At least I’m not in C though.

Checked the weather, is supposed to be raining in baltimore (hmm…that’s a counting crows song, right?) later today, so hoping the landing and take-off from there isn’t too bad. But at this point just looking forward to being home in front of my tivo.

Luckily I didn’t rely solely on my wake up call at the hotel this morning, cause they never actually called. Oh well.

Ok, back to waiting in line…fun stuff. So very tired (but getting up at 4 will do that to you).