The Argument Clinic

So I was driving back from orchestra tonight and on the opposite side of the highway there was a sedan completely engulfed in flames…looked weird in the dark (refrained from titling this entry “car fire…” cause I thought people might be concerned about me when they read that…wasn’t it considerate of me to avoid that confusion? ). Tons of cops, fire trucks, etc. around. Hope no one was hurt. Looked weird because there were no other cars or any obvious signs of an accident.

I don’t know much about cars really…I love my wrx cause its good in snow and fun to drive…but I basically know how to fill it with gas, call AAA, get the oil changed (at jiffy lube or something…don’t do it myself, obviously!) and bring it to the dealer for maintenance. So, with this limited knowledge, I don’t really understand how a car starts on fire to begin with…have seen a couple other car fires in driveways on the way to work…but those were mostly smoke, not the huge flames that were coming out of this car (at least 6′ above the car). So any insight into how something like that happens all of a sudden would be appreciated… I am curious… I mean, I know that on soap operas, car fires are pretty common…usually when someone is going to be written out of the show (or recast) and needs to be “presumed dead” for a while…but usually those cars go over a cliff or someone sabotages it or something, the fires don’t just happen.

Sure there is a reasonable explanation, I just don’t know much about car-related stuff.

So I got back from my trip to phoenix on friday evening.  Trip wasn’t bad, no delays and the flights were ok, with the exception of a few bumpy spots. 

Have to say I am not a big fan of pilots saying stuff like “its smooth now, but we expect the flight to deteriorate in the next 15-20 minutes as we fly over albuquerque.”  Seriously, saying words like deteriorate to someone who is afraid of flying is not very nice.  Can’t you just say “will get a little bumpy” (which is what happened?)?  Why did the pilot, instead, have to talk like the plane was going to fall apart or something?  Sure, after my initial panic attack (which I hold inside so people around me can’t usually tell I am having one), I realize he just means turbulence is coming up….but I don’t think very clearly when on planes, am always expecting the worst, and can usually only make out a fraction of what the pilot is saying to begin with, so can’t he just say we are expecting some turbulence?

Telling me that it will be bumpy in 15 mins is good in some ways and very frustrating in others…nice to know that the bumps are expected so that I don’t worry when they come…but knowing that it is scheduled to get bumpy in 15 minutes just makes me think “ok…7 minutes 30 seconds until it gets bumpy….5 minutes until it gets bumpy….47 seconds until it gets bumpy…etc…”.  Not very pleasant. 

Anyways, my mom was staying at my apartment to watch my cats and she helped me decorate for christmas on saturday.  I know, its early.  But I like to decorate early, partially because I get a little depressed this time of year with the seasonal changes and the christmas tree helps and partially because, well, I feel like it and making those decisions when I want to is one of the benefits of being single   My cats are pretty cute around the tree and manger scene (ladi especially…thea thinks she is too cool to pose for photos sometimes), got some cute photos of them.  You can see them here.

Still waiting on my mid-term results and have part 2 of the 4 part discussion of moby-dick tonight.  That’s it for now…

So I head back home tomorrow.  Was a long trip from chicago to phoenix, we were stuck waiting for more than an hour on the runway so the 4 hour flight turned into around 5.  Felt really good to get to the hotel, get something to eat, and then pass out from exhaustion.  Not sure why flying makes me so tired, since I essentially just sit in different locations all day, but I am just so drained….probably from the stress of wondering about delays, catching connections….and my overall hatred of flying in general.

Meeting today mostly involved a lot of the usual arguments by many of the usual suspects, nothing too exciting and I won’t go into details (cause you wouldn’t find them interesting, I can’t blame you there though ).  One day meeting, head back tomorrow.  Dinner was really nice, actually went to the same place we did the last time I was out here.  Called sam’s cafe I believe (tex-mex style restaurant…had a really good steak and bleu cheese quesadilla), has a nice outdoor patio next to all these palm trees that have christmas lights wrapped around their trunks, looks really pretty at night.  

I am leaving the hotel at 6 am tomorrow morning, so should get some sleep.  Am really drained this week, but luckily we get our extra hour of sleep this weekend - YAY!

So I’m sitting in O’Hare airport waiting for my flight to phoenix. Am pretty tired today, was up working til 1:30 last night.

This airport is always so crowded, I am amazed by the sheer number of people coming through here.

I just had the best bagel I’ve had in a while. And it was outside NY. At a little place called the great american bagel, which mostly seems to be in various places throughout illinois and a few airports in other states. I just looked up the locations on my blackberry it was so good. Closest one to me is at jfk airport, not too convenient. Seriously, the asiago cheese bagel I had was soooo good, I am considering planning some future connections through O’Hare just so I can have their bagels again . Don’t get me wrong, I love the bagels you get in southern NY and NYC, but Albany has always been sadly lacking in the bagel area, in my opinion. They just don’t compare.

Anyways, if you are looking for a good bagel and happen to be near gate B18 at O’Hare, you should check them out!

So I am re-hoteling this week (I know that’s not a word but this is my blog so I can use it if I want!)…meaning that, for the first time in my business travels, I am going to a hotel I have already been to. Good old hyatt regency phoenix. Have to admit there is something comforting about going someplace familiar, know what to expect. I seem to remember that the room service is pretty good (and I at least know for a fact that they have it ). Anyways, back to waiting for my flight. We start boarding in about an hour.

So I went to the first of four sessions in the moby dick book discussion series yesterday. There were about 30 people there (many more than I expected), I really enjoyed it, people had a lot to add to the discussion, plus I am loving the book. Luckily I am someone who reads the end of the book before I read the rest of it (never have read one all the way through in the correct order actually), because I would have been disappointed that some of the people there who have read all of it (we were assigned the first 1/4 or so) gave away a few parts (hinted at them at least). But also, if you could get through the first 1/4 and not see the end coming, then you really weren’t paying attention, cause there is some blatantly obvious foreshadowing (and a few blunt statements like “this is going to happen”).

I really enjoyed the discussion, I love discussing books, have really missed it. Its really nice to do when I am not being graded for it either Anyways, really glad I came across the group, been a fun experience so far