Standing On Boxes

Some times computers can be frustrating… and right now is one of those times…

Am I “following my bliss” ?

Probably not… just stuck in the Thursday tv doldrums. If it wasn’t for reruns of BtVS and “La Femme Nikita” it would be a total waste of an evening….

Starting to look like it’s time to join the ACLU…..

Or do they only take raving liberal anti-war protester types ?
Which I’m not.

What is a peanut butter day ? It’s when the only thing that seems good to eat is peanut butter and I go on a PB&J binge for lunch…. or dinner….

I’m sure it happens to other people…. doesn’t it ?

What is non-Dairy creamer and why would one put chemicals in coffee whose sole purpose is to lighten its’ color ?

W (Vickie Eng ?) on Alton Brown’s Good Eats was cute this evening (Or is she too old to be called cute ?)

Maybe… but it snowed yesterday and is snowing right now and my car is too light to get out of the driveway if I can’t get it cleared since I wasn’t planning on snow tires for another few weeks…

The snow seems to be three weeks early this year…

Spent last evening watch my ex-wife doing her bit of community theater for the fall – a non-musical selection from Studs Terkel’s “Working”. Good stuff. She’s been doing the occasional play with the Branch River Theatre for the past year or so and enjoying it very much. The small child gets a kick out of it and occasionally helps out.

Go see Spirited Away if you get the chance.

I should be careful here. My blog hasn’t gotten much attention the last couple months so it appears to have fallen down and not gotten up on occassion.

Ok… somewhere below here I’ve admitted to watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer (currently in Season 7 on UPN & Season 5 (repeats) on F/X – in the US, and DVD (Season depends on Region – Seasons 1 and 2 in US). That, some FoodTV shows and random channel surfing make up my tv watching most weeks (I also try to keep up with Witch Hunter Robin when the subbed episodes make their way onto USENet)

Anyway….

Last week’s BtVS episode (Him) was Dawn-centric about a magic jacket which caused all of the regular female characters to behave in a strange (for them anyway) fashion. I just couldn’t get into it.
Too silly. Maybe I’ll rewatch it when it shows up in reruns.

This week’s episode, Conversations with Dead People, on the other hand was worth watching. A complex story following several interlocking themes. A classic episode setting us up for something later in the season. And a couple shocks.

Ok… so a trip to Knoxville isn’t everyone’s idea of a fun time…

Day 1 – Getting to Knoxville

The story thus far

1. A 7:15AM flight out of Logan (Boston) airport
2. Got up 30 minutes later than planned (Normal for a venture of this kind.) but then I didn’t get to sleep until midnight (4 hours later than planned… Once again, normal.).
3. Got out the door an hour later than planned (3:45AM)
4. A fairly uneventful trip down to Boston. 75mph thru NH (75 miles worth of it) and then 75-80mph until I hit the downtown exits (Exit 27 -> 24). Traffic was a bit heavier than I expected this early. But then, the last time I did this was on a Sunday morning not a Monday.
5. Got to Logan… headed off to Terminal B ( US Airways).
6. Oops…. only my third flight out of Boston since 9/11/01 and this is the first time they’ve searched my car before allowing entrance to the parking garage. Too bad I can’t open the trunk with the car running. Had to turn off the car, hand the keys to the guard, he had to figure out the trunk lock (It sticks), take a look and give me the keys back so I can restart the car… I’m sure the delay THAT caused elicited amusement in the folks in line behind me. I guess I’ll have a spare key with me NEXT time (within easy reach… I’ve got a spare in the car in case I lose my keys but not in a place that is easy to get to).
7. At the gate… e-ticket check-in is fairly easy. If it isn’t 5:30am in the morning before the brain cells have had a chance to warm up….
8. Thru Security – First time thru Terminal B – a bit more laid back in appearance than Terminal C (Where I normally fly out of).
   Laptop thru separately. Coat thru separately… I made it thru also with no problem
   other than embarassment because the guard at the X-ray had to REMIND me to put the laptop thru by itself… when I tried to hand it to him. Oops. Apparently the single cup of coffee on the way down to the airport wasn’t enough….

9. Breakfast – a croisant-thing & orange juice from Burger Thing.
10. Next up – Two hour flight to Charlotte (and a commuter flight from there to Knoxville)
11. Tiny plane to Knoxville.
12. Luggage showed up fairly quickly and I grabbed a car from Hertz (tiny Ford Focus – hope it wasn’t one of the ones that was just recalled.
13. Spent the afternoon at the office…
14. Off to the hotel to check in…. same hotel I’ve been staying in in Knoxville for 7 years… third name change. Other than that it doesn’t seem any different.
15. Unpacked and went looking for something simple for dinner… a sandwich, soda & chips from the “Subway”
    across the street (it’s new…). No Swiss cheese (bummer).

Days 2 through 4

Nothing exciting for the casual observer – same routine…

1. To office by 8am (more or less) – rained Tuesday/Wednesday
2. Lunch
   • Tuesday -> joined a shopping expedition (new VCR for office)
     Lunch at a “Philly Cheesesteak place (Had the Cheesesteak Hoagie)

   • Wednesday -> joined others for lunch at a “Buffalo CHicken” place
     (Had a chicken fingers (with spicy “Buffalo” sauce) salad)

   • Thursday -> Joined another shopping expedition – A TV to go with
     the VCR from the other day (both to replace old/worn out items
     in the Knoxville training room) – Lunch was at a “Backyard Burger”
     (Had a basic burger & fries)

   • Friday… worked through lunch – had an apple.
3. Meetings with assorted people most of the day/or worked on SEVIS stuff.
4. Stayed in office until 7PM most nights.
5. Dinner… simple most days – a burger/sandwich

   [Tuesday] McDonalds (Big Mac meal)
   [Wednesday] Subway – Roast Beef
   [Thursday] Hong Kong Buffett on Merchants near the hotel
   [Friday] Ruby Tuesday’s at the airport – “Wisconsin” burger.

6. Vegged/watched tv/read some work stuff for rest of evening until I fell asleep.

Getting Home:

1. Headed to airport around 3pm – only excitement was finding a gas station
   near the airport (had to reverse direction to get to one). It’s been a while since I flew into Knoxville and the gas station I’ve used in the past (on the same side of the road as the airport) was gone and crossing the Alcoa Highway near the airport can be a bit hectic.

2. Through security – no big deal. Works MUCH better if it’s not
   at 6-7AM in the morning…. .

3. Dinner
4. Flight to Pittsburgh… another one of those US Air express flights
   on a tiny plane. Napped the whole way.

5. Pittsburgh – No time for anything except finding the gate. Made it through with no problem and like 99% of the flights I’ve taken to Boston on a Friday evening… it was packed and I had a middle-of-the-row seat. Cramped. Couldn’t even nap.
6. Boston – traffic around 11pm was light. Got out of the Terminal airport parking with a slightly lighter than expected credit card ( $22/day)
7. The trip up I-93 wasn’t bad. Almost no traffic north of the NH border.
8. Getting home – I noticed snow once I got north of Concord. Not a good sign. Couldn’t get in my driveway – 8 inches of hard snow blocking it – until I stomped around for a couple minutes. Couldn’t get too far into the driveway… there was ice on top of the inch of snow and my car is too light and has no traction on that without snow tires. Eventually parked close enough to the house. Stumbled into the house and went to bed.

Third time it’s snowed this fall… this time in the early evening instead of early enough in the day to melt so it’ll probably stick around for a few days.

For some reason, the midnight movie seems appropriate –> Sean Connery and Audrey Hepburn in Robin and Marian. In some ways a rather sad movie. And not just because Richard Harris dies in the beginning.