2:12 am (CDT): I am liveblogging from the Dallas-Fort Worth airport. The scene is really lively here. There are stranded people sleeping all over the place. Lanth is trying to sleep, but a Jessica Simpson infomercial is keeping her awake. Zifnab is working on a presentation, and I am catching up on e-mails, Legends book stuff, and baseball articles/box scores. My headache seems to have subsided, but I am starting to get hungry again. Those peanut M & Ms are looking mighty tempting.
3:15 am (CDT): To update events, people are still sprawled all over the place, sleeping the night away. I took a bunch of pictures of this stuff. Lorian has given up on trying to sleep, but one can walk all over the terminal and see lots of people who have crashed -- at least one of whom is snoring really loudly. I also noticed both iPod and motorola vending machines. Talk about expensive! I'll be sure to keep you posted to make sure you don't miss any of the action.
3:21 am (CDT): Breaking news: The people stranded in the airport are still sleeping.
3:24 am (CDT): Across from one of the myriad Starbucks kiosks in the terminal, another Starbucks kiosk is in the process of being built.
4:02 am (CDT): We're listening to the Gypsy Kings cover of "Hotel California". Don't fuck with the Jesus! (Oh yeah, and there's still rampant sleeping in the terminal.) I'm hoping that the nearby Auntie Anne's will open up in an hour so that I can get a cimmanon-sugar pretzel. I'm also pondering playing some Civ IV. I caught up on all three days' worth of baseball box scores that I hadn't had a chance to read the last few days.
4:11 am (CDT): Zifnab: "I am preening like a cat in the hopes of getting liveblogged." Actually, he looked more like a cockroach that was stuck on its back and twitching its legs. Then we talked about liveblogging and my new-mail sound arrived. It sounds like the dinner bell from Sims 2 (technically, the sound the oven makes when it's done cooking). This has lead to the line "You've got dinner!' whenever new messages arrive. Oh, and a couple of the people who were sleeping in the area seem to have gotten up.
4:18 am (CDT): I just paid my cable tv bill.
4:52 am (CDT): I am playing a Martika song on my computer. (Martika is awesome!) I heard someone in a Starbucks kiosk, so maybe they'll open soon and I can get some coffee. Also, I saw a bunch of TSA people sitting around, so I guess the security business will be open soon. Oh, and we reached the giggling stage a while ago. Plus, as you can see from Zifnab's post, I am uttering some very impressive comments.
5:02 am (CDT): I am now playing the 12 inch version of "Tarzan Boy" for the second time tonight. I forgot to mention that the Jessica Simpson infomercial (also with Puff Daddy and Vanessa Williams) is some thing about zits. We parked ourselves next to some sort of vending machine that sells acne products and has an infomercial on infinite repeat that goes with it. Lorian's reaction is that Jessica Simpson's voice is too shrill (or to quote a Stan Freberg skit, "It's too piercing.") and that Puff Daddy has a deep voice but what is he doing in this kind of informercial. Zifnab's reaction is that Puff Daddy's comment about guys being deprived because they don't have chat rooms to discuss beauty products is really amusing. By the way, Zifnab is now playing a German techno remix of "Rubber Ducky". I am highly amused!
5:24 am (CDT): We moved over from terminal C to terminal A in the hope of getting on the 6:40 am flight (where we are on standby). There were plenty of people sleeping in this terminal as well. (Shock!) Also, we figured out the rubrik for people who have slept over at the airport -- their red blankets give them away.
Zifnab here, adding my 2 cents and the current story. (Note: 2:27am) The day started pretty benign, we headed out to the airport early as Lem had a doctor's appointment in the general LA area so by leaving early we could get dropped off and he could make the appointment (hopefully!). The flight started boarding approximately on time, but it was clear after we sat down that while the flight was supposed to be full, there were a lot of empty seats.
ReplyDeleteSo those got filled in, but it took a bit longer than expected, and then heading out we sat on the taxi-way for a while. Eventually we take off. Flight's pretty normal. Behind us are sitting a mom+dad and two children (one old enough to need a seat, but barely, the other was on a lap.) They're actually pretty cool though, as I first noticed them when I got up to visit the bathroom and they had a laptop out, DVD player running what I think was "Happy Feet" and the kids were entranced.
After a while things seemed a bit off, as we started banking for fairly long periods at a time. Yep, there's the captain. We're in a holding pattern over Dallas airport as there's a huge storm system over the airport. Looked pretty though, think Mason took a photo of it. Took about 45m in the holding pattern (I think we flew away to the east for a while) and we were given the OK to land. Back in we come, and started the descent. Entering the cloud cover things got real bumpy, really fast. I mean rollercoaster like sudden drops of (maybe?) 6in-2ft in random directions. The kids behind us, having been generally antsy after the extended plane flight, were a bit taken aback at this and so I got the chance to talk with them and their mother. I was really impressed with how prepared she was and how they tried really hard to keep the kids occupied, and told her so, as i've heard it's good to do that. Then chatted with the kids a bit, which basically involved me making inane comments and them staring at me. Oh well. The mom seemed to appreciate the distraction at least. (Oh, earlier in the flight we over heard a hilarious comment from I think their dad, maybe Mason or Lanth will relay it). Anyways, back to the turbulunce we kept descending and a bit before breaking out of the cloud cover it went back to being smooth. Whew. Good landing, not worrisome at all, and we taxi up to the gate. I start to wonder why someone took a flash picture inside the plane, but the thunder a few seconds later answers it quickly. (Timed a few strikes later, it was 3-5s delay). So we arrive at the gate but there isn't any crew outside to flag us in and operate the ramp. A while later the storm's moved off a bit (though still raining like mad), and we get into the gate. Whew.
To make the next bit short, our connecting flight to Jacksonville got canceled. We're now rescheduled for an afternoon flight out, with a chance of getting there earlier on standby for a 6:50am flight.
I did indeed take a couple pictures of the cloud streets. I hope they came out. I don't have a digital camera, so we'll see eventually. Also, I took my camera out right after it was announced that we should put all our electronic devices away. I also have pictures of people sleeping in the airport (including Z and L), Lorian sprawled on the ground playing with her DS, and Z on the ground patiently
ReplyDeletewaiting in line to talk to a representative of American Airlines.
The delay in taking off after we were in the plane stretched a little while and I turned on my iPod in the middle of it in flagrant violation of airline rules. The part of the landing that went through turbulence was quite rough. I kept everything in, but I was feeling really sick. The hilarious comment was that one of the kids asked some question and the kid's father responded with something on the order of "Because God hates us." I approve!
Gems from Mason, 4:42am:
ReplyDelete"Some of my students i'm more friendly with than others."
L+Z: giggle
M: "Some of my students... oh shit!"
L+z+M: laughing now
M: "My relationship with some of my students is more professional..."
a few minutes later:
L: "You know, at some point we're going to get some sleep and read this post and go, what the hell were we on?"
My last quote actually ended in "more professional than others."
ReplyDeleteAside from the copious suckiness of the situation, this thread is made of win (read: highly entertaining). Hope ya'll are on your way to FL at this point (given the times, not sure you'd arrive yet or not).
ReplyDeleteAt this point, I think of digital camera as the default, so I'm slightly surprised anytime it will take time to develop pictures. :P No biggie, just amused at my perspective.
I'm guessing the interrupted quote there at the end was turbulence butting in?
So, we've just gotten to our rooms. We're in a Howard Johnson hotel at the moment. (Doug wanted us to have beds to sleep in.) Of course, even though I should be sleeping, the first thing I checked if there was free wifi, which there is. So I decided to take a look at e-mails before crashing. (I'm just so brilliant that way.)
ReplyDeleteI have been meaning to buy a digital camera for several years but still haven't gotten around to it. I wll eventually.
I'm glad you were entertained by the post. We weren't sure if we were amused simply because of how tired we were (and still are). I am thinking there might be some amusing comments and discussions yet to occur with this particular entry.
I need to crash.