October 2004

10-28-4

Hey, just saw this ad in an Idaho newspaper;

Cabin for sale.

Isolated and remote, miles from civilization.
Wonderful place to "get away from it all"
Built in 1986, maintained by one owner.
Selling cheap because I'm packing up and moving home.
Don't let this opportunity slip through your legs.
If interested, call:
Bill Buckner, 555-1212

Seriously, congratulations to the true Red Sox fans. The ones who stuck it out and never gave up. Some people I know have been waiting all their lives for this and now they have it.

Now go do that 26 more times!

What will become of the Red Sox Nation?
What do they have to look forward to?
Nothing.
The Red Sox were an enigma because they were the loveable losers. Every year that they came close, something dramatic choked the life out of them. It was part of the fun of watching the Sox. Waiting to see what was going to happen to them. Now that they've won, they're not worth watching anymore. They are no longer special. They're just another ball club with a lousy record. There's nothing to look forward to anymore. Every amature writer out there knows that you NEVER let the 'bumbling idiot' fall out of character. You lose your audience!
If they win another World Series now, it really wouldn't be that notable.

So, congratulations on shooting yourselves in the foot. You have taken away the only thing that made you interesting. The curse.

Babe Ruth has forgiven you and Bill Buckner can come home but me...?

I'll just forget you.

10-16-4
Last night Teresa, Becca and I went to see "Lord of the Dance".
Becca didn't know where we were going until we got there but I think she assumes that every time daddy puts on a tie we're going to a wedding or a funeral.
Great show, I've always loved it. It was the first time I got to see it live.

This morning was the first time we 'slept in' in a long time. The cable-man was supposed to be here between 8-11 so I had half an ear out for him but stayed in bed until 9:30! The cable-man was a no-show so we went out to lunch and spent all day outside. I worked on Teresa's van and my truck, Teresa worked on her Mustang and Becca rode her bike. Such a beautiful day outside today, maybe just a couple degrees cooler? I hope it's this nice outside next weekend (or the week after) when we drop the transmission out of T's Mustang.

10-14-4
Happy birthday Tammy!
Feeling old yet?

What is it with these younger siblings of mine creeping up on me in age? One has a 2 year and the other a 7 year difference in age on me. When we were younger, it was a significant difference. Now they're just as old as me.
Cool....

10-12-4
We drove up to Pennsylvania this weekend. Jerry packed up a lot of his stuff and Teresa and I drove a moving truck up to his new house to check it out. We're supposed to be checking out the house and the area to see if we want to move up there too but I don't think Teresa needed to look, she knows she wants to move. The trip up there was just a formality.
Good trip, everything was cool. I'll post some pictures from the trip later. First I need to get this out of my system. We are driving up and flying back. This is my first post 9/11 flight and Teresa's first flight ever and it was as exciting as I expected. Here's what I wrote down shortly after getting home.

She wants to leave at 4am. It's a 10:10am flight and Pittsburgh is only 2 hours away. Let's get up at 6 and be on the road at 6:30. That's still way too much time sitting in the terminal I think, we really only need to be on the road by 7:15 or so. I'm not getting up at 3:30 in the morning to get on a 10am flight. She says I am. So, in what constitutes an unprecedented compromise on her part, we are on the road at 5am. She gave me the extra hour but I had to give up the hour and a half.

5am: It's 34 degrees and the fog's as thick as it can get. There are no street lights of course, even though city-girl Teresa thinks there should be. Sharp winding roads, up and down steep roads and possibly a deer or horse around every corner. Makes for some exciting driving. 45MPH is not a suggestion at that point, more like a challenge.

We finally get to Pittsburgh and gas up the rental car. The airport is not really clearly marked so we're making our best guess. I have to pull out of the gas station onto sr60 at a "Y" intersection and I end up waiting for an open spot in traffic. The traffic light turns red and everyone piles up and won't let me out. Most of those who know me already know that while I am working on patience, I have as of yet, failed to acquire any. After traffic gets moving again I see my spot and pull out. A van speeds up to get in front of me so I hit the brakes to avoid hitting him. Looking left to make sure no one else was going to hit me I pull forward and almost nail the van that was in such a hurry to not let me out. He stopped at the yellow light. Now I'm stuck in the wrong lane and have to take the wrong road which I could have pulled straight out onto 7 minutes ago without all the hassle.

7:30: We find the airport and turn in the rental car. The lower level of the terminal is empty. It's like the halls of Valhalla, large and echo-y. "See, it's still way too early". We go up the escalator to the security check-point; wall to wall people! There are 2 lines of people that stretch out around a half mile each. If you've ever been to Pittsburgh International, the lines were ALL THE WAY down the parking corridor! All the way! These are the lines to get through security. OK, we start our trek to the rear of the line. By the time we reached the end, I felt like we needed a Sherpa guide. Everyone is mumbling, everyone is upset. Most of the people are worried they were going to miss their flights. The security people just smile and say, "That's why we tell everyone to get here 2 hours early. This is a typical Monday." At that point Teresa looks up at me and smiles. I tell her that, "It's a good thing you didn't listen to that guy that tried to tell you we could leave at 7:30."

Security:
After standing in line for 40 minutes, we reach the terminal. The line continues from there! Another 10 minutes and we reach the corral like at Disney World but this line was longer. I put my foot on the scanner and it says my shoes will pass when we reach the metal detector. There is an "Amnesty Box" at the beginning of the corral. It has a large sign depicting things NOT allowed beyond this point. Some things I could understand needing a reminder for; nail files, tweezers, even pocket knives or pepper spray but there were also pictures of revolvers, hunting knives, propane tanks and a bomb. The bomb picture was the 'cannonball with a fuse' type. I wonder how that became the international bomb image when I've never actually seen anything like that except in cartoons. Anyway, in case you forgot you weren't allowed bombs in your carry-on luggage you could place it into the "Amnesty Box" and all would be forgiven.
As we enter the corral, a pasty old man wants to see my boarding pass and ID(1).
We reach the x-ray machine, 1 bin for my bag, 1 bin for my pocket items, 1 bin for the laptop computer case and 1 bin for the laptop itself. As I place these bins on the conveyor, an angry woman wants to see my boarding pass and ID(2). Thinking to myself: 'But I just showed the man at the beginning of the line here and I can't go anywhere but through the corral. Oh well, better safe? than sorry...' As I approach the metal detector another woman wants to see my boarding pass and ID(3) Now mumbling to myself: 'I just showed it to someone 3 feet away!' I walk through the metal detector and sure enough the boots trip it anyway. I have to un-lace my boots to take them off and try again. Knowing I was flying back, I made a point of not wearing the steel-caps but I needed sturdy shoes for this trip. Boots on the conveyor and I walk through fine. I gather up my stuff in a hurry now because people are behind me and pushing through. Now I'm bare-foot carrying, my pack, a laptop, a laptop case, my boots, my pass and my ID. As I exit security, he wants to see my boarding pass and ID! (4). I drop my stuff on the ground at his feet and show him the paper. Under my breath I call him a Nazi and kicked my gear towards a wall so I can regroup (and find out if the laptop still works after bouncing it on the ground). Knowing I was probably 10 seconds from being detained or arrested I pulled it together and put my boots on as Teresa begins to worry about my sanity. "You can't act like that here" she says. "Oh yes I can! There may be consequences but I can bitch all I want about 4 idiots within 10 feet asking for the same document! I'm trying to get into an airport within my own country and they treat me like I need an Ausweis!" A fellow passenger walking by must have felt the same way because he chimed in with an "amen".
[Obscenities regretted and removed from the original]

9:20a
Past security, we reach the gate and it's almost empty. We decide to get some breakfast. I'm calmed down, Teresa's still nervous about her first flight and me acting like an idiot. We sit at the restaurant table inside the gate. Teresa has French toast, I have steak and eggs. We sit and talk about the security and after my initial reaction I give in to the realization that it's just post-9/11 flight and I guess they are trying to leave a strong impression. I'm OK with that and wish I hadn't played the fool back there.
Half way through eating, Teresa looks at me and asks me what's at my elbow. Well, just a fork, knife and spoo... A KNIFE!!! A freaking steak knife! I'm 20 feet from the airplane and no security between us and they hand me a sharp knife! I watch the waitress and they aren't counting knives or anything when they clear the other tables. I wanted to run back up to security and hand it to the 4th guy that asked me for my boarding pass and ask him what he does for a living other than specializing in giving me a hassle. Now I was angry again. Now I'm back to wanting to throw another fit. They make us go through all that, make you throw out pocket knives, nail files etc. and then once you pass through security, they pass out steak knifes to any one who wants one!
I know it's tough and you can't catch everything but either do it right or don't do it at all. Don't inconvenience all of us just to pretend you are keeping us safe. We're not safe from anything! I had a 300w DCAC inverter in my carry-on bag. If I held it by the cord and swung it around it could do some serious damage to someone. What about rubbing a credit-card edge until it became sharp enough to cut? They gave out pop cans in flight, all you have to do is bend it and then tear it in half and you've got a serious cutting edge. Forget weapons, what about body-builders? They're strong enough to strong arm anyone, should they be allowed on a plane? There's no way they're going to catch all the possibilities but either give it a REAL try or just give up and admit it's impossible.
Someone told me that they are targeting people with one-way tickets. Does that make sense? If a terrorist is making a suicide run, is he really trying to save money?
Save the rest for later. I'll rant on that at another time...

10am: Boarding the flight to Atlanta.
Teresa is nervous and trying to stay strong. I explain all the noises and bumps before they happen so she knows what is going on. As we leave the ground, she buries her face in my shoulder. I'm looking over her and out the window. I love flying and I look out the window like every flight is my first. After we reach cruising altitude, she catches little glimpses out of the window. By the time we land she's watching pretty regularly.

12pm: Boarding the flight to Jacksonville.
Teresa is getting over her fear of flying but is still very nervous. As we go into the gangway, I see a large "Tweety Bird" doll still in its box, left on one of the chairs at the gate. No one is around it. I thought some kid was going to be sad since she forgot her toy. After sitting down and the plane filling up, the pilot came to the front of the row and held up Tweety. He asks if anyone was going to claim it. No one did, he set it down and went about his business.
We carried all our bags with us into restaurants, bathrooms, gift shops all because they've got signs and speakers every 20 feet proclaiming that, "unattended items will be removed and destroyed". Now this pilot picks up a large, abandoned box and carries it on to the plane?! Am I looking too hard at this? Am I the only one who sees the inconsistencies in their security measures?
In flight I break out the laptop and headphones. I love having a DVD player on this thing. The flight attendant handing out the drinks in front of me asks what I'm watching. I tell her and she asks if it's funny. I tell her, "it has funny moments but it's not a comedy" and she tells me that the other flight attendant thinks it's hilarious. I look over my shoulder and she's watching the movie while handing out drinks. Good thing I wasn't watching anything like 'The Siege' or 'Air Force One', she might have reported me to the FAA Gestapo. Anyway, we land in Jax and now Teresa likes the flight but is glad it's over. So am I but for different reasons altogether.

Pictures Of The Trip

10-1-4
Today is Jeff's birthday! He's turning 25 years-old.
Big "Quarter Century" Man!!!
Happy birthday Jeff!

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