Slice of Life

The day started with the alarm clock going off at 4:00 am. I got up and turned off the alarm and headed back to bed with the idea of just resting for 10 minutes. I figured that I didn’t need to leave until 5:30 - so an extra 10 minutes wouldn’t hurt anyone. The next thing I knew – I was having a nightmare.

I was back in the house I grew up in. I was getting out of bed but every time I tried to look at a clock to find the time, some hidden hand changed the time. Even the clock on the cable box was being screwed with. Then when I went to shave – the ghost hand started throwing things at my head. Same thing when I went to get dressed. Finally, thoroughly spooked by the poltergeists, I was out the door and on my way. In the street in front of my house was the plane I was supposed to catch. The pilot leaned his head out the window in the cockpit and yelled, “You’re supposed to wait for us – we don’t wait for you.” And with that the plane zoomed off into the sky.

I bolted awake. It was 4:45.

A quick shower, a kiss for the wife and a quick email sent on a work matter I forgot to address the night before and I was out the door at 5:35.

I made it to the airport with no problem. I’m flying Southwest today but I forgot to print out my boarding pass. It was still early enough so that when I checked in I was still in the “A” boarding group. Nothing much to comment on regarding my wait at TF Green in Providence.

On the plane I read the USA Today sports section. I skimmed over the Red Sox loss. No reason to relive that pain. I do have two comments that I’d like to share:

1. Ozzie Guillen should remember what happened to Tony Pena. A couple of years ago Tony Pena was the darling of the baseball world. Manager of the year and a very bright future ahead of him but then Tony’s players had enough of Tony and the team went into the tank (of course being the Royals – there wasn’t far to go). Tony got fired and he hasn’t had a managing job since. And Tony was a lot better liked by his players than Ozzie.

2. I look at the Red Sox making the playoffs as a bonus. The team was beat up and I really don’t think they have the stuff to win the World Series this year. However, I’m also feeling like Ferris Bueller as Abe Froman – if the Red Sox are to be busted out of the playoffs I don’t think it should be by a team as weak as the White Sox.

When I got to BWI I had about 1.5 hours between flights. So I went for a walk just to stretch my legs. When I came back I found out that my plane was going to be delayed by a couple of hours. There was another flight to Raleigh at another gate - so everyone on my fligh walked over from gate A2 to gate B10. When we got there Southwest had an announcement that they had found another plane and that the people on my flight should return to gate A2. On the walk back there were a few humorous comments from among the wandering herd such as:

Lady 1: "Is this the Southwest excercise program?"
Lady 2: "Did you ever see the movie Airplane where they had the people going from gate to gate?"
Guy 1: "I've heard announcements before that said they found a coat or a set of glasses but never an announcement that said they found a plane."

I'll be watching the Red Sox game in Charlotte tonight.

This post was written at 10,000 feet.