Dashing to CRC

For several reasons, and mostly for keeping my own sanity this week, I'm going to do a little running journal of events, as best I can. Here are Saturday's entries (I'm already in El Paso as I type this little portion) - all from the plane. By the end of the day, I was too tired and jet-lagged to keep typing much. My 3 hour flight from Chicago to El Paso was a blur of sleep with only the briefest moments of coherent wakefulness.



Saturday, March 18th, 2006 - 15:30 (German Time)

Blogging at 32,000 feet. I've said good bye to the Fatherland and am now hurtling towards "home" on a crowded American Airlines 767. Next stop, Chicago. After that - El Paso, Texas. Within 10 days I'll almost assuredly be in Kuwait. Maybe Iraq thereafter. The thought trips me out - I still can't quite wrap my head around it.

Last week is now a blur. I spent it running around like a madman, completing an immense list of tasks encompassing many fronts. The further the week progressed, the more tasks seemed to emerge. It all culminated in this morning, when I was behind schedule and literally running around the house trying to finish up every last little odd and end prior to taking off.

After leaving the house, I went to Landstuhl. There I gassed up the car and then picked up my good friend Eryn's ex-girlfriend's dad (yes, you read that right - not sure why it matters - I only know that its amusing in a Spaceball's kind of way), who now works as a reservist nephrologist at Landstuhl, who will be taking care of my car in my absence, and who also accompanied me to the airport. Irv is a good guy with a passion for conversation. He did most of the talking while I drove my BMW at somewhat unsafe speeds on the autobahn towards Frankfurt, trying to make up for lost time. We hit traffic at the very end, and I spent thirty grueling minutes glancing nervously between the road and the clock while we trudged ever-so-slowly towards the airport. All the while Irv calmly discussed everything from his latest cell phone plan to his favorite vacation spots in France and Italy. I also vagulely remember an anecdote about a 100 dollar omelette he once ate in France.
.
My thoughts have been all over the road this week and its all been quite stressful. Several times during the week I had to pause, gather myself, and take about 10 sequential deep breaths to simply calm down prior to resuming an activity. The peculiarlity of my situation hit home most when I was pulling my bags from the car at the airport, clearly rushed. Irv, a veteran of both Vietnam and Iraq, paused, offered me his hand and calmly and deliberately said, "Don't worry about anything back here. And, look, if you have to go into Iraq and do any convoying around, just realize that our guys are all very well trained. That said, they can have mental lapses at times, so keep your head about you and keep an eye out. If something seems out of place, say something, because it probably is." Then he nodded slowly, and looked at the ground briefly, the wheels in his own head clearly turning while he seemed to scan his own memories. Then he looked back up at me, "Have a safe trip." And then I shook his hand and walked into the airport.

I have a feeling life is about to get very surreal.

March 18th, 2006 - 16:34

This flight is whack. I'm sitting in the very last row of a huge plane that seems filled with a disproportionate amount overweight, teenage girls. I'm guessing they're coming back from a spring break in Europe or something, probably as part of some huge tour group. They are decked out in sweats (and nothing but sweats), are giggily, are constantly snapping photos left and right, and are basically being teenage girls. Not wanting to be mean, I think I'll stop there.

The controls to the call lights, audio jacks, and reading lights don't work in my section of the plane. My reading light is stuck "on", and is beaming down at me relentlessly. I can feel the heat from it. Several people are rightfully annoyed about these malfunctions. I might be as well, but luckily I brought an arsenal of electronics with me to get through any manner of tedium. Between the iPOD, laptop (with 2 batteries), PSP, and several books, I'm pretty set.

I just ate probably the worst meal I've ever had on an 'international' flight. On the way to the airport, Irv warned me that American Airlines food would be bad. And you know what? He was right. That guy apparently has sage advice on all sorts of things.

Hoochie Mama just came on the iPOD. I have to go now.

March 18, 2006 20:35

An hour and a half left. The guy (jerk) in front of me is all reclined back, which is cramming my laptop into into my stomach and my elbows are shoved back into the seats. I can barely see the screen given the angle. Which is why I haven't been typing much. I just spent two hours playing Hot Shots Golf on my PSP. Great game. "Too Legit to Quit" is now playing on my iPOD. I probably shouldn't have just typed that for all to see. But there it is. The teenage chicks have thankfully settled down. There's a 1-year old in the seat next to me staring at this screen as I type this. He's been incredibly well behaved throughout the flight and I intend on complementing his mother when we land. Nice work, kid. Nice work, indeed. Its funny how concentrating on the mundane details of this plane ride and recording them here is taking my mind off the bigger picture. My head is still spinning, but I'm starting to relax. We'll see how I am in a week.


March 18th, 2006 23:30 (El Paso time)

Arrived. Exhausted. Must sleep. Hotel room has internet - yay for that. More later.