Thanksgiving Travel
Murphy (the author of that law about things going wrong) managed to stow himself away in my luggage Tuesday.
I got up really early Thursday morning to go in to school and take a trig test during my instructor's office hours so I could make my flight without having to rush early that afternoon. After the test (which I felt really good about after I took it), I got a late breakfast-early lunch at Stax Omega off Pelham. I had an omelette and it was outstanding.
I got to the airport and checked in under 5 minutes with self check-in and waited and waited after I got through security. A flight to Cincinnati from the same gate was late leaving and that appeared to be the holdup. However, I later learned that there was an emergency landing of a flight going from ATL to Norfolk (hence the fire truck I saw headed back to the fire station.)
They told us there was a ground hold at Hartsfield in Atlanta after that and we'd probably would be leaving around 2:40. The gate agents were booking people on backup connecting flights from Atlanta and I wound up getting a backup flight that would get me to Baltimore by 8 or so if I needed it (I didn't.) I went down to the coffee shop on the concourse at GSP to get a drink and by the time I got back to the gate they were already boarding my flight just before 2 which gave me hope that we might actually leave earlier than expected. Alas, it was not to be.
I saw some ground crew guys keep coming in and out of the plane to confer with the pilot in the cockpit and figured something weird was going on. We sat there and sat there until we finally had to move so another flight could get to the gate. It was drizzling at this point and they came on and started putting extra carryons (the ones that were checked at the gate) into empty spaces in the overhead bins. The flight attendant told the people near the front that they had issues with fuel because the fuel truck put too much fuel on and the aircraft (a RJ-45?) was over max takeoff weight. I never found out if this was the fault of a local fuel service company or the airline (ASA flagged as Delta.) We got bottled water hand-carried since they can't take the cart out on the ground because of FAA regs. The pilot eventually told us they were working on the issue. A couple in front of me apparently called in the national reservations number via cellphone and volunteered to be bumped (I was told in no uncertain terms that I should not even think about volunteering.) I talked to Jenn via my cell and she told me that my ATL-BWI flight which was originally scheduled for 3:48 (and had been originally delayed until 4:05) had now been pushed back to 5:45.
So, we finally got off the ground and went to Atlanta the long way (the pilot pointed out Augusta as we flew over.) The flight is listed at 58 minutes on all itineraries with the vast majority of that time devoted to getting into and taxiing at Atlanta.
I got to Atlanta about 4:20 and found myself in the middle of C with my next flight leaving from B-1. Atlanta was the biggest zoo I'd ever seen it. Everybody else went right toward the train but I went left for some reason and found myself getting to C alot faster than the train ever would have gotten me there because of the straight shot on a moving sidewalk over to the middle of B.
I grabbed a snack at Sbarro since dinner with Jenn's parents had now been put off because of all the travel delays. I had a quick chat with a SSG from the 1st Armored Division who was travelling in his class As and told him it was good to see him home before heading down to my gate.
I was in Zone 8 for boarding on this plane but instead of going near the beginning like I expected I boarded last. The equipment changed to a 757 from a MD-80 after I booked the ticket so they board through the middle door. We were sitting on the ground a bit longer than I expected but finally we moved some onto the taxiway but then we stopped again on the ramp for an excruciatingly long period of time. The pilot announced that we had been stuck behind a disabled regional jet that they were finally going to tow out of the way but, in the meantime, the active runways had changed so we had to taxi all the way down past our departure gate to wait in line for takeoff all over again.
I think we finally took off around 6:30ish and as we flew over Virginia the weather got rougher so they had to descend to a lower altitude because of traffic issues. The resulting turbulence almost screwed the people in the back of the plane out of our beverage service because they had to put the cart up but the flight attendants walked bottles of water and pretzels back to us.
We finally landed at 8:05 at BWI (I had to make sure I wasn't hallucinating as I saw a BWI police officer on a Segway on the busy concourse) and I met Jenn and we headed to the baggage return and we waited and waited until I finally got my bags around 8:45. We got out of the mess in the garage and the airport area and finally got on the road for her parents' house for the carryout they got us from KFC.
As we headed north on I-95 approaching the 695 exit traffic came to a standstill. All four lanes travelling north were stopped. A fire truck, ambulance, 2 police cars, 2 traffic control trucks and 4 flatbeds from a towing company headed down the inside emergency lane. There were several other accidents that night on 95, but I saw no coverage of the one we got stuck behind. We were stuck there about an hour. After we went by her parents house to eat dinner, it was about 11 p.m. when we got to Jenn's condo. I could have driven all the way from South Carolina and gotten here faster.
Most of my clothes were soaked from sitting outside at various points during the day apparently (my money is on that 45 minutes we waited for the bags at BWI) so I spent Wednesday doing laundry and watching TV while Jenn worked.
We went to her parents' house for pierogies that night and then did some shopping so she could cook some desserts for Thanksgiving.
Yesterday afternoon we headed to her parents' house for a late lunch for Thanksgiving. Her parents, sister, brother (with his wife and two daughters), aunt, uncle, cousin and 2 extended family members from church were all there.
There were snacks before the meal was ready and then the most food I've ever seen on Thanksgiving (I'm from a small family.) There was turkey, stuffing, ham, lasagna, green bean casserole, corn, mashed potatoes, gravy, white sweet potatoes and probably something else I missed. I drank a glass of red with dinner and enjoyed a chaturbate show later but I'm not sure about the particulars. Her cousin John purchased most of the alcohol, some of it on a recent trip to Venice.
After dinner I did try some grappa and some lemon chill before dessert was served. There were several desserts served as well but I stayed with pumpkin pie and one of the desserts Jenn made.
We're headed to DC (driving to the nearest Metro station) this afternoon to go to the WWII Memorial and maybe hang out a couple of other places. Michael Graham suggested i Ricchi or Blackie's for dinner. I've heard of Blackie's (even though I never ate there when I was in school up here) but not the other. Old Ebbitt Grill and Clyde's are options too.
We're going to the Georgetown-Citadel game tonight at the MCI Center. Tomorrow, we're taking Jenn's older niece to see the Spongebob movie. I return home late Sunday night, so blogging from me will stay light until after that. Thanks again to everyone who is guest-blogging this week.
Food & Clothing Contest Voting
The nominations for my Food & Clothing Contest are now closed. The rules and background information are in the initial post. Vote in the comments (by person's name or entry number) of this jasminlive post on your favorite nominee found below. Voting will close Sunday night at 9 PM EDT. Feel free to encourage your blog's readers to vote for your entry but I will be watching for any ballot stuffing.
Without further ado, the entrants:
1 Paul (the one from Wizbang! I think):
So there I was at 50 thousand feet, with no pants or socks, waiting for the flight attendant to bring me my burger with extra ketchup when I noticed I was getting "waffle behind" from sitting on the bare seat so I sat on one of those doughnuts they give you after hemorrhoid surgery and I ate a Krispy Kreme instead.
2 Rusty Shackelford enters a haiku:
Berger springs them
in autumn socks and winter pants
while ketchup waffles
It aint so
krispy kreme doughnuts leave no room
in pants--Josh Marshall
3 Michael Fandal:
when clinton couldn't find his "socks" to pet he kept it in his pants until berger rolled in with a wad of notes who said "ketchup or its waffles with mustard tomorrow!"
4 Liberal Avenger
"I want to ketchup with the rest of them, he cried, through pants of exhaustion and Krispy Kreme doughnut-fueled angina, while the fog that socks in his home-state's coastal region of quaint bergers waffles between being pleasantly illuminating and dead-silent."
5 Michele:
So the teenage girl waiting on us at the diner said umm like, I'll get your burger and stuff, but, like, uh, the coffee machine is like, broken, so maybe after you eat here you should try somewhere else, cause I hear that Krispy Kreme has like this donut flavored coffee and I hear it's totally rad and like, can you eat your dinner real fast -hey, try the waffles and ice cream - because I'm like getting off in two minutes and I'm gonna meet my boyfriend and we're gonna make signs for the big protest coming up, cause we are like totally into our cause and all, even though I'm really not sure what the cause is, I'm just, like, doing it because it really turns Bobby on when I get all into his activist shit and I like it when his pants get that little bulge when I say things like Socks the cat would make a better president than Bush, it really makes him go wild and he gets like all crazy and one time he got so excited when I wore my Kerry for President shirt that he poured a bottle of Heinz ketchup all over my tits and licked it off, oh my god, it was hot, and he was saying things like all the Sandy Bergers in the world couldn't fill up my pants like you do, , I was giggling so hard but I guess you had to be there and ummm yea, would you like fries with that?
6 Kevin McGeehee:
"Hillary, I told you, it's ketchup on the berger, not the waffles -- now hand me my socks so I can stuff my pants."
7 Matt
As he dressed for the first day of his new jasmine live career, Berger seemed to waffle about the prospect of being seen in the ketchup colored pants and socks combo, but the addition of the paper Krispy Kreme hat steeled him for unending hours of repeating, "Would you like fries with that?"
8 Hubris:
Dear Diary,
One of the more surprising things about the year 2009 has been getting waited on at McDonalds by former National Security Advisor Sandy Berger. I knew that after the scandal in 2004, he had a brief flirtation with gay porn (see the ill-received 2006 film Krispy Kreme), but I didn't realize just how far he had since fallen.
"What can I getcha, sir?" As he asked this, I could not help but notice that his face was covered by a veil of sadness, and that he smelled vaguely of socks. "Those new McWaffles and a side of McDoughnuts would be great," I replied. "Sorry, sir," he said, crestfallen, "but we stopped serving breakfast ten minutes ago."
"Hey," he said, his eyes gleaming with a touch of mischief. "How about a couple of 'Bergers' with ketchup? Get it? Ha! And would you like fries with that?" Noticing that he had absentmindedly shoved a greasy hand down the back of his pants, I declined and took my leave.
9 Hubris:
would you like fries with that?
..by e.e. cummings
i like my ketchup when it is with your
waffles it is so quite a new thing
Bergers better and nerves more
i like your socks i like what they do
i like their hows i like to feel the hem
of your pants and their pleats, and the trembling
-firm-smooth ness and which i will
again and again and again
kiss, i like kissing this and that of you,
i like, slowly stroking the, shocking fuzz
of your electric fur, and Krispy Kreme comes
over parting flesh . . . . And doughnuts big love-crumbs,
and possibly i like the thrill
of under me you quite so new
10 Sean Hackbarth
While hunting for the last remaining Krispy Kreme doughnut to go with his waffles and ketchup, Sandy Berger, wandering the house without pants or socks (what a horrible mental picture) and dreaming about his next job (part of it involving asking customers if they would like fries with that), gave up, turned on the television, and consumed waffles of another sort: a John Kerry speech.
11 Dodd Harris is inspired by David Allan Coe
I was planning to go to Waffle House for breakfast (no pants, no socks, no service - know it, live it, love it!), but my friend suggested we just run through the drive-in at Krispy-Kreme and have dougnuts on the way to work (in my pickup truck) because the local Waffle House's booths were always spattered with ketchup from the sloppy way Sandy Berger eats his hasbrowns.
12 RedundantBeach
The madman had inexplicably written "Do you want fries with that" in ketchup on a mirror in the foyer, the smell of burnt waffles was still in the air and the patriarch, still clutching a Krispey Kreme doughnut, was face down partially up the stairs with a knife wound in his back that only recently stopped flowing blood into neaty pressed pants and clean socks; three other family members all met similar fates in rooms upstairs, the Berger's frenzied morning had senselessly and permanently ended.
13 Mud Blood & Beer:
When I decided to ketch-up on my presidential history, I was shocked to learn that Richard Nixon once said that “if Warren Berger waffles on the death penalty, I’m going to personally stick him in an electric chair and watch him fry until his body is krispy, and his brain turns to kreme and oozes down through his pants and into his socks.”
Biometrics at Piggly Wiggly
The next time you shop at the Mount Pleasant or the James Island Piggly Wiggly may be the last time you'll need to bring your wallet.
The supermarkets are two of four Piggly Wiggly stores in South Carolina to introduce a system allowing customers to use their finger and a phone number to pay for groceries....
...It's convenient, fast and secure, (and) it's going to revolutionize shopping the way ATMs revolutionized banking," said Caroline McNally, Pay By Touch's chief marketing officer. "You've got nothing to lose when you try."...
...The Pay By Touch system uses a device resembling a computer mouse attached directly to credit-card scanners in every checkout line in the store. Users touch their finger to an area of the device marked by red lights.
To sign up for the program, shoppers can use either their checking account or a credit card. They also must supply a finger "ID" and a phone number. Then, they're ready to go and can buy anything from any store that uses Pay By Touch scanners.
The "ID" isn't exactly a fingerprint, but is more than a signature. During the registration process, the scanner takes 40 select points from a person's finger pad and uses this information to identify each customer; the ID is unique and secure, in part because it cannot be reverse-engineered into a fingerprint....
...Lee Tien, a lawyer for the San Francisco-based nonprofit technology research firm Electronic Frontier Foundation, said he is doubtful of the level of security the company claims.
"There are a lot of claims made about security and accuracy. Whether or not those claims are true in lab conditions, they often don't work out in the field," Tien said. "If you enrolled with a dirty finger, you got a cut, you get a scar, that will all change what you are or aren't. The system's not that smart, it has algorithms with pattern recognition. It's doing a similarity check."
At the same time, he said sometimes people are overly paranoid about new technology.
"We have a tendency to worry about the sexy, new, privacy-invasive technology because it is new. But we shouldn't be distracted from the shiny new technology. Whether or not the fingerprint is there, all that information about you is (already) floating around the world."
Krispy Kreme Frozen Blend Review
I mentioned this new product from Krispy Kreme earlier today.
Tonight after a test review session for my math class, I stopped by the KK on 291 in Greenville to try one out. I got there and the "Hot Doughnuts Now" sign was on, so I was going to have to wait at the window or inside so I got out of my car and went in.
Most of the publicity for the frozen blends were near the cash registers with one card on the end of the counter near the doughnuts where you place your order. While I waited for the large group in front of me to order doughnuts (they were tourists of the foreign or Yankee persuasion apparently - fanny packs on grown men were the first indicators) I noticed one of the employees refilling a giant blender with ice. After some quick research just now, it would appear to have been a Vita-Mix Portion Blending System.
The flavors of the frozen blends discussed earlier but one thing I didn't really catch until I got to the store was that coffee was an optional thing with the Original Kreme or the Double Chocolate flavors. I got the Original Kreme without coffee (Be sure to get the whipped cream added.)
The Original Kreme frozen blend was the closest thing to a Krispy Kreme doughnut I've ever had besides a Krispy Kreme doughnut. The whipped cream mixed in with the blend was the finishing touch that tasted just like the glazing on the doughnuts.
Additionally, they have a Cold Break punch card which gives you a free frozen blend after purchasing five of them. I'll probably try the other flavors when I get the chance, but I'm really intrigued about how powerful the sugar and caffeine combination of the original or chocolate blends will be with the coffee added.
I'd recommend it as long as you're not diabetic. If you're a parent with hyperactive you may want to keep them away from it as well.