friday morning recap

It was an interesting week. Last week I was out of town from Monday-Thursday. Then I had to turn around and leave super early Monday morning. I really dislike traveling on Mondays. If I have to, I try to make it an afternoon flight. There's nothing worse than having to cut your weekend short by frantically packing clothes and work things, remembering at least 3 times that you've forgotten something.

So, as always when I need to get up before maybe 6am (this time 4am), I didn't sleep well. Part of it had to do with the time change. Had I really changed the time on my alarm clock? I was also thinking about the actual job I had to do the following day. My supervisor was accompanying me, it was a type of visit I hadn't performed at this company, and it was at a new location. How prepared was I really?

Monday morning I headed to the airport. Upon arrival, I was very thankful that I decided to cram all my stuff into a tiny carry-on. Spring Break. I had forgotten. Lines everywhere. And leisure travelers are very different from business travelers (but that's a whole other post). While I was in the long security line the electricity went off. Oh, did I neglect to mention that it was lightning and raining sideways? Yeah. So, oddly enough, they don't let people go through security with no lights on. Go figure. While I was standing there in line I started thinking that I would probably be late to Dallas. My supervisor was coming from Austin. We only had a limited time in Dallas so today may not go real smoothly after all.

Got through security and boarded. The time frame is looking good. Then the pilot says we're going to Dallas the long way to avoid the storms. It was a pretty bumpy flight up and even worse coming down. I was running about 20 minutes late. Not too bad. Everything else went well that day. We ate lunch here. It was really good for a chain. So, fat and happy, I headed back to Love Field to board a plane to OKC.

Tuesday went well. Wednesday started fine. I was finished at my site a little early and left for the airport at 10:30am. I didn't eat lunch because nothing at the airport appealed to me and it's only an hour flight. I'd grab something once I got home. That was my first poor decision. We boarded nearly on-time. Still Spring Break so still full flights. I picked the first empty (middle, all middles) seat that had a little overhead storage. Sat between two guys. Pulled out my book. The flight starts out ok. When we get close to Houston the pilot comes on and tells us that there are lots of storms, air traffic is delayed, and we're in a holding pattern.

At this point, the guys and I start chatting. We're going to be here awhile. Turns out the guy to my left is 39, divorced, works in plastics, and roomed in college with a guy who lived very near my hometown. The guy on my right was from Missouri and was the twice shot, thrice stabbed body guard for a fancy traveling stripper. He didn't look like body guard material. Interesting conversation ensued.

After we had been circling almost an hour, the pilot comes back on. We either need to try to land this thing or head to Corpus to refuel. As passengers, we were torn. We certainly wanted to arrive safely. If we landed in Corpus, though, how long would it take to get back home? I had rodeo tickets, people. But those storms looked bad even from above. Once we started going down through them, seeing very dark clouds and lightning, the male divorcee (is there a word for that?) and I were wishing we had taken the Corpus route. Oddly enough, we landed very well and it wasn't as bumpy as expected. It was hailing when we landed.

It then took me an hour to drive what is normally a 30-minute drive home. During the drive I heard on the radio that Rascal Flatts had cancelled. Instead, we were going to see Joe Nichols, Jack Ingram, and Clay Walker. I had been hoping to have some free time that afternoon. Maybe grab a coffee, buy a new pair of jeans. I ended up getting home at 4pm. Got into my house to notice that there was a little water on the floor in two of the rooms. Who knew where it was coming from? No time to think about that. Threw on some jeans and old tennis shoes (didn't want to get the boots dirty--yes, I own boots but they're cool and retro) and headed over to pick up the brother's girlfriend.

I was only in her apartment about a minute when it started pouring yet again. Sideways rain again. Got freakin' soaked on the way to the car that was parked very nearby. We make it to the rodeo and finally I get food. We find our seats and I take off my shoes. My jeans are still soaking wet from the knees down. My shoes and socks are wet. Very wet.

We watch the rodeo events. Then the shows. Joe Nichols. Not so good. During this performance the couple in front of us decide to break up resulting in beer getting flung on the only dry parts of my clothing. Then Jack Ingram. Really good show. Great hair. So cute I want to just put him in my pocket. Then Clay Walker. Eh. Ok show. Seemed like a nice guy. I put my shoes back on and we start the loooong trek back to the parking lot to head home.

During all this I was just entertained. Not freaked out or upset or anything. It was just one long adventure. One I would happily not relive. TGIF, people. TGIF.