'Tis a Strange Friday

It all started last night, when I got home from that strange land known as Lima. Not even a full 24 hours have passed by and I have to leave again. But before heading out to the airport, I went to lunch with Amber at Olive Garden. Having not had any breakfast, I pigged out. Big time. On their unlimited soup and salad thing. Yum! For some reason, lunch took a little bit longer than we anticipated. Perhaps it was my having three bowls of soup that made it longer? I don't know.

Anyway, it was already 12:30 after lunch, and I have to be at Midway at 14:15. While driving home, it finally dawned on me that by the laws of logistics and old man time, there was no way I could get home, pack, and be at the airport in time. Damn! But I tried anyway. It's not as if I have never pushed the limit before. By the time I was done with packing and waiting at the curb for a random cab for hire to drive by, it was already 13:10. Panic kind of started to set in, because there is a Jazz Fest going on this weekend in New Orleans and by the luck of the draw I was able to get on a flight on Southwest, which otherwise have been sold out for the entire Thursday through the weekend. And if I don't make it, I will be so screwed!

Lady luck must've been smiling down on me, since I was blessed with a cab! I tell ya, there have been times when I actually waited a half hour for a cab to drive by. I hopped on, and told the cabbie that I am in a super hurry. And what does he do? He proceeded to chat on the phone the entire time, and drive real slowly on the far left lane. Ack!!! If there is anything more frustrating for me, it would be watching all the slow cars pass us! Then while on Lake Shore Drive, we drove by a cop! That's just too weird, considering that I have just blogged last night about how I rarely see a pig on Lake Shore Drive. And poof! There he was! Stranger yet was the radio program the cabbie has been listening to. With his windows down and the loud winds blowing through, I could only hear bits and pieces of the program. But I gathered this much. The topic was about oil, or our dependence on it. And the interviewee was some Christian. When the interviewer asked to explain the ramifications of our oil dependence, the interviewee responded to the following effect:

God gave us this earth not only so we can harvest from it, but to protect it. It is clear in the book of Genesis that we have to protect the earth, or else we will face judgment. And now that we have exploited our natural resources while not protecting the environment, we are at present being judged by God, or at least beginning to be judged. Just look at the world right now. The price of oil is skyrocketing, which in turn in hurting us.

That was when I stopped listening to this bullshit interview on radio. Here I was, expecting some interesting argument, but all this guy brought up was Genesis, without a passage or a quote, and the price of oil. Sorry, buddy, I don't remember anything from Genesis about being punished and judged if we don't take care of the earth. And I certainly will not buy the argument that the high price of gas is evidence that God is judging us for the ills that we have done to mother earth. Clearly this guy has not taken economics class! {By the way, I have a blog in rough draft form regarding oil...} I consider myself a Christian, but this guy was just a lunatic on me. You know, one of those guys who reads some little tidbit of information from the Bible, and then goes on to make a mountain of an argument with shreds of words from here and there. Sheesh.

So I finally got to the airport at 13:45. Shit, shit, shit! Then I realized that I left the boarding passes I printed last night at home! So I had to go to the kiosk to reprint them. I thought, "Man, I can't waste any more time! Security is going to be a bitch!" As soon as the boarding passes came out, I noticed that my flight was at 14:50, not 14:15 as I thought all along! I'm usually good at remembering my flight times, but not this time. Strange.

And the whole strangeness of the day did not just stop with that. I expected a long line at the security checkpoint, given the fact that it was Friday afternoon. You know, all those business folks like myself who don't live here in Chicago will be heading home. But no. At 13:50, there was hardly a line! I got through security in less than five minutes!!! Seriously. I have never seen Midway this slow before! Not even late on a Sunday night, much less Friday afternoon! I could not believe my eyes. I guess if my flight was to leave at 14:15, I totally could have made it. And probably set a new record for the slimmest time for cutting it that close. =)

Seeing how much time I really have on my hands, being at the airport an hour before my flight like I was supposed to, I decided to go use the washroom to relief myself after walking halfway to my gate. After washing my hands, I waltzed right out, and jumped on the moving sidewalk. Without much thought, I kept on walking. Then presented in front of me was the security checkpoint. Doh! In all my years flying in and out of Midway, and especially ever since moving to Chicago two years ago, Midway is practically my second home in Chicago! Yet I managed to make a wrong turn out of the restroom. {Incidentally, why are they called restrooms? Can you seriously take a break and rest in the restroom; what with all the stench floating around? Just a thought...} Do you know how many times I have used the restrooms at Midway and come out turning to the right direction? Ha!

When I finally I boarded my flight for Nashville (my layover city), I chose to sit next to this nice young lady with a newborn baby. Jordan was her first baby, and today was the her first flying experience. Surprisingly, and I kid you not, Jordan was the quietest baby I have ever come across! Believe me, I fly at least twice a week for the last five years, and I can tell you from experience that this is a practical first! But that fact in itself was not strange. I was sitting by the window, and Jordan and her mom sat by the aisle. Then when the mom decided to go use the lavatory, she asked the girl across the aisle from her for a favor. "Will you please hold my baby while I use the restroom?" The stranger was shocked, but could not resist helping, not especially with such a cute little baby as Jordan. Now, am I crazy, or am I crazy? Is it not typical that first time mothers are usually very protective and clingy to their first born baby, especially in the first three months of the baby's life? I was just shocked to see that this seemingly nice {and cute} lady just asked a total stranger to hold her baby. Even more shocking was that we have been talking on and off the entire time, and she did not ask me to hold her baby for her! Was it because I am a dude? Anyway, the whole time I was thinking, "Thank goodness we're on a plane. That stranger has nowhere to run if she wants to snatch this cute little baby." Ha ha ha.

Now, the final piece of oddity that happened today was when I finally arrived in New Orleans from Nashville. While waiting at the curb for the Avis shuttle, some car drove by and honked. The passenger of that car was waving and looking at me. I wasn't sure if I was the intended recipient or someone behind me, so I just stared. Then I looked behind me, and there was nobody. I turned back around just as they had past me. And I kid you not. I swear I saw Kathy! What is Kathy doing here in New Orleans? I know that there is this Jazz Fest here, but if Kathy was coming here for the weekend, I am sure Amber would have mentioned it during lunch considering that she knew for a while that I was going to be in New Orleans this weekend for work.

Strange, I tell ya. I have never had a stranger day before today. Well, it is a quarter past eleven evening, so I best hit the sack, considering I have to be at the client site at 9:30 tomorrow morning. Ugh... What a drag!!! I need my life back.