Personal Log: 19-Dec-2006

12:15a: become quite annoyed can’t sleep. ponder Unisom, but probably not a good idea considering…

4:15a: wake up! kick ass!



4:20a: coffee, no upgrade yet on flight, decide to checkin online… which later proved somewhat smart

4:30a-5:30a: run around frantically trying to finish packing. for fun, place each of two bags in separate rooms furtherest from likely source of needed contents… I’m just not smart

5:35a: call Luxor. have needless argument over previous “order.” listen, if I call twice over 45 minutes and still I don’t get a cab, and it’s not Friday or Saturday night, I really don’t owe you a courtesy call to ‘cancel.’ 45 minutes is a de-facto cancel, and who the hell are you, you phone-answering at 5 o’clock in the morning piece of shit? how DARE you! I will pull your ass out through your throat!

5:36a: deep breaths. um, why did I call Luxor in the first place?

5:40a: cab arrived promptly. heh. there’s a weird smell in here. It’s not curry, but it’s some Mediterranean spice, and it’s not necessarily gross like this dude just took a bath in a tub of seasoned 3rd world gym socks… decide it’s best not to think about this any further less I discover the need for expensive therapy

5:59a: “United. Domestic. Terminal 3. Door 6, please.” Done this entirely too many times.

6:00a: um, wow. sea of humanity. just, um, fucking wow. most tense and frazzled. wonder if energy can be harvested as some sort of renewable resource.

6:10a: woman in front of me’s bag is too heavy. mind you, I’m already checked in and need one of these two precious machines which are dedicated to two simple tasks: check ID and stick tag on luggage. so, max weight per bag is 50lbs, and exhibit A needs to drop 13. no fear, she’s brought half a dozen bags! she explodes suitcase at my feet and begins to redistribute weight amongst her Samsonite home-away-from-home. amazed at contents: 3 bags of Starbucks coffee w/ 2 travel mugs, giant terry-cloth bathrobe, Costco-sized bottles of hair products, a bath ‘sheet’ (oh, no, no simple towel for this traveldiva), something I can only surmise is a shrine or monument to either a deity or belief… I guess they’re gifts. perhaps gifts for rogue Amish who keep a secret stash of things readily available every 5 feet anywhere else in America.

6:20a: decide to be an asshole and cutely mention the postal service will even come to you now

7:25a: finally seated, flight attendant comes over and nearly ready to launch into a cheer explains that Mr. So-and-So next to me has been upgraded to First Class! Cue the music and fireworks…

7:35a: taxing towards take-off there’s an announcement that there’s apparently unusually strong tailwinds which will propel me eastward an hour earlier than scheduled. Praise Jesus.

8:10a: for $5, this cheese/yogurt/fruit thing ain’t half bad. girl next to me asks what’s available food-wise. attendant, obviously annoyed after it’d been announced 3 times that the selection can be found on page 193 of Hemispheres magazine, yanks said mag from seatback, flips to page 193, drops on tray table and stomps off.

8:55a: realize I’ve been watching between the seats the kid in front of me picking his nose for the last 15 minutes

10:08a: nose picker reaches his little snot hand around the seat and steals pillow I’ve placed against the wall at my feet

10:15a: This film has been modified from its original format. It has been edited to fit this screen and for content. ‘Invincible’ with Mark Walberg. Oh, Marky Mark! Better yet, a football movie! Just pinch me now!

10:45a: Not hating movie. Oddly drawn to Marky Mark’s jiggling stomach during slo-mo field runs in full pads. Typical against-all-odds Disney plot both endearing and insultingly simple.

12:05p: (3:05 Eastern) — Touchdown! Unfortunately, that’s only flight 1…

12:15p: at my next gate, having gone to Terminal “A” which is where my “United Express” flight is, I feel fully humbled. Just in case you weren’t aware that flying regional means you’re not playing with the big boys anymore (like the 777 I flew in on), not only is Terminal A a throw-back to the 70s and poorly lit, it’s at a physically lower level just to seal the psychological deal… it’s oddly effective, but then again, the caliber of customer doesn’t help. No live poultry running around or anything… but…

12:40p: Holy crap, this guy on the phone next to me needs to die. I mean, seriously, seriously die. Him, volume level 11: “Diane! Dan here! Now, listen, I’m telling you, I don’t want to go into management, even though I know I’m the best! I can make a lot lot more money as the top sales guy! And I am the top sales guy! I have SOOOOO many offers because I went through the best training in St. Paul! DIANE! DIANE!”

12:41p: Sooooooo thirsty… gotta be blood lust. DIANE! DIANE!

12:52p: shamed by group of 15 year olds who all have newer iPods than I do. note that my shoes are much, much nicer, but lost on them… and my shirt’s pretty cool too, and a nice designer steal I got cheap… again, lost.

12:53p: start hating Apple for not having my widescreen iPod out yet, because then I’d somehow not be uncool to these meatheaded 15 year olds…

1:05p: 15 year olds produce a highlighter marker and begin to use each other as white boards (and white they are)… Frosty, 2006 Highlight Girl of the Year, writes “I (heart) dick” on guys arm, much laughter follows…

1:06p: shamed no more, I ponder death

1:10p: DAN! DIANE! DAN! gets distracted by something shiny and leaves…

1:11p: ponder existence of God and why he inflicted Dan on me… wonder if I should jump on my cellphone and behave similarly to maintain balance in my immediate world

1:45p: Brazilians don’t make terrible jets, but ponder weight balance issues in a jet that’s (seat | aisle | seat-seat)… I am an engineer, afterall

2:00p: at 32k feet, old guy next to me, who I’ve been trying REALLY hard to ignore strikes up conversation. This doesn’t stop until I’m on the ground and out of the jetway. He’s from Chicago and thinks the crime in Charleston is just terrible, terrible, terrible… I don’t think he’s a “it was better when the darkies were in the fields” type, but it’s equally as mind-numbing

3:35p: having just come in over the much ballyhooed (at least within 2 WHOLE MILES of downtown Charleston) Ravenel bridge, we’re down… (bridge at night: a solid 8.5/10. it’s purty, I’ll give it that)

4:00p: very tired, got my bag, in the car, have a phone meeting w/work. no one can get their shit together, lines are crossed, and the confcall # is double-booked… this takes 3 times longer than the actual meeting to figure out… remind myself I’m thankful that I barely work, have tried to quit 3 times, and still collect a full salary because I’m not “allowed” to quit or some such non-sense…

4:20p: thankful to have subsidized time-off despite occasional annoyances… swallow disdain, buck up, and SMILE!

5:00p-7p: at parents house, the next 2 hours involve attempts to feed me grilled cheese sandwiches (white bread/individually sliced ‘cheddar-flavored cheese product’), miso soup (just mix with water!), and freezer taquitos. begin missing SF, but realize it’s the right thing that I’m here since I missed both birthdays and their 40th anniversary…

9:30p: (12:30a eastern) — learn that Lifetime: Television for Women has been added to iTunes. With that news, my day is complete and I can finally sleep… good night my chickens!

…um, so, now you can add “x-x:30: schmeeve took 30 minutes of my life I can never regain” to your own personal log…

schmeeveTips

If I like you, and you’re expecting some sort of gift (those of you not expecting babies on my birthday^), send me a wishlist link. It’ll help me out. It’s about a week and a day away from the glorious remembrance of His birth and I have yet to move one finger towards said glorious remembrance presents.* (Seriously, I saw a Foreigner Best Of CD on sale and I lack shame.)

I leave for my Slightly-East-of-Deliverance Christmas on Tuesday, complete with dinner with my cousin who is the ex-wife of this winner.

Pray for me.

Ah, technology…

So, I got a MacBook Pro (yeah, new one, Core 2 Duo Extreme Double SuperFast x2 Pro or whatever, dropped from Shanghai and double-boxed with the word “Apple” no where on the outside) and a 30″ Cinema HD Display today. It’s geek pr0n, and trust me, I’m smitten for the time being. So much screen real estate, coaxing Windows into Parallels, fun, fun, fun…

So, I’ve got the latest and greatest, right?

So here’s my conundrum:

I did some “maintenance” on myself today — manscaping, if you will — and why the hell do I have 5 different tools to accomplish that task? That’s right, FIVE. I’m not a fucking Yetti Schmeeve or anything, but jesus christ, it’s just annoying. (And every guy does it, so shuddup, unless he’s a hippie or, perhaps, Chinese.)

Sure, I suppose I could of accomplished it with one, but each has it’s usefulness and efficiency in certain areas. Perhaps I’m just impatient, but with all the technology around us, it seems like I’d be able to get the uberGroomer and call it a day.

But no……..

Home

Finally home from another two weeks on the road. One week in Atlanta, looks like no one’s going to die. And a week in LA complete with $2200 hotel bill. I like this little boutique, but their WiFi sucks and apparently I was put in a room directly under the housekeeping quarters. Much noise and convo en Espanol early in the morning. But the beds are fantastically comfortable, the shower clean and hot — a thankful change from having no hot water in Atlanta. FYI — those exercise freaks who extoll the virtues of cold showers are filthy, filthy liars.

Mason washed my sheets and made the bed, which is nice, except that he somehow put a giant hole in them.

Ordered a new MacBook Pro today, too. Gonna pop my Intel-Mac cherry. Bit miffed there’s no 7200rpm drives with the 15″, but I can live with a 160G 5400. Got a 30″ DIsplay today too, albeit through Amazon to save on taxes. My Apple fetish is very satiated. Of course, now I have t o figure out how to pay my income and property taxes.

Next up: glass of wine and bed.

Chinese Pollution + Hot Wet Air ==

one very sick schmeeve.

Asia

Flying to Hong Kong tomorrow, via Seoul, so the whole adventure will take about 20 hours.
Taking the 30D and a few of the better lenses, planning on trying to find some peace on the weekends and snap off a few. I’ll see if I can’t find some Chinese people to take pictures of… AHEM.
It’s hot, humid, and lacks good bath products. Or at least a belief thereof.
Will probably hit Shanghai, too, before I head home. (I make it sound like I’m on vacation… I’m most definitely not.) I’d love to make it home before Folsom, but don’t know if that’s going to happen.
Perspective: Last time in Shanghai I got vid of people dancing on the street to Polak Music outside of a McDonald’s.