More on Travel

Has anyone else been on a plane that does not have a no smoking sign but does have this sign?

Travel (cont'd)

It's fun to travel as a "real passenger" on occasion. I have spent so many years apologizing for my presence on planes and in airports (as an airline employee we are considered "non-revenue" passengers and are required to smile and say thank you no matter what happens) that it's lots of fun to travel as valued customer and get a few perks.

*I had to connect through Atlanta to go to Louisiana because the fare for the non-stop was twice as much

*Atlanta's just a bit out of the way

*But at least I didn't get bumped

*Except then there was weather

*And a mechanical problem

*I was going to have to spend the night in Atlanta

*Instead of that I finagled another night in Louisiana and then I got to travel non-stop the next morning

*No extra fare

*It was their fault

*Plus I got a room at a swanky hotel (see pillows and carpet below)

*The flight the next morning was so early that there was no way to get coffee for a while

*I had been feeling pretty smug about my coffee consumption lately

*It's much less than it used to be

*Turns out I'm still addicted though

*The ride in the van from the hotel to the airport (at 5:30 in the morning in the dark) was perilous

*The line to get through security was slooooooowwwwwwwww

*I think Louisiana is not so efficient as Minnesota

*All of my (admittedly limited) energy was being used to suppress the urge to start screaming, "What is wrong with you people?!?!?!?!?" while I was in line

*Then I had to be put into the body scanner

*I was on the verge of bursting from frustration

*The body scanner noticed something in the pocket of my cardigan so I had to have a pat down anyway

*My boarding pass was in my pocket

*After getting my shoes back on, putting my liquids back in my bag and my boarding pass into my pocket, I ran down the concourse to find coffee

*I got a biscuit with egg and sausage and cheese to go with the coffee

*Southern biscuits are yummy

*Next month I'm going to Rapid City on business

*That's another purchased ticket

*Another opportunity to be a valued customer

*Can't wait

Hotels

Don't you love the wild carpets found in hotel corridors ?
And all those pillows in the room ?
I recently went for an out of town interview (It went ok. I can never tell, really) and then ended up staying another night because of weather and maintenance (I love traveling on confirmed tickets).

There Has Been Knitting

I haven't been knitting as much as usual, but a few stitches have been worked in the past month.

This is a baby gift - we'll say he's going to be a new "nephew" of sorts.

This is how the Snicket Socks turned out - I love them (thank you again, Rosemary).

I am on my second pair of Christmas socks and I have two pair (finished quite a while ago) and ready for a couple of fall and winter birthdays.

This has been languishing in a bag - Cold Mountain Shawl with Zephyr purchased in August while visiting Boy-Child in Chicago. It has potential, although lace never looks like much on the needles.
Knit Night Orphans is a new group on Ravelry for anyone who likes to hang out and knit in St Paul on Friday evenings.

On Education

Girl-child sent me this today. We've been discussing public education a bit lately. I find the talk devastatingly accurate



In the meantime I've been very busy getting ready for a big job interview next week while being ill this week. Let's hope the latter does not interfere with the former.

Post-Sale

I'm home alone, as I may have mentioned, what with Pato and Boy-child in Chile, and Girl-child off on her own on the other side of the river, so I decided it was the perfect opportunity to clean out the house.

Initially I was going to take a car full of stuff to ARC once a week. Once I started though, I decided I should have a garage sale instead. The neighbor did it. Girl-child did it with her BFF. People do it all the time, so I thought I would too.

Well! What an interesting experience that was. Did it. Done. Glad I did it. Never again. Here are some observations.

*People are weird.

*There are two types of buyers - the ones who pay the price on the label, and the ones who want to take home everything for a dollar.

*Not a dollar an item, rather a dollar for everything they want to take home.

*One guy who tried to do this was playing The Dumb Mexican.

*I was having none of it.

*Four 50 cent items and he's offering a dollar.

*Pretending like he couldn't speak English very well.

*Drives a really nice vehicle.

*I decided not to let in on him in Spanish, for fear he would hang out longer arguing if I did.

*I just wanted him to go away.

*We settled on $1.50.

*Today I had another one, except this time he was Russian.

*Another compromise.

*No one wants coffee mugs.

*I think everyone else has hundreds of them too.

*My mother had four sets of Christmas glasses.

*I feel lucky I was able to sell one set.

*I guess everyone has lots of Christmas glasses too.

*People buy a lot of crap.

*But not the expensive stuff.

*Really, they just want to see what they can get for a dollar, I guess.

*My neighbors were my best customers.

*It gives me great pleasure to see neighbor kids playing with stuff from my kids.

*They maybe bought stuff because we've given them things in the past.

*Still.

*It was fun to visit with my neighbors.

*The weather was good.

*Actually, it was a little hot and I got sunburned.

*And I knit a sock.

*I still have a garage full of stuff I have to take to ARC.

Bye-bye Kitty

Kitty moved out today; gone to a good home in Dinkytown.

I'm going to miss him, but I'm not going to miss the sneezing and the puffy eyes and waking up with him on my head.

He's a sweet kitty and now he'll be living with someone who can cuddle with him without suffering any consequences.

In the meantime, I've washed all my bedding and brought out the heavy artillery:



Best wishes to you, Mozart.