Messages from abroad, not massages from a broad

Yowser, it’s been way over a month since I updated this thing.  What’s gone on since?  Hmm, I’ve been back to Vancouver and I even made a trip up to New York for a weekend.  I’ve been suffering from a cough and cold off and on the past month too.  All in all, I had a great time back at home and I loved seeing everyone. 

I’ve been back for nearly a month now and I finally got around to looking at the pictures on my camera.  I don’t know who got a hold of it at Allan’s place, but they are not allowed to use it anymore; sooooo many pictures of people playing Rock Band.  I don’t need three dozen pictures of different people playing that damn game.  I think Adam is one hell of a cute baby too, but I don’t need a dozen plus photos of him either.  The picture to the right is Adam, Ray and Deb’s baby.  Isn’t he a good looking kid? 
I think it was Kim who had my camera that night.  Kim, no more photos from you!  You’ve been banned from using my camera!  As I mentioned earlier, I played a lot of Rock Band over the holidays.  If you haven’t seen it yet, it’s like Guitar Hero, but with drums, a singer, and the option for a second guitar.  It’s kinda neat and I am only marginally interested in the game because I’m not that great at it.  Darren and Becky on the other hand, are freakishly good at the game.  They can rock out on the drums on expert level.  It’s quite impressive, but I think they’ve played too much.

Without spending too much time on this, I did want to mention my flight back to DC.  I showed up at the airport at 5am, only to find out that my 7am flight to Toronto was canceled.  They had re-scheduled me to a 12pm flight and I didn’t really want to go home cause I wanted to try to get on an earlier flight by going stand-by.  So 8am was full (JimmyT got on that one, lucky bastard) and 9am was full.  I got on the 1030am flight.  I was the last person to get on the plane and I settled into the awesome Air Canada Boeing 777 plane.  It was super nice and spacious.  So we sat there for about 20 min and then they got on the PA to say that they were short a flight attendant, and they were asking for volunteers to get off to take the 1230pm flight.  In compensation, they were going to stick you in Executive Class (EC) and provide you with a lunch voucher too.  I worked out the times and figured I’d still be able to make my connecting flight in Toronto.  So I volunteered to get off because EC was sweet; can’t beat a hot meal on a plane, liquor, individual pod seating, adjustable seats, and a huge LCD screen to watch movies on demand.  Anyway, my 1230pm flight was delayed slightly and we boarded late.  In the end we landed at 815pm and my 845pm connecting flight had already started to board.  So I ran my ass off through the airport, picked up my luggage, went through security and customs, and by the time I got to the gate, I was sweating like mad, and my face was beet red.  I was so tired and exhausted that I was ready to throw up, and my cough didn’t help out the situation either.  But the lady at the gate calmly said ‘there’s no need to run, they haven’t started boarding yet.’  Wow.  That sucked.  Cause all the way through the airport, the monitors kept saying that the flight was On Time.  I was pissed, tired, and relieved all at the same time.  To top it off, when I got back into DC, I almost missed the last metro of the night too.

Last weekend was Martin Luther King day and so we had the luxury of a second observed holiday of the month.  I went up to NY to visit Konnin and Gladys.  I finally got around to using my Amtrak gift certificates.  The train is great.  It ’s way better than taking a plane because it’s a lot less hassle (i.e. very little waiting, no security check).  It’s a tad slower to get to your final destination, but the time you save by not going to the airport works out to be about the same.  The train is really quite comfortable though.  Big roomy seats and a power jack to plug in laptops and things of that nature.  It’s really cool and I highly recommend that people give it a try if they can.  It’s not cheap, but if you buy early enough, it’s not that bad either.  NY was all about eating.  I had a fair share of wine, champagne, and great food.  We went to some Cafe Habana place.  They had this corn on the cob, that was covered with butter, spice, and cheese.  It was amazing.  Lisa would have loved it.  Next time you’re there Lisa, give it a try.  It was a nice little weekend getaway, and I finally got to check out KT’s pad.  Nice place!  Great artwork too!  Konnin’s always had good taste in things.  Thanks for letting me crash again!  I didn’t get to eat halal food, but it wasn’t a big deal.  I didn’t even make it to Time Square.  No big loss though.

Next up on the travel agenda, Maui later this week, Kentucky again at the end of February, Vancouver in March, and San Diego in July.  Work is sending me back out to Kentucky again.  It’s the greatest place in the world………   San Diego should be a tonne of fun.  I’m going to check out Comic-Con for the first time ever.  Comic-Con is basically the biggest comic book convention of the year.  No, I’m not going to dress up.  Yes, I used to read and collect comic books.  It’s only $75 for a 5 day pass, so why not?  Big Wes really had to twist my arm to go.  :)  Maggie’s coming along too and I’m sure she’ll love it as much as us.  Either that, or she’ll want to break up with Wes when it’s over.  hahaha.  I kid I kid.  I know he doesn’t read this, so I can say it.  I’m only joking anyway.  She knows what she’s getting herself into… I think.

I feel pretty good these days.  I might cough once or twice in the day, but nothing major.  It was a lot worse a couple of weeks ago.  I almost think I’m cured except for the weird mucus I’ve been blowing outta my nose lately.  Last week I thought I was getting a nose bleed in the shower, but instead of seeing blood, it was this bright yellow mucus goop.  I know I know, this is disgusting, but I wanna share it with you.  :)  So I didn’t think too much of it because I was still suffering from my cold.  Flash forward to today and I get out of the shower, blow my nose, and voila, bright yellow mucus again!  This time I got a good look at it.  It resembled egg yolk.  I wanted to bottle it and mail it out to Andy as a joke (grin), but I decided that that would have been way too inappropriate.  Disgusting.  I may have to see a doctor about cause it’s lasting way too long.  I feel fine though, so I’m not really concerned about it yet.  I think it’s just some kind of weird sinus infection.  Any med students out there that can make a diagnosis????  I’d make an appointment this week, but I don’t have the time.  I tried to make a dentist appointment the other day.  I called one up, left a message and those bastards never called me back.  I think I have a cavity and I need to tend to that more than anything.  I’ll try again tomorrow and hopefully I can see the guy next week.

Anyway, I think that’s plenty for now.  No more ramblings from me until I get back from Maui.  Peace in the East!