Platinum Elite?

8 flights in 9 days. 6 of them were late. 8 of them were freezing. Why does it have to be so cold on planes? Every flight I wear a long sleeve sweater or hoodie and every flight I almost cry from the cold and it is July and otherwise I would be wearing shorts. Why airlines, why? I got stuck in Atlanta overnight when my 'on time' flight sat on the tarmac waiting for a gate until my connection left. There are about 35 hotels that function to serve the rotisserie city that is comprised of stranded travelers from that airport each day. I couldn't believe the scope and scale of the operation.

Ottawa was tough. It is far away. Everyone was exhausted from the 8 hour drive. We had a torn ACL in the second game of the weekend. It seems like there is one every year and I just hate it. I am so sorry Cash Money Smith.

I went to Oak Island and got to see most of my extended family. It was great to see everyone. I always forget how much I like it at the beach house. I like biking around. I could stay there all summer, but as soon as I leave, I can't find time to get back for a year. Ultimate ate my life.

At the beach I borrowed my sister's Bonobo Handshake. I had been a close follower of the blog so I thought I knew it all, but the book was still a compelling read. If you have any interest in animals, African politics, humanity or sex you should check it out.

My niece Kate will be here in 4 days to visit NYC for the first time. Should be a lot of fun.

As the saying goes, "Don’t let it hant you in the dills."

I have been playing some iPhone fake scrabble and it is making me much stupider. Some “words” that I have successfully played this round include “Hant” “Dills” and “Berg”. Look out.

Whirlwind summer persists with much travel and much airport time. A few quick notes.

Thanks to everyone who came out to Frank's and Habana for my birthday. I’m told I had a lot of fun.

WTF!!??!?! had tryouts, and went to the Boston Invite, where we had fun and lost all our games.
Thanks to Jesse for helping me understand the what the deal is with all that twilight nonsense.

I don’t really care about Labron free agency, he had to go somewhere. I’m not so sure he’s made a dream team, but I guess we’ll see. TG is pretty mad at him for some reason and did this: http://www.lebrontwitter.com/.
I spent July 4 at the lake in Virginia. Lots of fireworks and lots of fun.

Ali & Dave’s wedding in Maine was beautiful and fantastic. Maine’s rocky coast was just as picturesque as the cliché. The Wedding was in Kennebunkport and I ran past the Bush family compound several times. We ate delicious lobster and had lots of fun. (Maine mosquitoes are lobster sized and much more vicious.)
Here's me and Emily before the ceremony:

And me just after the ceremony, doing what frisbee people do at weddings. What nerds! Really, everyone was playing, it's just me in this shot though...

Oh yeah, and here's me getting busted getting Betsy's help with afore mentioned iPhone scrabble. PBR!
I just finished reading the Stu Ungar biography. The guy was clearly a genius, maybe the best Gin player of all time and a storied poker champion, but also a total degenerate that could lost everything he made just as quickly. I love that he never had a straight job in his life, so when he won a legit tournament, first had to go to get a social security card to collect the winnings.

Before that I read the really long and really funny Blue Latitudes. I never really thought I cared about Captain Cook, but I guess anything that Tony Horwitz writes is funny and moves well. He retraces Cook's 3 voyages, seeing the impact that was had on the places Cook "discovers". Part anthropology, part extended drunken road trip, neither part sounds good I know, but I think I just found Horwitz' voice resonated.

WTF, or at least 8 of us, are off to Ottawa this weekend. Should be grueling and fun.

After that I’ll go to Reston and Knoxville for work before I head to the beach for a few days to see the extended fam.

Note to humans loitering inside Chelsea Market, on NYC sidewalks or in the Subway – Try this: Ask yourself, “Am I in the way?” If answer = yes, then GET OUT OF THE WAY. If answer = no
then continue on with your ‘life’.

We on award tour with Muhammad my man...

My summer tour schedule:
Reston
New York
Knoxville
Boston
New York
Charlottesville
Knoxville
Kennebunkport
New York
Ottawa
Knoxville
Oak Island
New York
Ellington (CT)
Charlottesville
New York
Myersville / Poolesville, MD

Will someone please make me one of those band tour shirts? Be sure to catch me when my tour swings through your city.

Ugh. Individually I am looking forward to a lot of the things above. Collectively I HATE the idea of having this busy a summer and no down time and almost no time in NYC. Don’t expect to hear from me. Catch you in October when things should settle down.

ouchy head. still not home.

another airport, another business class champagne hangover. oh man. at least i am reliable.

i'm in chicago. so close to home. still so far from a shower. nice to be able to use US currency.

so, the flight from fiji was delayed, and then diverted to refuel in samoa. then the flight from honolulu had a leak in some coolant system, so after 2 hours (and some boarding champagne) they got us all off and rerouted me to chicago. now i'm in chicago for a 4 hour layover and then i can finally get home. who knows where my bags are...

it's finally saturday. i had two full fourth of julys. the first was the one i described below, snorkeling on south sea island. the second (after crosing the international date line) was all flying and airports.

the flight to chicago didn't have the personal entertainment system, it just had one big tv for us all to watch and the only movie was horton hears a who. i liked some of the animation but i'm suspect of the anti-choice overtones in the, 'a person's a person no matter how small' mantra throughout the film. while i'm critiquing, just exactly why does carol burnett hate the spec any way? i guess the film just needs a villain but she seems to have no motivation at all.

anyway, that's it. i'm only a timezone away from nyc. i already have plans for prospect park pickup and a barbecue tomorrow. woo hoo!

Bidness Class

ok. quick update here. i am flying back to the usa for jen & chip's wedding. it'll be my first time back in the usa in 16 months and i am pretty excited. my bridesmaid dress is all packed up.

i am in the quantas business class lounge where there is free internet and free food. and cnn. i could just live here maybe. if the nba playoffs were on. i am gamecasting the pistons/celtics on espn. come on chauncey!

i am hung over to the point of near death experience. that is the best way to kick off a 17 hour flight. it is morning, so i may just reject the free champagne offer. there was poker and makers mark last night after going to see my friend andy's band. i wish i could tell you more, but i can't recall. this really is an 'i am not a role model' post i guess.

i may have even lost at poker using my patented 'never fold' strategy. explain that?

my flight is delayed. boo.

see you if you will be in north carolina. fear not my nyc brethren, i will be back to see you in july and you'll get more of me than you can stand.

the hangover is amping up my normal travel paranoia so i may just forsake all this free comfort and go stand next to the gate and act impatient.

blogger spell check offers this suggestion for 'internet': 'interned'. um. okay. you are on the internet. booya.

February 2-3: Flying to Melbourne

My trip to Melbourne on United 839 was as easy as can be. I flew from JFK -> LAX -> Sydney -> Melbourne. It was more than 24 hours of travel, all told. I was really dreading it, but it was fine. I slept a lot, and watched a ton of movies, and somehow ate like 6 airplane meals in a duration where 3 would have been sufficient. I read some US gossip magazines (thanks Brenda!) and my Melbourne tour book.

On the flight from LAX to Sydney there was a guy in the row behind me that had some kind of night terrors. When he fell asleep he would start moaning loudly and then screaming names in a pleading manner. It was disconcerting and made me wonder if he had some kind of post-traumatic stress disorder. The guy sitting next to him would wake him up and this would repeat every 20 minutes or so. I sat next to a sweet little old lady who demanded wine and a cocktail at every meal, even breakfast (Drew’s grandmother probably). She ate her croissant with a vodka tonic and a glass of chardonnay. She never seemed too lit up though... After landing in Melbourne I got my bags, went through customs and got a taxi to my hotel downtown. The trip was pretty much painless.