Off to see visit my mother for her 80th birthday...
9:20am: Wendy took me to Long Beach Airport, stopping to pick up my brother who was taking the same flight up to Seattle. Last flight I did was to Peru for New Years' 2001. Things have changed since then. LGB is a very small airport and a lot less frustrating than LAX -- and the people are a LOT friendlier.
Had an E-Ticket, go up to the ticket counter to get a boarding pass and they have this touch-screen thing. Type in my confirmation number, choose a new seat, and the boarding pass is printed out underneath. Chatted with the cute young thing that was standing by to make helpful suggestions and answer dumb questions.
11:30 am: Sitting in seat 6F (most forward left window in coach class.): Ears are popping as we climb to altitude. Recognized the I-5/SR-14 junction just north of L.A., but not much else. Typing notes on the laptop and playing Castle of the Winds. Planning to upload entries when I get near dial-tone.
12:50 pm: Somewhere over central Oregon. Looked at the side of my laptop and saw my type-II LAN card. Remembered that I was supposed to grab my modem card from my laptop case and put in my carry on duffle along with the laptop, power adapter and mouse. Would have been better to have remembered that before I left the house. (So now I am re-typing everything on my laptop.)
1:10 pm: The pilot has just throttled back and is starting the descent.
About 2pm: Ears didn't pop that bad, considering my sinus problem. Since I was at the front of the plane I got off quickly. Enter the terminal at SEA and look about for my Sis. Not there. Hell, no one is there to greet the plane -- I forgot 9-11 and no one is allowed to the gates to great incoming passengers. Wander to the baggage claim, assuming Sis would meet us there. Yeah, right. Talk about a stupid arrangement -- umpteen different flights, hundreds and hundreds of passengers, no way to know who is from what flight.
Fortunately, I am, of course, wearing my black hat. Sis was watching for it and found me. My brother, who sat at the back of the plane and was among the last to debark, also spotted The Hat and joined us.
Much later: Chatted with sis and her hubby, Mike. Mum came by later and we went to a Chinese place for dinner. Sis broke out a couple of old photo albums. Need to get her a scanner so we can make copies of those.
Corrected a bunch of typos.
Posted by: Wendy at September 5, 2004 02:49 PMI have going thru this for a couple of years and all of the kids haven't been together in a long time. Enjoy yourself, it's something that you'll never forget.
Posted by: Wingo at September 7, 2004 02:01 PM