Airports are silly.
So the packing last night and the getting out of the house on time this morning actually went really well. I had hoped to be able to write on the bus from home to the airport, but even I would have been getting nauseous if I'd tried to work, so that time was lost. We got through security pretty quickly and may I mention that we love the Denver Airport, which has its electrical outlets activated so that perfectly nice, normal people can do things like charge their laptops before a flight. We made some friends with other laptop users because we brought a power strip with us (knowing that high-volume holiday traffic might make it hard for us to find power without it) and I discovered that the espresso drinks from TCBY are, in my opinion, far superior to Starbuck's. If I ever have the choice in an airport, I'm gonna be all about the TCBY. Our flight left a little bit late but landed pretty much on time, so now we're in Pittsburgh.
It's 6:00 here, local time, and we landed about 40 minutes ago. Our flight leaves at 8:40. I'll do the math for you - it's a long layover. So naturally, since I wrote for the entire time on the last flight that I was allowed to have my laptop on, I'm in desperate need of a battery recharge.
I'd like to mention again that the Denver airport is wonderful. The Pittsburgh airport, while not quite as ghetto as I remembered it as having been the last time I was here, is not nearly as nice. They've turned off the power to 90% of their outlets. Never people to let that get us down, we set off to find a plug that DOES work - and found one right across the way from our gate. Unfortunately, there are no chairs nearby, so we're on the floor. Even more unfortunately, the three feet right next to the wall isn't carpeted, but rather is tiled in 50's style commercial floor tiles, which means that not only does my tush hurt from sitting on the hard floor (which would be hard even if it was carpeted) but it's also getting cold on the tile.
Also, as if anticipating that people might do exactly what Matt and I are doing (he's watching Saving Private Ryan on his laptop, also plugged in) there is one of those funny light-box billboard-type signs right over the power outlet. This might actually be the reason that the plug works - if the wiring for the sign is tied into the outlet wiring, then it would have to be working in order to use the sign. But anyway, the sign is at exactly the right height to hit you in the back of the head as you sit by the outlet. So if I sit up, I hit my head pretty much all the time, and if I slouch then not only do I still hit my head sometimes, but my lower back hurts because it's being horribly abused.
My power cable is *probably* long enough to stretch across to the chairs, but I can just see people tripping now, and me getting officially sniped at by the airport officials or something. *sigh* So I'll be sitting on the tile for the next two and a half hours, and the only upside that I can see is that in comparison, the tiny cramped airplane seat is going to feel like a custom-made throne of loveliness.
In the "good news" category is the fact that my word count so far today is 2691, putting me at 38,738 total - As soon as I finish taking my gripe break and get back to it, I think that 42,000 by the end of the night's flights might be imminently do-able. That would be really encouraging, I think.
Also, there's a cheese steak place down the hall that I think is a serious possibility for dinner. I miss Philly cheese steaks, and a Pittsburgh steak sandwich is going to be a whole lot closer to the real thing than something from Denver.
Finally, I feel the need to state thankfully that there have been no problems with our flights or buses, which definitely makes traveling easier. I have no idea how often I'll be online in the next few days, so I'll take my chance now to wish everyone a great Thanksgiving and a generally nice holiday season.
It's 6:00 here, local time, and we landed about 40 minutes ago. Our flight leaves at 8:40. I'll do the math for you - it's a long layover. So naturally, since I wrote for the entire time on the last flight that I was allowed to have my laptop on, I'm in desperate need of a battery recharge.
I'd like to mention again that the Denver airport is wonderful. The Pittsburgh airport, while not quite as ghetto as I remembered it as having been the last time I was here, is not nearly as nice. They've turned off the power to 90% of their outlets. Never people to let that get us down, we set off to find a plug that DOES work - and found one right across the way from our gate. Unfortunately, there are no chairs nearby, so we're on the floor. Even more unfortunately, the three feet right next to the wall isn't carpeted, but rather is tiled in 50's style commercial floor tiles, which means that not only does my tush hurt from sitting on the hard floor (which would be hard even if it was carpeted) but it's also getting cold on the tile.
Also, as if anticipating that people might do exactly what Matt and I are doing (he's watching Saving Private Ryan on his laptop, also plugged in) there is one of those funny light-box billboard-type signs right over the power outlet. This might actually be the reason that the plug works - if the wiring for the sign is tied into the outlet wiring, then it would have to be working in order to use the sign. But anyway, the sign is at exactly the right height to hit you in the back of the head as you sit by the outlet. So if I sit up, I hit my head pretty much all the time, and if I slouch then not only do I still hit my head sometimes, but my lower back hurts because it's being horribly abused.
My power cable is *probably* long enough to stretch across to the chairs, but I can just see people tripping now, and me getting officially sniped at by the airport officials or something. *sigh* So I'll be sitting on the tile for the next two and a half hours, and the only upside that I can see is that in comparison, the tiny cramped airplane seat is going to feel like a custom-made throne of loveliness.
In the "good news" category is the fact that my word count so far today is 2691, putting me at 38,738 total - As soon as I finish taking my gripe break and get back to it, I think that 42,000 by the end of the night's flights might be imminently do-able. That would be really encouraging, I think.
Also, there's a cheese steak place down the hall that I think is a serious possibility for dinner. I miss Philly cheese steaks, and a Pittsburgh steak sandwich is going to be a whole lot closer to the real thing than something from Denver.
Finally, I feel the need to state thankfully that there have been no problems with our flights or buses, which definitely makes traveling easier. I have no idea how often I'll be online in the next few days, so I'll take my chance now to wish everyone a great Thanksgiving and a generally nice holiday season.