Safe and sound in Philadelphia
My Trip To Philadelphia

4:35 a.m.: What a surprise – I’m awake before my alarm goes off! It’s a handy talent really – I should really take advantage of that by getting out of bed and getting an early start on getting out the door.
4:36: Screw that, I’m not moving.
4:38: This is gonna be a fun trip, I think. I’ve never ben to Philadelphia before, and this will be a good chance to do that before I head up to Reading for the interviews. And with the layover in Chicago, I can at least get some deep dish pizza while I’m there. I have a good feeling about this trip!
4:40: Was that lightning? Well, I’m told that almost never hits the airplane.
4:55: Drifting off to sleep now, I’ll just pick up a few extra winks before I have to get up.
5:00: Alarm goes off. My “handy skill” is starting to feel a lot like a curse.
5:08: I’ve already passed on the morning shower in exchange for more sleep. Now do I get the really warm, comfy shirt out of the dirty clothes pile, knowing I’ll be glad for it when I hit the winter weather? Or do I think of the passengers next to me and pick out something fresher.
5:09: I really say “screw that” too much. I need to work on that.
5:16: It occurs to me that normally I would be printing out my boarding passes in advance right about now, except I was genius enough to try and install a new hard drive on my desktop last night rather than waiting until I got back. So as predictable as the sunrise (is that gonna happen sometime soon?) My computer has crashed and I can’t get anything to work. And here I was congratulating myself yesterday on how I had managed a simple installation with no major glitches.
5:17: Everything done but checking on the dog. Just have to check the perimeter to make sure the newfound mud hasn’t given him any more digging opportunities for while I’m away.
5:18: Taz looks so pathetically sad when he’s wet. But he still has this excited hope that he will get to go inside and shake his wet fur out all over my floor. Sometimes I think that’s what gets him through life.
5:19: Wow, it’s really raining out here! Urge to kill rising…
5:21: The yard looks ok, but I can’t risk him tunneling out, going to the humane society and being euthanized when I don’t come to get him within 24 hours. (That’s really humane, btw.) I crush his hopes for the second time in three minutes by hooking him up to his tether. I am officially the world’s worst pet owner.
5:22: Last chance to put my foot down and insist that they let me do this by teleconference.
5:23: On the road. I’m approaching this job opportunity in a positive light – sure it looks like it may involve a lot of ground-up networking, and could start slowly, but I really think I could do it!
5:30: My mental inventory of all the things I needed to pack is now complete and it looks good. Usually if I haven’t had to turn around by this time to go back and get something, I’m in good shape.
6:03: Boarding pass check-in time. God bless the guy that invented those kiosks! Now you tell me how this makes sense – I’m in the A group for my flight to Houston, but the connecting flight I’m grabbing to Chicago later in the morning has me in the B group. Guess people in Houston are more consciencious about getting their passes printed out early. Well thank goodness – if I’m gonna get stuck in a middle seat, I’d rather it be on the longer flight, and fortunately I have a whole 30 minutes to get to that gate and get in the B line.
6:04: I’m really sarcastic this early in the morning. I need to work on that.
6:07: OK, it’s time to handle the metal detectors. I had this down to an art when I was traveling every week.
6:10: My stuff is finally all in trays and I’m headed through. By this time, I’d normally be standing in front of the lunch counter debating the merits of eating a hot dog for breakfast, but between the extra bag, a watch (no wonder I never wore a watch while I was traveling – one less thing to take off!) and actually having change in my pocket (that never happened while I was traveling either.)
6:10.30: I note that while not wearing a belt did give me additional speed through the detector, not PACKING a belt, probably wasn’t the best idea. I wonder what else I didn’t pack?
6:11: The guy in front of me sets off the detector, prompting me to check one last time. Sure enough, one penny left in the pocket! I am seriously off my game this morning. I blame the lack of sunlight.
6:13: As the guy in front of me prepares for a full body cavity search, I present my boarding pass again. It occurs to me that I should try and figure out where the opportunity was for me to become someone other than the person on my ID in the 30 yards or so of heavily observed, fully metal detected, stuck-in-a-line and can’t do much other than put my shoes back on terminal space.
6:14: I note that Love Field has nicely redecorated the walkway to the actual gate area. It looks lovely and serves a stark contrast to the automated walkway next to it, which as usual, is not working.
6:14.30: “I’m walkin’ on sunshiiiiiiine! WOAHOHHHHH!”
6:16: I’m rethinking my career options. Maybe I could have my own sitcom.
6:43: The announcement for the cattlecall that is Southwest Airlines comes over the loudspeaker, prompting about 10 people who have been sitting wayyy over there to walk up and form their own line next to the A group that actually got here and got in a line early. Fortunately, they don’t give me any dirty looks when I don’t let every one of them cut in front of me.
6:58: The good news is I have an empty seat in the middle between me and the other guy – who actually seems quite nice. The bad news, my mental inventory of things left now includes my iPod charger and the cord that hooks my digital camera up to my laptop. Nothing serious, so that’s not too bad.
6:59: My usual panic sets in as to whether I still have my car keys. They’re still there – I wonder what would I actually do if they weren’t? If I’m gonna freak out about that, seems like I’d do it BEFORE I got on the plane, but whatever.
7:21: I become hooked on this number logic game in the Southwest magazine. It’s a 9-by-9 grid divided into nine 3-by-3 squares, and the object is to arrange the numbers one through 9 so that there is only one of each number in every row, every column and every 3-by-3 box. They give you a few numbers to start out with, and all the stuff I brought to entertain me on the flight gets lost in the shuffle.
7:28: The first of MANY diet cokes.
7:42: I realize that because of the game, I’ve forgotten all the witty comments I had stored up to write down during the layover. I make a mental note to hire a secretary or something when I get back.
7:55: We’re in Houston. If I had more time, I’d explore the option of eating breakfast at the Mexican restaurant (Pappasito’s). I’ve never had enchiladas for breakfast, and it’s something I want to do one time before I die. Chances are those two events will probably be linked somehow.
8:03: I settle into the B line behind a small family wearing straw cowboy hats and carrying a small Texas state flag. I’m guessing they’re not actually from Texas.
8:28: Wow, B group and I still get a window seat – that almost never happens! God wants me to have a good trip, and I’m going to try to have a better attitude from here on out.
8:29: Is that ice on the wing?
8:34: The attendant reminds us that Chicago is also in the central time zone. In other words “Yes, the flight is exactly as long as it says on your ticket.”
8:35: I begin silently chanting to myself “I am not paying for this flight. I am not paying for this flight.”
11:20: Worst. Landing. Ever.
11:21: I realize how long this day’s going to be when I stand up and realize that I now have the strength of a 12-year-old. I’m just glad I didn’t drop my bag on anyone’s head. Who needs a repeat of that???
11:25: I spot the pizza place. OK, granted, a layover may not count as visiting Chicago, but at least I can say I had the pizza. Sort of. Well, it’s not Sbarro, at any rate, and they do have the prerequisite bottled peppers on the counter. So it looks kind of authentic.
11:28: I receive the smallest $1.89 drink ever. I pause at the counter to get my stuff together, and the lady asks me if I’m missing anything from my order. In my head, I snap off “You mean besides about 12 ounces of Diet Coke? Nahhhh!” But I say nothing. I don’t think I’d make it in a big city.
11:29: My sitcom could just be about me wandering around airports. I think this would sell!
11:33: OK, random thought. The unbelievably bad ratio of the number of women who wear low-cut jeans to the number of women who actually look good in them is just one reason I want this style to go away now.
11:36: It may be the exhaustion, but this pizza rocks! I can feel the coating of grease starting to congeal in my mouth even as I type!
11:44: They’re begging someone to get off the flight before me, and are now offering a night in Chicago plus dinner and a travel voucher. I wonder if they’d believe me if I tried to take them up on the offer.
1:11 p.m.: I’m on the plane and things are looking up! A row alllllll to myself. I decide it’s time for a long-awaited nap.
1:15: I start reading one of my books.
1:21: I start another numbers puzzle.
1:28: I start wondering if I have ADD.
1:29: I decide to take a side trip to Scranton while I’m in the area and see if Dunder-Mifflin is hiring.
3:48: Things are looking up! The landing is beautiful, we’re early, it’s nice weather outside. OK, now we’re talking!
3:51: Awww a text from Jennifer! That made my day! (Well, I was really tired, so it didn't so much make the day as provide me a huge pick-me-up. Thanks Jenn!)
4:03: We pull up to the terminal (yes, that time is correct.) Out attendant makes the joke that Southwest flies so cheaply because it flies you halfway there and then drives you the rest of the way. I’m too tired to laugh.
4:09: OK, if this were the city of brotherly love, they wouldn’t make us walk a quarter mile uphill (yes, it was uphill!) to get to baggage claim.
4:14: Pretty much can’t express my joy when we finally get to the moving sidewalk.

Anyway, that’s enough travel log. Let’s just say, I got the hotel, it’s incredible, the shower and bed are outstanding, and tonight I am going to see the sites of Philadelphia – at least the ones I can see from my window. I am beat! But the room service made up for staying in!

As you can tell, I’m too tired to be funny now – well, to attempt to be funny. I’ll keep you guys up to date on how the interview sessions go this week. For now, it’s time to relax!