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game on.

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Color me up.

My connection on the return flight went through Detroit (dude, this is a big airport). They’re boarding early. I’m starving, so i buy a hot dog before i get on the plane. I step into the cabin and it must be ninety degrees inside. ninety degrees and stuffy as hell. I find my seat, put my stuff away, and sweat.

The captain comes on a few minutes later apologizing for the temperature. apparently, when on the ground, they use an external air conditioner which is connected to the plane’s climate control system. looks like the one we were using wasn’t working properly. The captain also informs us that the ground crew was trying to fix a maintenence problem and that it’d be a few more minutes.

so, tell me again why they started boarding the plane early?

As more people start boarding the temperature only gets hotter. Finally, it gets to one of the passengers sitting four rows behind me. She starts panting. she can’t get a breath. she’s yelping and gasping for help with each heave. It takes five seconds for people to start noticing. Everyone’s immobilized. they just stare at her. I look down the aisle, then up the aisle. Spot the flight attendant. start ringing the attendant bell. get her attention. “This lady needs help!” I yell. Attendant rushes to the lady and assesses the situation, grabs a cold press and puts it on the lady’s forehead. The lady is still gasping for air. A few minutes later, anther attendant makes a call for any doctors on board to head to row 30. Two people stand up. One, a lady sitting two rows in front of me. The other, the man sitting next to me.

Oh, so now the doctors come.

The lady eventaually regains her breath. They take her off the plane for a few minutes so the medical staff can check her out. The pilot starts the plane engines to get the internal air conditioner working.

I once talked a friend out of becoming a doctor because i argued that she would never be able to put her job down. I didn’t realize how convincing i had been until she totally broke down. It was all she’d ever thought of becoming and i kinda ruined that dream for her. I was such an asshole in high school. Anyway, becoming a doctor means you’ve taken an oath to protect life. An oath that trancends time and location. Now, i can understand how one can build a detachment between personal and professionl life. As a tech guy, i have to admit that i usually punt helping people with their computer issues. it’s usually because i’ve lost touch with windows and i’m rendered pretty useless in that environment. I’ve detached myself from the job. As a medical doctor, that oath prevents detachment. And, it may be that these doctors are so far removed from common medicine that they are rendered helpless when confronting a hyperventilating woman, but i find it pretty shitty that they only came when called.

update: talked with the guy who sat next to me. nice guy. i take back anything bad i might have said about him.

It didn’t hit me until later that night while trying to make my way home. nevermind that i was witness to the ceremony. even had a front row seat. but, wow. my friend dave is married. I’m going to feel guilty about taking him out for drinks now. should i feel guilty about such things? does marriage really change anything? perhaps it does. perhaps it doesn’t.

anyway, the ceremony was magnificent. Eliza looked stunning. Dave, like the happiest guy on earth. i couldn’t stop smiling during the whole thing. It’s a bit of an insane emotional roller coaster to watch your friends get married. Makes some people smile, makes others cry. Makes me think that there’s hope in the marriage thing. Maybe there is a forever for some couples out there.

congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Chung.

I wake up thursday to hear about 24 assholes who tried to blow up planes leaving heathrow airport using liquid something or other and an mp3 player. “Get to the airport at least two hours ahead of time,” the news anchor says. my flight is 8:51am. It’s 7:20am. whoops.

I get to the airport and it looks like if i want to smell like anything other than ass, i’d have to check my bag in. no liquids allowed. no cologne, hair gel, or toothpaste. no water either. oooph.

bag checked, i head to the security check. I’m in terminal one of SFO and there’s a lady pointing to the security check line and telling me to follow it to the end. I follow it through terminal one, into a tunnel, out of a tunnel, past a fish aquarium exhibit, around a couple benches, through a terminal 2 and finally find the end somewhere in terminal 3. all along the way there are piles of water bottles and hair products gathered on the ground, abandoned in the pursuit of homeland security. it gets emotional for some. tears streaking down faces as the last perfume bottle falls to the ground. I check the watch. 8:30. hmmmm  . . . .

Luckily, they start pulling people to the front of the line based on departure time. I get through security on and my plane. we leave a half an hour late.

Unfortunately, the rest of the trip wouldn’t get much better. i get to minneapolis/st. paul in time to make my connection, but the outbound flight is delayed thirty five minutes.  when i get to new york, we circle for half an hour due to inclimate weather before the plane is diverted to hartford, connecticuit for refueling. Finally get into town at 10:30. three and a half hours late.

worst part of the day: upon boarding my flight in san francisco, i overhear a lady say, “I had to leave my insulin behind.”

who are these assholes and why do they want to blow up planes? what’s so great about blowing up planes anyway?

The city’s on edge tonight. The trip home today marked YABMR (Yet another blown muni ride). This makes it like the fifth consecutive ride home that has just sucked. Started out good. got into the city ten minutes earlier than the trend of the past couple weeks. Even got into the muni station right as the N-Judah was pulling in. Then, well, slowness. A very long, slow, arduous ride to Sunset Blvd. at which, the great muni gods decided it would be fun to play the switch trains game. So, everyone off on train and everyone one on to the next train behind it. And then, wait. on green light flashes and we don’t move. another. then, another. i look out the window. apparently, the train we had just gotten off of was stuck in front of us. grrrr. i get out and start walking.

Flashback to the begining of the muni ride. We leave van ness station and hit the stop light right before the church and duboce station. Some homeless guy is seriously confused and tries to get off the train. he hit’s the “open door” bar and nothing happens. He yells to the attendant at the front of the car to open the door. he’s seriously confused cause he’s in the second car in which there is no attendent. he gets irritated. still hasn’t occured to him that he’s yelling at no one. he heads to the front of the car. I’m in the front of the car as well. He yells into the conductor cockpit. no one responds. there are a couple of us that tell him the stop is a few more feet up. he doesn’t like that news. he picks the closest girl to him and gets in her ear. “WHAT!” he yells.  the girl is asian.  I get irked. he walks back to his seat in the middle of the car spouting racial slurs all the way. he sits down. across from him are two more asian girls. he goes balistic with the verbal abuse. someone on the bus tells him to cut it out. he only gets louder. my ire grows. i don’t remember the last time i wanted to beat a man silly, but tonight marks the new milestone. i stare him down. he doesn’t see me. he keeps spouting. i get ready to move between him and the two girls. when’s this damn train going to move the 100ft it needs to in order to get to the fucking stop to let this asshole off? he catches me staring at him. he stares back at me. i don’t waver until he starts quieting down.

I know there’s nothing i can say to make this guy shut up. There’s nothing i can do to calm him down. he’s beyond the reach of my reason. he needs years of counciling. i still want to beat his ass silly even though i know that won’t accomplish anything. no lesson learned from an ass beating. I’m not usually this violent, but the city’s on edge tonight. must be something in the air. homeless guy is mumbling to himself now. the train starts moving. asshole gets off.

fast forward to the end of the muni ride. I’m walking back to the house. i get to my block and there’s a commotion. the neighbors are arguing. great. more white and asian hostility. i’m not interested in getting involved. this trip home has taken over an hour already, i have a boatload of work to do, and my aunt called me to tell me the patch panel i got for her doesn’t fit. the patch panel that i bought from hometech who double charged me and took up hours of my time last friday to get cleared up. The patch panel whose dimensions i had previously given to my aunt. The dimensions which were ignored before the contractors opened up the box and tried to mount it. The patch panel i now have to return and do more research to find one that’s 14 inches wide by wednesday.
The city’s on edge tonight. I’m on edge tonight. i need a beer. it’s too early in the week for a beer. sigh.

For 1000

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