MacWorld Expo Boston:  Prologue

Hello from Boston, MA!  Even though MacWorld Expo doesn’t start until tomorrow, I’ve already begun writing — and after a day like yesterday, who wouldn’t?!  Enjoy the many adventures it took to get to Boston, because I’m sure it’s a lot more funny if you’re not the one who has to be there.

As it Happened: 09 July 2005 : 8:30am

1. I was almost late to my flight.  a) Erik, my roommate, was going to drive me at 6:15am for a 8:30am flight since a co-worker was coming in early to cover his shift. b) The co-worker didn’t show up until nearly 7am, at which point I realized that I had I lost my tickets and itinerary, and my hotel reservations.  I found them in my fuzzy slipper under the bed.
2. When I did get there, I was psyched to volunteer for a later flight (woo!  free tickets! ...or so i thought).  If only it were that easy.  The ones who got there and volunteered first were the lucky ones.
3. They’d already taken all the volunteers they wanted.  Which left me disaffected…. but then….
4. That’s when i saw that it was some sort of child-ferrying extravaganza - there are literally more children than adults on this flight.  Jesus.
5. The FAA requires that all placards and signs be intact and apparently my school bus of the Sky has a rip on one of the wing labels.  We’re sitting on the runway while someone goes and gets a spare.
6. I forgot to charge my PowerBook.  Dammit.  I only 1/3 of a charge on it.
7. WTF is taking so long about putting on this damn sticker?  Is our wing falling off?  Christ, just peel and stick, people!
8. The pilot ACTUALLY JUST SAID “Now that we have a shiny new sticker on the wing, so we’re definitely good to go.”
9. During the time between “good to go” and actually beginning the taxi, I was able to listen to the following songs on my iPod: Feel Good Inc - Gorillaz The Orthodox Pleasure - Information Society Megalomaniac - KMFDM (I should note here that “Megalomaniac” is a 7.5 minute long song) Smells Like Teen Spirit - Nirvana Strength - Information Society  
10. Between starting the taxi and becoming airborne, I additionally enjoyed: Shake The Disease - Depeche Mode (another 7-8min song) Private Life - Oingo Boingo Tainted Love - Marilyn Manson (it’s another cover from my boy, Manson…) Move Your Body - Eiffel 65
11. The flight thereafter was somewhat uneventful, the high points were drinking a sprite, reading about AlaskaAir’s new in-flight media units you can rent (total article about these coming), and taking a picture of Mt Rainier at 10,000’ into our ascent to cruising altitude.
12. I finished an entire crossword puzzle in the Alaska Inflight Magazine (hard questions, too!) in less than two hours.
13. I will never again travel without an iPod.  Ever.  I don’t know how I lived without one of these!  Dammmmmn!
14. I wrote all this on the back of my travel itinerary prior to putting it in my PowerBook, because I’m a retard and didn’t bring any paper.  DUR.
15. I’m almost out of batteries (although 2 hours on 1/3 of a charge is DAMN IMPRESSIVE), so I’m going to listen to Information Society and read “Red Mars” by Kim Stanley Robinson, which Ian kindly lent me for the trip.

In Flight Funnies:  09 July 2005 11am

• I totally listened to “Narcotic Influence” by Empirion (off the “Hackers” soundtrack) during the pre-flight safety presentation (and then got witty and changed it to Duran Duran’s “Safety Dance”).  Definitely made it more amusing.
• I spent the first hour of the flight wearing my iPod headphones in the wrong ears (right on left, left on right) all the while wondering why I couldn’t hear it very well and why my headphones were suddenly making my ears uncomfy. 
• The pilot seems to fancy himself a comedian, since he’s had some brilliant one-liners over the PA, such as “We’ve reached our laid back cruisin’ altitude of 35,000’.”  “We’ve just passed over Spokane on our way out of WA… but it’s more like we left it in the dust” and, I swear to god, “Now that we’ve breezed over Idaho, we can begin our MAGICAL JOURNEY across the FASCINATING mid-western United States!”

Over and out!