Ordeal at BWI

I know I just blogged, but I feel my experience at the airport yesterday needs to be told.

I left work around 2:45 so I could go home and finish a few things before leaving. I finally headed out around 3:45 and hit some major traffic on 395 which I didn’t expect. At one point I got cut off by a lady with a sticker on her car said "Save the parrots!" Oh, please. Luckily traffic got better and I made it to my cousin Genelle’s with plenty of time.

Genelle gets me to the airport without any problems. I take my little luggage bag which I’ve had since I was 15 and my sister and I nicknamed R2D2 because of how the back wheels slide out and it leans back some. I get to the Southwest counter, excited to see that the line for ticketless customers (this just means you got them online) is much shorter. But just my luck, the computers for self check-in break down as I get in line. With only two people in front of me, it takes 20 minutes to get my whatever the pass was called so I could move on to security. I had to check in at the gate to get my boarding pass.

Security was the best part of the day...no line at all. Probably because everyone was stuck in line with the broken computers.

I get to the gate and check in and get my actual boarding pass. I’m wandering around and I hear over the speakers that they’re paging someone named "James Fulton". They say the name multiple times and I listen closely just to make sure. They were clearly saying James so I ignore it. I wander over to the Hudson news store and buy a snack. As I’m paying, the voice in the PA system comes on again calling my name for sure this time. They’re telling me to dial zero on a courtesy phone. I quickly pay for my stuff and search for a phone. I see one and it’s being used, then I see a second right next to the counter at my gate and it’s being used also. I ask the guy at the counter if there are any other courtesy phones and he says he doesn’t know. How helpful. I wait for the guy to hang up. Finally he does and I dial zero. The voice on the other line says "I’m sorry, but this is Sprint Customer service." Turns out it was just a regular pay phone. I ask the guy at the desk again if there are any courtesy phones at all here. He says he doesn’t know of any because it’s a new wing and they haven’t been put in yet and that I should ask some one "over there". I run down towards the beginning of the wing and ask another lady where I can find a phone. She informs me that there are instructions on the pay phones on how to use them as courtesy phones. I run back to the pay phone and that same damn guy is on it again. Luckily he gets off quickly this time and I see the 800 number to call. I call and get through, but they inform me that whoever was trying to reach me had hung up because it took me so long.

At this point I realize I’ve dropped my boarding pass somewhere the midst of running around. I get in line at the counter again so the Idiot Counter Guy who doesn’t know anything about courtesy phones can print another one out. Then the lady next to him who’s on the phone shouts out my name. "Yes, that’s me!" She tells me my cousin has been trying to page me because I left my cell phone in her car and that someone who works for Southwest named Roberta is going to meet me upstairs just inside of security in the B section. The guy next to me hears this and says "whoa, that’s a ways away." Fantastic. I run run run upstairs and find the area. I don’t see anyone in Southwest clothing so I ask some of the security people and they know nothing and lead me to more people who know nothing. At this point I’m worried because Idiot Counter Guy said if I wasn’t back in time that he’d give my seat away to stand by and also that if someone found my other boarding pass, they could just walk on since you don’t need ID after you pass security.

I’m about to give up and head back towards the gate when a lady calls out for me. It's Roberta she has my phone. Phew. I get to the gate in time. Double phew. As I was waiting to board, I’m holding my boarding pass and a lady comes up and hands me my first one. She tells me her husband saw me walk away from the Hudson news place leaving it on the counter. I guess I had been a little too flustered from hearing my name paged.

All that’s important is I made it on the plane with my phone (and an extra boarding pass). I was sweating and panting and had a middle seat next to a guy who exhaled really loudly through his nose, but I didn’t care. Although if I hadn’t had my mp3 player with me, he probably would not have survived.

I realize it’s my fault I left my phone in Genelle’s car and that it was careless to leave my boarding pass at the little store. BUT...if Idiot Counter Guy had known the pay phone right next to him could be used as a courtesy phone, or even better, had the PA people gotten my name right the first time, there would have been far less trouble.

Last thing...thanks again to Genelle for getting my phone back to me!

Goodbye soap, Hello allergies

Alas, I have finally used up the Four Seasons soap that Jackie and I stole back in November. I will definitely keep the dispenser since it represents one of my wilder moments in life. Jackie tells me she still has the paper towels that we also took.

My allergies have decided to flare up. It started at Bucknell graduation this weekend. I thought maybe they'd subside when I got home. But no, they're here to stay. Yay.

I made brownies for the office pot luck yesterday and I was the only one to eat any! It was one of my best batches ever. I remembered the salt, but barely. Five seconds after I put them in the oven, I took the pan out and carefully added it. Since I was in a bit of a hurry, they were slightly underdone and hence very, very gooey. Silly dieters missed out!

Well I'm off to New England for the long weekend! I get to help Annie move out of the dorms with my mom. Then I'll be visiting relatives in New Hampshire and Connecticut. Unfortunately, there will be a lot of driving with my mom involved which means I won't be able to use the long car rides to catch up on some much needed sleep.

There's a first time for everything

And this weekend it was being at a bar and walking straight into a bathroom stall while the men's room had a line out the door. What was the occasion you ask? Last week was Police Week here in DC. It's technically about honoring fallen officers, and cops from all over the country, even Canada, gather in the capital. And apparently there were no cops on duty anywhere in the nation Saturday night because they were all at this Irish bar. Drunk out of their minds singing patriotic songs. Although there was no line for the bathroom, it did take me ten minutes to nudge my way through all of them. Needless to say, I was amused.

I'm happy to announce I've added two guys to my sidebar. I have a disproportionately high number of girl friends with blogs. Anyway, you can check out Dave Barry's blog, he updates his throughout the day with links to amusing news stories and websites. One of my recent favorites is this society of well....really cool people *sarcasm*.

The other new blog is that of my buddy Erik who is unfortunately moving back to San Diego this weekend after finishing law school. I don't even get to go to his good-bye party where there's gonna be a moon bounce :(. But that's ok, because I'll be at Bucknell graduation hanging out with other cool people :).

Once again I'm overdue for a blog entry

Random Observation: Not only is this area the capital of this nation, but it is also the capital of school trips. I find myself constantly running into large groups of middle school kids (ew) all wearing FBI and CIA hats.

Advice: When buying underwear at Victoria’s Secret, measure them against others of the same size and cut. I ended up buying what I thought were low-rise bikini panties that ended up looking like granny panties on me. Yuck.

Prize: Jackie has announced the winners of the Jackie the Greatest Blog Awards and I am the proud recipient of the Silver Blog Award! Congrats to AK for getting Platinum, Peetie and Brian who tied for Gold and my dad who edged out many others for the Bronze. I am so honored to know/be related to all of you.

Life Update: I got word from home last night that our dog Cocoa died. Although he could be a twerp and pee everywhere and bark all the time, I do have some heart and I feel really bad for my family, especially Annie. On a more positive note, I just bought my plane tickets to go up to New Hampshire Memorial Day weekend. My mom and I will be helping Annie move out of the dorms and then we’ll go down to the farm in Connecticut for a mini reunion.

Last but not least: I achieved a personal record of five comments on my last entry! That’s a Peetie-level number of comments! Congratulations to me :).

Over the last 4 days I:

• ate a cheeseburger at an Animal Right's bbq. Motto - There's room for all of God's creatures...next to the mashed potatoes.
• embarrassed myself trying to sing Time of my Life and I Want it that Way at karaoke.
• helped Jackie pick out a dress and shoes in under an hour. I like people who shop like me. (Don't worry Peetie...I'm still your friend.)
• saw the Beach Boys perform at Chrysalis. Unfortunately California Girls was the first song they played and I wasn't there yet. There were a TON of old people there. I'd say half the crowd was over 50 thanks in part to the inauguration for the new prez the next day.
• won a bottle of champagne in a raffle. The next morning my friend from jazz class got me a bottle of wine as a housewarming gift. I am now in need of some special occasions.
• went to my second gymnastics class. I managed to do a front flip and land on my feet. Unfortunately my first few tries I did not end up on my feet and now I have a bruised tailbone so I will be walking and sitting funny for a day or two. Goals for next week: Kip and back flip.