Right now I am on Flight 298 from Vegas to Seattle. I land about 2:43am, so that should be fun. My flight from Tampa to Vegas ran late, very late, like I was one of those idiots running through the airport yelling... wait, wait, only to find out that we waited for another flight to get in, too. Oh well, I am on the plane.

My flight from Tampa to Vegas, Flight 577, was one of the worst flights I have ever been on, ever. I tried to give up my ticket, to no avail, but I was told I would get a bump and the last minute I guess some guy didn't show up, so I had to get on the flight... in 6E - a middle seat! That isn't so bad, I have done middles before and can handle it. Well, I get towards my row and I can smell the girl in my row, it was HORRIBLE. I am not exaggerating, but she probably had not showered in two days. She was ripe. It was so bad that she left for the bathroom and even her coat smelled like BO.

So, if that wasn't bad enough, this girl did not fly much... I could tell because she asked how much it was for a pop. And she said pop, so I am guessing she was probably a Tampa local, with family transplanted from the midwest. Oh, she also bought the crappy US Air headphones, even thought she had ipod headphones, to watch the movie.

Woah, my plane is bouncing around a lot right now... We must be over the mountains.

So, if her stench wasn't bad enough she did not understand how horrible middle seats are on a 5 hour flight. She kept putting her stuff, and herself, over the visible boundary (arm rest) of where her seat ended and mine began. At first I would try to nudge her politely, just push her elbow back over to her side. Then after that didn't work, I actually said to her, can you move out of my space. I said it nicely, and she moved. Well, literally, 2 minutes later, she edges back over, and puts her elbow/forearm about 4 inches over and rests her fingers on my tray table... WHAT? Didn't I just ask you not to invade my personal space??? I pay for the 18-20 inches inbetween arm rests. That is my space, not yours...

It didn't stop there. She was having difficulty watching the movie because the guy infront of us had a giant head and kept putting his hands on top of his head, blocking her view. So, there she was... leaning in my personal space. And her hair, smelled so dirty! Well, I reminded her again, nicely, about the boundaries. We were good until she fell asleep... and Bam... elbow in my space about 4 inches again, and head droops on to my shouder. That was it. I put my seat in the upright position, which woke her up, and she proceeded to cough without covering her mouth. Fun times.

Ok, so inbetween writing this... um, the woman next to me on my current flight just spilled her Starbucks all over my jacket and almost my laptop! And caused me to spill my water a bit all over me... and a little bit on my laptop! Seriously... what is going on? I should have known that was about to happen because she had already dropped it twice. Now I am in the last row of the plane, I smell like Starbucks and spolied milk, and the plane is always more bumpy in the back, so tons of typos right now. Oh and I am totally sunburnt! AAHH... I cannot wait to be home... and my next few trips are on Sky Team Airlines, which means 1st class. Thankfully.

Oh, I wrote this whole few paragraphs that were erased because I didn't save, and when the water spilled they disappeared. Hopefully it didn't fuck up my laptop for real.

But what I was saying was my flight from Tampa was late... so I couldn't check email at Las Vegas airport and I have all these random emails about drama I have created on accident in Seattle - for those of you that know... I am remaining incognito until this blows over.

1 hour left on this flight.... and counting...!

Here I am... row 16, seat C on US Airways flight 1248 from Seattle to Charlotte. It is still always a bit weird for me when I realize that my new home base is Seattle and not Detroit. I am flying on a free ticket that I got when I took a work trip to LA in September. These red eyes are harsh but I cannot sleep quite yet as it is only 11:17 Pacific Standard Time and my usual bedtime is around 2:00am PST. Also, the flight would be so much better if it had Wi-Fi, as I could post my blog in real time, but in truth, if there were Wi-Fi on this flight, I would have, however, probably lost about $30 bucks on Full Tilt Poker by now.

Tom drove me to the airport tonight. It was weird having someone drive me to the airport, because usually I am traveling for business and I get car service from Driver for Hire. I will post their phone number when I actually put this on the web, because they are wonderful. I've used them quite a bit, they always show up a few minutes early and their prices are about the same as a cab from SeaTac to Belltown, but they have towncars or Limos that are very very clean and smell really nice. Plus the driver are not crazy drivers like most of the airport cabs I have taken. I highly suggest Driver for Hire. Call them... 206-423-9603.

I am going to Siesta Key, Florida which Jeff tells me it is just sugar sand and sun. I cannot wait. I was trying to think of the last time I took a "real" vacation and really, it was October 2006, oddly enough to Florida, with Jeff. I travel a lot, but it is usually for work and when I can take an extra day here and there it is still never a destination I would normally not choose (except Chicago to see Warfield!!)

There is a baby sitting in the row next to mine, and he is slightly crying. Usually this would annoy me, like on my 7.5 hour flight back from Orlando a few months ago, but he is gently crying and in a way it is sort of cute...

So, I haven't blogged about my day yet so far... or last night. Last night Dan came over after a little work get together he had going on. I cooked us a dinner and then we fell asleep so early. Wait, no, Dan fell asleep so early and I laid there and worked for a bit, watched some SNL... listened to the drunks at Tia Lous in my alley... and then, around 1:30 I heard my door jiggle. I was about 1/4 asleep and thought maybe it was a dream. Nope, happened again... So I woke Dan up and told him about it but no more jiggles. I went to the door and no one was there through the peep hole, so I am assuming it was a drunk neighbor of mine walking to the wrong apartment or something. It still freaked me out, especially with the whole crazy exboyfiend type of thing.

Then Dan's brother called him early and they went to brunch. I stayed at my house and packed for Florida. Dan came back over about noon and we went to Pike's for some fruits to put into my juicer. We got pears, bananas, strawberries, and mangos. It made a yummy juice. Then we listed a bunch of his stuff and my stuff on Ebay.

After that we went to eat at this new restaurant in Belltown called Cellars. It opened a few weeks ago at the old Jai Thai on 1st and Blanchard. They have happy hour all day on Sunday, which is nice. The happy hour food was pretty tasty and not too expensive. Their happy hour draft beers were $2.50 a piece which is a steal in Belltown. They usually have Mack & Jacks but the keg was broken so Dan went with a Manny's and I had the Hef, which was Whistling Pig, and I loved it. We got some apps which were not great, but not bad either. Our server was really nice and very attentive. I think I want to check out the dinner menu at this place one time. They did have a garage door type of window which was open at the bar area, which made the crackhead watching even better than usual. Plus it was a nice day and nice to be in the open.





Then Dan went home, Tom picked me up... which leads back to where I am now... Flight 1248...

11:43pm