Saturday, December 19, 2009

Home for the Holidays... FINALLY

SANDY, UT -- My route home for Christmas this year took a few twists and turns.
First, this happened:...Followed by a day of chaos and angry travelers at the airport. Here's the scene about mid-way through one of the longest lines I've ever waited in at any airport ever:
After three hours of waiting in line, my departure time rapidly approaching, and no where near the ticket agents, I finally called Delta's 1-800#... only to be told, that for some reason I had been bumped from my seat and put on stand-by. WHAT?! Can they even do that?! And I wasn't alone. Several people from my church were on the same flight, and they too got bumped... and rescheduled for another day, most on Christmas Eve or later... even though our original flight was scheduled to leave without a hitch. I was livid. I demanded an earlier departure time. The closest and earliest one they could find: 6:45 a.m. out of Richmond. So, I hitched a ride on my very own Polar Express (aka Amtrak) that just happened to be delayed 3 hours. Fun fact: The conductor really yells, "All aboard!" as you board the train. I am such a naive train rider.
And here is the silver lining in all of it. Because I got rerouted to Richmond, I got to hang out with this cute, little guy:


It was hard saying goodbye, but now I am home... safe and sound. Finally. Only three days late. And it is snowing here. I was hoping to have left that nasty white stuff behind in DC.

Monday, December 14, 2009

Whew...

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Thank goodness my roommates and I were not home late Friday night when the furnace blew a fuse* and decided to leak CO (Carbon Monoxide) throughout our entire four story house... when on any other Friday night someone would have likely been home, and likely sound asleep.

Thank goodness for good neighbors who alerted us of eerily colored smoke plummeting from our basement.

Thanks goodness emergency responders really do come in an instant when someone dials 911.
And thank goodness for good friends, who you can laugh about all this with later.**

*This is not correct terminology. In actuality, the furnace went awry in some other manner.
**And while it's happening.