Text 24630, 69 rader
Skriven 2007-12-27 17:00:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: dinner with Carol 610
=============================
Dinner with Carol at Sputnik
1223 FL 810 BOS BWI 1708 1810 717 1D
was     822         2030 2152 717 11C

Decided to get out of town early - my gigs were over, and
I didn't relish watching the 1-13 Dolphins get trounced
by the 14-0 Pats, and the rains were supposed to come by
the time my flight was scheduled. So I took a ride down
with Ellen and Joel to the airport, arriving way, way
early, to find chaos already reigning. I got put on the
standby list for a flight 4 hours before my scheduled one
and hunkered down to wait 2 hours. Stayed outside security,
where I found a seat next to an electric outlet, and fiddled
around for an hour before braving the line - now close to 50
people - at the checkpoint. The wait, and the subsequent
examination of my bag for explosives (I pointed out that I
had a fruitcake and knew how to use it) took 20 minutes or
so, and shortly I was at the cramped, malodorous, noisy
gate area for Airtran. Moseyed up to the agent and said that
I was willing to buy up if I could get on the 4:30. He said,
we're not allowed to do that, I can put you on the 5:30,
which you can upgrade for $40, but you're near the top of
the standby list for the 4:30 anyway, being elite and all
(I'm lifetime elite on Airtran and United, having flown the
former less than 10 times and the latter like 1000 times). 4:30
came and no aircraft, so I was just about to fork over $40
for business class on the 5:30 when the plane roared in and
they started calling names for the 4:30. I watched as they
cleared the standby list, holding me and one other guy to
one side, which made us jump with impatience, listening to,
you, 17 A and C; you, 20 F ... then she called us, him first.
He got 2C, I got 1D. I sat next to an odd but amusing history
professor at BC, who, as conversation brought out, knows
Jackie's Ph.D. advisor, small world that. We drank to each
other's health (Fish Eye Merlot, cherry bright rotgut of the
worst mass-market order) and then tried to sleep through some
of the worst turbulence of the year. The Boeing 717 is a nice
little aircraft, emphasis on the little, and it seemed that
we were being tossed about as if we were a Cessna. We landed
half an hour late. Carol had been alerted to my earliness/
lateness, and we decided to try to get back to Sputnik one
last time, as it was closing forever this night. Hightailed it
there to find a fairly full parking lot and a party just
winding down, as it was 7 for an 8:00 farewell. Bill the owner
greeted us with the news that there wasn't any food left, but
there were still a few bottles of booze untouched, so how
about a glass of wine? The wine that was left was the Salneval
Albarino 06 (Rias Baixas), a citrusy and stone-fruity lightish
quaff more suitable to a wedding than a wake, but we drank it
anyway, served first by Bill and then by Carl the sous-chef, a
big black guy with a surprisingly wide range of interests and
conversational competencies. Maria, Bill's wife, came by to
say adios, and when Bill toddled off to serve other customers,
I had Carl pour me a Maker's Mark into my wine glass: he
poured a triple, which Carol and I finished in short order,
and then he poured another triple, which I finished. I don't
remember what happened, except that Carol had to stake her
claim against a couple of cutish 40-ish hornyish ladies, and
then everyone but us left. Sadness. We said bye to Bill around
half-past (forgetting to pay the tab! so I e-mailed him later
but no response) and fell exhausted (both) and intoxicated (me)
into bed.

Turns out my original flight came in an hour plus late, so we
won on all counts.

___ Blue Wave/386 v2.30
--- Platinum Xpress/Win/WINServer v3.0pr5
 * Origin: Doc's Place BBS Fido Since 1991 docsplace.tzo.com (1:123/140)