Text 4254, 93 rader
Skriven 2013-09-03 20:56:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: trip 105
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Linda, widow of Rosemary's brother, and her son Will were stopping
by for the night, as Will is going to college in Boston, and they
were driving a carload of stuff up from down south. Linda is rather
cute, but when I met her I wasn't thrilled, as she has an aspect
that can only be called "prim and proper and prissy." She's by no
means witless, and she sometimes lets out some shining thought in
an upper-class British accent, at which time she seems quite lovely.
I don't think she cares for me, though, and it's not a huge loss
either way. She also dotes on her kids in a way that borders on
the crazy clingy, too. Anyhow, I moved out of my relatively comfy
digs for these folks and slept on the office futon, after sweeping
off several months' worth of cookie crumbs and similar.

Luckily, John and Connie were invited to dinner, and as they seem
genuinely fond of both me and Linda, that was a good bridge.

I made rendang and a mixed eggplant, peppers, and onion dish. The
rendang was cooked dry, as we've discussed with Jamieson in the
past, and was very, very good; the eggplant thing was ratatouille
without so much rat, er, zucchini in it. I asked people if they
liked spicy food, and Connie sort of demurred, as she doesn't care
for such, and Will said that he loved it just so it wasn't insanely
hot. I made it sort of medium mild, much against my nature, I must
say. Most of us liked the level of heat in the rendang, though I
cut up a couple Jalapenos just in case, ending up using most of it
myself, and even Connie ate her (smallish) serving right up, with
the rice provided; Will, poor southern soul, it seems, doesn't know
what hot means, and it took him three servings of rice for him to
get his stew down, which he eventually manfully did.

Cookies and assorted chockies for dessert.

=

Next morning I got up just as breakfast was over. I'd said that I
probably wouldn't be up; this was a calculated thing, as Linda
makes probably the worst scrambled eggs I've ever had short of off
a hotel buffet: they're done to the consistency of clods of earth,
and though they don't smell bad, especially if she's done them with
real butter, I just can't get past that texture. This time, though,
there were no leftover slices of bacon, so I had some OJ only, and
then we bade them bon voyage et bonne chance.

Lunch of leftovers, and I don't know why or how I kept my paws off
that last serving of rendang, but I did, and then off to the airport
to continue my quest for segments, the justification for which I
have already outlined.

No PreCheck on my boarding pass. No worries, the program hasn't been
implemented in Providence anyway, and security took only a couple
minutes.

UA4850 PVD EWR 1624 1800 Q30 2B

I spent a few extra bucks to get the extra segment on this
itinerary instead of going for the nonstop barbie jet to DCA,
which would have been more convenient. I don't mind these
little planes, I kept saying, as we hit massive turbulence
going into Newark. We staggered out of the thing, and I went
right to the club bar for a hit or two of bourbon straight up.

Or more, as the next flight wasn't for three hours, which I
spent researching Lilli's and my next trip, which is to either
Asuncion or Montevideo, whichever is cheaper.

UA3559 EWR BWI 2129 2228 E70 1F

Good flight, especially as I found this seat surprisingly roomy,
despite what SeatGuru says (a mostly recommended resource).
Courvoisier was to be had but in a plastic cup.

The Hilton Crystal City (hard to get to late) is undergoing
major renovations in the lobby, so the entrance and the front
desk have been relocated to the side of the building; the place
looks like death warmed over. On checking in I was given a
goody bag with some fanfare; this came with a welcome letter in
quite nice calligraphy, an ounce bag of Utz potato chips, and two
Hershey's Kisses, that's it.

I had a big corner room on the 9th floor, one bed and an uncomfy
comfy chair, but as I was alone, this was fine.

Off to CBP for my Global Entry interview. I got to my 5:30 pm
appointment a bit early and was called at 5:20. The agent
must have predecided that I was not a threat to our nation's
security, as I got interviewed, photographed, and fingerprinted
and out of there at 5:25. By 5:30 I was back at the subway. Now
I get to use the Get Out of Customs Free line in 30 selected
US and 10 Canadian airports, saving me up to an hour in line,
five minutes interviewing, and weeks of Lilli yapping at me
about how I should request this privilege.
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