Week 23: Jokes & Chokes

Greeting from the Chili’s bar in LAX’s gate 42B. I’m writing this on my Blackberry as I watch the Mavericks try to even their series with the Warriors, so please forgive any typos. I will admit right away that I am pretty po’d due to my return flight being delayed nearly 4 hours and the Mavericks inability to pull away in this game so bear with me.

Tonight is not the first delay of the weekend. I was stuck on the plane for over an hour yesterday as the left engine failed to ignite and required maintenance to come to the gate and install a new ignition box. Thankfully, American was kind enough to leave the AC running as we sat and waited through delay #1. Oh yeah, I did arrive just before final boarding this week. I really need to get my schedule straight or I’ll have an even longer delay.

Last night, I had a lengthy dinner meeting with my friend Todd about our individual projects we’re helping each other with. I always enjoy getting to spend time with him and to get to pick his brain is an invaluable resource.

Today, I got up and went across the street to 24 Hour Fitness in the Sherman Oaks Galleria and worked out. I’ve decided to switch my Saturday morning workout to Sundays since the time difference in LA works out to allow me to do this and stay on some sort of exercise routine. From there, I cleaned up and headed off to class where we would be preparing for our 3rd and final show of Level 3. We spent the class reviewing the last 6 weeks lessons and working through some new games and ideas. After class, I headed over to La Cantina to enjoy some chips and salsa with Joel & Ellen Veenstra. While there, I got a phone call from American Airlines telling me that my 7:20 flight had been delayed to 9:00. Using my deductive skills, I was now set to land at 2:00 a.m. instead of 12:25 a.m. as previously scheduled and I was not too happy.

Before our 5:00 show, we went over to catch the Advanced Musical Improv show that fellow class member and Amigo Friend, Mike McLendon is in and it was really, really good. Some really funny stuff and, as always, great music by the genius Michael Pollock. So, our last Level 3 show was well documented as being a total flop, but tonight’s show was as close to perfection that we could get. The scenes were smart, well-defined, and so in tune that they were all 2 person scenes and didn’t require any walk-ons or additional characters. I got to work with Ellen again and redeem myself for the atrocious Film Noir scene we did in the last show. Sadly, this is the last show of the group we’ve called “Alligator” as we’re losing Ed, Celeste, Annie, Emilio, and Christina moving into Levels 4 & 5 so from now on we’re just “Gator.”

At this point, I head towards the airport thinking I will be delayed an hour and a half and would end up missing the Mavericks games. Much to my chagrin, I arrived at the airport and checked in to find that my flight is now delayed to 10:30, landing at 3:40. Too say I am pissed off is beyond words. This is brutal. If I wanted to take the flippin’ red-eye, I would have scheduled the 12:25 am flight. I decided to burn 3 upgrades and go home first class so I can try to sleep. This sucks so much. Heaven forbid I do business with an airline that sticks to a pricing schedule and puts planes in the air that will at least start. Delta you are now on the board…

This update has taken me about 25 minutes to write on this Blackberry coupled with the distraction of the Mavs game…..DAMMIT MAN!!!! I decided to put it down until the game was over and I am embarrassed to so I’m a die-hard Mavs fan. I can’t decide if they are the biggest joke in the history of the NBA or they have erased the memory of their 2006 playoff collapse choke with another, much bigger CHOKE. If the Mavericks find a way to flush a 67 win season down the toilet, I’m on the Spurs bandwagon and bet Cuban blows this team up. If anybody sees Dirk Nowitzki, tell him Game 5 is 8:30 Tuesday at the AAC.

UPDATE 4/30: I didn’t get home until close to 5:00 am this morning. It took me nearly 45, FOR. TY. FIVE. Minutes to get out of the DFW airport. Just the airport. I had to ride the stupid tram all the way around the airport since only one way was running, so there’s 25 minutes. Then when I got off at C8, where I parked, I had to walk 10 minutes down to the only exit at C21, then 10 minutes BACK to my car at C8. Then a 35 minute drive home and another 45 minutes to finally fall asleep. Guess who gets to go to work tomorrow morning? I do. Awesome.

Miles Traveled: 2,470
Total Miles: 56,810

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *