So I'm currently stuck at O'Hare. Not the most exciting airport in which to be stuck, either. "Flight rescheduled due to air-traffic control"...
Now, one could argue that I would make good use of my time by grading exams, but that really involves spreading out papers across surfaces and there just isn't that much table space around here. But there is wi-fi (albeit not free - but cheap). So blogging it is! I'll save my book for the jet.
The people-watching has been fun. Normally, I'd be up for browsing booksellers or grabbing some ice cream, but I'm particularly tired, so slogging my exam-laden backpack up and down the terminal concourses just doesn't hold much appeal today. I'm on United, which isn't my preferred airline, but it does have one significant benefit: Channel 9. The air-traffic control broadcast to the seats in back. My next segment is a regional jet, which won't have it, but I got to listen to ATC on the Airbus. Glimpses into otherwise unseen worlds like that are fascinating. Kind of like factory tours - you get to see how it all happens. The arrivals controllers talk pretty much nonstop, carefully arranging their ballet of aircraft. I think it would be an interesting job, but I don't know if I could do it.
We had rain at home, but we took off just before sunrise and had sun the whole way, but icy grey stratocumulus clouds between us and earth. I was reminded of one thing that I loved about flying out of Monterey. Invariably, the airport would have a blanket of stratus over it. But the stratus layer is usually thin, and once you get through a few seconds of grey after take-off, you pop out of the clouds into a brilliantly sunny sky, with a cottony blanket of cloud below, snuggled up against mountain peaks that rim the bay. I was always a slightly nervous flier out of that airport (probably because of all the turboprop aircraft - not a fan of those), but I that particular moment always made up for the white knuckles.
I should go grab some lunch and wander on down to the gate. Wintergreen candy canes and Barnaby's pizza await my arrival.
Now, one could argue that I would make good use of my time by grading exams, but that really involves spreading out papers across surfaces and there just isn't that much table space around here. But there is wi-fi (albeit not free - but cheap). So blogging it is! I'll save my book for the jet.
The people-watching has been fun. Normally, I'd be up for browsing booksellers or grabbing some ice cream, but I'm particularly tired, so slogging my exam-laden backpack up and down the terminal concourses just doesn't hold much appeal today. I'm on United, which isn't my preferred airline, but it does have one significant benefit: Channel 9. The air-traffic control broadcast to the seats in back. My next segment is a regional jet, which won't have it, but I got to listen to ATC on the Airbus. Glimpses into otherwise unseen worlds like that are fascinating. Kind of like factory tours - you get to see how it all happens. The arrivals controllers talk pretty much nonstop, carefully arranging their ballet of aircraft. I think it would be an interesting job, but I don't know if I could do it.
We had rain at home, but we took off just before sunrise and had sun the whole way, but icy grey stratocumulus clouds between us and earth. I was reminded of one thing that I loved about flying out of Monterey. Invariably, the airport would have a blanket of stratus over it. But the stratus layer is usually thin, and once you get through a few seconds of grey after take-off, you pop out of the clouds into a brilliantly sunny sky, with a cottony blanket of cloud below, snuggled up against mountain peaks that rim the bay. I was always a slightly nervous flier out of that airport (probably because of all the turboprop aircraft - not a fan of those), but I that particular moment always made up for the white knuckles.
I should go grab some lunch and wander on down to the gate. Wintergreen candy canes and Barnaby's pizza await my arrival.
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