Entry 750: String Delays

I made it to and from Memphis this week without incident. It was a short work trip, just two days total -- leave on Tuesday, return on Thursday. Late Tuesday evening and early Wednesday morning, it snowed in Memphis, just a few inches, but when you don't have the infrastructure in place -- snowplows, deicing vehicles, etc. -- a few inches can be a nuisance. Ultimately, it turned out to be no big deal, though. It made the ride from the hotel to the meeting venue Wednesday morning a bit slower, but that's about it. It actually kinda worked out perfectly because it snowed right in between my flights, so neither of them were delayed by the weather.

They were still delayed, though. Both times it seemed to be because the incoming flight was late. I got the dreaded "Your flight is delayed 20 minutes" text. I hate those so much. On flight days, I have a moment of panic anytime I feel my phone vibrate, even when it's nothing. Oh, whew! It's just my sister-in-law's Wordle score. The thing is, I'm not actually that bothered by a small delay. I'm a get-to-the-airport-early type of guy, so 20 minutes hardly matters. I can work/read/watch at the airport just as easily as I can at home. The problem, however, is that 20 minutes is never 20 minutes. It's always more, sometimes much more. I literally cannot think of a time in which my flight was delayed, and then departed without further delay.

I call it the string delay, and it's a staple of airlines. Often you get strung along with more texts officially declaring additional delays, but sometimes you get strung along without further announcement. Sometimes you're just standing there, looking at the display telling you boarding starts in two minutes, when there is no airplane at the gate and nobody behind the counter. Then boarding starts 30 minutes later, with no explanation as to why that delay wasn't worthy of an announcement like the previous delays. And then there are the additional sit-at-the-gate, taxi-to-the-runway, wait-in-line-for-takeoff string delays. Those can easily add another 45 minutes to your actual departure time.

My flight there got hit with a particularly bad string delay, causing me some consternation. There was a dinner I needed to attend starting at 6:30 pm. My original arrival time was 3:45 pm, which even with moderate delay, would get me there with more than enough time to get to the hotel and check-in and all that before needing to leave for the restaurant. However, the string got pulled more and more, and by the time we finally took off the arrival time was now 6:15. The airport is about 35 minutes from the hotel (which is about ten minutes from the restaurant), so I'm thinking there is no way I can get to dinner on time.

Now, I'm doing the calculation on whether or not it's best to go straight to the restaurant with all my bags or go to the hotel first and be even later to dinner. In the former scenario, I figure I'm arriving at 7:00 pm, best case scenario; in the later, it's 7:30, or more likely 7:45, so I figure I'll just go straight there. But then when we land, and I switch my phone off airplane mode, it reads 5:15. I forgot to account for the hour difference in time zones! Huzzah! I don't have any luggage*, and I check-in to the hotel online in the Lyft, so I arrive with time to spare -- not much time, only about ten minutes, but that's certainly better than being late.

*The key to quick traveling, especially if you don't have priority boarding and don't want to pay for it, is to bring a carry-on duffel bag. If you bring a rollaboard suitcase, there might not be room for it by the time you get on, or, as was the case on my flights, the overhead bins might not be big enough to accommodate them at all. Then you have to check your carry-on and either wait for it at baggage claim, which could easily add a half-hour to your trip, or at the gate, where the line still looked quite long. With a duffel bag, you can always squeeze it in somewhere in the bin.  

I watched the first episode of Season 3 of White Lotus on the flight there. It was good, but I botched how I did it. I looked on online to see if it was out yet, and I saw something about Season 3 Episode 4, so I figured there were at least four episodes out already, so I resubscribed to HBO (or Max, rather*), only to find that nothing beyond the first episode has dropped yet. Now, I have to keep the subscription for, like, three months to finish the season. Total newb move -- I should have waited until the entire season dropped and binged watched it in like two weeks and then canceled the subscription. Oh, well. Maybe there is something else worth watching on HBO right now. It's amazing that they used to have almost all the great prestige shows -- The Sopranos, Sex & the City, Six Feet Under, Curb Your Enthusiasm -- and now they have only one that I really want to watch. 

*I heard somebody on a podcast talking about how dumb it was for HBO to call their subscription service Max, when HBO spent decades establishing itself as one of the biggest names in movies and prestige TV. I couldn't agree more.

On the flight home, I watched The Menu, which I also thought was quite good. I got strong Get Out vibes from it. It's one of those movies where you know something is off from the get-go, and you can't help but be intrigued trying to make sense of it all. Also like Get Out, it takes a turn toward being a straight-up horror movie, without actually getting there, and it doesn't really know how to end. I didn't love the ending of either movie, but I also don't know what would have been better, so it's only a minor demerit. Overall, solid watch, very good for a two-hour plane trip.

Alright, speaking of not knowing how to end things... Until next time...     

Entry 749: More Snow, More Snow Days

We got hit with another snowstorm here on Tuesday evening. It didn't stick around long, but it put a nice six-inch blanket over the city and caused school to be canceled Wednesday. There also was no school yesterday nor is there any on Monday, so they got a reverse week -- two days of school, five days off. I asked the boys why there was no school yesterday, and they said "because its Valentine's Day!" and I was like, "No, that's not a day you usually get off," and they insisted that it was. Of course, it isn't, but it was this year, because it happened to be a staff day at each of their schools. Why couldn't it have been flexed into a makeup day for one of the snow days they missed? I have no idea, but I don't want to go down that complaint avenue again.

It's weird, we are getting, like, a real winter this year. I thought global warming had eradicated the real winter in this part of the world, but apparently not completely. It looked like the weather was going to turn for good, as just last week we reached the low 60s, but it snapped back and is quite cold again. This coming week we are supposed to get another snowstorm, and I couldn't be less happy about it, as it could really mess up some travel plans. I'm leaving for a (hopefully) short business trip on Tuesday afternoon. I'm going to a meeting on Wednesday and then returning home Thursday afternoon. That's the plan, anyway. But the show is supposed come here on Wednesday and continue on Thursday, and it could be a lot. As if that's not bad enough, it's also supposed to snow where I'm going on Wednesday. So, I've got to worry about it on both ends. Travel is stressful enough when conditions are good; it's absolutely dreadful when they are not. It's a cavalcade of delays and cancellations. I'm having premonitions of being stuck in an airport or a moderately priced hotel. (And I have a lot going on I need to back for next weekend.) If it was up to me, I would think long and hard about rescheduling this meeting or making it virtual. But, alas, it is not up to me.

One of the things I want to get back for next weekend is Lil' S2's flag football game. They made it to the semifinals, and it's pretty cool. They've been struggling all year to get their best lineup on the field. A bunch of players missed games with the flu (including Suren last week), and they lost a bunch of close games. So, they came into the playoffs as the 8th seed (out of 10) and had to win a play-in game just to make the main tournament. But they won that this morning (by a 32-6 score), and then they beat the number one seed right afterwards. Both teams only had six kids -- the exact number needed to field a team, so neither side had any subs -- but the other team was missing some of their top players, whereas we had our best players, and we won handily (19-0). It's funny how these games are determined by what 9-year-old gets sick when and what families decide to go skiing for the long weekend, but that's the beauty of kids sports. Honestly, it's not that different from the NFL, in which the most important games are often decided by what star players didn't blow out their ACLs and aren't in concussion protocol.

Football is such a brutal sport, man. I mean, flag football is just as safe as any other youth sport, but it is definitely a gateway drug to the real thing. Lil' S2 has already been asking if he can play tackle. We're saying no for now, but in a few more years, who knows? The thing is, I think he might be better at tackle than flag. He probably doesn't have the speed to play the skill positions, but he's pretty tough and sturdy for his age, so I'm thinking offensive line. He actually can catch quite well -- he caught four or five passes today including a touchdown and a conversion -- so maybe even tight end. There's definitely a part of me that wants to see how he does in tackle football. On the other hand, however, football is such a brutal sport, man.

Lil' S1 is also doing a sport right now. He's on the swim team at his school. We basically forced him to do it. I'm not into making my kids do any particular activity, but I am into making them do a particular type of activity. We told Lil' S1 he has to do some sort of physical activity regularly -- participating on a sports team, taking a martial arts class, joining a climbing gym -- something involving physical movement in a recurring, structured setting. (Occasionally walking to the store to buy baking ingredients -- his preferred method of exercise -- doesn't count.) So, he picked swim, and he says he loves it. I went to one of his meets the other day. He did the 50-free and finished eighth out of ten swimmers -- not last! I only watched his heat (it was a tiny venue and there was no place to sit), and he finished in the middle out of three kids, so I went away satisfied. I mean, it wouldn't be that big a deal if he was last -- somebody has to be -- but I must admit, I did feel a bit of a relief that it wasn't him.

The thing is, he's always been a competent swimmer, and he probably could be pretty good if he put some effort into it, but I don't think he wants to. In fact, I don't know for sure, but I get the impression that one of the reasons he likes swimming is because the practices aren't that hard.* Well, whatever, at least it's a few hours after school in which he's not staring staring at a screen. Apparently, he's doing golf in the spring. We'll see how that goes.

*His school has a no-cut policy in sports, and from what I gather, the way they handle this on swim team is to have a "well squad" that does a less strenuous, less serious practice than the other kids in the well of the pool. Lil' S1 is on the well squad and talks about how great it is.

Until next time...

Entry 748: Wild Week

It was a wild week. Well, it was a wild week by my middle-age family-man standards, at least. The big news is that my company was purchased by a different company, a much larger company, one you've surely heard of, and so I guess I work for them now. It came totally out of the blue to me, but I think it's going to be a good thing. These types of acquisitions can definitely create some consternation, but we're being told all the right things: no job losses or pay cuts or relocations, etc. Of course things could always change for the worse, but they could change for the worse if we didn't get acquired too. Unless you work for yourself, you're always reliant on somebody above you, and if you do work for yourself, you only shift the reliance to your customers, which might not be any better. The only sure way to be set financially is to already have money, and even then you could develop a sports betting addiction and gamble it all away on failed Super Bowl props.* There is no such thing as a sure thing.

*I've only bet on the Super Bowl a few times and never for serious money. Back in 1992, I did a prop pool at a Super Bowl party at my parents' friends' house. Everybody put in a few dollars and picked their favorite props using a fake budget, and then the people with the most fake money at the end, won the real money. I got the top prize, because I hit on Earnest Byner to score the first touchdown at relatively long odds. That's probably my greatest betting moment ever.

The other big thing that happened this week is S left town for a work trip, and Lil' S2 got the flu. It was pretty brutal. He was full-on sick -- like, not wanting to get out of bed, not wanting to eat anything, coughing and wheezing and puking sick. The fact that I was single-daddying it was trying in ways but, if I'm being totally honestly, easier in other ways than it would have been if S was here. One thing I've noticed about parenting is that a large percentage of it is done for the benefit of your partner more so than your child. I'm not saying this is a good thing or a bad thing -- it's just a thing. For example, I sometimes make Lil' S2 take his jacket to school, even when he doesn't want to, and I don't think he needs it, because I know when S picks him up, the thought of him being outside in 50-degree weather without a jacket will cause her consternation. The jacket is for her, not for him.

There are so many things like this, and I'm sure it goes both ways, so I'm not complaining. I'm just saying that when S travels for work, these for-your-spouse parenting obligations lessen a bit, and I don't mind that. When Lil' S2 woke me up at 2 am Tuesday morning because he threw up all over his bed, I didn't have to worry about what towels to use to clean it up or where to move him or anything like that. I just did what I thought was best/easiest in the moment, and I had the entire situation handled lickety-split, Winston Wolf style.*

*Thankfully, our upstairs is all hardwood floors, not carpet, so I didn't have a repeat of last post's clean-up job.

And then when I got back in bed, I didn't have to feel S's mama-bear anxiety emanating off of her. I could just go back to sleep immediately, which was actually the best thing for Lil' S2 -- it's much harder to care for a sick kid when you're exhausted.* S's concern was strong enough over text. I took him to the doctor Tuesday afternoon basically just to put her mind at ease. I'm not anti-doctor, by any means, but I rarely go for this type of sickness, because there's nothing they can really do. They diagnose you and then tell you to do the exact things that you were going to do anyway -- stay hydrated, rest, and take some Tylenol if you're running a fever. Those are the only three things you really need to do, and, lo and behold, they are exactly what the doctor said Lil' S2 should do.

*I turned off my morning alarm Sunday night because neither of the kids were going to school on Monday (Lil' S1 had a random day off), and then I forgot to set it again. I woke up at 8:25 am on Tuesday in a panic, because I had to get Lil' S1 across town to school in five minutes. Then I realized he had already gotten up, gotten ready, and taken the Metro to school. It was very cool and relieving. In many ways, he's mature beyond his years; in others, he's still very much a little kid.  

But, I mean, it's fine that I took him. It was "only" three hours out of my life, and putting S's mind to ease is a kind thing to do. Plus, it was nice to rule out strep throat. I was pretty sure that wasn't it, because he wasn't complaining specifically about his throat, but it has been going around the neighborhood. Also, I got a doctor's note for school. They're sticklers at DCPS about excused absences. I'm like, How about it's excused because I'm his parent and I say it's excused?! But actually truancy is a big problem, so it's probably good that they take it seriously.

One amazing thing is that somehow neither Lil' S1 nor I got sick. (At least, we haven't yet, knock on wood.) This is literally the only time I can remember one of my kids getting sick enough to miss school and not passing it on to me or the other kid. I guess getting those flu shots a few months ago was a good thing. I mean, we all got them, including Lil' S2, but they aren't 100% effective. In our small sample, they were only 67% effective. Still, I'll take that over a household-wide pandemic any day.

Until next time...

Entry 747: Marinara Bomb

2025 has not exactly gotten off to the greatest start in the history of the Gregorian calendar. Thursday was a particular bad day for me. I woke up and put on a news podcast, which was my first mistake. One of the worst things about Trump being president, I now recall in full detail, is the exhaustion you feel trying to keep up with current events. It's especially bad right now, as everybody tries to figure out the meaning, legality, and implications of all his executive orders. I'm tempted to just bury my head in the sand for the next four years, but that's not really practical, especially living in DC. A lot of people I know and love either work for the federal government or work for companies who rely on federal contracts, and all these potential funding freezes to agencies like USAID directly affect their livelihoods.* So, I can't avoid the chaos, even if I want to.

*Thankfully, S got out of the government contracts space about five years ago, so her job won't be directly impacted by any of this stuff.

The thing is, even those EOs that I'm sympathetic towards (there are a few), I have major problems with, because I either don't think the president does (or should) have the authority to unilaterally decree them from on-high, or I think they are worded and/or being implemented in such away as to minimize their benefits and maximize their damage as much as possible. I guess that's the point. The goal isn't actually to make America great again (whatever that even means); it's to help the people this administration likes and punish those it doesn't.* It's the exact opposite of the message of every other president of my lifetime, all of whom Biden was effectively echoing when he said, "I'll work just as hard for those who didn't vote for me, as those who did." We don't even get this lip-service now. 

*The good news, such as it is, it is virtually impossible to carry out this goal. We are too intertwined. A lot of Trump supporters will be hurt by these EOs too, which is probably one of the reasons many of them have gotten walked back to some degree.

Take the return-to-the-office order for federal employees. I understand why you might want to discontinue remote work. It has positives and negatives, and it's not unreasonable to conclude that the latter outweigh the former.* But it's being enforced too abruptly and harshly. A bunch of people I know have to go back almost immediately. As one of my friends put it, "They're giving us two weeks to completely change our lives." Like, if you gave people who live in the area until September to return to work (let it coincide with a new school year, since that often dictates people's schedules) and people who live out of the area an additional six months, it wouldn't that bad. In fact, it could even be a boon for the District, revitalizing downtown and bringing back the Metro ridership that was lost during the COVID shutdown. As it is, however, it's incredibly disruptive and stressful for thousands of people -- and again, this is surely part of the point. Since government work is left-coded ("the Deep State"), the fact that it inflicts hardship on so many is no doubt seen as a plus to this administration. 

*I like going into the office (part-time), for three main reasons: 1) When I get to know people personally, I'm much more likely to solicit their help or offer my help to them, which greatly aids in efficiency; 2) I often get ideas from informal chats that only occur in-person; 3) It's nice to have another space, outside of my house that I go to regularly. The flip side of these, of course, is that it sucks to commute to work everyday, and it sucks to be indefinitely stuck in a geographic location you don't want to be in, just because that's where your company got the best deal on a lease. The best policy, in my opinion, is a flexible hybrid schedule with the option to go full-on remote after one has been with the company for a few years.

Then, I learned there was an aircraft crash that killed around 70 people about five miles from our house. These types of disasters are obviously so sad and scary no matter where they happen, but they get amped up just a little more when they happen so close to home. You probably already heard that the plane collided with a military helicopter during its descent into National Airport. It sounds like the accident was completely on the helicopter. An air traffic controller was in contact with the helicopter's pilot and made him confirm that he could see the plane and would let it land before he went through the plane's airspace. It's unclear why the pilot didn't do this, but it's speculated that he was looking at something else he thought was the plane (possibly a different plane in the distance) and not the actual plane he was about to crash into. Tragic.

My question: Why was this helicopter there in the first place? Like why was it flying through this area at all? Reagan National is one of the most congested airports in the world. Why does a military training mission need to fly anywhere near its runways, especially at night in extremely windy weather? Couldn't it have gone around? A few miles in either direction and it would never have even been in any conceivable line of flight. It makes no sense to me. Again, tragic.

To top it all off, short on the heels of learning about this, I was carrying a box full of groceries from Costco downstairs, when I noticed a flap on the box was sticking out in a weird way. Uh-oh, that doesn't look sturdy, I thought immediately before the box's bottom gave out and all its contents tumbled down the steps. Unfortunately, one of the items was a three pack of pasta sauce, and one of the glass jars burst when it hit the bottom (the middle jar, somewhat weirdly). I mean, it just absolutely exploded -- like one of those ink bombs you see in bank robbery scenes in movies -- sending flecks of marinara and glass everywhere and leaving a puddle of dark redness on our light gray carpet.

Although things like this aren't even comparable to the true horrors and tragedies of the world, there is something about seeing your domicile in disarray that can push you over the edge. There's a passage in an Irvine Welsh book -- one of the Trainspotting followups; I don't remember which one -- in which a character name Spud ends up at this woman June's apartment. The place is a wreck, and June is having a meltdown because she's broke and depressed and her boyfriend is an abusive psychopath (Francis Begbie), and Spud just kinda walked in on the situation and doesn't really know what to do. So, he starts washing her dishes. She joins him, and they clean up her entire kitchen. By the time they're done, she has walked back from the figurative ledge, and he leaves feeling relatively good about the whole encounter ("chuffed," as the Scots say) .

There's something about this passage I really love, and on Thursday looking at the mess of marinara before me, it resonated with me first-hand. I was June, only I had no Spud to come to help me.* I had to clean it up all myself, which I did... kinda. There's still a faint stain, but given the state it was in, I think that was inevitable. It certainly isn't due to a lack of effort on my part. After I picked out all the glass and scooped up the top layer of sauce, I scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed some more. I spent literally an hour scouring the carpet. I went through about ten beach towels, dozens of buckets of water, and almost a full bottle of cleanser. I thought I had it licked completely, but today I can still see a reddish tinge. It's too early to say exactly how bad it's going to be (it hasn't totally dried out yet), but I know it's going to annoy me, at least a little bit, every time I look at it -- a lovely little reminder of a truly dreadful day.    

*Which is actually probably a good thing. Although Spud has the kindest of hearts, he's an addict and a thief and gets into (and causes) trouble wherever he goes.

Until next time...