Well, it feels like Christmas, even though it's a rainy 50 degrees outside. My travels landed me safely in my homestate--on time, even, and with luggage to boot! But as flying during the holidays is rarely uneventful, I thought I'd share the highlights of my journey.
Shoes
The security check line was long, the crowd panicky. There were several pre-security-check stations along the way, in hopes, I imagine, that by the time people got to the "real" security conveyor belt, they would be prepared. The second guard was an entertaining fellow (kind of cute, too!) who, every so often, would start a routine about how if we had any liquids, we had to package them correctly or else they would be confined to the "circular storage facility" next to him (i.e., the trash can).
"Everything goes through the conveyor belt," he exclaimed, "except your boarding pass and your children. Shoes, coats, computers...they all have to go!"
The lady behind me, in complete seriously, glanced about worriedly and then asked, "Will we get our shoes back?"
The security guard, without batting an eye, answered, "Well, ma'a'm, you'll only get one of them back. We keep the other here for safekeeping. Don't worry--you'll get it when you return. That's how we get so many frequent flyers: they keep coming back for their shoes!"
He then was questioned by someone else concerning why, then, the airport did not keep their floors heated. Unfortnately, as he told us, they had a policy clearly stating that the floors were to be kept properly chilled despite the fact that all passengers were required to remove their shoes.
Atlanta Bread Company
I'm not sure if I've ever had this before, but I've got just one word: YUM.
Trains and Military-Speak
At this point, I should mention that I did not fly United this year. Instead, I flew Delta through Atlanta (an airport I had never been through before). It was great! I had heard horror stories about how huge the Atlanta airport was, and honestly, I was a bit concerned. But it was really quite pleasant.
The way the airport is set up, each concourse is its own separate building, connected by underground walkways and subway trains. (The escalators coming up from the underground were so tall that they gave me an eeire sense of being part of Joseph Heller's novel Closing Time, at the end.)
But it is the subway trains of which I must speak. I had a three-hour layover, so after having obtained nourishment, I decided that the best thing I could do to keep myself awake was to ride around on the trains. So I did. But here's what I found interesting. At every stop, the recording would say, "We are now approaching Concourse A. Concourse A, as in Alpha."
So, I thought, they're speaking military-speak. Yet when I got to my first destination, it was "Concourse D. Concourse D, as in David."
Is it possible, I wondered, that only some of the concourses were referred to by the military code? This precipitated my riding around further to determine the truth. My discovery? A, B, C, E, and T were all in proper miliary code (Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Echo, Tango). Only D was different.
And then it hit me...if they had said, "Delta," as would have been proper, they might have confused a lot of passengers who were going to Concourse D but who were flying an airline other than Delta. It makes you wonder if they've been doing it this way from the beginning, or if so many people got confused that they had to change it to "David."
Biebl
Last night, as I was winding down for bed, I flipped to MSU's classical tv station and saw a choir performing some lovely stuff. One of the pieces was very familiar to me, from the semester where Dr. Carver did the Ave Maria series with both Women's Chorus and University Chorale. I remember performing for OMEA in Holy Family downtown, standing in the balcony with the other choir down at the front, as we did antiphonal Ave Marias (one of them by Franz Biebl). Warm, happy feelings flooded over me.
The interesting part, though, was that the choir on television seemed to be doing a different arrangement than we had done. Our women's choir had done the one choir and our SATB choir had done the other choir's part. In this particular performance, though, the women did the one choir and the men split into four parts for the other choir. I quite enjoyed the sound of the four-part men's choir juxtaposed against the three- (or four...I forget) part women's choir.
Sleep
I pretty much slept the entire time on both of my plane rides, and last night, I went to bed around midnight and did not awaken until 1:23 p.m. I have hopes of rest and recovery from the semester (and from life!). It is wonderful to be home with my family. I hope all of you find yourself in a happy place this Christmas season.
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