Scribbles

Sometimes life is a like and Steve Martin and John Candy movie, albeit often without the humor.  Having spent my first winter in New York with next to zero weather disruptions, yesterday I endured the brunt of the late snow storm wacking the city in March.  When I arrived at Atlanta airport at half past six and walked up to the departure billboard, the flights to New York flashed “canceled” across the board.  Not a good feeling.  The woman at the Delta counter was very kind when she heard about my predicament.  At first she suggested routing me through Cincinnati, but quickly nixed that idea when she realized there was only 1 flight out of there to NY, and if that got canceled, I'd be stuck.  She then found me a connection via Washington DC, the nation's capitol.

I hopped on the plane to DC, my first time there.  Needless to say, all flights from there to NY got canceled as well.  Thank goodness for corporate credit cards.  I called Amtrak and booked one of few remaining seats on the train to NY.  From the airport, I took a cab to Union Station.  The weather there was pretty miserable as well, so I couldn't see much of the city.  On the way to the station, I caught the Washington Monument, you know, the big phallic symbol of US world hegemony.  Chauvinistic penii aside, I find the city an interesting place with tons of history, more than compelling enough for me to return for a proper visit.

Riding the Amtrak was another first for me.  (Yes, I am so West Coast, deal with it.)  The train ride turned out to be quite pleasant. There was a power plug in the cabin I sat in, and I was able to get some work done while listening to some tunes.  The bad didn't come until I arrived in Penn Station around 3pm.  One could see why the flights were canceled; snow, rain, sleet, slush all around.  It was dirty, ugly, and down right nasty.  And that didn't help for those waiting in the taxi line for 45 minutes.  Having grown accustomed to Atlanta's 60+ degree weather, shivering in line under freezing rain after the day long travel detour was simply miserable.

In the cab I decided to skip the office, considering I'd only be there for 1-2 hours, and for what, turning in expense reports?  I went straight home, committed to staying there, and opted to call into whatever remaining meetings I had for the rest of the day.  Thank goodness for hot tea and local food delivery.

Total travel time door to door: 10 hours.  Total sleep time: 1 hour on the plane.  Total Steve Martin Ironic/Miserable Moments: 45 minutes.  Total time in the office: 0.