« September 2005 | Main | January 2006 »
October 17, 2005
Random stuff from the last week
So, I have just started a new job and am still getting used to the sights and sounds of the new environment. Mainly I don’t know yet what I can ignore while working away in my fattening pen… er cubicle. As a result I have been overhearing quite a few phone conversations. One of these conversations was a woman actually complaining that drivers in this area (Northern VA) don’t honk at you when the lights turn green. She thought this was a problem because she was almost always doing something else (read: not paying attention to driving!) and needed to be told when it was her turn to drive. I find this absolutely amazing that she a) wasn’t paying attention to driving a 3000 lb mechanized projectile and b) that she would welcome any more noise pollution not to mention the attitude! ::: sigh, whatever :::
As a precursor to starting this new job I took a quick trip up to Chicago to visit my boyfriend. While I was being held hostage by United Airlines during the trip home (2 hours in the plane on the tarmac with no AC while they tried to fix the problem) I traded bad flight stories with my seatmates. The older woman to my left won this game hands down. She described a flight during WWII when she was about 12 or 13. They were travelling between Cairo and someplace else (can’t remember where) in a troop transport plane. Basically there were benches along the walls where they sat inside this huge plane. She said they had on “Mae West” vests but no seat belts. At one point the engines went out and the pilot told them to get ready for a crash landing. Turns out one of the engine turned back on at the last minute and they were able to land without too much mayhem. She described it as being quite thrilling at the time, to a 12 year old. This is absolutely incredible to me and I thought it needed to be retold :) BTW, they never fixed our plane and had to find a new one for us. I got home about 4 hours after the advertised time but the aforementioned story put it all right into perspective. Until I had to get up the next morning at 6:00 am to start the new job, Blegh!
Posted by slehto at 4:52 PM | Comments (0)