Seat Hogs, lost airline pilots, Fajitas and UPS

Invariably, when I fly, I sit next to either the very anxious flier (male or female), next to the seat hog, or worse, between them. In this case, I was on a regional carrier that sat people two to a side so I only had the seat hog to contend with. I got to know him quite well and not a word was spoken. Indeed, I'm not to sure what language that word would have been in. I got to know his elbow (in my ribs so I couldn't sleep), that he snorts, snores, and whimpers in his sleep, and his right leg got to know my left leg quite well. When he was awake he coughed and hacked and --- see legs above!!  This guy was probably the reigning champion of seat hogs in my many years of flying.
But we flew right by Mt. Rainier: literally right by it. We were on our approach so the plane was just below the summit and it seemed like we were just a few hundred meters from the ice fields. Great view. When we landed the pilot went into one gate, then they backed us out and we went around the concourse (it's circular and each gate can be approached from both directions), parked on the tarmac for a few minutes, started to turn into a gate (which because of the circular concourse) was just three gates from the one we pulled into at first! Oops wait a minute! So we hung a u-turn and went back around the concourse to our original gate. We probably "drove" several hundred meters, to get a hundred meters between gates.  Confused? If so, you might just be good pilot material and could fly a regional jet for a Delta contractor! Given the parking experience maybe we were actually closer than we were supposed to be to Mt. Rainier.

There are several things one can do with broccoli, including:

1. Leave it in the field or better yet plant something edible instead like corn that can be turned into fuel (at great environmental expense) or turned into whiskey. (Then the environmental expense doesn't count)
2. Feed it to someone who really likes it;
3. If you have to make it for me don't boil or steam it into a green noodle cook it so its crunchy.

I had the best vegetarian fajita in Monroe WA of all places. Corn, peas, carrots, mushrooms, green and red bell peppers, and green beans and broccoli cooked to perfection. And the green beans didn't squeak!

The woman who drove the shuttle car I hired to take me from SeaTac to Monroe was from Romania. She had a interesting perspective about immigration. I asked about issues with undocumented workers in Seattle and she said, in her view, no one seems to care that much, at least in Seattle. There, in her opinion, was no movement to take over the role of the federal government by copying the Arizona law. I'm sure there are workers here from south of the border but they aren't as noticeable as they are in Salt Lake. Where thank god we have them because lawns wouldn't get mowed and our roads (where they work on road crews) would be in genuine third-world condition. I suspect that on the east side of the Cascades they will be more visible given the amount of labor needed to support the massive fruit industry.  Washington State has a fairly conservative but enlightened state government. How would it be? By the way if the INS is monitoring this blog she--the driver--is now a U.S. citizen. She knows more about American history, American government, and our founding principles than the average high school graduate in Utah and all of the Tea Party together. 

Ok, so I once had the reputation that I could pack 5 pounds of crap into a two pound box. I winnowed down my crap from last night (see previous posting) and flew to WA. I just finished packing my trailer and I got it all in but I would need a semi-tractor to pull it. So I unpacked it and tossed quite a bit of crap into a duffel bag that I will take to UPS in the morning before I head out. The irony is that I carefully packed it all to get here then I'm going to send it home via UPS. because I'm so cheap my skills for cramming lots of things into a small space will be tested so I can buy the smallest box and it won't cost more than the contents are worth to ship it home. Is all of this crap that valuable? What can I say? I won't know until it's time to pay.So, I will get a late start. Fortunately UPS is very close to several coffee shops.