<< January 30, 2007 >>
my stupid trip continues

another harrowing taxi ride in toronto! (i can't believe i never wrote about the story of the OCD-taxi-driver-in-a-blizzard ride the the last time i flew in, but it happened)

apparently today's ordeal stemmed from parliament's new regulation banning the sale or use of windshield wiper fluid by ontario taxis. it was as if someone had put a half-dozen layers of 3M "magic" tape over the windshield. i spent the whole ride gripping the door handle as we swerved back and forth over 4 lanes of highway so that the driver could see the road at an angle through the side windows. i would have said something, but there were two or three other taxis doing the same thing. when in rome...

so far things have gone smoothly, though. i would like to congratulate canada on getting an airport terminal with working atm machines! and i'm sitting at the gate, and not a single person has checked any id of mine.

the weather isn't looking any better. now the high for thursday in calgary is supposed to be -2F?

time to board.

<< January 30, 2007 >>
hysterical and useless

well that was sort of exciting. about 40 minutes before we landed they made that cliche announcement asking if there was a doctor on the plane. it was a little humbling, thinking that the only thing i could help with on a plane is if maybe the landing gear were stuck because some pam module was seg faulting, or maybe if there was like a bomb that could only be defused with simpsons trivia, or something.

these are not vital skills, in the hunter-gatherer sense of the word.

the calgary airport is notoriously difficult to exit. if you've ever been, you're surely familiar with the thousands upon thousands of glass-eyed seniors, in their red vests and white cowboy hats, aimlessly wandering the corridors of the airport; they've probably been trapped here for decades. some of them have even managed to build small golf carts out of used honey roasted peanut wrappers and discarded baggage claim tags.