flying high again

it hasn't happened in quite some time, but that's partially because this is my first time leaving town in three months. 

it's also the first time in a long time that i've had a lengthy layover in an airport with free wi-fi.

yes, dear reader- i'm blogging while on the move.

during my four and a half hour flight from charlotte, nc, to salt lake city, i found myself inspired by both my recent jog through the charlotte-douglas airport and the infant screaming just over my left shoulder.

before i get to my list, i feel the need to share this link. i cannot agree more with the oatmeal regarding the placement of screaming children on planes. (it's not that i don't love children. heck, i plan on having at least a couple of my own one of these days. that said, i do not love little ones screaming within close proximity for over a third of a long flight- especially when i had to get up on the wrong side of dawn to catch said flight and was really looking forward to taking a nap.)

all right.....the list:

five things i always take on airplanes

     1. running shoes (on my feet)

          ....because it is inevitable that, at some point during my travels, i will wind up sprinting across at least two concourses, because:

          1a. a half hour layover seemed doable back when i was trying to save $100 on my plane tickets

          1b. the speed limit along the highway between home and the airport was being enforced a wee bit more strictly than usual

          1c. yet again, i wound up stuck in the security line behind some poor soul who has apparently never flown before and therefore feels the need to put each of their worldly possessions in a separate bin

     2. carry ons

          .....because i'm too cheap to buy my worldly possessions their own seat on the plane and, besides, if i can't fit everything i need for less than a week into two bags, clearly i need to reevaluate my choices in footwear (and, most likely) reading material. 

     3. my ipod

          ....because it can't drown out the screaming child in the next row completely, but maybe i can mask his/her caterwauling with that of the lead singers of random hair bands of the 80s.

     4. one of my sigg water bottles

          .....because most airlines now give you maybe a shot and a half of soda, once you subtract the ice from the cup.

     5. my camera

         .....because if i ever look out from my window seat and see superman on the wing, i am so taking a picture. 

lost in translation

so there i was, minding my own business at the gas station, when the driver one pump over asked me what my shirt meant. had i been wearing my icelandic shirt, i totally would have gotten it. however, this one has a pretty common, easily recognized word on it, so his request threw me off a little.

i translated it for him and, as a bonus, i also mentioned that the back said "adios", meaning "goodbye". 

i finished pumping $30 worth of gas into my car and headed to work, where i related the story to a coworker. said coworker pointed out that the guy probably asked about the shirt in the hopes that i'd turn around and show him what was on the back. 

*

though i generally consider myself to be pretty intelligent, sometimes i'm really quite slow. :~/

*when i asked my coworker to take a photo of the shirt, i didn't expect to wind up with, like, three of the front, and twenty of the back.