With a few friends and a can of mace

The gate area of Las Vegas as I was transferring from Phoenix back to Tampa.

My feets in The Valley of the Sun. Well, in a room in a hotel in the Valley of the Sun.

My car on the outskirts of town. Viva la unlimited miles.

Headed out of Scottsdale.

I bought a new Toshiba laptop (number 6) on Friday. It's a Satellite U205-S5057, which I only add because I know Gunner will take the time to look it up. Anyway, I have spent the last two days pulling crap off (McAffee,Microsoft Works,etc.) and putting stuff like RoboForm, Zone Alarm, AVG, WinPatrol, and Opera on.

I was ready to upgrade to a dual processor for starters. I was ambivilent about Vista. But mostly, with all of this domestic travel and its attendant security checkpoints, I wanted a new Toshiba because of these two features: 1) Small and lightweight, and this one is both. And 2) Hardware and software hard drive protection. Seriously, a laptop really gets banged about on the road. So anyway, I got it. I customized it. And now I am blogging on it.

I am off to New Hampshire tomorrow. I hope to see the boss for dinner in Boston one night, see the movie Pan's Labyrinth on another, and see the movie Black Snake Moan on another. Yes siree Bob, I am one hell raising dude in my old age, huh?

Day 2: Electric kool-aid, hell. THIS was a bad trip! It started out easily enough. It was a leisurely putt down to Tampa International. Flight went well. Arrived Washington-Dulles in a little over two hours. Realized I had a 4 hour layover so I did what any good squid would do and went to sleep. Woke up 45 min before the flight, noticed that the kiosk was not manned so I checked the board for a gate change. Eeeeek! The flight was cancelled. As I turned, I noticed the line backed up and out of Customer Service Center. Grab cell and call Corporate Travel. Bingo, I can fly to Boston, grab a car and drive up to Manchester. Good enough. Dang, flight does not leave for an additional 5 hours. Re-get re-comfortable. Wait. Wait. Doze. Wait.

Board flight. Bored flight. Arrive Boston. Very cold. Start driving. On highway and realize that headlights do not illuminate road. Serious bummer. Check engine light comes on in a deserted stretch. Mentioned that it was cold yet? It was. Very.

Can't see the road. Worried about the engine. But only 30 miles to go. Must push on. Worst is behind me, right? Right!? Where the hell did all this snow come from. Aw Jeez!! The headlights sure illuminate that well enough. Cold, tired, already only driving 45 mph and now this... the flurries are making me dizzy. Hmmm... this somewhat sucks. Good a time as any to mention the fact that they lost my bag. Gotta work tomorrow and I am in jeans. And unshaven. And covered, apparently, in cat fur. The fur is a longish story. So trust me.

The story goes on. Doesn't get much better. I survived. Made me stronger. Blah, blah, blah.

I have never been this cold, by the way. I guess the temp is in the single digits with gusty wind making it feel like 20 or 30 below. Anything below 30 is just too freaking cold. I don't bother with enumeration after that. Just shiver and cuss. A lot. Static electricity zapped me everytime I touched the computer in class today, which was over 180 times as I had to manually advance the slides. about 30 of thos 180+ finger zapping slides did not cause me to curse audibly. The rest did.

Had to gas the rental so I could exchange it for one with less action in the SERVICE ENGINE warning light department. Gave me a Ford Escape. Dang, I don't care much for SUV type cars. But whatever. Pumping gas, my hands felt frostbitten before I got the AmEx swiped good. Brrrr! and, just for good measure, sumbitch! Choose payment method. OK, credit. Do I want a car wash? What? No! Do I want a reciept? Yes!! But what I want more is for you to ask less freaking questions, spit out some doggone gas, and leave me alone to put my poor ol' hands back in my coat pockets. Why am I being interrogated by a gas pump, anyway?

This story too goes on and on. I survived. Got a dose of character. Blah, blah, yada, blah.

Tired of typing, even though they aren't real sentences. They're more semi-entences. Yeah, buddy. Leave you with a quote from that punkabilly himself, Hank Williams III:

If the shoe fits wear it

If the truth hurts, bear it

That's the kind of life I'm living, and I plan on living long... OUT,

Ramblin' Ed