2008-06-29 - 5:43 p.m.
Well the rest of the Vermont trip was mostly nice. Sis enjoyed herself, we found an bead shop and I felt compelled to purchase $140 worth of beads for reasons unknown to me. We did the Ben & Jerry's tour...it wasn't what I was expecting, but for $3 per person it wasn't too bad. We got to taste on of the new flavors for the year - One Brownie Cheesecake. YUM!! I'm going to be watching out for it. I finally found out what happened to one of my favorite B&J flavors, Rainforest Crunch...it's been retired and now lives in the Flavor Graveyard. That's right, they have a little graveyard set up with tombstones for several flavors - most of which I've never heard of.
After B&J we had to beat it back to the campus for the academic recognition ceremony. They recognize the validictorian and hood all the graduate candidates. It was actually pretty nice. After that, I changed back into street clothes and sis and I headed into the thriving metropolis of Northfield in search of grub...we missed dinner in the mess hall. Downtown Northfield is 3 blocks wide and 1.5 blocks deep and I'm talking rather small blocks. We found a pizza place that actually had really good pizza. We'd wanted jalapenos on the pizza, but they didn't have any. That's just weird. Dinner was good and we got back to the room around 10-ish. Sis read and I passed out.
Friday morning we met the guys for breakfast and I introduced her around. After breakfast she walked over with us to Andrew's Hall, the staging area for graduation. We milled around until they were ready to start. She went hiking up the side of a mountain that has a ski run cut into it (during the spring and summer months it serves as a fire-break) across the stree from the campus. Practice ran over, but we met up with her for lunch. We had to be back for 2:30 to take pictures and get into formation for graduation. She hung out in the room and Doug (one of my classmates) and I headed down to Andrew's. It took forever to get pictures taken. By the time they finally got everyone's single picture and the entire MSIA class done, it was just about time to hit the field. It was nice, it actully only took two hours (including speaches), and almost none of the pictures that Sis attempted came out. It wasn't later until I figured out why. She was using my telephoto lense and it had the UV filter still on it. I didn't think about it and the lighting was unbalanced at best so everything came out nearly too dark to see it. Ah well, shit happens.
The flight home was a horror story. We did manage to get in a bit more sight-seeing before we boarded. We got to the airport and everything was smooth sailing from Vermont to Chicago. We arrived in Chicago, made a pit stop and began meandering about. I'd decided I'd wanted a slice of Chicago style pizza for lunch. One problem...there was none to be had! We found a Chicago style hot dog place, but it didn't look that appetizing so we decided to get Italian sausage with onions and peppers and split an order of fries. Well the sausage didn't taste like any Italian sausage I'd ever eaten, the onions were raw and chopped like for a hot dog, and the peppers weren't green peppers - they were so hot that neither of us could eat them. I even tried scraping it all off of the bun, but I still couldn't eat the stuff. The fries were OK. Next stop was a yogurt place (TCBY) to try and quench the fire. We found our gate and settled down - me to read, Sis to nap. Our flight was supposed to leave at 5:14, so we had a bit of time. I would glance up from time to time to watch the gate destinations change, eager for New Orleans to appear. It was supposed to be up next, but instead Alaska came up. So I told Sis I was headed to the rest room and to look at a departure board. They'd changed the departure gate and time. The time slipped by an hour and the gate was the one next to the one we were supposed to use. OK, another hour. Just meant I could read even more. About 45 minutes later a different destination appeared on our gate. This time sis was going in search of a potty break, a Coke, and the departure board. We'd been moved again! We were now leaving at 7:30 and were back at the original gate we'd started at. We were not happy. Apparently the plane we were waiting on had run into some bad weather and was delayed. Joy, joy. Another 45 minutes and I finally saw our destination over our gate. I felt like applauding. In fact the plane that had arrived - the one we'd be flying back to New Orleans - was carrying some guys on leave from Iraq. One of the men on the plane was coming home to see his baby for the first time. There was a group with a banner and yellow balloons and as the guys got off the plane there was clapping and cheering and of course pictures. It was nice, but most of those guys looked a bit embarrassed. We finally got on and got out of the gate only to find we were 10th in line for take-off. After we finally got in the air, things calmed down and I read. Sis watched out the window - I was over a wing and couldn't see much. We weren't too far from New Orleans when she told me to look out of the window (she was 2 seats behind me). You could see the lightning dancing in the clouds below us. It was beautiful. We finally land in New Orleans at 10:30...early actually. Then we had to wait for them to get the jet bridge extended to the plane so we could get out. After about 20 minutes it was discovered that the jet bridge would not extend and they were looking for a set up steps to wheel up so we could deplane. So we go down those steps (I was the last off of the plane) and under the disabled jet way, and up the steps on the backside of the jet way so that we could get into the terminal. By the time we got to the baggage claim our luggage had already been pulled off of the carosul and was standing off to the side. We claimed our bags and schlepped off to the parking lot. I remember coming across the sky bridge to get to the terminal, but for some reason thought I'd parked on level 2, not 4. We spent another half hour or so looking for the car. After we finally found the car and loaded our crap, I had to find the exit and pay the ransome ($87) to get the hell out of there. Then we decided we'd get us some dinner. Everything in the airport was closed and most everything close by was too since it was now after 11PM. We drove down to Veteran's and found an open Taco Bell and took the Causeway home. I spent the night at Sis'. I was too beat to get the rest of the way home.
The next day was Father's Day. I took everyone out for breakfast at Ryan's. Of course mom had something snotty to say about the food, brother in law was so cought up in eating and talking to his "fans" (he knows people everywhere we go and has to share his assinine opinion about those he don't) that he totally ignored his son (my 3-year old nephew) when he wished the man Happy Father's Day. When sis pointed out that the baby had been talking to him, nephew repeated the wish and the asshole sort of just brushed it off. Pissed sis off mightily and soured me a bit too. The rest of the day sort of went down-hill from there.
My ingress back to real life was difficult at best. I'm still not totally with it. I've had lots on my mind. I did manage to pull an A on my first essay, but last night's effort was less than mediocre. I've been writing in coffee shops lately and really should go back to the library. This Wednesday is the closing on the land finally. The sellers agreed on a reduced price, higher than the appraised value but the appraisal was a huge joke. We're OK with the price. We've been scrambling to get the rest of the damned paperwork in and sis faxed the last pieces, we hope, yesterday. New wrinkle, the seller was offering the furniture left behind for sale, but I really wasn't interested in it. So she's decided to let a friend of hers come over and buy what she wants and the rest is mine to do with what I wish. So, much as I'm not partial to it, I wish to hang on to what gets left. Gives me a bit of breathing room.
Granddaughter's recital was on the 21st. They were so precious. She really enjoyed herself too. I'm glad, it really was a cute show and I enjoyed it lots. If they make a DVD available for a reasonable price I'll be buying a copy. The child's parents showed up with some skanky friends in tow. Sonny law bought the child a half dozen roses at a near-by florist for $30 and was proud of the fact that he got to go into the cooler and pick them out himself. Moron! But for the child's sake I'm glad they were there because as I was putting her back in street clothes all she really wanted to know was if her momma saw her dance. This past Friday was her pre-school graduation. It was really cute. I sent her Christmas dress (took the tags off of it that morning) along with some new socks and her Christmas shoes. She looked so cute. The parents showed up again with their friends, late. Sonny law managed to score himself a front row seat. The others hung out in the hall and watched through the window. I glared at all of them. I got a lot of cute pictures. Granddaughter was in a hurry to leave. I made her change back into the clothes she went to school with and leave the good clothes and cap & gown with me. I had to go back to the class to pick up the rest of her stuff. I have everything picked up either to save or scrapbook. Nephew can use the cap and gown if he doesn't get too much taller in the next couple of years. He'll just need a new sash and tassle. After the ceremony, I picked up nephew and headed back to sis' place.
I still haven't done much in the way of packing yet. Wednesday after the closing, I'm going to the house to see what furniture got left and set the thermostat down on 78 and turn on the ice maker. Then I'm going to collect daughter and get the electricity and water changed to her name. I'll have to take care of the phone over the phone. Then I'll be headed to Wal-Mart to pick up a gallon of paint for the kitchen and to spend the night in my new place. I can't wait!
