This collection of entries is from September 27, 2003.
Barry & Buffy drove out to our house tonight for dinner and just talk. We haven't seen them in quite a while. They just got back from Las Vegas and we had to year about the trip and what's new in our favorite city. I, of course, had to tell them that if they'd looked up in the sky at about 8:20 in the morning on Thursday, they would have seen me on my way to Los Angeles. We talked all evening. We missed them a lot. We'll see them again on Thursday when we go to see Eddie Izzard, and Barry & I will be together this weekend as we go up to Wisconsin for a guys weekend.
I did, however, have to endure ever so politely watching the Cubs clinch the National League Central Division Championship. My boys are out of it and here was my arch enemy making it into the post season. Well, good job boys. I've got this really weird feeling that they could actually get through the NLDS. I'm not sure if I can handle this. Die Hard Cub Fans have a tendency to be a bit mean and pompous when it comes to their team's superiority. It's going to be a long off-season...
Terminal 7 at LAX. The Hertz shuttle bus driver was nice for so frickin' early in the morning.
read more of this entry »
Airport Security wasn't bad at all. Not as good as O'Hare, but there's hardly anybody in line, so it's a cake walk. I'm through the line at 5:45am for my 7am flight (United 102). That's a long time to kill. I decide to try and find a bottle of Coke for the trip. Nobody that's open are selling soda. Just water. And it's not cold either. Water is better than nothing. Eventually, after a lot of people watching, it's time to go.
My seat is 31B. Great, a center seat... except no one takes the window! Whoo Hoo! Sweet. It's foggy outside again. Hard to see anything while taxiing. We take off from 25R and we can't see a thing. We pop out on top of the fog/clouds and I never see Los Angeles again. As we head west, the clouds dissipate. We fly right over Las Vegas and you can see and identify everything. We get served a egg-ham-cheese croissant and get The Italian Job as a film (edited, of course). I'm am so friggin' exhausted, but I can't sleep a wink. I instead listen to the movie and Air Traffic Control on Audio Channel 9. We take the Bradford 3 into Chicago and land on 22R at 12:48pm, flying right over the Allstate Arena. Carol was waiting for me in baggage claim, even though I didn't check any bags. (Hey, we needed a place to meet.) Well, I'm back home again. I am happy to be home, but happy to have made the trip. I'm happy to see old family ties and I'm happy to have been able to take a few hours for myself.
I'd do this again in a heartbeat.
« hide the extended part of this entry
Ooooooh, craaaaap...
I went to bed around 1am. I just got up at 4:45am...
Well, at least the sleep was solid and deep. It's still black outside. Time to get dressed, checkout, and turn in the car at the airport...
I left Universal and got on the 101 West. That's when I saw the sign for Highland and decided that I needed to get off and see what Hollywood and Highland looked like.
read more of this entry »
I get off the Hollywood Freeway and pass the Hollywood Bowl. There's a show tonight, and it looks like it getting out. A sign says James Brown and Macy Gray, but it's hard to tell by the people leaving. The area doesn't look the same as it was the last time I saw it about 16 years ago. I come up toward Hollywood Boulevard and see the entrance to the new parking garage. My family and Carol & I have stayed at the hotel here, but that was decades ago. The whole corner is just so different now. In fact, I'm lost in a maze of stores and restaurants and levels and plazas. I finally got outside and went across the street to take some pictures of the facility. The area on a Friday night is still not the greatest place to be. I was hoping that it would have gotten, um, "cleaned up" a bit. Still, the amount of people walking down Highland from the Bowl and the amount of people outside make the place hopping.
I grab my pictures and get back in the car. I zig-zag down Highland, Santa Monica and La Cienega to I-10 to get to the Airport. The clubs in West Hollywood look like they were jumpin'.
Anyway, I get to the parking garage at the Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza at the airport at 12:12 in the morning. The room is really quite nice and again, I'd stay here again. They have high speed internet access through an RJ-45 cable... but it's been too long of a day and I'm really exhausted.
I really pushed it today. I wish I had at least another day. But, I'm not out here for a vacation - I'm out here for my family... I just happened to have taken a few hours here and there for me. I'm finally eating my honey baked ham sandwhich. Yum. It hits the spot...
I've got to get to sleep... I'm going home in a few hours...
« hide the extended part of this entry