Airplane

Ok, I've been in the office for 3 weeks and it looks like I'll be here for at least one more. But I did manage to get the cable for my Palm Pilot so I could grab the images off my camera's memory card. So I'll start telling 3 week old stories.

A month ago I was supposed to be getting on a plane heading for Wichita via Dallas. Why? Because Dallas airport has better dining establishments than Chicago and flying through Chicago almost guarantees delays.
After waiting in line for two hours I finally get to a ticket counter with 15 minutes left to get through security before boarding starts. This is when I found out that as of March they (either the govt or the airline, not sure which) was too scared of bird flu so my parrot couldn't come with me. What this means for me is that if I want to take Gandolf the African Gray back to Kansas with me I have to drive. What it meant for me right then was that I could either tell the airline to take a hike or I could find someone to take her. Most everyone I know lives so far from DC that it'd take them an hour to show up. The closest person I knew of was Bruce and he was 20 minutes away in good traffice. So the ticket lady, who was convinced I had plenty of time, let me use the phone to call Bruce. Luckily he was in town that weekend. The ticket lady got me on a later flight and Bruce was on the way. I gave him house keys, office keys (I thought), food, toys, etc., thanked him, and headed for security.

The new flight was through Chicago. I tried 4 different phones before finding one that would take money and would admit that my parents have a legit phone number. Got food, called to see that Mom got my message, and went to wait to board. I was there about 10 minutes when a couple of people decided to use the seats next to me. I noticed that she looked familiar. Then I noticed that she looked really familiar.

"Hello?" I ask. She turns around. "DOUG!" It WAS Jenny! She and her hubby were on the same flight as me AND had the two seats across the aisle from me.
Jenny was the sister of my freshman year roommate, the roommate of my (now ex) girlfriend, we ran in a lot of the same social circles, we worked together for a couple of years after graduation, and I had a thing for her on and off until she got married. Now they live in New Jersey.
I'll grant that our families both live in the Wichita area and it was a holiday weekend, but what are the odds that someone from DC and someone from Jersey would both end up on a flight out of Chicago, especially when one was really supposed to be going through Dallas?


See? Proof. Airplane contents and two people you don't know from a talking rutabaga.