Catechism of the Machine

Well, I'm no longer home, but I'm not at my destination either. We managed to leave from BWI airport after waiting twenty minutes for a storm to pass over, but the flight itself was pretty smooth. I had the fortune of sitting next to a college student, David, from Arizona State on his way back home to Pheonix, and we had a laugh or two while discussing the possibility of flying straight up over the storm. Despite a few bronco-busting strength pockets of turbulence, the flight was otherwise smooth. I tried watching some Paranoia Agent on my video iPod, but the damn thing was charged halfway, dieing promptly after two episodes. With nothing much left to amuse me (I am horrible when it comes to reading) I got myself a jack and coke from the flight attendants and caught up on some much needed sleep.

We had to switch planes in Pheonix, so I finally got a chance to see the desert. Just as I figured, every house we flew over had a pool or was near one-- a necessity in the 110-degree weather they are having today. The plane came in about half-an-hour late because of the storm earlier, so Dave and I thought of asking the pilot to just take the plane in hot... or we'd tuck and roll while the 737 buzzed the airport. Either way, we touched down safely, bid each other adieu and went our separate ways.

After grabbing a few chocolate Frosties from Wendy's, Dustin, Katie, and I strolled over to our gate to wait for the plane. It was supposed to leave at 6:35pm (local time), but time refused to cooperate. As the minutes dragged on, everyone in line slowly realized there was an argument going on. Like finally noticing a downpour that started a few minutes ago, I caught wind of two women arguing... apparently a grandmother (?) tried silencing her grandchild in an upsetting way, so a woman spoke up against the actions. The grandmother took great offense and started ranting. I'm not entirely sure what happened, nor what was said, but sure enough some security guards paid her a visit and escorted her away.

Well, now it's about 8:00pm in Arizona, and our plane still isn't ready. They notified us about an hour ago, saying that maintenance crews didn't want passengers to board quite yet, and they'll either try to fix it or give us a new plane. About twenty minutes ago they said they were "about halfway done" with the plane, so I guess they chose to fix it. I guess I'll chant the Catechism of the Machine from the Imperial Infantryman's Uplifting Primer to help them out:

With your strength you protect me,
With my care I repair you,
With sacred oil I appease you,
Be quiet, good spirits,
And accept my benediction.

It must've worked, 'cause we made it to L.A. :3