Saturday, April 02, 2005

Home Sweet Home!

I had the privilege of being part of a meeting in California this past week. I was excited about the trip because it was in Monterey, CA and I had never been there. Excitement was also created by the fact that I would be able to eat two incredible meals at no cost to me. Those two meals consisted of a rib steak and lobster pasta and were very enjoyable. The meeting was exhausting but still a good experience. However, in order to enjoy the good you must endure the bad. None of my flights were delayed and everything went smoothly as far as making connections. But for those of you who have ever flown, I'm sure you can relate to my experience. I haven't gained weightt in recent years so I'm convinced that the size of airline seats have been drastically reduced. It seems like I'm sitting closer and closer to the person next to me every time I fly. After I was buckled in, it felt like I was in a baby seat in the back of a car. I kept expecting the flight attendant to give me a rattle and pacifier. And to be honest with you, there were times I thought I needed a pacifier when the man sitting next to me didn't mind who he touched and how much room he occupied. Needless to say, I didn't want to touch him. I was lucky enough on one leg of my flight (Memphis to San Francisco) to have an empty seat between me and the nice lady sitting by the window. However, every other time I was sitting next to a complete stranger who would not have been my first choice (an older man who smelled, a younger man who smelled, and a talkative man who was a low talker).

All in all, the trip was nice. Fancy hotel accomodations, eating dinners with funny people, and seeing areas of the country for the first time. I guess I'm a better man for enduring the hardships of flying with strange people who smell funny and sit so close to me I wonder if I should ask them on a second date. With the good must come the bad so it's nice to finally be home sweet home where all is good.