About three days a week, on average, I take the bus to work. One year ago today I started reading the complete works of Shakespeare and the King James version of the Bible on my commute. A few pages from each in the morning and evening. I'm about 15% through Shakespeare so at my current pace it will take me 5-6 more years to finish, about two years to finish the KJV.
I have finished Shakespeares Sonnets, As you like it, All's well that ends well, Antony and Cleopatra, A Comedy of Errors. Currently in The Tragedy of Coriolanus. In KJV I am at I Kings Chapter II, where King David is dying. The Bible is clearly more readable.
Recollections and thoughts on life in Minnesota and the midwest... My Catholic faith, my family, travels, the state. Occasional ramblings about an old smoker and the quest for perfect barbecue.
17 November 2011
16 November 2011
Texas finally gets rain and I get a night at the Ramada Inn
How I got here is not a long story, but I'll skip it. It's 9pm on November 15th and probably one of the last sticky nights of the fall. I'm standing in the lobby of the Ramada Inn West, about a mile from the Houston airport. I have just concluded a two hour fight with United Airlines over who is to blame over my missed connection. I finally convince them that the weather is their fault and they book me on a Delta flight early the next morning.
Here at the Ramada they have turned off the air conditioning in the lobby way too soon. Thunderstorms rolled in and I am one of thousands of travelers stuck somewhere they did not intend to be. Most of those around me are upset and tired, which seems to put a governor on my own temper and help me make it through the rest of the evening.
I am in line for an hour trying to get a hotel key. The lady in front of me, Karen, is from Louisville. She's here helping a son through cancer treatments. He's going to be ok but her flight home was cancelled. She tells me most of the people in line are from the cancelled Louisville flight. Like me she has a son in St. Louis. So we talk Cardinals, the World Series, Ramada Inns, Cancer, and colleges. The son with cancer lives in Chicago near the DePaul campus, which creates another round of things to talk about. Karen does not have a reservation. I suggest she call Ramada reservations while she is standing in line. I give her the number and take notes for her while she talks to the voice on the phone. She thinks I'm being helpful be really I don't want to give her my room if they run out, since I am confirmed and she is a mom with a kid with cancer, I know that's what I'll do. She gets a reservation just before they run out. The hour goes by in about an hour, but fortunately does not seem like three hours. One by one people get room keys. One by one they come back with stories of rooms that are already occupied or keys that don't work.
After finally getting my key, I head to a restaurant recommended by the hotel staff, the 7-11 next door. A burritto, pack of cheese crackers, and a bottle of blue Gatorade 2 later i'm in my hotel room. Surfing channels with my finger since the TV remote is broken. Doesnt matter since only two cable channels are working, ESPN and the Animal Channel. I choose sports and fall soundly asleep.
Here at the Ramada they have turned off the air conditioning in the lobby way too soon. Thunderstorms rolled in and I am one of thousands of travelers stuck somewhere they did not intend to be. Most of those around me are upset and tired, which seems to put a governor on my own temper and help me make it through the rest of the evening.
I am in line for an hour trying to get a hotel key. The lady in front of me, Karen, is from Louisville. She's here helping a son through cancer treatments. He's going to be ok but her flight home was cancelled. She tells me most of the people in line are from the cancelled Louisville flight. Like me she has a son in St. Louis. So we talk Cardinals, the World Series, Ramada Inns, Cancer, and colleges. The son with cancer lives in Chicago near the DePaul campus, which creates another round of things to talk about. Karen does not have a reservation. I suggest she call Ramada reservations while she is standing in line. I give her the number and take notes for her while she talks to the voice on the phone. She thinks I'm being helpful be really I don't want to give her my room if they run out, since I am confirmed and she is a mom with a kid with cancer, I know that's what I'll do. She gets a reservation just before they run out. The hour goes by in about an hour, but fortunately does not seem like three hours. One by one people get room keys. One by one they come back with stories of rooms that are already occupied or keys that don't work.
After finally getting my key, I head to a restaurant recommended by the hotel staff, the 7-11 next door. A burritto, pack of cheese crackers, and a bottle of blue Gatorade 2 later i'm in my hotel room. Surfing channels with my finger since the TV remote is broken. Doesnt matter since only two cable channels are working, ESPN and the Animal Channel. I choose sports and fall soundly asleep.
Labels:
Airlines,
baseball,
Movies and TV,
Texas,
US Travels
If the South has a pulse, you can feel it in Covington, Louisiana
The distinctiveness of southern culture is not what it was years ago. I grew up there, lived that soul when I was a kid and wade in it often as an adult. It's not dead, that is certain. You can still find it thriving in places like Covington.
Clips of conversations from a table of ladies overheard during lunch yesterday....
Suzie was going for surgery, they had a big prayer meeting for her at church. Surgery has been postponed, those prayers must have worked....
That dressing makes the whole dish...
for Thanksgiving I"m making the Peanut Butter pie, the coconut creme is the one I gotta stay away from....
Here's your check, God bless you guys....
They were gonna buy a house until the agent got real smart with 'em....
Does Joey go to ya'lls church...
I owe you sixteen cents....
He's on a waitin list for a liver. Brother Carl says you can get one out of state, but not here....
how you doin today ladies....
you might find one of those old nutcrackers there.....
you know who makes the best Almond Joy candy? Shirley...
do you remember Maria? She's a preacher now. She carries a pistol with her and says Jesus wants her to....
Clips of conversations from a table of ladies overheard during lunch yesterday....
Suzie was going for surgery, they had a big prayer meeting for her at church. Surgery has been postponed, those prayers must have worked....
That dressing makes the whole dish...
for Thanksgiving I"m making the Peanut Butter pie, the coconut creme is the one I gotta stay away from....
Here's your check, God bless you guys....
They were gonna buy a house until the agent got real smart with 'em....
Does Joey go to ya'lls church...
I owe you sixteen cents....
He's on a waitin list for a liver. Brother Carl says you can get one out of state, but not here....
how you doin today ladies....
you might find one of those old nutcrackers there.....
you know who makes the best Almond Joy candy? Shirley...
do you remember Maria? She's a preacher now. She carries a pistol with her and says Jesus wants her to....
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