Learning to Love Airports

Today I flew out to Mountain View, California for my terrifying interviews. But before that happened, I got to spend some quality time with Denver International Airport.

As usual, much of the morning was spent running around like crazy trying to get ready to leave for my trip. After a short breather to go to my fiddle lesson I raced home again to frantically finish preparations. I raced out the door and drove to the Table Mesa Park ‘n’ Ride—because I am not walking home again like last time because the stupid 206 quits running at 8 o’clock—fearing that I would miss my bus. I, of course, chose the less efficient route for some reason and then had trouble finding a parking space. Fortunately, I didn’t miss the bus. Check-in at DIA was long and painful—I guess the last few times I traveled I somehow managed to miss those lines. And there was something odd when the machine printed my ticket: “Flight delayed until 7:25pm.”

“Huh,” thought I, as I took my ticket. I wandered down to the enormous security line. There, I had the privilege to stand behind a college hippy who decided to give the security lady a hard time about why he wasn’t allowed to bring his half-full Nalgene through security. Seriously, dude, she doesn’t make the rules, she’s just doing her job; fill the goddamn thing back up at a water fountain on the other side of security and get over it. Again, I had great fortune here.

After my ID and boarding pass were checked, I was asked to step over to the lady behind the counter. I thought, “Oh, maybe I’m getting fast-tracked because it’s close to my boarding time.” It wasn’t that close, but I was feeling unusually optimistic. Wrong. I was lucky enough to be one of the randomly chosen passengers to go through that GE air-puffer machine. GE, for all your air-puffing needs. But the fun didn’t stop there, dear friends. I was also pulled aside to have my belongings rifled through; thankfully I’d decided to check my other bag to avoid having to deal with bringing liquids on the plane. When it rains, it pours. Come to think of it, I probably should have bought a lottery ticket today. . .

Anyway, I got through security no problem. I arrived at my concourse and checked The Big Board™—it confirmed that my flight was delayed until 7:25pm. Having experienced the reliability of DIA’s technology first-hand, I decided it was best to head to the gate and verify that that was indeed the case. After all, the weather was beautiful, why would it be delayed? No such luck, the fellow with the crazy afro behind the counter confirmed the flight was delayed. So I settled in for a few hours quality time at my local airport.

And that’s pretty much all there is to tell. The flight was uneventful. I read Neuromancer the whole way. The congestion in my ears proved a problem during our descent, but it wasn’t too terrible. The Super Shuttle came and picked me up at the airport and took me to my swanky hotel. And here I sit, composing this blog entry. I snapped a few quick photos of this place because it’s pretty nice. Soon I shall toddle off to my room for a quick bath and then bed, in an attempt to relax before my interview tomorrow.

These interviews have me scared out of my wits.