I’m a lousy traveler. For one thing, I’m still on Pacific time. No matter how hard I try, I keep mentally subtracting three hours from the clock. I got up at 9 and it felt like the crack of dawn (I had been up until about 3 AM that morning). I ate breakfast at 11 and it felt just fine. I had lunch at 3 PM and dinner felt very early at 8 PM. It’s like I’m in a completely different kind of time zone: DST (David Subjective Time).
An observation about American Airports: Since 9–11, there has been another change to them besides the obvious security measures. It’s the voice announcements on the Public Address System, which have now been standardized. The same woman who appears to be from somewhere in Texas can be heard from San Francisco to Seattle to Denver to Baltimore to Boston. It may be the most annoying voice I’ve ever heard in my life; midway between Schoolmarm, Televangelist and Motor Vehicle Administration Clerk. Her accent is horrific, and her tone is like fingernails scratching blackboards inside my eardrums. Passengers should be aware that BAGGige left unattended will be confiscated and DIStroyed at the discretion of Security Personnel. Thenk-yoo for your coöperation. I’m convinced that this woman was not some incredibly lucky Houston Broadcasting School drop-out, but had to be a friend of the Bushes, who got her this plum assignment and she probably gets a royalty check every time we endure another Thenk-yoo.
Installed OS X 10.4 (AKA, Tiger) last night. That’s why I was up till 3 AM. Just kicking the tires. So far, I haven’t found Spotlight to change my life, but I did locate some files quickly. On the other hand, I was always such a careful filer for fear of losing something that I probably am not one of those people who will benefit from that new feature.
Tomorrow, at the crack of dawn (and I mean really at the crack of dawn — 6 AM EST, or 3 AM DST), we embark on our very last MIT Flea. Everything must go. That means the books, CDs, software, and anything else we’ve scavenged have to go. If we are lucky, we’ll leave with more cash than it costs to get a spot as a vendor ($25).
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