Chillin' in George Bush

(the airport, that is)

So while the trains were a total wash (HA!) the planes ain't looking so hot either.  I was supposed to be on a plane that was leaving Houston for Denver over an hour and a half late and was also oversold by THIRTY people.  That means they had thirty more people than seats - and that's people confirmed for seats, checked in, seat assignments, everything, NOT including standby. Thirty!  Evidently they wound up with a smaller plane than they were supposed to have.  As you can surely imagine, there were a whole slew of really, really unhappy people.  I volunteered to get bumped (three hundred bucks and it looked like I would miss my connection anyway) which meant I was at the front of that line of really unhappy people.  I actually felt guilty - not just because I was so much less miserable than everybody else, but also because I think my net impact was negative.  I mean, one person got a seat on that plane because I volunteered, but it took the dude rescheduling me so long to do it that I felt like I was holding up the whole line. I think I ended up inspiring more fury than relief.

Next plane's delayed, too.  Who knows when I'll get to Montana?  If I had taken the train then I'd - hopefully - be somewhere between Chicago and Minneapolis right now, but I'd be on my own after Minneapolis.  Currently in Houston... well, we'll see.  I have 45 minutes of wifi, which is better than OH SPEAKING OF HAVING TO PAY FOR THINGS, Continental's got this "upgrade" where you can watch live DirecTV during the flight.  Which sounds great, except the tv shows were all utter crap while I was going to be on the plane, and of course you had to pay for it, AND that was the ONLY entertainment option - no free movies and NOT EVEN ANY RADIO!!!

I just took it for granted there would be a movie on a three-hour flight, so I didn't pull my book or crossword puzzles out of my big bag.  And then I saw they were running a preview for that one where the world tries to convince Liam Neeson he's crazy, and I was like, "sweet!" And then they told me I would have to pay $8 for it!!!  I'm sorry, your screen is about five inches across.  And you want to charge big-screen prices? And tell me it's for "DirecTV" and automatically that is awesome?  NO I don't want to watch ESPN or crappy HGTV shows, I just want to watch a freaking movie while I'm stuck in your rattly metal tube for hours.  And if you don't have movies, at least give me some radio!  Okay, I'm done complaining about it.  I am.  I prom - but seriously, what will they do next, charge you for oxygen?? - I promise.