chicus.com

Omaha Flight
Sep 16, 2009
I'm going to try something new here. Instead of recapping an entire trip (to IA, for a wedding), which can be taxing to me and (I think) the reader, I am going to write about one aspect of it. It's a shame in some ways as there were a lot of great points on this trip. However, I think it is hard to capture all (or even most) of it without it transforming from prose to a series of declarative sentences beginning with 'nex' or 'then'.

Nick saw me off at the security gate in Omaha. It should be noted that Eppley Airfield is the cleanest airport in the world, or at least it says so on the little plastic mats that prevent larger objects from being flushed down the urinal. You know I was tempted to snap a picture but there was just no way in hell I could do so. After grabbing some pizza I sat near the gate and saw a man doing push-ups. Only in Omaha. Or perhaps only in people flying to Jersey...I just don't know.

I was walking down the aisle towards my seat on the Continental flight from Omaha to Newark and noticed a tall blond woman from the terminal sitting in the vicinity of where I would be. I was sure she was a row ahead of me but for the brief moment I had that prospective uplifting that comes with being seated next to an attractive woman on a long flight. Don't get me wrong, I am 100% in a relationship and very contentedly so. There's no desire to stray but maybe it's bred into the Y chromosome...whenever I take my seat I offer a little hope it will be an attractive and funny woman to make conversation with.

As I got closer I realized the woman wasn't near my seat, she was in fact directly next to me. Shazam! (Who says that any more...or ever did?) I was about 4 rows away and saw a man tap her shoulder and they switched seats. There were three rows of seats, two to my left and one to the right of the aisle. I had the seat on the far left and she was just to the left of the aisle. However, a guy one row behind us and on the right didn't have room for his carry-on below his seat so they switched. So not only did I not get to sit next to the blond but I was stuck with a guy with over-sized luggage under the seat. I sent Toby an IM alerting him to my extreme dismay in the whole situation.

Once we reached cruising altitude I started to put on my headphones and the guy next to me leaned over slightly and barely turned his head to say "Sorry about the blonde." "I'm not going to lie," I said with a smile, "I traded down." He replied something to the effect of 'Somewhere there is a man happy to see her go and have some time to himself'. True enough.

Robin and I talked at length about a broad spectrum of topics including health care, the Middle East, and music. I guess the last was an easy topic as he is the tour manager for the rock band that brought us Hot Blooded and Juke Box Hero, among other songs. He and the lead singer were on their way back to NY from a series of shows in the west, ending in a smaller NE town. At one point he got up and I checked my iPod to confirm that of my 11000+ songs not a one was from the band he managed. He also nodded to his left and indicated that the lead singer was on board as well (there was no first class on this relatively small aircraft) and when they were leaving I saw he the singer was wearing a leather shirt, jeans, and some lace-free low-top shoes that, with his gray-ish and spiky hair would fit the mold for an older rock star.

So I had my second semi-celebrity sighting in under a week. Not too shabby.