December 2002

I just got off the plane here in Paris. I may have hinted in previous entries that I would travel downtown Paris just so I can say that I’ve been there. But since it’s raining and 40 degrees outside, I think I’m going to sit here in the temperature controlled airport for the next few hours. We arrived an hour late because shortly before takeoff at JFK, someone let an overhead bin open too quickly and it knocked some air masks down. It took the mechanics about 40 minutes to repair it.

I guess I forgot until last night on the plane that Delta recently filed for bankruptcy protection. Trust me, it shows in their service. The first budget to get cut was the food service allotment. The food was good for airplane food, but there are a lot of corners cut. On KLM and Air France, they serve metal utensils with their steak; Delta served a plastic fork that was eerily reminiscent of safety scissors in that it didn’t actually cut the meat.

I asked for a can of Sprite. One guy gave me a half-filled cup. Moments later, another steward came along and asked if I needed anything. Again, I asked for a can of Sprite and he gave it to me. Moments later, I heard the first guy scold the second “We’re not supposed to give them the whole can anymore.” Come on, I paid $400 for that flight alone, and they couldn’t throw in a 25 cent can of Sprite? Just to spite them, I didn’t open the whole can I was given – it’s sitting in my bag right now.

Further, my in-seat entertainment system wasn’t working. All of the new Boeing 777′s have little TV’s build into each seat, even in economy class. My sound system wasn’t working (i.e. there was no sound through the headphones). So I watched XXX and Scooby Doo in silence. I haven’t seen either before, so I might rent those sometime just to figure out what was going on. I also missed the endings of both because I fell asleep. Yay for sleep The lady sitting next to me didn’t even have a working remote, so she couldn’t change the channel (it was stuck on the menu for the entire flight). Guess they didn’t even have money to fix that stuff.

The flight was mostly uneventful. I sat next to an American lady destined for Istanbul, Turkey. She didn’t say much during the flight, I just peeked over her shoulder at the boarding pass for her connecting flight. Actually, we didn’t speak at all. She asked me once if I wanted to use her headset when she noticed me pounding on my in-flight entertainment system.

Now that I’m sitting in Charles DeGaulle (or as I call it in its abbreviated form: CDG) airport, I notice that like in any other European airport everyone is smoking. I don’t mind so much, but on the plane they said smoking was prohibited anywhere in CDG as it’s a non-smoking airport. I think everyone here at CDG missed the memo on that one… the place is still stocked with ashtrays, and there isn’t a No Smoking sign in sight!

Ok, I exaggerated a tiny bit… I do see a No Smoking sign within sight… it’s painted on the side of a trash can. To most people, that probably means that you shouldn’t put cigarettes into a trash can. To the person who made the CDG instructional video they showed on the plane, that must mean that this is a non-smoking airport. And a girl sitting near me just walked over to some guy who was smoking and pointed it out. I’m not sure what she said, it was all in French. He looked down at his cigarette and made some seemingly snide remark. She went back to her seat and started coughing.

Now that I’m looking harder for them, I actually see dozens of signs all over the place. Funny thing is that it must not be enforced, because a couple of police officers were walking by a moment ago with lit cigarettes. Go figure, huh?

Still no sign of Josh and Lara. If they’re going to Cairo today, they had better appear soon! This is the only flight today from CDG to Cairo. They still have 4 hours until boarding but still, it’s interesting that they haven’t arrived yet. Maybe they caught a different flight from the States and are transiting elsewhere, or they may have left early or decided to delay their departure. Who knows, it’s just fun to speculate as to where they might be.

Sorry these posts are becoming insanely long. There isn’t much to do here at CDG. I already cruised the Duty Free, looked at all the alcohol and perfumes. The electronics are almost twice as expensive as they are in the States, and since I can’t get over that fact, it’s just better not to try to look at them. I have two hours of battery left on my laptop. At most airports in the States you can find an outlet hidden in a corner or behind the seats in the terminal. But I have looked everywhere here at CDG and haven’t found one. At least that way I could watch a movie or something without worrying about my battery dying. I don’t even have a cell phone to play with – CDMA phones don’t work in the GSM-land that we call Europe!

Ok, I’m off to either browse around, or read the Poly that is still in my backpack from a month ago!

Right now I’m sitting in JFK near gate 6, waiting for my flight to Paris. Supposedly Josh and Lara are on this same flight, but I have yet to see them here in the terminal. If they’re coming, I would expect to see them in the next few minutes since the flight leaves in 45 minutes!

I woke up this morning around 9-ish, woke Michelle up and started packing. It’s just like me to save packing for the last minute! I packed and mailed a box of homemade candies to the folks I work with in the Union. Hopefully they’ll get that before they leave for their respective vacations. Overall it was a relaxing morning, we watched a few minutes of a documentary about beagles (the breed of dog) while folding laundry.

We got to the airport close to 1 PM, about two hours before my flight was scheduled to depart. Of course, with my luck, I was “randomly selected” for additional security screening. The guy at the check-in counter next to me was also selected; he was headed to Tel Aviv, Israel. They took all my luggage to the super-duper x-ray machine and scanned them. I noticed that many of the other people waiting for their screenings were also headed to the Middle East. One young girl was headed to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

I have a lock on my suitcase, so they called me over to open it. I decided to stick around and watch them search my bags. They focused on a box of software that I’m bringing to Cairo for my parents (Roxio Easy CD Creator 5). The guy was trying to stuff everything back into my suitcase and making an utter mess out of the folded clothes. I offered to help pack, but he told me that if I touched the suitcase, they would have to rescan and re-search it. At that point, someone who looked like a supervisor came over and told me that I couldn’t be back there. Apparently he felt that they could open and search my luggage without my presence. In a firm voice I told him that I would wait with my bags to ensure they were packed correctly.

Once they finished, Michelle and I walked over to the security area and said our goodbyes. As soon as I walk up to the screener, she says “looks like you’ve been randomly selected for a complete security screening.” Oh boy, once again I’m going to be scrutinized!

After they x-rayed my baggage, I took my shoes off and had my entire body wanded while they dug through my carry-on luggage. Of course they didn’t find anything, but the entire process took several minutes. I made it to the gate just as they started boarding. In the end I suppose the timing worked out because I was the first one on the plane. The stewardess greeted me with her Georgian accent (they later said the flight crew was from Atlanta).

I was shocked to learn that many bags are screened behind the scenes with powerful scanning devices (powerful enough to destroy all types of film). Apparently “the US Government is not responsible for damage to any locking mechanisms on your luggage.” That means they could literally break open your suitcase without your knowledge and root through your stuff. They are supposed to tag your bags with something that lets you know you were searched. I sure hope they are paying these government inspectors enough money to keep them from lifting stuff from people’s suitcases. And if you did find something missing from your luggage, who would you complain to?

I’m glad that they chose to search my luggage in front of me. I also recommend that people insist on being present, because I know I wasn’t advised of my rights (or lack thereof). I guess that we have lost even more of our civil liberties, and haven’t been afforded much additional protection. This is nothing they weren’t doing 10 years ago (I was randomly selected for searches long before September 11, 2001. There hasn’t been an airline bombing in years. Hijackers are not able to gain access to checked luggage in-flight, so I find it highly unlikely that a cleverly-placed knife would be of much value to a terrorist at 36,000 feet. I also don’t appreciate how they select their “random” people. All the people screened with me were all flying to JFK with ultimate destinations in the Middle East. They should at least pretend to conduct “random” searches!

The next leg of my trip is to fly from JFK to Paris. Since I started this entry, I actually boarded the plane and am currently awaiting takeoff. Apparently some people got stuck in the security checkpoint and will be along shortly. Go figure Wish me a safe flight!

As planned, we arrived in Pittsburgh very early Saturday morning. In one of my recent posts I remarked that we left RPI early on Friday (well, late in the afternoon on Friday, as opposed to waiting until Saturday morning) in order to arrive in Pittsburgh so Michelle could make candy with her family. So we drove through inclimate weather so we could make it here Friday night, but spent most of the 500 mile trip driving at less than 55 mph in the rain and snow. We didn’t actually arrive until 3:30 AM on Saturday morning.

But things are looking up… I leave for Cairo in 2 days, I’m not sure if I’m excited yet or not. I’ll keep you posted about that one.

We arrived in Pittsburgh last night around 3:30 AM. By the time we arrived, everyone else who had been waiting up for us was long since asleep. I slept for six hours before Michelle got me up to make candy with the family. It’s a yearly tradition that she missed out on last year because of finals. I think she was really happy to have the opportunity to do it this year.

My job was to make the mix for and roll peanut butter balls. I really love chocolate and peanut butter together! So I rolled the peanut butter mix into balls, and Michelle dipped them in chocolate. In about an hour and a half, I was able to generate at least 1000 balls!

Of course there were dozens of other types of candies, some of which I helped with. The next step is to box up the candy and mail them out to friends and family. Definitely a nice holiday treat!

What I thought was the fastest semester of college yet is now over. I took my last final exam tonight in DSA (which happened to be my only exam). It went pretty well, I was only totally lost on two out of the 12 questions. With the curve we’ve been promised thus far, that’ll do for a B!

Now that the exam is out of the way, I’m free to enjoy the rest of my birthday! That’s right, the bit two-zero today Marie was the first one in last night with “Happy Birthday to you in one hour!!” That was definitely awesome!

A special yay goes out to Katie and Duane who surprised me this morning with a really cool gift basket (including the Battle of the Sexes card game, inflatable airplane pillow, and Reese’s peanut butter cups). Their card was awesome, I will scan it in sometime soon and post it.

Michelle is in the back bedroom right now conjuring something up. She told me to stay out here and occupy myself for half-an-hour or so. So indeed I’m posting to my LJ and a few communities I have neglected recently. Then it’s off to bed before a full day’s work and travel tomorrow!

For my friends out there, here is my flight schedule for next week with flight numbers and dates. Hopefully I’ll bump into Lara and Josh at JFK and Paris. Let me know, Lara!

So if you’re going to be near me during my flights, let me know and we can meet up! I’m planning on seeing at least a little bit of Paris during my layover. I’ve never been out of CDG and I think it could be fun just to spend a few hours wandering around!

In six hours I will be done with the Fall 2002 semester entirely. In less than three hours, I will be in the exam room beginning my Data Structures and Algorithms exam. Sound like fun?

I have been reading through my notes for the past several hours. I’m hoping that I don’t actually need to have all this stuff memorized. DSA is such an involved course with tons of material! I’ll be glad when it’s behind me, being the last real comp-sci type class I ever have to take.

And then for the 18 hours following my exam, I will be putting my life in order before heading out for a month in Cairo and Pittsburgh. That should prove to be a good time, although I wish I had more time here to catch up on some stuff.

No complaints for now. I’ll write more when I have time Good luck to everyone out there taking finals today!

I spent most of the day doing work for the Union and none of it studying for my upcoming DSA exam. Go figure, it’s the story of my life! I’ll be glad when DSA is over with! In 25 hours, DSA will be a course on my transcript!

I got my plane tickets for Cairo today. I may post the itinerary in a friends-only post when I get a chance. But initially it looks good, I see no problems yet!

I also got the bill from Rensselaer for next semester. Ouch, what a lovely Christmas present! I’ll worry about that in a few weeks

I’m headed to bed, a full day of study awaits tomorrow!

I’ve been reading dozens of other LJ’s recently (and I joined my first real community: ). Why does everyone only ever post really depressing stuff to their journal? Am I the only happy person on the internet?!?!

I think the problem is that I keep my journal as a record of my life (something nice to look back on someday) whereas most people only post to their journal when they are ultra-depressed. They spend their happy times “living in the moment” and their sad times online. I suppose it’s good that people are out enjoying life! But still, it’s pretty depressing to read lots of LJ’s in a row…

Twenty years ago from today, Katie was born!! And to commemorate her 20th birthday, her boyfriend Duane, Michelle and I threw a surprise party. Duane, Michelle and I met last night at Price Chopper (somewhat by accident!) to buy some supplies, and then agreed to have Duane bring Katie to my place at 10 AM. She thought she was coming to spend the day studying with Michelle for their upcoming o-chem final.

It was great! We had homemade waffles and sausage with fresh berries and maple syrup, and chocolate fudge cake. I’m pretty sure she was surprised, and I grabbed a good picture of her on the way in. I’ll post them sometime soon to my photo album at my website!