A Cruising Altitude

I like airplanes. And trains and automobiles, too, but I haven't seen as many of them flying through the air. With Memorial Day weekend approaching, there's going to be an airshow in the area. I can't say that I've actually gone to an airshow before, though. While the idea of flying through the air is nice, watching someone else fly through the air never really seemed all that appealing.

For the last couple of days, however, I have had the joy of my work being repeatedly interrupted by loud noises outside. One of the problems with pilots practicing for an airshow is that once you hear the loud noise, it's too late to actually see the plane, it's already on the other side of the building. So you get distracted and watch out the window instead of doing your work. You give up, get back to work, and there's that noise again.

But I did manage to see them flying by a few times. Very close, nice formation, it was actually pretty fun. So mayhaps I should have attended an airshow before. (Not that I'll probably actually attend one now, either, I suppose.) Of course this is just slightly after my last ride in an airplane, after which I knew I never wanted to ride in an airplane ever again. But I've revised that thought.

I'd be happy to ride in an airplane if it was doing fun stuff. If there wasn't a baby in a seat across the aisle. If the person in front of me didn't think banging their chair into my knees was a fun way to pass the time. If I had a view, if it wasn't too loud that I couldn't think, if I didn't have to pay for the in-flight meal, if the meal carts didn't bump into my knee as it passed, if I weren't treated like livestock.

So I do love airplanes, the technology that we posses, the knowledge we've gained, the things we can do. But as a way to get somewhere, they leave much to be desired.

Maybe I'll just go for a nice cruise.

One if by Land, Two if by Air

During high school, I had to take the bus through IL several times a year. A six-hour car ride, by bus it took much, much longer. But doing the bus ride several times a year, at least once had to be interesting, right?

Well, if I were my brother, I suppose. I'm not sure how, after having to catch the late-morning bus several times a year, three years in a row, on his last-ever northern Illinois to southern Illinois bus ride he could possibly oversleep and miss the bus. How the passenger list is known, and checked before leaving, he could get left behind. But manage it he did.

Of course, it's entirely possible this was on purpose. While the ride is eight-plus hours by bus, and six-ish by car, it's certainly much shorter by airplane, even if it has to make a stop halfway. And being the last time he'd have to ride the bus, he couldn't get in too much trouble for doing so, he wouldn't have to have help catching it the next time or anything. And he was pretty much guaranteed to get the short ride home.

So it could have been a brilliant move.

But that might be giving him too much credit. It's much more likely that instead, he spent too much time the night before partying with friends, and simply overslept. Pure accident. At least that's what the parents were led to believe.

Either way, it's certainly fairly obvious, if the backup plan is far preferable to the primary plan, there's little reason to strive to make the bus on time. Party all night, airplanes were made for a reason.