New York City, Part 2

Working and walking is my life. So back to New York, part two.

After the clean up was complete, Christian fixed spaghetti, and Dorey walked Ariel, who could finally be persuaded to come off of her perch. At about 7:00, we left, stopping by the Borders bookstore to buy the new Cash Peters book. We were going to take BART to the airport, but once we were out of Borders, I decided that I would rather have Christian just drive us to the San Francisco airport. We were there at about 8:30 p.m., for an 11:00 flight. I am nothing if not early when I fly.

We were flying on Virgin America for the first time. I decided to fly this airline because the tickets were cheap, and I had heard many good things about the airline. Last summer, we were in an art store buying some stuff for the float. The cashier, a young 20ish kid, said that he had flown Virgin to the East Coast and thought it was a great trip–a unique airline. I was then sort of excited to try them out.

Virgin America is housed in the international terminal of SFO. So we had to see all these people going to really great places. We, too, were going to a great place, but we didn’t need a passport to get through security. Dang, it put a damper on the excitement of the trip.

We found our gate fairly quickly, and I started my seven trips to the restroom. I always take about that many trips to the restroom before I fly. I sit by the window, and I don’t want to upset anyone to go to the restroom. So I try to expel all my water long before that. I also try to cut down on my water for a few hours before the flight, just to make sure. But it was warm, and I drank a bottle of water in the airport. So I probably went to the restroom about nine times in the two hours we waited before boarding the plane. I had completed by 10,000 steps for the day by the time I reached the airport, but the trips to the bathroom added about 3000 more. Dorey, who had walked around the island that day, had about 18,000 steps when we left. She, however, does not go to the bathroom as often as I do, and only had 20,000 steps when she entered the plane.

Another bathroom issue–one of these trips to the bathroom, I tried to empty my bowels. I placed the sanitary paper on the seat before sitting. As I stood up, a small piece broke off, and became stuck to my pant top. I was walking around the airport with a sanitary paper tail. Dorey discovered it before too long, but I felt as if I was walking around with this beaver tail for a period of time at the airport. This was rather embarrassing.

The plane was happily on time, and we were able to get off the ground. Virgin America–so far, so good. Actually, the airline tried to be a little too hip. The captain came out of the cabin and waved to us. The standard safety precautions was a little too stylized. The flight attendants had a bit of a smug attitude. It is an great airline for hip, art students who work in art supply stores.

But the plane had inflight TV. What more could I want. Plus, the guy sitting next to Dorey was able to move up a row, even though it was supposed to be a row that cost a few dollars more. So Dorey and I sat next to each other without the worry that Dorey would drool on the passenger next to her. After the flight attendant came through with the drink service, I fell asleep, listening to This American Life on my I-Pod. I slept most of the way across the country, waking up every so often to turn on another episode of the podcasted radio show.

End of part two, and we are still not in New York City. How endless is this story going to be.

Anyway, today's stats: Yesterday, 6-11-09, I walked 11,094 steps. As of this moment, 1:15 p.m. on Friday, June 12, 2009, I have walked 848,340 steps in 77 days.

The above picture is an engagement picture of Kate and Jacob taken by a great, young wedding photographer, Valarie Porter.