Langster Seattle and a Bad Travel Day

I keep thinking the the 2008 Langster Seattle might be my bike for 2008. While I am not a fan of the stock handle bars they have started to grow on me lately. If I get a another 52 I should be able share the bike with my daughter who never uses the gears on her bike anyways. The fenders and the toe clips would make it a great commuter. So far the only 2008 Langster I have seen is the Boston Version at Back Bay Bicycles in Boston. If I decide to go this route I will have to order it. I might even add some lights as well and make it a real commuter. However, ski season is just around the corner and that may take all of my spare change.




I flew back to New Jersey from Boston on Friday (yesterday). It was the trip from hell. I was originally planning on flying home on Thursday evening but there was an early Friday morning meeting that I decided to stick around and support. I wanted to get home since I knew that my dog (Fluffy) was going to be alone in the house while I was travelling. While she is really good it is just not fair to leave her alone for a long period of time.



My original flight was at 2:15 PM but I decided to get to the airport (Boston's Logan) early and see if I could catch an earlier flight. I left the office at about 10:45 AM and I got to the airport around 11 AM. All of the flights were delayed and the next available flight was the 1:20 PM which was now delayed until 2:20 PM. I decided to get on the earlier flight. As I was sitting in the gate area I noticed that the flight was now schedule to leave at 1:53 PM so I thought that things were going to go my way. Unfortunately I was completely wrong.

I got on the flight at about 1:30 PM. The complete loading finished at about 1:50 PM but 2 PM came and went and we had not moved back from the gate. The captain finally told us that we had been delayed until after 2:15. Soon the captain came back and told us that we were now delayed until after 4 PM but he was working on getting it moved up. Eventually he told us that he had recieved a release from Air Traffic Controll (ATC) but Newark Liberty had suspended all flights coming in or leaving due to weather conditions.

I am not sure what time we actually took off but I think it was around 4:30 PM. Except for some turbulence the flight was uneventful. We did not even spend a lot of time circling so again I thought I was on the other side of things. However, when we got to our gate in Newark the Jetway was broken and we could not get off the plane. We had to wait for maintenance to come and fix it. This took almost 30 minutes. My bag was already off the plane and in baggage claim by the time I got there. I made my way to the Air Train to get to Parking Lot P3 to get my car. Unfortunately the Air Train was not running the attendent suggested I walk to the parking lot.

Unfortunately, the areas outside of the terminal buildings are not really pedestrian friendly and I made several wrong steps that put me on ramps to no where. Eventually I made it to my car and my EZ Pass work (for once) and I seemed to be on my way. The NJ Turnpike and the Garden State Parkway were not that bad considering that it was a Friday in the Summer. A couple of slow downs on the Turnpike and Parkway was jammed up after 117 so I decide to exit there rather than go down to 114.

At last I was home. I pushed the button for my garage door opener and the garage door only went up on one side. I parked my car in the driveway and went in to look. The counter weight cable had jumped off the pulley and was now wrapped around the garage door track. I made some calls to find a garage door repair company that will work on Saturday's since I have to flyout to Charlotte on Sunday evening.

So instead of taking a long ride on what is looking to be a great day I am waiting for a repair man to show up. I am hoping that it does not take to long and I can get a good late afternoon early evening ride in.

As much as I want to complain about my bad luck I have been trying to concentrate on the good things.

1. I am not a coal miner
2. Both my cars were on the outside of the garage when the door broke
3. I eventually made it home on the same day I started travelling (this does not always happen)
4. I would not have been able to ride on Friday anyways so I did not miss much there
5. Staying over to be onsite for the meeting turned out to be the right decision
6. I found a garage door repair man that will come out on Saturday
7. I ran into an old co worker on the plane (he was sitting in First Class)

I have a busy week planned. I am flying to Charlotte, NC for 2 days and then I am driving to the Adirondacks to pick up my daughter at Southwoods Camp. I am taking 3 days of vacation. Hopefully I will get at least a short ride in each of the days. I am planning on going back to Boston on August 20.

My mom completed the running part of the Auburn Great Race on Sunday August 12. I have asked her to be a guest blogger and write about the race. I am holding out hope that my mom will come through. This blog is in need of some new writing and experiences.