7/30/05

7:36 a.m. I got home from Atlanta yesterday. It was a fun trip and I hope to go back soon. On the plane I sat between a man who kept nodding off and snoring on my shoulder (no drool, thank goodness) and a lady named Nervina in her mid-40's who had never flown before.

Nervina is chatty and she is currently wringing the neck of the pillow the flight attendant gave her. I don't think she knows she's even doing it. We are preparing for take-off. Nervina tells me all about her grown kids and informs me she's got a sinus infection. I move a little closer to Snoring Guy.

As we start taxiing down the runway, I watch with amusement as Nervina presses her head against the seat back, clutches the armrests, and mutters, "Lordy. Oh, Lordy." I am glad Nervina's got the window seat so she can see the action. I am hoping she doesn't need the barf bag.

Once we're up in the air she calms down a bit. I tell her that the turbulence won't be so bad once we're out of the clouds. As we break through and rise up to cruising altitude, Nervina smiles. I do, too. It's a good show today. The clouds below look like fluffy cotton balls and are trimmed in gold and pink. "It's beautiful!" she says. I watch her face, which is child-like and full of wonder.

Everything is going fine until we are about to land. Nervina starts wringing her pillow again as the landing gear goes down. "We're going so fast! Oh, Lordy! We're gonna hit that bridge!" I cover my mouth to hide my smile. Seconds before we hit the ground I warn Nervina that we're coming in a little fast so it's going to be a bit of a bumpy landing. Her eyes get as big as dinner plates. I suddenly realize that maybe wasn't the best thing to say. Poor Nervina. We land and the captain reverses the engine. Nervina is holding her heart.

I wake up Snoring Guy, who managed to sleep through the entire flight. He is bleary-eyed and disoriented. I tell him the plane landed and he says, "Oh. Yeah. Okay." He doesn't even thank me for letting him use my shoulder as a pillow for two hours.

I say goodbye to Nervina, who it looks like is going to make it, and I head home. When I walk in to my house I note the sink full of dishes. The garbage I forgot to take out. The dead house plants. I sigh. It is really impractical for me to have a home considering how often I'm actually here.

Speaking of travel, Stinky Jimmy called me yesterday and asked me if I want to go back to Puerto Rico in October. Hot dog! This time I'm going to make sure I get more time to goof off and eat gross things. And this time I'll devote more time brushing up on my Spanish...or better yet, I'll find myself a spicy Latin interpreter to bring along.

Today I am in a packed inner city neighborhood. I had a very hard time finding a place to park along the street that still afforded me a clear view of Subject's house. I am getting very hot, but I don't want to turn on the car engine and draw too much attention to myself. Not many people are out yet as it's just 8am on a Saturday.

After I work this case today and tomorrow, I am headed straight up to the Twin Cities again. I have to finish the case I was working there a couple of weeks back.

And after that I'm going to northern Minnesota. Way up by the Canadian border. I must say that I was dreading making that trip because, what is there up that far north besides polar bears? Well, it turns out PERI, one of the bloglit, is not too far from where I'll be! Our plans are still sketchy, but they involve Friday night, wreaking havoc on some poor small town, and a mechanical bull.

I can't wait.