Heading home

The trip home from England was long. We were connecting in Atlanta, so it was somewhere in the neighborhood of 8.5 to 9 hours just for the first leg. Because Steve likes to sit on the aisle, we don't normally have a window seat. But this plane's configuration was 2-3-2, so we had an aisle and a window. Plus, we had an exit row. So it was comfortable.

At one point during the flight, I looked out the window and saw this:


I don't normally see other planes in the sky, so I thought this was pretty neat. I knew it was a safe distance away. I decided to try and zoom in on it with my camera.



It looks like it's another Delta jet from the tail-fin coloring. We were an hour or so out of Atlanta at this point, so that would make sense. Atlanta's a Delta hub. The plane paralleled us for awhile, gradually overtaking us and disappearing.




Since I had my camera out, I figured I'd take some aerial shots. Much of our trip was above thick cloud cover.




Since we were an exit row, we were right above the wing. Somehow, I always end up on the wing, even without the benefit of an exit row. I'm not sure how that keeps happening.




As we began our initial descent and broke through the cloud cover, I began looking at what was on the ground. It's so hard finding recognizable things, though. Other than when we flew into New York and spotted the Statue of Liberty, I have never managed to identify landmarks from the air. I'm guessing it's the odd perspective. I wonder if birds have that problem in reverse.




And here we're on the ground, just after we landed. After I clicked the photo, I paused and wondered if a digital camera counted as a "personal electronic device." I decided it didn't, but when I turned to Steve and mentioned it, he assured me it did. Oh well, the plane didn't crash, so all's good.

Departing in style

Parking fees at Orlando International Airport are stupidly high. When you're gone for a few weeks, like we were going to be, they can break the bank. After doing some research, I determined it was actually cheaper to rent a car each way than it was to park our vehicle at satellite parking. So we arranged a couple of car rentals and headed down to Orlando the night before our early-morning departure for New York and then England.

I thought it would be fun to travel down in style, so we rented a convertible.



Steve phoned to tell me he was on Bondarenko, so I went out with the camera to capture his arrival. I was hoping we would get a Mustang. But, well, it just looks out of place out here, doesn't it?


Yes, definitely out of place. But darn pretty, too.



Doesn't Steve just emote cool?


We quickly discovered the convertible's chief downside: Lack of room. Because the soft top has to go somewhere when it's down, this is all the storage space you get in the boot.


We didn't want to leave all our bags in the car overnight, so we took them up to the hotel room with us. Steve then spent some time the next morning getting them all wedged back in the car. It took some doing.


Steve just managed to get the cases crammed into the car's back seat. Clearly, renting a convertible to get us to the airport prior to a three-week trip abroad was not a good idea. I feel sorry for the driver of the Miata in the background. At least we had a back seat!

All in all, we just weren't impressed with the Mustang convertible. Yes, it's a pretty car in a butch, street-machine way (although it had a wimpy engine). But Steve was miserable driving with the top down on the way home. The sun was so bright, he was sweating like a horse even with the a/c on full. It was more pleasant at night to drive with the top down, but I felt so exposed. I imagine that if everyone drove convertibles, we would have a lot less rude driving on the road. You lose your anonymity when you're sitting out in the open. But we'd be a lot more crabby, because we'd be hot and sweaty for at least half the year.

I guess chalk this one up to a good idea in theory, but not in practice.

Catching Up

There's little point in having a blog to keep folks up-to-date when you don't keep it updated! It's been over three weeks since I posted. That GTA news I just added isn't really news, anymore. I found out two weeks ago.

News isn't the only thing I'm neglecting. I've not done much with the hundreds of photos I have accumulated from our recent trip, either. So I'm starting to remedy that situation now . . . starting with this blog. Please proceed to the next two entries (and if they're not there, it's because I'm still writing them!)

UNF Update

Not only did I get into the history program, I am also a GTA (Graduate Teaching Assistant)! I'll spend my first year learning how to teach, and then I will conduct one of the reading portions of the Freshman Core history course. Which means I'll be teaching classes on Fridays! I get a tuition waiver, plus a stipend. This is awesome!

I did it!

I received an email this morning from the history graduate program advisor at the University of North Florida . . . I've been accepted! I start classes in the fall and begin working toward my Master of Arts degree. I'm very excited and relieved. It's been a long, hard road to grad school. I'm just glad I've been accepted and the limbo is over.

New BBQ

We have been planning to buy a new barbecue for a few months. Since Steve is the one reponsible for any and all outdoor grilling, the decision on whether to go gas or charcoal was entirely his. He was torn. He prefers the taste of food cooked over a charcoal grill, but he was enticed by the convenience and versatility of a gas grill. He finally decided to go for a gas grill, figuring we can get that grilled taste with the help of hictory or mesquite chips. After a lot of reconnaisance work, we finally settled on a grill sold at Target. It had the features we wanted and was under the amount of money we wanted to spend!

Steve spend the late afternoon Sunday putting the grill together. The instructions claimed it would take less than an hour, but it took probably close to 90 minutes to two hours. I imagine having the battery die on Steve's screwdriver halfway through the process didn't help. As soon as it was built, Steve gave it a test run by cooking his dinner on it.

Here he is cooking a couple of Angus bacon burgers.



This is what you call a "flare-up." Actually, Steve did this deliberately for the photo.


And finally, here's Steve enjoying the fruits of his labor.