Monterey

Made it to California for a week of Christmas fun on the coast. Was supposed to fly out Thursday, which would've capped off an amazingly productive day. On Thursday I watched a movie I hadn't seen, did laundry, packed for the trip and took the dog for a long walk. Pretty ho-hum, but in addition I also bought all my Christmas presents, for 8 people, and got them in the mail! I did all that and still made it to the airport by 6pm. Great day.... till the airport. United Airlines must be the worst airline in the country by far. Denver is there hub and somehow nobody knows how to check in bags correctly, or make decisions about whether a plane is in the air or not, or decide which plane you should be on, let alone the seat.

I get to the airport, with my bike case, and get in line. I know there's an extra fee associated with the box so wait to be checked in by an agent. To United's credit there were more automated check-in stations than I'd ever seen and since I usually don't check bags I was impressed and started to reconsider my opinion on United (bad from previous experience). The agent checks me in and says that it'll be $50 because the bike box is over 50 lbs. I'm thinking, "On the website it said bikes were $85, but whatever, maybe I'll scoot through" A manager needs to unlock the computer so I can pay up. This guy knows what a bike box is, and reminds me that it'll be $85. Fine. No worries. I was prepared for that anyway. Course he couldn't figure out how to change how much I was supposed to pay. It's obvious to me hear that its a United problem and not a problem with the staff. Nice, super stressed folks working with crappy, outdated equipment. After about 20 minutes my bags finally get checked in and I made it through security (which is a whole other bitch session, usually). At the block of TV screens I do the quick scan for San Jose, CA, United and it says delayed. Fortunately the Currie had been online and had informed me earlier. How late though? It never got displayed. At about 8:15, the flight was supposed to take off at 8:02, we get an annoucement that our flight's been cancelled. 45 minutes later we get another saying we'll be leaving at 1:15 in the morning. Nice. 20 minutes later I get a phone call from United saying I've been rescheduled to 6am the next morning! WTF! I walk down to the customer service line to get it straightened out. Uh, no. I'm seeing the same line Noah must've seen as the water started to rise. Fuck it, I'm outta here. Back at ticketing they comp me some miles and sure enough reschedule me for the next day. At least the Currie would be able to get some sleep. The I-punk had other plans, but my power only extends so far.

California. This place is nice. For those who don't know; this place is nice. The Currie shows up shorts and flip-flops. It's good to be here. It's mostly the Currie's, but California is nice.