When I got up yesterday, Mom called the airline to make sure my plane was still flying. Everything was on time, so we loaded all my stuff and headed for Wichita. When we hit the city limits, it started sleeting. When we got to the airport, it was coming down something fierce. Lynlee -- crazy, silly, wonderful Lynlee -- was there waiting for me. I scolded her for coming out in that weather just to hug me and give me a bag of chocolate-covered raisins (and it's a good friend who will buy you something SHE can't stand because YOU love it), but she just shrugged. I pulled up to the ticket counter at 10:00 (my plane left at 10:35) and had a dilemma -- do I rush for the plane and not be able to go to the bathroom until 4:30 or 5:00, or do I get on a later flight? I opted to try for the later flight. Getting to Houston was OK (seats still available), but there were no more seats on ANY planes from Houston to NO for the entire rest of the day. Next thing they told me was that my flight to Houston is delayed, so now I had time to go to the bathroom and board. Problem was, I had only about an hour and a half between planes in Houston. If my plane leaving Wichita was delayed more than fifteen or twenty minutes, there was NO WAY I'd make my plane to NO. Stress on top of more stress. I chose to wait it out here, and it turned out in the end to be the right decision because there were in fact no seats available from Houston to NO until TUESDAY NIGHT. I would have been stuck in Houston for TWO DAYS. And I'm guessing my flight never got off the ground -- it was still at the gate at 10:45, and the sleet was coming down harder than ever.
So I am rescheduled to leave tomorrow (Tuesday) at 6:05 p.m. and get in to NO at 9:55 p.m. I'll miss the first day of stats tomorrow, but I have the same prof I had last semester and have emailed her to explain. I'm sure she'll understand.
And now for a brief update on my monthly book challenge. I have three January bonus books:
1. Next by Michael Crichton. I love MC, but this book was rather disappointing. "Preachiness" against genetic engineering aside, I found the overall point of the stories loose and not very cohesive. The book was a jumble of small tales centered around GE, but that was really their only connection. Some lines were connected or actually came together, but the overall concept just seemed to be, "Here's a reason we shouldn't do this. And why we should do this. Or this." I give MC points for again trying to educate the public about what GE really is and isn't, but I think he also potentially confused the issue by making real in the story fears that people have though he started the book saying these things weren't possible at this time. ::sigh:: Such a flop for such an educated man and a great story-teller.
2. Man From U.N.C.L.E. #1 -- Night of a Thousand Coffins. Anita is a huge U.N.C.L.E. freak (TV series and novelizations), and she recently managed to complete her set of the novels. In so doing, she wound up with duplicates of several books which, because I've always been curious and because she lubs me SOOOOO much, I have inherited. I really enjoyed this first book about the diabolical THRUSH developing and testing a chemical that can kill hundreds in one fell swoop. An U.N.C.L.E. agent/chemist is killed trying to track down the chemical, and Napoleon Solo is sent in to collect his body. We also get a little bit of Illya Kuryakin toward the end, helping Solo crack the case. A fun, fast read -- I finished it in just a couple of hours.
3. Man From U.N.C.L.E. #2 -- The Doomsday Affair. Not quite as good as #1, probably because it's written by a different author. Solo is a little too much the perfect hero, and Kuryakin is too much the doofus agent who is just around to help Solo. Anita had warned me that some books were better than others, so I went with it. Still a fun read with a not-too-surprising twist at the end.
I'm off to start on #3. Yet ANOTHER thing Anita has gotten me hooked on in the last month or so. The first two are the British TV series "Torchwood" (happy D has copies of eleven out of thirteen first season eps with a promise to receive the last two in the mail soon) and TW lead star John Barrowman's singing. This pic, though not a very good one, is from his stint on the first new season of "Doctor Who," the popularity of which is what I think netted him "TW" (correct me if I'm wrong, Nate). Another Doctor Who pic. Yummy album cover pic. ::swoons over the delicious, recently married gay man:: My favorite tracks on this album are "A Boy from Nowhere" and "Sunset Boulevard." Sorry there's no clip of "Boy," but take my word for it, the man is talented.
And before any Doctor fans start musing about whether TW will ever be bought by a US channel for airing, I doubt it very seriously. If it is, it'll be a cable channel like Showtime and most definitely NOT the SciFi Channel (the current carrier of Doctor Who). It's much too sexy and risque and sexual (straight, gay, and everything in between) and just beautifully BRITISH to ever air in conservative America.
And finally, something else I am looking forward to getting in the mail -- a copy of Laurell K. Hamilton's Nightseer from Elizabeth. I was wanting to get it anyway, and E is wanting to sell hers, so I'm buying hers. Look for a review soon, and thanks E!!
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