A taste of my life

Here's a brief account of my past 48 hours or so.

Thursday:

0630- Wake up, shower, shave, and then pack up before heading out.

0730- Grab some coffee (no breakfast) and start driving to the place I'm training.

0830- Arrive at the pharmacy and begin training.

1200- Go out to get something to eat quickly.

1230- Back to training.

1530- Finish training and start driving to catch my flight home.

1645- Grab some McDonalds on the way into the airport.

1700- Arrive at the airport in Lincoln and start waiting in a long line.

1745- Finally reach the counter very worried that I'll miss my flight that's supposed to leave at 1823. Find out the flight has been delayed.

1800- Make it through security and sit in the terminal. I see the plane at the end of the skyway and think that we'll be en route shortly.

1930- Find out that the plane is working fine and the crew is there. United is holding out flight from leaving because they feel O'Hare is "too busy" right now.

2030- Finally board the plane. My back is killing my and my ass is sore from working earlier and those damn terminal seats already.

2100- Plane finally takes off. Travel time to Chicago: 1 hour. My connecting flight is supposed to leave at 2145. The crew tells me that all flights are delayed entering and leaving O'Hare and not to worry.

2200- We land and I scurry for the gate my plane is at.

2205- Arrive at the gate and find out that my plane was the only fucking plane in O'Hare that left on time that day. The tell me to go to the customer service desk.

2220- Begin waiting in a huge fucking line to speak to their customer service people.

2330- Finally talk with a customer service person. My back is screaming in pain so badly I could cry. I lean up against the counter so I can talk without wincing. They tell me that they can guarantee a flight leaving at 1745 the next day. I tell him that it's nto good enough. I need to get home. He tells me I can try to fly standby. There's a flight at 0644 the next morning that could possibly get me home if someone doesn't show up for the flight. I just need to get there an hour before the flight and get put on the standby list. Then he offers me a room discout at a hotel. I'm stuck in Chicago and all he can do is get me $20 off on a hotel room? Resisting a very strong urge to reach across the counter and throttle the fucker after the crap offer and which he says, "It's the best I can do" again, I remember that airport shuttles to O'Hare don't start until 0600, which guarantees I wouldn't get on that first flight. I take the crap offer United is handing me and start getting ready to spend the night in O'Hare.

2350- Look for vending machines since the restaraunts and shops in O'Hare are closed. After 9/11, they took all the vending machines out, tho. I'm forced to just drink water and ignore my hungry stomach.

Friday:

0100- Give up on looking for any form of food or entertainment. There is no Wi-Fi that I can access, or broadband ports that I can find. My phone finally runs out of power and I can't recharge since the charger is in the bag I checked in back in Lincoln.

0130- I find a TV that's on and showing CNN. It distracts me for an hour or so.

0300- I find a row of seats without armrests to attempt to sleep on since I can't sleep in a sitting position.

0400- I wake up after falling alseep for a half hour or so. I try to fall asleep again without success.

0500- Someone enters the terminal carrying a McDonalds bag. I head back to the other end of the terminal hoping that the terminal's McDonalds is open.

0530- I get a crappy, but very necessary breakfast. I wolf it down as I head back to where the gate is so I can get put on standby.

0600- Gate staff arrives and I start the line to speak with people at the counter. The guy there looks relieved that I didn't charge at him before he got a chance to get his computer turned on and set up. When he finally gets everything running, he calls me over and I tell him the short version of my story and ask to get put on standby for the 0644 flight. He types a few things in, and I stay quiet while he works. Without another word, he prints me a ticket and hands me it. I have a confirmed seat on that early flight. I could've kissed the guy, but I restrain myself and thank him profusely.

0644- We haven't even boarded the plane yet. I realize that my back is hurting at the same level it was last night. I've maxed out how much my back can hurt, but since it's constant, it is so much easier to ignore now.

0700- We board the plane finally. I'm in seat 1D. I'm glad I'll be one of the first people off the plane.

0800- The plane hasn't even left the gate yet. I close my eyes and swear to whatever is out there that I'm never flying through O'Hare again unless I absolutely have to.

0820- We finally leave the gate and start taxiing. My ass is now hurting almost as much as my back from those seats.

0845- Take off to Milwaukee. I thank goodness that it's only a half hour flight.

0930- I curse out Murphy as we land in Milwaukee 45 minutes later.

1000- After the tower holds us up for a while on the runway, we arrive at the gate.

1030- I am amazed when my bag actually arrives at the baggage claim. I was expecting it to be lost with all the crap that United put me through.

1100- I get to my car and get the hell away from the airport. I realize that my total travel time from Nebraska and back was 23 hours. I could've driven it in 20 hours round trip.

1230- After hitting the grocery store on my way back in, I unload my car. Once that is done, I change out of the clothes that I've been wearing for over 24 hours and take a shower. Lots of hot water on my back feels good.

1300- I'm about to settle down for a nap when my friend calls. The reason I wanted to be in Milwaukee early is to help him out with a few things. Luckily none of them involve lifting.

1330- My friend picks me up. Help is rendered to him from my knowledge of computers.

1500- Late lunch at Chili's. I proceed to tell him tales of my travels. He tells me that he knows just the thing I need. "Naps, nookie, and narcotics?" I ask. Nope, time to hit the gun range.

1700- After putting 150 rounds of .45cal through my Glock, I feel a lot better. Better yet, it woke me up enough to get back on a regular sleeping schedule.

1900- Finally get home to settle down for the evening. I unpack and clean up until my vision starts getting blurry.

2100- Sit down and watch TV. Stay awake for maybe a half hour more. I didn't wake up until 0930 today.

Long post, I know. This is the kind of luck that seems to follow me around, tho. Maybe that's why my life seems to be such a rollercoaster sometime. What do you think?