next am, we head to the job. no bueno, i'm there at least three weeks too early. but, it's good i'm there anyway so i can tell them what needs to be done/fixed/moved for my next visit. one thing i can do is the structured wiring distribution, so i start to tackle that. trips to hardware store etc, follow then it's time to meet another friend for dinner. originally we were to go to Ray's the Steaks, but due to the late hour, we never would have gotten in. so, it was decided to go to Dino, which is actually one block form the apt we were working in. holy moly, one of the best menu's i've dined from in a long time. wild mushrooms and gorgonzola - roasted with olio and garlic, saltimbocca, roasted and calrmelzed vegetables for starters. entree was Lasagnette al Ragu, the richest lasagna evah. there was lots of wine, ridge, litton springs zinfandel. then we finished with a three cheese plate(some of the best parm reggiano i've had in a long time) afterwards, headed down to adams morgan to see other friend's apt, very stylish, qiute expensive, trust funded. parking is ansolutely non-existant. head home, sleep.
saturday, head back to the job to finish wiring distro, mount some speakers and test xm signal angle(no problem) hop on the metro, head out to herndon, get picked up by brother in law and nephew2
and meet sister and (just 10) nephew1
for dinner at Famous Dave's BBQ, head home and sleep on a full belly of bbq.sunday wake up and distribute birthday presents to nephew and sister, figuring i'd get drawn into a game of oceanopoly(he is a monopoly freak, and apparently i'm the only adult who will play with him anymore), but my brother's gift of matchbox air/water rocket takes first price and i am spared, althouhg the game is spread out on the floor. head to REI with sister, get back home planning to go see railroad earth for free over in frederick for free, but a nap is much nicer, wake up fire up the grill and have burgers, corn and salad. watch a couple of movies from the first mountainfilm DVD and hit the hay.
monday the workweek is back in full swing with brother in law heading to work, nephew1 heading to tennis camp, and sister and nephew2 dropping me off at the metro. get back to the job for a few hours and friend's brother is having a heck of a time getting the stereo rack shelf installed. i do some trim in the mbr and gather up tools for a departure. friend drops me off at union station for the train to BWI. get there with minutes to spare for check-in and head to gate, plane is being loaded as i get there. late leaving once loaded, but my flight from ATL>PNS is two hours layover. good thing, because when we land, the gangway won't come to plane. they try for at least 40 minutes before draging us around to another gate. i of course am sitting behind girl who doesn't get the answer she likes and then calls airtran from the plane to complain loudly and loudly offers anyone else who care to call, the number to cust svc. weak. got to PNS ok, but waited an inordinate amount of time for bags to come to carousel. and got to the truck and saw this...
anyways, thoughts about airtran: they have the youngest fleet out there, all new 727's. since they are smaller, it seems, to me, that they are trying to make the most use out of their equipment, with back to back flights. that being said, their scheduling is so tight, and planes are being turned around so often, that flight times are merely a suggestion, three of four of my flights left the ground late. would i use them again? only if someone else was paying the fare, or they moved to VPS.
