Airplane pet peeve

Danny's pet-peeve post reminded me a of a pet-peeve of my own, related to flying, though, not to driving.

I hate the interminably long-time it takes to get off an airplane. Naturally you have to wait for the door to open, which I'm ok with. What drive me nuts, though, is the people who take FOREVER to get their stuff in order and get a move on.

What's the deal?

We've all been waiting in the plane, the hot and getting stuffier-by-the-second plane, for at least 5 minutes for the door to open, and these people haven't gotten their stuff together, haven't even thought about where their stuff is. They just step out in the aisle and block everyone for painfully long minutes at a time while they get themselves figured out.

It's especially irritating when people do things that they should really wait to do until after they're off the plane, like putting on a sweater, or hooking bags together. Have you ever noticed that people who try to connect multiple bags together and roll them down an airplane's narrow isle invariably get stuck, and have to spend time righting their stuck bags while everyone behind them tries to breathe deeply and count to 10?

Every time I fly I have to sit there and tell myself to be patient. Drives me nuts.

No invincibility period in life

A friend of mine died suddenly on Sunday. Julie Chen was a super sweet girl with a quick smile, and I'll definitely miss her. She had gone to the Phillipines to do missions work and apparently died of an asmtha attack while jogging.

It seems really random. It may sound crazy, but it would almost be easier to accept if she'd died in a caraccident, or even at the hands of someone, because then you could blame the car, or the person. But this way, there's no one to blame; it's just part of life. I'm glad to know where she's going next, and that God must have had a reason for calling her home. This is definitely one of those times where I have to remind myself that if there really is a God (and I think there is), then He knows more than I do, and if I can't see the pattern or the purpose, He can.

People say that teenagers think they're invincible. That may be true, but for me at least, I have this false notion sometimes that life is risky during your teenage years, but once you get to your mid-twenties, you're pretty much safe until your fifties. This was an unpleasant reminder that every day is a blessing, and not promised to us. There's no invincibility period.

from Hawaii to insanity

I don't think it's good planning to return from vacation at midnight on Sunday and go right into a day that includes a major presentation to multiple executives and an all-night project planning session (yeah, scrum!) with India.

I can't imagine a more surreal juxtaposition. I kept thinking about scuba diving and taking pictures underwater while putting together powerpoints and spreadsheets. I don't think I'll plan it that way again. In some ways, though, it was nice. I was way more relaxed about everything at work, even given all the excitement, with a week of kickin' back to bolster me.

I don't think I got through even 5% of my emails from last week, though.

lee