3 things thursday

1.  Another picture from Ragnar Florida Keys, because I just can't resist...

The remainder of the team, the day after.

2.  I think I'm finally ready to tell my terrible airplane story...

Soo when I came back from Ragnar, I flew from Miami to Atlanta, and then Atlanta to O'Hare.  On my flight back to Chicago, I got stuck next to someone holding the 2 most dreaded words in the English language - LAP CHILD.

This is the same child who, while I was sitting at the gate waiting for my flight, came over to me, unzipped my suitcase and tried to pull stuff out.  Yeah.  (The joke was on him... my suitcase was all full of sweaty, nasty things.)

So I grab my ipod and my pillow and snuggle against the window to snooze to Chicago, because I DO NOT want to interact with this monster.  (I hate children in any form, in case that wasn't obvious before.)

About 30 minutes into the flight, I wake up to the kid jabbing me in the eye with his finger.  I was actually sleeping, so that scared the crap out of me.  I didn't curse, just gave his adoring parents the stinkeye and went back to sleep.

Here's where the bad stuff starts...

About 30 minutes after that, again, I'm fast asleep, when all of a sudden, I feel fingers IN MY MOUTH.  Yep.  The kid decided to explore my mouth region.  I sat up, screamed "WHAT THE FUCK," and seriously, nearly killed the parents with my death stare.  The flight attendant came over to see what the commotion was.  The mom goes, "He was just playing."  I go, "I was sleeping, and that kid put his fingers IN MY MOUTH!"  The flight attendant just had this look of horror on her face.  I dug around in my bag for a bottle of mouthwash, and went to the bathroom.  The FA must have read them the riot act, because when I got back, there was no noise, and they left me alone for the remainder of the flight.

So we land in Chicago, and I had to wait on the jetbridge to get my bag.  As I'm standing there, the parents are talking shit about me to the other passengers - about how I'm so cruel, and unaccomodating, and just plain the worst human being they have ever encountered.  I couldn't resist.  I went over, and said, "Do you want to know why I'm in a crap mood?  Because their little brat stuck his fingers IN MY MOUTH."  Yep, the other passengers looked appalled.

That's when they went over to Team Maureen.  And that's when I vowed to never fly American Airlines again.  That's 3 times now that their policy of rearranging seats and not keeping families together has ruined my flight.  We are done.  (After this coming weekend, because I had already booked my flight to Phoenix.)

3.  I got something really cool in the mail yesterday.  Apparently 3 of the half marathons I did last year (Naperville Trails, Prairie State, and Schaumburg) qualified me for the Chicago Half Marathon series, and they sent me a free shirt.  Awesome, right?  I guess I also took 2nd in my age group, so I got a certificate as well.  Pretty sweet!