Female Invasion of the German Persuasion

OK, enough is enough. I'm starting to get verbally assaulted about the lack of
updates here, so let me catch you up on the last week or so. First of all, I
think Spring is finally here! The weather has been pendulating from the 70's
down to the high 40's depending on the day. But the warmth of the 70's is very
much welcome and I celebrated the end of winter by buying new, hot-shot wheels
for my 'blades so that I can resume flying around Central Park in the evenings.

Last week, Alex's sister and her friend from Hamburg came to NYC to hang out for
a week. I haven't seen her in a few years since I was in Germany last and hadn't
met her friend, but they were both excited to be out in NYC. In addition to
bringing me a plethora of Kinder Country chocolate (my favorite!), they hooked
a brother up with a bunch of other treats too, like Milka chocolate, a Germany
World Cup soccer jersey, Puma boxers, and small fashion trinkets like a Puma
wallet from the PR agency that Becca's friend worked at. I like it when people
bring me things (hint hint ;o) !

I also like it when visitors do my dishes. So after establishing that my mini-me
"dining room" table shouldn't be crowded with items (except Kinder Country ;o),
I was pleased to see that they kept the table clean for the rest of the trip
and also cleaned up after themselves (and me :) in the kitchen before venturing
out to shop in the city. They learn quickly!

They had great weather for the first few days, so we met up after I was done
with work and checked out the great parts of the city - i.e. downtown. On
Tuesday, we had work obligations eating tapas and drinking sangria at Sala in
the East Village and then eating dessert on 9th Street at an outdoor garden
called Cloister Cafe. We met up with Sean down in NoLita on Wednesday and tried
to eat at the place that got rated with having the best outdoor garden (Jardin,
conveniently located near my favorite Mexican restaurant ;o), only to find out
the garden was closed because of construction. We ended up eating on Elizabeth
Street at Bar Bossa and then had an after-dinner cocktail at the outdoor patio
at Rialto before heading home.

The weather turned cold and nasty over the weekend, so we spent a good part of
Saturday, after sleeping in nice and late, checking out the U.N. after enjoying
some fresh morning bagles at my local bagle-joint. I've done the U.N. our before
(I love the bookstore!) so it wasn't too exciting - especially considering the
fact that I missed the Liverpool vs. Chelsea semi-final game for the FA Cup
tournament. I sent Sean frequent text messages to find out the score and was
elated to find out that Liverpool overcame the top team in the country to
progress to the FINAL!! Clear my schedule, because I have a feeling I'm going
to be watching that game at the 11th St. Bar on May 13th....

Saturday night was going to be our epic night out at a nightclub, so we got home
at a reasonable hour and the girls slept while I read every newspaper known to
man for analysis on the A's game and the Liverpool game. It was a miserable
night - weather wise - so we didn't have any takers on meeting up with us
downtown until Becca gave Sean a guilt trip and finally got him to come out for
a while. We met up at the Delancey, a place playing music "that we know" - which
was the Germans' only request. The DJ with the huge fro was playing all the 80s
music they could ever want to hear.

We got home pretty late that night and slept in until about 11 the next day. We
were going to do brunch at a certain Mexican restaurant and hoped that the
weather would cooperate so that some other folks would come out to. So we went
downtown and ended up with seven people (one cancelled at the last minute),
filling up a corner of the restaurant. I haven't gone out with a big group for
brunch in quite a long time, so it was really nice to get together and
socialize. The weather gods were kind to us and we were greeted by sunshine
when we walked out as we headed up Lafayette to check out a clothing store
who's designer we had met the night before. Turns out this girl designs all the
clothes herself and they are socially-conscious made in LA from materials from
around the world. With out large entourage filling up the boutique, it quickly
turned into a free-for-all with the clothing marked 70% off for the end of the
season. So I got some fashion-PR-employee approved duds to help brighten up my
wardrobe. The designer was overly friendly with me and gave me an additional
$20 off the already cheap clothing, which was fine with me!

In the end, I was spent. It's been a busy week at work and until last night I've
been pretty warn out lately. Time to get back on schedule with my blog action!

J. Riley, I've established that the previous owner of my iPod Nano was a
mid-20's white girl who probably lives in the UES, judging by the depressing
pop-music and mainstream modern alternative rock music. It hasn't been claimed
by anyone, so I guess it's time for me to accessorize it....

Lost and FOUND!

First of all, I was invaded by Germans last week, which would explain why I
haven't been around much in these parts lately. I'll get into those details in
the near future, but I just wanted to mention that this mornings commute was
very successful, despite the fact that I had to alter my route because of some
delays that were explained in an incoherent language over the subway's
antiquated PA system. I was annoyed trying to get through the throngs of people
lining the tracks at Grand Central until I started heading deep into the bowels
of the 7-Train and noticed that there was an iPod Nano that was discarded by an
irresponsible owner right on the steps - complete with a pink cover and all. I
did the "right" thing and checked it for a monogram and even posted that I
found it on Craigslist. I hope nobody claims it :)

J. Riley, I like this guy (or is it a girl?) James Blunt's music on my new Nano

Invention of the Year

Since I've been wearing glasses since my sophmore year of high school, I've struggled through a couple pairs of sunglasses, opting for eye protection over being able to see...anything. First it was the pair of Revo's (not sure what ever happened to them), then a few years back was a sweet pair of black sunglasses with orange lenses that I picked up in Brazil. Last year I made an incremental improvement by opting for the auto-darkening lenses on my perscription glasses, although they were never really dark enough to prevent me from having to shade my eyes on bright days in places like Brazil and Puerto Rico (yes, I use vigorous test environments). I ordered perscription sunglasses from my uncle a few months back and they finally arrived last week, just in time for the weekend trial session. And, I gotta say, AWESOME invention. They worked stellar, though I kept tripping on uneven sidewalk, they're a little different than my normal pair because they cover the lower half of my vision as well.

These were just the thing I needed on a Sunday afternoon of trekking around SoHo, NoLIta, and the East Village gathering information (websites and phone numbers) for my imminent departure from the Upper East Side - well in August anyway. Due to unexpected circumstances, it looks like I may have a prospective roommate in my sister's long time and family friend. I guess that's better than a closet crackhead roommate that I would find on Craigslist ;o). By the way, the new Trader Joe's in Union Square? Yes, there was a line down the block - just to get in! It's a massive one, but I wasn't going to stand in that line for $1.89 pasta. On second thought, I pay at least $1.95 for pasta down the street from me, so it may be worthwhile....

Tuesday night we had a special guest in town - Paul, returning from his round-the-world trek of living in Cyprus with his wife, travelling to Seattle to administer a wedding (yes, he's an accredited minister from the internet and Universal Life Church in Modesto, CA ;o), then heading down to Southern California for a few days before flying back to Cyprus, stopping by New York for a few days along the way. So he got together with D and I to relive some memories eating dinner at Deborah, cupcakes (or banana pudding for me) from Magnolia Bakery, and then kicking back at a local brewery and watching some A's vs. Yankees baseball. It was a short-lived trip and we eagerly anticipate his and Cathy's return in a few months.

Friday night I got together with Andrea and Liz (ssshhh! Alan's out of town!) for a romantic fondue and wine dinner ;o). I haven't had fondue in ages, so I was pretty stoked on that brainchild plan of Andrea's. The fondue cafe, Kashkaval, is also a cheese shop, so it's safe to assume that their fondue would rule and the wine would be authentic. The gruyere/swiss cheese fondue was fun, no doubt, but I'm sorry - mom and dad's fondue is still the best I've had, however it is they make it (swiss cheese and wine?)!

For those of you who remember her, I have a new "coat-room girl". I was on the long commute downtown Sunday morning and just before getting off at Spring Street, I noticed an adorable lady getting off the subway ahead of me. I didn't see what she looked like but she had a very unique artsy hair-net type thing holding her black hair back that made me open my eyes a little wider and admire her attractive style and look. But by the time I was out of the subway she was gone and I went my own way to check out some apartment buildings while waiting for the eternally late Sean. An hour later, once we finally met up somewhere in SoHo, we went to eat at a supposedly "hidden" Mexican restaurant that was rated the Best New Mexican Food in New York. Given the fact that I'm consistently disappointed with Mexican here in NYC, I figured we'd give La Esquina a chance to impress me. Though I was very impressed with the food (though it wasn't taqueria-standard fare, more like creative Mexican that was good nonetheless), I was astonished to see that my mystery woman from the subway was a waitress in this hole-in-the-wall cafe! After confirming that she was on the downtown 6-line (from eternally-hip Williamsburg, of course), I through some witty lines her way, got some laughs, and introduced myself and got her name. Uhhh...I guess I was too enthralled with her to remember her name; then again, I never remember names the first time I meet someone, but always remember it the second time....

J. Riley, for some reason I think I may be eating a lot of Mexican food in the near future....

Morning Conversation

I share my windowless cage that they call an "office" with two older ladies who
are also consultants, albeit for a different project. One of them has a husband
who's job is on the line and is really stressed out (I know everything about
their lives since I sit next to them). Apparently her husband left home today
without saying goodbye and she wasn't too happy with it because, she said, she
is Italian. "My mother would always say 'You never know what could happen'",
etc. etc. The other consultant said "Yea, Jewish parents are like that too, my
mother used to say the same thing,", etc. They then began discussing how funny
it was that their cultures are so similar. I then pointed something out:

"I think it's because you're both women." :o)

J. Riley, always one to throw in my two cents

Poppin' Pills

Well I haven't gotten the results from my mono test last week yet, but I'm
pretty sure that I can safely assume that I don't have it, considering how I've
been 100% recovered since last Friday. After the tests on Wednesday, I finally
broke down and popped a couple leftover Motrin pills to see how it would affect
my fever and sore throat and was amazed at how much better I felt. So *this* is
why people take these things! I've generally avoided them at all cost for the
past 10 years or so (unless, for example, my mouth is sliced open with a
scalpel), but I'm going to consider using them when I feel like I'm on my
death-bed from now on. In any case, I've felt much better ever since I started
the antibiotics last week, so clearly it wasn't mono. And unless these things
have like a one year dormant period, I didn't get whatever I had from kissing
someone, Terri ;o) !

J. Riley, listening to the Beatle's "Help" album reminds me of childhood
road-trips with the family in the Dodge Caravan....

Still Don't Use Firefox?

"But I'm used to using Internet Explorer". These are the things you face when using Internet Explorer:

http://news.com.com/2100-7349_3-6056217.html?part=rss&tag=6056217&subj=news

"Cybercrooks are spamming e-mail messages to trick people into visiting malicious Web sites that exploit a recent Internet Explorer flaw, experts warned Thursday.

The Web sites take advantage of the vulnerability in the omnipresent Microsoft Web browser to install a keystroke logger on vulnerable computers, according to San Diego-based Websense Security Labs."

FYI, a "keystroke logger" is a small application that records everything you type and sends it to the hacker who wrote it, including usernames and passwords at bank sites and any other sensitive site.

J. Riley, you might consider upgrading to Firefox, since Microsoft hasn't even released the patch for this vulnerability and won't release it for another week and a half....

Corridor X

New York is a wonderful place for so many reasons. Not only does it offer culinary delights from around the world and a round-the-clock nightlife on any given night of the week, but also for it's many cultural aspects. In addition to the museums, plays, Broadway, it has a very unique alternative scene. Tuesday, on my way to work, I noticed that the free daily newspapers had an article on Brazilian Jui-Jitsu martial arts, so I grabbed it before I headed into the depths of the subway. I'm interested in all things Brazilian and I've heard of this martial art so I thought maybe I'd learn a little something about it and possibly add it to my list of things to try out once I move downtown.

In any case, there was a small blurb at the bottom of the paper advertising the Anthology Film Archives theater downtown that was showing a movie tonight only called "Corridor X", a movie about a highway that stretches from Germany through the former Yugoslavia,Greece, Turkey, and into Iraq. My interest was piqued about such a unique topic so Sean and I decided to check it out. A highway - I guess I've never really considered the fact that there are single highways that could potentially go from England to....China. After the second world war, this highway through Eastern Europe was built partially to make it easier for temporary workers to travel to Germany and work (among other Nationalistic ambitions in places like Yugoslavia). So every year millions would travel back along this road to return home for the holidays. It was destroyed during the Yugoslav wars after the Wall came down and still to this day bears evidence to wars between nations, people and capitalism, wealth and poverty, etc. It was very well done and was very powerful. I walked out of the theater amazed to be living in a industrialized country when so many people had lost things like their childhood and village they had grown up in because a mining company wanted to flood their town so they could dig up coal. It wasn't a typical leftist-propaganda piece, it showed many aspects of the issues along this highway, including the concentration camps and youth drafts to help build the original, the opinions of locals, the different stories of people who've travelled along this road (such as illegal Kurdish migrants from Iraq, children of guest workers, residence of the former Yugoslavia who now can't travel between countries, etc.) and the reason for the EU's investment into infrastructural components in Eastern Europe. There's some still shots and dialogue on the movie here, if you're interested:

http://www.tc-geographies.net/projects/melitopoulos/CORRX_story.html

Justinho, Thursday I found out I might have mono. That sucks. I should get the test results tomorrow....

Virii

Apparently I'm getting a relapse of the overnight flu that I had a few weeks ago. I thought that you're only supposed to get that every once in a while, so I'm not sure why I got it again. Maybe the solid diet of wheat carbs and tomato sauce isn't the best for my immune system or something. It's back to the pot I go - the soup pot, not the one down my hall! Hopefully this one does the trick:

http://vegetarian.allrecipes.com/az/SwtPttMinstrn.asp

J. Riley, I almost passed out in the steam room at the gym. Probably wasn't the best idea....

J. Riley Knows How To Hold'm

Last weekend I once again established my dominance in the art of Texas Hold'm poker. Or, as Stefan would say, I once again established that there is a horse-shoe up my arse. You know, people keep saying that I get lucky all the time, but when it comes to poker, as Roland can attest, luck runs out and the odds end up winning most of the time. Maybe it's my genes from Nana?

In any case, I took the liberty to invite myself to attend a poker event at one of Alan's former coworkers house. Well, I was sort of invited by Alan and I was all about playing a "Jewish Stakes" game ($20 buy-in) down in Brooklyn. There were six people playing - 5 of whom were cream-of-the-crop investment banking guys from Goldman Sachs. And then there was little, quiet Justin from the west coast. Rather than playing by the poker "rules", I play by gut and don't analyze each play too much. In any case, I showed them what's up and took the pot with first place on that game ($80, not too shabby). And, yes, I won on the River Card, as usual :o). The guy who I beat on the last hand was incensed because I wasn't supposed to play the hand with the cards I had, but I wasn't going to fold with two 3's in-hand!

J. Riley, it's a lovely 40 degree day outside, so I better get my chores for the day done!

The Epic Weekend (A Vacation Story)

Because my iPod has decided to play U2's Miss Sarajevo, which is a song that
always reminds me of sitting at Backstage Pizza in Cal Poly's Student Union
(the song was on the jukebox and one of the only U2 songs I hadn't heard of
before, so my roommate and I played it nearly every time we ate there), I guess
it's appropriate for me to blog about my homecoming trip last weekend to San
Luis Obispo (SLO) with some old college friends.

Months back, my friends and I arbitrarily chose last weekend to get together
again and hang out in SLO, which I really missed after I saw the movie
Sideways, which was filmed in the area. I haven't been back there for about
three years, so I figured I was due for a trip. I booked my flight in on a
Thursday night so I could spend all three days there.

I got mixed signals on the trip from the get-go. Thinking that I was closer to
the airport via subway than I actually was, I left the office about 45 minutes
before boarding started. What was I thinking? I hate downtime at the airport,
so I usually try to arrive at the gate just as my plane begins boarding. I've
got that system down to a science, but this time I was cutting it a bit too
close. I heard "last call" for my flight before I was even in the security
line! I got past a lot of people, tied my shoes, and with heavy wool coat in
hand, backpack on, and wheeled luggage in tow, sprinted the distance to my
gate. The new AA terminal at the airport is massive, though, and when I was
about halfway there I heard them announcing my name and that they were going to
leave without me if I didn't show up quick. I arrived, heaving and coughing, at
the gate just in time. I was drenched in sweat and was so out of it that I
actually agreed to change seats with a guy who wanted to sit next to his
friend. It dawned on me an hour later that I had traded my high-valued
emergency exit seat for a "normal" seat. Not a good thing for a six-hour flight
with my gangly limbs!

After settling in, I was blessed with a couple items (the airplane food not
being one of them) - the film they were showing was called "Goal" and was about
a kid from LA going to play for Newcastle United Football Club in England,
featuring cameos from David Beckham, Zidane, Raul, Sven Goran-Ericksson, and
some others. I remember hearing about this movie last year sometime. Hopefully
we'll see Becks in some more movies in the future! In addition, the airline
magazine had an article about none other than Paul Oakenfold, one of my
favorite DJs in the world. What are the chances!!

I called Hess and Bux from the airport in LA, where I was transferring to a
puddle-jumper right into SLO. Naturally, they had stopped at multiple wineries
on their way to SLO from LA and then had beef and beer at farmer's market in
downtown and were now drinking whiskey and lord-knows at the British pub in
town. Uhhh....is someone going to pick me up from the airport? "Of coursh,
we'll pick you up, I promish". Not exactly confidence inspiring, given their
track record with Bud Light ;o) .

Another surprise greeted me at SLO International Airport (with non-stop flights
daily to Shanghai and Tokyo ;o) - the airline had lost my luggage. I always
pack only carry-on luggage for this reason, but since I arrived late at the
airport in NYC, they had no more carry-on room for my bag and I had to check it
at the gate. So naturally I had nothing to wear except the monkey-suit I was
still wearing from work. After filling out the paperwork, my ride was still
nowhere to be seen, so after trying to call the guys multiple times, I finally
got a groggy "helloooo" from Hess, who had passed out back at the hotel room.
Yea, I'll opt for the cab I think :).

After arriving in a foul mood (thanks to the luggage incident), I indulged in
college delight by breaking my fast-food boycott and munching on some Taco
Bell, which was across the street from my hotel, grub and watched some
Speedvision with Bux and Hess at the hotel before hitting the hay for the
evening. Our hotel room was interesting because it had three beds in it (two
twins and a queen) and was seperated from an identical room next door by a
rolling wall, which had been open when we arrived. We kept our eyes open in
case nobody checked in there so we'd have a little two-for-the-price-of-one
discount on the rooms :).

Friday morning, despite the cold weather, we were determined to go roam around
the Central Coast before two other guys arrived later that day. We went to
Avila Beach and ate at Fat Cat Cafe, a great mom and pop restaurant serving
American proportions of food at the harbor overlooking the bay. Avila was also
the site of a lady who got eaten by a Great White Shark recently. Did I mention
that's where I learned how to scuba dive in a full, head-to-toe black wetsuit,
with visibility so bad that we had to hold on to each other? Anyway, it was
overcast and raining on the way there but the sun was fighting to shine over
the harbor, much to our delight. After breakfast, we cruised around the little
beach town to check out the latest developments and enquire about how much a
condo would cost there. Yea, we were priced out of the whole region pretty much
:( .

After breakfast and after picking up my lost luggage, we headed to Montana de
Oro, a water-side state park that had hiking trails and miles of beach for us
to enjoy. We took a nice little stroll down the beach, enjoying the views and
thinking about walking all the way down to Morro Bay, who's rock we could see
in the distance. At least I thought about it, until Hess mentioned that it
would be a bit of a swim to get there. And, in this weather and the fact that
I've recently developed a fear of sharks (stupid Discovery channel!), no
thanks!

After the calorie burning (most of which can be attributed to our bodies trying
to keep us warm ;o), we did some more driving down to Morro Bay with no
particular destination in mind. The only place there with some affinity was the
Hofbrau restaurant that used to serve up some tasty pastrami sandwiches. And
beers!

With the last two arriving shortly, we headed back to the hotel to get the
weekend really started. Once they arrived, we decided to head over to Pismo
Beach to walk around there. Taking the backroads out of SLO, we passed a few
wineries and decided that a tasting was definitely in order. I didn't do much
wine tasting back in college (nor after, for that matter), so I'm not sure if
so many vineyards existed back then as there are now, because the whole valley
(Edna Valley, apparently) was now chock full of wineries. It was 4:00pm by this
point, so we had an hour to check out a couple wineries. At the first winery,
we met some folks from Mississippi with their deep draaawls who were visiting
their daughter (a southern belle, no less!) in Bakersfield. At the second
winery, we got to admire "Miles" (the name of the character from Sideways) in
all his glory. Except that I don't even think he was 21 yet! He was laying his
admiration for the wine on pretty thick, using words I don't even know. What
the heck is a tannon? Anyway, we certainly enjoyed the girl pouring the wine
and Miles provided comic relief for us all.

We were on a roll at this point, so there was no slowing down even if the
wineries were closed. We went downtown into SLO and did some wine tasting at a
store there where the employees indulged in the wine as much as we did.
Satisfied with wine, we knew that we needed to get some food at this point. So
we headed back to the hotel and decided that Woodstock's pizza was definitely
sounding pretty good. We emptied the mini-fridge in our room and then headed
out in the wintery night to go downtown for the evening.

Woodstocks has some amazing pizza, it's all in the sauce there. I found out a
few years back that you can actually order just the dough and make your own
pizza, but it's all about the sauce there. As we sipped on some tasty beverages
while waiting for our pies, everyone got to talk to Ryan's girl from Peru on the
telephone. I'm sure that by the time we were all done talking to her, she was
scared and worried about Ryan ;o) . She'll be moving up to the states
temporarily to see what it's all about up here, maybe I'll get to meet her
finally...

Sometime during the evening, Tom had the brilliant (said with sarcasm) idea of
taking a "Bull Sweat" shot at Bull's Tavern. This is usually reserved for 21
year-old-birthdays only, and for good reason. Tabasco, Worcestershire Sauce,
and 151 proof rum are in the mix, and this thing is disgusting. So of course we
had one, and that was about the end of my night! While we were hanging out at
Bull's talking, Tom made a rather loud comment about some snobby college girls
at the bar being fat (even if they weren't ;o) and they weren't too pleased
with that. I'm pretty sure they went anorexic after hearing that though...

After this, the night was pretty much a distant memory. Very distant. I know I
was in the bathroom at Black Sheep for a while and then Hess came in and we
decided our night was over, so we headed back to the hotel. Too bad cabs aren't
as prolific as they are in NYC, as I found out! But the walk home wasn't too
bad. At some point in the night, I was woken up with Jeff and Ryan wrestling in
the room for some reason, lord knows why.

The next day was interesting. We woke up and noticed that Jeff and Tom weren't
in our hotel room. Robert was pretty sure he walked home with Jeff (he turned
out to be using the restroom in the hotel room next door, which we had access
to ;o). But what about Tom? Nobody remembered the night before very well, but
Jeff and Robert rememberd chatting with some people at McCarthey's Irish Pub
over a Jameson's and walking home. A few minutes later, Tom called Ryan's
phone, asking someone to come pick him up - from the Big House! After falling
on the ground laughing, it turns out he was picked up for a DIP while walking
home with Jeff and Robert (I'm sure he was innocent and didn't shoot his mouth
off ;o).

Saturday was the day of McClintock's, as we headed downtown to eat some
large-portioned, hearty beef breakfast. It's funny that I have restaurant's
from all over the world here in NYC, but some of my favorite restaurants ever
are in SLO. McClintock's, Firestone, Woodstocks, Cisco's, Gus's Grocery, Fat
Cat's, Tiki Hut, etc. are all epic places to eat and have great character.

We did lots of lounging around on Saturday, and Saturday night we went to Pismo
Beach to hit the original ranch-style McClintock's restaurant. I think everyone
went with steaks for dinner (I had a filet mignon with bleu cheese) and there
were so many fixins on the table, we hardly even ate half of it. Onion rings,
potatoes, garlic bread, beans, etc. I was more than happy to gorge myself full
with that meal...

Sunday morning everyone departed and my dad made the long trip down to hang out
with me. It was another rainy morning, but it was much warmer than it had been
earlier in the weekend. Dad and I had another quality meal at the local grease
kitchen called Louisa's Place, another good old-fashioned restaurant.

My dad didn't know about all the wineries in Edna Valley, so we took a joy-ride
around the area and checked out a couple of them. I further refined my
semi-covered palate on this trip. I've never drinken much wine, but I learned
something about the varieties on this trip. My theory (hunch?) is that first
you have to figure out what types of wine you like. For me, I like the Pinot
Noir (yea, who's "Miles" now?) red wines and don't like the harsh (I'm dropping
wine-tasting terms like a Robb Report writer) reds like Syrah as much. I'm also
a fan of Riesling wines (I think). Once I have the categories down (this will
require further research, maybe NY wineries?), I'll need to start trying
different labels to refine what I'm tasting and what I like. But that'll have
to happen after the arch-expander comes out!

To make sure the weekend ended on a crazy note, I was about two minutes away
from missing my flight out of SLO. There was no one at the desk when I checked
in and when the worker finally came (I was only there a minute) she told me I
better run out or I'd miss the plane. She had to call them and tell them to
wait for me. Whew, that was a close one....