back online. past week highlights.

after having an early deadline for christmas, i left for home on tuesday. i went to lincoln a little early to start/finish what limited christmas shopping i could do. i liked lincoln, and if it wasn't an hour and 15 minutes to get there, i might go more often. everything's so far away. i'm already not looking forward to new year's eve tonight as i know i'm going to have to drive 40 minutes back from whatever bar i go to.
anyway, got to the lincoln airport (smaller than portland, if you believe it.. only four gates) far too early (you really only need to leave yourself about 20 minutes for check-in, security and boarding. seriously. that small.) and wouldn't you know it, chicago is a mess and my flight's delayed until 5, no 7, no 8 o'clock (original eta 2:45.) so i sat at the bar for a while, but unfortunately only had a few beers. $7 a pop is a little too rich for my blood. i did have a nice chat with a kid who's kind of in the same situation as me, though. he's from upstate new york and moved to nebraska for his first job, too (as a broadcast journalist, no less.) he's at a station in kearney (pronounced car-knee), which is about as far away as lincoln in the other direction. i'm really in the middle of nowhere. strangely enough, it turns out that this kid's sister lives in saco and teaches in biddeford. crazy.
we finally boarded the plane after 8, sat on the runway for almost an hour due to a ground-halt, and flew the hour and ten minutes, or so, to chicago, which was, still, a mess. now, if we had been able to pull right up to the gate after touchdown, i'd have made my connection flight. instead, chaos breeds further chaos and it took 30 minutes to pull up to the gate. un-friggin-believable. i sprinted to my gate (home alone style) and could see the plane out the window sitting there. buuuuuttt, since they "closed the gate" already, i couldn't board. merry christmas! that was the last flight to boston of the night, meaning.. i get to sleep in the airport! o'hare always gives the best gifts. this has happened once before, in charlotte, and the way that experience went, i was absolutly dreading the thought of reliving it. especially when i only had a few days at home to begin with.
was slightly delayed leaving in the morning, but who really cares after being in an airplane or airport for 20 hours. traffic in boston was a mess, and when all was said and done, i finally got to saco around 4 on christmas eve. awful. quick turnaround to my aunt robyn's for festivities. threw on the santa costume for a brief appearance (keep a lookout on facebook for 'pregaming santa' once erik posts the photo), ate so much food, yankee-swapped and slept in my bed, a nice change from a cold air mattress.
christmas was great. got a futon for my living room (which arrived this morning! finally something to sit on!), a dvd player (finally something to watch! although, upon getting the dvd player back here and trying to plug it in, i realized that the bulky, boxy, 19-inch, circa 1997 tv that i brought down doesn't have audio/video hookups. seriously? it was officially just for show. this prompted me to drive to hastings and purchase a new tv on the spot.)
it was great to see friends and family while i was back, although it was extremely difficult to see everyone for the amount of time i wanted to in the short time that i had. i assume this will start to become more and more common, unfortunately. although sunny, sexy sutton is always open for visitors (and now that i have a couch/new tv/cable and internet early next week, i'll be far more entertaining.)
gleese got me 'downtown owl' by chuck klosterman for christmas, which i'm reading right now and should finish tonight. it's about small town north dakota and it's extremely entertaining to read considering my current location. i've also watched 'wall-e' again since being down here and have been crusing through 'flight of the conchords' season one. covered a few boys/girls high school basketball games since i've been back. not much work otherwise.
i think that's about it. happy new year, everyone. oh-nine, feelin' fine. ...or something.
wish me luck on my 40 minute drunk drive from the bar home tonight. (just kidding mom/dad/grandma/anyone who thinks i'm serious... it's only like 35 minutes..)