Talking of flight suckage, the last leg of my flight home from Bali (San Francisco to Seattle) was quite funny, though irritating and a bit scary.

We were towed out of the gate, and the engine starts. It sounded like someone was sawing off one of the wings. The pilot turned off the engine and announced: "There seems to be a maintenance issue. Our maintenance people can do amazing things, and they'll be checking his out."

20 minutes later the pilot came on the loud speaker again. "Sorry, we can't seem to diagnose the problem on the runway. We'll be pulling back to the gate where our maintenance crew has access to more advanced tools". One of the other passengers muttered at this point "yes, they'll be putting in all new hamsters, and additional rubber bands."

We were towed back to the gate , and about an hour later the pilot came on the loud speaker again. "Maintenance diagnosed and fixed what turned out to be an easy to solve electrical problem".

We were towed back out of the gate, and the engine turned on and made a noise like someone was sawing off one of the wings. The pilot kept taxing down the runway, sped up, and the noise became normal engine noise. I guess it was like running your car with a fractionally bad electrical system. You get the engine warmed up and the problem temporarily vanishes. We took off, reached cruising altitude - all the cabin lights flickered, and continued to do so throughout the flight.

At this point almost everyone in the cabin was just roaring. One ~17 year old girl asked indignantly "why are you people laughing; this isn't funny?" A 50ish women replied "honey, its hilarious. Its awful, but that doesn't keep it from being funny."

My college was number 8 for prettiness. Which is about right - it's a gorgeous campus.

Its awful, but that doesn't keep it from being funny.

Well said!

And any takeoff you can walk away from is a good one.

Pain management has shifted me to a new level in painkillers. Which so far don't work. I hate testing new pain meds. Hell, I hate pain meds.

Also hate pain. I'm a little ball of hate¹.

The krav class was uncancelled. But I didn't tell the lead instructor since he's been having a stressy week. Well, I didn't tell him until after I'd started teaching. He got to nap. We have to keep him happy, because that way he kills and eats fewer people.

And then I came home instead of teaching my class because the effort of teaching his made my head hurt. Hence the pain meds. And the hate.

'Suela, I trust your judgment. Unless you like Chuck. Or Pushing Daisies. No, I'll trust you anyway.

¹: Actually, I'm not. That's what we call this amazing ab exercise where you get into the closed part of a crunch (elbows touching knees) and your partner rocks you through a small arc, and you keep your elbows touching the knees. It's important they don't rock you so much that gravity's helping you hold the position--it's all ab. And you keep at it for 30-60s. Little ball of hate, how I love you.

Typo, I would've been much more like the 17-year-old, only I would've been so busy hyperventilating in terror that I couldn't have actually spoken!

I'm not afraid of flying on a normal flight where everything goes smoothly, and I can deal with garden-variety turbulence. But severe turbulence or any hint that the plane isn't in 100% working order, and I'm pretty much expecting to die.

Actually, I guess I am a little afraid of flying, because I always, um, bless the plane as I board. Like, as I'm stepping from the bridge thingy onto the plane I pause for a second, lay a hand on the plane's skin, close my eyes, and say a silent prayer that we'll make it safely to our destination. I've been doing it since the 2000 Alaska Air crash, which for some reason scared me more than any crash before or since. So far I've never had a crew member so much as look askance at me, so maybe I'm not the only one who does something like that.

Has anyone bought one of those lapdesks that are a beanbag with a white board on one side, and if so, where? I need to get one for my niece, and Amazon and Target don't seem to have them.

Has anyone bought one of those lapdesks that are a beanbag with a white board on one side, and if so, where?

you can find an expensive one at Levenger -- [link]

I thought I'd lost mine a while back, and looked around. This was the only one I liked. Luckily, I thought to look under the couch and found the original (which dates back to college)

wait, I lied, there's one at bed, bath and beyond for cheaper [link]

Thanks!

I think I need one with a dry erase white board, but that's a good choice if I can't find one.

Luckily, the only damage was to the glove.

Whew! I mean, I kinda figured if you were posting, you weren't having rubber glove melted to your hand, but...still!

That was the application where I put 'sarcastic' down as my religion

Ooooh. I like. (I also like Jesuits. But.)

Has anyone bought one of those lapdesks that are a beanbag with a white board on one side, and if so, where? I need to get one for my niece, and Amazon and Target don't seem to have them

I'm using one right now AIFG. Target had them hidden away in the children's bedding/furniture section. They're more common during back-to-school, but I got mine off-season. And I recall seeing them at the Container Store as well, of all places. (Oh, mine's not a dry-erase board, just a wooden thing, but it has a nice hinged ...pocket? drawer? thse are not the right words, but it's late and my brain is broken)

Thanks! She may just have to do without the dry erase board.

Lee, you can write with dry erase markers on laminated paper, and it cleans off pretty well (not perfectly), so I wonder if any of the not-quite-right ones have surfaces that could also be written on. Also, I wonder how hard it would be to hot glue some fabric to the back of an appropriate-sized white board, and stuff in some beans or tiny styrofoam stuffing balls - if you are or know someone nearby who is crafty.