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whispercricketThe end of the trip was pretty boring, as everything went fine. We had tons of time at the airport, so my colleagues and I talked about work and current events and such, and I read most of Chobits (a little racier than I expected on a couple of pages, so I was a little worried about someone looking over my shoulder, but it was fine). I slept on and off on the plane to the soothing sounds of air traffic control.
I did wake up near Chicago and greatly enjoyed listening to the Chicago Center controller talking to planes - it was about 4:30 CDT, probably, and he was cheerful and upbeat. As each plane contacted him, he asked for their Mach number. The pilot on my plane said 800, which greatly confused me for a bit, as I was sure we weren't going Mach 800 - it turns out that 80 or 800 actually means Mach .8. Anyway, this controller seemed big on having planes go fast, - he'd say something like "maintain 80 if you can" or "best forward speed", and the pilots would be very happy about it (I'm guessing it's near the top speed for these standard commercial planes, not sure). One of the pilots apologetically said that he was going Mach .80, but he was supposed to be at Mach .78, and the controller said that if he was able, he should keep going Mach .80, which perked the pilot right up. :)
I slept the entire trip from Chicago to Boston, which was sad because I was looking forward to listening to Chicago Center again. I just couldn't stay awake. I did wake up in time for landing, during which Boston Approach (I think) kept telling planes to spot visually other planes nearby, which really denoted how much traffic there was in the skies at about 10:15 am (a little scary).
And that was it - Chris picked me up after I got my luggage, and we went up to New Hampshire to get some wood for the fireplace, as it may get cold enough to start using it in the next month or so. We also stopped at Cider Hill, a great farm in Amesbury, MA that makes award-winning cider and excellent cider doughnuts. I decided to go with him in hopes that staying up most of the day would keep me from being jet-lagged (even though I fell asleep almost every time I sat down). It didn't really work - I woke up today at about 10, wandered downstairs, and then immediately fell asleep for another couple of hours. It's not too bad, but I'm not really tired right now, and I should be heading off to sleep soon. My schedule's not really much worse off than it was before, so I'll survive.
I did wake up near Chicago and greatly enjoyed listening to the Chicago Center controller talking to planes - it was about 4:30 CDT, probably, and he was cheerful and upbeat. As each plane contacted him, he asked for their Mach number. The pilot on my plane said 800, which greatly confused me for a bit, as I was sure we weren't going Mach 800
I slept the entire trip from Chicago to Boston, which was sad because I was looking forward to listening to Chicago Center again.
And that was it - Chris picked me up after I got my luggage, and we went up to New Hampshire to get some wood for the fireplace, as it may get cold enough to start using it in the next month or so. We also stopped at Cider Hill, a great farm in Amesbury, MA that makes award-winning cider and excellent cider doughnuts. I decided to go with him in hopes that staying up most of the day would keep me from being jet-lagged (even though I fell asleep almost every time I sat down). It didn't really work - I woke up today at about 10, wandered downstairs, and then immediately fell asleep for another couple of hours. It's not too bad, but I'm not really tired right now, and I should be heading off to sleep soon.
