Getting home and holy war

If you don't care to read about my tribulations in trying to get home by Christmas...skip to just after "Success-made it home for Christmas"

Portland received a record amount of snowfall in the month of December this year. On the Sunday before my flight was scheduled on Tuesday, the city got about 8 inches of snow on top of a frozen ground that had variously spent the previous week under or barely peaking from inches of snow and ice.

My Tuesday morning flight was cancelled on Monday morning and the earliest available seat out of town was on Friday: two days after Christmas.

I was as upset as I've been a long time, until my mom comforted me by telling me that they wouldn't celebrate Christmas until I got home.

I emailed my boss and let him know that I'd be coming in to work all week. He responded pretty quickly and suggested that I try to Standy-by on a flight. I didn't have anything to do in a snowed in Portland, so I went and camped out at the airport.

It took 2 hours to make the 45 minute trip to the airport which doesn't sound that bad until you consider about half of it was outside walking to the MAX or waiting on the MAX and bus...in a foot of snow and 20F (uphill both ways).

Usually the MAX goes directly to the airport, but due to frozen switches, the line that goes to the airport was out of service.

I wallowed through a few airline queues just to find out that each one that had flights scheduled to connect to or direct to Atlanta had also been cancelled. I again called my mom and told her, "I'll not be home for Christmas."

So, the plan was just to work the rest of the week, until I remembered that US Airways had told me they had a full flight leaving to Phoenix at 05:20.

I initially I had told her, "No," because I figured that since this was a long shot that I was just going to try it for the night and then just go to work the rest of the week if it didn't work. Then, I realized that I could still try to get on this flight and make it to work at a decent hour.

If I hadn't had a friend--"Willamette Grizzly"--staying in a nearby hotel for a 07:00 flight I would have been one of those displaced and disgruntled people camped out at the airport on the Local News.

To make an already-long-story shorter. I got the airport at 02:30 and due to passenger's inability to arrive to get to PDX, I was granted an empty seat on the plane. When I arrived to Phoenix, I was again granted an empty seat on the full flight to Atlanta.

Success-made it home for Christmas.

If you don't know anything about the Israeli/Palestinian crimes on humanity(like most Americans), I urge you to somehow inform yourself.

Israel has launched unprecidented (granted, not unprovoked) attacks on Gaza killing over 300--innocent women and children included.

My heart cries out for the innocent. As upset as I am about this terrible, ridiculous situation, and hope for a peaceful resolution. But that doesn't seem possible. The god, Abraham's, that these two religions share is surely in limbo with pleas from both sides of the conflict. I understand this offensive is easily "rationalized" by arguing that this is one state, Israel, defending its citizens. Religious radicalism and old, undemocratic policies are at fault.

Because I can't do anything about this situation except read about it, I'll resort to a Sarah Palin.

Did she say that our Iraq war is a task from God? That would make it, I implore you to correct me, something like Jihad? She misspoke.

Anyways,

Cheers