trip from hell

Got up at 7:00 am this morning and left the hotel (Guatemala City) at 9:am. I'm obsessive about being early I know - my flight left at 2:05. I got to Houston a couple of minutes early but really got stressed out. There was a million people in line for immigration and I only had maybe 70 minutes. Of course I'm always nervous going thru immigration and customs since they are more like Hitlers Gestapo than protectors of our borders. Of course I was a tad more nervous as I was smuggling a fine (I really have to question that assesment) stogie for a friend from some remote island country. I digress - I made it through customs and all the annoying bullshit and got to my gate with 15 minutes to spare. The plane ended up leaving 2 1/2 hours late (storms). I arrived in Chicago then at around 12:30 am.

What the hell am I doing in Chicago when my car is in Flagstaff? The cheapest ticket took me this way with a 7 hour layover in Chicago (reduced by the storms). So here I sit at my gate unable to sleep. If its not the guy vacuming its the guy driving the floor cleaning machine. If its not the cops walking their dogs (what the hell is that about) and talking its the other employees who obviously are unsupervised just talking. And then there is that damn repetitive announcement on the loudspeaker, "the current threat level is orange" and the whole 3 - 1 - 1 thing over and over. I finally said the hell with it and am now typing awaiting my 5:15 flight. So unless something magic happens there will be no sleep for this kid. I rested for a hour before I gave up but got no sleep. And then when I get into Phoenix I have to wait for Deb. I arrive in Phoenix at 6:46 am and our greyhound bus leaves at 11:45 am - boy am I going to be dead.