Wednesday, I'm off my back shift at 7:00am and home by 7:15. My body is wrecked - I didn't sleep much of all on Tuesday, and the shift was starting to get to me towards the end of it, but I'm on a high to be on vacation. I write in a status report email at work "Process Problems Persistently Plagued P6 all night" with an asterisk, which I reference at the bottom of the email, past my sig: "Yes, I'm so happy to be leaving on vacation that I busted out with an alliterative".

But despite my chipper mood, I'm facing a bit of a dilemma: I've got a plane to catch at 3:30 with a two hour drive in front of it, meaning I've got to leave by about 1 at the latest to have any chance of hitting my flight. Plus I haven't finished packing, I have bills to pay ... etc. I opt, eventually, for the strategy of taking a quick nap right when I get home. I grab about 3 hours sleep and it gets me enough energy to get ready for the trip and make the drive safely.

I get a phone call on the way down that's an automated message from Northwest, saying my flight's been cancelled due to weather in Detroit, but I've been rescheduled on a flight that's leaving at 5:30. Grrrrrr... I spent about $50 extra just to get the direct flight so as to minimize the travel hassle, but it appears that it's gonna catch up with me anyway. As unfortunate as that is, it does give me time to stop in the airport's TGIF restaurant to grab a beer (the best they had was a 22oz Sam Adams) and grab some food. I call Toph and tell him I'll be late, giving him the details of my new flight.

Eventually I get my seat on the flight and sit down at around 6:00 pm --- and wasn't to leave that seat for the next six hours.......

Weather in Detroit meant we couldn't land, and circled atop the clouds for a couple hours, and eventually had to land in Grand Rapids to refuel. We sat on the ground there for about an hour, giving me an opportunity to call Toph ("I've got good news and bad news -- the good news, I'm on the ground... the bad news, I'm in Grand Rapids"), and keep him posted.

Long (long, long, long) and boring story short, I make it to Detroit at about midnight, where Toph (thank goodness for him) is still waiting for me, and we drive to his place where we chat for a few as we wind down, and then crash.