I have landed in San Jose. Thanks to Amy, I even have a hotel room for the night (with wireless, obviously) and clothes to wear for the next 2-plus weeks. The hotel room is probably a bargain at $129 a night considering there are two beds, a fridge and a kitchen larger than the one in our home. I wish I could stuff the extra bed into the suitcase to use in one of the many rooms that will be overpopulated by IU students next week.
Frontier is a nice little airline. They have reasonably lush seats and paint the tails of their planes with Wildlife artwork. I flew in the Mountain Goat. They had in-flight media, but unfortunately—unlike my trip to and fro last August—it cost money to see after takeoff. $5 for TV and $8 for a movie wasn’t horrible for airport extortion, but the frail condition of my lone credit card made purchase impossible. If I had the sense to pack a movie in the carry-on, maybe I could have used my Mac.
The free media channel was very interesting without any sound, especially since there were three recurring videos by Tegan and Sara. Two of them were a bit mesmerizing, though I can’t explain why; the third was like a cable-version Twilight Zone, involving heart transplants and long rubbery arms doing the surgery. Couldn’t lip-read well, so I have no idea what they were saying. Looked like sisters. Since Frontier is based in Denver, there were also a few movie shorts from Aspen and the Cloud 9 Short Film Festival. I can’t seem to find any of the ones I saw online, but they involved Lemmings, Cat-Dogs, and an “Internet-inspired” story about a poor boy who gives his last dollar as a tip after ordering a bowl of mashed potatoes.
I’m starving, having only had a muffin in Denver and a mini-bag of Sun Chips on each leg. I didn’t exactly stock my cheeks with food before leaving, either, so I’m really looking forward to the free food as a student volunteer.
