Will told me about someone posting in our guestbook about Sara. This is in regards to the Sara is on a T-shirt post:

January 6, 2006, 1:46 pm
IP Address: 66.244.236.129
Name: Mr.Noneof theabove
E-Mail: Noneoftheabove@hotmail.com
Website: Noneoftheabove.com
You Are: None
Message: Thats not the same cat, the scared one has white under his eye, the other one has brown under his eye. How dare you pose cats!

This person is obviously on something and knew that he was wrong because they couldn’t even provide a link that works for his website. As for the email, it is questionable whether that is a real address either.

For those of you reading this, more than likely you have met Sara personally and can confirm that she is the cat in the picture. Hell - we can get the photographer to confirm that this is Sara. I told Will that he needed to follow up on this because someone is making money off of our girl. This dummy just confirmed that need for further investigation. Mr. Noneoftheabove - come to Maryland and see the cat that doesn’t exist and while you are at it tell your folks to stop putting her on your t-shirts.

So turns out I did end up staying the night at a hotel near Dulles when I live 60 miles away. Let me tell you what happened:

I left home at 1300. The driver quickly got me to Dulles (~1345???) and drove as if there was no speed limit on the Dulles Toll Road. Once there, I tried to pay him with my Government Travel Card and it was declined. Since 2 Jan was an observed holiday, no one was going to be at work to activate my card. After withdrawing “enough” money out of my savings to cover future incidentals, I went to do a curbside check-in - turns out you can’t check bags over 50lbs at the curb. The pelican case was over 90lbs…carried by the 115lb chick with a bad back…go figure. I had to check in at the counter - that’s when the fun starts…

I forgot that this was one of the busiest travel days of the year. The line for United self check in was at least a 30 minute wait. The attendant allowed me, my 2 personal bags and my 90+lbs case to go into what seemed to be a faster line. Turns out that I was behind a couple that had to buy tickets off the planet - at least that is where they should have gone given the ridiculous amount of time they took. Once at the counter, the attendant and people in line watched as I struggled to get the case on the scale (thanks assholes!). I was charged not only for the case being overweight, but also for checking 3 bags (note: the wonderful people in charge of United charge you $25 for anything over 50lbs and $80 if you carry more than 2 bags per person…thanks assholes!). I got my tickets for my flight and headed for security with over 2 hours to spare before my flight.

I breezed through security and went to Starbucks for my anti-”Oh my God the plane is going to crash” drink - Caramel Chai. Apparently someone ordered a drink with ingredients from the moon because it took a long time again…not to mention the 5 people in front of me. My OIC calls from the ticket counter and says the flight was cancelled. It had only been 20 minutes and I was already on a bus to the G concourse. I turned around and got back on the bus to the main terminal. Once I finally got back to the counter, the gentleman that helped my OIC tried his best to help me get on the flight out of Regan to no avail. So much for the early check-in…I thought I would have been priority for any flights out that evening given that fact…United thought otherwise…thanks assholes! It would have cost me almost $200 in cab fare to go home and get back to the airport, so he gave me a discount hotel coupon for the night and a priority standby on the first morning flight. Since my bags were already checked, they were in a warehouse waiting for my morning flight (I will spare you the details of my 30 minute wait in line for baggage service…).

I slept horribly that night. Between the thunderstorm, my nightmares and the television mysteriously turning itself off several times during the evening (can we say SPOOKED?), it is no surprise that I woke up every hour. I did get some cardmaking done (I made sure that I packed all my entertainment with me as opposed to extra toiletries…). I headed to the airport at 6 am, spotted another Solstice, and embarked on my next nightmare - the security line. Imagine waiting in line at Six Flags to go on Superman…you are outside the ride entrance by about a quarter mile and there is only one train running…that was the security line. Having breezed through security the day before only pissed me off more. I was glad that my bags were already checked because I would have killed someone if I had to wait to check my bags AGAIN and go through that line. Why there was a back up that bad at 610 in the mornning, I don’t know. I had no luck in choosing the proper line to be in…I would have finished 15 minutes sooner had I went in the center line (I used someone that was standing next to me as a marker…man did that suck…). I got to the terminal and waited to board my 0832 flight that had been delayed to 0845 but did not actually board until 0905 with no update…and so much for priority standby…

I arrived in the great, flat state of Kansas and immediately went to baggage services to find out where my bags were. Only 2 of them were accounted for. They were in Denver (huh?) and scheduled to arrive at approximately 1500…it was 1130. Luckily I was prepared to sit through this - Will purchased me a portable screen for my GameCube (thanks Bear!) and I made short work of those 3.5 hours. I got my bags, found out that the case would arrive at 1830 and decided to have it shipped to the hotel. After my OIC picked me up, stopped to trade his vehicle, briefly explain to the cops why we were on the side of the road with a rental, and travel the 2.5 hours to Junction City, it was almost 1930. I was all to happy to be at the hotel and finally get some rest.

I hope this month goes by quickly because judging from the way this TDY started, it is going to be a very long month away from home.

Nad’s gone again, for another freakin’ month-and-a-half.

I better start whipping these cats into shape so they can make my time alone a little easier. For one thing, they are gonna start cleaning up after themselves. When they take a power dump, the smell travels through the entire house and makes me want to vomit. For another thing, they are going to learn to change their own water after they barf in it, and they are going to refill their own bowls.

By the way, Merry belated Christmas, Happy belated New Year, Happy belated Chanukah, Happy belated Kwanza, Happy belated Ramadan (I’m not really sure if it is celebrated around this time of year) and Happy belated Festivus.

Edit: Nad’s flight was cancelled, so she is sitting at the airport waiting for a new flight. Hopefully it will be soon, and will not require her to stay overnight.