Delayed at B18

It's been awhile since I posted, and I wanted to wait until I had some exciting news to share....like I passed my proposal meeting, I got funding for Peru, I got engaged, I got a job....but none of those things have happened and I am now sitting in the SLC airport waiting for a delayed flight. So school has been coming along ever so slowly, but at least I get to take a break from all of that and head out to rainy Portland for a super long weekend (ok, so it's more like a week). My flight was supposed to leave at 8:35 AM, so I dutifully got up at 5:50 AM to get ready and do the last minute packing. I arrived to SLC International at 7:35, exactly one hour before departure time and I leisurely printed my boarding pass and headed towards security. Even though I got held up at security for contact solution that was 4.0 oz, the guy was nice and even somewhat funny when he told me that he thought my "contact solution was very dangerous and a possible threat" but that if not, he would return my solution and I could continue on my way. He said it with no emotion and it was obvious he was trying to be funny--it worked.

Anyway, I continued up the escalator and on my way to Terminal B walking past TCBY, Starbucks, Delta gates, lots of stressed out business man and found my gate B18--only to discover that it was delayed 35 minutes. So I started to read the USA Today that someone kindly left and read a little bit about Obama's plan for high speed trains in the US (we're not Europe, it's a great idea, but not very American) and read an amusing article about the Olympics and how Canadians are primed to win gold and has adopted the motto of "Own the Podium." While doing all of these extraordinarily exciting activities, I heard another announcement saying that our plane was sitting in Denver due to weather (why do people want to live in a mile high city anyway?) and that they would let us know when it left. Now our departure time is 9:55 AM (1 hour 20 minute delay). The flight is less than 2 hours, it's frustrating when delays are almost as long as the flight, but I guess it still beats a 14 hour drive!

This brings me back to why I am posting--to keep myself occupied and to give you something to read when you need a break from writing your project. I'll give a project update when I have one, a legitimate one.

Some other notes of news from Brea:

• Women's health is going great and I soon will be an expert on knowing the 24 types of birth control, why the media is bad for self-image, and the million reasons why women can be infertile. I convinced Alisha to sit in the course, so at least I have a friend to laugh and cringe with when we talk about cervical mucus.
  
• TAing for Dr. Lindsay and have been asked to teach 2 lectures in February. I would love some tips and ideas so if you have any, please send them along. My topics are: alcohol and tobacco marketing, evils of the tobacco industry, and STDs (for women's health).
• Marathon: I'm running the Moab 1/2 Marathon in March and am looking for a full marathon to run in late spring, early summer. Any suggestion? Also looking for a training/racing buddy. I accept all ages, genders, and most skill levels (Lauren, I think you're WAY out of my league).
• Trip Planning: Sweden? Peru? Puerto Rico? South Africa?

Ok, so I think that's enough, I'm just rambling and typing random things. I hope this was the break you needed from whatever boring or exhausting activity you were working on (project, proposals, work, data entry, babysitting...)

Update: the plane has left Denver.