Notes from the West Coast

Thank you to all of those that wished me well on my travels. They have definitely been interesting and I'm sure that they'll only get better. Here are some of the highlights...

• Although I love Southwest, I am angry at them for charging me a total of $50 for my over weight bags. At the least they could have let me combine them. I complained that I was on Government travel, but they did not care (apparently they don't realize that their tax dollars are paying for that baggage fee) and then later found out that on Gov. travel you have up to 70 lbs so I shouldn't have been charged at all. Scammers!
• The man that sat behind me on the plane had to get up to go to the bathroom about 40 times on the flight. This wouldn't bother me at all, but he was the kind of guy who had to grab the back of my seat in order to stand up and get around, so he woke me and my row mate up pretty much each of those 40 times.
• Since we were already up we got to listen to the hacking, burping, belching, vomiting cough of the guy in front of us. He was making everyone quite uncomfortable on the plane and you could just see people holding their breath. It was the most amazing display of germs I've ever been privy to.
• I have been upset about going to California because I didn't want to be away from all of my friends. Well, I got off that plane, took one breath of fresh air and I was like "well, I guess I can make the best of this!" The weather was 72, sunny, breezy and just plain beautiful. Wild horses couldn't drag me away from this place!! And the irony is that they were prepared to let me stay out here permenantly. I keep telling myself, that California will always be here and that my friends are much too important to leave right now!
• My room kind of sucks and it makes me depressed.
• I'm still coughing and I'm going to the doctor today, which is an adventure in itself because I have a Maryland HMO, which means I have to go to an urgent care or emergency room to get assistance. Oy vey! If only I had gone to the doctor two weeks ago when this hit me instead of thinking that I was "all better". Although it was great, I shouldn't have relied on my Romanian health care plan, which consisted of orange juice and movies!
• My cell phone doesn't work worth a darn in my room. So I'll be sending out an email soon with my phone number and po box if anyone wants to send me mail!
• My friend David and I are picking up my TIVO today. It came in last night. I'm very excited and that will definitely make this trip a little better.
• Oooh, I ran about a mile yesterday before I wanted to die. Maybe I shouldn't have tried it while I was sick and maybe I shouldn't have eaten so much over the Holidays. I feel like I felt when I first started running at 210 lbs.

Ok, enough whining. David just brought me a running pamphlet that has all the local races. There is one this weekend...I wonder if I can hack my way through it!