Day one of the KC trip…
What a day…
5 AM - Get up, and get ready in a rush, only to find out that since I have been gone so much lately, I let my grocery supply dwindle, so I had nothing for breakfast.
5:40 AM - Walk into the 24 hour Wal-Mart to buy breakfast… Cheetos for breakfast is solid. Pound half a Mt Dew in the airport before the security checkpoint.
7 AM - Plane is late to take off. I’m getting worried since we already have only about 15 minutes to get from the concourse I arrive at to my departure concourse, which is clear across the MPLS airport.
9 AM - Somehow, we still arrived early. Blaze through the airport on a tram that went slower than my running speed (if you’ve seen me run, you know), find the next plane, and listen to someone talk all through the announcements of boarding times and then wonder when they will announce the boarding time.
11 AM - Surprising amount of room in the DC9-50. First flight with beverage service of the day. Northwest changed their policy to only provide beverages on flight hops of 1 hour or more. Pierre to Minneapolis is two 42 minute hops. Dammit, I, I mean you, paid good money for my ticket, I want my “free” ginger ale you bastards! Is it sad that I’m excited that we might fly through a thunderstorm? The gal in the seat next to me was a little worried about me after I said that. Now I know what it feels like to be Midget…
12 PM - We must have some rookie pilots in the area. Air traffic ahead of us is so slow that we are damn near stalling the engines of the DC9-50 and already are doing S patterns to slow down. When we finally get to the runway, the plane bounces (which is awesome), and the pilot stops with the plane’s nose in another runway. FAA violation for the win… oh, and no storm. grr…
12:30 PM - Got the baggage, then have to watch someone I’m with figure out the way to get a shuttle, then tell me that the “pickup” spot is the civilian parking instead of the booth labeled “Shuttle Pickup”. He suffered more though, black shirt in 98 degree heat while I stood in the shade of correctness 
1:15 PM - After paying only for a one-way shuttle pass because someone thought it would be cheaper to take a taxi back on Thursday (23 miles in a taxi is never cheaper than 12 bucks, sorry), we make it to the hotel, and I nearly forget my baggage in the van since I wanted out and away from Toothless the Magic DriverMan. I got it though, and off into the awesome hotel. No sarcasm here, this place is nice. 35 foot waterfall from the gym area, large rooms, awesome bed, good atmosphere, and it’s connected to a skyway mall…
2 PM - Wandering the skyway mall with someone that points out everything is fun…. you should try it sometime. Oh, and all the while, we are supposed to be finding the location of my class for Monday. We had to divert to the Science Hall, Planetarium, Extreme Theater (walked by it), and a few other spots. Mind you, these were cool, and I have some great pictures for later when I get them posted up, but it wasn’t the purpose of the trip. We finally found the place though, short skyway walk away, and a hop across the street. Should be easy in the AM.
4 PM - On my own, wandering the rooms, gym, pool area, shops, and such… snapping more pictures, and yacking on the phone. This is actually what I enjoy in a trip.
7 PM - Hit the lobby, wait for my company to arrive to go eat. Everything is closed on a Sunday night, so we find a hotel restaurant and bar after wandering for 30-45 minutes and reading every sign along the way, wondering if we, in our travel apparel of jeans, shorts, and one WoW t-shirt, will qualify for the Hyatt Skies restaurant, which should be a business attire place if memory serves me.
8 PM - Finally eating, and sadly, in Kansas City, MO, I had the best Mojito I have ever had. Isn’t that a shame… not the coast, but middle of the plains KC has the best one. Too bad I had to enjoy it while the bar TV’s had the ESPY’s on, hosted by Justin Timber-Douchebag and his magic army of fairies. It’ll be over soon though.
9 PM - I’m here in the lobby writing this post. Took a while…
