motown philly back again

Hey! I'm back from my jaunt to the midwest, and I think - I think - my project went really well. We shall see. Plus, I can now say I've been to the states of Missouri and Ohio. Specifically, I visited...

1) The beautiful St. Louis, Missouri airport area. Kris and I talked much about getting to see the arch, which is located in downtown St. Louis. She did a little Googling while I was waiting for my flight yesterday, and it turns out the airport is so far away from downtown that - as I type this in New Jersey - I am currently closer to the arch than I was in St. Louis.

I stayed at the airport Marriott, which had its ups and downs. On the plus side, the lovely hotel staff let me use the front desk computer's DVD drive to check my work one last time, thereby making them the latest enabler of my slight case of OCD. But, the hotel lost points when the dude in the gift shop told me they didn't have any toothpaste(!).

I also tried the hotel restaurant's microbrew - Rock River Mountain Ale - which had a hint of vanilla to it. Nice. The Rock River Tavern, as it was called, also had slippery hardwood floors and high barstools, which offered some entertainment as at least two drunkards fell on their backs, got up, and started loudly explaining what happened to the whole place.

2) Earth City, MO., where my work was. If aliens ever came down and sought out Earth's capital city, I bet they'd end up here.

3) Cleveland. Well, just the airport, really, though I got a really good view from the plane of whatever Great Lake it's on. This airport, like St. Louis', had a "Jody Maroni's Sausage Kingdom" restaurant, which sounded both upsetting and totally made-up by middle schoolers.

quick, quick thoughts

- Can't talk much. Been prepping for a semi-surprise trip to St. Louis.

- The Yankees and Braves lose heartbreaking game fives in their respective division series, meaning that 1) October officially has turned into a month-long bath for Fox, and 2) this postseason might actually be enjoyable.

- I was only half-listening, but I think that when asked on the "Today" show about government planning for an Avian Flu pandemic, the president began reassuring us with a soothing "uhhhhh," added that the military cannot be used as a police force (huh?), and implied that the government's only plan is to sit with its proverbial thumb up its proverbial butt. Which is why it shocks me to hear people say that a man who's spent four years trying to scare the fuck out of us makes them feel "safe."