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I had the day off of work today and I used it to do my family a favor. Justin was flying across the country from Virginia to Utah with a 3-hour layover at O'hare. He asked if he could see the girls during that time but everyone was busy. My sister had to go to the doctor and everyone else was working. I packed up Heather and Bridgette and brought them to the airport to pick up Justin. From there we went to a Bennigan's and had a nice lunch followed by some time at the local nickel arcade. Over lunch we talked about my job as well as Justin's. He just finished training with the SEALs and is now some kind of special operator. He showed me the pager he is required to carry at all times and told me about the rules that he is required to follow (no more than 2 drinks at any time, etc..). It seemed tremendously more exciting than monkeying on a laptop all day and I started thinking out loud. “Ya know, you should try and join that secret Department of Defense intelligence team. That seems like it would be cool.” The conversation stopped and Justin became very serious all of a sudden. In a much quieter voice, “What? What did you just say? What do you know about that?” I explained that I only knew what I had read in the papers recently. Rumsfield had created a covert team of special ops military who gathered human intelligence and completed secret missions without the knowledge of the rest of the government. The DoD's private CIA, but far more capable and highly trained. It made the papers when it was discovered recently. The major scandal being that it was operating without the knowledge of the Senate Armed Services Committee or any other governmental oversight. Not exactly a major story in the news, but I like to stay informed. Justin got all quiet for a bit and then began thinking aloud himself. “I wonder how they found out about it. Who would have talked?” It was obvious that Justin had known all about it beforehand and was equally aware how secret it was supposed to be. More than anything I was taken aback by the thought of what else he knows that other people shouldn't.

On another note, everyone reading this should borrow or buy a copy of The Eagle's Shadow : Why America Fascinates and Infuriates the World by Mark Hertsgaard. As the subtitle describes, it is a book about the world's opinions and attitudes towards America and Americans. A very easy read and extremely fascinating. A book that you are guaranteed to both agree with and disagree with. Thought provoking as an understatement.

And for the Awkward Story portion of this entry I will describe my flight out to Las Vegas last Friday. I flew Southwest, which is important to know because they don't assign seats. Seats are first come first serve. Our flight was slightly delayed (which also comes into play) and everyone was hanging out at the gate for an extra 15 minutes waiting for our plane to arrive. I boarded the plane somewhere in the middle of the pack and found an empty row mid-plane. The flight was full so I took the window seat and anxiously waited to see who would choose to sit next to me. Strangely, the wait for my seatmates was an event in itself. As people walk down the aisle you can tell they are evaluating their options. Fuck no, I'm not sitting next to that dude. Eeesh, I bet that guy smells bad. All manner of thoughts go through your head while choosing your seat. I don't blame them, I do the same thing. It is a very serious decision. These people have the power to ruin the next 4 hours of your life. Choose wisely. It was kind of sad how many people clearly chose against me. People would look at the two empty seats in my row, then look at me, then keep on walking. The kept walking back to the clearly overpacked back of the plane rather than sit with me. Do I look that unappealing? I felt like the fat kid getting picked last in gym. Ultimately a couple sat down and introduced themselves. The guy was in his thirties, the woman in her forties. They seemed perfectly nice and after the awkward introductions I buried myself in a book. Sadly, I couldn't help but overhear their conversation. As it turned out the man and woman had met eachother at the gate a few minutes ago. The talked about their jobs and lives and in an amazingly short period of time the topic became sex. They exchanged wild sex stories between rounds of beer and mini-bottles of vodka. Before long they were touching and kissing almost more than they were speaking. I did my best to ignore the situation (what could I do, really?) but after a while it got ridiculous. Both people were pretty wasted and they were all over eachother. There was a lot of talk of going to the bathroom together on the plane, but the stewardess' watchful eyes made that impossible (although they DID try twice). Ultimately it was decided that sex on the airplane would be difficult and risky. The woman was flying to Vegas, but the man was on the first leg of a trip to Lake Tahoe. He had a 2-hour layover in Vegas, though, so options were available. As soon as we landed they were catching a cab and heading to the nearest motel. I felt better once that was worked out because I no longer had the fear of being forced to watch something that I REALLY didnt want to watch. They would keep it in their pants until landing. Too bad they couldn't stop talking about it. The woman (who was 45 and came complete with cellulite and loose skin … and a tattoo on her lower back… gross) explained in detail what he was supposed to do to her. “I want you to fuck me really hard. Don't be nice!!! You are going to be mean!! Pull my hair and yell at me. Smack me around, but don't fucking cum on my face…” Dammit. Double Dammit. Worst flight ever.