As I looked up from my breakfast table at a local restaurant, something jarred me. I guess I have never seen a fan with only 2 blades. I kept thinking this fan has lost an arm or something…

… when you finally get even with the rental car company on the “gas option”. (That is when you prepay for a full tank but invariably land up using a small fraction of it). The state is so vast that to get from any point to any other point, it almost felt like I had to drive across the state line 🙂

Finally, by the time I returned the rental car very early this morning, I had used up the full tank that I had rightfully paid for 🙂 . Every single drop of it, in fact! Would be interesting to see how they take it to the gas station now 🙂

For a guy who finds himself way too many times 30,000 feet or more off terra firma, this is a fascinating story: Southwest Airlines planned out the wedding of two of their business and frequent flyers to each other. (The much flown couple approached the airlines who immediately jumped in).

Give it to Southwest for knowing how to make it fun. Other than bands and balloons at the gate, they handed out invitation cards along with boarding passes to the other passengers, who were of course, clueless!!!

The flower girl walked down the aisle (ha ha) handing out…. get this… peanuts!!! (you have to know the reference to Southwest ads to get this)

Whoever got them married used the stewardess’s microphone to make the announcements!! He certainly had a way of ad libbing…

“We are gathered here today…” he started as usual…. and then added “whether we intended to or not…” …. “to celebrate the wedding of ….!!! sending the whole plane into squeals of laughter!

But the absolute hilarious part was the official finishing it up with the following variant of the original words:

“If anyone can show just cause why they might not be lawfully joined together, let them push their flight attendant call button now or forever hold your peace.”

Give it up for Southwest for knowing how to make it fun!!

(BTW, in case you did not know, Southwest’s stock ticker is LUV – named after the Love Field airport they operate out of in Dallas)

Don’t feel too bad. I had none either. Here, I was – frantically looking for a place to settle down in Alexandria with a friend that I have admired a lot and only got to see him after 22 years. Obviously, I did not have any patience for too many things as I looked for a Old Town spot by the water to settle down in. But Jamey, not only caught my attention, he took my breath away.

So, here was this senior gentleman that would seemingly have spread out his table with all sorts of wine and shot glasses on his table. Given my interest in anything remotely connected to a OH molecule, I was intrigued. “Is he selling wine glasses”? I asked myself. “Why does he have all those glasses half filled with water then?”. I was surprised enough that I told my friend – “Let’s go check out”.

What I saw was unbelievable. What Jamey – the senior gentleman – was doing was this – by pulling his finger along the edge of the glasses, he was creating a musical note. This is how it works – he cleaned his fingers with soap and then dipped them in distilled water to take out as much oil from the finger ridges as he could. Then as his finger ridges traveled over the edge of the glass, it created a vibration (think about taking a serrated saw over a glass edge) and produced a sound. But then, the frequency of the note was produced by resonance from the water surface – and therefore by carefully calibrating how much water he poured in it, he modified the note in those zillions of glasses he had. It is called a Glass Harp!!!

You think that is crazy? Try this … He asked me where was I from? I said Atlanta. He asked me where I was born? I said India. And he proceeded to play “Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram” for the next five minutes! My jaw dropped!

What talent! What an amazing experience for me!!!

You know what amazes me the most? He puts on his tie everyday he comes to the street corner to play!! Talk of passion!!!

[Epilogue – he told me he has a CD on Amazon and is working on a DVD. I googled him – “Jamey Turner” – up and he was all over Youtube. If you are ever in Alexandria, look him up. If you feel so inclined, buy his CD and write him a note. I know I will.]

So I am running down from the 10th floor to the 8th floor of an office building in Portland. It would be faster than waiting for the elevator. Or, so I thought. What really happened was that half way thru the stairwell, I noticed this restroom!! And I stopped. And I stared for a long time. At the restroom. In the stairwell!! Men’s restroom!! How many times have you seen a men’s restroom in the stairwell?

It had a handicapped sign!!! A HANDICAPPED SIGN!! Who, in their right minds, and in a wheelchair, is climbing up and down the stairs to a handicapped accessible restroom???? And that too, only for men???

This is too confusing for me!!

We chased our own shadow all over the Potomac river and finally touched it at the edge of the runway in DCA airport…

I don’t golf. And I don’t have any club memberships. But it is always good to have friends who do!! Today’s off site meeting is in a great golf club in idyllic settings outside Lexington, KY. My contribution was to pull rank to have the meeting in the patio instead of in the room. Beautiful set up!!! It almost looks like one of Sharmila’s paintings.

It is not often that airport Marriotts pay a lot of attention to aesthetics. They are meant for busy business passengers looking for a bed to sleep in for the night. That is why the bars are open very late at airport Marriotts 🙂
The Cincinnati airport Marriott seems to be different. Beautiful fountain in the atrium.