So why am I here? Because the good people of Appleton, WI turned SPEAK into a community project. *blush* This morning I am speaking at Einstein Middle School, this afternoon I’ll be at Appleton East High School. I’m giving a public presentation tonight at the Appleton Public Library from 7 – 8:45 pm.
Yesterday was a long day. It took 11 hours to get from my apartment in PA to the hotel here, but that’s because I had a wicked long layover in Minneapolis. If you have to have a layover, that’s the place to do it. It is fairly peaceful (as airports go) and has a very nice bookstore if you “happen” to finish reading all of the books in your backpack. Stuck in an airport and forced to buy a book. Tough life.
The best quote of the day came from one of the Northwest Air stewards. At the beginning of our flight from Philly, it was announced that meals were available for purchase. The two guys on the other side of the aisle were excited about this – they were hungry. So the steward comes through the cabin, offering his goodies for sale. The “meal” cost $3.50. It contained some cookies, crackers and artificial processed cheese food, and a stick of beef product and chemicals.
“Where’s the meal?” asked the hungry flyers.
“This is it,” answered the steward, with a sigh.
“But we want sandwiches.”
“To get sandwiches you have to fly to Hawaii.” (that’s the best quote IMHO).
The guys bought the snack box. Good thing they did because when the free soda came around, it was not accompanied by itty-bitty bags of pretzels or nuts. I would like to point out (in defense of Northwest Air) that we were not charged for napkins. And while the seat had the comfort level of a wooden bench, the landing was incredibly smooth, and I give out lots of bonus points for that.
Time to go. More sights and sounds of Appleton later.