Becky and I are heading to Baltimore for the weekend. (Johns Hopkins University, one of Becky’s graduate school choices, is flying her out, all-expenses-paid, for interviews and a campus orientation.) Our adventure starts tomorrow at 8:50 AM, when we are due to depart LAX on United Airlines Flight 280.
It may a bit more, well, adventurous, as we approach Baltimore-Washington airport for our scheduled 4:30 PM landing. You see, it so happens that a major winter storm is descending upon the capital region, and we’re flying right into it. Check out The Weather Channel’s airport forecast map for tomorrow evening:
Yup, that little red dot is where we’re going. Gotta love it.
I’m bringing along the keys to my family’s apartment in Manhattan, just in case. You never know where a flight might be diverted if BWI is closed…
Anyway, wish us luck. And if you want to send along a brief message that I’ll get immediately on my cell phone — unless we’re in flight, in which case I’ll get it when we land — e-mail 8606559592 (at) messaging.sprintpcs.com.
Bon voyage!
UPDATE: The forecast calls for light snow in Baltimore until around 7:00 PM, then heavier snow into the overnight hours. Our plane is due to land at 4:30 PM, during the forecasted “light snow” period, so hopefully we won’t get delayed getting out of LAX, and hopefully BWI won’t close for “light snow.” If we can actually make it to Baltimore tomorrow evening, it should be cool watching the snow pile up during the night. I missed the Blizzard of 2003 in sunny L.A., and I haven’t seen a really good snowstorm in a while.
But, um, it’s pouring rain in L.A. right now, so, like, a delay at LAX doesn’t seem totally implausible. (Angelinos have more trouble with a quarter-inch of rain than Northeasterners have with a foot of snow.)
Several people, including the mother in labor, actually blogged the birth of this baby last night, as it was happening:
And you thought I was obsessed with my website.
Speaking of unique blogs, here’s one you should really check out: L.T. Smash: Live from the Sandbox — a frequently updated weblog by an American soldier in the Persian Gulf. He has lots of wonderful and inspiring thoughts and observations, including:
I didn’t come here looking for a thrill.
I’m here because there is a hole in the ground in New York, where a couple of the world’s tallest buildings used to be.
I’m here because I knew some of those people in the Pentagon.
I’m here because my seven-year-old nephew has nightmares about terrorists.
I’m here because whether Saddam is responsible or not for those terrorist attacks, he has the will and is developing the means to do much, much worse.
I’m here because if History teaches us anything, it is that evil men cannot be deterred by sanctions, containment strategies, diplomacy, resolutions, or weapons inspections.
I’m here because I don’t believe in appeasement.
I’m here because someone has to be.
I’m here because I was called.
I’m here because I have a job to do.
In other Iraq-related news, this anti-antiwar trend at the Daily Trojan seems to be catching on. The DT’s notoriously liberal editorial page has suddenly become a bastion of anti-peacenik sentiment. On Tuesday, there was my column criticizing the antiwar movement; on Wednesday, there was Becky’s column ripping the peace-protester “human shields” to shreds. Today, there are two more.
By Peter Spalding, pointing out the pointlessness of City Council and Student Senate resolutions opposing war:
They might as well have passed a resolution condemning the rainy weather. This kind of measure can make for good rhetoric, but on a practical level, it doesn’t accomplish a thing.
Unless I am gravely mistaken, the City Council is charged with running the city. It is supposed to decrease crime, boost the economy, improve transportation, deliver city services and so on. Student Senate, meanwhile, is supposed to fund student organizations, work with school administrators, organize the student body and the like. Neither of these bodies is responsible for American foreign policy.
Nor does the Bush administration care about their opinions. Bush has ignored several major countries such as France and Germany, and he has said that he may even disregard the United Nations. So if he doesn’t listen to them, he certainly won’t listen to 22 undergraduate students.
And by Shant Minas, pointing out Europe’s hypocracy in deriding American “imperialism”:
European nations now cunningly champion themselves as ardent supporters of human rights, when not long ago they invented large-scale genocide and exported this and other despicable practices to every last corner of the world. European nations pay lip service to nation-building, when it is the United States which is most heavily involved in this resource-consuming task, most recently in Afghanistan, Bosnia and Kosovo. Often Europe likes to portray itself as the afflicted world’s savior as it seemingly adjusts the necessary balance of power away from “reckless” America, when without exception the world’s most troubled and dangerous spots are located in the vestiges of fairly recent European colonial rule — most notably Israel and Palestine, India and Pakistan, and of course, Iraq.
Hurrah!
