$25 and 3 hours of comfort

Woo-fucking-hoo..... my vacation starts at 5:00pm today. OK, it starts as soon as I can get out of this hellhole called work at an hour which isn't too early to be considered unreasonable. Is lunch too soon???

Anyway, due to the joys of traveling as cheaply as possible, I have a 6:30am flight tomorrow morning. Doing the now infamous TSA calculations, that means I need to be at the airport by 5:30am. With construction at SJC, that means 5:00am, which in turn means I need to leave home by 4:30am. Now I have two choices: 1) wake up at 4:00am and get out the door without a shower or 2) wake up at 3:30am and shower. Living by the motto "treat others the way you'd like to be treated," I'll get up at 3:30am so I don't smell like ass to my neighboring passengers. I hope to get the same consideration.

So, in an effort to save as many precious sleeping seconds as possible, I went to check in for my flight this morning. As shitty as airline service has gotten, this is one improvement they have made, online check-in. On the flip side, it's probably allowed them to fire a bunch of ground agents, but I digress. My first option is whether I want to change my seat assignment. There I am in BLACK 20E, the dreaded middle seat. I hate the middle seat more than I hate brussels sprouts but not quite as much as I hate the New York Yankees. For short flight, I can handle the middle seat. For this 3+ hour flight I'll go insane. There are two "free" seat assignments in TAN, but they are middle seats too so eff-that. That leaves me with the beautiful $25 or $30 upgrades in GREEN. Considering how much I've already paid for this ticket, I should be getting more than just a airplane ride (still waiting for that stewardess mile high club fantasy invitation). Now I get the privlege of paying to upgrade to a window or aisle. If this was a business trip and I didn't pay for the original ticket I would do it in a heartbeat. But having to reach into my own pocket, again, makes me think twice. Middle seat or window? Comfort or crowded? Sleep or psychosis? Ooh, those window seats are too tempting to pass up. Kind of like that plate of chocolate chip cookies in the break room after lunch.

I always cave in on the cookies.... and I caved in on the window seat too. Look at me now, $25 poorer but in 13F right there on the window. I get in, I fall asleep, no one wakes me until the flight's over. I rationalize the expense by saying I'm not checking a bag, so that's money saved to pay for the upgrade. I know it's a weak argument, like drinking diet soda with my cookies, but it's one I'm willing to live with to get me out of riding bitch in 20E.

Fear not readers, I'll be bringing my lap top along. I may not post everyday while I'm away from home, but I'll check in from time to time for y'all!!!