Mission: Impossible

Monday morning, I left Pitt to travel to Chicago on a "Mission: Impossible" assignment from work. The assignment was a 6-week temporary move from my family-- and trust me, I did not want to do it.

So, Monday I travelled to Chicago.

Prior to my travel, work also wanted me to attend a meeting in Jackson Mississippi on Wednesday morning.

So, on Tuesday, I left Chicago to go to Jackson with a stop in Memphis.

On Thursday, as I was returning to Chicago, I happened to get a phone message from my boss from Pittsburgh... "Mission: Impossible" really is impossible, so get back to Pittsburgh. I tried to make arrangements to fly direct while I got this message at my stay in Memphis, but was unable. I had to complete the trip to Chicago and got an early flight back to Pittsburgh the next morning.

All was not lost, though. On the trip from Jackson to Memphis, I got on the plane, and it had to be nearly 100 degrees inside. Hot and humid, just like outside the plane. We all got seated, and the stewardess said that the air conditioning was broke. Told us that the best way to cool down was to close the window shades (the plane began leaving the gate, so no chance of getting off). Turning down the shades made it a dark oven instead of a lighted one. Off we went. It felt like flying in a coffin-- a hot one. Once we got to cruising speed, things cooled off.

Second, there was a family that got on the plane in Memphis. A really strange family. Dad, mom, and 3 teenage girls. The dad was some physicist-- and looked, it, too. The mom had a handful of rosary beads and was in constant conversation with herself-- obviously nervous about the flight. But the really odd thing was the conversation between the dad and the three girls. For the 1.5 hour flight, they were in constant talk about physics. Dad had a huge physics book open, and the girls were all engaged in the discussion. I cannot even begin to restate what was said, but I remember part of it--

Dad: "Can you believe some scientists still believe that light exists both as a particle and a wave?"

Girls: "Haha! I mean, how can our sun-- this huge ball of thermonuclear energy-- emit all that energy as particles AND waves?"

Dad: "Well, if you take a handful of electrons and bump them into any type of subatomic particles, you.... (I drifted off here-- sorry).

Girl, the youngest, about 10: "According to Einsteins Theory of Relativity, you should not be able to... (drifted again). Some day, I am going to prove this theory and win he Nobel Prize."

Some people are scared of people that could be terrorists on planes, and I would have to agree. But, this family was obviously much more dangerous. I was worried they might pull out some contraption that would spin us into a wormhole and shoot us across the galaxy-- the family yelling, "YEE-HAW!!" all the way.

But, I spent more time in airports this past week than I did in hotel rooms or business meetings. The good news is I know what a pinball feels like. I'm sure that will come in handy some day. But, I'm ticked off anyway. I'm supposed to get the chance to turn things like this down ("your mission, should you CHOOSE to accept it....). I don't believe I ever got this chance.