security breach

as i was going through security at burbank airport last night, i thought to myself "man, security at this airport is so much less of a hassle than bigger airports like LAX". it took me about a minute to get my stuff through the x-ray machine and back on my way again. after that fairly painless process, i went on to wait at the gate for my flight.

my flight was scheduled to leave at 8:55pm, but was delayed about half an hour. i was playing my psp and wasn't really paying attention to the outside world when around the time we should have been taking off (8:55pm), everyone around me stood up and started moving. since i was flying southwest (no assigned seats/first come first served) i just assumed that everyone was lining up to get a good seat on the plane. i stood up and started walking along with everyone else towards the gate. before long, i noticed people weren't walking towards the gate, but were leaving the gate area; so i assumed that we had been assigned to a different gate. as the entire crowd of people walked past the first gate, i realized that my assumptions were quite off.

after a bit of eavesdropping, i heard from other passengers that everyone in the terminal had to leave and go through the security screening again. i wasn't really sure why, but clearly, waiting in a huge line outside in the cold was not an inviting prospect. after more eavesdropping, i was able to ascertain that someone had been arrested around gate 5 and security had been compromised--hence the terminal evacuation and re-screen. luckily, they allowed people on my flight to cut to the front of the screening line as our flight was about to leave. to wait in that would have undoubtedly taken hours, but we were able to take off about 20 minutes after our delayed time.

at least it didn't happen in LAX.

good eats

a little while ago, the cafeteria at my place of work changed the company providing food services. this is probably a result of the higher prices charged by the previous cafe service provider. personally, i'm a big fan. the food is a bit cheaper (maybe fifty cents to a dollar less per meal) but the main thing that i like is that they use fancy words and ingredients in describing each dish. for example, for breakfast today, we have: "Cheese Blintzes with Blackberry Compote and Crème Fraiche". what half those words are, i don't know, but food always sounds more sophisticated when you don't know how to pronounce it. Ditallini Romesco Grilled Chicken? Chicken Caesar Pizzan? (yes, they coin their own terms like "pizzan") it almost feels like i'm working at google. well, not really, but a guy can dream, can't he?

a warning

i don't really drink coffee too much, so i have never come across the cup of coffee that was too hot. i have, however, come across a fudgesicle that was too cold. what's the first thing you do when you get a nice cold fudgesicle? why lick it, of course. the problem with licking a cold object is that if the object is cold enough, you could get your tongue frozen to said object. and that is exactly what happened to me.

so instead of enjoying a fudgesicle at my desk, i was stuck to one. attempts at pulling the icy treat off my tongue only resulted in a stretched and sore tongue. using my quick wits, i realized that warm water was the trick to freeing myself from the fudgesicle. and the closest supply of warm water was my saliva. so with a bit of maneuvering with the non-stuck part of my tongue, and a little bit of dripping, i was able to free myself from the cold embrace of the fudgesicle.

having learned my lesson, i waited for my fudgesicle to warm to a suitable temperature before consuming it. and for future reference, i suggest that you do the same.