Saturday, June 27, 2015

Norfolk [Rain Out]


On the Importance of Backup

Airport
Newark Terminal A, for "Awful"
Friday, June 26, 2015
Richmond, VA


Outside the Game: 
It was a close-fought thing at work. I had scheduled this vacation long before I had even heard of the project that would be threatening its departure. But here I was on a Friday, with the dueling deadlines of a client deliverable and a plane leaving duking it out in my conscience.

Thankfully, though, I had some backup, finally. In the last few months, we had hired someone to be my boss, which was the best news that I could have possibly gotten. I was made the de facto head of my department without any of the authority or de jure power to do anything, and it had made me miserable for the last year to the point that I had resignations actually drafted, signed, and ready to go, only to be stopped by last minute changes of spirit or just planning another trip that necessitated having the paycheck.

The addition of another layer above me had fixed most of the issues almost immediately. I was no longer directly subject to the literally insane whims of upper management, as well as being insulated from all the "management" tasks that were not only not my forte, but an increasing source of my stress. And I could just go on doing my actual job with some additional mentorship responsibilities which was what I was promised about this "promotion" in the first place.

But then, there was still the job, and my backup had a couple days off before the start of my vacation to spend with his own family, and I was covering things with an over-worked account team and a Friday deadline. The saving grace was that the client and the vendor to whom things were being handed off were all in Europe, and since work would not resume until Monday, we really had until Sunday to send out the files. And said backup was more than happy to upload the files as I ran out the door at 6 PM to go to the airport.

The subway ride up to NY Penn Station was uneventful, and an easy swap to the express was had. There was a bit of a lost period trying to get to the NJ Transit trains, but I found them eventually right as a train to the airport was arriving. I got on, put my bag up, and sat down, and two minutes later, the rest of my train trip was ruined.

A large Caribbean family got on board and piled into the seats behind me. Directly behind me was an infant boy who nearly immediately got upset by something and began wailing at top of his lungs.

If there were any concerns about the health of the tyke’s lungs, they can be safely put to rest, as he continued to wail for the entirety of the train ride, up to and including a ten or so minute delay when the train just stopped for no reason before continuing on. The child screamed longer than the train ran.

Screamed and screamed and screamed, until I had disconcerting thoughts of the last episode of M*A*S*H floating through my head, as well as a large and unexplained ache.

But, eventually, we did arrive at the station, and I sprinted from the train as fast as possible with a full carry-on and a personal item and got onto the tram just as it was leaving, ensuring at least some distance between myself and the toddling hell monster. As I was leaving from "A is for Awful" terminal, I had to go to the anti-penultimate station. This was a minor blessing, as the security line for the United terminal was not bad at all, and I was quickly through into the absolutely nothing to do of the terminal itself.

It was a long two hours in the tiny bulb of a terminal hub. After eating and drinking, there wasn't much else to do but pace and wait or not pace and wait. But boarding for the flight was mercifully on time, and we were all on the flying bus at the appointed hour for departure.

I got to my row on the tiny plane, finding my seat-mate hanging over the back of his seat, talking to someone a few rows back. As it would turn out, they were both from Virginia and were in town for some conference or other and were heading home this evening. His friend had a bit of a drive ahead of him after the plane landed, while he had a shorter one. We talked for a little bit, but for the most part, it was an uneventful hour-and-a-half flight down to Richmond. I stumbled out into the early night and made my way to the rental car pickup, where I retrieved my white Chevy Spark.

Rental car
The chariot awaits

As my GPS did its ceremonial "unable to find satellites for ten minutes when it is in a new state" ceremony, I realized that one of the main flaws of Chevy Spark, at least in the models without adjustable steering, is that the steering wheel is exactly the right height to block the speedometer of someone of my size. So that was going to be fun for the duration of the trip.

I had booked a hotel at the airport for two nights, as I was going to have to come back this way already after Norfolk the next day, so I might as well be in the same place for two days. It was a quick drive to the hotel, where I was able to semi-coherently check in, park, drag all my stuff to the room, and pleasantly pass out for the evening.


The Accommodations: 
Best Western
Best Western

I was staying for two days at the Best Western out by the airport. It was a nice enough, if standard. A king-sized bed, nightstands, and an easy chair were on one side of the room, opposite an entertainment center/dresser with TV on top, next to a desk. The bathroom was off the entrance, with a small sink, toilet, and tub and shower.

There wasn't any noise from the airport, and it was clean and quiet, so it did what I needed it to do for the start of my trip.



On Rainouts

Rain out
Disappointment in one printed sheet
Saturday, June 27, 2015
Norfolk, VA


Outside the Game: 
I was up a little late, and all things considered, I deserved it. I grabbed a late weekend breakfast buffet, showered, and was out on the road by 10 AM for an uneventful drive over to Norfolk.

I stopped at the stadium first to take some outside pictures and pick up my tickets. It took a while to get around the big place, but I got my shots and my ticket, and decided to head off into the city to see what I could see. Given the naval overtones all over the city, the Nauticus seemed a no-brainer. It was a museum/aquarium complex downtown whose big attraction was access to the USS Wisconsin. I parked up at the nearest lot and walked over.

Harbor Park
Harbor Park, 2015

As I was waiting in line to buy a ticket, the sky opened up, and it started to pour. It had less than positive overtures for my later activities that day, but at least I was inside while it happened. I was able to take my fill of the science, aquarium, and naval history parts of the museum, as the Wisconsin wasn't going to reopen until the rain stopped, or at least calmed down. It did so enough to open back up later in the afternoon, and I went across to the ship as quickly as possible in case they tried to close it again.

The Wisconsin was a textbook example of US naval museum ship, complete with welded-shut doors to prevent tourists from killing themselves, typed signs at each station, and the use of incredibly disconcerting dummy models in different places in the ship. The soulless husk manning the mess particularly scarred me with his empty expression and leaden hands holding onto tongs.

Mannequin
He's seen things.

I got to see the entire ship between downpours, but the rain picked up again and prevented going onboard the wooden Virginia docked nearby. Back in the shelter of the museum, I called the stadium to see if the game was still on, which they assured me it was, so I made my inevitable trip through the gift shop before heading back to my car and over for the game.

As soon as I stepped outside, it started pouring again, but it lightened up on my drive over to the stadium. Thinking that a Saturday game would be valuable enough to play through the drizzle, I was a little surprised to find the parking lot as deserted as it was when I pulled in. I soon saw the reason why: There was a hastily printed sign taped to the entrance doors saying the game was postponed until a make-up the next month.

I hadn't had to deal with many rainouts during these trips, which is a blessing to be sure, but I didn't enjoy it nevertheless, especially as the sky cleared and the sun came out as I got back to my car and called my friend to explain the insanity.

I begrudgingly got back into my car and drove to my hotel, spending some of the evening pondering my schedule and trying to work out how to make up the game later in the trip, before putting a stake into the day and going to bed.


The Accommodations: 
I was back at the Best Western again, earlier than I would have expected. I did get to make an early night of it for my drive up to Woodbridge the next day.



2015 Virginia

No comments:

Post a Comment