I wrote a few blog posts while on my trip to Arizona that I never quite got around to posting. I'll keep them in their random form as a kind of blog performance art. Enjoy and Happy New Year!
A few anecdotal moments during my flights stand out. On the Houston-Phoenix leg, the plane was a newer one equipped with individual video screens. I was in coach, but only a couple of rows behind first class. A woman in the last row of first class was enjoying the movie “Julia and Julia”, and I happened to have a perfect view over her shoulder (and watching it that way was actually easier on my eyes that way than doing so on my own screen would have been). It was perfectly delightful, and I made a mental note to pick up the DVD when it is available. Shortly before we landed, the movie ended and the Kardashians’ reality show came on. I suppose watching people be rich and foolish makes a bit more sense than watching people eat, cook, or have sex on one’s LCD screen (mind you, no judgment here). Especially in Milwaukee—after all, being rich and foolish is a bit more exotic there than say, here in Scottsdale. And coincidentally, the episode featured the “fat” one—which, by the way, is just a completely ridiculous notion—hanging out in Old Town Scottsdale. Too bad I missed her, though I don’t think I’d be very good reality show fodder. I don’t think anyone would want to watch my reality show.
For Christmas Eve worship, my parents and I attended Ascension Lutheran Church in nearby Paradise Valley. The service featured the most off-the-wall implementation of Holy Communion I have ever experienced, with wine offered side-by-side with grape juice, crackers (which looked suspiciously like Wheat Thins) side-by-side with wafers, intinction, and babies who looked one year old or less communing.
Today, I had lunch at the In-N-Out Burger in Tempe. I’ve been reading the book about the company, which is a bit of a puff piece but actually quite good overall. I’d just learned last night that a grilled cheese is available as one of the “secret menu” items, so that’s what I ordered. It was basically just a hamburger without the patty, but with lettuce, tomato, onion, and the secret sauce (which must be similar to Thousand Island dressing). It didn’t do a whole lot for me. As is almost always the case when I have fast food (and I am going to go ahead and call In-N-Out’s fare that, as I also would Kopp’s), I felt like I had eaten something vaguely slimy, but had absolutely no sensation of satiety. The food must be scientifically engineered not to provide satiety, as I would guess most of the fast food industry’s offerings are, if not most of those of the entire restaurant industry. One of the nicest parts of my lifestyle in recent years has been experiencing the feeling of real, visceral satiety without my blood sugar being elevated much, which is provided by food that is much higher in fiber and lower in sugar than is the norm for mass-market products.
I’m on my main return flight from Phoenix to Minneapolis—after this, all that’s left is the brief jump from Minneapolis to Milwaukee and I’m back in the groove, for another eight weeks at least. The scenery was simply spectacular as the skies were clear for the first half of the flight, affording a panoramic view of the Rockies. It whetted my appetite for some serious trail hiking in America’s heartland someday. Of course, the fact that I’m in First Class on today’s flights doesn’t hurt. It’s not as super-luxurious as you might think; the service, though excellent, is similar to that on a couple of the nicer international flights I’ve taken. The major distinction is that even on a flight like this one of two or three hours, you are fed—and well. Meal service uses real china, glassware and, remarkably, silverware.
