Concourse A

Started: 2005-06-18 13:34:00

Submitted: 2005-06-18 14:00:00

Visibility: World-readable

At this moment I'm sitting at gate A45, waiting to board a Boeing 757-200 just in (I assume) from Houston.

I'm happy to escape the heat wave now assaulting Colorado; temperatures broke above 32°C for the first time yesterday, forcing me to declare that it was "plus-hot" when I went out for lunch and "double-hot" when I drove home. Car air conditioning is great, but somehow our house AC died since we turned it on last. My best guess is that it has something to do with the thermostat; I had trouble a week or two ago coercing the thermostat to decrease the evening temperature (starting at 1600) from 27°C to 24°C, which seemed like a more reasonable indoor temperature. The thermostat behaved as if it were resetting itself every four buttons I pressed, rendering it impossible to actually change anything. If I were not currently queueing for a trans-Atlantic flight, I'd start investigating the problem, probably starting with the thermostat manual, then poking on the control wires with a multimeter and test leads, and finally replacing the thermostat itself. (I'd probably be able to resist the urge to build my own microcontroller-based thermostat, although it doesn't really seem all that hard. I'd like a controller with wireless Ethernet so I could query it remotely (which would likely be almost as useful as a washer and drier that text-messaged my phone when my laundry is done), but that sounds expensive. Although potentially an attractive niche market...) I'm not sure if I'd actually end up calling an HVAC contractor, although I'm fairly confident I can't fix on my own the problem that my bedroom is under-ventilated... assuming an in-budget solution exists at all. (One possible solution is to get a child gate for the stairs to prevent Cat5 from getting into our bedroom while allowing air flow in and out. But I'm afraid what those who know us will think when they see a child gate.)

I still haven't managed to fix the sprinkler system; I'm expecting my lawn to be dead by the time I get back. It's been getting almost enough water so far this season with the rain. I wonder if I should order the part I need (I think I need to replace the anti-backflow device, which I damaged while attempting to remove it) while I'm gone so I'll have it when I get back. Almost a compelling reason to buy expensive net access here at DIA.

Last night we attended a solstice party hosted by one of Kiesa's library coworkers. While we sat in the immaculately-landscaped back yard (which began to give me something of an inferiority complex), I couldn't help noticing the irrigation system, complete with one-inch supply pipe and the larger version of my anti-backflow device. I even spotted the shut-off valve in the basement during our tour of the house.

(Two weeks ago I thought about hosting my own solstice party, but since I'll be in London tomorrow, I'm going to have a bit of trouble doing so.)

Ok, that's just weird. There's a girl (twenty years old?) standing in front of me with the red version of the Mountainsmith waist pack I'm bringing as my "carry-on luggage" (which is, in fact, smaller than my "personal item" notebook case). She's even carrying it across her shoulders like I am, using the provided shoulder strap.

The official queueing has begun. I'm going to grab a quick shot of the concourse and queue. (I brought my video camera; I debated whether to bring my video, still, or both and decided that my video would be optimal. I'd really like a single camera that did both well, which I think I even know how to do: Build a SLR still camera with a video camera instead of an eyepiece.)