Wow, I am tired.  Up at 4:15 this morning to get to the airport and non stop flying (basically).  But let’s review yesterday a bit.  Cool God stuff.

We met up with some of the staff of Sugar Creek Baptist church (www.sugarcreek.net).  Pretty cool guys and we had a fantastic meeting.  There should be some cool partnerships built out of all this for GFM USA.  It’s not my place to say anything more.  As I was reminded many times, I was just the token Canadian.

And a pretty cool church building too.  I’m not always one for mega-churches, but if you have young kids you would LOVE this place.  You walk into the church and you see the TWO-storey slide as part of the huge kids play area.  (There is also a Starbucks that Windham loved.  But I couldn’t really care!)

At the end of the meeting, we ended up just praying for each other and the ministries represented there.  Unexpected and fantastic.  I knew I was coming down for fun, but between Sunday’s church service and this prayer time I also got some AMAZING time with God.

Traveling along with Dave and Dan while they house hunted was pretty neat.  There are some nice places in the area, very tempting to a Canadian who no longer can live in the cold.

(seriously!  I was maybe just starting to get used to the mild cold we’ve been having up here and then I went south for a couple of days.  I’m back now and AGAIN I can’t get warm.  Is this the pivotal winter where we decide where we’re going in the future?)

Sugar Creek is located in Sugar Land, which has a massive ethnic mix of peoples.  And you can tell.  Every nation is walking around this place.  And a few short blocks from the Sugar Creek campus is this Hindu temple.  Cool place to live near to when you’re teaching people a love and a passion to reach these peoples.

After prayer walking through a couple of other high ethnic areas we finally ended up at the Maple Leaf hockey pub for Dan’s birthday.  The place that claimed to play only hockey?  It was playing Monday Night Football.  And they turned off the Flames game that we were able to get on one TV.  Me = not impressed.  There was also a serious lack of hockey jerseys for a hockey pub, but I was pleased that there were two Flames jerseys and one Canada.  So there are some positive things there!

(I’m reading this and nothing sounds that exciting.  Perhaps I’m too tired to write (likely), or maybe it is that many of the things that were so incredibly fun cannot be repeated (more likely).  But we really did have a lot of fun.)

The trip home was tiring.  Like I said I was up early.  Got to the airport and checked in with plenty of time to spare.  After a quick breakfast I sat for a couple of hours for the plane to load.  But we boarded late.  Then we sat on at the gate and on the runway for an hour.  Which is a bad thing when you are only scheduled for an hour lay over in Minneapolis.

We finally landed in Minneapolis at about the time that my flight to Calgary was to have already started boarding.  And here was my dilemma. I had to use the bathroom.  Bad.  And I was hungry.  But I couldn’t figure out how I was to deplane, find my new gate which was most likely in another wing of the airport, pee and eat while making it onto my plane on time.  Peeing and eating were the two things that were gonna be cut from the list and I was not impressed with that.

(oh wait!  I need to tell the story of why I had to pee so bad, even though it makes me look like an idiot.  What do you mean that’s not tough?  Oh ya, it isn’t!)

With my breakfast I had a big orange juice and once I got on the plane in Houston I could already tell it was going to be an issue.  So when the drink cart came around I told myself that I wasn’t going to get anything.  Good thinking Ryan.

“Would you like a drink sir?”  Come on will power, don’t fail me now.

“Yes!  A Coke please.”  Um, wait a minute Ryan.

“Would you like a glass or the whole can?”  You can still get out of this without too much damage…

“The whole can please.”  Awwwwww man!  What was that?

And yes, I drank that whole can.  It was free and it was delicious.

Once I got off the plane I went as fast as I could up the jetway and found the nearest agent.  “Can you tell me what gate the Calgary flight is at?  It probably is too late for me to catch it but I thought I’d take a chance” I said.

“Certainly sir.  It is right over there at C6.”

Cool, I was at C4 at the moment.  And he mentioned that the flight had just started to board.  Thank you God!

I started heading over to the gate and then something caught my eye; the bathroom.  Oh man, I could spare the few seconds if they just started boarding.  Right?

Right.  Except instead of a few, it was more like 60.  A new record!  (and WAY too much information!)

Totally worth it though.

Running out of the can and to the gate I slow down and notice that no one is doing the mass panic rush line up like they usually do when boarding a flight.  In fact, no one was doing anything that resembled lining up.  So I asked the lady at the gate if the flight had already boarded.

“No sir” she said, “It is actually a little delayed for maintenance.  Why don’t you go grab a bite to eat?”

“I will TOTALLY do that” I replied.  And that Dairy Queen right next to my gate?  Perfect location.  I actually was able to order my burger, eat it and walk up to the gate just as they started boarding.

Yup, I’d have to say that it makes no sense to me how God’s existence can be denied.

Close gate?  Check.

Pee?  Check.

Eat?  Check.

Board flight to Calgary?  (with another free can of Coke) Check.

Love this God?  CHEEEEEEECK

So thanks to Dan, Dave, Grant, Chino and Ross for including me in this weekend.  Good times.  Too many farts, fart jokes, bodily function comments, sarcastic comments at the GPS giving confusing directions and various other things that shall go unmentioned.  And all of them were legendary.  This trip will need to be repeated sometime.

/RD

(I am writing this in the Mineapolis airport, but not posting it until I can find a free Wi-Fi connection.  I REFUSE to pay $7.95 for 24 hours of internet access.  $5, I may have paid that.  But not $7.95.  No Thank you Boingo WiFi connectivity.)

That may be the dumbest title yet.  Because do you know who Tom Bast is?  Unless you grew up in Red Deer and played sports; there’s a good chance you don’t.

But I sat next to him.  Kind of.  There was a seat between us on the flight from Calgary to Minneapolis.  And I know it was him.  Here’s why:

1. He looked familar – One of those faces you know you know but you can’t figure out how you know but you just know you know.  Ya, that’s a lot of knows.  But I figured out that I saw him on the commercials for his store many years ago.  And from when he would always come in to Earl’s Red Deer.  And that hockey school I went to of his that kinda sucked.

2. The guy he was flying with. – Huh?  That makes no sense.  You’re right.  I am insane and you should just stop reading right now.

But you haven’t stopped!  I’ve got you hooked. 

It’s not really that amazing, he was just a guy.  But he was showing Tom… (yes, we’re on a first name basis.  Except that I call him Tom and he calls me that guy in 17A who watched Flight of the Conchords Season 2, episodes 1 through 4 for the whole flight on my Archos 605 player.)… his house plans.  And when Tom(!) asked him who designed it, I thought to myself “It’s gotta be Darcy.”

Darcy was a guy in Red Deer that I worked with at Earl’s that became an architect.  So of course when two guys I assume are from Red Deer are talking about an architect it HAS to be the only one I know in the world.

“Well, his name was Darcy, and I can’t remember his last name”  I almost screamed his last name out.  Which would have gotten an interesting reaction I’m sure.  “But his company is called DP Designs”.

Jackpot!  It was totally him.  (you see what happens to me when I travel alone?  Sure, I can write totally random stuff and make myself look like an idiot.  Which is cool.  But that’s why I have Michelle.  To keep me from saying, writing, doing idiotic stuff.  I miss Michelle.  Who is in Red Deer this weekend.  She should visit Tom’s store.  No wait, it probably is still WAY overpriced.)

“The security threat level is currently orange.”  Well that’s good.  Thank you random airport announcement.  What do I do when it is orange?

Speaking of stupid stuff.  This is the story of my trip to the airport this morning. (queue excited squeals from all of you)

My flight left Calgary at 8:00AM.  So of course, being a responsible international traveller I planned to be at the airport 3 hours early.  That’s what they tell you to do.

So I get to the check-in counter at 5:00AM.  Good job Ryan.  You’ll beat the rush.  In fact, you’re the first guy in line!  I rock!

Wait, there is no one at the Northwest/ Delta airlines check-in desk.  Seems odd.  Oh well, they’ll arrive soon.  And I already checked in last night and I just have to give them my bag that I paid them $15 to carry.  They call it excess baggage.  Except that I only had one checked bag.  So somehow one is considered “excess”.  Right, because most people don’t bring bags when they fly out of the country.  Good call Northwest/ Delta airlines.  If this flight wasn’t free I’d be annoyed.

So I wait.  Finally a few other people show up to check-in.  No counter agent yet.  Then one of those super friendly volunteers in the red jackets and white hats comes by and we ask when the airline people will show up.

“Oh, they’ll be here at 5:30.  But you can’t go into USA Customs until 2 hours before your flight.”

So ya, you’re told to arrive THREE hours early.  But you can’t checkin until TWO AND A HALF hours before your flight.  And then you cannot go through customs until TWO hours before your flight.  Am I the only one that sees this as odd?  (I wasn’t, judging by the number of astonished faces.  I love the airline/ border protection industry.  And we won’t even discuss the whole “hand cream and water in small amounts are more dangerous than the super sharp fork from Earl’s that I am somehow allowed to bring.  BUT NO WATER!!)

At customs (only two hours before my flight) the nice lady asked me “where are you staying?”.  “I don’t know” I replied.  “Well sir, we don’t like that answer.  We could stop you from entering the country.”  Oh, so much for the random, hippie, vagrant traveling to unknown locations thing.  So she asks me what hotel I usually stay and then writes that in and waves me through.

I like you USA customs lady.

At security, a nice lady waved me away from the almost empty metal detectors in front of me.  “There are empty lines down there sir”, she said while pointing down a long, barren hallway.  “Right by the table.”

What table?  But you don’t mess with airport security.  I walked down the long hallway and yes!  There is a table there.  And there were no people lining up.  I went through with no issues.  Got my shoes back on and headed out the open door towards the gates.  I looked at my boarding pass to see what gate: 17A.

“The security threat level is (still) orange.”  Thanks again, Minneapolis airport announcement.

So gate 17A.  I look at the gate directional signs.  Gates 1-19: go to the left through those securly locked doors.  Gates 20 – 35: go to the right through the wide open walkway where all the people are.

Um, this ain’t right.

So I go back to security and ask another nice lady where gate 17A is.

“17A?  You must be mistaken sir.  See, that’s your seat number (right by Tom!), your gate is right here where it is circled, highlighted and bolded.  Gate 24.”

Oh.  I walked off to the right mumbling about how early it was.

The Search for Power

This could have also been the title for this extremely long winded and random post.  (oh, and it’ll get worse).  But I wanted something cool before that.  Like “Star Trek 3: The Search for Spock.”  I couldn’t think of it though.  Houston Trek sounds kind of stupid.

Now that I am in the terminal at gate 24, I start looking for a power outlet.  Michelle so very nicely let me take our old laptop which doesn’t have a battery.  So we always have to plug in.  Which is fine at home, but not at the Calgary Airport.

Did you know the Calgary airport has FREE WiFi?  Yes, free.  The catch is that you have to find a power outlet for your laptop.  Unless YOUR laptop has a source of power that doesn’t need a power outlet.  Or you have a RIM Blackberry, Apple IPhone or a similar smart phone device thingy.

No power outlets to be found.  I guess I’ll read my book.

[short summary of next 3 hours.  Got on the airplane, Tom!, Flight of the Conchords with the Archos which HAS a battery, landed in Minneapolis.]

Oh ya, seat 17A?  NO LEG ROOM.  I walked down the aisle to my seat seeing the normal leg room on all rows.  Got to row 17 and noticed that something was missing.  The leg room.  Crap.  But it wasn’t that bad.  I just jammed my one leg beside the seat in front of me and made the guy in that seat awkward because he kept touching my leg, and stuck the other leg into the leg room of the empty seat between me and Tom.  Hopefully I don’t sit in that seat again.  Except that I have that seat on the flight back to Calgary.  Ya, better change that on checkin.  16A looked a lot better.

Now, I am sitting in the Minneapolis airport.  WHERE THEY HAVE POWER, but charge for WiFi.  But at least I can charge the battery on my video player.  I met up with Kelly’s mom and picked up all their Christmas presents.  I sold Dan’s presents and ate his birthday present as well.  I doubt he’ll mind.

Soon, I plan to go eat at Cajun Charlie’s.  I have a few good memories of this aiport because the last time we came through here was on the way down to Mississippi when Katria was born.  And one of those memories is of Cajun Charlie’s.  Amazing food.  I walked through security and saw it.  And DEFINITELY didn’t giggle with delight.  My flight to Houston leaves at 5:00PM and by 8:30ish the LEGENDARY Houston Convergence of ’09 will have begun.  (Ooooooh, that’s a decent title.)

(Hey cool, there’s a police car on the runway out there.  Do they pull over speeding airplanes in Minneapolis?)

Better be done now.  That was only a half day.  Again, me + travelling alone – wife and kids = WAY too much time to contemplate what to write in my blog.  See the “Insanity: Road Trip to” blog posts from last year for further evidence.

(hey, did you notice how many different company and product names I dropped in this post?  I’m hoping that one of them will read the blog, decide NOT to sue me for slander and then sponsor the rest of the LEGENDARY Houston Convergence of ’09.)

Oh man, this is gonna be cool.

/RD