Take Me Home Country Roads

Every time I get a message while on the Internet that says "Firefox prevented this site from opening a popup window" I give a little cheer for Firefox.

I never get over how bizarre airports are. I know this will make me sound like my friend who was once astounded at the reality that my dad could box up a wireless Internet router and send it across the country, but there is something amazing about walking by doorway after doorway, each with an ever-changing sign - Munich, Manchester, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Dallas. And consider that, if the airport just blocked off the windows, it would appear to the casual observer that thousands of people every day walked through those doorways, and somehow end up in one of those far-off cities.

Of course, just as my friend could not comprehend the mail system but had no trouble accepting wireless Internet routing (much less the Internet itself), I'm always amazed at airports but have little trouble accepting the concept of the airplane. The airplane, of course, is probably the great modern invention*, but its actual workings are so far beyond my knowledge that I just accept it. I can't figure out how they keep boats above water; the idea of keeping something the size (and weight) of an airplane in the air is insane. So insane that my only recourse is to accept it outright. I'm sure this is something innate in everyone - the disbelief in things that you can rationalize, and the acceptance of those you cannot.**

These ruminations on modern travel come courtesy of my two-hour layover in Chicago, one of the great airports, but like many, lacking Internet service (this message posted after arriving in Boston). It's not nearly as cool as Dallas, which features an unmanned train to take you from terminal to terminal, but in lacking this feature, Chicago is also much less freaky.*** But Chicago has everything - off the top of my head, I saw a sign for a Children's Museum, and an announcement just came over the system that Mass will be held in forty-five minutes. In an AIRPORT. The real reason I love Chicago is because it's a layover city, though, and there is probably a terminal in this place to service every city you can think of, thus multiplying my constant amazement at the airport system.

Time to hit the Wolfgang Puck. The current threat security level is still Orange, in case you were wondering.

*After the Internet.

**This must have been why it was so easy to sell magic for so long.

**Seriously. I took that train once and I probably went through five waves of shock, euphoria, and acceptance, realizing over and over again that NO ONE IS DRIVING THIS TRAIN.