Non-Traditional Jigsaw Puzzles

Time & Date: 3 January, 5:01 am

Yesterday afternoon, I left for the airport with the onset of a surprising snowstorm. My folks and I made it to our immediate destination without incident, but following an extra two hours spent in the plane on the runway at Lincoln Municipal, I missed my connection that would send me to Washington D.C. Such is the way of the world, at least for those who are running Lincoln Municipal Airport; I mean to say, we stayed on the ground because of over-booking and ineptitude at de-icing the plane. It was all a bit of a disappointing mess, particularly since easily half of the passengers were then destined to rebook connecting flights.

I have traveled more than most and for that opportunity, I am thankful. Traveling has always been one of those precarious tasks for people. One decides on important articles here and there, arranges them just so, and leaves the familiar for new discoveries both grand and minute. On the way, one runs into barriers—climatological, mechanical, personal—but more often than not, one gets to the destination with most of the original pieces, or at least the intended pieces. My brother-in-law made an astute remark about flying the other week, that we have been flying for over a hundred years, you would think we would have it figured out by now.

Here, I wish to express my gratitude for those underpaid, overworked, and poorly compensated employees of the commercial aeronautics enterprises. Pilots are severely underpaid and, with the ever-feverish race for cheap tickets, that is unlikely to change. As for flight staff and other costumer/passenger service associates, I have seem them remain calm in the face of overwhelming numbers of frustrated, angry, exhausted, and thoroughly disheveled masses. The poise and competence required is more than I can muster so, following those particularly dastardly expeditions, I try to express my thanks more sincerely than usual.

With that said, Mr. Joe Bain, my brother-in-law, has a point: Shouldn't we have gotten this right by now? Flight is an especially hectic means of travel and, given that, sometimes—even at a sleepless four o'clock in the morning in the Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport—I have to take a breath and think how miraculous it is that I get to go anywhere at all. If I were to brush of the glamor of flight—which a night in the airport is likely to do—it does make one wonder what we have been doing for the past few decades that makes it so difficult to count passengers on a plane or use standard maintenance hardware that will get us in the air.

My current frustrations are not simply bound up in getting off the ground at appropriate, previously stated deadlines, but has to do with the simple statements given by others connected to the business. After our late arrival was brushed off as a weather issue—which it wasn't, but rather a failure on the part of ground crew to maintain their de-icing equipment and figure out who was staying on an overbooked plane—I was given a number to call to set me up with a nearby hotel at a discounted rate. That was all well and good, except that the shuttle never showed up to pick me up. After over an hour, I decided I would rather find a quiet nook in the airport and sit down to read, play games, and watch some videos rather than stand aimlessly by a window any longer. Had I been able to make it to the hotel, I would have probably been able to make a nice little night of it, but such was not the case and so I find myself more or less sleepless in the airport.

This, I suppose, is a simple gripe. (I just saw what was probably a mouse run through the airport, which may make my gripe more pertinent.) I am not generally prone to these, but after a long night I feel like I deserve it. What strikes me so thoroughly is the nearness to quality the whole endeavor gets. All the pieces were in place, but just askew; the puzzle pieces just are not intended to fit together that way. With just a little jiggle, some finagling, it very well might fall into place. As it is, the picture is pretty far from appealing.