Lately, the Astronomy Picture of the Day folks have been posting spooky images from space. I especially like the one at the left. What do you see, a bat or giant space muppet?

Yesterday, sitting on the plane waiting to fly to Denver, I heard an announcement giving the last call for a passenger who hadn't boarded yet. I thought, "What an idiot!" The person never did board. I don't think the airline makes that announcement unless the person is already checked in. And if you're already checked in, how hard can it be to make it to the plane on time? Some people.

In Denver, I had more than an hour layover, so I settled in at gate C41 to wait for my flight. I filled the time playing Psychonauts, a computer adventure game that cartaufalous had given Lyn for her birthday. Since I have a new laptop with good graphics card, I decided to give it a spin. It's fun, though I don't know enough about modern computer games to rate it against any others. I can say that it's less violent than Duke Nukem 3D (remember that one?).

When they finally started calling us to line up to board (this was Southwest, who likes to line its passengers up like sheep), I thought I heard something about San Diego, but dismissed it as nonsense. Then I heard over the PA system, "Last call for Portland passenger David P-----." A quick check revealed that I had indeed been waiting for the San Diego flight and that my flight was leaving from gate C47. After a heart-pumping race up the terminal hall, interrupted by do-gooders yelling things like, "Sir, your bag is open!" and "Sir, you dropped something!" I made it to gate C47. There was no one at the gate. After a moment's hesitation to overcome my programming to never enter a jetway without first sliding something under a laser scanner, I ran down the jetway. The fellow at the door said, "There you are. Did you hear my announcement?" He seemed happy to see that his effort had paid off.

The plane wasn't full and I quickly found a seat and let my heart slow down as I pondered what was going through the heads of the other passengers.