I'm sitting at my gate in SeaTac Airport, using the terminal's wireless connection. After rushing to the airport and literally running to my gate, I arrived only find that the flight's been delayed an hour. That's just tremendous. This means I get to use the airport's wireless network. Waiting at airports provides an opportunity for guilt-free relaxation. Once you�re at the gate, you�re not required to do anything but wait. All they ask is that you wait. Which means you can read, listen to music, whatever.

To wit: a couple days ago in O'Hare, my flight was delayed a full two hours, so I bought a magazine, had a reasonably-priced beer at an airport bar (and by reasonably-priced I mean not reasonably-priced at all, but six dollars-priced) and ate a cheesesburger.

Then I sat at my gate, listening to a woman to my left yammer on her cell phone to about nine different people. In the course of her conversations I learned that she is a travel agent and was trying to get back home. She missed her cousin�s �friggin�� graduation in Milwaukee because her �friggin�� flight was delayed and had to leave the �friggin�� house at four this morning. She was glad just to be getting on a �friggin�� flight. She didn�t even care if they gave her a seat; she�d strap herself to the �friggin�� wing if it meant getting home any sooner.

After touching down I took a bus from the airport to the heart of Seattle, where I got on a ferry to Bainbridge Island. From there, Ben and Carter picked me up and drove me up to Poulsbo, on the mainland, where the wedding would be held. If someone wanted to kidnap me in northwestern Washington, they totally could because it took me almost the whole day to figure out the geography of the place. It wasn't until late yesterday that I figured out we were not, in fact, on an island anymore. Anyway. Friday night I joined everyone at one of the guesthouses and proceeded to get ripped.

I was especially corked to see Neil. After a couple hours of Neil and me cracking each other up using our tried-and-true crass sense of humor, his girlfriend asked him how long he'd known me, because we act exactly the same.

The wedding itself, yesterday, was very tasteful and simple. It was raining, but then, it is the Pacific Northwest. Did you know Alanis Morrissette gets royalties every time it rains on someone's wedding day?

Then there was the reception.

At the reception Sara caught the bouquet and got surprisingly excited about it.

After the reception we went back to the guesthouse and drank more. I had purchased four pounds of crab legs earlier and a small group of us devoured those. They were delicious; I think I ate so much that my stomach started hallucinating. We also told Sara that if she fell asleep too early, we'd teabag her. Sure enough, she fell asleep, and so Carter teabagged her:

Carter had purchased some Quebecois beer called Fin du Monde, which is 9.0% alcohol. So we drank that and promptly felt its effects.

We also geeked out and made party playlists on our iPods. There was a bonfire out back where we decided to try melting different things, such as glass and nickles. But the results were disappointing.

We were the last ones to go to bed, however, which means I am still young at heart.

The weather in Seattle today is uncharacteristically clear and sunny.

These short weekend trips can take their toll.

Don't want to go back to Chicago. Don't want to go back to work.

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