I was up at 2:45 am, going on about four hours of sleep. We had a 5:50 flight to catch to Charlotte on US Airways. It's very rare that I don't fly American, but the American flights to both Miami and Tampa were oversold, even the 5 am Miami flight. So we left around 3:30 am and headed to Blue Sky parking, where I always go. $8 a day is a pretty good rate at O'Hare.
So we checked in two bags and headed to the employee security line. This is the advantage of Mom being an active employee, well, just one of them. We get to skip the whole security line. We've been through this procedure a thousand times. Shoes off, belt off, liquids out, pockets emptied, laptop computer in its own tray. Not too difficult. Except Mom was held up. All of a sudden, one of the TSA guys produced a steak knife. It looked like one of ours, but it still didn't click for me. I then realized mom had packed four apples and some small containers of peanut butter. She brings these to work every day, along with a knife, which is no problem since she enters the airport through another entrance when she works there. This time, she simply forgot to take the knife out of her bag. They conducted an investigation, even calling in the Chicago police. I was worried we would get detained. Obviously, they confiscated the knife, which was not a big deal. But fortunately, after about a 20-minute wait, they let Mom go. As we were walking away, the chief cop called out to Mom, "Bananas tomorrow!"
We made the flight with about 20 minutes to spare. I was out of it; I probably slept 90 minutes of that 2-hour flight. In Charlotte, we split two slices of Sbarro pizza. They had a variety slice with meat and veggies and I chose a slice of cheese for the simple reason that it looked fresh. It held us over, at least. I also checked out the EA Sports store. It had a few places to play video games as well as some local sports gear. I thought about picking up a NC State shirt, since I took a class there, but nothing really suited me. The Tampa flight was pretty smooth. We got our luggage after what seems like 15 minutes and rented a gray Hyundai Accent from Alamo. We had two economy cars to choose from and I made the call based on it having a lot of plugs. Of course, I tried plugging my phone into the USB plug and...the plug is shot. I know it's not the charger; it worked in my car two days ago! So it's a good thing I brought along my portable multi-charger.
We checked into the Courtyard in Clearwater, which looks like a replica of the Tampa Courtyard we stayed in last year. Same layout, same lobby, same features, the whole she-bang. We headed to Ybor City in Tampa for Christmas dinner at Columbia. Even though our reservation was at 3, we were sat at 2. We got a different pitcher of sangria; this one was the imported. It used Torres brandy, plus a very high quality Spanish wine, called Sangre de Toro. I enjoyed it since the different liquors added a little sophisticated, well-rounded flavor to the sweetness of the fruit. Of course, we started with the 1905 salad with spicy shrimp. It is the simplest salad, but it is so good! Iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, Swiss cheese, green olives, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, Romano cheese...and that garlicky shrimp. It's just perfect. And of course, you get a hot loaf of Cuban bread! I just love my carbs! My entrée was Mahi Mahi veradero. They took a piece of Mahi Mahi and crusted it in crushed plantain banana chips, topping it with a citrus butter sauce and fresh lump crabmeat. They served it with yellow rice and a mix of broccolini, red onions, and garlic. Just an amazing seafood dish.
We drove over to the AMC theater to catch the premier of "Unbroken." I have a tremendous amount of respect for Louis Zamperini. I have heard him speak several times and I have read the book that this film was based on. So I was looking forward to the movie, as were many other people, apparently. By the time we got on line, at least sixty people had already formed a line. It was an incredibly emotional and powerful movie. My only real disappointment was that they overlooked his life once he returned from war. I know the film was over two hours long, but there is no doubt they could have extended it another 20 minutes. I would have liked a scene where he actually went back to Japan and met with his captors. Even if they ignored his faith conversion at the Billy Graham crusade, a scene in Japan would have helped bring the story full circle.
There wasn't much else to do at night except drink water, watch the Food Network and a Jeff Dunham special, and do a little homework. I tried studying the script for work, but without the videos, it's just not clicking for me yet.
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