About that flight delay

Yesterday, I mentioned an odd delay in my trip from O'Hare to Raleigh yesterday late afternoon.  Here's what happened.

We boarded and pulled away from the gate on time.  We were slated to arrive at RDU eight minutes early.  I had been lucky enough to receive an upgrade to First Class, where I was enjoying a pre-flight cup of Coke Zero.  Everything was looking good.

When we were well away from the gate and starting to turn toward the runway, the flight attendant started throwing paper napkins on the floor, at which point I could see water coming onto the floor in her space.  She got on the phone with the pilot and kept putting down napkins--but the water spread.  She pulled out a trash container, one of the large carts that stow under the counters in the attendant space, and it was full of water.

The pilot announced that we had a small flood in the front cabin and took us back to the gate.

A maintenance team boarded the plane and set to work.  I could hear them talking.  After a while, they figured out that the coffee maker was leaking water.  They quickly fixed the problem, cleaned the area, and left.

I figured we were good to go.

No such luck.

The pilot told us over the intercom that the end light on our left wing was broken.  They had known about this problem before, but on our original schedule we were due to land in Raleigh in daylight, so the broken light was not an issue.  Due to the flood delay, we were now due to land in Raleigh in darkness, so they had to fix the light--a process that was going to take somewhere between twenty minutes and so long we'd have to change planes.

I began rooting for the former option.

About twenty-five minutes later, the pilot announced a successful repair, and we finally took off.

Until yesterday, I'd never had a plane delay due to flooding, but now I can cross that one off my to-do list.

I'm home

Odd flight delay story to follow.

Crashing (me, not the plane) looms.

I have to get up at 5:30 in the morning

and it's a great deal later than the timestamp on this post would suggest, so I'm going to keep this short and simple:  Le Pigeon remains an amazing, wonderful restaurant.  A group of us ate the seven-course tasting menu there tonight, and I loved every single dish.  Chef/owner Gabriel Rucker and his team produce innovative and delicious food that you absolutely should sample if you are ever in Portland--and if you live here, get down to Le Pigeon ASAP.

Do not miss Le Pigeon.

Wonderful Willow wows

Sorry about that headline, but I couldn't resist the temptation, because it's true.  Willow, a small (11-seat) Portland restaurant, wowed me again tonight with its delicious, thoughtful, and playful food.  Though only four of us sat at the counter tonight, this place deserves to be sold out every day and have waiting lists; it really is that good.

It's late, and I'm tired, so I'm going to cut this short by summarizing the quality of the dishes in the following way.  I strongly dislike beets, squash, and Brussels sprouts, with my dislike increasing as you read from left to right in that list.  Three of tonight's six courses at Willow, all in a row, featured first beets, then squash, and finally Brussels sprouts.  I absolutely loved them all, and my favorite of the trio was the Brussels sprouts dish.

Yes, the Willow chefs created a Brussels sprouts dish that I adored.

Yes, these guys are that good.  Check 'em out.

Hotel operators do not love me

Late last night, before turning off the light, I placed a wake-up call (and, as usual, set my phone alarm; I'm a belt-and-suspenders guy).  I asked for a call at eight a.m.

This morning, my phone rang.  I glanced at the clock:  7:45 a.m.  I answered the phone.

A Germanic female voice said, "This is your seven forty-five wake-up call."

I said, "I asked for an eight o'clock call."

The hotel operator replied, "It is seven forty-five," and she hung up.

Hard to argue with that logic.

I got up and went to work.

The rumors of snow were greatly exaggerated

At least here in Portland and in the nearby city I visit for work, we've had zero snow so far--lots of rain, but no snow.  I can't complain, because snow would make everything harder, but I wouldn't have minded seeing a light dusting.

In other news, Gabriel Rucker's Little Bird Bistro continues to be a lovely place to eat a delicious French meal, done in Gabe's own style, on a cold night.

Another great minute about Fast 8

This ad appeared during the television coverage of today's Super Bowl.  Just watch the part up to the trailer you've seen before.



Clearly, this film will continue the highly realistic nature of its predecessors.