Layover at Pappas Burger
By urbanhoustonian at April 18, 2008 | 1:21 AM | Print
So I’m sitting at the bar at Pappas Burger on the Hobby Airport Concourse. It’s 8:23, my flight was set to leave Houston at 7:00. The proverbial Texas Thunderstorm is ravaging the Metroplex as I write this. It’s not that bad really, they serve a pretty decent Pinot Grigio here, and it only ran me $7.95 for the short access to the Boingo Wi-Fi service that you have to log into for here at Hobby. Short note to self:
1. Hobby needs to make their wi-fi FREE! Not everyone who roams this terminal is a regular flier. It’s in situations like these that one does not want to have to pay to pass to the time. Of course, I’m a blogger, and your noble extoller of the Houston experience; I sacrifice myself for you!
2. I need to seriously consider mobile broadband through my cellphone provider. It’s more reliable, and I’d be paying for it 24/7 instead of this piddly $8 for 24 hour treatment in situations like this.
So there is a fellow delayee sitting next to me at the bar. He’s from Dallas, and he showed me the best site for local Dallas weather maps. http://www.wfaa.com/. Not bad, much like every other local news station, but it was a little better than weather.com, for the local angle enough. Hell, the Weather Channel is still saying there is a Thunderstorm Watch in effect. Um, hello weathermen and women! Once the Good FAA Gods delay flights, it’s time to call a Warning. That, and the fact that this line of storms staged the opening scenes from Wizard of Oz west of Fort Worth. I’m going to pitch my own weather show. The Wino Weatherman. I’m sitting here in Hobby Airport, Pinot Grigio in hand, it’d be a GREAT live shot! But I digress.
I like me some Hobby Airport. The new terminal is really quite nice, it’s just the baggage claim and initial areas before you arrive at this fancy place that still scream GHETTO!!
SIDEBAR: Scratch that on http://www.wfaa.com/. They just locked me out of the radar unless I register an account. Give me an effin-break. I’ll take the delayed warnings of weather.com over needing to sign up for a new account. NEWSBREAK: The Weather Channel website is now declaring a Thunderstorm Warning for Dallas. Woo Hoo, they are on the bandwagon!!
SIDEBAR #2: The Pappas Burger Bar has binoculars for fliers to view their gates from afar. Did I mention, on Twitter, that Pappas Burger is the BEST bar on the Hobby Airport Concourse? This is my Hobby Airport HQ from now on!
Back to Hobby. Really, I am hoping the new plan that has been introduced gets implemented as soon as possible. They want to renovate Broadway into a beautiful thoroughfare. Right now, it’s a mixed bag of terrible development (99 Cent Store, are you serious?!), a view of a fairly decent neighborhood (really!), and a good bit of ghetto fabulous. This is a gateway of Houston, we need to do better!
Still, I cannot imagine there are many better places to be stuck while Mother Nature fucks with your flight schedule. Oh, and for those of you wondering why I am flying instead of driving. The flight to Dallas, booked within a reasonable time, is $49 each way. That is essentially the same as a tank of gas in my car these days and, when Mother Nature isn’t being a BITCH, a relatively faster trip. Hell, I’d spend a moderate amount more than that to shave anything off the 8-hour round trip via automobile. Plus, all those extra trips to Dallas that I make to visit my brother can add up to a free trip to a more pleasurable locale like Vegas, Nawlin’s or even someplace in sunny Flo-ree-da! Mickey, here I come!
Well, I’m going to get myself in a position to pack up now. My compatriot and I believe this here plane will board around 9:30. I need to enjoy the rest of this second glass of Pinot Grigio, and get back to the gate. SIDEBAR #3, this other guy just ordered a shot of Jager! He must be behind me in the queue of flights to Dallas.
TGIF, I say. I’ll be sleeping while many of you are reading this at work in the morning. It’s totally okay. I hope you enjoyed this post as much as I had living/writing it. You have yourselves a great weekend. I think you’re getting Mother Nature’s wrath tomorrow, but the weekend appears to be great. I’ll touch base with you during the weekend via Twitter when possible. Have a great weekend!
