8:25 p.m.
Just returned from a week long trip to Chicago, which was nice -- it was great to get out of Dallas for a little bit, but the cool, refreshing weather of a normal Chicago October was absent due to a heat wave that even screwed with their annual Chicago Marathon:
Scorching Chicago Marathon Leaves 1 Dead
"At least 49 runners were taken to hospitals and another 250 were treated at the site. The 88-degree heat and sweltering humidity were so draining that organizers shut down the second half of the course four hours after the start . . . Race director Carey Pinkowski said organizers were concerned that emergency medical personnel wouldn't be able to keep up with heat-related injuries. "We were seeing a high rate of people that were struggling," Pinkowski said. "If you were out there at 1 o'clock, it was a hot sun. It was like a summer day. It was just a brutally hot day."
And it really was hot in Chicago. The BF and I cut a number of afternoon treks short due to the glaring sun and the heat. I mean, we left Dallas to get away from the heat, but it looks like we took it with us . . . and it also looks like I brought back back some kind of virus in return, though I most likely picked that up from the airplane.
The plane on which we returned to Dallas was one of the filthiest airplanes I've ever had the misfortune to board. American Airlines has a reputation for dirty airplanes and bad customer service, but this was ridiculous -- the seat backs were ripped and coming apart, the overhead bins were covered with what looked like years of grime and human grease, the seats, armrests and carpeting were stained and caked with food, ink and god knows what else. I spent the entire flight trying to keep my head from leaning back on the seat, I was that disgusted.
I can't for the life of me figure out how airlines find this acceptable -- their planes aren't running 24/7. There's actual downtime when these vehicles can be cleaned, so why aren't they?
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