9.15.06.
thoughts while air travelling.
we flew out of oakland this morning, and passed over SFO as we turned south, and i got to watch a few planes land from above. (i mean, i watched from above while planes landed. the planes themselves always land from above. where else would they land from?) it was amazing how slow the planes seemed to go before they touched down. especially in comparison to how strongly it feels like you're braking when you're in the plane.
in phoenix, our terminal had some birds in it. those little brown finchy ones, who can fly straight through a chain-link fence without slowing down. they fluttered around, with occasional swooping, serving as a conversation starter for strangers in line. as i boarded, they were pecking for crumbs in the carpet.
the pilot just announced: "we're gonna start our decent towards providence; we're about 170 miles away."
if you started preparing for your exit on the highway 170 miles in advance, the people in your car would be really annoyed.