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There is a dinosaur at the O'Hare airport?! Just chillin' out and being tall.

I was rushing by from gate to gate and I saw her out of the corner of my eye. Naturally, I had to go back and get another look. And then again to take her picture.

There are many times in which I wish I could hold my pinky and wink an eye to take a picture. To capture a sunset or the look on someone's face, friend or stranger. Most cameras are so bulky and heavy. And intrusive. It interrupts the flow of being there the whole stopping to take a picture. I take myself out of an experience to capture it. Added to that I cannot take a picture of myself in the scene so the image can't document my being there. And I do not have the skill as a photographer to capture a thing exactly as I see it. The mountain is not tall enough, the sunset is not red enough. So there are many times when I decide that what I really want is to be there and if in the end memory fails and I cannot recall it, so be it.

I took pictures. But in trying to blog, I wish I had taken more. Many more.

On the plane from the Lou to Chi a young woman boarded with a Nalgene water bottle. As she passed me looking for her seat I saw that inside this Nalgene was a siamese fighting fish. I have to wonder if she had to send it through the X-ray machine or if security let her just bring it through the metal detector. I hope the little guy made it home safe.

I am told that the cleanest most beautiful airport in the world is in Singapore. In my more limited experience with airports I would say that mostly they are pretty much the same, although certain corridors of the Atlanta airport are quite charming. Clean and new with interesting art displayed at each gate. And Hong Kong International airport is quite lovely with many restaurants to suit any taste, lounge areas with upholstered chairs and a mini mall of stores.

Flying is not as much fun as when I was a child. The seats were enormous and there was tons of leg room. I loved the meals and the thrill of ordering ginger ale from the drink cart. Now the seats are small and crowded. I still order ginger ale. And I am lucky to get a hot pocket. This flight did have meals. United offered an endless rotation of movies I would not ordinarily watch. "The Corpse Bride" was cute and equally enjoyable dubbed into Korean. "I, Robot" was amusing and "Good Night and Good Luck" was quite good. Distressingly, "Pride and Prejudice" had the entire last scene edited out. The flight attendants did their best to keep us hydrated and their "late night" snack was a bowl of instant ramen noodles with an almond cookie. It was as decent as an economy class international flight will get.

Some ex-pat fellas complained about the age and the, uh, girth of the flight attendants on the international flights. One was described as barely squeezing down the aisle. My father tells me that this is done on purpose. For some reason it was found that very skinny women who flew long distances complained of pain. Joint pain and back pain. So on some airlines stickfigures fly domestic and nonstick figures fly international.

I feel a little like Herodotus telling you such stories. I cannot confirm that they are true I can only pass along the hearsay. Much of my trip was like this. Full of stories that I now pass along to you not because I know them to be true but merely because they interest me.