Mastodawn

Robin DeRosa Feb 24

I’m traveling from NH to MN today to meet some of the team at my new job. I’ve already done the first carpool leg and I’m onto the bus now! Airplane to come! Expected 10 more hours of joyful journeying. Buckle up and join me for a thread of observation, consternation, and transportation! 🚗 🚍 ✈️

Robin DeRosa Feb 24

Already some Olympic-level hacking going on so I’ve masked up. I recently got somewhat laid off (better than being a little big pregnant), but I still rep my faculty union because they fought for us! Solidarity! Also swag!

Robin DeRosa Feb 24

Just got my first ominous text saying to expect delays and cancellations as Boston Logan Airport digs out from two feet of snow from a giant blizzard. If you’re all lucky, this 10 hour trip could turn into 20!!! I have attached an avalanche beacon to my carryon and I am going for it.

Robin DeRosa Feb 24

Reader, I fear I may have to use the bus lavatory. I have ridden countless buses in my day and it’s never come to this. But the alternative seems potentially worse?

Robin DeRosa Feb 24

Reader, I have returned. It was beyond what I could have imagined. A large plush lobby, snacks, and warm towels. You think the bus loo will be a tiny closet of hell, but trust me when I say it’s Narnia in there.

Robin DeRosa Feb 24

Ok I’m going to dig into my EMT course textbook podcast backlog. First chapter for today is on cardiac shock. (Yes I’m studying to be an EMT. It’s my hobby. Someone told me I needed a hobby.)

It’s Pearson textbook ($200+) and the accompanying podcast is two AI’s talking to each other, basically reading the textbook.

As you can imagine, my course instructor has had about enough of me and my “critiques.”

Robin DeRosa Feb 24

Delayed by one hour so far! But the good news is SBARRO

Robin DeRosa Feb 24

The good news turned out to be very bad. And I am from rural New Hampshire and my pizza standards are accordingly very low.

Robin DeRosa Feb 24

So far we have had three announced delays, but only a sum total of 1 hour delay. But I think there is some frog-boiling going on here.

Robin DeRosa Feb 24

Also there is a big pub called "Boston Bruins" right across from my gate. Seems odd that the pub is the exact name of the hockey team, but I will probably check it out since I assume it's where the queer people congregate. #HeatedAirport

Robin DeRosa Feb 24

Lest you think I am just lounging around with the gay hockey players, you should know that I walked from gate A10 to A17 which means changing levels twice, two moving sidewalks, and about 1.3 miles of straightaway. AND THEN I KID YOU NOT THEY CHANGED ME BACK TO A10!!! Why don’t I just sit at the bar like a normal person?? Why does every minute in an airport in which I am not at my gate deduct like 45 minutes off my life span???

Robin DeRosa Feb 24

You should also know that I did this with a bad back! One month ago I had a serious injury while MAKING THE BED (yes I am that old) and it hasn’t been fixed yet despite my physical therapist’s stabbing me with electrically charged needles. I am on steroids to try to survive this trip. But apparently they are the steroids that make you pee a lot rather than the steroids that make you buff. So here I am running around the airport like a fit woman which I am not. Ok let me correct that. I am running around like an unfit woman with a bad back who has to pee.

Robin DeRosa Feb 24

The end of this EMT textbook chapter is about how to recognize when someone is sooooo dead, you don’t have to try to resuscitate them. They actually say that we should not do cpr on a decapitated patient. I have concern for students who needed to read that in a textbook.

Sorry if this is too graphic for a cute travel thread. But I’m like one step away from being a main character on The Pitt so it’s to be expected.

Robin DeRosa Feb 24

Some members of the flight crew have shown up and are waiting with us. People are looking at them desperately like maybe they are prophets sent from another land who might carry news about where our plane is.

Robin DeRosa Feb 24

Somehow the energy at this gate feels like when everyone is listening hard for the first tremor of the sandworms in Dune.

Robin DeRosa Feb 24

Except there is a Dunkins here in the desert for some reason

Robin DeRosa Feb 24

The woman next to me is dressed the way anyone in a Boston blizzard dresses when they’re about to get on a plane to Minneapolis.

Robin DeRosa Feb 24

I was wondering how to work a Don DeLillo scene into this thread. Well the universe just delivered:

Man, to gate agent, “We are connecting on our way to Portugal.”

Man’s wife: “We are going to Puerto Rico.”

Man: “…”

Robin DeRosa Feb 24

I have been wearing a mask for 5.5 hours. If I were MAGA I would have asphyxiated on my own CO2 by now. 😅

Robin DeRosa Feb 24

I just took my noise canceling headphones off for a minute. In the words of Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman, “Big mistake. Huge.”

Robin DeRosa Feb 24

I see a tunnel with a light at the end of it!! Am I dead??

Robin DeRosa Feb 24

I have boarded! Full plane, very germy, maximum fun. See y’all in the Midwest, punks!

Robin DeRosa Feb 24

Just kidding. Pilot just came on to tell us one of the engines is…I think he said…broke.

Robin DeRosa Feb 24

As soon as they FIX THE BROKE ENGINE we will be on our way, folks!

Robin DeRosa Feb 24

I am thinking of telling them I am an EMT in case they want me to have a look under the hood

Robin DeRosa Feb 24

Oh lord we’re still on the tarmac and they are handing out free snacks IF YOU KNOW AIRPLANES LIKE I KNOW AIRPLANES THEN YOU KNOW BAD SIGN

Robin DeRosa Feb 24

I see a guy with a wrench walking around down there. Like someone’s cousin offered to see what he could do

Robin DeRosa Feb 24

It’s weird how at this point like 99% of us would vote to just take off, bad engine and all, and just take our chances.

Robin DeRosa Feb 24

Pilot just announced another 20-30 minutes. Maybe. I digress from this lighthearted thread about delays and decapitation to say in all seriousness

American air travel is inhumane, and as physically and emotionally rigorous as almost anything.

Robin DeRosa Feb 24

And now I’m back to lighthearted posting when I say that they are testing the engine “by giving it a few good revs.”

😬

Robin DeRosa Feb 24

I don’t think the revs were good enough 🫤

Robin DeRosa Feb 24

Guy With A Wrench is now in the cockpit talking to the pilot (his cousin?). Seems like not a good sign.

Robin DeRosa Feb 24

Confirmed: the Wrench Guy could not fix it. They are trying something else for 20-30 mins and then I’m likely looking at deplaning and the complete annihilation of any spirit I had left in me.

Robin DeRosa Feb 24

The Apple FlightTracker says I am now “en route.”

Yeah, and Pilot Godot is at the wheel.

Robin DeRosa Feb 24

Godot just said the issue is resolved and we should be underway soon!

[Didi and Gogo dance with joy]

They just need to “close up the engine.” COULD THEY DO THAT FROM THE AIR PLEASE 😭😭😭😭

Robin DeRosa Feb 24

Still not in the air but logging off to sit quietly with my eyes closed and hum to myself

Robin DeRosa Feb 28

Oh lovelies! I had such a wonderful visit to the world of the golden gophers at my new university in Minnesota! But all good things must end so here I am at the Minneapolis airport ready to fly to Boston and we’re kicking it off with a special treat from Delta: a 3-hour delay! I’ve already done a 1 hour car ride, and we still have the flight, the 2 hour bus, and the final 1 hour car ride home. You know what this means? LIKE A GOPHER IN YOUR GARDEN THAT YOU CANT KILL THIS TRAVEL THREAD IS GOING TO CONTINUE TO EAT YOUR TIME

Robin DeRosa Feb 28

[thread management does not endorse the killing of gophers or any other irritating mammals, including those ruining our country]

Robin DeRosa Feb 28

*running

Robin DeRosa Feb 28

*ha ha jk ruining

Robin DeRosa Feb 28

It’s not exciting but I just took a quiz on diabetic ketoacidosis and I got a 96% so you’re only 4% likely to be out of luck if you have a diabetic emergency on my watch! Other than that this airport is pleasantly boring.

Robin DeRosa Feb 28

Bought a cute Minnesota loon resistance magnet at the craft booth in Terminal 1. It’s cool because it’s both anti-ice and also reminiscent of stupid Canadian wolf bird. Score!

Robin DeRosa Feb 28

I have been here so many hours, and every hour the kind gate agent moves me up one row, so I’ve now left lavatory land! If I stay here eleven more hours I’ll be in first class, bitches!

Robin DeRosa Feb 28

Just about to board but we’ve all been told to sit back down at the gate because maintenance is now called in to work on the plane…which was delayed 3 hours so far for maintenance. This plane is very high maintenance. 💅

Robin DeRosa Feb 28

Now we are told to start boarding again like one minute after we were told to pause boarding for maintenance. The plane’s blood sugar is low and it’s starting to get punchy. It needs a snack.

Robin DeRosa Feb 28

We are boarding and I am zone ♾️

Robin DeRosa Feb 28

I am on the plane and only two people are wearing masks: me and my delightful Minnesotan seatmate! Fate brings us together 😷 🥰

Robin DeRosa Feb 28

We’re gonna fly now, kids. WiFi is free on this plane but I’m going to pretend it’s not because I do not support the dawn of an era where we have to be connected to earthly business when we are hurtling through the sky

Robin DeRosa Feb 28

Goodbye Minnesota you are flat

Robin DeRosa Feb 28

Hello Boston from up here you basically look like Minnesota

Robin DeRosa Feb 28

Oh blessed mother of aviation I got off the plane and RAN FULL THROTTLE AND I HAVE MADE THE EARLIER BUS SAVING MYSELF AN EXTRA HOUR OF SITTING AROUND ON A COLD BOSTON SIDEWALK and all it cost me is the last tiny ounces of spinal function that I had 😩

Praise be!!!!!

Robin DeRosa Feb 28

We are at the next terminal and there are LINES of people and this bus to New Hampshire is full and people are being turned away and with all the generosity of spirit of someone who toils every day in the name of the common good, I say to those people NAH NAH NAH NAH, NAH NAH NAH NAH, HEY HEY HEY GOOD BYE

Robin DeRosa Feb 28

Just kidding!!! I want everyone to be on this bus!! I will ride on anyone’s lap or in the luggage compartment! Squeeze us all in! Get us all home to New Hampshire!!! Live free or die!!!

I will give up my seat to any New Hampshire citizen who promises to renounce libertarianism.

Robin DeRosa Feb 28

Ok my compatriots. It’s the penultimate leg of this equisite corpse of a travel thread. I am worn all the way out, and also keenly aware that exiting the wormhole of the air travel parallel universe means re-entry into the despairingly horrific and violent political reality that’s unfolding at the hands of unhinged authoritarians. Thank you to all of you for providing solace and community in the face of it all. Thanks to Minnesota for being a little piece of me now. We all need to be a little Minnesotan as this shit continues to unfold. Xoxoxo

/End

Bonni Stachowiak Feb 28

@actualham Couldn’t agree more re us all being more Minnesota. 🔥

This podcast episode with the student journalists covering what’s been happening there brought me hope. Plus, it’s such a good example of audio storytelling.

https://learningcurve.fm/episodes/lessons-from-minneapolis-about-ai-and-misinformation

Safe travels home, Robin.

Lessons From Minneapolis About AI and Misinformation | Learning Curve

During the ICE surge in Minneapolis, AI is playing a role in this tense and unfolding story, specifically how it is contributing to misinformation. What can educators do to prepare students, and any of us, for this new information landscape where AI is increasingly a factor. Jeff visited the University of Minnesota’s journalism school and talked with a professor who is exploring the role of AI in news, as well as three student journalists covering protests and ICE activity.

Learning Curve

salix sericea (@Ripple13216)Feb 28

@actualham Thank you for sharing the travel. Wishing you well.

Patrick Anderson Mar 7

@actualham
Beautiful

Econproph Feb 28

@actualham You sure that's BOS? IIRC, there's s'posed to be a really big water thing on one side. 😉

Robin DeRosa Feb 28

@econproph I hope so I just got on a bus wherever I am

Alan is @cogdog 🇨🇦Feb 28

@actualham Yeah but I bet some shlump is in a later zone.

Robin DeRosa Feb 28

@cogdog literally I am the last shlump. It makes me wonder what life choices I made that led to this

Alan is @cogdog 🇨🇦Feb 28

@actualham Don't put stock in cosmic pre-causation, how about what kind of future fortune may flow from this? (trying)

Sasha Akhavi Feb 28

@actualham me at the Rapture

Econproph Feb 28

@actualham
But if it takes 13-14 hours, then you'll be in cockpit and flying the plane! The ultimate travelogue!

Robin DeRosa Feb 28

@econproph it would be a short thread 😬

🕯️Curious Magpie 🕯️Feb 28

@actualham ruining for sure

Christine Lemmer-Webber Feb 28

@actualham I also wish ill on JK Ruining

Robin DeRosa Feb 28

@cwebber bwahahaha

Downes 🍁Feb 25

@actualham Cliffhanger...