Mishaps and adventures all in day one.

I think it just started out bad.

My sister and her husband came over to play card games with me last night. We put in Clue as background noise and went away. It was very fun until we looked at the clock. 11:30 PM. Holy crap. I have a cab picking me up at 5:30 to go to the airport ($12 minimum). We said our goodbyes and I got into bed. Like a kid before Christmas I couldn't get to sleep. I was so excited to be going to Denver for the New Year that I didn't get to sleep unitl 1:00 in the morning.

The alarm clock goes off and a phone call shortly thereafter. It's 4:00. Who could possibly be calling me at this hour? It was Orbitz.com informing me that my flight was due to take off on time. I knew that. I got out of bed and couldn't shake the feeling of needing to go to the ATM to get some cab fare. I go to Smith's and withdraw $120 ingoring the feeling for me to withdraw $220.

I get home and pack. That seems normal since I didn't do it the night before. I beautify myself and go outside to wait for my taxi. I'm only waiting a short time when I see him flip a U-turn to come retreive me from the light dusting of snow. He takes me to the airport ($12 minimum). I hand him a Jackson.

I get in line for check-in making sure the line I am standing in is the line for check-in. Success. I would hate to be standing in the wrong line. Done that before. The time is now 5:45 AM. My flight is scheduled to depart at 7:00 AM. The line seems to be moving at a pace above lethargic. A nice man in a fleece vest informs us that there is a kiosk to check-in. All we need is the credit card that we puchased the plane ticket with.

Sold.

I retreived my wallet from the depths of my bag and search through the card holder. No card. I look again as if the outcome was going to be different. Still no card. I realize that at my 4:00 AM withdrawl of funds I left my ATM card in the machine. It was one of those machines that sucks your card into it. Don't worry. They can still check you in using your ID. Great. But I have no debit card. I'm not about to turn around and go back to the bank because the card is gone.

I check onto the flight noticing a few "beautiful people" checking in using their United First Class Gold Medallion Plus Club Membership. I then walked to the very long line to go through security. They successfully find no weapons on my person. I place my boarding pass in my mouth so my hands could be free to collect my things. I start walking forward when I hear a voice sternly say, "Watch out." I almost tripped over a little who, who was no more than two.

I apologize my head off to the who's mother. She said, "Don't worry. He wasn't looking where he was going when he was crawling around." To which I responded, "But I had my ticket in my mouth and I couldn't see down. Again, I'm sorry." We parted ways.

I ask a secruity guard if there was anywhere in the airport that would cash a personal check. No such luck.

I start to stroll to my gate and see that it is open. Are they boarding already? The ticket said 6:40. It's only 6:15. I get up to the gate and they are calling for final passengers to go to San Francisco. The "beautiful people" were rushing their way through the not so busy 6:00 in the morning airport to make their flight to the Bay Area. They held the entire flight up for them. Please note: They got to the United First Class Gold Medallion Plus Club Membership check-in line before I got to the standard check-in line. I received my boarding pass, made it through security and to the gate at least 10 minutes before they were holding up an entire flight of people wanting to make it to San Francisco...on time. I think this is a little selfish, but that's me.

I board the flight and think all is going according to plan. No such luck. We were 15 minutes passed our take-off time and we still had to de-ice the wings.

The landing in Denver was as smooth as a hot knife through butter. We were supposed to land at 8:18 AM but we didn't land until 9ish. All the while Ashley's mom is circling the pick-up area.

I get to the house. I marvel at all the snow that has fallen and is still falling the Denver area. I get on the horn and ask what I am to do about my debit card. The bank teller says that the card will be destroyed. I let him know that I will be in Denver until the 1st and ask him if there is any way the bank can wire money to an account in Denver Western Union style. He said that is something my family would need to take care of for me.

I go to the Western Union website and find that the only for me to pick up money is with my bank issued debit/credit card which is currently in pieces in the Zion's Bank in Smith's on 900 East.

Yes, this is my life.