Back from NY

I hate trying to fly out of New York on most days, especially in the afternoon or evening, even more so on a Friday. You have three major airports within spitting distance from each other (ok, a long spit) with JFK, Laguardia and Newark. The problem is that any weather problems, anywhere in the country throws all three of these airports off, and then the problems start to compound themselves. My 4:30 flight ended up leaving 1 1/2 hours late, full of people from the Grand Rapids flight that had been canceled a little earlier.

I rarely talk to people on the plane. I'm an extrovert and for the most part a pretty outgoing guy, but on the plane, I typically keep to myself. I have my Wall Street Journal, my laptop and my iPod with noise-canceling headphones, and I pretty much bury myself in those, rarely making even small talk with the guy next to me.

There are basically three types of people you never want to have to sit next to: a Mom with a crying baby, a very large man or woman, or an Amway salesman.... I had the third. If you're not familiar with Amway, it's a multi-level marketing firm whose people typically start their conversations with the statement, "Have you ever wanted to own your business?" After talking to him for a bit, it turned out he was an executive for Amway and he told me some pretty funny stories of how people had tried to get him to sell Amway, including total strangers following him around in Meijers and popping out and asking him to be a rep. The plane was completely full and we amused ourselves watching people wrestle for over-head luggage space, theorizing on who we'd pick if it it turned into a fist-fight.