getting closer

Good thing we are neurotic enough to leave the house at 640 to make an 840 flight. Given the long lines for baggage and security check-in, we end up with just enough time to grab some bagels for the kids. As we are boarding the plane, I, in my classic know-it-all tone, tell Keri that, although The Sequester is an abomination and is causing a lot of people a lot of unnecessary pain, it is not the cause of our slowed travels this morning. The gate agent quickly corrects me and confirms that, as usual, my wife is correct. One of the drawbacks of tracking our daily lives is that there will now be a record of this.

An uneventful and fast flight gets us to JFK early -- a couple hours ahead of the center of Tropical Storm Andrea. The joy of an early arrival is quickly negated by an hour-long wait at baggage claim. The boredom of waiting for our bags is briefly interrupted by one traveler hopping on to the carousel to remove a stuck bag, thereby causing the carousel to stop completely. It does not start up again for another twenty minutes -- until a airport employee comes and presses a single button. Anger all around us.

A rain-filled drive through the streets of Brooklyn follows. We arrive at our Park Slope hotel and head up to the room. Described somewhere on the interwebs as "spacious," we note that the hotel website conspicuously fails to provide an actual square footage measurement for its standard room. Good way to avoid a fraud claim. All we know is that the Eckstein family is as close, literally, as we have ever been. Fortunately, Keri and the kids are nowhere near the size of the author. Unfortunately, it does not much matter, particularly given the four large suitcases that now block all movement in our room.

All's well that ends well, though, and a delivery of pizza and soup enables us to avoid the rain and, more importantly allows the other three Ecksteins to engage in one of their favorite, never to be enjoyed activities -- eating in bed. Now, some post-dinner reading for the others as I wait for the Yankees/Mariners game to get underway.

Andrea is supposed to be gone tomorrow morning and we look forward to a sunny day with family and friends.