Black Flies and Vegetarians

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Mapping in Maine So, I was dispatched by my company to rural Maine where I am supposed to be working on making maps for rural Georgia (makes alot of sense, eh?). It was a rollicking good time for sure. Since the town I was in (Wilton) was so small that it didn't have any hotel, etc, I was lodging with the guy who we contracted to make the maps. He had an awesome house and was very nice. My only complaint was that they were quasi-vegetarians, so the food was a bit scarce for me. Still, it was nice; although, I must say the best time was riding the bus from Lewiston to Portland. Aboard, I had the pleasure of sitting behind a sad old man who weighed about 350 lbs and (I think) was coughing up blood. To my left was a lovely lady who, when asked by another random passenger if she had anything to eat, proceeded to enumerate her current offerings. This (also very obese) lady produced from a brown bag the following: Pizza, Fried Chicken, Potato Chips, Funyuns, a litre of cola, Chocolate Chip Cookies, and best of all, a whole tray of nachoes and (somehow still liquid) cheese. I'm glad she had them though, because in talking to her I learned that she was going to be on the bus for 4 1/2 days, going to Key West. yeeesh.

Other than that, I was approached by a possibly insane, 50-something woman who told me a long drawn out story about the 3 homeless fellas she had living with her and how she had to kick one out the night before for doing drugs. She then told me about how she speaks french while making peanut butter fudge that she gives out to strangers. She then offered to take me to her house to have some fudge, but I graciously declined. Portland was not much to write home about. It's basically a pretty poor, run down old industrial port that has a nice 9 or so square block area that's revitalized. That was nice, except for when the street vendor wanted $28 for a lobster roll (basically a sandwich). I suppose more than anything, it's not as fun travelling alone, especially on business, because you don't get to share the good times with anyone.

On my flight home, however, I was delayed/overbooked multiple times and had the pleasure of spending about 6 hours seated next to a fella named Ernie from Green Bay, WI. Ernie decided that it would be entertaining for me to listen to his 2 hour debate with himself about the pros and cons of Bud vs. Bud Light. He then proceeded to launch into a stream of profane stories that culminated with him making a ridiculously disgusting sexual comment about a Catholic School girl who was on the plane and looked to be no older than 14. It wasn't all bad though. I was able to have a rousing debate with him about public urination (i was on the con side, he was strongly pro-legalization). Apparently, he had had a few run-ins with the law about that ("but hell, man, i've got dem' bladder infections and shit. I can't help it."). Anyway, it was nice to get back to the ATL.

Well, I'm droning on, but be sure to look for more entries coming up after I get to Japan and then China!

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