Guy Reams (00:03.726)
This is day 67, repetition Sunday. This weekend I had the opportunity to help prepare for an algebra final. Let me rewind. I liked math as a child. I liked it in the way that you might like the Grand Canyon. It's fun to admire from a distance, but I'm not necessarily excited about hiking across it. I was interested in math, but not doing the repetitive work required to become good at it. So I struggled with algebra. I learned that subject twice, once in high school and once in college.
I barely squeezed by with a passing grade. I never did any homework. I would just take the test. And because I was somewhat intelligent, I could guess my way to a C average. So this morning I woke to helping my daughter prepare her algebra final. I have now had to do algebra homework for four algebra courses over the years, not including my own. I have now helped my wife and my three children get through high school algebra. Or actually, my wife was in college.
But anyway, the interesting part, I now fully understand this subject material. I even know how to add, subtract, multiply, and divide fractions, and they were always the bane of my existence. Repetition has finally paid off. I was graphing inequalities this morning at 6 a.m. when it dawned on me. I am actually starting to understand this stuff. Then I jumped in my truck and headed to the San Diego airport. I'm not sure how many times I've flown out of the San Diego airport.
I'm thinking it's probably a thousand times. I know every nook and cranny of the airport. I know how to gain the long-term parking situation. And as I was sitting on a parking shuttle, I got to see the progress of the Terminal 1 construction project. I passed by the construction fencing with that green privacy fabric installed. There were hundreds of smiley faces cut into the fabric.
As I passed by looking straight forward, I could see the faces change slightly and become animated, similar to how you would see one of those flip-book movies come to life. I noticed that as I went along the fence, the face was becoming more more sinister, the grin becoming wider and the eye slits more elongated. Of course, these are cut this way to prevent the wind from carrying the fabric or blowing the fence over.
Guy Reams (02:22.35)
But I began to wonder as I saw this face play before me on repeat if that was really what was going on. But then it was over. My revelry was interrupted by a lady asking me what airline I was taking today. Does it matter, I thought? There are only two terminals and we've already passed Terminal 1, so I've only one option now. However, she insisted, I told her, and she nodded and smiled as if to say my job is now complete.
I can drop your back at the curb, get back in the driver's seat, and make the loop again. Repeat, repeat, repeat. I've seen this woman before, by the way. Each time we pretend not to know each other, she asks me that same question. I always give her the same answer. Next time, I think I'm just going to drop a $100 bill in her tip jar just to ensure that she knows that I am indeed keeping a tally.
I know how often I've been on her bus and I've yet to pay her a tip. So here it is. $100 to cover the 35 trips I've taken from you so far from the same parking garage and the same terminal. Maybe in return she'll stop asking me what airline I'm taking. Repetition. So I sat in 36C today. I've been in 36C before, probably on that same plane.
The crew has changed a few times, but the seat remains unchanged. I have a game that I play. I have a famous person assigned to every number from 0 to 100. Al Pacino happens to be number 36. And I have him say, say hello to my little friend. So when I do the repetitive dance of getting on and off the plane, I see a famous people doing funny things as I walk up and down the aisles and look at each of the numbers.
It is my own little private joke and keeps me entertained. I sat today with Al Pacino and I think I sat with him once before last year, probably on the same flight to Atlanta. While waiting to board the plane today, I sat across from a woman who was eating a nice, small, healthy-looking salad. She did not seem like the type of person who eats that way all the time, but she seemed happy that she had decided to eat healthy on this
Guy Reams (04:40.174)
occasion. In between bites of kale, she was texting someone on her phone. She was an expert at this, clearly. With a precariously balanced plate of salad, a phone in one hand, and a fork in the other, she was carrying on a very loud and rapid conversation. I say loud not because she was talking loud, but rather because she was using facial emotions to reflect what it was that she was typing. Does she know that she's doing this? I wonder because
I kept picking up on her facial expression when she was saying that you could tell when she was saying something with a bit of wit or when she was simply just asking a question. I realized that I was probably staring so I looked away but not before I caught a red tattoo on her arm. It was just a number and for the life of me I could not figure out why she had the number 00178 tattooed on her arm.
I did a Google search on this topic and quickly decided that it was a rabbit hole that I wanted to avoid diving into. Anyway, I archived this experience as one of the hundreds of interesting characters I have silently met on my travels across the country. Although I have to say that when I arrived in the ATL, I had a of a shock, a shocking moment. I have probably been to this monstrous airport a few hundred times. I'm proud to say that I know my way around this airport
as is in the same way that you would know it if you worked here every day. There's this praline shop in one of the terminals that always draws my attention. And I'm always tempted. A woman works there, knows this is a weakness of mine. And whenever she sees me, she gives me that look that says, come on over here and eat this praline. They just came out of the oven.
As I made my way to the rental car terminal, I reflected on how repetition has caused me to be so confident in my ability to walk through one of the world's most complicated airports. I never rent cars. I always use an Uber. But today, I needed a car to pick up some employees. I note how automated the rental car system has become today and realize that with a bit of irony that my company is also dedicated to helping companies automate. Are we all going to eventually end up working in the automation industry?
Guy Reams (07:01.356)
What are these days? Walking down the gold aisle to pick up my car. You know, I really like how Hertz makes us all feel awesome, even though we're really not. But I realized that I was walking and I was heading to stall 00178. Cue the Twilight Zone theme song.
This is what repetition does to you, by the way. You start to see patterns. Some of them are meaningful and many of them are not. However, repetition is usually how we improve. And we see and recognize patterns and learn to act with speed and more efficiency. Before I got to the rental car terminal, I had to take the transportation train to get there. I was crammed in next to a couple who were making out with Ferber. This was not casual kissing. It was an engaged attempt to make out with energy enthusiasts.
I don't think I've ever really seen that before, especially in the cramped conditions of one of these standing room only transportation trains. Consequently, I had to turn the other way to avoid this couple, and I was forced to listen to a man wearing an Ohio State t-shirt that was two sizes too small for him explain to another man that Boise State had a 6,000 to 1 odds on a sports pick to win the national title.
He spoke of this with such a level of comfort that it must come from someone who spent every weekend determining where to place his next bet. He went through all the different odd strategies for his weekend bet. I imagine he knows that system really well, but I don't know anything about sports betting. Not sure I want to. But the man he was talking to was also was a former football player, obviously. He had the build and look and was wearing a shirt from his alma mater.
This is what's prompted this whole sports betting conversation. I felt bad for this former football player. Rookie move. Never go to the airport wearing a conversation piece. He had not traveled enough to know this secret. I know what happens when you wear a logo or anything with lettering on it. It opens the door to people like this sports betting guy to enter into a conversation.
Guy Reams (09:17.388)
Speaking of which, there was a man sitting across from me on the airplane. He was in an aisle seat. He engaged a woman who was in the window seat in a conversation. They both seemed to want to talk. You there are two types of people in this world, those who want to talk on airplanes and those that don't. I am firmly in the camp that doesn't want to talk on an airplane. Anyway, the poor man sitting between them was like, keep your eyes forward, don't talk, avoid all unnecessary contact.
He had his headphones on, looking very busy. At least in the early stages of the flight, you never want to show any weakness. But I overheard some of this conversation. This man was going to his sister's funeral. It was all very, very sad. And he choked up a few times. The woman and him were having this moment, this heartfelt emotional moment. But I was kind of curious, because the man that was sitting in between them was watching John Wick 4 on the back of the seat monitor.
So after Mr. Wick had killed about his 37th person, the man next to him was detailing this fourth tragedy, this series of tragedies he's had in his life. It was all very emotional. I don't know if this threesome sitting across me really understood the irony that was playing out between them, but it's yet another example of the many airport moments that I have found to be so fascinating. My night is finally ending now. I'm sitting in a courtyard Marriott.
I stayed in one of these in almost every major city in the United States. Talk about repetition. I do not think the woman at the front desk has ever met a lifetime ambassador titanium elite before. Wow, she was nervous. She had to check the corporate book on on what and how she should greet me. Greet Marriott royalty. I helped her out by giving her the answers to the six required questions just to speed up the process.
Yes, I will take the points. No, I do not require late checkout. I'm OK with the room assigned. No need to do an upgrade search. No, I do not need the manager to check in with me tomorrow morning. And yes, the two water bottles would be great. So here I am again in the ATL. At least if I sleep walk, I'll know exactly where to go because the layout's always the same. However, I'm a bit annoyed tonight. The power plug in the nightstand isn't functioning, which has messed up my whole system.
Guy Reams (11:39.756)
I have this perfectly designed system to fit on the 12 by 27 nightstands in the courtyard standard king-size room. I'm just kidding. I'm not that crazy. Well, I am in room 137 after all. That means I'm playing hockey tonight with Wilt Chamberlain again. This is the fifth time this has happened in my life. You get it? 13 is Wilt Chamberlain and seven is a hockey stick. You got it?