Getting to Beijing

I Got to the Airport in Minneapolis the requisite 2 hours prior to the international flight and subsequently made it through check-in and security in 5 minutes. While having lunch at Wolfgang Puck's Express, the bartender and I noticed the same woman walk by - and both said "That's Macy Gray - she's got to be famous to wear her hair like that!" The bartender tracked her down - turns out she was a female vocalist. Not Macy Gray, but Marva King - she said she sings with Prince sometimes.

The flight from MSP to Tokyo was long, but uneventful. In the 12 1/2 hours on the plane I:

1. Listened to all 31 prince songs on my iPod
2. Read the complementary Wall Street Journal cover to cover (are these still randomly showing up at our house?)
3. Listened to all 44 Husker Du songs on my iPod
4. Watched the 2nd half of the 2nd in-flight movie - really bad with the Rock as a quarterback...
5. Watched a really good movie (Super-Bad) on my computer - forgot to turn the backlight down to conserve power and spent my 1st battery in less than an hour :-(
6. Reread 2 chapters of the Wold is Flat - by Thomas Friedman
7. Watched the 3rd in flight Movie - Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium - Better than the Rock quarterback movie, but not as good as Super Bad.
8. Watched the free episode of "How I Met Your Mother" on my iPod - I didn't think I'd like video on the smallish screen, but I am impressed.
9. Still had 2.5 hours to kill - When the last in flight entertainment was done and they put up the flight progress map - I couldn't believe it - the plane looked like it was over Japan, but we still had 2.5 hours left
10. Put on the classical music channel from the airplane with the noise canceling headphones and attempted to doze until breakfast (I think they served 2 full meals and 2 snacks on the flight).

All that, just to get to Tokyo - still had a 4 hour flight waiting!

The change of planes went smoothly - From the not so nice 747-400 for the long hall to the sweet A330 - with the in seat personal video system. Unfortunately I was too tired to really enjoy it. Scored a sweet seat isle in the 2nd row of coach with no seat in front of me. I was able to doze a bit on that flight. Summary: Left Minneapolis(MSP) on 2-14 at 1:10pm, arrived Beijing 2-15 at 9:15pm

Transfered to the hotel in Beijing and passed out at 11:30pm- only to start tossing and turning at 4:15am - Jet Lag Sucks...