"Abstract art is a product of the untalented, sold by the unprincipled to the utterly bewildered." - Al Capp

This picture seems especially timely and reflects my mood at the moment.

It's not unusual for me to be awake stoopid early, so 4:30 a.m. Michigan time wasn't a big surprise.
Spent the morning in meetings, ate lunch in the cafeteria and then climbed in the rental car for the 2.5 hour drive across the state. Except it took me over 3 hours because I got lost. For reasons known only to the good people who designed the freeway signs in southeastern Michigan, they didn't see fit to tell you which of several freeway options takes you to the airport. So the freeway split that would have taken me to Toledo would also have taken me to the Detroit airport. Oh dopey me, I thought following the freeway that took me to Detroit would get me there.
When I saw the city skyline in front of me I sensed something might be slightly amiss. That led to a 10-mile jaunt down surface streets that got me from the 96 East down to the 94 West and back to the airport.
Some observations from that excursion:

• They're right, Detroit is closed, but nobody turned out the lights. I drove block after block with nothing but abandoned structures on either side of me.
• Middle Eastern gas station attendants are surly and clueless as to where they work or where anything is. I think they must live in that glassed-off area because they can't tell me about a freeway that turns out to be two blocks away.
• When you do approach the airport on the correct freeway you get exactly one freeway sign's notice that it's the exit you want. "Detroit International Airport - 1 mile"

If you arrive at the terminal via the Thrifty shuttle bus do not expect to see the Frontier Airlines counter staffed. I've never seen the likes of it, but the handwritten signs on sheets of paper taped to the counter informed passengers that the counter would re-open at 5:30. I wasn't the only surprised Frontier passenger.

I only had 10 minutes between arriving in Denver and boarding my flight to Phoenix. Or that's what I thought. For reasons Frontier doesn't feel obligated to share with us, the flight has been delayed two hours. That's what they're telling us now, anyway. We'll see what they post as 11:20 p.m. nears. Assuming we leave at that hour I'll arrive in Phoenix a little after midnight. That would be 3 a.m. Grand Rapids time.

OK, I confess. I'm just a little bit disgusted with the way the second half of my day has gone. And thinking about my notebook laying on the floor of the chapel at the college isn't helping.

At this hour of the night most of the shops and restaurants in the Denver Airport are closed. What I wouldn't give for a Cinnabun right now! I may go for a walk to see what I can find. Hey, I've got the time!