12.12.25 I can’t with this shit anymore…

  

    My plan for the week was in effect. First finish up the semester with the last day of hospital clinicals on Tuesday, followed by fishing the downstairs bathroom

and splitting wood on Wednesday, before jumping on a 5 am flight down to see Mom for the holidays. 

   I had purchased my tickets some time ago but had to resort to printing my boarding pass as I still don’t have a working phone, which I really love. I haven’t felt this free in some time. If you remember my phone drama all started in Ireland, then when I got back to the States I activated an old iPhone 2, and in the end Asurion has been rejecting the claim for an iPhone 16 Pro Max replacement phone. So I have no way to do apps and have the boarding pass other then in print.

  I got to Philly airport around 340 am and made my way to the TSA security line. There’s about 2,000 people there but I have Pre-Check, which we had for the Ireland trip. So I walked through and then past those people saying, “ HaHa, they’re cheap, you’re fat, your wife’s ugly…..”. I didn’t say that actually but like in a mind swagger kind of way because I had the Pre Check, and paid for it, and went for the appointment.

     There was about 30 people in the Pre Check line. I waited my turn and got to the guy at the scanner, and…..”You don’t have Pre Check on your ticket”. What? What does that mean? I gave you my passport, am I not registered internationally with TSA by the passport? “Nope.”

     You see you have your intergalactic number and every time you travel YOU have to make sure you enter it into your reservation, or you’ll be standing there like an idiot, like me. So I had to go back past the 2,000 people waiting in the general population line with them now saying, or thinking, “HaHa, that’s that idiot who doesn’t have Pre Check, he’s fat, he’s ugly, he’s gonna miss his flight”.

      So by then the line at TSA was longer, so was the one at Frontier. I went right to the front and explained my story, the gate lady said it happens like every 10 minutes, and for $25 she could add it and print me a new boarding pass. I was pissed. $25 bucks? I just got a used chop saw for $20!

     So I’m now standing there looking at the lady and she’s looking at me. C’mon lady let’s go already. “Well what’s your TSA number?”. What? Like I know that. So luckily I had with me an old iPhone that wasn’t connected to any service, but it did have pictures on it. Not full resolution but low res images with the question mark in the corner, but just sharp enough to read the letters and numbers if I found it.

     I was able to scroll through like 15,000 pics until I got to just before we went to Ireland, and there it was, I had taken a pic of my Pre Check number, TT23xxx….. A quick swipe with the debit card and I was on my way, 

but feeling very pissed off and left feeling like I was scammed. Three other people had the same no Pre Check situation going on while I waited in Pre Check the second time. I now know why those people have psychotic meltdowns in the airports.

     We took off from Philly on time and was in Tampa by 8 am. By 4 o’clock we were having Happy Hour cocktails at O’Bricks in downtown Bradenton. 

      Now I just have to make sure I have Pre Check on my boarding pass for the ride home, or else I’ll be out another $25.