CSI: Dallas and the Weirdest Morning Ever

I left my hotel room at 3:55am this morning only to find a bunch of cops when I entered the hallway. They were gathered outside a room only 4 doors down from mine. A few were huddled in the actual hallway with others entering and exiting the room. There was a dress shirt laying on the floor in the hallway (I don't know what that has to do with anything, but it was certainly out of place). I stared straight ahead as I walked because I felt like if I glanced inside the cracked door I was going to see something I didn't want to see. At the end of the hallway another officer was interviewing a frazzled looking lady. As I waited for the elevator I noticed an empty beer bottle sitting on the table in the elevator lobby. Maybe irrelevant but just another thing out of place. The Marriott we stayed in was more of a conference center with multiple parties and events happening for the Valentine's Day weekend.

I asked my shuttle-mates in the lobby if they knew what was going on and one guy pointed outside to the multiple police cars. He also said he saw a CSI van. He said he thought that was only a show and didn't know CSI actually existed. It does and it was happening four doors down from me while I slept. So weird. As our shuttle pulled out of the hotel and passed a club that was bumping only a few short hours before that we noticed as walking back to the hotel, we saw another officer and a lady standing out front. Who knows what could have happened? I'm not sure I want to know, but I can't stop theorizing. Domestic dispute? Prostitute with foul play? Murder?

Maybe it's just because it was four in the morning and I wasn't fully awake, but the rest of the morning's events in Dallas were very bizarre. The shuttle dropped us all at terminal E and left it up to us to get to our particular terminal and gate. The link system didn't open till 5:30, so I waited inside messing around on my computer. Two employees parked themselves a few feet away and began arguing. The man was yelling at the woman about calling his wife. My imagination and half-asleep-ness started going crazy and developing storylines about how they were having an airport affair and he was worried about getting caught. (This could actually have been the case, but let's give them the benefit of the doubt.) He tried to fire her next to baggage claim and she emotionally pleaded for a second chance. It all happened right there in front of all of us. Weird again.

Once seated outside my gate I encountered two irritating travelers. This was after everyone going through security was herded and berated loudly by two airline employees. "Sir, you're gonna have to check that bag. It'll never fit." It would have been fine by the way. "Folks, I need a line not this mass of people. Straighten out. Curve this way. Don't block the stairs. Folks, folks." "Mam, will that computer fit in your purse? You have too many items." It was too early. Everyone instantly became extremely annoying to me. So back to the gate...I hear a 'click, click, click' only to find a woman clipping her fingernails and letting them fall to the ground without any sort of regard for hygiene or politeness to others. Gross and weird. Not 5 minutes later and I hear another bizarre sound, "And now that you're gone, I just wanna be with you. And I can't go on, I just wanna be with you." I glance to my left to see that the unopened Chili's is cranking Enrique Inglesias at 6am. Seriously? While glancing I make eye contact with a gentleman who proceeds to stare in my direction for the next 20 minutes while I wait at my gate. Every time I glance up to see if he is indeed looking at me (you know when you can feel someone staring at you?), I realize that he is indeed looking directly at me. Creepy and weird.

This about wraps up the bizarre events of this morning. The weirdness of Dallas had already begun a few days prior during the unusual snow storm. If you haven't heard, yesterday the US received snow in 49 states with Hawaii being the only untouched state. Dallas received record breaking snowfall not seen since the early 70's. The Kansas City and Minneapolis gang of staff found the freak out hilarious as the snowfall was par for the course for us mid-westerners and nothing compared to the blizzard that hit the east coast, particularly DC. One of the reporters was seen on her remote report wearing heeled snow boots. They were padded nylon with rubber soles just like any traditional snow boots, but hers included a 4 inch stacked rubber heel. Hilarious because of their total lack of function. Texas snow boots if I've ever seen any. Coldstone Creamery was closed due to the inclimate weather. C'mon even in snow people need their ice cream. Step it up Coldstone.

I'm glad to be home, but I will remember this morning for a long time to come. Total Weirdness.