My New Nemesis

As many of you may be aware, my job requires that I travel a great deal.  During busy months, I'm gone 75% of the time.  But on the whole, I enjoy travel.  I love seeing new places, eating local food, and observing the (other) crazy people that inhabit our fine country.

But over the past few weeks of travel, I've found a new nemesis.  Several times each week I board a different airplane, waiting to be whisked away to lovely places like Oxford, Mississippi or Harrisonburg, Virginia.  But there's one part of the journey that is always the same -- the jet bridge.  The jet bridge is the gerbil tube that leads travelers from the relative discomfort of the airport gate to the complete discomfort of the airplane itself.  And it has become my new nemesis.  Let me explain.

I discovered a while back that occasionally I would feel the jet bridge lurch beneath my feet as I moved closer to the airplane.  I figured it was the airport crew making a minor adjustment to insure that people didn't fall between the door of the airplane and the end of the jet bridge.  (I've often wondered how frequently airport employees walk off the end of an empty jet bridge, falling to the tarmac below.  That would be one of those stories that would require you to preface the story forevermore with, "Well, I'd had a few drinks and then..." even if it weren't true.)

Anyway, after feeling these lurches in the jet bridge for a while, I noticed a button and a light on the control panel for the jet bridge that said "Auto Leveler."  And then it all became clear.  The reason I always feel the jet bridge lurch as I board is that it is compensating for my additional weight and has to crank itself up a few notches to insure that the guy behind me doesn't have to climb into the airplane like he's saddling a horse.

How embarrassing.  I keep telling myself that I'm sure I just notice it coincidentally...sometimes.  But the data from my five flights this week suggest otherwise.  Grr.