All hail the mighty TSA

This morning was a little crazy, I didn't go to bed until 3:30 and spent about half an hour fighting with my alarm clock at 7.

I didn't even have to get in line for TSA and they were already pissing me off. There was a woman with a carry on bag and a large purse in line. The TSA told her to get out of line because she has too much to be bringing onto the plane and she needs to check it in. Her argument was that she was just on a layover and the previous security allowed her to get through but they pulled her out anyway.
When I went through they pulled me aside and swabbed my laptop for "hazardous materials", swabbed my laptop case, and then ran them both through the xray again...

I Just arrived in Newark around 12pm Eastern time.
I didn't want to wait around for my small baggie of peanuts so I went to the food court. So my own personal priority when I travel is to go to popeyes for food since there is only 1 popeyes in minneapolis and I don't feel like getting shot or mugged.
Unfortunately they don't have one at the Newark airport so my choices were pizza, burgers, or "chinese" food. Considering my post yesterday, it didn't look like I had much of a choice but to get lo mein and orange chicken for $8.

The airport has some pretty interesting people watching opportunities.
There's a dude that has driven by in a cart a few times yelling "BEEP BEEP!" at people who aren't even in his way.
There was also an elderly couple who walked up to a table of people who were dressed in army gear and said how much they appreciated what these people were doing for our country.
There's a pidgeon flying around the terminal as well.

Right now I'm sitting at the gate next to the one I need to be at because there isn't a single outlet that I can plug into. I did bring a powerstrip but I'm not going to get a bunch of chinese people angry by unplugging their cords. If you're traveling anywhere, I absolutely recommend bringing a power strip, not only can you sit farther away but in airports, power outlets seem to be a rare commodity.

CNN is on the nearby tv and one thing I certainly will not miss is all the political crap going on.

I'm starting to regret not bringing my ipod. I wanted to pack light with minimal electronics because recharging stuff could be problematic. I brought my camera, laptop, american cell phone, and unlocked chinese cell phone. I might just have to settle for using my american cell phone as my mp3 player. There was a baby in the row in front of me on the last flight and I was thankful the flight was only 2 hours long.

OK it's getting close to boarding time. In Hong Kong I'm staying at my grandpa's old apartment by myself in Tsim Tsa Tsui. Right now the plan is to leave HK on the 19th. Please forgive the pause in updates until I get to another place with internet when I arrive. I'm assuming I'm going to be wide awake throughout wednesday night so I'll find an internet cafe or something to post.