Ammon Brown

Lost in Transportation: I had a very interesting experience last night. My brother (the infamous Noble from the comments postings) was to fly into the city last night. Rather than come into Laguardia or JFK, he caught a last minute flight into Islip on Long Island. This is about an hour plus from the city by train. No problem. I went out there to pick him up from his 10:30 flight. Unfortunately, someone *ahem* told me that I should get off the train at the Islip station, after I read that I should get off at Ronkonkoma. I trusted this unnamed person and got off of the train at the Islip station. No airport. I asked a guy and he said I had f***ed up and I was f***ed because I had made a big f***ing mistake. No joke, it was every other word. However, he said to come along and he gave me a ride from Islip to the airport, about 15 minutes away. Upon arriving at the airport, the fog was so thick that nothing could land. I waited for a half hour before they confirmed that Noble’s plane had been sent back to Chicago. Well, Tom (my ride) had heard an announcement that planes were diverted so he parked and came in to check on me. I think he was operating under the assumption that I was mildly retarded or completely clueless. He offered me a ride back to the station. There was no train at the Ronkonkoma or Islip stations until 2 in the morning, so he drove me an additional 10 miles out of his way to the Babylon station, pointing out all the best strip clubs and dive bars along the way and relating a bawdy story about each. I insisted that he at least let me buy him some food or give him some beer money (which seemed to be a hot-button for him). He finally agreed to a big mac. All said and done, Tom offered me well over an hour and a half of his time shuttling me around Long Island while Noble circled overhead and then went back to Chicago. I must say, this is one of the biggest gestures anyone has ever done for me, and he had zero ulterior motives, something I was concerned about at first. So the next time you see a grubby looking contractor guy with a heavy jersey accent who proclaims that he has his f***ing license suspended, tell him thanks for me. He is one of the finest people I have ever had the pleasure to meet. Noble will be in sometime today, by the way.