I'm baaaaack

Today's horoscope mentioned the creative side of my nature would be satisfied with something as simple as paper and pen to jot down thoughts. I'll create a blog post instead.

My first conference topic will be air travel. I enjoy watching airplanes; seeing what different versions are capable of doing, marveling at the actuality and sheer genius involved behind them flying, captivated by talent necessary to fly one of them, and most often being thankful I am not inside of one. For me, air travel is basically limited to attending ALA and ACRL conferences, this latest trip being a specific instance. I arrived safe and sound, with my luggage, both to and from the ALA conference in Washington, DC.

Last Thursday morning I arrived at the airport in record time, cleared check in and all of its glory in less than half an hour. The plane itself was a small one, only three seats wide (two on one side, one on the other) and it could be said that I was riding shotgun, seat A1. It was odd being able to see into the cockpit and I was torn between awe that it was so tiny and wonder, would I get thrown off of the plane for taking a photograph? My dad was in the air force and a short quiz often follows any air travel. I am probably one of the only people who actually looks at the safety handout stowed in the seat because it details the type of plane. But, I digress.

After we were all collectively settled in our seats ready for take off, the pilot informed us there had been a slight "melt down" - his words, not mine - at the control tower and they lost our flight plan. He had to resubmit and get the results before leaving. This announcement was followed by the assurance it would take less than fifteen minutes. Sure enough, ten minutes later we were told the flight plan was a "go" however, we were now the twelfth plane in line for take-off and it would be another fifteen minutes before departure. Then he said not to worry, he would be able to "make up" the time in the air. Uh-huh. Guess there was a good tail wind because we arrived very close to our originally scheduled time.

Today the annoying Super Shuttle was scheduled to arrive at noon. To my shock and dismay (insert sarcasm) pick up was forty minutes late and I was still in DC at 1:00 pm. Less than thrilled with the prospect of long lines and missing the plane, I was relieved to arrive at BWI around 1:40. Check in was a breeze, but getting through security took another forty plus minutes. I arrived at the gate right as boarding was to begin, but when the plane was late coming in from Newark I actually had opportunity for a caffeine and chocolate bar lunch. Half an hour later we boarded without incident, I again had lovely seat A1, pulled away from the gate, and stopped next to both an AirTran and Southwest airliner. Seems there was a thunder cell at the end of the runway and take-offs were being aborted until it moved out of the vicinity in fifteen or twenty minutes. Off went the engines and a quick glance out the window showed planes to the left and planes to the right, all lined up waiting. When the cell cleared out, we were only fifth in line (sure beat twelfth) and ended up being only an hour late. No big deal for me since the stop was my final destination, however there were passengers meeting connecting flights that were not so lucky.

Tomorrow, a quick list of ARC's I grabbed from the exhibitor's area. Posts about particular sessions I attended and my poster sessions will follow at the beginning of next week as I will be out of town Thursday through Sunday.