Travel Day
Today was a travel day. I’m now in Denver, CO, at the Marriott City Center Hotel sipping chamomile tea and watching Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade on USA. That’s what I hate about business travel — there’s no time to see much besides the building where the meeting is being held and the hotel. (See Scary Duck’s scarily accurate account of h-space.)
Joys of air travel:
- There was “weather” all across the midwest, so much of the air traffic from the northeast was being diverted through a single corridor. My flight was delayed by about 45 minutes to wait for our turn through that corridor. At least the pilot waited at the gate rather than wasting fuel causing us to refuel before going.
- The corridor we flew through was just on the edge of the “weather,” making our flight very choppy. I was able to read for parts of the trip, but the middle hour was pretty bad. Add to that my dehydration (because I refuse to use the bathroom on the plane unless a dire emergency), and I had a whopper of a headache by the time we landed. Fortunately, the three Excedrin I took helped.
- Economy class should not have seats that recline. There is just not enough room. I ended up pressing my knees into the seat in front of me as the passenger tried to recline the seat. Whenever I needed something out of my backpack (under her seat), I felt free to bang and bounce her seat.
- The person behind me kept kicking my seat. I should have reclined my seat to teach them a lesson.
This was actually my first time going outside the “B” Concourse in the Denver Airport — I used to fly through here a lot when I lived in New Mexico, but never had Denver as a final destination. It was cool that at the baggage claim there is a special conveyer belt for skis. I’d never thought about that.
I met up with Shane, who is here with the LISA booth, on the Super Shuttle. I’d met him at the Atlanta meeting in January. It was nice to share the ride with a familiar face. We chatted a bit, and then met up to get me some lunch and head over to the Convention Center to set up.
He pointed out the Mall on 16th Street to me (actually, I had lunch at the Einstein Bagel in 16th). There are a lot of shops and restaurants along 16th. In fact the Tattered Cover is about a mile up 16th. JD and I are going to trek up there one evening this week. Oh, and I also saw a Media Play…that could be trouble.
During the set up I heard a rumor that there’s a Sonic near the Convention Center. That’s going to be trouble, too. Real, superior squishies. Yum.
One other thing. I didn’t realize how much I missed the mountains until I saw them out the plane’s window when we came in to land. Mountains. I don’t know what exactly it is about them, but I just feel more of a connection with them around. They are such a majestic and primal reminder of the Earth and her power. Andrew has promised that we can move someday to a place with mountains — New Mexico perhaps. I’m looking forward to it. I just hope our careers will allow it.