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« In Praise of Cheating | Main | When the Bills Come Due ... » ... and Boy, Are My Arms Tired!October 16, 2006I spent something like 16 of the 48 weekend hours either in transit to Phoenix or returning, and I'm just getting my brain back in working order. I went there to give a presentation at Charles Staley's annual training summit, which was an absolute blast. Getting there and back, though, was more adventuresome than it needed to be. It started with airport security in Allentown confiscating my toothpaste. I'd thought I was doing the right thing by switching out my regular one for one of those tiny little travel-size tubes, but it turns out I was only halfway in compliance. Because I had put the tube into my shaving kit, rather than in a clear plastic Ziploc bag, America is now safe from my Aquafresh. Never mind that the airport screener had my actual toothpaste in his hand and could tell it posed no threat to freedom or democracy. But rules are rules, dental hygiene be damned. The worst part is imagining what they'll do to that poor little tube once it reaches Guantanemo. The clash of civilizations at the Allentown airport had an unexpected consequence: At some point in the screening process, I misplaced my printed travel itinerary. I didn't realize it was missing until Sunday morning, when I was trying to figure out why Continental didn't have me registered to fly out of Phoenix. I remembered that the flight was at 6 a.m., but couldn't remember anything else about it. So, with time running out, I called home and got my wife to look up the itinerary on her computer. (You never realize how slow a Dell boots up until you're standing in an airport in a panic over missing a flight.) The problem was that I was scheduled to fly out on a different airline, which was in an entirely different terminal. Even that wouldn't have been a problem, except for the fact that the hotel's shuttle driver hadn't shown up for work that morning, leaving me and four other early morning travelers to wait for cabs instead of getting the ride we'd expected. Had anyone even suggested that the hotel's hourly shuttle might not be reliable, I would've scheduled a cab on my own and gotten to the airport much earlier. I ended up making my flight, although I had to do an O.J. Simpson running-through-the-airport thing to get there. They had already closed the doors when I got to the gate, but reopened them to let me take the last seat on the plane. I'm not exaggerating when I say I was within a minute of missing my flight and having to wait for the next one on standby. All for a tube of Aquafresh. (By the way, props to the woman at the Northwest ticket counter who called up to the gate to tell them I was on the way. If she hadn't done that, they wouldn't have let me on the plane. Whoever she is, I hope she gets a promotion soon.) So please forgive my non-blogging this morning; I'll be back on my regular schedule tomorrow. Posted by LouSchuler at October 16, 2006 10:48 AM
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