Traveling to Portland

Tuesday, March 25, the day I traveled to Portland, it snowed in Maryland. This is really very unusual, but almost typical of this seemingly endless winter where campus was closed due to snow five separate times! I was a little anxious about getting to the airport and also whether or not the plane would take off on time. I couldn't decide whether to take walking shoes or rain/snow boots. I figured if I took the boots to Portland, I wouldn't need them, but if I didn't take them, I would need them. So I opted to take them. Standing up in the kitchen, I put on the first boot. Then I sat down on the chair to put on the second boot. The only problem was, the chair wasn't there. I sat down really hard on the ceramic floor, smacking the back of my head on the plastic recycling box that was in front of the window and cracking my right elbow into the floor (which I only noticed later). Ouch. As a result, I am moving somewhat more slowly than usual, but feeling very fortunate that I didn't break any bones.

So, bad stuff on travel day:

• the weather
• the fall
• missed the metro by 30 seconds at Shady Grove
• couldn't find the Alaska Air counter 
• couldn't print my boarding pass even at the airport!
• plane took off late
• couldn't recline my seat
• window instead of aisle seat

Counter-balanced by good stuff on travel day:

• very kind Alaska Air personnel who helped me sort out the problem
• ran into friends and friends of friends all going to TESOL: Anne Marie Forster Luu (EVO), Annelies Galletta (MEI), Jacquie Gardy (WATESOL) and her colleagues (State Dept), one of whom I sat next to on the plane
• A non-sold-out plane! which translated into an empty seat between me and Marty
• a smooth flight
• a nice meal (fruit & cheese)
• a good book (The Marrying of Chani Kauffman, lent to me by Carmen)
• an awesome view of Portland by night, all silver and gold (white and yellow lights) as we came in to land
• a wonderfully convenient light-rail ride directly from the airport to the Convention Center/hotel, after which Annelies and I went to bed pretty quickly, as it was (for us) about 1 in the morning by the time we checked in.