Prologue - Act One

So, I'd done lots of things to get prepared for the trip, but I had lots of little things to do beforehand, everything from taking the trash out, returning a library CD, and doing a libation to the Gods for safe travel, but knew I needed some sleep. So I went to bed at 8 pm Wednesday night, determined to get up at 1:30 so I'd have a couple of hours to do everything I needed before I'd normally be up. And it worked. I didn't sleep well, as I was worried I wouldn't get up in time, but I actually got all the plants watered and the rest of my list at home completed, left a little earlier than what Google told me to so I could return the CD, get gas, put a cheque in the bank--that sort of thing. While at the gas station getting gas for $1.93 in Lexington per gallon (It's $2.69 or so here), I got a drink and a blueberry cheese danish sort of thing. Not ideal, but I didn't want something heavy, and it was cheap, and I'm trying to go as cheaply as possible. Then I drove around a good portion of the city (I live on the opposite end of town from the airport), parked in oeconomy parking, and went through security. I'd checked in using the Delta mobile application, and so spent the day scanning my phone rather than a piece of paper, which was convenient, but, I had to have my phone out an awful lot, and it was hard to juggle. I may just check in tomorrow the old-fashioned way, particularly as I have something to hold the ID and boarding pass to make it easier to keep up with.

It's always a joy to be behind me at a TSA checkpoint, as I have to take out liquids, CPAP, laptop, take off my shoes, and load my various bags (I had three, as one didn't count as it was medical supplies only). When I went through the body scanner, I guess they couldn't see my lower left arm well in the image, because they patted down just that lower arm. Weird. I gathered my stuff, put my shoes back on, and went to the gate, where I gate-checked my rolling bag for free when they requested volunteers. I noticed many people were not volunteering. It's a small plane, and I like gate-checking, although I didn't realise they would check it on to my final destination, and my liquids and other minor conveniences were in there, so I spent the day without a comb, eye rewetting drops, or lip balm, for example, something I'll keep in mind tomorrow when I pack.

The flight was pleasant and went off without a hitch. It was very dark, as they fly with the cabin lights down and no one really turned on their own personal lights. We arrived in Atlanta about the time the sun finally got up. I had a soda and a cookie packet there in the dark. Once we disembarked, I grabbed a drink and some pretzels and went to the next concourse, where I had an hour and a half layover until the Chicago-bound plane left. There was a mechanical delay, but we left on time and arrived at Chicago on time. I learned that one person can charge their phone (my seatmate did) while on the flight, at least on the 717 we were on. I was in the O'Hare airport, and meant to call YKWIA to let him know I made it okay, but then got distracted redistributing things into my purse and purchasing my 1-day (24 hour) transit pass, wound up taking the train to Division, where I lugged bags up many stairs to a world of newspapers blowing everywhere, oriented myself by the sun to be heading south on Ashland, and then caught the bus to a stop right across from my hotel. I got here at noon, conveniently, as that was when I could check in, and my meeting was at 12:45 CST.

I checked in, actually was able to use the key they gave me for the elevator (I had trouble the last time I stayed at this hotel, and had had to rely on the kindness of strangers to get me to the room then). I washed my face, located my comb, used it, and called YKWIA briefly to let him know I was alive. He was concerned, and had called the hotel already. I hadn't expected it to take two hours to get from the airport gate to the hotel (quite a while, yes, but not quite that long), so I apologised for not contacting him sooner. Then, somewhat more presentable, I took just my purse, put on a light jacket (it's all about the layering, as many Chicagoans are wearing their winter coats today; I had a heavy sweater over a thinner shirt, and had been sweltering in the airports and on transit, so it felt good. But I was happy to have that little layer of jacket.

We had lunch before our meeting, and it included sandwiches with mozzarella, arugula, and roasted pepper. We had an absolutely wonderful meeting, mostly on outreach, and I had a brilliant outreach idea that wouldn't work in my present position, but I might be able to partner with someone to do. I was afraid it would fade; I wrote it all out. It would be easily fundable as well. Part of the meeting could have been webconferenced, but the participatory exercise really couldn't have been. I'm very glad I came, even though it wasn't a direct flight.

After the meeting, a few of us walked to an Italian restaurant a few blocks away called Francesca's, which was excellent. I was tempted to get the salmon, but instead went for a lentil salad and a Napoleatano pizza. None of us could do desert. We walked back. Throughout my stays here, my rock of a landmark has been the St Basil Greek Orthodox Church, which is on the corner of Ashland and Polk. The library we had our meeting at is on Polk; the hotel is at Harrison and Ashland. So it really has helped me get my bearings. A couple of years ago they were using all this scaffolding, but now it seems in much better shape. It's beautiful. [I love the varied architecture in Chicago, and not just the stuff downtown. On the way over on the train I saw an esquisite Turkish bath.]

We got back to the hotel, grabbed some complimentary hot chocolate, and I've already told you the rest. I guess tomorrow will be Act Two. Wish me luck. I've got to get up at 5 am, eat breakfast when they open at 6 am, check out, catch a bus by 6:30 to get to Midway Airport by 7:30. My plane leaves for Detroit at 9:19 am CST, on a smaller plane. Then I'll have another hour and a half layover there before arriving home sometime around 3 pm our time. Whew!

Preparing to fly to Chicago

Maybe, given recent world events, it's not the best time to fly, but I am doing so this week, going to traveling in four cities--Lexington, Atlanta, Chicago, and Detroit--and five airports, on four separate aeroplanes. Wish me luck! But in the meantime, I've:

1. Bought luggage tags for all bags (rolling carry-on, which I'll actually check, small matching carry-on, CPAP bag, and laptop bag) in basic black, and printed out and inserted contact information in a colour matching my suitcase (which of course, is a type of purple, sort of the clothing colour often called plum or aubergine, but lighter than either of those actual objects).
2. Put said tags on each bag.
3. Called Delta to make sure they knew I was travelling with, but not using, my CPAP, which means an additional bag that doesn't count as such.
4. Checked my model of CPAP to see if it needs a label (it does not).
5. Bought a small crossbody organiser that is flat with pockets for a boarding pass, passport (which I will not have to use on this trip, so I'll leave it at home), and ID (I may take my passport card, however, as I'm not sure our state ID fully complies with the RealID law yet--I know there was some issue about the fact that they are issued by individual county seats, not centrally). It hangs crossbody and will be very good as I will most likely not have pants with pockets, and I have enough to juggle (liquids, CPAP, and laptop usually come out to be screened, at least here in Lexington).
6. Found and registered the Ventra card I'll use on the trains and buses. I'll load a one-day pass while I'm there, which will save me some money.
7. Have printed my airline confirmation, my hotel confirmation, my meeting agenda, and directions/maps from O'Hare to the hotel and from the hotel to Midway.
8. Have typed up an itinerary of flights with numbers, hotel contact information, and meeting contact information for a friend in case anything goes wrong.
9. Have found the almost elusive tiny Fixodent from the last flight (it was part of my introductory pack when I got my partials; I usually use Polident, and I think the large tube is actually under the per item limit, but the little one is better for getting things into the quart bag) and put it in the bag with my other liquids.
10. Checked to make sure I'm complying with my liquids.
11. Checked to see if I can put a light jacket in my checked bag (I doubt I'll need it, except if we go out to dinner that night). It's supposed to be in the 40s and sunny or partly sunny while I'm there.

I'm going to wear my Mary Janes (the really comfortable diabetic shoes I got from the doctor a couple of months ago). They do have stick in gel heel pads, which I hope will be okay, as they're not normally removed. My actual inserts are foam; they should be fine. I will most likely wear a light sweater that will go with either top I wear, and keep everything simple. I'll pack an empty purse in my checked bag so that I can transfer things as needed to it for moving around town. I haven't chosen what I'll wear yet, and I haven't actually packed--that will be for the night before, because there's always some last minute thing, anyway. Oh, and I bought a little pack of facial tissues in case I need those. I also have to make sure I get up v-e-r-y e-a-r-l-y the morning I leave--my flight's at 6 am, I'll probably need to be at the airport about 4:30, so I need to get up about 3:30 am. I'll try to go to bed early the night before.

I went to see my family member tonight, and she's doing much, much better. I explained that I have physical therapy tomorrow night and am flying out later in the week, so I'm not sure I'll be able to visit till the weekend.

Well, I made it

Trump Tower

despite a delay of an hour-and-a-half at the Lexington airport due to fog. My plane was supposed to be in Chicago at 11:16 local time; we made it by about 12:20, and I grabbed something to eat at O'Hare before getting a transit pass and taking a train into the city. Then I got lost after I got off at my station. The buildings are so tall, so reflective downtown, that even with the sun up it's hard to navigate the directions. So I walked quite a bit (in fact, over 10100 steps today, and about 4.78 miles), got turned around at first, but finally headed east and found Wacker, then found the Hard Rock Hotel (not mine) but was able to get directions there. I checked in at 3 pm. By that time it was too late to go to the museum, so the plan is to start early and go before my seminar tomorrow. The museum opens at 9 am; I have to be at the University of Illinois--Chicago by 1 pm. So I think I'll be able to spend a few hours exploring.

Tonight we went as a group to Park Grill, which is right at Millennium Park, in front of Cloud Gateway, the shiny sculpture known locally as the Bean, which was bigger than I had thought from looking at the pictures. I had beer-battered cheese curds and a black bean burger, and I'm now officially stuffed. But since breakfast and lunch was McDonald's it was nice to have something a little fancier. We're going to the same place tomorrow for dinner--there are two groups on this trip, and I was just invited to the first dinner because I'd gotten into town early. Each group voted, and each liked it. I will say the service was excellent, as were the curds. The portions were very generous. The bread and fries were very good. The burger was, well, a little mushy, but it was still good. Tomorrow if I can swing it, I'd like to try the salmon. But it's pretty expensive. We'll see.

Park Grill with Cloud Gateway ('The Bean') behind it, and a skating rink in front

When I got in this afternoon, I called a friend to let him know I'd arrived at my destination, and then I tried to nap for a little while before meeting one of the other librarians to walk to the restaurant, but I couldn't stop my mind racing or relax. I finally put on some Loreena McKennitt, which helped, and then took a shower, and decided to work on the computer, but I was having some trouble with the hotel's Wi-Fi. Apparently the equipment is in the centre of each floor, and where I am, a corner room, things don't receive as well. There's always the second floor, which has a lot more connectivity (it's a meeting room/lounge area, apparently). I'm on the 20th floor. But I'm back on now, and doing much better, even though I only have three bars on the Wi-Fi. At least it is connecting to web pages and not trying to give me simplified text instead. :)

I'm staying at a hotel on the Chicago River, and as you can see, the view from my room is, at least on one side--I have two windows due to being on a corner--taken up mostly with the Trump Tower. It's a nice room, a little small, but utilitarian (the hotel caters to business travellers), with a queen bed, a bathroom with a shower, a desk for working on, a chair and light for reading, and a closet and bedside tables--not bad for the space.

Tomorrow the plan is to get up early, take the bus to the Museum Campus, and go to the Field Museum, getting there right as they open. I also noticed on the walk over that my bank is about two blocks away, so I may go and get some more cash for the day first. I know where to catch the bus; I saw the right bus at a stop as I rolled my bag up to the hotel. I must have been a sight--a rolling carry-on bag in hand, a laptop bag on one shoulder across the chest, a purse on the other side (also across the chest), and a CPAP bag on my shoulder. That's one reason I was so hot and sweaty when I got here, and had to take a shower--it's in the high 40s, maybe even low 50s here, or was today, and my fleece jacket, although lightweight, was more than enough. It was good for tonight, where there was a breeze and it was a little cooler. But this afternoon, if I had had another arm, I'd have had it off. Still, I think it was a good choice to bring that jacket and not a heavier or lighter one.

Okay, since there's a nice sitting chair and reading lamp in here, I think I'll try reading a bit on my Kindle before I turn in. It's almost 10 pm Chicago time, which means for me it feels like it's almost 11 pm. So I'll probably go to sleep fairly soon. Good night.

Not the most reassuring story to see when you're less than a week out from flying

Delta flight skids off LaGuardia runway, stops feet from frigid waters

A Delta airplane slid off a runway late Thursday morning at New York's LaGuardia Airport, its nose busting through a fence before skidding to a halt mere feet from frigid waters.

Delta Flight 1086 briefly circled New York City due to issues with snow and ice before touching down shortly after 11 a.m., passenger Jared Faellaci told CNN. Almost as soon as it did, those aboard realized something was wrong -- the aircraft's wheels seemed to have little to no traction, sliding for about 20 seconds.

"You didn't feel the wheels take," Faellaci said. Then it was a matter of "where we are going to end up," he said.

About 4,500 to 5,000 feet down Runway 13, the MD-88 veered to the left and mercifully stopped on a small embankment.

I don't know if this recording is authentic

but it certainly is very, very chilling, as the Young Turks put it:



As mentioned in the video, there were AIDS researchers going to Melbourne, Australia to an international AIDS conference via the plane:

Downed flight ‘robbed the world of future discoveries’: When Flight MH17 was shot down, it cut short the lives of top HIV/AIDS researchers, begging the question: “What if the cure for AIDS was on that plane?”

Then there was this...

Malaysia Airlines: 80 Children Killed In MH17 Tragedy, Including 3 Infants

Terrible

Malaysian airliner downed in Ukraine war zone, 295 dead

A Malaysian airliner was brought down in eastern Ukraine on Thursday, killing all 295 people aboard and sharply raising the stakes in a conflict between Kiev and pro-Moscow rebels that has set Russia and the West at daggers drawn.

As the United States said the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was "blown out of the sky", probably by a ground-launched missile, Ukraine and Russia traded accusations of blame, cranking up global pressure for a way out of a bloody local conflict that risks fueling a new Cold War.

My thoughts are with the families of those killed today. It is terrible that even those flying 33,000 feet above the unrest on the ground were not safe. It complicates the world's response to the conflict immensely as well. Depending on what information can be gleaned, and who was responsible, this flight could very well be a flashpoint.

Up in the sky, it's a bird, it's...

a biplane?

This was kind of cool. A biplane went over my house this afternoon. Look carefully--there are two sets of wings. Wish my phone had cooperated when it was right overhead.

Okay, this really is good night. :)

There is constant vigilance

and there is also just plain racial profiling...

Some real Shock and Awe: Racially profiled and cuffed in Detroit

Shoshana Hebshi had the misfortune of looking a bit too middle-eastern on a plane on September 11, 2011. Half Jewish, half Arab, and fully American, she was taken off the plane, cuffed, strip searched and basically given a whole lot of harassment not due to any of her behaviours, but rather how she looked. That shouldn't be the legacy of 9/11. I know the authorities need to be careful and run down leads, but this seems way overkill. Read her blog post for more.

I know someone who is a fairly dark-skinned woman who is constantly pulled out of line and asked to strip down to her bra. Her husband, also Jewish but lighter in skin, sails through without a raised eyebrow.

Terrorists can't be profiled by how they look. Look at Timothy McVeigh, for example. Not all threats to homeland security come from abroad.

I'm supposed to fly to Chicago in December, the first time I'll be on a plane since 1993. I've never had to deal with pat downs and TSA/Homeland Security regulations and the like. Fortunately I am light-skinned, WASPish in appearance, and basically look innocuous. So I don't anticipate problems. But in a post-9/11 world, you can't make assumptions. Shoshana Hebshi and her family had joked about flying while ethnic, but never seriously expected trouble like what she got yesterday.

Funny dames

A bit of fun I'm sure is aimed at Irish carrier Ryanair, among others, as it gets 20% of its income from 'ancillary revenue':



Thanks to Bill for the link.

I havent' been on a plane since 1993, thank God. I hate flying. Well, once you're up in the air above the clouds, it's not bad. It's the going up and coming down (hopefully in one piece) that I mind. I can't imagine going overseas on one. I even looked at going to Britain via the Queen Elizabeth II or a similar Cunard ship, one time, but I just don't have thousands of dollars and extra vacation time just to get across the pond. I'd probably get seasick, too. :( Maybe carrier pigeon?

Kind of cool, actually

Longest Eclipse Ever: Airplane Chases the Moon’s Shadow

Eclipse hunters set a new record on July 11 for the longest eclipse ever observed by civilians chasing the moon in an airplane. While hundreds of eclipse enthusiasts flocked to islands in the South Pacific to watch the moon blot out the sun, astronomer Glenn Schneider and colleagues climbed to 39,000 feet to spend 9 minutes, 23 seconds in the moon’s shadow.

“We cheated Mother Nature by two minutes beyond what she could normally produce,” Schneider said.

Theoretically, the longest total solar eclipse that can be viewed from the ground is 7 minutes, 32 seconds long, a limit set by the geometry of celestial mechanics. Total solar eclipses happen when the new moon passes in front of the sun, casting a round shadow on the Earth that turns day to night. During the few minutes when the moon is directly in front of the sun, called totality, viewers get a rare glimpse of the solar corona, tendrils of gas that dance around the sun’s outer atmosphere. Although a solar eclipse is visible from somewhere on Earth every 16 months or so, totality is only ever visible from a narrow swatch of the planet.

Silly goyim

And I say that as someone who is also non-Jewish, although I do have a minor in Judaic Studies, so I knew what the tefillin are. But I guess to the uninitiated they might look suspicious. His grandmother is right, though, we're very skittish in America (not that we haven't had cause), but the boy did explain what he was doing to the flight attendant who questioned him, and he was very cooperative with everyone. She went ahead and reported it to the cockpit, and they decided on the safe side to divert the plane. At least now maybe those non-Jews out there who haven't seen or heard of the ritual will understand a little better, though, so I guess something good came out of it.

A Flight Is Diverted by a Prayer Seen as Ominous (Jewish Teenager's Tefillin Diverts a US Airways Flight)

To some people in New York, that is a relatively common sight: an observant Jew beginning the ritual of morning prayer. But to at least one person on US Airways Express Flight 3079 on Thursday — the flight attendant — it looked ominous, as if the young man were wrapping himself in cables or wires....

[T]he flight crew had never seen tefillin, small leather boxes attached to leather straps that observant Jews wear during morning prayers. The flight crew “didn’t understand what it was,” he said, and the pilot “erred on the side of caution and decided to radio that in and to divert the flight.”

Thanks to YKWIA (my go-to person for all things Jewish) for letting me know about the story.

I know my fear of flying is illogical

and stories such as this should alleviate it; but they don't.

Century after first fatality, safety is in the air: Beyond ‘experimental stage,’ flying is by far the safest way to travel

It contains some interesting history in the matter of Orville Wright's doomed 1908 flight that claimed the world's first aeroplane crash fatality, passenger Lt Thomas Selfridge, as well as some statistics on the comparative safety of flying.