going home

12:30 pm, Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Airport


So I'm typing this while sitting cross-legged on the floor of the Check-In area, waiting in line so that my luggage can be hand-inspected. There are four people in front of me, and each person takes about a half hour to search. The woman behind the counter is going through every bag in detail, removing and inspecting every single item. I'm glad I showed up three hours early! Even so, timing may be tight. A guy two people ahead of me has his flight in an hour and is worried he's going to miss it.


My first impulse is to be impatient, and wonder why the airline couldn't have more than a single person doing the bag inspection, to help speed things along. But then I remember that most airlines are already feeling financial stress and have had to lay off a large number of employees. And the fact that they're being so strict about inspection is reassuring in terms of security issues.







3:07 pm, on a United Airlines plane bound for Chicago


So United Airlines knows a lot more about me than they did before.


When I finally got to the front of the security inspection line, a serious-looking skinny guy went through my checked luggage in minute detail, looking for explosives and weapons (I asked). It took half an hour for him to examine every crevice of my suitcase, pat down every piece of clothing. He even went through the small "Burt's Bees Sampler Case" I bought in Cincinnati last night with Andrea, squeezing each tube, shaking every small cannister.





I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing as he went methodically through my bag of percussion instruments, especially when he scrutinized my newest acquisition (a gift from Paul and Beckett), a lemon-shaped shakey thing. Good thing he didn't decide to try out my plastic lip whistle, or I would have lost it for sure.


When I got to my boarding gate, my carry-on was searched and I was wanded. Every person who did the searching apologized for the inconvenience (especially the woman who had to search my purse) but I told them that I understood completely, and that I'd rather go through the inconvenience if it meant knowing that my flight was more likely to be safer.





3:02 pm, waiting in the Chicago airport


It's raining in Chicago.


I'm sure that line is in a song somewhere, but I can't remember the title. Well, my flight landed about 8 minutes before my connecting flight was supposed to leave Chicago. I would have missed the latter had it not been for the fact that the Toronto flight is 40 minutes delayed.





Quite the stressful few minutes, though, racing madly down the hallway, dodging passengers. The Air Canada agent who had re-booked my cancelled flight on the phone must have made a mistake when giving me my itinerary since the flight number she gave me DIDN'T EXIST on the flight status boards.


Really looking forward to getting home.





6:47 pm, Toronto


Home, woohoo!!! More tomorrow.


Blatherpics:


- Cacie Sears and Talis Love at OVFF. I had to do a doubletake when I saw Cacie at OVFF...I've never seen her blonde before! :-)


- WorlDream cake at the closing party, before and after. Dave Weingart asked me to take a photo to make sure Beckett Gladney could see it (Beckett designed the WorlDream logo).


- United Airlines security guy going through my percussion bag. He was very serious and thorough, and apologized to me about the inconvenience.


- Military police at the Cincinnati airport.


- Erica Neely, Jodi, and me.


- Andrea cooking dinner (a yummy frittatta) on Monday night, with Nicholas observing.


Today's Poll: (Submit poll question)

Can you burp on demand?