joshkelahan.com

I woke up yesterday at 4:30am, checked out of the hotel, walked the block and a half to the MAX line, and got on the train to the airport.  It only took about 30 minutes to get to the air port.  I checked my bags and waited….

The plane took off a little early around 7:30.  The flight from Portland to Chicago was for the most part good.  I took some pictures when we were flying over the mountains.  You can see them here.  But somewhere over Montana, and throughout Iowa, there was some crazy turbulence.  I couldn’t even read my book it was so bad, so I just listened to some music.

I was fairly relieved when we landed in Chicago, but at the same time, I really wanted to be home already.  I had a scheduled two hour layover, so I grabbed some McNuggets, and walked from gate to gate.  As anyone who has ever been to O’hare knows, there are a lot of gates.  The flight in from Portland let me off at gate K8, and my flight from Chicago to STL was leaving from H17.  It was at least a quarter mile.

So finally my flight was boarding, and I got on, and got ready for another 45 minutes of boredom during the flight home.  Shortly thereafter, this dude throws his bag in the seat next to me, walks into the back and starts yelling at the stewardess.  I guess he really didn’t want to sit next to me.  Then security agents were on the plane, and I was thinking they were going to drag that guy off the plane.  Something unexpected happened then.  One of the security agents sat down next to me and asked if I would be at all opposed to taking a later flight if they upped me to first class.  I agreed of course, and hopped off the plane.

I ended up having to wait another hour and a half for the next flight, but it was neat sitting in first class.  First of all, you get your drink before the flight even takes off.  Secondly, you can have whatever you want.  The guy next to me ordered a scotch.  I didn’t even know that was an option.   On American Airlines, the first class seats are the same size as the normal seats, the difference is that they are leather, and the armrests cannot be moved out of the way if you don’t like them (and I don’t).

There was a little bit of turbulence on the way to STL, but the flight was only about 30 minutes, so I can’t really complain too much.  I was kind of worried on the way back that they would lose my luggage, but it was sitting right there waiting for me when I got to the baggage claim in STL.

Overall, I really enjoyed the trip to Portland.  The conference was really interesting, and I am psyched that it will be in St. Louis next year.  Even if I don’t write a paper, I hope I have the opportunity to attend.  The Gala event is supposed to be at the Arch.  They were really excited about closing down a national monument for SIGUCCS next year.

In case you missed any of the pictures, you can find them on my flickr page here.  Chris also took some pictures, which you can find here. Or on his blog @ www.clkoerner.com (here & here).