kadyellebee

At the Airport
E dropped me off about 1:30 at the departure gate. Some careful maneuvering, and I made it around the crowd outside. I don’t like the curbside check-in for some reason. Plus, it was so cold on my legs wearing a cute new skirt.

Inside, there were no lines on the United area. I wasn’t sure whether my ticket counted as an e-ticket, all I had was the itinerary print out. The lady barely glanced at my ID, and didn’t ass me the whole spiel about "anybody else touching my luggage." So it took all of 30 seconds to get checked in.

I wandered around Powell’s since I was close to it and browsed the internet books (wouldn’t it be fun to be reading a weblog book on this trip?, but there were only a few options of anything internet related, so I passed. They had cheap books in the back, and I’m an expert at skimming book spines for familiar names. I found a new Jude Deveraux book for 50% off. In the kids section, there were adorable finger puppets, and I almost got a princess one for Leah Marie, my favorite little princess (princess because Princess Leah sounds better than Queen Leah. Coincidently, Queen Kristine sounds better than Princess Kristine. ) The ballerina puppet has blond hair, so I didn’t want that. Leah’s hair is already looking to be darker.

Right down the way from Powell’s was a BOOYA Juice - kinda like Jamba Juice, but with Portland names for the combinations. I thought that sounded like a nice idea, and go PORTLAND’s A PEACH. It was really good. But maybe not as good as the PeachPleasure that JJ has!

Head to the secuirty checkpoint, where they marked me as "NO ID", even though I had my permit. So then it took two other people to decide I was okay. I went through the metal detectors, and forgot my Burts Beeswax Tin was in my pocket. That set it off, and I had to go back through. I accidentally put my ID and boarding pass through the conveyor belt, too, but it was okay.

Of course, I was doing this with a backpack, suitcase (carry-on), my booya juice, and then a coat, boarding pass, id, and beeswax all loose in my arms. After that, I found a close chair to take a break in, and finished my smoothie. I put everything back in its place in my backpack. I even took a few pictures of the cool ceiling in the area of the security check. Its really cool looking.

I knew that I’d be hungry if I didn’t eat something. So I explored D concourse to see if there was anything around there to eat. I was pretty sure E concourse didn’t have anything. A Wendy’s provided me with a baked potato, chicken nuggets, and fries. I saved about half of the nuggests/fries for later. I sat quietly and ate while contemplating ideas for MT.

Then back down D to go to E. I went on some of the moving walkways. I still remember the first time I used one of them, it was in Chicago O'hare where the impressive light show was above them. Obviously, I was an easily impressed child!

Sitting in the terminal, I waited about 20 minutes before they started boarding. I was supposed to be in a window set next to a couple, but the flight wasn’t full so I went for an aisle instead. Probably better for my headache from the sun anyhow.

I closed my eyes and prayed while taking off. Angels must be keeping us afloat and cushioning me from the noise. My easrs finally popped, and it was loud when they did!

Pretzels instead of peanuts for the snack. I feel like Leah, softening the pretzels in my mouth before chewing. (She’s learning to eat solids) What can I say, I’m being careful of my broken tooth.

I’m a bit nervous about meeting the girls, just because its a first. I was terrified when rina-doll came to visit the first time, too. I’m quite a predicatable person, and new things are unpredictable, and thus harder for me than most because of that. I’m trying not to worry too much about meeting Mena and Ben tomorrow; I’ll be with the girls then so its not as much pressure.

[a bunch of brainstorms for MT in this section of my notes]

Ginger Ale is happy and bubbly.

Do they give you salty things on airplanes to increase saliva and make ears pop? (looked up later: the science of ear popping)

[more MT code]

After checking into the hotel
So the ear popping thing wasn’t fun. It hurt more on the way down than up. I still don’t have full hearing going on here. I tried plugging my nose and blowing once we landed (in the bathroom!), but it wasn’t until I got to the hotel that it did any good. Now they are a bit better.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. The taxi driver didn’t know where the hotel was, and even with the map, he spent a while studying it (B wisely suggested printing one!) We were in 5:00 rush hour, so it was a bit longer than B guessed. BTW, what are cab tipping rules? I have no idea.

I got here and checked in, and the room is GRAND!! It’s really nice. I called B to see what was up and she was still working, so we are just kinda waiting for her to get a ride here or Shelley to get in.

And I called E to say I was safe. Its good to hear his voice. I love him.

It seems weird that a hotel room wouldn’t have a phone book. I bet there are way more restaurants around here than what the guest guide lists (less than 20).

As much as I’m enjoying the quiet, I miss my computer!! I should be answering questions right now! Next time I come, I’ll have to have something to bring.

later that evening
A nice surprise when I opened the door. Brenna had Ben and Mena with her! They took us to dinner at a little Italian place—it was yummy! And the conversation was fun—finally having people that know what I’m talking about (sites, tags, so on) is cool!

After dinner Tuesday night, the KGB hung out and I watched the girls on their computers doing their work. Finally, we decided to head to bed. It took me forever to fall asleep. But when I did, I slept right up until the alarm went off. I wanted lots of time to get ready and enjoy the continental breakfast, so I got up a bit earlier than I needed to.

Finally, we were ready to leave the hotel and Maile stopped and picked us up. She’s the office manager and really sweet. As we went into the building, I had to point out all the signs that said Six Apart!

We were there early compared to most people, so we got set up to have a meeting between us 3, and then I got a laptop to use for a few days. An Apple (Powerbook, I think). First time using. Amazingly Impressed.

The day was a whirlwind of meetings and meeting people and a bunch of learning and sharing with the girls. I kept busy with forum posts, plugin stuff, and so on.

The end of my notes, but more events happened
For lunch, a whole bunch of us from the office went out together. Ben, Mena, Brenna, Shelley, Maile, Walt, Ezra, and me. This was the meal where we saw Barry Bonds in his ultra cool hummer.

Also, I got to experience my first time at In-and-Out, a fun burger restaurant.

At the end of the day, I brought the laptop I was using back to the hotel, where there’s a network connection. I worked for a bunch more hours, getting caught up on the MT forums and so on. We found out that Mark Paschal had made it on his drive crossing the country and was staying in our hotel, so Brenna found out where he was so we could meet him. That was cool.

It was even harder to get to sleep that night, and I hit the snooze like 4 times when it went off. I had to have everything packed and brought with me on my way out that morning, so it was kinda a mad-dash!

Staff meeting and more work and lunch with B and then to the Airport for me.

My trip through the airport was traumatic because they decided to send me through the special security area. That included taking things out of my bags, checking everything I was wearing for metal, and delaying me about 15-20 minutes. My plane was boarding by the time they let me go, and so I started walking as fast as I could. I *had* to go to the bathroom by this point, so I went as fast as I could and then took off walking faster than I could ALLLLLllll the way down to the furthest gate. By the time I was half way down the concourse, I was drenched with sweat and tears were streaming. Luckily, the plane took longer than they expected unloading, so I had time to sit down (no seats left, just found a spot on the floor) and wiped my tears and tried to breathe. My hands were still shaking when I found my seat. Oh, and it was a big giant plane (48 rows, I think they said) and squished seating areas too. The guy sitting next to me was nice and had me smiling by the time we got going. My ears weren’t as bad this time around, and I read for some of the flight. Feeling much better by the time we landed actually.

Once we landed, I went out to the arrivals area, and E pulled up not long after that. He took me to dinner and listened to my happy babbling and bouncing the whole rest of the evening. I brought my new Six Apart bag into the restaurant with me, and it made me all happy too.

It was a fantastic trip, with a wonderful outcome, and I’m so glad I got to go!