I’m in Oregon for a conference, which so far, what little I’ve seen, seems interesting. But getting here was crazy. It didn’t start off too badly. I found my way to long-term parking at the airport, got checked in and, despite a really long security line, made it to my flight without having to run. But then things started to break down. We couldn’t take off as soon as we wanted, so we were delayed getting into Chicago, which meant no time to grab food, but I figured I buy something on the plane (yes, you have to buy food now). Shortly after I’d eagerly consumed my Mini-Meal^tm and gotten halfway through Lake House, we were told we were making an emergency landing. Now, under some circumstances, one might panic, but not long before this emergency landing announcement, they asked if there was a doctor on the plane. (And yes, I had visions of Airplane!) So we landed in Sioux Falls, and they took a guy off the plane and we sat there and got fueled up and finally took off about 1/2 hour or 45 minutes later.

Most importantly I finished watching Lake House, which was kind of cute. I also read my entire issue of Wired and almost finished My Freshman Year. So things seemed like they were getting back to normal, albeit 2 hours behind schedule. Then we landed in Portland. We went to baggage claim and watched the bags go around. Only mine never went around. The airline promised to deliver the bag to my hotel. So I walked out the door. Only, it was one of those rotating doors and I nearly got stuck in it. It just kind of stopped and there I was, stuck. Luckily, it started moving again.

Then the shuttle was an hour getting to the airport. But we eventually made it to the hotel and then the conference to catch the end of the keynote and then dinner. I got to catch up with Bryan and ran into an old friend from grad school. Looking forward to more of that tomorrow.

When I returned to the hotel, I stopped by the front desk to ask if my luggage had arrived. They said they’d given away the last of it. As if they had some kind of luggage stash back behind the desk. And then they said they wouldn’t get another delivery until after midnight. Now, if I’m a desk clerk and a guest of mine is without luggage, I’d offer toiletries and perhaps to make a phone call for me. I mean, they’re not the airline, right? How do they know?

So now I’m sitting watching Scrubs reruns, waiting for my luggage. I’ve been assured it will be here any minute. With the luck I’m having I’ll end up with the wrong luggage.