Let me in...

We’re back in Austin… it was weird to leave Chicago without the car yesterday. Kinda like, “hey, aren’t we forgetting something? I’m sure we had more than this when we got here…” Our flight was nice and uneventful – especially since the weather in Chicago was perfect yesterday (after being consistently rainy and cloudy the entire time we were there). We were in the second to last row of the plane, RIGHT next to the engine. And I was suddenly very grateful that I always carry earplugs with me when I travel, even though I don’t always use them. But I think I would’ve had a huge headache by the end of the flight if I hadn’t immediately made use of my earplugs to shut out the engine noise. Well, DECREASED the engine noise… it would’ve taken more than a couple little foam earplugs to completely shut it out. So I was still very aware of the constant thrumming of the engine, droning on and on… thud… thud… thud… (this, of course, is actually much better than the alternative SILENCE of the engine, which is really not a very good option at all when you’re 25 thousand feet above the earth…)

I didn’t have any chances to blog while I was in Chicago, since Rick had the only computer. I don’t usually travel with mine (and besides, Rick always has HIS, right?). So while I had plenty of extra time that I could’ve used to write random thoughts and post them to my blog, I had no way to DO that. For the majority of the day, I was cut off from the outside cyberworld. Which really isn’t such a bad thing, to be honest. I mean, if you’re always online and reading about what’s going on in the cyberworld, you can kind of lose touch with what’s going on in your own REAL world…

So even though I had no computer and Rick was gone most of the day, I still found ways to keep busy and discovered little moments of drama throughout my day. For instance, the first day I was at the hotel, my key stopped working. I had planned to go down to the fitness center and walk on one of the treadmills for a while – so I dressed in my workout clothing, put my wallet and camera in the room safe, grabbed my phone and room key, and headed down to the lower level fitness center. To get in, you have to swipe your room key outside the door – that keeps out all the riff raff fitness buffs. (I’m kidding – it’s actually a good idea to make sure only hotel guests can use the facilities… especially since it’s in the basement and, at least when I was in there, practically deserted…) So I swiped my key outside the fitness center door – and instead of the little green light that announces, “yes! You’ve been cleared! You have been granted access to this room of privilege!” nothing happened. So I tried it again. And again. And probably again. (Yes, I was quite tenacious.) Finally, I accepted the fact that the key was NOT going to work, and gave up. And then I realized something – if my key wasn’t working for the fitness center, that probably meant it would no longer work for my ROOM, either. So I took the elevator back up to my floor and confirmed what I already knew – I was locked out of my hotel room.

Okay, no problem – I just had to go to the front desk and tell them to reprogram my key. So I explained to the woman behind the counter that my key had stopped working, and told her which room I was in. And of course the first thing she asked was, “do you have ID?” (Um, yeah… up in the room safe… the room that I happen to be locked out of…) So then she asked whose name the room was registered under, and I gave her Rick’s name. And then she wanted his phone number, so I gave her his new Chicago number, but that seemed to confuse her. So I gave her our home number, and that didn’t help much either. Maybe Rick’s old cell phone? I gave her THAT number, and she was STILL staring at her computer screen with a furrowed brow and a look of concern on her face. And I was running out of phone numbers… Finally, she said, “I’ll go ahead and reprogram the key, but tell Rick to put your name on the reservation so we know who’s allowed to be in the room.” So I guess she decided that I did NOT look like the kind of person who simply wanted to break into someone’s room to steal all their stuff. And when Rick and I came back later so he could add my name to the room, we discovered that they had some weird phone number on file neither of us was familiar with. Rick figures it must’ve been because this was a work reservation and not a personal reservation. So it’s some random company number that I never would’ve been able to guess. Good thing she finally reprogrammed my key anyway… otherwise I guess I would’ve been stuck in the lobby all day…

So now I must get busy with unpacking and laundry, so I can clear the bedroom of suitcases in the event someone should want to see the house (even though there’s been very little interest the last couple weeks… stupid economy. But that’s okay – once the Great Wise Benevolent One Obama has been elected, everything will be puppies and rainbows and world peace and harmony… Chant with me now – yes we can! Yes we can! Change! Change! All hail our Soon-to-Be Dear Leader!) Um, yeah… like I said… laundry… :)