Away ...

I'm in Tampa until late tomorrow night on business. Learning all about how to better use Pro|E, the CAD software I use at work. I'm hopefully going to come back with some real good stuff for the company to use. That way they'll send me again next year. :-)

Some travel observations:

• Why does a $130 a night hotel need to charge $10 a night for internet access? OK, I know need isn't the right term, but still. Many a $60 hotel serves up wireless for free, they charge double for the room and don't include it?
• Why can't I take a regular sized deodorant on a plane? The helpful security folks confiscated my nearly new Right Guard gel at the security point. Maybe their plan is to make all the terrorists smell bad so they'll be easier to spot. At least the $130 hotel gave me a free sample size of non-gel Speed Stick for free. I'd hate to be tagged as a terrorist on the return flight.
• I got Burger King at the Tampa airport for lunch on Sunday. I didn't even get to see the folks making my food. The burgers were slid down a rack to a slot in the wall along which you slid you tray, picking up your burger as you go by. Just in case mass produced paper wrapped burgers weren't impersonal enough, now they are spit out like $20 bills from the ATM.
• Going home tomorrow, I get to layover in Atlanta. For over 2 hours. The direct flight down was shorter than my layover. What was a 2:15 flight down becomes a 5 1/2 hour trip home. Argh.
• I don't think I've ever been to an airport that wasn't under construction. Both Tampa and Port Columbus were. We'll see about Atlanta tomorrow.
• There was a mix up on my return flight, so I'm coming back a day before the conference ends. We looked at changing my flight - an extra $350. On a flight that was only $316 to begin with. Huh?
• No, I didn't fly Skybus, they don't go to Tampa.

I hate flying. I tossed and turned Sunday morning as I heard thunderstorms roll into Columbus just before my flight. It cleared up before departure, thankfully. I haven't had to use the little bags in the seat pocket in front of me yet, but I've felt like I was going to need one before. No matter how many times my mind tells my stomach that it's normal for planes to shake and wiggle like that, it's not buying it.

Wish me luck tomorrow. Maybe I'll find some free wi-fi in Atlanta and post something while I wait.