No snow in DC...

I'd been hoping for a few inches of snow overnight, but only a dusting appeared. "Snooze" on the travel clock was not good for me -- oversleeping, I wound up being a half-hour late to my downtown meeting with FAA and others. The room was full to overflowing... about 70 people, most of them unfamiliar faces. I had charts ready... but hadn't briefed some of them (from others) before, and had barely skimmed them beforehand. So I essentially ad-libbed for a half-hour, up front. It was fun... I only hit one or two slightly-awkward pauses... and received compliments afterward on my well thought-out presentation. Give me a soapbox, and an audience... and I'm dangerous ;). I got a few laughs even while presenting a *dry* subject (national air traffic middleware...).

My flight was at 4:30pm at Dulles, the meeting broke into splinter sessions a half-hour early... so I was out by 1:45pm. I was walking back to my car's garage through the L'Enfant Plaza shopping promenade and saw a florist shop. Stopping, I initially contemplated buying some flowers for patgreene, who has had a rough week, but figured that they wouldn't survive screening and being shoved in an overhead bin. But I had some extra time, and could surprise geekchick... so I bought an inexpensive bouquet and impulsively headed out past the airport, all the way to Cathy's office in Warrenton. Driving-wise, this would be analogous to going from Mountain View to Oakland airport... via Gilroy, doubling-back. It was sunny and windy and quite cold. I spent five minutes with her, waved at her co-workers, and then drove... quickly to IAD. Having a brand new Mustang as a rental didn't hurt... I cut it close, but made the flight home with 15 minutes to spare ;-). Whew.

Home now... just saw patgreene off for San Luis Obispo. Hope that she stays alert.

slow night

This appears to be a quiet Thursday. No one online, few LJ posts, phone calls get voicemail. woodsbunny called, as well as receiving a couple of brief driving progress reports from Pat (who arrived safely).