(yawn)

Up at 4:30am again, to go to the airport to go to Washington, DC overnight for a two-hour meeting with the FAA tomorrow morning that I have no idea about my role in, because JL wants me to be there...

... geekchick has agreed to see me for dinner tonight, which is arguably the counterbalancing virtue of this trip. Otherwise, $800 in travel costs and two days of my time just because WebEx is considered alien technology to the FAA.

Asking nicely ;-)

I seem to have a knack for asking and getting what I want from airline staff... last weekend, I managed to get first-class upgrades in both directions -- on a frequent-flyer coach ticket. Once, I was rebuffed... then I smiled, thanked the counter agent and then tried the same request at the gate, where the agent was glad to assist.

Today, I headed to DC... after switching flights around such that I still had a layover in Minneapolis after my SF originating flight was cancelled, leaving from San Jose instead. I asked for and received upgrades on both flights, again. I'm rather spoiled, in that sense. But today's tricky part was to get Nancy's borrowed suitcase back to her in Minneapolis. The airlines can't short-check a bag for pickup at a connecting city anymore, since 9/11. I put my NASA flight jacket in her large suitcase... then pleaded with the check-in agent. She agreed to flag the bag with extra priority stickers, but had to check it all the way to DC. So when I arrived in Minneapolis, I asked the arrival-gate agent if she could get them to retrieve the bag (since I wanted the jacket that was in it... while true, as Nancy is going to sew a project patch on it overnight, I didn't say anything about not re-checking the bag afterwards). That worked... she entered a request, and 20 minutes later the bag came up at baggage claim.

At this hotel, I didn't have to ask... they already had a coffee setup waiting in my room, a plate of cookies and the bed turned down. The coffee and sweets are things I asked for the first couple of times I stayed here (the former was instrumental in my first date with geekchick ;), and so the hotel now always has them waiting without my asking explicitly. And the valet remembered me. Very nice service.

Speaking of which, geekchick and I had a nice dinner tonight at a hole-in-the-wall Italian restaurant near her place. Lots of eye contact, fun talking together, and she seemed to brighten somewhat as the evening progressed :-).