To Portland and Back Again

Last week I made a trip to Portland, OR to present a session on relevance ranking at the American Association of Law Libraries annual meeting. It was a couple of long days for me, but good days.

First, my flight from Lincoln to Denver was delayed for 3 hours, because of problems with the aircraft. During the wait a bunch of of us commiserated and I found that I was in the company of a professional photographer from LA who does many shoots for magazines, like the cover of TV Guide and some Rolling Stones work, and one of the first female police officers from Arizona. (At least that's what they claimed to be). We finally get our flight out and land in Denver.

During this time, I wasn't sure I had a flight from Denver to Portland, so I'm hoping that I'm able to get one yet that night. I luckily catch a flight from Denver to Portland right as I landed, one of the last three seats on the plane. I finally get to the hotel around midnight and get a pleasant surprise - I get the best room in the place! Too bad I'm too tired to really enjoy it.

The next morning I get up, catch a quick breakfast, practice my presentation one last time, then hit the train to the convention center. I catch about half an hour of another session, mainly to scope out the room and the crowds as I've never presented for this group before.

Next up is my session. There was a decent turnout, about 165-175 people by my program sponsor's estimate. There were some good questions, and I got some very nice compliments after my presentation.

Right after I got done, I get onto the train to the airport. Me and my CPAP get through security, I grab some lunch and some wifi time. Things are rather uneventful as I get to Denver and have 3 hours to kill before the light to Lincoln. I spend some time in the New Holland Hub in the airport and was rather happy with the food and fine "adult beverages" they had. The flight from Denver to Lincoln is uneventful and I get to Lincoln around midnight.

Again, it was a long two days, but two very good days.