To Austin?

As you may know, I am on the board of a national organization. Yes, I do like starting like that so as to inflate myself. I am on the board of J Street U, a campus-based organization that seeks to bring about middle-east peace. We believe in a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine issue, wherein the future state of Palestine has full sovereignty and coexists peacefully with Israel. We often do campaigns on all of our different campuses to try to achieve these ends. We are a daughter organization of J Street, which is based in Washington DC. They seek a resolution to the conflict from a diplomatic approach; despite the arguments of hegemony, the US is in a unique position to create foreign policy that will create real change and possibly peace in the middle-east.

The executive director found out about an opportunity for a board member to go to a conference in Texas. This conference is sponsored by the Student Peace Alliance, which so far as I can tell is seeking to get all of the campus peace groups together for ally-stuff. OK, it sounds a lot better than I let on, but I really know nothing about it.

I am on a plane to Austin right now. I had nothing better to do! I have an indefinite start date for my internship. I called DM and told him that unless he had more info, I was going to this conference. He was fine with it. They (Student Peace Alliance) is paying for everything. Parking. Plane. Hotel. Really, it is a pretty sweet deal.

I like BWI, the Baltimore Airport. It was very manageable, not overwhelming at all. I flew Delta out of BWI to Atlanta. A less manageable airport. There are seven (?) concourses. They are separated by train. I came in at one concourse and had to take a train to my connecting flight. It's a cool concept, but not exactly useful or user-friendly. What I did really like about ATL was there trash system. They have these special trash cans. They compact the trash every few hours, and apparently send a signal to staff when they need to be emptied. The trash is transported of site to a sorting facility. It is then sorted for recycling. Sometimes, it is plainly apparent that we live in the future. Of note, BWI and ATL have the same bathroom system. Exactly the same hardware for stalls, toilets, and automated faucets with automated soap dispensers. Kind of weird, like going to a mall in a different state and realizing it has the same architecture as the mall at home.

It turns out that I was lucky on this flight. I am next to the single empty seat on the flight! It seams that the seat is lacking a latch for the seat belt, so it can't be booked. Hooray for spreading out.

On a related note! Delta has started to charge $25 per check-in bag. This, by itself, is not that odd. They have however made the frame for the carry-on smaller! This means that the bag you thought would be fine because you have used it as a carry-on before (mine) was subject to a $25 charge. It seems as though I was prepared though. I had a daypack in my bag; I shifted my luggage around, and had a perfectly good carry-on. But, Delta, you have done something really stupid! By charging a ridiculous fee for checked luggage, you then encourage people to over-pack their carry-ons. What does this mean? There is no space in the cabin for luggage. Every overhead bin is packed, most people with something at their feet. Somehow, I don't think this is particularly good for business...

I know that by stating this, I might jinx it. There have been no crying babies. Really a much more pleasant experience that way.

So, I am going to this conference. I am supposed to table (advertise to represent my organization) for a few hours, participate in a discussion with all the other peace groups, but otherwise enjoy the conference. It is a goal of mine to at least once be considered important enough that someone pays for my transportation first-class. But this is cool too.

UPDATE: I wrote both of these posts on the plane. On Thursday. Delta naturally lost my bag. I just got it. And it had my compy's power cord in it. And I have so much to add about the conference, but I think sleep is probably the best option at the moment. Hopefully I will have a moment (or seventeen) to write about the conference tomorrow, else I certainly will on the plane coming back.