Airports

So I survived. Logan was horrendous. Everyone goes through the same security check point, which at first was why I thought that they were being extra careful with the carry-on, but I was told later that people to England were not allowed any carryon at all. (I have to wonder what they did about laptops, cameras, medications and everything else you are told not to check.) It took me a little more than 2 hours to check my bag and get through security, so I am glad we left early.

With the heightened alert (as you may have heard) they were not allowing anything liquid or gel on the plane. Really this meant in carry on, but that was not immediately clear. In my checked luggage I later discovered that I had a bottle of moisturiser explode. At least it smells good I guess. Also I had brought a pair of wooden circular needles, which I was told by 2 different security people that I could not have (when I asked). When I was getting on the plane I saw a woman with a pair in a clear bag with her knitting. She said they gave her no problems at all. I guess the key is not to ask. Also if you have to fly in the next few days I recommend wearing shoes with socks, as you will have to take off your shoes to have them run through the machine.

Traveling through both Detroit and Madison airports were unnotable. I was a little worried that due to delays getting everyone through security and on the plane that I would miss my connecting flight, which was scheduled to take off slightly less than an hour after the first one was scheduled to land. Although it was close (I had just enough time to walk from one terminal to the other with a few minutes to spare) it worked out.

Getting Settled

If you will remember I got little sleep wednesday night. I figure that for the last two days at that point I had only been gotting ~3 hours of sleep a night plus cat naps. Added to the fact that I hadn't eaten (other than ~16 oz of liquids on the planes) as of 4:30 pm (my body's 5:30) I wandered off after stopping by the office yesterday after I had straightened out my housing. I was told that I could find a grocery store just a ways down University Ave. Almost no one walks any great distance around here so that was somewhat misleading. After walking about a mile I stopped because my body decided I had to eat right then. I stopped at Firefly, which was pretty good. I ate the leftovers for lunch today too.

Then I walked a little bit more to Magic Mill Natural Foods. By this time I was exhausted as it was finally kicking in how much I had pushed myself. I was chatting with the clerk a bit when the woman in line behind me overheard that I had just flown in and was in town for a little bit. She offered me a ride towards campus, which I probably wouldn't have accepted because I would hate to impose on a stranger except that I wasn't sure if I was going to make it before dark in an area I didn't know. I probably looked like I was going to fall over. Her name was Deb, and she has lived in the area all of her life. Talk about the kindness of strangers! So I got home safely with my groceries, which I even managed to put away before I passed out on the bed.

I am hoping to do some more exploring this weekend. I have been at work since ~7 this morning and I wanted to get as much done as I could before people started to disappear for the weekend (which they have already started doing since ~2). I want to get to a larger grocery store for some staples, and I may try to get to Lakeside Fibers. I am really interested in spinning ingeo, but minds_eye_yarns hasn't had them in despite previously saying that it was a summer item. I need to get back into the office though this weekend to play with the new program some more with my limited time.