Sign that I am getting to know myself better after all these years: I used the new bottle of shoe polish over the sink where it could easily be cleaned up. I was correct to use this precaution.

I am on the road for business travel again, this time to Dallas. I can’t complain too much, because I do have a job, while many people do not, and I only travel 30-35 nights a year, and many people travel way more than that, including my boss. But still, travel is just fraught with so many possibilities for hilarity, because there are so many possible variables.

I was kind of sad starting out this trip because my board member who was supposed to come with me had a sick daughter and couldn’t make it. She and I have had some fun traveling together. I guess we either had compatible senses of humor, or she puts up with mine. So that was a downer, but no big deal, I usually travel with a group but I am fine travelling on my own.

Of course I had a meeting early in the morning, and there were several fires I was trying to put out or get started, and so I was on the computer/Blackberry all through lunch and then as I waited for my flight. And waited, and waited, the board said “delayed” but I was pretty sure there was no weather anywhere near my destination causing delays.

The gate I was waiting at was not in the COOL concourse that has tall tables near the gates where you can sit and plug in your computer and use the wireless, so I was sitting in one of the rows of FABULOUS airport seats that are all bolted together. And these were mostly bolted together, and not too firmly to the floor, because fellow passengers kept throwing themselves into them as hard as they could and I would nearly be catapulted out. And then one gentleman sat next to me and jiggled his leg for about 20 minutes. And then the next guy sat for a while, and then TOOK OFF HIS SHOES and lay on the floor and put his stocking feet up on the chair. Several people nearly stepped on his head. I did get some enjoyment from one of the resident birds (yes, inside the terminal) which buzzed one of the throw-yourself-in-the-seats guys and made him freak out a bit.

The guy on the floor also felt the need to do some personal re-arrangement if you know what I mean. Who needs entertainment at the airport, I had enough going on right around me from my fellow passengers.

So finally they get the previous flight boarded, and then they announce that the gate for our flight has changed (probably because there is still a flight there for Spokane blocking the gate) and of course it isn’t right next door, it is pretty darn close to as far away as you can be and still be in the same terminal.

In the midst of all of this I somehow lost my boarding pass.

Fortunately, they don’t make a big deal out of this, they just print you a new one. I probably accidentally pulled the old one out of my pocket one of the times I checked obsessively to see if it was still there.

By the time I got to the new gate and got a new boarding pass it was about time to board. The gate agent was actually pretty funny, he got in the intercom and said, after about 10 people stood in line to ask him, “Yes, tis is the gate for Dallas. If you are standing in line to ask me if this is the gate for Dallas, please go sit down, I need to get you boarded.” The announcement board behind him said “Dallas” but you know, we all pretty much turn into cattle/sheep when we travel and you take us away from our familiar routines.

And of course the airplane is jam packed full, including someone in my board member’s seat. But that is no surprise. I did get some knitting done. Oh, I also got stopped at security because I had a pair of scissors in my knitting bag that I had forgotten about – I had ransacked the house this .a.m. looking for my tiny folding pair of scissors, found them, and brought them, but I also had another much larger pair along. They weren’t large enough to get confiscated but the TSA did go through that bag and scrutinize and measure them. Will have to remember to put them in checked luggage on the way home.

This was one of those business trips that turns enjoyable though, because my cousin Michael picked me up at the airport and brought me to his and his wife’s home and we had a lovely meal, and told MANY family stories. He didn’t live close when I was a child, so it is even more fun getting to know him as an adult. And because he knows about my cupcake fascination from Facebook, #1 his daughter whipped up cupcakes for dessert, and #2 he pointed out a cupcake store very close to the hotel. GOOD TO KNOW!

Totally unrelated but I better write it down before I forget: One of my favorite things is when my mom tells me how much I am like my Grandma Rose. (I was almost named Rose, after her.) I never met her. But apparently she was a character and perhaps “a bit loud.” Worthy traits to live up to, I think.

And I’ll leave you with this picture of me in my “Wonder Woman Costume” – self designed, self selected. I think I may have said before, most of my costumes took place entirely in my head. And they still do. I wish I still had this, I am feeling quite Wonder-Womanish.