Spare room

I'm sitting in a spare room out West, waiting to drive over to the conference. Group dinner tonight and then lots of paper presentations all day long tomorrow. Come to think of it, I think there's even a panel tonight. Right now, the window is cracked open because it's warmer here. I can hear a dog freaking out and someone yelling at it. Some kind of remodeling is going on nearby, and I could hear the sounds of two boards knocking into each other while I was cleaning up this morning. And there is lots more traffic. Cars going by nearly every minute. Where I live, maybe a car every half hour comes down our small side street.

What I'm not looking forward to. I'll be sharing a hotel room with someone from the conference and at this point I don't know who that will be. It could be someone I've met before, or a complete stranger. I also have to warn whomever it is that I've been caught snoring recently. I shared a room with someone last fall, and they pulled out their ear plugs for the second night. Good thinking, that. Bringing your ear plugs. In any case, I usually spend a lot of time chilling out in my room at conferences. This time I'm not sure what I'll do.

Yesterday I discovered how to fly on the old MD-80s. Sit near the front. When I went to the back commodes, I realized why I usually hate flying them. They roar near the back, at deafening volumes. We usually sit near the back with the kids, just cause that's where most kids seem to sit. But never again, if we can help it, in these old machines. Now there's ice and snow all over the northeast. I'm glad I didn't have to fly today.