Touching and Going

The annual NCURA conference wrapped up, at least for me, around 10 am on Wednesday. Although there was actually another session that I'd wanted to attend, I just wasn't comfortable with the mad dash for the airport that it would entail. So I retrieved my luggage from the hotel and rolled down the hill on Connecticut Avenue to the Dupont Circle metro stop, heading for National Airport. It had been a pretty good meeting, and of all the sessions I attended I think only one was a "dud." The annual Tuesday night party was fun as usual, although a very serious medical emergency almost cancelled it soon after it began. One of the attendees passed out, presumably with a major heart-related problem, and subsequently stopped breathing. We got her down onto the floor where CBR was started, and soon someone who I presume was a physician came running in to take over. Then the paramedics showed up and they cleared the room. I really feared that it was too late, but from what I heard, they got her heart going again, although she was apparently still in intensive care the next morning. Anyway, eventually the party started up again and as usual I found myself walking back to my hotel around 1 am or so. The next morning I was feeling pretty dragged out, and by the time I finally boarded the nonstop to NOLA in the early afternoon I was ready for one of those head-bobbing airline seat naps. BTW, the New Orleans airport now has free internet! Whooo hooo! That makes arriving two hours early for your flights a lot easier to handle.

After four days of sitting in hotel meeting chairs and eating meals made for 2,000 people, I was ready for a good long ride. What I wasn't quite ready for was the temperature, which was in the 40s. The Thursday long ride felt like a very long 42 miles, and I spent more than my fair share of the time sitting in near the back enjoying the scenery. I'm really looking forward to the winter rides starting up again, although I'll probably miss the first one if it's this coming weekend.

Today is really just a touch-and-go day, because tomorrow I'll be back at the airport by 5 am to attend the annual USAC Local Associations conference at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. I expect that will be a little more relaxing than D.C., but I'm sure it will be two well-packed days regardless. Hopefully I will come back with a few good ideas for our LAMBRA business meeting on the 25th. The good news is that Gary tracked down the missing LCCS championship jerseys and confirmed that they are on their way back to the sender. Apparently whoever at UPS who picked them up from the neighbor, to whom they were mistakenly delivered, didn't think to make an about-face and deliver them to the correct address, which was directly across the street. I remain completely flabbergasted by that. Anyway, we are hopeful that they will be re-shipped to Gary next week and that he'll get them at the shop in Jackson in time to bring them with him to the meeting. Much work left to do today, so I'll skip commenting on the *writer* who send a letter to the newspaper yesterday complaining about the cyclists who have been "clocked going as fast as 52 mph" by the East Jefferson Levee District Police.

I wish.