On the road again: Austin, day 1

I'm sick of oversold flights, but they seem to be the norm nowadays. For my flight from RDU to DFW today, for example, I had no pre-assigned seat, and the flight was so oversold that American was offering $300 travel vouchers to anyone who would give up a seat. I was not in a position to take that offer, so I waited and hoped for a place to sit. Eventually, I received a true prize: the last window seat in the plane, in this case seat 32A.

When I sat, the woman on the aisle next to me said, "You're bigger than I am. Would you like to trade?" Her only condition was that I let her out whenever she needed the rest room. I gratefully accepted, and I remain grateful to her for this kindness. I hope this trip to encounter some opportunity to pay it ahead; until I do, I'm operating in a karmic deficit for travel.

After dealing with traffic and checking into the hotel, I basically worked the rest of the day, with a brief pause for dinner. It's going to be a busy week, but if an evening opens up, I may try to catch up with some SF folks in the area--or I may just fall over from exhaustion and sleep. We'll see how it goes.