SNOW DAY!!


It turns out that we're in the middle of a full-blown Nor'easter; they're predicting up to 12 inches of snow before 6PM.

In Chicago there are strong winds and freezing pellets.

Dreyfus says there are whiteout conditions where he lives; the snow is actually horizontal.

Neither he nor Mrs. Drey went to work today.

Midway airport is closed, and some 500 flights at O'Hare have been cancelled.

But not my 11:45AM flight.

When it was time to leave for the airport, I could not make myself move. I thought, "Why go all the way there, and then find out the flight is delayed and I can't plug in my laptop because all the outlets are taken."

So I sought the advice of Gridlife the Air Travel Answer Man.

He asked if it was urgent that I get there today. Nope; the teacher training starts tomorrow morning at 11:15. The plan was to fly in a day early and spend the afternoon hanging out with Catsey - and possibly take in a B'way show in the evening.

Gridlife said that when the weather is this bad, and the travel isn't urgent, the airlines sometimes allow travellers to rebook for the following day.

I called AA and waited. And waited.

Finally someone answered.

Calmly and politely, I made my case.

It worked!

The nice lady booked me on tomorrow's 6AM flight, arriving at LaGuardia at 9.

"Now you can put your pajamas back on, and enjoy the rest of your day," she said.

No problem - except I'd never taken them off (Chicago is, after all, the hometown of pajama-wearing Playboy magazine founder Hugh Hefner).

Hopefully I'll have enough time to take a cab to Manhattan, purchase tissues and a gallon of water (which everyone is requested to bring to the first day of the intensive, along with a box of herbal tea - which I already have), sign in, say hello, and find mat space for Dharma's noon Level IV class.

There's nothing like doing a thousand Forearm Balances (see photo) three hours after getting off a plane....

In the meantime I'm pleased as punch to have an entire day to clean the house, catch up on phone calls and play with Kirby -- instead of spending it at the airport waiting in long lines for burnt coffee and stale sandwiches, and wishing my laptop's batteries had lasted long enough to make it all the way through Chalte Chalte.

Thank you, Gridlife!




----------------------------------------------------------------------------


Gridlife also recommends taking a three-plug adapter to the airport, so that more people can plug their laptops into the few outlets that are available. I'd actually planned on bringing a six-plug power strip before I changed my flight today.









Photo of Satya C by Amy Dean