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And so it goes on the road...

I was not quite clear this morning when I landed in Cleveland - so much so that I walked away without my backpack from the departure area. 90 minutes of endless wandering in the mezzanine finally brought me back to it via TSA (those seemingly unnecessary but government-mandated, generally nice people that get to control the security lines that come in and out of every large as well as insignificant airport in the US), and I was out of the airport. But I had lost more than my backpack for those minutes - this culminating moment totalled three nights of sleep that resulted from late nights working and a horrendous flight that saw me spending as much time on the ground as in the air on Thursday - 4 hours at both. Total: 8 hours. The night before culminating in a late-night "connection" at midnight through O'Hare (announced by the pilot upon descent but our taxi was as long as the flight to Cleveland was supposed to be). In short, the connection turned out to be a long walk to the completely opposite end of the terminal (completely under construction as well), but that was to be expected. I arrived at the gate just as the lights were going out in certain parts of the grand hallway. Not so grand, if you ask me. I hitched a ride from my brother away from the airport to steal 2.5 hours of sleep (stealing is what it felt like after I powered up my computer and headed back into the presentation on which I was working when my computer lost its power only 6 hours before). That left me in the airport, late to a conference call thanks to the second late AMERICAN flight in as many days (I hate singling out airlines because they really are all the same, but sometimes they are not - American's service was crap) and the lost bag. Full circle.
I understand the possibility of these things happening - I fly enough to expect it anyhow. Flights that never leave (and never find the gate), planes full of babies full of families full of chatter and crying. I was sitting in the middle - rather the back - of the action this time around and wondering when we would ever take off, then actually find the gate. Somehow I found Cleveland, and I am still confused (and still tired - do they go together?). And so it goes on the road...

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