Seven and a half hours

I spend the last day of my trip feeling like Merhan Karimi Nasseri the man living in the terminal at Charles DeGaulle Airport. Why, you ask. Because I was in Terminal B of Reagan National Airport for seven and half hours! Yes, Tom Hanks will be playing me in the movie version of my day. The first delay occurred between when my friends checked in and when I did. Their boarding pass read the scheduled 2:15 departure. My boarding pass said 2:40. This was merely foreshadowing of how the entire day was spent. The delays occurred 20-40 minutes at a time. They’d say we were leaving at 3:10 and then they’d say, “Oh, there’s been a change and we’ll be leaving at 3:35.” “Excuse me, passengers of flight 1809; you will now be departing at 4:01.” And it went on and on and on like this for seven and a half hours! The official reason given by the ground crew was that there was a problem with “traffic patterns.” To me that sounds a lot like, “The dog ate my homework.”

One would think that a large airport like Reagan National would have many ways for the weary traveler to entertain oneself. This would be a very wrong thought. If you want to eat junk food or shop for crap that you don’t need, then Reagan National is the airport for you. If you hate air conditioning and want to sweat for seven and a half hours because the a/c is broken, then Reagan National is the airport for you. But, if you’d like internet access, comfortable chairs, a massage, a pedicure, or perhaps to watch a movie, steer clear of Reagan National.

What we discovered during these seven and a half hours was that there are many stages of anger. First is rage, followed by melancholy. Then one has feeling of apathy. The last stage of anger is delirium. We were through all four stages after about 5 hours.

Eventually, however, a mere thirteen and a half hours after leaving the hotel, I set foot in my own home. The clock read 12:30 a.m. It would have been about an hour and a half shorter to drive home from D.C.

There are many possible other traveling adventures on the horizon although none are definite yet. They include:

Denver, CO – July, 2008
Nashville, TN – September, 2008
Los Angeles, CA – October, 2008
Mexico – December, 2008

Long long day

What did I do today? I sat. And then I sat some more. And after 11 hours of meetings, I was done.

We again started the morning with the Indiana caucus meeting from 7-9 a.m.. My alarm went off at 4:50 a.m. in order to work out. I hit snooze for a while and only got a half hour of biking in before I had to get ready. After the two hour meeting, we walked to the Convention Center. Our first item of business was to be addressed by Presidential Candidate Barack Obama. We all received Obama t-shirts and thunder sticks.

We then spent the next 8 hours sitting on our asses voting on new business items and legislative amendments. Some of us did take a break for lunch and went to a great salad joint called Chop't.

After our meeting, we walked back to the hotel. I spent some more time in the fitness center and plan to go to bed early tonight. Just one more day of meetings! Thank goodness!

Fireworks on the National Mall ... . on TV

Being in DC, one would think that I would want to spend the evening of Independence Day watching the fireworks over the Washington Monument on the National Mall. And for may of the Indiana delegates, that is exactly what they did. I, on the other hand, decided that I didn't want to sit in rain on wet grass and instead watched the fireworks on TV from the Dubliner Irish Pub while eating a Monte Cristo.

It was another long day of meetings with our two hour Indiana meeting from 7-9 a.m. and then the we had the Representative Assembly beginning at 10 a.m. In an unprecedented action, the RA was over by 3:45 p.m. That's right, 3:45. I've never gotten out that early. Ever.

The most interesting part of the day was when the New Jersey delegation presented NEA General Counsel and all around stern man Bob Chanin was presented with a Bob Chanin Caucus t-shirt. If you're not familiar with Bob Chanin, he is very forceful when speaking and a favorite of NEA members. Rarely does he speak that the delegation doesn't laugh or cheer. And never does Bob crack a smile. I tried to find a video of him online to no avail.

Tomorrow the plan is to get up and work out at 5 a.m. before our first meeting.

Accident Numero Dos

It didn’t take long for me to get my second injury of the trip. After eating a grilled Cajun chicken sandwich at Fudruckkers with my friend John, I managed to simultaneously stub my toe, fall going up a set of stairs, and spill a full cup of pop. The toe hurts, ripped off part of the nail, and bled a little. Perhaps I should consider a protective bubble.

The meetings today were not bad. The delegation from Indiana met from 7-9 this morning. At 11, our meeting of all state delegations (about 10,000 folks from all states) began. The Representative Assembly (that's what the meeting is called) began with the usual Pledge of Allegiance but instead of the normal national anthem, we heard and saw Marvin Gaye's rendition from the 1983 NBA Playoffs. This was followed by the introduction of pertinent people and the Keynote Address by NEA President Reg Weaver. I highly recommend watching the video of his address especially if you are an NEA member and are not familiar with the Reg. If you are pressed for time, just watch the last few minutes. He is a great speaker.

The remainder of the day was spent debating and discussing new business items, standing rule amendments, by-law amendments, and constitutional amendments. The first America's Greatest Education Governor was presented to Mike Easley of North Carolina. That guy has made some big changes in NC. Teachers have averaged an 18% increase in pay and education support professionals received up to a 20% raise in one year. He has decreased class size and has implemented a program for high school students that allows them to spend an extra year in high school and receive an associates degree. Those of us in the Indiana delegation were muttering about Mitch. We'd prefer Mike. Mike spoke better than nearly all politicians I've heard speak. I'd also recommend watching his speech if you have a few moments.

I plan on spending the rest of the evening working on geography and riding the bike in the fitness room. After getting up at 5:30 this morning (4:30 home time), I'm ready to go to bed early.

These Shoes Aren't Made For Walking

My second full day in DC was again exhausting. After a 2 hour meeting that began at 7 a.m., I decided it was time to master DC’s subway system, the Metro. It turned out to be quite simple to use and I headed on the blue line out to Arlington National Cemetery. I decided to take the walking audio tour and spent the next two hours roaming around Arlington. I saw the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, the changing of the guard, JFK’s eternal flame, and row upon row of headstones.

After Arlington, I took the Metro to the convention center to register for the Representative Assembly. I picked up my delegate materials, felt the degree of their weight, pictured myself lugging them back to the hotel in my back pack, and decided to dispose of most of it. I’m sure it was full of extremely important information and my plan is to sit next to someone who had enough sense to keep it.

After buzzing through the NEA Expo and picking up some freebies, I headed to the reception for the Indiana delegates hosted by Senator Dick Lugar at the Senate office building. I met Senator Lugar, who happens to have very soft hands, drank some lemonade, and headed back to the hotel. My plan was to read a little and rest before dinner. I didn’t get more than a paragraph read before I was asleep and woke up two hours later.

My friend John stopped by just as I was waking up and we went for dinner at Union Station. John was wanting to see some of the memorials and I was wanting to see the Korean Memorial at night (as I had heard that it was quite haunting at night). John and I set out. Three hours and five miles of walking in flip flops and two sore feet later, we returned to the hotel. While out, we saw the Washington Monument, the World War II Memorial, the World War I Memorial, the Korean War Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, the Franklin Roosevelt Memorial, and the Jefferson Memorial. Yeah, it was exhausting.

Today is scheduled to be a big day of sitting on my ass. I’m currently in another 7 a.m. two hour meeting of the Indiana delegation and that will be followed by an all day meeting with the entire NEA Representative Assembly (about 10,000 folks). I suppose I should start paying attention . . .

Crash Into DC

After arriving in Washington DC yesterday on a turbulence filled flight, I decided to spend my morning on a bicycle tour of the city. The tour was great. We saw the Capitol Building, Smithsonian, the war memorials (Korean, Vietnam, WWII), the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Memorial, the White House, and just about everything else one finds along the national mall. I highly recommend the Bike & Roll Tour.

There was, however, an unexpected incident on the tour that occurred when I hit a stump with my bike and crashed into the ground and a park bench. Who saw me, you ask. Just everyone at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and my the members of my tour group. After crashing, I picked up both my bike and self esteem and pedaled on. My knee hurts a little and it left quite a few scratches on my leg.

After the bike tour today, I also visited The Museum of Natural History which is home to the Hope Diamond. I toured both the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden and the Hirshhorn Museum Sculpture Gallery. I went the Old Post Office and checked out the view of DC from the top of the Post Office Tower. I also toured the U.S. Botanic Gardens and viewed their exhibit of Cool Globes. These globes are similar to Chicago's Cows on Parade. They are globes decorated to showcase environmental issues.