THE EYE OF THE STORM

Hurricanes give false comfort when the eye passes over, and everyone thinks the winds and tidal surge are over. Then the storm returns in its full fury a while later.

I have been enjoying the temporary calm between the storms of my dissertation this week. The full fury was in the 5 days or so leading up to my July 5 deadline to get the dissertation (draft) written for my committee. I slept a few hours a night if at all for nights on end. And July 5 (a campus holiday for the 4th of July) was the culmination, with me working feverishly towards my 7:00 pm deadline, then my 10:00 deadline, then finally the whenever-I-finish deadline. I think I got to Kinko's after 11:00 that evening to make four copies of my 157-page dissertation for my committee members. (I had promised to drop it off at various committee members' houses that evening.) It took much longer than I expected, so there I was driving around to professors' houses after 1 am, dropping off a binder for each one.

Then, I still couldn't sleep because I had to pack for my 7am departure for Springfield airport to catch my flights out to Colorado for my Uncle Jack and Aunt Joan's 50th wedding anniversary. (They are like second parents to me after taking me in for my final two years of high school.) I think I got 2 1/2 hours of sleep that night, also. But it was a huge relief to have the dissertation off my back for a few days.

July 6, I flew from Springfield to Chicago to Minneapolis to Denver to Hayden, Colorado (the closest airport to Steamboat Springs, where the anniversary was to be). There, at some time after 9:00 pm, were Uncle Jack and cousin Julie to pick me up in my sleep-deprived state. Since a big group hike (up to Hanging Lake) was planned for the next morning, I couldn't sleep in, but I did get about 7 hours of sleep, the most I'd had in a week.

Jack and Joan have had a condo in Steamboat Springs for about 10 years now, and had invited the four college-aged grandkids (plus two boy/girl-friends) to Colorado for the week. A few adults were also allowed to participate - besides me, there was my cousin Julie and cousin Jane and her husband Gary, and another uncle Mark and his wife Chris from Michigan. So, that makes a party of 8 adults and 6 minors to plan for and cart around during the week there.

Some highlights:

TUESDAY - arriving in Colorado and getting some well-deserved rest!
WEDNESDAY - hiking uphill (over a mile high) to Hanging Lake, a beautiful waterfall-fed pond amid some dramatic cliffs in the Rockies, then soaking our tired muscles in the huge hot pools at Glennwood Springs after lunch.
THURSDAY - the anniversary itself, celebrated at a very remote campground where we cooked outdoors and ate a special anniversary cake made in town
FRIDAY - R&R, everyone did what they wanted followed by a small-scale local rodeo in Steamboat Springs
SATURDAY - Jack drives me, Julie and the kids to Denver airport. I fly back to Illinois.

CONFUSION REIGNS

Two stories of confusion on the return trip - both with happy endings, but only one a pleasant experience.

I showed up at the United Airlines counter in Denver with my e-ticket for a confirmed flight for the next day (Sunday) but hoping to get on my wait-listed flight to Chicago the same day (Saturday). The clerk checks the Chicago-Springfield flight and says it's OK but that I needed to check at the gate itself for the flight to Chicago. Since the flight is due to leave in less than one hour now, I run through security check and all the way out to my gate. I show the gate personnel my ticket and ask if I can be put on their waiting list. Finally, they call my name and I'm safely on my way home!

In Chicago, however, I find that the situation is not as rosy as expected. I am assuming that when I show up at the commuter gate for the short hop flight to Springfield, I'll be quickly issued a boarding card and that will be that. But no. The bumbling ignoramus (literally, he didn't know much) who looked at my ticket said he couldn't find any mention of my name either as a confirmed or wait-listed passenger. "But I have a luggage tag for my luggage ticketed through to Springfield," I reply. "How can my luggage get there and not me?" "You'll have to check with the Customer Service Desk, Sir," he replies. Confusion: he's confused and now I'm confused.

And so I got to stand in line, checking my watch for my 7:55 departure time, now less than an hour away. The 7 or 8 of us in line wait and wait. I chat with an Irish-sounding man about his flight problems and discover he's been waiting half an hour and no agent has even appeared at the desk! Long travel experience (and familiarity with "Waiting for Godot") have taught me that waiting for a vague hope is the surest way to kiss your plans goodbye, so I try plan B, another Service Desk. An agent gives me another gate area, so I stride purposefully towards the second desk. Totally empty. I ask a nearby United agent: "When will the agent at the Customer Service Desk get back?" And he tells me no one has been at that desk all day. (No "this position closed" signs anywhere today. United is cutting back, yes, but this is ridiculous!)

Meanwhile, I get on my cell phone to United and ask about my frequent-flier itinerary, explaining my predicament. I find out that my original booking agent had wait-listed me only for the Denver-Chicago portion and had put in nothing for a Chicago-Springfield portion, even though that was my originating airport! I had visions of staying overnight in Chicago, a place I never would have traveled to if the Denver United clerk had been more up-front about my travel status. "You'll have to arrange that with the gate personnel," I'm finally told. So, I go back to the lounge for my Springfield flight with 15 minutes to go, hoping I won't find Mr. Ignoramus again. Thankfully, there is a very professional-looking African-American woman who listens briefly to my explanation, checks the flight list and hands me a boarding pass - D1. I have a real seat! On a real plane! Needless to say, I am hugely relieved to finally land in Springfield, where my parked car awaits me.

Confusion story #2. On my 2-hour drive back to Urbana, I stop at a busy Steak 'n Shake restaurant near Decatur to catch a late dinner. (It's now almost 10:00.) I sit at a 3-person table, which I give up to a 3-member family when they can't find anything else appropriate in my section. So, I'm sitting one table away, and since no one is coming to serve us, I catch some of the waiters' eyes and ask "Can someone help us?" A harried-looking waiter shows up and takes our orders. At the end of the meal, I ask him for my bill, but he says, "Weren't you all together? I put it all on one check." (The family had already left.) "You mean they paid for my meal without checking the bill?" I ask concerned. He checks with the cashier. "Yep. You're all paid for." So, I got a freebie meal! (I left him a good tip, however.) Strange that people wouldn't even do a quick once-over to see if the bill reflected what they'd ordered. Dad the Auditor would have been horrrified!

So, I'm back home with a little over a week till my oral defense on July 19. The eye of the storm lasts till Monday, when I have to get ready for that, but it is much less involved than the actual writing of he 157 pages. I have to make a Powerpoint presentation on the computer to briefly re-introduce the main points of my dissertation (this is a polite way of acknowledging that not all committee members actually READ everything the first time). And I'll do a few more statistical runs on the computer to come prepared for any possible question they might have. And it might be a good idea to actually READ my own 157 pages to see possible gaps, typos, etc. before the committee finds them! (Looks better if I'm aware of the weaknesses in my own paper ahead of time.)

And now for a well-deserved night of rest!