Back in the Drake groove

I loved the opportunity to work with my Poynter colleagues for a week, but getting caught up with family and students is challenging.  It's like it takes two days in real time to catch up for a day gone.  If so, I should be caught up by Spring break - maybe.

Every April, after attending the Broadcast Education Association convention, I arrive home full of ideas for new assignments and projects.  Poynter was like that, too, with one exception.  At BEA, once we all leave for home there's little interaction until the next convention.  My new Poynter colleagues have been sharing things all week.  It should be frustrating adding all those extra daily  emails, but it's almost like still being there in St. Pete.  Very, very, cool people!

In case you were wondering, my lost bag (see earlier posts) made it safely back to Des Moines after traveling around the country with American Airlines for five days.  If I could only get them to credit the miles my suitcase traveled, to my frequent flier miles, the whole family would have a free trip.

I'll updated this a bit less frequently until my next travel adventure, but I'm always willing to chat with friends one on one at todd.toddevans@gmail.com

Revisiting taking travel for granted

I started this blog with the belief, at least for me, that "travel is." Based on my current position, may I amend that to "travel is a great, big pain in the ass!"

Friday started out pleasant enough, my airport shuttle was on time and the drive was fast. I even beat a colleague that chose a taxi instead of the shuttle (and she paid more - not that it matters.) In an effort to beat potential weather problems in Des Moines, I put my name on the standby list for an earlier flight from Tampa to Dallas. I made the cut, and was the last to get on the early flight. While waiting in the jet way to board (remember, I'm the last in) I'm informed that the overhead bins are full and that they'll need to check my bag - no charge.

This should have been the first sign of trouble.

Upon arriving in DFW, I run to potentially catch an earlier flight to Des Moines (hey, I was lucky in Tampa.) Despite my best USATF training and form, I arrive at the gate just in time to see the plane taxi back. Okay fine, let's have lunch with Sam Adams while I wait for my original flight to board.

Meanwhile, Cathy calls to tell me it's snowing like crazy in Des Moines (I believe she actually used a more colorful term.) Relax, said Sam and I, it'll be fine. As I'm boarding, she calls back and asks if the flight is really going to leave? "Of course" I reply (it's just me, Sam has gone now.) All aboard, full steam ahead, but I do notice we're about 30 minutes late leaving the gate.

It's not until we're over Kansas City the the pilot opens the PA and starts his announcement with "Ladies and gentlemen, I have some bad news. We're being diverted due to snow in Des Moines." We flew around in circles before AA could figure out where to divert us, and ultimately landed us in KC. By then DSM was shut down for the night (a fact which they didn't tell those people sitting in the DSM terminal waiting for our flight.) We waited on the plane for another half hour while AA tried to decide what to do. Certainly their One World Alliance could handle a little snow, right?

Wrong!

They tried to get us a bus, but none were available. They tried to book us in KC and reschedule for the morning, but the terminal was already full from other diverted flights. The terminal, by the way, with only one bathroom, no food vendors, and only 200 seats - all of which were already occupied. Some people from my flight DEMANDED to be let off - which they were allowed to do only after they signed a waiver which absolved AA from any responsibility that moment forward. Three hours later, we were heading back to DFW.  And the beer was warm.

I guess I've flipped out over this enough times that it really didn't matter this time. While others waited in line at the gate for an agent to assist them, I headed to ticketing to resolve things. I got the last seat available to return to DSM on Saturday (today) and the offer to stay at someplace called the "Bay View" for 49.00. I passed on the Bay View, wherever that may have been and settled on the Hyatt right in the airport. I'll take my chances for reimbursement from Drake.

As I wrap this up, I'm heading over to check in for my second flight home in the last 24 hours. Let me leave you with two final thoughts:

1) I've not seen my luggage since 7:00am yesterday in Tampa.

2) Travel is, a great, big pain in the ass!

WOW, how does Sony do it?!

Holy Smokes, what a week!

It's going to take me a few posts to get everything back out of my head from this week.  For a journalist, attending Poynter is like visiting Mecca.  The rich history and tenants of journalism are alive and well in a fantastic Prairie-style environment situated on the University of South Florida campus (along the harbor, no less.)

For 27 years, I've thought of myself more as the TV PROF than the TV JOURNALIST.  Maybe it's because TV PROF fit on a license plate (which it did,) or maybe because there were so many technology and aesthetic rules to teach my RTV students.  This week, in classrooms and the Poynter VJ lab (more about that later) I listened to, and discussed, the enormous challenges facing Journalism instructors.  The more technology questions others asked, the more questions about reporting and ethics I asked.  Like I said, my head is so full my brains are dripping out of my ears (an entertaining image on a blog, but not literal in any sense.)

In the coming days I'll make sense of it all and share it with those most likely to put the information to good use.  But if you're unfamiliar with Poynter, check out:

http://www.poynter.org  and have a look around.

This photo, by the way,  is what happens when someone brings a PC to make a presentation at Poynter.  Caption - Who knows where the tech support guy is?

On flying

My earliest recollection of air travel was when my mother, brother and I traveled to New York City.  That was probably 1961, and what a different experience it was.  Imagine this, everybody that flew got dressed up.  No shorts, tank tops or tshirts, no flip flops.  The flight attendants were known as "stewardesses" and their uniforms included hats.  I often think about that when I travel.

I've been to Tampa/St. Petersburg a number of times.  My best friend of over 40 years (exactly 41 years this President's Day) went to college in Tampa.  That was over 30 years ago, and expectedly nothing in the airport looked the same.  My favorite Orange Julius stand was nowhere to be found.

I lucked out at the airport, instead of hopping a 15 passenger van for the ride to St.Pete, there was a limo with an open seat.  Super Shuttle is a rockin' good idea.  As the sun set on the horizon, I rode in the peace and quite of a Lincoln limo running at 80 mph in the fast lane.  All for $23 and a tip.

It's tagged as the Marriott Courtyard now, but it's really the historic Pennsylvania Hotel built in 1925.  It's right downtown, and finding dinner on a Sunday night in downtown St. Pete was somewhat of a challenge.  I found an all-natural burrito spot that was excellent, and a dingy package store where I grabbed a six pack and headed back to the hotel to watch the Grammy awards.

Along the way back, I was struck with the number of homeless people settling in for the evening in front of numerous municipal buildings.  7:00pm, wrapped in blankets and smoking cigarettes.  It went on for blocks, and only on municipal property.  The City must be tolerant, which is pretty cool in these economic times.  Bruskers abound, despite the lack of sidewalk traffic.

So the Grammy Awards play in the background (the wholly untalented Kid Rock performing as I write this.)  Tomorrow morning I'll get a better lay of the land in daylight, and my seminar begins right after lunch.

Where am I going this time?

I take it for granted that I travel quite a bit.  Traveling brings out the best and worst in people, and very few travelers lack strong, emotional opinions on the subject.  So while the blood vessels in my neck visibly throb when my flight has been rerouted, I generally don't think much about traveling before or after the fact.  

Traveling just is.

Perhaps it would be more memorable if my family, friends and students knew what I was up to when I'm traveling.  Writing about it and posting photos might even give me some new insights - always a good thing.

Let's see where it goes...