For anyone who has travelled by air, one of the most annoying thing to happen is to have your bag emptied out for screening. But where annoying turns into frightening is when you're ushered into a room with tinted windows. Today's trip was uncomfortable close to that scenario.
*pointing at me*
A young,
friendly male screener: "I'm going to choose you for extended search."
What do you mean "choose"? The first thing that came into my mind was the Simpsons Valentine episode where Lisa gives Ralph a card that says "I chu-chu-choose you". I couldn't help but laugh a little. It almost sounded like I was bestowed a honor. But that's when things turned ugly.
Screener: "I'm now going to do a thorough pat down. Would you like to do this in a private room or in public?"
Please, if you're going to say something like that don't say it with an
over-eager tone while grinning and holding your white-gloved hands up. Reaching out to the protective eyes of fellow travellers, I elected to have the search done in public. Fortunately, it wasn't as intrusive as I imagined it to be.
Other than that, the trip has been off to a great start. Our connecting flight in Salt Lake City was over booked so we were given a $200 credit and meal voucher each to leave on a later flight. We've also gotten some coverage from
Podcasting News for our recent launch and emails are starting to flow. I have a good feeling about this trip! Most of tomorrow will be preoccupied with booth setup followed by a press/networking reception. But most importantly, it's the season premiere of Smallville!