Austin

Wow what a nice day in Austin it is today…the temperature is about 75 and its low humidity and bright sunny skies. What a difference from the rainy/snowy Seattle! I decided I would take advantage of the nice weather today to go out for a run by Town Lake (really a river through Austin). Unfortunately I've been feeling like I'm coming down with a cold all day, so my energy level left much to be desired. In fact I have to say that the run felt physically very tough…I was coughing and just not feeling great. But mentally, its nice to get outside during the first week of December and enjoy such beautiful scenery. Austin is clearly a very fit city given the number of people out running, cycling and walking. The trail I ran on went right by an outdoor pool and even that was filled with swimmers doing laps. I had a bigger than normal lunch, so even if my run didn't feel great, I was glad to be able to run off some of the extra food I had at lunchtime. Now if I can get some good sleep tonight I'll go for a run again tomorrow, albeit indoors… I don't think I'll be back to my hotel before dark and I also have a breakfast meeting starting at 7am, so before work won't work out either.

Well I feel totally safe now…

And now for an off-topic rant. I'm on my way to Austin for a business trip and I decided I did not want to check my bag since I am arriving quite late. I packed the same contents into the same bag as I have done all year long for something like 15+ trips. That includes some toiletries in a zip loc bag. So the TSA agent had an issue with the fact that I used a gallon bag, despite the fact that it was clearly ¼ full …if that. So strike #1 for Michel. Then she takes my hair gel which is in a 3.5oz container and informs me that I must take only 3.4 ounce containers. I know she is only doing her job but this really annoyed me… I have travelled with the same stupid hair gel container 15+ times now. So should I be offended that it takes that many times to get it confiscated or should I be offended that this TSA agent had nothing better to do than to enforce rules 0.1 ounces at a time! (By the way, there was clearly less than 3.5 ounces in the container but she didn't bother to look. That's not in the TSA manual.) One thing is for sure, I will definitely get a quart sized bag and fill it with 3.4 ounce containers from here forward.

Which makes me think…is the Ziploc bag company increasing their sales because of these rules? What if I had brought a Canadian or European metric sized bag?? What happens then? Am I only permitted the use of US manufactured Ziploc bags for the carrying of hair gel? That's going to affect global trade for sure. Protectionism at its best… our plastic is special and is the only plastic permitted on a US based airline.

Maybe I should focus more on eating less and exercising- the true reason for this blog. Its much less exasperating!