DC, Day 1

Okay, we have "officially" started - sort of. I headed for the airport this morning with my counterpart from our high school, and met a third teacher who is representing an elementary school in our area. Several hours later, we are in Washington, D.C., preparing to embark on orientation.

Flight is relatively uneventful; I was even able to nap a bit (something I don't do well on airplanes). We were in what is usually called a "regional" aircraft, which means that any luggage bigger than a briefcase got checked at planeside, and the seating was 3 across - total. But it wasn't too bumpy and having a seat to myself is rather nice - no one to bump elbows with.

We finally get to our hotel; the first person I see when we enter the lobby is Angie (a fellow MTP-er). Greetings with hugs, and I introduce her to my traveling companions, then we check in.

Food is a top priority, so we decide to splurge and go to the expensive steakhouse restaurant in the hotel. Yes, it was pricey, and yes, it was worth it, right down to the chocolate lava cake dessert.

We waddle back upstairs and work on getting our computers hooked up to the hotel internet connection. Mine is quick and simple; the only question mark about my setup was whether the wireless card would work, since I could not test it in advance. (It does.) Joy's setup is a bit more involved but still connects within minutes.

Theckla's machine is a Mac; I am a Wintel person. She doesn't seem to be able to get to a network either through a wireless port or a plug-in port. After some head-scratching, I sit down and start digging through various system files, eventually coming across a Network folder that shows several possibilities. We finally figure out that the machine is set up to look for a dial-up connection first, so that moves to the bottom of the list. Then we determine that the machine thinks that a wireless connection should be automatically configured - okay, if you're connecting to a secure school system, but lousy for a wide-open hotel connection. More digging, and voila! There's the configuration stuff. We're in.

Sort of - this hotel has a sign-in system, using either a credit card (to pay a daily charge), or your travel points number (to get it for free). Theckla has a travel points number, but doesn't remember it. Hmmm.....

Okay, go to my room, sign on (I had my number written down), and look at the travel points login page. Yes! you can request that your number be sent to your registered e-mail address, which is accessible via the Web on my machine. Two minutes later, we have a working number and head back to her room.

We try to sign her on - it acknowledges her number, but says that it hasn't been associated with her reservation (your room number also has to be entered when you sign on - that is how they avoid having numbers passed around). A call to the front desk takes care of that problem - five minutes later, Theckla is logged in and checking mail. I believe this may be a first; all three of us hooked to the Internet in less than an hour!

On my way back to my room, I meet three Japanese teachers coming off the elevator. One of them looks familiar - it's another teacher from one of our partner schools from two years ago! More hugs and she introduces me to her traveling companions. She was aware that I was returning, but I had not yet spotted her name on the list, so that is another happy surprise.

I am headed for bed - tomorrow is a get-acquainted day with sightseeing in D.C., and it will be a long one.