Had a good flight over from LAX, and currently waiting to board for ORD. Got upgraded to first class on both flights, which is awesome! On the first leg I literally talked with the woman next to me the entire time. Turns out she is the Director of the UCLA Career Center. Over the course of an hour and a half of talking, she dropped her first name once and her last name once, and her job title once, all in the context of other things. Thanks to the creepy effectiveness of Google, I was able to find her email (although strangely, no bios on the UCLA webpage... surprising). Maybe I will shoot a hello. Apparently she's from West Virginia originally, so I mentioned my upcoming trip there to get to the last of my 50 states, which is exciting. Very interesting person... familiar with some incredibly obscure (and varied) places (Shoreham-by-Sea, Abu Dhabi, Joshua Tree NP, Dublin, Cairo, rural southern Japan... just a few places covered in an hour flight). What is the most heavily-recruited job at the moment, for a top UCLA grad? Financial services. What is their top competitor? Teach for America. Really interesting and yet not at all surprising on both fronts. Clearly financial services are on fire recently, and I have a long list of TFA connections as well. What is interesting is that the people who would be offered jobs in financial services are already engaged in TFA (some out of morals, but many out of the thought that they stand no chance in an overall crummy job market).
Anyway, good flight and an interesting conversation. On an "odd" note, it's quite strange being here at Sky Harbor and only connecting. Not sure if I have ever connected here before, for the 30 (50?) plus times I have been here visiting to/from Arizona. It's a phenomenal day - not a cloud in the sky and 70s. I had a two hour layover, and it is quite tempting to grab a cab over to Camelback Mountain and go for one of my favorite hikes in the world. Oh well, not to be on this trip. Maybe my return will hit a snag and I'll have to spend a night here and do it then (I have a layover back here on my way back to LAX in a week and a half). The experience of having a layover here though - being at an airport I am VERY familiar with and yet not having gone through security - reminds me of one trip where I actually had a layover at ORD, the one airport I am even more familiar with than PHX. On that trip, a good four years ago, I was en route from Madison to Washington D.C. on a lobbying trip, and we connected in Chicago. Walking around Terminal 1 was just a very odd feeling, being "home" yet not at all. Not really sure what the right expression or emotion I am trying to convey is, but these are definitely "interesting" experiences.
What else is going on? My suitcase that I checked weighed 15 pounds, which I find hilarious. The reason/logic is that I need to bring my winter Antarctica gear back with me to LA so that I don't have to by much of anything. Hoping I am able to fit my winter coat, snow pants, goretex rain gear, and some of my other hi-tech Arctic Circle fishing gear in the suitcase and right now I am feeling hopeful. I'll test it out mid-week.
The Badgers are currently playing at Illinois. I walked by a TV as I landed and saw they were down 14-0, which was quite surprising and a little disheartening. Well, they came out in the second half on a mission, and currently lead 28-17. 9 minutes to play... hoping I get a final score before the flight goes, but we board in 10 mins (and football minutes are way longer than real minutes).
On that note, have a great weekend and will post from Chicago!
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