After grabbing her second #COVID booster in mid-June RantWoman sets the stage
Trevor Noah Contact with Ebola
Okay, RantWoman is going to be nowhere near that funny
Umm by the time everyone from WA was checking in from home after a certain national convention , 8 out of 18 travelers returning to WA reporting positive COVID tests is what percentage now? Overall at least 40 and probably far more out of about 500 total registrants were known by people reporting statistics from the President's table.
The following festive post is dedicated to ...Zero reports at least in RantWoman's Twitter feeds of blind people with guide dogs being denied Uber or Lyft rides home rom the airport after national conventions--sponsored by Uber or Lyft. Instead this year the communications streams where RantWoman swims are all full of how many people tested positive for COVID.
Both the American Council of the Blind #ACB22 in Omaha and the National Federation of the Blind #NFB22 in New Orleans held hybrid conventions last week. Proof of vaccination or negative COVID test was required at #ACB22. There was also an abundant supply of (inaccessible to the vision-impaired) self COVID tests and late in the event even some of the spiffy new version accessible for people who have a blue-tooth device and are willing to share a ton of data with government researchers.
Doing tech for a hybrid convention is destined to be a new art. Setting up conference halls with social distancing between rows of tables is glorious for anyone who likes moving around easily. Keeping rooms extremely well air-conditioned may or may not make it harder for viruses to spread but does help beat the 100 degree heat outside.
The ACB convention relies on a lot of volunteers to help guide people around. It's COVID and people just weren't leaping at the chance to come hang out, not even if getting paid at the hotel.. This meant that both hotel staff and the staff at the adjoining Convention Center worked very hard. They were rewarded with conference attendees at least a good percentage of whom, according to the RantWoman fog and blur rating, started out masking. The masks mostly disappeared for a few days and then some reappeared as reports of positive infections spread.
RantWoman never tested. RantWoman decided some of her live with all the time issues were no worse than average. RantWoman figured any fatigue was due to a 2-hour time difference from Seattle. Plus, at a certain point hardly anyone would want any more time in a hotel anyway and one would rather be home if sick. So skip the test options, mask up and head for the airport.
The airport was on the special arrive at least two hours early so you can stand around for a long time until the gate staff arrive plan. Unlike a lot places in Seattle there were no markings on the floor to promote social distancing, not that the pre-convention Fourth of July weekend scene at SeaTac was exactly wide open spaces either. Plus coming home there was a hiccup somewhere in needed internet so the ticket agents were writing bag check tickets manually.
Finally RantWoman succeeded in checking her bags, fogged away from the rest of the group and headed off to the security checkpoint. On the way, RantWoman succeeded at a goal she had failed at all week: RantWoman owes her public postcards! The selection in the airport was not great, but at least they relieved RantWoman's fears that postcards may be a last-century medium.
Was RantWoman carrying a sealed bottle of orange juice that exceeded the maximum amount of liquid allowed past the security check point? Why yes.
Did RantWoman even register an announcement about said liquid limits? Why No. Would RantWoman had wanted to guzzle the juice before getting on a plane and sat in a middle seat. Why No. And did RantWoman have the slightest desire to backtrack several steps and long line away from the checkpoint to drink the OJ anyway? Noooo! Into the trash went the OJ.
Further, does RantWoman have plates in both wrists that do not set off metal detectors in other airports but did set things off in Omaha? Why yes.
Has RantWoman in the distant past on more than one occasional generated credible capacity to organize sit-ins? Also yes.
And has RantWoman on this very blog posted irreverent phrasing that could easily be misunderstood about valued software tools . Yesss
Ding! Ding! Ding! Somewhere in here RantWoman's bingo card was full and RantWoman earned a take shoes off and dump everything in a bin pat down search with special explosive detection wand and gloves which also had to be tested post pat down for traces of explosives by a TSA agent without a mask.
Did RantWoman say ANYTHING about just coming from COVID-palooza? Of course not!
Welcome to ...
Post Script
Flight to Seattle was uneventful.
Trip home from the airport was a trip. RantWoman had pinged several people to see whether she could charm anyone into driving to the airport on a Friday afternoon. Naw. RantWoman is never super excited about getting in and out of many cars. RantWoman's phone battery also decided to sputter into almost oblivion just as trying to call a taxi would have made sense.
RantWoman was able to ask around about a place to charge phone. None in sight. RantWoman found the route to the Light Rail. Getting to the derparture levels of the airport from the light rail is easy peasy. RantWoman thinks getting to the Light Rail from baggage claim should be more intuitive than it is. Take the elevator to the skybridge, level 4? But wait! To the right of the elevator bank closest to the skybridge there is...a nice black outlet visible against the white wall!
When the charge level hit about 30% RantWoman turned left from the elevator she rode up on. Then it was just stay near the wall of the parking garage until it's clear you are walking in a passage. The entrance to the Light Rail is some weird gate system that did not make sense to RantWoman.
Never mind.
Rolling luggage onto the train is so elegant. It was a sunny day. Masks were way more of a thing than in Omaha. Most of all, rantWoman was in minimal walking minimal schlepping minimal street crossing mode. RantWoman realized that she could ride all the way to Capitol Hill station and catch a route 8 that would take her all the way to a stop with NO STREET CROSSINGS.
RantWoman managed to do all of this without plowing into anyone! It's hard to work a white cane while wheeling two suitcases
RantWoman is glad to be back in the land of more voluntary masking.
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