I’m trying to be casual because everybody else looks very casual and relaxed. Maybe it’s a game we all play. Flights come and go all the time. I’m not nervous about the flight, I’m just nervous that I will do something that makes it quite obvious that this is my first time in an airplane. Yeah, you read that right. 41 and I’ve never flown. I am so pumped.

It’s a beautiful blue-sky day for my flight to San Diego for the 2006 Educause Learning Initiative Annual Meeting. All the Big people will be there – your Levines, your Lambs, your Alexanders, your Lomasi (sorry, that’s for Cyprien Lomas, and also a nod to Steven Colbert). Of course my first stop is rainy Chicago (at least it’s not snowy Chicago). We’re about to board so we’ll see what this big hunk of metal is made of. About half the plane is full, according to the steward. This may mean, wherever I sit, I may still get to see out a window.