I'll Do 4 U

I believe I'm now on at least one government watch list.

Somehow during the "testing for residue" test, the inside of my laptop case tested positive for "residue." Between checking email and meeting with our local office in Arlington, I must have dumped too much gunpowder into my laptop case.

I had quite a morning at DCA (aka Ronald Reagan National Airport in DC) My 6:59 am departure on Delta was delayed, and I had to return to Boston for a 10am meeting. The gates at DCA are similar to those at Logan, in that multiple security checkpoints each lead to some gates, rather than the terrible-ness that are the airports in Denver and Atlanta, where one set of security checkpoints process all travelers, who after clearing then filter into their appropriate terminals.

Upon learning of my delayed flight, the gate agent was great in offering to switch me to a US Airways Shuttle flight, even without my asking. I was surprised since Delta and US Airways don't codeshare.

So, I had to re-clear security. Terrific.

She told me to get a boarding pass at the other gate (Um..OK...but don't I need one to clear security??). I stood in another awful security line, only to be told by the dude checking ID's that I don't have a boarding pass. Yep...I realize that. I was told to go get one.

I hopped over to the nearby US Airways ticket desk for a boarding pass, then cut the line in which I already waited (after many menacing and violent stares from the other citizens of Airworld), and was directed into the Secondary Screening / Goin' through the puffer machine / "we're gonna touch you all over when we pat you down" line.

Then, after listening to an obnoxiously arrogant citizen of Airworld complain about some type of mistreatment by the poor low-salaried ID checker ("I do work for Logan Airport....I want to talk to the person in charge here...I am so important...I am the best...blah blah blah...my favorite type of person to listen to at 6am), the dreaded residue test snared me.

They had to fill out some paperwork with my driver's license. When I gave it to them and tried to see what they were filling out, I was told to step back around the machine and that they just needed to complete the paperwork with my home address for "research purposes."

Um...research? To see where terrorists reside, perhaps? Apparently, they live in South Boston, because I'm now one of them.