Textiles - full immersion

I have been blog absent for a few reasons. There was the usual summer R&R where the brain went on holiday and then the business of the university fall term starting up.  But a main reason/excuse is because I was preparing for a trip to Washington DC for a week of fibre. Three appointments with two museum research centers, a one day workshop on SouthWestern Textile Identification and Analysis and the 3day Textile Society Of America biennial symposium.
All this involved much research into collections databases, emails to collections managers, travel arrangements, scheduling and juggling appointments, etc. Then, a day before leaving I received a pre-reading list! I did a lot of reading on the airplane and have more to do.
You know when they tell you to turn off your electronic devices on planes because you will cause the engines to come to a full stop and the plane will crash and everyone will die a horrible death?  Hogwash.  Or so I thought until I sent a quick message just before take-off.  Well the engines stopped.  All of them.  It was a good thing we were still on the ground.  They had to get a mechanic in to do a reboot (of the engines, not my Blackberry).  I am not sure it was my email that did it but just in case, from now on I will be sure to turn my cell phone off until we are safely in the air.
So I arrived save and sound 9pm last night to find I made a mistake on the hotel reservation and only reserved for the last 3 days and the hotel was full! Luckily the one across the street had a room and at a very good price. Tomorrow is a free exploring day.