Perhaps I’m a little late to the discussion of this, as I haven’t had time to keep up on people’s blogs lately, but did you hear about this? After May 1, half the airlines I know of are going to start charging for checking a second bag. That means I’m screwed at Christmas, when I often go home for over a week (large bag) and take presents and nearly the kitchen sink with me (another large bag). I had joked about this day coming, but I’m still a little surprised it is. This is only going to make me less likely to travel by plane. Which means less likely to travel, period, because I ain’t driving anywhere either. Trains, perhaps? Bah. Guess I’ll ship presents by mail when I go home for Christmas this year.

Wherefore art thou, high speed rail?*

In other news, in the first week of May I’ll be down in Atlanta for the International Reading Association annual conference
. I really like this conference. I went for the first time last year when it was held in Toronto. I never need to take a whole lot with me for trade shows–unless we’ve forgotten something, but then we usually FedEx big boxes of stuff to the show floor–but I always end up bringing a suitcase full of books home with me. But not if I have to pay $25 for it.

*Well, that would only help me with about half the country. Seattle to Atlanta, for example, not so much.