Lost and Found

After I wrote the title, I realized it could be interpreted in more than one way. The first is as I intended--my lost phone and computer. The second--my lost months on this blog. Hopefully this will be the initial post of my renewed effort to keep in contact!!

And so....... the lost phone. I was at the Detroit airport in January and early for the flight by about two hours. I stopped at a restaurant for dinner and to kill some time. During my meal, my sister called and I chatted with her for a while, then disconnected and placed my phone on the table. Once I finished eating, I booted up my computer and surfed the Internet for a while to entertain myself. Then I decided it was time to head to the gate and put everything away (except the phone) and headed out. When I reached my gate, I sat down and checked to be sure I had my wallet, phone, and broadband card. I am somewhat paranoid about those items. Alas!!!!!! I did not have the phone, and remembered it was on the table at the restaurant. I immediately headed back and arrived back at the restaurant in less than 10 minutes after leaving. The waitress I asked about the lost phone said they had it and went back to retrieve it. She returned with the manager who told me they had checked the monitors when they found the phone, as they were pretty sure to whom it beloned, and the hostess headed that direction to find me. GREAT!!

As I had no idea what she looked like, I told him to order me a glass of wine and I would wait for her to return. About 10 minutes later someone tapped me on the shoulder and asked if I was Sarah. She said my phone was at my gate. My question was--how did she know what gate was mine? No problem......Hillary had called her! She answered and they discussed who I was and where I was going. She checked the boards for the next flight to Kansas City and took the phone to the gate, where they were able to tell her, YES, a Sarah McGinley is schedule to be on this flight.

It's a miracle...and I got my phone back. I will eat there again.

Then the computer. I was in Las Vegas for our annual meeting the last of January. I arrived home late Friday evening. I left my bags in the car, washed my face and went to bed. The next morning I carried everything in and when I opened my briefcase discovered I did not have my computer. My stomach was in knots as I tried to remember where I could have left it. I finally realized the only place I could have left it was at security screening at the airport. When I was going though security I was behind several people who were amature travelers. They were unable to get through the metal detectors due to too much jewelry, belts, and such. As a result everyone was backed up, with items moving along through the screener and backing up on the conveyor. Once I got through, I stacked my two bins and moved away from the crowd to put my shoes on and return my identification to my wallet. Since I stacked my bins, I obviously did not notice my computer and it never made it back to the briefcase.

I called Southwest, who gave me the number for TSA at McCarren, who gave me the number for Lost and Found. I called them and got a recording which required me to provide a recorded message about my lost item for which there would only be response if they had my item.

Then I called my boss. He was great, saying it wasn't the first time such a thing had happened. I was pretty sick about the lost information in the computer, but figured I could replicate most of it over time via the files at corporate. As our formats for reports are maintained on the company web site, I would be able to continue to work using Hillary's computer.

Around two hours later I received a call from the Lost and Found people. They had my computer and for a mere $75 dollars they were able to overnight it back to me. I had it Monday morning before I headed out for another week of travel adventures.

And the third concern.....my lost months. I have no excuse except laziness. I am sorry I have been so remiss. If you have returned to this blog, continue to check in occassionally. I will try to keep you informed about the craziness of travel.