Reporter’s Notebook: the long, arduous, screen-damaging trip to Macworld

Posted by Dennis Sellers Jan 6, 2009 at 3:00am

I’ll be inline early this morning, awaiting entrance into the keynote by Phil Schiller, Apple’s vice president of worldwide product marketing. Since Steve Jobs says that, despite rumors, he’s sick but not deathly ill and just chose to spend holiday time with his family rather than preparing for a Macworld keynote as he’s done for a decade, I’ll be anxiously awaiting Phil’s talk.

New iMacs? New Mac minis? New 17-inch MacBook Pros? New Cinema Displays? New Mac Pros? iLife and iWork ‘09? A Mac media server? A Mac anti-grav machine? We’ll see.

However, I must admit that getting to San Francisco was not easy—and that’s an understatement. On Sunday, Jan. 3, I traveled from Nashville to St. Louis, then from St. Louis to San Francisco (flight AA1049) via American Airlines. I had to check through a special carrying case (the iLugger) packed with a 24-inch Samsung display I planned to use to cover the trade show. I checked it in rather than carrying it aboard at the insistence of American Airlines personnel (though the iLugger has always been carry-on size before—I think they just wanted another 15 bucks in check-in fees). I told them what was in it and to mark it as fragile.

The iLugger wasn’t locked. However, apparently, the TSA opened and investigated the case rather roughly. I have no problem with them doing their job. However, when I got to my hotel and unpacked, I found the casing of the display cracked and the bottom stand damaged. If it conks out, I’ll have to replace the monitor to cover the show—or try to work 12 hours a day on my 13-inch MacBook (which I could do when I was in my 20s, 30s and 40s; in my 50s, I dunno). I contacted American Airlines about the situation and they said to contact the TSA if there was a note from your agency inside a package and that the TSA, not American Airlines, was responsible for any damages. I figure that TSA will blame American Airlines.

However, once I arrived I had a nice afternoon with my old friend, Kevin O’Connor. We did some touring, walked about Sausalito and had some fine burgers at In-N-Out, a local (and growing) burger joint at which I had never eaten in all my trips to San Franisco to cover Macworld.

I’ll need the energy. Today we’re really off and running…

Dennis’ note: the “Reporter’s Notebook,” which always runs during the Macworld Conference & Expo, is a series of observations about the show, San Francisco, etc., and is designed to give readers a “feel” of what it’s like to be here. If you’re looking for my usual editorial comments, they’ll return next week..

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