Irving Wladawsky-Burger writes about his experience with the Genographic Project. Since he was an early participant, he’s already gotten his results (both Diane and I are still at stage 1, “sample received”), and though there weren’t any surprises, it helped him reconnect with his recent ancestors (and with the villages they came from, and what happened to them in the Holocaust).

I’m looking forward to getting our results.

Diane and I are at O’Hare Airport, about half-way through our trip to RPI Reunion ’05 (my 6th). I was on the organizing committee, though somehow I missed the last few calls (or they didn’t happen), so I will be surprised by whatever we do for the Parade of Classes.

I turned in our rental car this morning at Hertz Local Edition near (but not at) the airport; they gave us a ride to the terminal, and it may have been faster than if I’d returned the car at the airport itself — my experiences with the SJC shuttle have not been good ones. I had, of course, planned to return the car at the airport, but the nice folks at Hertz told me that trying to return a car rented as an “insurance replacement” to the airport would cause me nothing but grief, and I was willing to believe them.

I’d been unable to check in online, so I was expecting at least one of us to undergo the dreaded “secondary screening” at the airport — but that didn’t happen. There were only a couple of people ahead of us in the check-in line; security was no different than usual. And we had plenty of time to wait for our flight (which left on time and arrived a few minutes early).

We’ve got another two hours ahead of us here at the Concourse G Admiral’s Club; time to have some lunch.