Lambert St. Louis "International" Airport

Lambert is hopping this afternoon, especially with military types. I haven't been in the A Concourse in forever, but it's not bad. A-10 and A-12 don't appear to be used -- at least not at this time of day -- but there's a big waiting area several steps off the beaten path...and some free outlets, which I wasn't sure I was going to be able to snag.

The flight to IAH is on time as of now...and thanks to the wonders of the internets, I don't even have to get up and walk 20 feet to the monitors to check.

I take longer than anyone, it seems, to go through the TSA line. I even have everything ready beforehand -- the bag of liquids, the laptop, the shoes, and all my pocket stuff in the bag -- but after I'm through the line, I have to sit down and rearrange my personal possessions just so before continuing to the gates. Maybe some sort of an "airport coach" to get me through the finer parts of passenger preparation would be in order.

Speaking of coaches, on this trip I signed up for a divemaster buddy to help me improve my diving...air consumption in particular, and hopefully to learn some more efficient kicking..er...finning. My air usage has gotten way better, and most of the time (when warm) I can feel extremely relaxed and in control...breathing quite slowly, really...but am definitely in the highest third (as a guess) of air consumption whenever I dive with a group. I do little things...but maybe completely useless things....such as generally hovering about 5 ft above most other divers. So we'll see how the bottom time improves over the course of the trip.