I fly with my laptop all the time. Yep, turn off your wifi. Otherwise, jsut remember to take it out of your case early so you don't hold up the security line. otherwise you're sweet. Have fun in chicago!

Back up your hard drive and leave that backup at home. Also, make a CD of all the important things you might need for communicating (emails, preferences, docs, etc) and take that CD with you as a backup, along with system software if something goes awry. Chicago's a good time! Eat! Eat!

Thanks, gaspode! Great advice, peter, thanks as well. And, yes, I love Chicago. The friend I'm going to see/work with is a chef who recently opened her own joint and there will be much eating.

Using the laptop mid-flight is fine. Be careful to position it so nothing scary/bad will happen if the person in front of you reclines.

If you're flying coach, and don't mind snuggling up in a blanket, I suggest trying for a seat in the row right behind the over-wing exit row. It usually has an extra inch or two, plus full-recline (and the seat in front of you will often have limited recline). The only downside to these seats is that they tend to be a bit chilly.

In the security line, take it out of your laptop bag, and send it through the scanner seperately. I suggest having it in "sleep" mode instead of Off, because they occasionally check to see that it's functional.

Have fun in Chicago, and make sure to give us a restaurant review. I visit Chicago now and then, and am always down for interesting food.

Hey Fris, what's the new restaurant? Maybe I can give it a little publicity (ahem, ahem).

See you on Thursday!

Ha, thanks, me3dia! (The added bonus to her success is that it may mean my being able to split time between Chicago and SF professionally, which would be fantastic.) It's called Fan Si Pan. I'm sure she has some press material around, but here's the first non-review link I found.

Thursday, indeed!

Fris: that looks like a fun place to grab a bite! Finally, something healthy to try in Chicago!

Yeah, it sounds great. I'll definitely give it a try.

What kind of plane are you flying on? They really cram you in like sardines on the smaller ones these days. Bleh..

delmoi, I haven' the slightest idea, but I'm small enough that it's rarely an issue. If anything, it's going to be the sitting still for the duration of the flight that'll drive me batty.

Thanks again for all of the tips! I zipped through security without a hitch. The best part was returning from the restroom in the back of the plane and seeing computer screens lighting up almost every seat.

delmoi, it turned out to be an S80. Not an incredible amount of legroom, but enough seat space to curl up and sleep.