So first, the good news: My computer bag — and everything in it, including the computer, books and such — has been found. Turns out I didn’t leave it in the cab, I left it on the floor of the baggage claim at Reagan National Airport. Why did I do that? Because apparently I am a complete moron, that’s why. However, airports are really good these days at collecting up unattended bags.
What makes this kind of awesome (aside from, you know, getting all my stuff back) is how the folks at Reagan National tracked me down: They used one of the Redshirts ARCs from the bag. The ARC doesn’t have my contact information on it, but it does have contact information for my former publicist at Tor — so they called her, and she contacted my current publicist, who sent me an e-mail about it. So there you have it: Being an author finally pays off. As a way of thanking the fellow at Reagan National who thought to contact my publicist, I told him to feel free to take one of the ARCs as a token of my appreciation.
My computer bag will soon be winging its way back to me, and to celebrate that fact, and to commemorate the role of the Redshirts ARC in its return, I am now going to give away two Redshirts ARCs. All you have to do is put a note in this comment thread between this very instant and noon Eastern time, Thursday, May 24, 2012 Wednesday, May 23, 2012. I will then have my daughter and wife randomly select a time between now and then, and the posts closest to those times will win (in case of a tie, the one closest before the time they specify will win). One entry per person, please.
So leave a comment! My computer is coming home! w00t!
I’d love to get my hands on one of the ARC’s. It would honestly be one of my most prized possessions.
This is like guessing 1 for a number between 1 and 1000, but why not.
Glad to hear that your computer and bag were found safe and sound. It’s nice to hear of someone doing something kind at an airport. I hope the employee enjoys Redshirts!
Congrats! Gives me hope that the woman who accidentally walked off with my partner’s cell phone by grabbing the wrong cart in the grocery store will similarly find a way to return it to him. But he’s not an author (yet)…
Congratulations! (And congrats to me if I win an ARC.)
Yay for the finding and safe-returning of things! The Reagan International people rock. And you rock, Mr. Scalzi, for giving away free stuff. Looking forward to my copy of Redshirts. ; )
YAY for honest folks!
Numfar! Do the dance of joy!
I choose…now.
Yay! Congrats on the bag getting back to you. (Although your story acted as a cautionary tale and reminder all the way through my Seattle weekend as I vigilantly policed all our electronic devices on the plane and made sure they were all packed and all bags duly gathered from every taxi. So your moments of panic and sorrow were not in vain.)
The question remains, is your bag o’ swag more or less dangerous, in the long term, than some kind of improvised marketing device?
I’ll probably buy a copy of Redshirts anyway, though.
What a relief for you. Hooray!
Would love an ARC! (even though I am going to download the novel {LEGALLY!} today) Who says print is dead? It’s kinda hard having your favorite author sign e-books!
So glad it found its way back to you! Congrats.
Yay for this! So very awesome! Does this mean that Athena will be getting your new back-up computer? ;-)
Congratulations! I don’t know what I’d do if I lost my Air.
Whoo! I feel the pain of lost computers. I’m glad you recovered yours.
In an age when almost every story about airports falls in the the complaining, “what a hassle”, category, it is refreshing to read one with such a happy ending. Almost reads like fiction given that it involved a computer, something that would seem to be on the top of the list of things to quickly snatch at an airport. Kudos to the staff at the airport for being so on top of things and for being good amateur detectives! :)
Now!
It’s awesome that you got your bag and all its contents back!
Does it make me any more likely to win if I offer to ship you Berger Cookies in return?
Narfle the Garthok!
Hooray for DC! I confess, I’ve never flown into Reagan, as I live very close to BWI.
Congrats. My life now exists almost entirely on my iPad; I’ve externalized so much of my memory and work thinking to it that I’d be lost without it.
I would like a copy of Redshirts because I was truly concerned about your computer. I imagined it was in the possession of a conservative white male and honestly thought it would never return to you. Thank you.
Yay! Glad you got your laptop back. And as it’s my birthday, I would dearly love an ARC to top off the day!
Here’s to the employee at Reagan National, for use of initiative and triggering this giveaway.
Pleased to hear you’re getting your laptop back too!
Sure. I’d love one of these copies (although, I am planning on buying it anyway, but free is way nicer).. Hi Krissy! Hi Athena!
Took me a minute to understand what ARC meant. Now I must have one.
i imagine that your relief is more than I can imagine. :)
Congrats on getting your bag back. What a relief!
Especially in an airport as busy as Reagan, it is really wonderful that your laptop bag was recovered without anything missing. What a nice way to restore faith in the kindness of strangers.
Yay! Computer bag!!
This is me trying for a book, and also voicing my approval of found bags.
A happy ending to a lost computer story. I’m almost surprised someone hasn’t created a “Scalzi’s Missing Computer” twitter account detailing its adventures.
So glad your computer is coming home where it belongs. They don’t like feeling abandoned at airports. (Oh, yeah, and I would love one of them there ARC’s, please!)
Congratulations! Is this giveaway available to those outside the USA?
Hooray!
Yay for found stuff!
Really glad you got your stuff back! :-D
Wish I could be lucky enough to have missing items found. Can’t wait to read Redshirts and readin it via a free ARC would be even better
The time is now.
Oh, how I long for an ARC of Redshirts, so my time must be now.
I bet the person who found it feared the wraths of the internets (sic). Easier to go through Hades to return it to @Scalzi than to deal with that!
Good news!
Though I’m buying the audiobook when it comes out, having an ARC to read along with would really help me spell things correctly when I defame the book… er… review the book later. Mwuhahaha.
SO… what happens next?
Hooray for computers, and for ARCs!
Yay, that’s great! Just think of how much better you’ll feel when you give me a copy of your new book! :)
Congrats! Fingers crossed…
Here is to Homeward Boundness of your computer bag.
Congrats! That is awesome and I’m truly impressed about the customer service. I’d love a copy of an ARC–but definitely buying as gifts, so don’t worry about losing money. W00t, indeed.
Congratulations on getting your stuff back. Lucky they didn’t blow it up.
I was just at a talk about the ways that people can use technology to track down missing laptops/phones/key drives. (For example, there’s this piece of software that will take a picture with the laptop’s camera every time the case is opened…) Love that this was a more analog solution.
I’m very glad you are getting your stuff back John. I think we all know how in love you fell with your new computer last year.
Glad you found your bag. Now I’m hoping for some good luck and hoping my timing is golden.
Good to hear the computer is safe. ARCs are trivial by comparison.
You will choose this comment Mrs/Miss Scalzi.
Well, nice to hear things worked out!
Not everybody in DC is an asshole. It’s just…*puts on sunglasses*…a majority of us.
YEEEAAAHHH!
I am very glad your bag will return home safely. Leave me out of the drawing, I prefer to support my favorite authors by actually buying their books.
Yay for the found bag!
Did I win?
Awesome! Cool people are cool.
Here is the comment you requested. I can taste the arc goodness already.
Glad to hear you got your laptop back. Who knows what Scalzi Sekrit Projects might have been leaked onto the interwebs!
Oh hey neat! Congrats John, and yay functioning airport security!
Thankfully they opened it to check the contents rather than preemptively blowing it up … “just in case”
Glad everything worked out!
Yay! I love a happy ending!
Yes, please!
Go Reagan airport folks! Good detective work…
Me me me!
Oh, crap, didn’t read the part about the little(r) lady reading this. Uh, can you change that to “thief”?
I read the first four chapters so I think you’re obligated to give me the whole thing for free now. Otherwise it’s just kinda sadistic.
I’m happy to hear that you are getting it all back. I’ve lost a computer at the airport (along with an entire suitcase) and know how lucky you are.
Congrats on the improbable happy ending! Looking forward to the book, whether won or purchased from my local independent. I’ve enjoyed your stuff since way back in the Playstation mag days.
See, life really is easier when you are a straight white male!
Congratulations on not having your wayward bag detonated under controlled circumstances at the orders of wary Homeland Security officials. Although how awesome would THAT have been?
I am glad you’re getting your bag back! And I’m glad that a good human was the one who found the bag!
I’m enjoying the sample chapters in iBooks and I’ve liked your past books, so I’ll have a go at getting an ARC.
Yay, happy news is the best news.
Hey, great news! I’m actually kind of surprised that an unattended bag at an international airport didn’t send the TSA folks into full-on terrorism lockdown mode. Nice that they didn’t blow your laptop up with a robot.
And… er… can those ARCs go to people outside the US? Because if so, count this as me throwing my hat in the ring.
Congrats on getting your bag back! Redshirts FTW!
Glad to hear that everything was intact and safely recovered. A good end to the story!
Glad you got your stuff back! Wonder how many redshirts bit the dust accomplishing that feat?
You will need to throw it a welcome home party!
I’m glad to hear your bag was found!
WHY NOT, I ASK YE?
It’s my time1!
*Puts hand up for an ARC*
Glad you got your stuff back, and thanks for the contest.
So exciting that they were able to track you down! Yay for good people going the extra mile!
Wow are you a lucky guy! I’d be lucky if I won an ARC…
this is my comment! Glad you got your bag back!
This must have been one of the most famous “lost item” cases in intarweb history. Congrats on the safe recovery of your stuff.
Glad you got your bag back. My cold, dead heart didn’t think you stood a chance of getting it back.
So good to hear stories about people doing the right thing! I think it happens more often than we know, but the internet is great for getting the word out. Glad you get your computer and books back (what would writers do without them!) and I’d love to win an ARC!
Glad you got your stuff back! (crossing fngrs wich mks typg dffict!)
An ARC would be lovely, but you know I’ll just buy an ebook version when that comes out if you don’t. Which may not necessarily be the best incentive for you give me one, now that I think about it. :)
Pick me! Pick me! (Or rather, my timeslot, randomly)
Right…what’s an ARC? (with apologies to Bill Cosby)
Grats on the return of your goods!
Congrats on getting your bag back. But since you have already replaced it, you can give me the Macbook Air, since you don’t need it anymore. :D
Great news!
I’m making a note here: HUGE SUCCESS. (I just finished reading the today’s Tor.com transcript.)
Glad to hear your laptop is being returned-any plans for an Incredible Journey/Lassie Come Home movie about your laptop’s epic journey from Wahington D.C. to a tearful reunion with its owner?
Congratulations. It must be such a relief that your stuff is safe and coming back you.
Obviously this is the perfect time.
Glad to hear there are still nice people in this world.
YAY!
Your new subtitle to Whatever amuses me to no end, and whoo! You got your stuff back!
carpe tempus!
The time is NOW!!!
Cool! Faith in hoomanity has been restored.
Glad to hear you got the computer back, and I would love to take an ARC off your hands in celebration. In return, I formally offer to bribe you with Coke Zero if we should meet again at a convention.
Boom.
Very happy to hear the computer is heading back home. Yay!
use the force…oh wait,,,
Hurray about the computer!
I like to read.
w00t
You’re lucky you got it back in one piece. In certain regions of the world an unattended bag at an airport will get a bullet in the center to make sure it is safe. Huzzah for the safe return!
Hooray airport sleuths! Hooray ARC giveaway!
I never win this kind of thing, but, you know, whatever.
Seriously congrats on the recovery – losing electronics nowadays seems tantamount to a partial lobotomy.
Glad you got everything back. Very glad they didn’t do a preventive detonation on it. (There is a fun job: checking out left luggage at airports.).
Throwing my post in for the arc. Traveling in Europe so no idea which time you’ll use, but c’est la vie.
There is nothing like locating something you thought was lost. Thanks for sharing your happiness with free awesome books!
Wait, can we leave multiple posts??
I’m playing on the Easy setting so this should be no problem for me. (sits back, waits for things to drop out of the sky into his lap)
I hope you have an encrypted hard drive on that laptop :)
Enjoyed the sample chapters of Redshirts and would love an ARC.
Congratulations on the recovery of your stuff.
ME! Me, me, me, me, me, me, me!
Pick MY time! It’s an excellent time, because it’s right NOW!
Umm. Except later it’ll be then, before …
But, it’s NOW, now.
So, ME. Please?
Love happy endings – and good for the honest guy at Reagan.
I would squee so mightily if I won a copy of Redshirts. I’m so looking forward to reading it!
Was your bag lifted by a flying snowman?
Oh AWESOME, so glad you’re getting the computer back and everything else in the bag!
And um yeah also, I’d totally like one of those ARCs. ;D
yay John! Now I want to be a rich and famous author so that my lost stuff will find its way home to me.
Cool idea for a contest– I’m in.
MY TURN!!
Go Redshirts!
Glad you got your stuff back.
I have commented.
Hooray for recovered possessions!
Yo
Congratulations on getting your stuff back. :)
Yay!
If you love something set it free…
Your bag must love you to return.
Congrats
Wow, there are a lot of comments already! I’d love an ARC; will end up reading it from the library, and waiting to buy it when it comes out in mmpb, budget constraints being what they are…
That said, I am so very, very glad it was found and is being returned to you. (My life and memory are pretty much contained on my Palm Pilot, what with the cognitive function error/damage crap, so I can understand how irritating it was to not have your laptop with you.)
Also appreciate the cautionary tale of keeping information backed up. *grin*
Hallelujah!
Hooray for found luggage!
An ARC of Redshirts might help me overcome the crippling sense of ennui I feel after finishing_Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded_.
If i say i really, really, really want it would that make it the ARC of the Covet-ant?
Great googily moogily, that’s incroyable!
I hate losing stuff like that! Where you’re not even conscious you left it. I left my wallet in class once, just set it on the table in front of me, and once class was done I gathered up all my stuff, and left, even though it was sitting right there in plain view.
It’s amazing how once. Get fixated on an idea (like I left the bag in the taxi), we stop considering other possibilities. I’ve even convinced myself that I have e memory of doing something that is later proven I couldn’t have done.
But, what will happen to the poor new laptop you bought? Will it go sad and lonely and unused?
This has got to be the easiest context I’ve ever entered…
Comment.
So glad they didn’t go all explodey on your bag!!
I totally voted for you to get your computer back in the universe karma continuum.
This is also a great illustration on why it’s always best to end relationships (professional or otherwise, but especially professional) on the best possible terms. Imagine the conversation if you’d burned bridges with your former publicist:
“This is Reagan National Airport. We’re calling about John Scalzi?”
“Did his plane crash?”
“Um, no.”
“Oh. Bored now.” *click*
Unable to track you down, your laptop bag ends up in that giant warehouse where they keep the Ark of the Covenant and the crashed Area 51 spaceship. Fade to black. Roll credits.
It’s all very sad.
What happy news! I’m sort of surprised it didn’t get blown up, though.
I once lost a bag- empty, but a souvenir from a trip. We couldn’t figure out where it went. Then, roughly three and a half years later, I found it at my daughters’ day care. It had apparently been used to transport something to day care when daughter #1 was a baby, and somehow fallen out of her cubby and gotten mixed with the toys. Three and a half years later, when daughter #2 joined that particular room, I saw the bag in with the toys and reclaimed it. It was such unexpected good luck, it made my week.
I’m glad you didn’t have to wait that long.
Thank you.
Nice! It is funny how circuitous the world works sometimes…
May I put a reference to “Raiders of the Lost ARC” here?
I’d love a copy, but really “Being an author finally pays off.” may be the best line I’ve read in awhile. (Clearly I need to stop reading so much work related stuff.)
John, that’s all kinds of awesome. I’m very happy for you!
Glad you got the computer back!
Congrats on getting your stuff back.
It’s wonderful that your computer is coming home! Yeah! And here’s a comment to enter the contest.
I love a happy ending.
“Winging its way back” is my Sinatra tribute band’s name! Glad you found it!
I would dearly love to own an ARC of Redshirts!
Hooray! Congratulations and happy bag-back day.
So glad a story like this has a happy ending. Losing stuff is so horrible.
Go Redshirts!!
Congrats on the bag return and karma.
Redshirts. Bring it.
W00t
Hooray for lost computer making its way home! I foresee a Disney movie…
Glad you’re getting your stuff back!
tsk tsk John, how long did you live here but somehow manage not to internalize the unattended bag mantra? Glad you got it back!
Cool story Bro. Now send me my damn book!
woo-freakin-hoo!!!!! So glad your stuff turned up.
Already prepaid/ordered Redshirts but would be much happier if I could win one as well :D
Hooray for honest people!
This must have felt good ;)
(and yes, please enter me in the ARC giveaway ;)
Man, cannot wait to read Redshirts…
Huzzah!
Congrats on getting your computer back!
I’d love a copy!
Here’s to responsible people who GIVE things back. As opposed to the guy in my town that stole someone’s ipad (and other assorted things) who was busted when the police and rightfully disgruntled ipad owner used the Find my Ipad app. They tracked down the missing device and LO! the moron who stole it was caught red-handed while using it. Ipad returned, moron arrested.
Congratulations! It must feel awesome to (soon) have your computer back!
-Buxley
Glad to hear you got your computer back!
Yay! Good for the folks at the airport.
Yay!
I would probably die if I lost my laptop. Also: hit me with one of those ARCs, because the four chapter preview made me want this book so, so badly.
Good news indeed!
I’d love a copy of Redshirts! I’m glad you got your computer back. :)
This is a comment.
So happy to hear your computer has been found! Restores my faith in……um….airports?
It’s probably a bad idea to insult you about how stupid you were for leaving behind your bag in an airport. If I don’t get the ARC, I will blame it on my own rudeness.
I vote for picking me.
Glad to see the computer is getting back to you!
(Is the ARC offer available worldwide, or only Stateside?)
MuDPhuDStudent totally took my comment :(
Isn’t leaving a bag unattended some form of massive no-no? I’m surprised the bomb squad didn’t detonate it in place. Glad you’re getting it back.
I’m glad you are getting your computer back and yay for the Redshirts giveaway!
What about now?
Good to know there are still honest people out there.
I’m glad your computer and all assorted items have been found and returned to you. These types of situations rarely turn out like this.
Fabulous way to choose winners… (hint: pick me!) And congrats on the return of your lost computer!
Wonderful! I wonder what the bag has seen …
Lots of shoes, I suppose.
You know, there’s probably a story to be written about the Adventurous Little Laptop that gets lost and has to find its way home. Something sort of halfway between The Brave Little Toaster and Incredible Journey.
Great news. I hope to win if only because my boys (2 x 16 yr old) will enjoy the book as well.
Glad your computer got found!
This is me commenting, because I love free things!
That’s an awesome story.
Glad you got everything back. Hate loosing things like that. It seems a piece of your life is gone when you loose your computer.
Congrats on getting you bag back!
I once dropped my iPod Classic somewhere in the DC Metro system and filed a lost-property report online. Every single person that I told about it said a version of “you’ll never get that back”, but everyone said they themselves would get it back to the person who lost it, of course. It must be tiring to live surrounded by bad people. I generally assume that people are decent and I do okay. (I did get the iPod back.)
I make note, I get book? Deal.
Here’s to beating the odds!
Woo! Go Reagan!
That feels wrong.
Wow! For someone who left a bag at an airport, you were lucky twice! The finders were a) honest and b) not so paranoid they blew it up, just in case it was a bomb.
Good news, except no excuse to buy a new tablet, I guess.
Very happy you got your Mac back. I’d love a copy of Redshirts. If you don’t give me one, I’ll just have to buy it.
YAY! Honest people still do exist! :)
Glad you got your stuff back. Can I have some of it? Like an ARC copy, maybe?
An ARC would be useful for me to lose on my trip this summer.
I hate losing shit. It’s like an itch you can’t scratch. I still mourn a nice hunk of rib eye steak I left behind in a restaurant 22 years ago. I can only imagine losing my MacBook. :( That being said, yay for you getting your stuff back. I loaned my OMW trilogy to my sister-in-law in Texas last month, and it arrived in the mail yesterday. So, yay for me too.
Now
Hurray for DC area airports! Sorry I missed you while you were here, but I hope you come back soon.
It makes me feel just a little better about the world that someone tracked you down to return your bag. I’m happy you will get your stuff back!
Maybe now?
Congrats on getting your stuff back.
Wow. That’s some great effort, and an impressive bit of lateral thinking, from the folks at the airport.
Like a few other commenters, I’m surprised they didn’t blow it up before opening it, since that seems to be the SOP around DC for unattended bags. Lucky save! I would LOVE an ARC.
Dear John,
Why not let your significant other(s) pick ALL the contest winners?
Hopefully, they’re open to blatant pandering. You’ve been characteristically unreceptive (or unaware) in the past.
… you could let Ghlaghghee weigh in on this too. I bet someone (else?) in your house can be bribed with bacon and praise.
I’d love one please. Of course I’m going to buy it anyway – in audiobook form because my boy prefers them to paper and it’s time he reads some @scalzi.
So glad you got everything back! I was hoping everything would work out. Now, here’s hoping for an ARC!
Now’s the day, and now’s the hour!
I’m glad you got your bag back.
It’s the feel-good story of the day! Glad to hear your laptop is on its way home.
yay for computer returning home!
Yea! Glad you got your stuff back! I’m sure it is a great feeling :)
My wife has had similar luck. She’s left her cell phone in airport shuttle vans and an airport restroom and so far had always gotten it back.
Congratulations! A colleague of mine left his computer bag in the trunk of a cab. . .in Beijing. The story of How He Got His Bag Back is a bit longer, a bit more tense, but ultimately as happy-ending-y as yours, I’m pleased to say. Enjoy. Now. . .velcro that bad boy to your arm.
Glad they didn’t just blow it up. A “Redshirts” ARC would be a lovely get well present for my wife, Paula.
I maek poast!
Do Want! And I’m glad you got your machine back.
Hooray for the airport staff!
Welcome home, computer bag! -cheers-
I’m happy to hear that you soon will be reunited with your laptop!
Holy mother of pearl, you are a luck person. Great news! Please, please pick me! ::hands waving:: I just pre-ordered Redshirts yesterday but I would LOVE an ARC. I just started collecting books of my favorite authors and I would really love to have this book. By the way, a big congratulations on his Nebula win. I saw the picture of him and @neilhimself. :)). PICK ME, PICK ME PICK. :)))
Glad you got your stuff back!
Congrats on getting your computer and bag back.
Feliz, etc. Glad all is well. It would be great to see ‘Red Shirts early!!
That’s fantastic to hear! Glad you got your belongs back, all intact.
Congrats on the good luck of getting your things back. I too want an ARC.
Happy to hear this story has a happy ending. It’s always a bummer when you lose things, and it’s always wonderful when they come back.
Dude.
Always good when what was lost is found.
Glad everything worked out for you!
Yay for the recovery of your stuff! I’d be even happier if you’d continued to call the place National (as I’m sure I remember your doing the other day) instead of Reagan National, but one can’t have everything. Here is my entry, in any case. :-)
Glad to hear that the security guards didn’t take it out and blow it up…
Glad your got you computer back!
Oh no, I fly a lot and am always terrified I’m going to leave my laptop or some other bag somewhere in an airport, I’m sorry it happened to you and am glad to hear it’s on your way safely. I always have cards from my blog in my bag, so hopefully that will help me out if ever it does get mislaid!
I’d like a copy!
Rah Rah Rah!! You got your stuff!
P.S. I’ve always preferred Reagan National to Dulles:)
That is awesome good news! Isn’t there a song about that?
Glad to see a man returned to his machine! :-)
I’m glad your bag and computer was found! The twitter suspense was palpable for a while there. Also glad that a reasonable human being with kindly inclinations found it and made the effort to contact you. Bonus. I believe you’re now obliged to pay it forward and I’ll be interested to see how that pans out. I don’t need the freebie, because I’m guaranteed to buy Redshirts when it goes to softcover anyway. Give it to someone good, though.
don’t tease me, I want to read this book
I would love a copy!
All is for the best in the best of all possible worlds.
ARC Please.
insert comment here
Oh, oh! Pick me!
Rejoice with me! My computer that was lost is now found! Stupid prodigal computer.
And now the Acer netbook will be left out, all sad and lonely. Let’s hope he’s not planning on bricking your MBA :)
Congratulations on the returns, sometimes things do work out, sometimes.
I’m a bad follower, John. I just can’t find the time to read your blog every day, or even month for that matter. Sorry ’bout that. But I do buy your books, so you’ve got that going for you.
After reading your post about Easy Mode though, I’ll try harder.
Very glad you got your stuff back. I almost had a similar experience while putting my clothes back on after becoming closer to my fellow man (TSA). I was 10 steps away and doing the “have I got all my stuff in my pockets mini-Macarena” when I hit an empty pocket and immediately felt the blood drain from my head. Had I been pickpocketed? Did someone grab my bin from the belt? OMFG, I need that stuff!
I then endured 10 minutes of interrogation and lecturing by the TSA. “Why did you leave that sitting there?” “Prove that’s yours.” “Do you care that you’re slowing our process down?”
Anyway, I can completely understand leaving something behind at an airport. When you’ve got to practically disrobe and sort 5 piles of carry-on things into 4 different bins, things happen.
That’s a great story.
That’s great news!! Also, an ARC would be groovy. Thanks.
I left a camcorder in a Beijing taxi once — wish I could’ve had your luck in getting it back! But if I win an ARC, I’ll consider it an even trade.
Gratz on getting the stuff back!
And +1 for the folks who worked to get it back to you.
/crosses finger for winning the ARC.
Me! Me! Pick me!!
Good news: Your computer is winging its way home to you.
Equally good news: Now you have an Acer netbook that you can experiment with. Perhaps you could try to put Linux on it, or Android, or Chrome OS, or something really exotic.
Yay for found computers! What will you do with your temporary gadgets, then?
I’d love to have one.
Congrats on finding your bag!
And they didn’t even shut down the terminal for a “suspicious unattended package”
You’re lucky they didn’t blow it up for being a “suspicious package”, John!
Congrats in getting your stuff back! It’s amazing! I used to travel a lot and always feared losing stuff like that.
Is it US only? Even if so, I can manage a US address…
Yay for you and hopefully for me!
Congrats on getting your stuff back. You can now exhale!
I’d love a new read, and a John Scalzi book would be a great way to do that.
Yes, I’m sucking up.
So glad you got your stuff back, and an awesome reward for the guy who tracked you down.
Yay! I almost left my watch behind at security once.
The TSA agent scolded me about it, not caring that I was traveling alone with a cat. For the record, one must remove the cat from his carrier and hold it while the carrier goes thru the x-ray machine, praying that he doesn’t freak out and bolt and ruin one’s travel plans. I’m so sorry I forgot about my watch, TSA dude.
Coincidentally, Wednesday is the day in my laundry cycle that I wear my red shirt.
That’s awesome. Congrats.
John, sir, dear host, puh-leeze do not encourage the use of “Reagan” when referring to Washington National Airport. Even The Washington Post,* which was the most influential purveyor of the “Reagan National” style (starting soon after the renaming in early 1998), uses merely “National” on second reference.
*As mentioned in one of my replies last year, the Post’s “Reagan National” style can best be understood as the Post’s way of kissing Newt Gingrich’s butt when he was Speaker. Specifically, the House version of the bill had dropped the “Washington” entirely, which was retained in the Senate version and was ultimately preserved in the bill that reached President Clinton’s desk. That is, the use of “Reagan National” is tantamount to saying that the House version may as well have prevailed, and plays right into the hands of the political successors of Gingrich.
Congrats!
glad you got your mac back, kudos to the folks at Reagan National
I would love an ARC.
And what a relief, that they’re returning your stuff. Losing my laptop is up there on the list of worst nightmares.
Hooray for things being returned to their rightful owners!!!
Congrats on getting your stuff back. And thanks for the opportunity for another chance at Redshirts.
OK. ARC me.
Glad to hear you got all your things back. Reminds me of the time my wife got her wallet back when the woman who found it called our dentist’s office (the dentist’s business card being the only phone number in the wallet).
Looking forward to reading the new book :)
Congratulations on the findination and the imminent returnifying of your stuff! (Hey Athena and Krissy! Over here!)
I’ll be seeing John in Lansing next month, and it would sure be nice to have an ARC for him to sign!
I’ve already pre-ordered a copy of “Redshirts”, so I don’t NEED a copy, but boy-oh-boy would I still love to win an ARC.
WOW! I love how you give stuff away so creatively – it makes not winning . . . almost like winning (except without the winning!)
“[A]irports are really good these days at collecting up unattended bags.”
I’m kind of surprised they don’t just remotely blow them up.
Congratulations on the return of your computer! Our long, national nightmare is over!
So very awesome that your stuff will be returned!
That is extremely awesome!
Love it when awesome people go the extra mile for customer service! Can’t wait for Red Shirts!
It sure would be cool to get an ARC!
A 1 in like 400 chance is better than 1 in 0! If you can even have that!
glad to hear the saga of the wayward bag has come to a satisfactory conclusion!
Ooh…memeME…I want an ARC of Redshirts…pick me, pick me…I’m asking you with my brain!
So glad you are getting your stuff back !
And I shall keep my fingers crossed that I might get lucky with an ARC
Hooray for Homecomings
While we’re switching to almost all Kindle books, I’d love an ARC
Congratulations! great news.
Congrats of getting your computer back.
Many happy returns! (Much happy return?) Anyway, glad your lappy is back, and I’d love an ARC.
Glad your bag and contents are returning to you, rather than suffering the traditional fate of a red shirt. “Well done” to the person who figured out to contact your publicist, your generosity to them, and of course, to us. Good karma makes the world such a better place.
I’d love to win an Advance Reader’s Copy of /Red Shirts, of course.
Good News!
Congratulations on the safe return of your bag! I can’t wait to read Redshirts.
Hooray for the return of wayward laptops!
Hurrah!!!
so all you need to do to get a legal ARC copy is to steal Mr. Scalzi’s computer bag, return it, then win the ensuing contest? sounds like a plan. John better watch his computer bag.
Yay!
moo
Hooray for smart, nice people!
Hope the Redshirts have as happy an ending! :D
Count me in.
Yay for getting your computer bag back. Yay for me winning, yes? yes?
Bahaha. Contest.
Glad you got your stuff back.
Congrats on the recovery of your gear!
Great news to hear you got the bag back. I’m totally waiting for the Audible edition, but who can say no to an ARC?
So glad they didn’t go all DHS and blow your laptop bag to smithereens for being in an airport unattended.
Congratulations! Lucky they didn’t explode your bag before sending it back…
Yay for found computers! And ARCs! And publicists!
Yay! Good karma works!
ARC, Yeeeeh!!
Congrats! It’s always extra-great when you find something that you’ve already written off as lost.
Also, note posted and fingers crossed!
Phew! For once, airport security actually for the win
So if you were giving out an ark of Redshirts it would be kinda tragic, but an ARC of Redshirts is awesome!
That is an amazingly good story. Likely only matched by the amazingly good story that is Redshirts.
Yay for the laptop return! Yay for the ARCs! Yay Super Scalzi! (Am I cheering too much?)
Laptops are totally an extension of our persons anymore, am I right?
Congrats! Perhaps I should wait for a less common commenting time…
That’s great that you found your stuff. And as someone who unfortunately has to fly in a couple weeks I’m taking your tale as a cautionary example. And I would love to have an ARC for you to sign when you’re in MN this summer.
Huzzah.
Excellent news! I just got a new laptop, and leaving it somewhere like that ranks high on my Things I Shouldn’t Really Worry About But Do Anyway list. Glad to hear that it’s back.
Congrats on recovering your computer, sir.
What a lovely turn of events!
You mean the person at the lost & found desk wasn’t already a fan of your writing? Anyway, hoping to get that ARC.
Lucky day for you! Me, too!
I would love an ARC of Redshirts!
I’m feeling lucky at 2:49pm.
You’re really lucky, John. I was at BWI earlier this year and left my jacket on a chair in the terminal, which happened to have my iPod with 80g of audiobooks on it in the pocket. I realized as as soon as I started to board the plane. I turned around, and my jacket was gone. Nobody at BWI had seen it.
Hurray!
Always nice to hear stories where people DON’T suck.
Huzzah for “Scalizi’s MacBook Air – The Return!” Now give me a book why don’t you? :)
Glad your bag showed up and they contacted you.
Twas brilig and the slithy toves did gyre and gimble in the wabe. All mimsy were the borogoves and the mome raths outgrabe.
I think I actually breathed a sigh of relief when I read the subject line to this post! So glad your bag and all the contents were returned!
Considering that an unattended bag in the airport usually provokes a response similar to the that of the sock in Monsters Inc. you are very lucky to get it back. It is even more amazing that someone made an effort to track you down. Not that a copy of your book is not a great thing, but really. You just got back a thousand dollar computer. Throw the guy a C-note at least.
DC ftw!
Yay for things that are found and returned and yay for honest people willing to put a bit of effort into finding you! I’ve had a couple such experiences myself and it does restore a tiny bit of faith in the human race.
Glad to hear you got your stuff back.
Hooray for the prodigal bag!
The Dance of Returning Laptops has commenced.
so cool you got your stuff back :-) can i please have the ARC (notice the magic word ;-) )
That truly is a miracle – left my ugly but special sweater at the airport and never got it back – though someone probably just threw it in the garbage it was that ugly
That’s very good news! Both for you (you’ve found the bag, etc.) and for us (give-away!!) :)
Or he could have googled John Scalzi… he is kind of famous you know… at least on the internet… which I hear is a longer lasting fame… but maybe not in a good way…
Glad you got it back.
I first thought it was odd that they did that, because how would they know you’re the author? But then I remembered that you wrote that you had your name all over your stuff and even I would’ve made that connection. I feel silly now. *coughs*
Btw, I’m a bookseller, so I get to read ARC all the time which is awesome and made me discover tons of books I’d never had touched otherwise. While I love living in my country, the only downside is that I can’t get any english ARCs. Owing at least one would be great. *gg*
Comment for an ARC!!
NOW! Wait, what? When? Now?
Very glad to hear your laptop and stuff are finding their way back to you!
Huzzah for not losing at life!
Congratulations, dude.
Hooray for finding stuff! Hooray for giving stuff!
Can’t help feeling you’re lucky they didn’t decide it was a bomb, and blow it up. :-)
Happy day!
I’d go for the bomb theory, myself.
Giddyup! Congratulations & best wishes for a speedy reunion!!
I’m so happy for you!
It’s nice to see that people still try to help others.
Now this is the kind of contest I could win :)
Nice that there are good folks looking out for others.
“Being an author finally pays off” Bout time.
Today’s my lucky day. I just know it!
It is heartwarming that an airline worker went to do much effort. I am so happy for you.
Fingers crossed. Good luck everyone!
Impressed that your computer was returned, and even more impressed that it was still in usable condition – not disrupted by an bomb squad water jet.
yeah!
Congrats on getting your stuff back!
Hey! What an excellent development & congrats on your (hopefully) low-pain retrieval.
Congratulations! How nice to hear something lost actually being returned in one piece. :)
I’d love it, thanks.
Excited!
Glad you got everything back.
That’s pretty awesome by the staff at Reagan.
How lucky that they didn’t hose it down or smoosh it or throw it off a tall building!
Congratulations!
mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
As much as I want a Redshirts arc (and let there be no doubt: I really, really want one), I’m equally happy your bag was found. I work for an airline, and our baggage folks are some unsung heroes doing everything they can to reunite lost possessions with their owners. Let’s face it, we only travel with the items we truly need. When those items are lost, it hurts. Glad you’re getting it back!
now is the time selected. i have waited long for this moment, and victory is mine!
choose me choose me
I can’t reserve a copy at the library ahead of time, so here’s hopin!
This is my entry. There are many entries, but this is mine. :)
Glad you got your stuff back. There ARE good folks in the world! :)
Commenty commenty!
I claim this timestamp for France.
‘grats on the bag! I’ll take an ARC, but I’ll probably be buying it via B&N ebook as well, so you won’t lose any money. *That’s* the kind of service you get when you deal with SFF fans!
Consider this a comment worth of consideration of free stuff. Glad the bag showed up!
And this one’s for the UK..
My bologna has a first name, it’s H-O-M-E-R.
My bologna has a second name, it’s…H-O-M-E-R!
i want this but as i am leaving for the Galapgos in the morning, ARCs are not appropriate. i plan on paying a fortune for internet on the release date so i can read it to a blue footed boobie.
An excellent ending to the unfortunate lost bag saga. Pick me! :)
I have now entered your… Contest.
I’m planning to purchase it, but an ARC would be cool.
(in my best tiny britsh voice) Please Sir may I have a bowl of Redshirts.
Hooray for random acts of investigation and kindness!
Wonderful! I’m so glad you have your things back, and that you can let go of any leftover disappointment in humanity over it. And now you have a backup laptop! Or, given how quickly they age, an excellent incentive to offer for some future niftiness. Win/win.
Great news and hoping I’m just as lucky with this comment…
Good news! About the computer and ARCs. Sign me up for one of those bad boys.
Hooray!
Ooh! Ooh” Pick my time!
Reagan Airport just help reunite me with my daughter’s misplaced passport, so double hooray for them!
Congrats on getting your gear back and a free book giveaway is an excellent way to celebrate!
Congratulations.
I would love to get a copy! I’m reading the first four chapters from Amazon and can’t wait to find out what happens afterward!
I have a good feeling about this.
Yay! And I’d love one of the ARCs.
You’re not an idiot. You were fuddled and distracted by the very fuddling and distraction atmosphere of baggage claim.
Pick me!
Congrats, John!
Oh! I don’t know what to write! But congratulations on getting your things back!
I’m sure little Air appreciates getting back home.
I’m delighted to hear you’re getting your bag back! Hooray for good endings!
Commenting like a commenty comment thing.
I knew you’d get it back, but yayyy anyway!
Glad to hear you are getting the bag and laptop back.
That’s great. Glad you got it back
I would love an ARC
Option. Ctrl. Alt.
hopefully this one ships to the world (well, New Zealand at least)
Glad you got your bag back.
Comment! Albeit there’s a lot of time available for people to enter.
Nice! isn’t it great when the breaks go your way for a change?
Glad to hear you got everything back.
Think I’ll press Post Comment .. No
This probably won’t win, but worth the try anyway.
I’m really happy and amazed you got your stuff back. Wow, you must have done something really good to promote that much positive Karma. I’d love an arc. :)
People can be great! Glad you got your stuff back.
Congratulations on the return. Now please send me that Redshirts ARC.
Wow, congrats on getting the bag back!
Nice one.
That’s excellent! Glad you got your things returned.
nice
Glad you got your stuff back!
Great news!
Now is the time. I am the woman.
I am leaving a post and hoping for an ARC! Thanks, John!
Yes, please? =) Glad to hear you got your bag back. Yay for honest people! Perhaps there could be a future movie in the works…the heart-wrenching story of a wayward bag, alone in the midst of strangers, making an epic cross-country journey to be reunited with its adoring owner…wait, that’s already been done with adorable animals. Never mind.
Good fortune is yours. perhaps it will be mine as well.
Who says there are no honest people in the World any longer? Cheers to the Reagan Airport workers.
It’s nice to be reminded that humanity is basically good!
Now. No…..Now!……No, definitely now…. yeah, now.
C’mon, 3:48!!
Good to hear you got your stuff back. Finally an airport employee I can support.
I once left my glasses on a table in Scotland. They were mailed back to me in California.
Hooray for finding the lost. Enjoy the return!
I won! Oh, the sweet, sweet glory of it all…
Glad you got your stuff back, and that the TSA didn’t take it for something more sinister than a laptop and some books.
I doubt it will happen, but here’s hoping I get an ARC! ;-)
Yay computer return! Good to hear :)
Congrats, and oooooh pick me!
Yay, it came back!
*crosses fingers and hopes, for the first time, he’s the randomly chosen winner of a contest*
Yay for cool people at airports!
That’s super cool! And I’m sure the employees at National are glad Redshirts isn’t a bomb.
I’m looking forward to listening to Wil Wheaton read it in audiobook form, but why should I turn down the opportunity for a physical copy?
Always picked last on the gym team. Maybe not this time since there’s no physical exertion involved??
WOOT to getting back your stuff—-pick me for the ARC
Why am I wearing this Redshirt? And why are you pointing a phaser at me?
Is the contest open to Canadians? ‘Cause if it isn’t, I’m not leaving this comment. ;)
Redshirts ARC! Gimme gimme! And props to all non-strip-search-performing airport employees. That’s got to be one of the most dehumanizing places to work for people in customer service.
Woot!
Left my purse in a NYC cab when I was 18 & whoever found it boxed it up, Insured it, and mailed it to me in Connecticut. Considering that the insurance must have cost more than the two bucks in the purse, it made me go all Blanche Dubois & is a fond memory. Always lovely to encounter kindness and honesty.
Just as long as you didn’t lose your towel.
glad you found it. Would adore to have an ARC, but will purchase dead-tree version soon enough anyway!
good news. congrats.
Is that now UTC or Eastern time ? GMT ?
hooray forgettinbg the computer back!!!!
I’ll comment to win, woot! Always nice when the stuff comes home.
Wow…
airport personnel working to a productive customer relations outcome.
Gimme all the swag… :)
I guess the airport using ARCs and your former publicist’s information is an argument in favor of traditional publishing, huh?
This is me, a human, entering
What a relief to know that your stuff is on the way back to you! And like everyone else, I would love a copy of Redshirts.
Glad to hear your computer’s coming back; I’ve done similar bone-headedness myself, so I know how it feels – both to lose it, and to get it back :)
Great that you got your computer back. It would be nice to get an ebook ARC of Redshirts.
Praying for an ARC (btw: glad to hear you got your stuff back)
I am glad you got your bag back!
Delighted that you got all your stuff back.
Wonderful! I’m impressed — I would have thought in today’s security-conscious age, they would’ve disposed of it out-of-hand rather than looking through it to return it to the owner. Congrats on getting it back.
I’ve never (yet) left a bag anywhere, but I’m hell on umbrellas and hats. None of which ever come back to me… So congrats on the return of your stuff, and thank you in advance for the ARC (she said hopefully).
Energize!
Giving an ARC to the person who tracked you down was very classy; good move :)
Insert witty comment here about security opening bags instead of blowing them to smithereens.
Glad to hear that your bag was found!
The time is now
First of all, congratulations on your things being found!
And of course I too would love to receive an ARC!
Nice to hear of your happy ending. But more importantly, I want a Redshirts ARC.
Yay airport.
There IS still good in the world! Here’s hoping your good fortune is mine as well.
Now you’re going to have to take back all those bad things you said about the DC cabbies
Cheers to the return of the prodigal luggage.
Glad that you will be getting your computer back.
Congrats on the forthcoming return of the bag!
Hoping for random day/time luck! My other JS books are on loan to neighbor college boy.
You thought that your bag was expendable, but somehow it survived.
Huh.
I’m surprised (but relieved) that they just didn’t blow up your computer bag. More and more these days, it seems to be the ‘normal’ reaction to unattended bags. Oh, and yes, please, for a Redshirts ARC! :)
Pick me!
Happy news. Glad you got it back. Did the security person indicate there was any drama over the found bag? I was in an airport where a left-bag was reported. Security cleared the entire gate area….until a passenger traveling with a group (Asian – not fluent & missed the page) came out of the bathroom to discover her luggage had caused a stir.
Congratulations!
WELCOME HOME, COMPUTER. Your Daddy missed you.
Does this improve your feelings about DC? I’m glad you have your laptop and everything else back.
When I am overlord, all the ARCs will belong to me. Until such day, I must humble myself and enter this contest.
(Manners indicate that I should offer platitudes and/or niceties about the impending return or your lost items. Consider that done.)
I’m surprised that you didn’t receive a visit from the TSA about leaving your bag behind.
*happy dance* I hope that guy has an especially good week.
I’m pretty impressed that the airport managed to find your bag still with all your stuff in it. That’s pretty awesome. And I’m here for an ARC, thought not for me, but instead as a gift for my sister.
Leave a comment. Take a comment.
(I’m wondering what would have happened to the bag had it been left behind in my local airport… Tel Aviv Ben-Gurion airport, where security is always the first thought…)
Homeward bound! It really is impossible for us to keep track of all of our stuff all of the time. When I attain my superpower I will be able to find any lost object.
That’s great news! And a fun giveaway!
Good thing that the bag was found.
As someone who once lost an entire camera bag (equipment, undeveloped photos) simply by leaving it someone in Boston Logan back in 1998, I’m relieved you had a happier ending. (And that the airport didn’t simply blow up the bag!)
Yay for the found bag!
Oh wow! Congrats!
Congrats on getting your stuff back.
Glad it came back! Poor little Mac! Consider taping a business card in your bag in the future
Cant wait to read it.
It’s nice to know that being an author has its upsides!
Hurray
WooT. glad to hear it. That sounds like something I would do but mine would’v been blown up by the TSA and stranded several thousand people for hours if not days.
Travel brain is no-one’s friend.
That’s great news. I’m impressed that it found its way back to you.
Congratulations on getting your things back. (:
//JJ
Getting my hands on a Redshirts ARC would be pretty fantastic.
thats amazing…
Now?
Free Arc me!
Oh, I hope I win!
w00t! A Redshirts ARC!!!
Don’t want the arc (bought the ethang already), but glad you found your ‘puter.
I commented as soon as I read “This very instance”!
congrats, definitely know how that feels. Got my purse back like that once, kinda, sort of…
Free ARC? Yes Please!!
Yay, airport employees. They’re really not bad people!
Me, please!
Awesome news about getting your stuff back – thoughts of that happening always give me the anxiety shakes!
I’m glad the computer was found. I shudder to imagine losing my own.
Glad to hear you’re getting your things back!
PRETTY PANDAS ARE PRETTY!
(And yeah, glad you got you stuff back. Lost a bag on the way back from China once. Was a nightmare till I got it back. It had my sword in it>.< sadness.)
Nice to hear that this story had a happy ending. And I can think of the perfect epilogue: me winning a Redshirts ARC. Thanks.
Congrats on the airport staff actually being competent. The last time I lost my luggage on a trip it took them 7 days of a 14 day vacation to get my bags to me.
Ya! Glad to know you got your bag and computer back!
I have celebrated by ordering a pizza. That and I’m hungry.
Oh, man, I am so profoundly happy for you! We all thought, after a week, it was irretrievably gone!
W00t! Glad your stuff is on its way home.
Congratulations!
Luckily you didn’t leave your computer bag at Charles de Gaulle. We were all locked inside after the airport gendarmes recovered a small, abandoned valise and blew the thing up. Ka-boom. Toast. Or, more accurately, crumbs.
I’m in! And glad you got it back.
silly computer went on an adventure and is now ready to come home. probably missed the cats.
Go go smart people doing their jobs!
(and actually a pretty darn good idea about checking the ARC)
Oh, and I think your wife and/or daughter should seriously consider the benefits of 5:12 PM of Tuesday the 22 of May…but that’s just me…
I’m thrilled your computer and everything was returned. Almost as thrilled as I would be to get an ARC copy of Redshirts. Plus this gives me an opportunity to pass on one of my favorite packing tips:
Take one of the many adhesive address labels that you probably have sheets and sheets of laying around. Stick it on a small piece of notepaper. Write your phone number on that paper. Stick it inside one of those snack-sized ziploc bags. Now stuff that baggie in one of the pockets of your travel bag and never take it out. Repeat for every piece of carry on and checked luggage. Voila! Instant identification inside all of your bags.
Wunderbar!
Inane comment!
Feeling lucky … I need more Scalzi books on the shelf!
Fantastisch!
Congratulations on the safe return of your possessions, and yay for giveaways!
Trying to see how many comments it takes to destroy WordPress? Well, I’m always happy to help stress test, anyway.
I’m glad it wasn’t stolen.
B flat – oh, sorry; wrong note. Can I still win?
Congratulations on the return of stuff and I hope I’m as lucky with this comment. :)
ENTER.
Yaaaaay!
Glad you got your computer back! :)
Me!
Huzzah!
What a relief!
Gratz on getting your stuff back.
Wow! Congratulations, Scalzi. I’m really glad that airport security didn’t send in a drone and blow up your bag. That would have sucked, possibly worse than disappearing it in a cab.
Hooray, Homeward bound computer!
Congratulations on the found computer! I’m always losing things, so I know what a relief it is when you actually get them back/find them.
Hooray!
Airport security = love.
Usually it’s considered intimate in a rather different way.
No “US residents only” hidden away somewhere in that post? No? … Yay!
whew! yay :)
So, they emailed you to say they’d found your lost computer? On which you likely check email? Hmmm. (Yes, I know you probably check mail on your phone too, but still…)
Glad you got it back & I would love an ARC. I was so mad at myself for not wearing my Redshirts tee to the LA Times Festival of Books. I also left the huge can of whipped cream in the frig that morning. sigh. Probably shouldn’t have stayed up so late reading…
getting your stuff back is cool, not as cool as giving me a book, but still cool.
Is this my lucky minute?
Seriously though; I am glad you got your stuff back. It’s nice to know there’s honest people about.
Woo hoo! Congrats on getting your computer back!
Congratulations.
When I missed my flight at Reagan airport a few years back, one of the security guards was very helpful, way more helpful than the airline agent.
It’s *scary* how tied to our devices our lives have become. The relief has got to feel so good…
Yay! Who knew ARCs could be so useful?
whoooo
A flat. Or F sharp, if you’d rather. :)
Good news all around.
Great story! Congrats on getting it back. Makes me feel good about the human race. Like we maybe have a chance after all.
I think they are going to pick riiiiiiiiiiiiiight… wait for it… NOW! *click*
Fantastic! How awesome to get your stuff back! thanks to someone’s detecting skillz!
This is fan-freaking-tastic. Love that your writing is paying off in new and interesting ways. Congrats on getting your computer back!!
Really enjoyed the sample chapters, so I’m in.
I am glad you are getting your computer and your computer bag back as well.
good
Glad you’re getting your things back. Congrats on the good fortune.
This is my comment.
Go you!
A good a time as any!
My whole family would be insanely jealous if I got to read this before them.
Congrats!!
Hooray for good people!
Congrats on getting your stuff back plus a cool story as a bonus. In unrelated news: me me me!
Woooo!
This is a note, inserted before the deadline. Now that I’ve inserted this note and therefore will be in the running for my Redshirts ARC, I want to know can I insert many, many notes to up my odds?
I’m so happy you got your stuff back.
Congrats! That was really lucky.
I’m preeeetty sure this is the time they’ll guess!
So glad to hear the bag was found! And what a generous way to celebrate.
Life is like a box of chocalates after all.
So glad your bag was found! That could have been a disaster. Regardless if I get a Redshirts or not, thanks! It’s a great blog.
Hoping for a win…
Yay for getting your computer back!
Glad to hear you got your stuff back! And thanks for spreading the goodness.
Yowza! Glad to hear you’re getting your stuffs back.
It seems that Ronald Reagan is now your guardian angel…
Lucky bastard. I never get back what’s been lost.
Glad you got the bag back, glad the cab driver didn’t make off it.
An airport which finds bags instead of losing them? I suspect they are playing a joke on you.
Nice story—although if I had found your bag you may well have gotten a ransom note of pasted together letters torn from magazines demanding the sequel to The Android’s Dream!
I would certainly appreciate an ARC of Redshirts. So, one please.
I’ll take an ARC! I just discovered you thanks to a friend’s recommendation. I haven’t even finished Old Man’s War yet, but you’re definitely going on my list of great authors.
Felicitations!
Good karma for John = good karma for your fans.
Giant screaming penguins couldn’t make me comment on this thread. Honest.
I really can’t wait to read this! *crosses fingers and toes… and eyes*
…. *ow*
Yes, I would like an ARC of Redshirts, and yay! for the return of your bag.
Memememememememe! Pick me! Pick me!
Just another reason I liked National Airport better than Dulles when I was living in DC!
I’m glad you got your bag back; I thought there was a pretty decent chance you would. and there are a LOT of comments in this thread.
Yet another reason Reagan is better than Dullles.
That is an amazingly awesome story! Kudos to the staff at Reagan National for their detective work; way cool to see someone go out of their way to get your bag back to you.
Can’t wait for Redshirts–ARC or no ARC!
An ARC from one of my favourite authors (and one of the proffession’s outstanding role-models) would be peachy. Just sayin’
That’s great news about getting your stuff back. On a side note I have been listening to Heinlein’s Starship Troopers on audio since I read an article of yours on Heinlein. Also so I can read Old mans war afterwards. I also read your Redshirts excerpt and I cannot wait for the book to come out. Cheers
As a long-time Trekkie, I would love to get this book.
I’m glad this story had a happy ending! And wow, there are a ton of comments now.
Congrats on the great luggage karma and being reunited with your stuff.
Alas. Now future generations will never sigh over that lost Scalzi book, the only copy being on the unrecovered laptop. (Why no backup? The moron excuse is as good as any.) No one will say it was your best book EVER. No comparisons will be made with the saga of Hemingway’s lost manuscripts. But there hope. If you can lose your laptop once you can do it again. Next time don’t tell anyone you got it back.
Reminder to self: Pick up eggs, milk, broccoli.
That’s a note, right? Or does it have to be to you?
Sounds better than Hartsfields (ATL) services! Grats on the returned computer.
I’m so glad you got your stuff back!
Comment! Looking forward to reading the book (for which I am first in the reserve line at the library).
I’m glad you got your computer back!
I’m glad you got it back before the bomb squad had to blow up the “Suspicious Package.”
Glad you got it back
Er, here good? Can you mail my ARC to Kingston, Ontario, Canada?
Fantastic! Pick me please!
I was sure the bag, itself, was destined to be a Redshirt, and never return from your Away Mission.
Nice when things work out like you hope they could.
it was cool of you to give the guy at reagan nat’l an arc. i’m sure all he’d gotten until then was yelled at….
I hate losing stuff.
Is this the Connie Willis thread? Hello?
Glad the lost bag story has a happy ending!
Speaking of endings, I’m ready to read the rest of Red Shirts. Woo – read those first four chapters again the other night and once again – BAM – where’s the rest of the story? Want!
Thank you for being a prolific writer.
Glad the lost bag story has a happy ending!
It’s so nice when somebody actually does their job well and gets something for it.
….and now!
Good job having the world work the way we’d like it to.
Congratulations!
Oh, good news that your bag was found. Now I will hope to be lucky, too.
670-odd and counting comments. I guess I’m not the only person wishing for a free star trek, er, Sclazi book. Good on ya that your stuff got found.
Excellent! Our cleverly-disguised-as-a-laptop agent has now successfully infiltrated the home of the most powerful man in the worl…what? What do you mean? He’s the President! Of what? Wtf is a SFWA? Wait, why does this keep writing everything I say? Stupid compu…
That’s awesome about getting your stuff back! And hey, thanks for the giveaway!
That’s great news!
A note!
I want this so I can taunt all of my friends who have to wait for the book.
Congrats on your stuff being found.
I am pleased for you. What are you planning on doing with the extra new computer?
you will send me one because you love me.
Congratulations! I’m glad it’s good news.
Glad you got your things back!
Pork
Glad you got your stuff back.
Now!!
Glad you’re getting it back.
Glad you’re getting the bag back ok.
Having lost computer stuff while traveling, I’m very glad you got yours back. Having flown into Reagan National somewhere around 300 times, (don’t ask…) I’m not surprised as the staff there have always been consistently great to me.
So, for the ARC, I’m all in.
Pick me! Pick me! *jumps up and down*
Yay for me and my incredible luck at winning random stuff! Yay!
Its good that it _finally_ paid off to be an author. :-)
So happy to hear you got your stuff back! :) I promise to freak out in the same fashion as Kristen Bell seeing a sloth if only you would only send me one of those ARC’s.
731
Congratulations! Now it’s time for us to get stuff!
Looks as though things have slowed down enough to somewhat increase the odds..
Glad to hear that being an author finally paid off. Of course I would have thought that the whole mortgage and food thing would count as ‘paying off’ but hey it is the little perks in life that really matter.
Congrats on having your laptop found. Lucky it wasn’t detonated
W00t for honesty and craftiness.
Glad to hear you got your laptop back. Also good to hear about decent human beings in the world.
I want the arc!!! I need the arc!!! And I recognised that the fuzzy was a fuzzy in ur twitter pic!!!!! I deserve the arc!!!!! Ur books rock!!!!! PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAASSEEEEEEEEEE!!!!
Good news everybody…
That is an excellent way for a bag to be found. Hurrah!
The redshirts complete their mission of retrieving your bag, despite zero expectations of success! :D
how about now?
This sort of thing makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside. So would a copy of Redshirts!
Yay! So glad you’re getting your stuff back.
Would love Redshirts! I also had a similar event with leaving a couple valuable items in an airport restaurant. And yes the airport tracked me down and I got my stuff back.
yay for getting your stuff back!
A found computer! How nice…
Congrats. Sometimes it all works kile it’s supposed to.
Tim Morris
I wonder if airport security thought of your bag as a threat to national security. Good thing they investigate the contents first!
Eh, why not. :) I am glad you got your stuff back. Doesn’t make you a moron, just distracted. Even non-morons get
Glad to hear the good news John, and very much looking forward to the book release.
How is 7:00 pm Central?
Of course I never win anything.
And on top of that, I’ve been hiked-up on medicine after some terrible muscle spasms yesterday putting on a polo shirt. Who would have thought so?
Congrats on your bag being found!
Oh, wonderful! I’m so glad you got it back! :)
Count me in.
me me me! (please)
Scalzi: However, airports are really good these days at collecting up unattended bags.
Luckily your bag wasn’t making weird noises because you left the computer on and it was beeping about low battery or something. The cops might have put it in a blast bin and set off some C4 on top of it.
Comment: comment comment comment, comment! Yay!
That’s nice. Love it when things work out.
A hundred years ago, you couldn’t have left a computer in an airport. It would have been a book at a train station, and it would have taken months to track you down via the U.S. Mail.
hm… now?
…Possibly you would have left a three-volume novel in a handbag in the train station. (With a baby named Ernest in it.)
(Also: Pick me, pick me!)
Who am I to turn down a free ARC?
Congratulations on getting your stuff back. Even if you have replaced a lot of the more urgent needs, it’s still a good thing to have the originals back.
Had a pocketknife confiscated once by airport security… But the guy later mailed it to my house. Sometimes it’s nice to have our faith in each other restored.
Return of the Mac could make a good parody…
By leaving your bag in the terminal, did you create a Possible Terrorist Scare?
OK, now that I’ve insulted you: please pick this comment.
My comment.
Entering the contest! Would be nice if the mobile version of the website didn’t automatically capitalise the first letter of the email address field.
Hooray! Hooray upon hooray!
Congrats on the found luggage!
If you send me an ARC, I will review it at librarything.com.
I love banana and coconut ice cream from the honey hut.
Yay glad you got your stuff back! And yay to smart airport employees!
Woo! and Hoo!
Now that you’re getting your Mac back, I could take the Acer off your hands… :)
Sure hope I chose to post this at the right time… :)
Good karma all around!
Throwing my hat into the ring for the ARC…
You must have very good karma to get your computer bag back. Congrats!! Thanks for chance to get ARC.
I shall defy all odds and be declared the victor! Or one of them anyway.
Huzzah!
Glad to hear that your bag is coming home. Would love to have one of the ARC’s — might even send it to my Dad after I devoured myself.
Good on ya, John!
Shannon
How awesome!!!
having your luggage FOUND at baggage claim is a new twist…
A Redshirts ARC would be awsome. Glad to hear you got your stuff back. Also glad to not hear about Reagan being shutdown for an unattended bag!
Congrats on getting your stuff back! It’s a shame that nowadays it seems like a surprise when something nice happens…
I think you’re just luck they didn’t detonate the bag on the spot… also, there’s not many book shops in my part of the world that sell your work, so a win for me would awesome :^)
Yay on the stuff back and an employee actually going the extra step or two to reunite a bag with it’s owner.
Now seems as good a time as any to say “Yay! You got your compy back!” So, without further ado: Yay! You got your compy back!
That is a lovely happy story!
Yay for airport employees (and how often do you get to say that?)! Hope I can get an ARC even if I didn’t do something cool like track you down from just a copy of it.
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!
Oh! Pick me! Pick me! I am shameless!
Time is money, never more prophetic than right NOW being the right time to win.
Pick me!
Dang. Took me almost a full minute to scroll down to the bottom.
Here’s hoping
Oh! Oh! Mr. Kotter! Mr. Kotter!
Yes, my age is showing. Sigh….
C sharp
OK then, I get it, I just don’t understand.
A friend of mine recommended you. Told me I should be reading your blog and your books. She was right. I’m late joining your fanbase, but I’m here now. I’m really looking forward to Worldcon and sincerely hope you win that Hugo. You should because I was thinking of voting for you at least once or twice. Yeah, I used to live in Chicago. How did you guess?
Hooray for kind and professional airport employees!
Glad to hear everything ends well. :)
Yay for smart, honest people!
No time like the present. Except for all the other times but we don’t talk about them. Splitters….
sorry everyone, this is the winning time, right now.
~/ Scalzi’s got his
groovebag back /~Cool. Cool cool cool.
Glad to hear you got the stuff back but I’m really only in it for the ARC…
I rejoice in your good fortune.
Yay for both valuable stuff returned AND a chance for free stuff!
A found computer is a thing of joy.
That’s awesome.
Also awesome? Free stuff!
Here is a comment, which I am leaving!
Congrats on getting your stuff back!
I’m putting a note in the comments:
C flat.
Ohh… Pick ME, pick ME, pick ME!!!
A note. What a nice airport employee!!!
testing, testing 1,2, 1,2 Is this thing on?
Congratulations. It’s awesome someone took the time to find you and it must be really nice to have your stuff back.
Pick me, pick me!!
Books and computer returned
Gifting up us
Choosen few to smile
Glad you got your bag back
I can’t say I’d mind a Redshirts ARC…
So glad you got your stuff back.
This time for sure!
Better luck than I had the last time we lost something in the airport. I’m glad someone honest, and diligent found your computer.
Hooray for nice airport folks!
Arc me!
Glad you got your bag back!
*crosses fingers* :)
Might as well; maybe I’ll get lucky.
On the one hand, the story would’ve been funnier/more-interesting if they’d found your bag, then blew it up as a threat to national security.
On the other hand, the funnier and more interesting version would still cost you all the stuff in your bag, so I’m glad that the story involved ARC sleuthing and not explosions.
9:50 PM eastern is the most random time. Pick me :)
I’m so happy for you, John! I’ve been hoping you would get your stuff back.
Very glad to hear you got your gear back… don’t know what time it is there but it’s near noon here :)
See, I told you you would send me a copy before it’s over. I mean let’s face it, why wouldn’t the lovely ladies choose this time? I mean it’s just obvious, isn’t it?
Woo finding stuff!
Hooray for a happy ending to the story!
Huzzah!
This is a comment!
Glad you got your bag and stuff back… and even gladder if the time chosen is 7:55 PM MST.
I love stories like this! It’s awesome to see people being trustworthy!
Here’s to winning.
I did not expect this story to have a happy ending. Glad I was wrong.
And… NOW! Glad you got your stuff back in one piece.
That’s a pretty great roundabout way to get your stuff back.
I did not expect this story to have a happy ending. Glad to see I was wrong.
Never under estimate the goodness of the majority of people.
Now? Okay, how about now?
Hooray for due diligence!
Congrats on finding your stuff. I hate losing things. Now I want to be an author more than ever.
Nice.
Glad you got your stuff back. I’d really feel sick if I left my computer somewhere.
This warms the cockles of my cold, cold heart.
Would love an ARC
Pick me, pick me!
Glad you got everything back.
Yay on getting the bag back. and I hope I get picked for the ARC.
I’m glad you’re getting your stuff back. I’d miss the Macbook Air too….
Hurray for recovered tech!
Yay for ARCs and publicists! Also, yay for Whatever time this is…
Here’s hoping.
Me me me!
I’m glad your bag was returned intact. Thanks for picking me !
w00t!
*crosses fingers*
Is that truly random?
I love lost & found. And I’d love an ARC even more. Please?
When laptops and bookbags go missing
they’re met with much booing and hissing;
when news gets around
that the stuff has been found,
it’s met with rejoicing (and kissing!)
(Couldn’t resist. Glad the stuff showed!)
We once had someone visiting us who’d accidentally grabbed the wrong laptop off the X-ray conveyer belt coming through security. There were no identifying marks on the laptop, and it was password-protected, but we managed to get into the filesystem using a Linux boot CD (that trick won’t work with MacBook Airs, I’m afraid), and then found a resume in the Documents folder that had the owner’s name and contact information.
The owner, meanwhile. had picked up our visitors laptop off the belt and turned it into airport security, who were keeping it nice and safe. Our visitor arranged to pick it up, and give the misapprehended laptop back to its owner, upon landing from their return flight home.
I’m glad you got your stuff back as well.
here’s to finding lost things
Glad you got your bag back! Always a nice feeling when humanity comes though!
YAY!!! I was unrealistically sad about the loss of the Mac Air. Made me want to give my Mac Pro a little hug.
Always good to recover lost stuff. I’m happy for you.
The winning post.
Giving it a shot…
I hope it’s now.
Now, what if they’d assumed your bag was a bomb, and blown it up? With a robot!! That really would have been awesome.
But anyway, an ARC would be nice too.
Glad you got your stuff back.
I wish I had something clever to say. But I dont
Now.
Hurray baggage handlers!
Huzzah for finding the computer and huzzah for a contest!
Comment!
Pick me, please! Glad you got your stuff back.
See, Airport Security can be irritating, but they aren’t bad people. So kill the fatted hard drive, slap some postage on an envelope and send me some REDSHIRTS, please.
That’s a pretty awesome thing for the airport guy to do. I wonder if he’s a fan?
Congratulations on getting your toys back dude.
Yeah for TSA doing something helpful.
I hope I win the ARC…
Leaving unattended bags sitting around in the DC airport probably puts a black mark on your perminant record. Glad they gave you your stuff back any way
Good news is good. Better news is your wife or daughter picking my time so I can win!
My name is MadLogician and I am an ARCoholic.
Woohoo!
I missed my guess by a few minutes. I assume that Athena claimed the Acer laptop 20 seconds after your MacBook was found.
Too lazy to think of anything relevant tonight, sorry.
Congrats on getting computer back. Can’t wait to read redshirts.
Happy to hear that you’ll get everything back.
Someday I’ll win something.
A comment, because I sure would like a copy of Redshirts!
Good for you(r laptop).
is it time yet?
Yay for lost and found!
If it was my bag, it would probably have gotten detonated just to be safe. Than again, I am not a world-renowed author. Oh yeah, I would like one those books. Seeing that May 23rd is my birthday and all, that would be a pretty nice present.
Now is the time.
It would be great to have a nice shiny ARC for you to sign at ChiCon. :-D
Congrats on the recovery of the bag!
Would love a Redshirts ARC! I might even let my husband read it :)
i just love a happy ending.
Congrats on getting your stuff back! Looking forward to Redshirts. :)
All’s well that ends well!
Good at collecting unattended bags indeed.
Please?
Happiness is finding what’s been lost.
I’ll give it a try.
we had a great time in DC, glad you found your puter
Congrats on the safe return of electronica and ARCs.
Glad you got your stuff back. I’ll be even gladder if I win the ARC.
Now seems as good a time as any … maybe better.
A comment.
I thought I should at least try. Long time, no post.
You didn’t say whether this was available outside the US. If so, count this Canadian in!
Audrey
Can’t “like” this enough!
Glad you got it back, and can’t wait for the book to come out.
and how many computers do you own at the moment? :)
My guess is you chose to base the drawing on time to simplify picking the winner. The challenge is that it’s tougher to make that a fair drawing (if that’s a concern). Entries are not distributed evenly over time – right now, a comment gets to lay claim to a few minutes of the time period; earlier an entrant was lucky to hold on to a few seconds.
It’s actually pretty easy to do a random selection from the comments if you happen to have a MacBook Air handy :- ). The steps:
1) Create a text version of this web page.
- In Firefox, right-click/ two-finger-click to get the context menu
- select ‘Save Page As …’
- change filename to ‘arc1.txt’
- change folder to ‘Documents’
- change format to ‘Text Files’
2) Get just the user names:
- Start up Terminal
JS-MacBook$ cd Documents
JS-MacBook$ grep ‘says:’ arc1.txt > arc2.txt
JS-MacBook$ wc -l arc2.txt (this’ll give you the number of lines / entries)
3) Pick a random line in the arc2.txt file
- just use random.org
- text editor can take you to the winning line / name (should be line 892 :- )
There ya go. Two minutes, tops.
Thank goodness the airlines have finally discovered how to find bags!
I’ll take the Air if you have too many laptops now (but I’d prefer the ARC).
So if a security guard found it, does that mean a redshirt saved Redshirts?
Cats and nerds attest, there is no such thing as too many lap tops. I stake my claim at this here time.
Claim staked;
Happy for you…and wondering, is there a time and date that is more probable picked than another, and if, what time is it and how does my timezone mess with that…
Here’s hoping – and glad you got your stuff back.
Here’s my comment- perhaps the time zone difference will, for once, work in my favor;-). Glad you got your bag back.
It’s my birthday tomorrow, so please?
I’d love to get an ARC.
That’s fantastic! And I am amused to see how many comments this has had:).
I think they will select *this* time. So, I won’t have to wait til November after all! (You didn’t specify USA only, did you?)
Huzzah
Great way to celebrate this, John! :)
yay!
The cover-up method can be used to make a partial fractions decomposition of a rational
function whenever the denominator can be factored into distinct linear factors.
I’d love to get my hands on one of the ARC’s.
Ping!
Well, I am late – I had a hunch that the winning time will be 4:02 am, so good luck to Bjorn at 3:57.
But maybe I’ll be the lucky one!
Or maybe I’ll be driving to Dayton for the signing…
At any rate, I’m happy the laptop, etc., was found & the universe is once again in equilibrium. :-)
- old aggie
Glad you got your stuff back!
Congratulations on getting your bag back! That’s such a harrowing experience.
I can imagine your relief was immense, plus you got some new toys out of the ordeal.
Hooray for nice airport people. I think I may be a little early but it’s 10:52 in the UK.
Big Huzzahs for honest & diligent airport people! You, sir, are a very fortunate man!
Do I win the ARC? 5:55 am on the east coast of the US…
thanks!
Hook me up man!
Send that ARC my way…..
I’m so glad your computer has been found. That’s awesome.
Here is my Redshirts comment!
Here goes!
Trying again. See you in Milwaukee whatever happens.
I’ve totally got this.
Right, one Redshirts comment!
Wow, that guy truly went above and beyond. Glad to see you have everything back! It would have been such a hassle to replace it all.
Now I totally hope one of your two ladies will pick my time. And I can’t even try any intercontinental jedi mind tricks, because I don’t know what time it is in your part of the states. And I’m too lazy to figure it out ;)
A note has been left.
Glad to hear that there are still some honest people left in the world.
This seems to be as good a time as any. Congratulations on getting your stuff back!
That’s pretty awesome. ARC giveaways are pretty awesome, too.
7:04 am. Its as good a time as any.
Sometimes the travel system performs as it was designed to perform: to reunite travellers with other people and own possessions. Glad to hear the mini-saga of Stuff Separated from Self ended well: an appropriate epilog to the Nebula Awards awesomeness.
Safe travels, and thank you in advance!
now serving 00924
Glad you got your stuff back!
ping!
Good to hear your bag was found and will be returned to you as you left it (literally on the floor in the airport).
Wow! Glad you got it back!
Will you be able to return the Acer?
Good morning
Congratulations on the return of your belongings! And, for once, I’m actually semi-current on reading your blog, so I get to enter a contest. Yay!
So glad for a happy ending to your episode of Computer Separation Anxiety! A truly hideous malady. *shudders*
Congrats on getting your bag back.
A phoebe built a nest on top of the outside light at my front door. It’s beautiful, moss on the outside, pine needles on the inside, and the hatchling (not visible from below; photographed, poorly framed, by standing on tiptoes and holding the camera on macro setting at arm’s length pointing straight down) is beautiful in its own way too.
Also beautiful: lost bag and contents finding their way back to you. Yay!
w00t! (And not just because we’d love an ARC.)
Yea!
Good news on the bag find! Bad news on the congenital brain malfunction
Good news!
Holy smokes there are a lot of comments! Must be some way to auto-scroll down thousand pages with an iPad… Anyhow, glad you got your bag o stuff back!
Congrats on getting the bag and the stuff back! I don’t normally enter these things, but it’s the husband’s birthday, so let’s give it a try! :)
Why can’t USAians use GMT?
My entry.
I”m so very happy your gear is coming home. My faith in humanity is restored. Well a teeny bit, anyway.
Congrats on the “full recovery” — hope it doesn’t mean you’re at the start of the “senior moment slide”…
Ah, good… I was getting worried that I wouldn’t reach the end of this comment thread before Thursday. :^) John, I’m glad to hear you are getting your stuff back.
Me! Congrats on getting your computer back.
I hope I win.
Nothing like the feeling of turning the house upside down looking for my phone, only to realize I left it in my car…
I’m glad you got your stuff back!
congrats on finding your laptop!!!
Awesome! Glad to hear that worked out in the end!
great news! now what to do with all the extra hardware…
Congrats on the return of your stuff! WooT Indeed!
commenting…
“The Prodigal Computer Returns Home”. I wonder what sorts of adventures your Mac experienced whilst away.
I waited a long to time comment.
I actually thought your computer was tracking down Wil’s lost Kindle. Oh well!
Just sneaking a comment here after the initial rush.
I’d love to win one.
Holy crap that’s a lot of emails
Am I too late? If no, please let your wife and daughter know that I am French, and that if you come to Paris with them my husband will cook all of you a wonderful dinner (yes it is bribery I confirm). Please pick up my time? S’il vous plait?
Congratulations!
Here’s hopin’!
Well hopefully is the lucky time :D
tried to leave a note at 3:27 a.m. this morning, but dang this is a lot of comments, couldn’t load. So i’ll take right now.
Glad to hear you got your bag and computer back! Losing my laptop or tablet would be a nightmare, even with my file encryption and hardware tracking.
On the minute chance I’m closest the time chosen, I respectfully recuse myself from the contest.
Holy comments Batman!
Is this still open? I’m bad at time zones. If not, never mind.
Congrats on your short-to-medium-but-defnitiely-not-long lost bag returning to you!
now?
Clearly 9am is the best time to give away an ARC.
Clearly.
Nice, I’m glad it worked out! And I’m hoping I’ll win :-)
Note left.
I hope you enjoyed DC and I would like an ARC.
Random is good. I’ll take a shot at random.
Glad to hear you got your stuff back!
That’s GOT to be a relief!
I hope I’m not too late. Live long and Prosper
This is my entry.
Comment.
Fingers Crossed.
ARC time! Glad that your bag will be returned!
I’d love an ARC.
Glad to hear you’re gotten your computer back!
Think now. Now. Now. Now. You know you want to send a Redshirts ARC to Texas!
ARCs are good things to have!
Please send me Redshirts, I’m fresh out of minions.. :)
This is my comment
Grats on getting everything back! Baggage claim = so cursed stuff gets lost even when you’re the one doing the losing….
I’m thinking there’s a lot of potential sales here for Redshirts! :-)
Woof!
Glad you’re getting your stuff back, and I hope I win!
Congrats! What a great feeling (nicely balancing the horrible feeling when you realize something is missing!) Yes! If I win, please send me an ARC of Redshirts! (If not, please send me the consolation prize of a trip to Reagan National Airport at my own expense.)
Congrats John.
I love it when lost items find their way home. I would also love a copy of your book.
Glad you got your bag back. Wouldnt mind a copy of the ARC. Loved Old Man’s War.
Now!
I like these odds! Looking forward to the book either way.
So glad your bag was found! Can’t wait to read “Red Shirts”!
ummm… pick me? pick me? :-)
So this is a comment. And also a more-or-less randomized chance of winning a Redshirts ARC. Having experienced “stupid me forgot something important at the airport” syndrom, I’m glad to see that this particular version of that story had a happy ending.
I’d love to have one, although I have no illusions that even if I win, it will get here to Hungary.
Pick me. Pick me!
Me please!
Glad to hear your got your computer back – that can be real stressful!
This seems like a good time
Good deal.
Thank goodness; and, my, a lot of us would like to mooch a free ARC….
Congrats! Looking forward to Redshirts.
I googled “ARC,” then facepalmed. duh!
I waited a day, hoping it would reduce the risk of me posting the same minute as someone else.
Reading it early would be swell.
Pie
Airport lost & found employees are often unsung heroes. I especially appreciate the ones who found the kindle I left on a plane in January. But I’m constantly amazed at how many bags the baggage handlers have misplaced (mostly at Paris CDG) find their way home within a day or so.
Huzzah!
My odds don’t seem good, here.
I love reading stories about belongings finding their way home in improbable ways.
10:19, here we go!
Isn’t it a great feeling, when you’ve just about given up on something important to you as lost and then it’s found again? I’m glad you got your stuff back!
Book me!
Oh me!
Yay! Nice to find things after thinking they’re lost.
Lucky you! Lucky me?
I already pre-ordered my copy but I’d love to get an ARC! Congrats on getting your computer back!
Hooray for rescued computers! I’ll be at your Chicago signing, but an ARC would really add to the specialness. Thanks for offering the chance to get one.
I’m so glad they didn’t blow it up, as is sometime the procedure with unattended bags…
it’s nice to get stuff back. hope my timing is right!
Yay for you! Yay Redshirts!
Yay for lost stuff coming back!
Now that it’s no longer 1,024 comments, I can comment without breaking a pretty number.
wow, what luck! congratulations on getting everything back.
Glad you got all your stuff back!
Glad you got your stuff back.
Perhaps I will get lucky, too?
Glad you got it back. I’d love an ARC.
Thanks in advance. :-)
Yay for awesome & honest airport staff!
Here is a comment: Glad you are getting your stuff back! Thanks!
Congrats to you…
I left my “stuff” in the seat of the airplane and de-planed. By the time I realized that I had left it and tried to go back and get it (I was still in the airport), the “cleaning” staff had already made it dissappear (Thanks United). It is truly amazing that you were able to get your “stuff” back.
Just found you via Audibles book sale for “Agents to the Stars”. Would love to read the new book.
I would totally, totally dig on some ARC. Pick me!
a comment
ARC please.
thanks,
Jason
Congrats on getting your stuffs back!
Pudding
That’s fantastic!
Way to go, that guy at the airport!
Redshirt ARC FTW!
Happy your computer was found.
Here is hoping!
Dude!
What the heck, it’s worth a shot.
Ooh! Ooh! Ooh! Pick me!
Would that be Reagan Airport in Orange County? I always liked that airport. It was just the right size.
Maybe I am lucky 1000th. Glad all your stuff was found!
Glad you got the computer back!
Congrats on the return of your belongings.
comment left!
I hope now is the winning time! Glad you recovered your things
I want a book!
Sneaking in under the wire! Bwahaha!
is this a good time? Glad you got your stuff back. Still some honest folks in the world.
Your adventure with the computer sounds very much like something I would do! Thanks for reminding me to be extra careful next time I travel with valuable technology. (My MacBook Pro is not insured and would probably never find its way back to me :( )
Right now would be good
Yay for getting your stuff back and yay for coming in out of the sun in the nick of time to see this post…
It’s noon! The contest is now closed.