Inetria 1, Lubar 0 (i.e., inertia won)

So, I kept thinking about going to ALA until it became too late to actually go. (Theoretically, I could still go, but that would be really boneheaded.) The problem is, I'm close enough to DC to be able to get there fairly easily, but far enough that it would take a bit of effort. It's a 4-hour drive. I could take a train from Philly (two hours), but Philly is a 90-minute drive. I could fly, but the airfare kept going up, and hit $650 this week. Pretty expensive for a 40-minute flight. ...