illiniangel

I subscribe to a number of flight deals emails and glance through them occasionally, and I've often seen flights from RDU (Raleigh-Durham) to Las Vegas for about $200-250. Of course, now I have the opportunity to go to Las Vegas in a few weekends, and the tickets I can find from Raleigh, Greensboro and Charlotte are all about $450 to $500 roundtrip to Las Vegas. All of these are with a stop except Southwest from Raleigh. (This is July 30th or 31st to August 3rd or 4th).

Looking at this site and others, it seems this is a very high price for these tickets. Is it just because it's a weekend? Is it because I missed Southwest's fare sale a few days ago (I don't even know if these tickets were on it)? Is it because of Defcon that weekend in Las Vegas?

Or is this the usual price to pay now for a flight to LAS from North Carolina?

I enjoy riding exercise bikes, and my roommate and I are planning to purchase one. I've noticed that I have problems being comfortable on recumbent exercise bikes-- I'm 5'1''.

Google searches have helped me find bikes that are NOT good for short people, but I can't find any that are particularly good for those of us who are vertically challenged.

Any recommendations on specific bikes?

I took classes at my local public university last summer-- it's one of the best in the nation. I took one graduate class (law) and one high-level undergrad class (journalism). I graduated a few years ago from a university in another state, and I told the professor in my first class I had graduated, but my second class's professor never knew that I wasn't an undergrad like the rest of the students. I wasn't sure how to bring it up or if it mattered (I'm a very shy person). I've worked as the communications director for a few nonprofits and have solid work experience since college, but nothing in journalism (and I wasn't a journalism major as the other undergrads were, so I don't feel I had a leg up on them or anything).

I got an A+ on every article in the class, and the professor is a Pulitzer Prize nominee who really liked me. I'm going to apply for a job in journalism in the next few days and wanted to list my prof as a reference. However, she might think that I'm a senior at the state u and tell the employer so, so I feel I have to tell her this beforehand somehow. How do I do it?

Should I meet with her and just give her my resume? Is email ok? I don't want her to feel that I misled her in any way. I really don't think I did, but if she previously thought I was an undergrad and now finds I'm 3 years out of college, she might feel that way.

I'll be flying into Fort Lauderdale with a small (8 pound) dog in a carrier. This is allowed on the train, TriRail. Is it allowed on MetroRail in Miami? I called their customer service number and it did not allow the option to talk to someone.

Thanks!