a welcome home gift

so erik got me to SF airport by 6:45 a.m. for my 8:30 a.m. flight, which was way earlier than i wanted to be there but he had to get to work (in san jose).

so i figured, i'll check in, i'll have a coffee, i'll read the paper....

but no. what i did was this: i stood in line. i stood in line for so long i almost missed my flight, except that it was, conveniently, delayed. (mandatory rest for the crew.) the line to check in on NW zigzagged through the ribbons and then stretched down the aisle past the line for Frontier Airlines and past the line for Alaska Air or whatever that next one was.

there were hundreds of people ahead of me.

and for the first 15 minutes, none of us moved at all.

i finally checked in by 7:50, and then had to get through security, where a short, stocky guard was bellowing over and over and over again, "Remove jackets, sweaters, belts! remove all footwear! Remove jackets, sweaters, belts! Remove all footwear!"

came panting up to my gate by 8:05, only to see that my flight was delayed until 9:30. and then, when i was struggling with the sticky keyboard on the very expensive internet access machine, they quietly moved the departure time back up to 9 a.m. and i almost missed it again.

why is flying such a pain? and then there was rain in minneapolis, and one runway was closed for construction or repairs or whatever, and i finally made it home by 4 p.m. only to find that i barely barely barely had enough money for cab fare. i gave the cabbie all the money i had, and that includes the quarters. (and what happened to that $20 bill i thought i had? did i really spend it all in that loud irish bar on Valencia Street? hmmmm. come to think of it, i guess i did.)

BUT there was happy news awaiting me. besides riley's new red collar. the rotten correspondent, who is very funny and wry and tells great stories, has kitted me out with the creative blogger award.

it's very cool, even though it's highly inaccurate, because i'm not creative. all i know is telling the truth. i don't even embellish; i'm not creative enough. this is a 100-percent-fact-based blog. but i'm happy that she likes it, because i like hers, too.

and to echo the observation she made on her blog--six months ago, i didn't know any of you. i never even read blogs; i thought they were all loud and politically biased and irrational and rush limbaugh-y. and now i find this wonderful community of interesting and funny and thoughtful and, yes, creative friends.

i bet even willowtree is tearing up right now.