objectively speaking

This is it. I must put this out to the world. Must. There is only one side to the baggage claim discussion ---- There is no reason to stand with your shins against the baggage carousel...no reason. Honestly, I always stand back and watch the incoming portal of luggage from a nice distance. I long for my bags to pass through the dragging black carwash-looking things just like everyone else, I too live in suitcase hope. When I see my kit I step forward, take my bag, and walk away. See how easy that was? What is it with people and the claim? Of all the actions I see humans engage in, this is the most lemming-like. If only there was a cliff nearby that all the luggage t*&^s could trundle off...

Hey, back from Omaha. The travel scoobies (beyond the claim) involve my return flight from Omaha to Reno. Don't laugh, but my connection was via Chicago. It happens. Thunderstorms in Chi-town so we end up on the Omaha runway for four hours. Add an additional hour to the one hour flight and I miss all connections to Reno. A long story made shorter...I get comp'd a hotel and meals in Rosemont, Ill. and make it home Monday afternoon. That's that.

Laurel and I had the blast that one would expect. The temp was in the 90s until Easter morning when it dropped 35 degrees to the mid-50s. We dressed up and had dinner at Trovato's in Dundee, saw movies, played games, miniature golf (I won by 30 strokes, snap!), batting cages (she CAN hit), discussed insurance and premiums, had the salmon/magic tater dinner, crepes one morning, video arcaded, did endless logic problems, watched her DVD collection of The Muppet Show (season 1), and generally thought life was swell. She's at 4'10'' and way too heavy to lift or throw across her bed. She and Melissa are off to Kearney this weekend for the Future Problem Solvers competition. In case you raised the eyebrows at the insurance and premiums above...we were studying for the comp, I'm not that lame. There's a pic at Trovato's (note her original Liz Taylor necklace designed at Anne's house) and a shot of her driving one to the gap, as if Barry Bonds has anything. A lovely girl.

I'm reading Devil in the White City about the 1893 Chicago World's (Columbian) Fair. I'm still liberal. Still tall. I like a nice wrap with falafel, hummus, spinach, and romesco. That's all.

t