I made it back from California. It was hectic, way too much partying with various people, mostly graduate school friends of Mom, who asked “why didn’t S—— come out instead?”. I finally called it a week on Friday and just had dinner by myself. The next day I got up at 5:30 AM to catch an 11AM flight. That was probably a bit too early, but with all of the scares about canceled flights and no assigned seating, I figured it might be safer that way. Mom’s comment was “what else would you be doing?” — well, sleeping for one. The line for airport security was awsome. It stretched out of the ticketing area, past stairs and out in to the parking garage, where it had to double back to accomodate everyone. In the end it was about 30-40 minutes to get through and in to the waiting area. After that it was just waiting and flying until I got home at 9PM. Alice welcomed me home, and the boys noted my arrival in passing. I brought home some goodies for the kids, which they thought were OK except for Alice, who really liked her new bowl with a kitty face on the inside.