... of mice and men gang aft a-gley.

I was supposed to get on a plane this afternoon for a visit home, but an unexpected storm got in my way. In a way, this shows the limitations of the electronic age, because for this particular trip everything was handled electronically and I still spent quite some time at the airport getting everything straightened out. I had checked the flights and printed my boarding pass from home only a couple hours before departure, and the system gave no warning that there was a problem.

By the time I reached the airport, there was definitely a problem. By the time I reached the front desk (walking around a long line) with an LED sign above it marked "Baggage" to ask where do do the electronic luggage checkin, my flight had been cancelled. I was shaken a bit by the fact that the woman didn't even acknowledge my presence, but instead called the next person down from the check-in line, so I stepped up hesitantly and asked if that long line was for both just baggage checkin and ticketing, or just ticketing. That's when I got told my flight was cancelled, and I'd have to get in line to work something out. All flights were marked as delayed on a board behind the counter -- not electronically, just with a large sheet of paper taped over the list of departures. The LEDs above each counter were noting a variety of things, from Checkin to Closed to Baggage, but all counters were being used to get the mess sorted out. I took my bag and got back in line.

By the time I had worked myself back to the desk, all flights were apparently cancelled, at least for several hours. It was just Continental that hadn't realized this would happen, apparently, as it was the only airline counter with a line; the others were practically empty. In my time in the line, I saw one person approach the American Airlines counter. The Northwest counter didn't even have anyone at it. They had given up early, cancelled all flights for the day, and somehow managed to let everyone know in advance.

In terms of total convenience, this was probably quite superior to Continental's "extraordinary measures" approach to getting everyone on a plane. I was told that it was perhaps possible that I could get on an evening flight, but it was already delayed by an hour and a half, nobody knew exactly when the storms would let up, and if I missed my connecting flight in Houston there would be no more flights that day, and they would not pay for a hotel. If the flight got delayed by an additional half an hour, there would be no chance of my making the connection. I opted to take a flight the next day.

So, now I'm back home, weary, but at least comfortable. But instead of passing along my checklist to my family of things Lynne and I were interested in seeing over the holidays (go to parks to see both kinds of redwoods, visit Monterey Bay, visit oceanfront parks, perhaps the tidepools in Santa Cruz), visit Chinatown in San Francisco and possibly other things there, go winetasting, see a folk music concert, walk in rolling hills with old oak trees, or see if there are any local festivals), I am instead writing this.

And sighing. One more day. I get to see so little of Lynne that I resent anything that cuts into time I could spend with her, but there is nothing for me to aim that resentment against.

Bogdan has invited me to ping pong, since I obviously couldn't have any other plans; it's probably a good idea from a health standpoint (I don't get enough exercise), but I'm tired and unhappy, which isn't really conducive to playing well in a competetive physical sport, and playing poorly would just make me more tired and unhappy. Still, I'm considering it.