I didn't get around to writing the trip report this weekend as I had hoped. Gary was on call Friday night and Sunday. Saturday morning I came home and did a little garage organizing - still needs a lot more - so that we can get to the car more easily. When Gary got back from making rounds we went to Lowe's, Ikea and Super Fresh to get some groceries. We did laundry, I vacuumed the floors and began mopping them - still have to finish that, and Gary fixed the running toilet in the powder room. We did sit with the cat for a little while and watched TV, but it was pretty much go-go-go all day.

Sunday morning we were greeted by a half inch of new snow. Gary went to make rounds and I did a little more work around the house, cooked lunch and dinner and went out to the hospital. I planned to do some work on a client project as well as begin the trip report, but my computer began acting up. It had apparently picked up a rather nasty computer virus, and when I got to work on Monday morning, it failed completely. Tony from IT came up and shook his head at it, said, "You need a new computer anyway," and took it away. I have a loaner now while my new one is being approved.

BUT . . . I wanted to offer one story from our adventurous return home last weekend. The Saturday we left Little Cayman, we flew to Grand Cayman and had a bit of a layover before our flight to Charlotte. Having watched the news on the Northeast blizzard, we figured we would get stuck in Charlotte - which we did. Gary had made a hotel reservation at the Charlotte airport, and we headed back to the airport on Sunday to try again. We eventually went stand-by on a flight that left at 2:30.

The flight to Philly is only an hour long, and as we were coming in on approach we flew right past Lincoln Financial Field, where the Eagles were playing the Falcons in the NFC Championship game. We were close enough to watch one play on the jumbo-tron TV monitor in the stadium! The pilot announced that the Eagles were leading 7-0 at the beginning of the second quarter - we figured that we would get home in time to see the second half at least.

Ah, but we hadn't counted on US Airways.

It took an hour and a half for the luggage from our flight to arrive at baggage claim. Our luggage, of course, was not there. I spent the next hour in the lost luggage line - calling Mom for updates on the Eagles game. I filed the claim and Gary called the park and fly service to bring our car up. Just as we were leaving to wait for the car, he noticed one of our bags sitting next to a baggage carousel. Not the one where it was supposed to be, mind you, but sure enough it was there. He went out to wait for the car and I grabbed a cart and began searching for the other two bags. Eventually I found them and went out to the curb.

The car was still not there. We called - twice - and they came up with some lame excuses. Eventually they came - after 50 minutes of waiting in the freezing cold. There was only one thing that made us happy at that point:

Mom and Dad took Uncle Dick and Aunt Claire to visit Aunt Mur up in Burbank this weekend. She was very glad to see them and seems to be doing a bit better. Jeff and Lucia were down and Ron and Pam brought her over to their house and everyone had a nice visit.

All of the pundits are busy dissecting the Iraqi elections. Not sure what the outcome is yet, other than this:

The purple dye on her finger is to show that she voted and can't vote again. The "insurgents" - (terrorists) - said that they would kill anyone who voted. Apparently this woman didn't care. Nor did a large percentage of the Iraqi people - larger even that the most optimistic projections.

Adam Keiper has put together a nifty slideshow of election photos, set to Aaron Copeland's "Fanfare for the Common Man." Wonderful.

[Let freedom ring.]

Quote du jour:

"Freedom is the last, best hope of earth."

-- Abraham Lincoln

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