Back

I'm home, only about sixteen hours later than I expected to be.

Surprisingly unfrazzled under the circumstances. As sixteen-hour delays go, this was quite benign; I spent about ten hours in a comfortable hotel room, three wandering around a fairly pleasant corner of DFW with a access to books and coffee, and what felt like an hour in a shared-ride van that was trundling around the campus dropping off returning students. The other couple of hours were mostly O'Hare, but even that wasn't impossibly stressful. (The four-hour delay on the end of the Manchester-Chicago flight was just time I'd otherwise have been wandering the concourses of O'Hare, so it didn't actually make me any later getting home.)

I'm not sure how effective I'm going to be at work tomorrow, though.

Random thoughts from a jet-lagged brain

I really need to catalog my CD collection, preferably in a form that I can carry around on the Palm. (The way things are going, the ability to buy physical CDs in physical shops may or may not outlast the gadget; as it is, my options are pretty much limited to Borders, Best Buy, and the used bookstore, and two of those could be going away some time soon.)

Also, can anyone recommend a good source -- online or book -- for basic background and appreciation notes on classical etc. music? My formal musical education, such as it was, ended more than thirty years ago and never extended much beyond Beethoven, Handel and Mozart anyway; I'm trying to extend my range, but it would be nice to know what I'm listening for in, say, Mahler or R. Strauss.

I think I'm going to wear nothing but brown or purple -- and skirts! -- for the next week. After yesterday I was so tired of my sensible gray polyester slacks that I did today's portion of the odyssey in my navy-blue Sunday suit, with a thin red sweater under a baggy green one under the jacket, and leggings under the ankle-length skirt. It made for a lot of layers to take off at security, but it did the job. It was also the first time I'd worn a skirt since last Sunday.


The funniest thing I saw on the whole journey was the fake snow on the orchid vases in the lobby of the Westin O'Hare, with real snow blanketing the flowerbeds outside.

The most futuristic thing -- why is DFW always ahead on this stuff? -- was a vending machine in the termial offering laptops (with included internet) to rent for $6.95 an hour. It also offered portable-gadget charging, but there was a regular power outlet only yards away, and I plugged into that for a few minutes to top up the Palm.

Also on the technical front, Dixons in the Manchester departure lounge had keychain GPS receivers (bring your own software and display) and gadgets to play phone calls and FM radio through your iPod. I'm not sure why the radio-to-iPod option only seems to be availabe on that side of the Atlantic; I've never seen it here.