Back Again

I've been away for some extended traveling, and I'm glad to be home again. Living in other people's spaces frays my nerves after a while, and it's good to have your own bed, your own schedule, and sole custody of the remote control. (At the same time it's hard to say goodbye when it's time to go. I envy anyone who can live in the same state as their significant other.)

I spent Christmas in Atlanta with my partner and his family, which was lovely, and flew to Dallas for a week to see my parents. I got an offer to upgrade to first-class and took it, so I arrived feeling less like I have been beaten with a stick than I'm used to. (The flight was also shorter, since they took off late and had to make up time. Since I'd paid to upgrade it left me feeling as if I should ask if they'd circle the airport a few times, just to get my money's worth.) While I'm really glad that I didn't have to spend the flight hunching up my shoulders to fit into the seat, I found some of the things that differentiate first class from economy sort of odd. Like getting a drink right before the plane takes off on the runway, and getting real glasses instead of plastic cups once we were in flight. (Personally, I'm iffy about real glasses. How and when do they clean these things?) Oh, and you'll be glad to know that the TSA is making our skies safer by now insisting that only travelers in first class can use the bathroom in first class.

Once their, I spent New Year's with my family. We spent part of my visit doing math problems. Well, OK, only one math problem: my Mom wanted to figure out the area of the lot their house sits on. It's a harder question than it sounds. Because it's on a cul-de-sac, there is not a right angle or parallel line to be found in the surveyor's plat, and one section is cut off by a circular arc. It took a while to solve the problem, and it involved so much good math I'm passing this on to my friend here who teaches geometry for architects.

Now I'm home and catching up on everything, including getting ready for a semester about to start. My held mail included a letter from my rental agency deciding I really have to tell them by February if I'm staying here or not. (They originally wanted to know in November, but I told them I didn't know.) I have five job applications submitted and may send more if more jobs come up; not one of the colleges has started conducting interviews. (I had a "We have received your application letter" in the same stack.) Oh well, something else exciting to look forward to.