Tuesday

Back at the grind stone.

The Houston trip had few bumps in the road. I don't think that I had previously been in the town. If I ever was, there was no specific memory. The Interstate system in the downtown area was a bit confusing. 2 and I had a difficult time getting out to our first checkpoint for the marathon from the hotel, largely because we couldn't find an entrance for any of the highways passing through (actually, mostly over) the downtown area. Finally, I was able to get on a road heading in the opposite direction, and then did a u-ey at the first exit.

Houston has built a new, not-so-small rental car clearing house a couple of miles from the airport. Phoenix did the same thing a few years back. This means that anyone renting a car now hops a shuttle to the separate facility and processes through their rental company for their wheels. The system basically works, but it does usually add a few minutes to your arrival/departure time at the airport.

Years ago, when volume was lower, the rental car companies all had space near airport departure areas. As the passenger count went up, the airports simply couldn't handle the numbers.

I managed to tick off a TSA supervisor in the QC on our outbound leg. All of our baggage was carry-on. My primary bag, which I normally check, contained a couple of wine bottle openers. (I have a small collection of openers since I usually forget to pack one and often buy one while on the road. And my departure list did not include taking inventory of wine openers in my bag.) One was a traditional kitchen model with two handles that you operated with two hands. They let me keep that one. The other was a waiter's opener with the three standard pieces, the corkscrew, the lever, and the cutting edge. The cutting edge was a problem and that opener was confiscated.

As 2 and I walked away from security, and not very much near anyone, I thought, I voiced a general comment to no one, and certainly not in anger, "What a crock!" A TSA supervisor sitting at a desk at some distance apparently heard me and took exception and made a retort of some sort that I was out of line. I ignored him, mostly because I couldn't believe that he was trying to make something out of something that I had no particular problem with, other than that the opener that they allowed me to keep was/is certainly a better weapon than the one that they kept. Whatever.

For the record, I will note that today is inauguration day. Coronation. Beatification. Salvation. Not a big fan. My TV spent a lot of the day on mute. But the Big O is my CIC, and I accept that. He has a job to do. May he do it well.

Spin class tonight. And plans to do so again in the early AM. As New Year's resolutions fade, a couple of bikes remained open in tonight's class. Augie has a home game tomorrow night. Busy day.

4 started her CR internship today, I think. Any news, Kiddo?

And 3 survived a foot of snow in Beantown this past weekend.

We live in interesting times.

BCOT