Our return from Denver was nice and uneventful. Amy drove us down to the airport and Laurel slept on the drive down, at our gate in the airport, and on both legs of our flight. We took off on runway 17R so I couldn't see the hull of Continental 1404 (sitting barely visible from 34R) or else I would have already posted photos.

After a flight attendant's de-boarding speech included a joke that we could leave chocolate or the latest Dan Brown novel behind if we must leave things on the plane, I handed Laurel the Ghiardelli Luxe Milk Hazelnut bar to give to the flight attendant when we reached the front of the plane. I think the first officer was going to arm-wrestle her for it afterward.

The driver on our Super Shuttle return ride more than made up for our outbound experience -- he remembered us from previous airport trips, was very friendly, and even offered to help carry up our luggage! (I declined, but it was a nice offer. I pack pretty light out of habit.)

I rarely sleep well the night before traveling so after lunch with Vogon, I napped fitfully all afternoon and ended up in bed before midnight between my right ear hurting (it took hours after we got home to pop) and feeling sick in general. Vogon was irritated because he wanted to take New Year's photos but couldn't find his tuxedo shirt and I wasn't feeling up to it. We'll take belated photos this weekend because my plans for cleaning today were derailed by a stomach bug that finally let up after a whole day of not being able to keep anything down.

I'm feeling better now and holiday-delay trash pickup is in the morning, so I'm going to pick up what I can to run down in the morning, get some more sleep, and continue to rehydrate.

I finally got around to picking up a network cable on Christmas Eve. I installed the wireless card through the Add New Hardware wizard, instead of the Linksys CD, and it's worked like a charm since.

While we were preparing Christmas brunch ahead of time, my niece and nephew finally got a Santa photo done at Bass Pro Shops. The third time was the charm for that! (After my previous update, they had gone to see Santa at Southwest Plaza and waited an hour only to learn that the photo printer was not working so they were not offering photos at all.)

We had a lovely Christmas morning with the family, then took Laurel down the hill after lunch to spend the night with her paternal family. She had a great time catching up with them and came home with a new card game to play, Guillotine.

Hung out with the family all day Friday and early Saturday, then saw Amy, Sarah, and the kids off on a road trip to Craig to visit a friend after scrubbing the same trip at Thanksgiving due to weather. After playing text tag on Sunday, I caught up with karaksindru; we hung out for awhile and had dinner at Beau Jo's.

Now Amy, et al are due home this evening, I'm about to head out to the library with Laurel for her to find some sources for a school project on pandas, and we leave Denver early Wednesday morning.

Awful Super Shuttle experience (avoid van 787 in Dallas), uneventful flights. Traffic on I-70 was at a standstill and it took four attempts to get over to an exit lane. Stopped at Carniceria Guadalajara on the way home, where Laurel stuck her fingers in her nose the entire time.

The stomach bug that my parents and brother had gotten earlier last week hit Sarah and Laurel on Saturday, me on Sunday. Did a little shopping on Saturday around taking the littlest kids to see Santa at Colorado Mills, but when we got up to the front of the line, Austin got bashful and Maria puked on me and the floor. Quiet Sunday, pretty quiet today. Laurel still has some stomach upset, I have a sinus headache from the front coming through tomorrow; 4-9" snow predicted between 4-10 PM.

Will post more later. Have to hook my laptop up to a wired LAN connection to reinstall the wireless card that doesn't want to play with WinXP, I'm using my sister's laptop now (and not putting midget pr0n on it).

Squaring away the packing now. Laurel has a load in the dryer and one waiting in the washer to go next. I just have to drop my folded clothes in my suitcase and load my carry-on.

About an hour ago the combination of low caffeine, changing air pressure and menstrual cramps had me curled in a ball trying to peek at the laptop to make sure it was good to go. Two ibuprofen and a 12-hour Sudafed have me back on track. Drinking flat bottled Dr Pepper though, bleh.

Laurel is too excited to sleep, but I'm not too worried about it. Our airport shuttle will arrive between 0345 and 0400 (our flight leaves DAL at 0635) so I expect her to sleep in the shuttle and maybe in the airport; she can fall asleep just about anywhere so I'm down with that.

Re the laptop, we wound up dropping in a new hard drive and running the system recovery discs. I installed Windows updates today plus my preferred apps and some PopCap games for Laurel. For all my worry about poking around inside the laptop, it will be easy to add RAM later and I'm good on drive space now (new drive is 5x the capacity, woot). Also installed the wireless-G card I picked up as an open-box find at our local electronics store to free up a USB port from the older wireless adapter.

Off to double-check the toiletry bags and make sure I have enough zip-lock bags for my compulsive compartmentalizing of the carry-ons. If I don't post again before I leave, I'll post after we get to Colorado!

<voice type=Professor Farnsworth>Good news, everyone! </voice> It's warming up in Dallas in time for me to leave town for the holidays! At least I won't be going downstairs to meet the airport shuttle early Friday morning in sub-freezing temperatures.

I had a followup with my GP today and -- no surprise -- the lump we felt at the last visit is gone. I think she believes that I have ornery boobs now. (I reiterated the family history of fibrocystic breasts, the only incidences of breast cancer being in advanced age, etc.. I sound cocky about medical issues, but anything out of the ordinary would be promptly imaged.)

My secondhand laptop that has been retired from everyday use since we resurrected my desktop system won't boot. It posts, but doesn't see the hard drive. It's set to auto-detect in BIOS setup, it doesn't see it. Bah. Since it's a relatively tiny (20 GB) drive, Vogon picked up a larger one at Fry's today, we'll hook up the current hard drive to the 2.5" drive hookup in his computer to see what TestDisk can see on it. Worst case, we'll put the new drive in and reinstall fresh.

As a reminder, I'll be in Colorado from the 19th (late morning) until the 31st (early morning). My schedule is still open, less Christmas morning and a possible lunch with ass_, if you want to earmark any of it.

I finally wibbled toward not attending Worldcon this year, although the Fluorospherian party was ridiculously tempting. johno, we'll meet at some con in the future.

I will be in Denver on the 23rd to pick up Laurel and return to Dallas. I'm not planning on doing anything wild and crazy while I'm there. I will take more pictures of my niece, because I have been rubbing it in that we share our first three initials and that she is quiet when I hold her. She fusses when my mom holds her. This is a rip in the space irony continuum, although I am unsure of how to repair it.

Laurel is looking forward to starting 3rd grade and seeing the chartreuse LL Bean bookbag I procured in the hunt for a yellow bookbag. Naturally the survival backpacks in last week's haul of using-up-the-FSA spending turned out to be a nice bright yellow, but those are not being turned into bookbags.

I am PMS'ing and thinking too much about hating my birthday. (Not the getting older part, which I rather like, but the actual day.) I'll be back to normal next week.

I now appreciate the dealer at A-Kon that was selling face masks. I developed an upper respiratory infection in the summer heat and did not have a fun time getting over that. (Our AKon photos are on Flickr.)

But! now that I am not coughing up chew toys, I have my summer travel plans solidified. Laurel and I are flying from DFW to Denver on Monday, June 16th; I'll return to Dallas Love Field solo on Monday, June 30th. (Laurel will return in August with a brief visit from my folks.) saarlander and I have semi-purposely synced our travel plans because we have not caught up with each other since December 2006. Other than whatever nebulous plans we cook up to eat and laze around, my schedule is wide open.

In case we didn't get enough snow on Christmas Day (an even foot [30 cm] here), we got more on Thursday. I only shoveled a little this time since the charm of shoveling wore off after the second time on Christmas Day.

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I have totally forgotten most of Friday. Consider this a placeholder until I upload photos to Flickr (probably later tonight) and use the pictures as a springboard to ramble about Zoolights. I froze the snot in my nose out there.

Laurel woke up at 0630 on Christmas morning and opened her stocking while I separated eggs to help Mom brunch preparation. Dave and Sarah sleepily joined us in the living room and opened their stockings while we waited for Amy and Branden to come over. I amused everyone by grabbing my stocking near the bottom, unintentionally dumping an item I hadn't put in it: a new cell phone. Luckily it landed on a pile of magazines and was unharmed.

( Read more... )

After that we ran out to Wal-Mart to pick up mascara. Along the way we picked up soda-flavored lip balm, a case to hold Littlest Pet Shop figurines, and a marked-down Bratz Babyz doll. We ran into Frazer (the younger), who I wouldn't have recognized if Sarah hadn't mentioned it. Made him laugh by offering Sarah $20 to do a cartwheel in the store. She didn't take the bait.

We arrived at Dallas Love Field 2.5 hours before our departure time, which allowed plenty of time for Laurel to pick through a McBreakfast before the security queue. (There's minimal food choice in the terminal.) The security queue was slow, but once we got to the front of the line I was mildly surprised that my stainless steel medical ID bracelet didn't ping the metal detector.

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Now my brother and his girlfriend are watching a movie in the living room, Mom is sewing downstairs (I will be embellishing the piece she's binding now a bit later), Laurel is playing computer games and I think Sarah is in her bedroom saying noonie to me on Facebook. Yabos, ho. (;

(Both flights Southwest.)

Sun Dec 23
Flt 130
Dep DAL 10:20 AM
Arr DEN 12:05 PM

Fri Jan 04
Flt 85
Dep DEN 10:20 AM
Arr DAL 2:00 PM

Now that I have caught up on sleep and feel (mostly) human again, there are a few things I want to note before they fall out of my head.

- Our holiday travel dates are 23 Dec and 3 Jan. If you're in Colorado during that period and want to get together, let me know.

- We went to Tokyo One for Thanksgiving dinner. It was, as always, made of win.

- We haven't seen Biko at the outdoor dry food bowl in a few weeks. What I have seen: the ragdoll tom that's been outside for 3+ years, a little brown tabby, a young raccoon, and one visit from a [redacted] opossum. I'm sure none of them appreciate that they're chowing on Iams Weight Control, but hey. Bubby's inside and he's a hefty boy.

- I finally fished out the spare webcam and where is the one person that keeps asking me when I'm going to set it up? Not online tonight. d;

I got back home safely yesterday, just later than planned after a late departure since Frontier held the plane at the gate to accommodate passengers coming from a connecting flight that arrived late, then waiting in the shuttle at the airport afterward for another passenger heading in my direction on the shared shuttle service I booked to get home. (Last week and early this week are crunch time for Vogon at work.) I got a lot of backstitching done on New World Discovery during the wait.

Between the delay and the rainy weather, I skipped the staffed setup time for Cub Scout day camp on Saturday. We drove over this afternoon to assemble the shade gazebo top and stake it down so we only have to put it up on its poles tomorrow. While we were out there, we ran into the district executive and he remembered me. I'm impressed; he's either got a great memory or made a really good guess based on my pack t-shirt.

I came home to a few surprises, like a dishwasher full of clean dishes and a note in Laurel's bathroom that maintenance had come in to fix the AC condensation line after our downstairs neighbor called in to report it was leaking. The holy grail of Vogon's china pattern that I had bought on eBay for a song arrived safe and sound in my absence as well. The piece goes for $170 on replacements.com and frequently sells in the $100-120 range on eBay; I scored mine for the opening bid. Some days my fu is strong.

Laurel is having a great time at my parents'. She went to the rodeo parade with my brother and younger sister after I left for the airport and loved it, as well as loving her new pink cowboy boots. I talked to her this afternoon and encouraged her to enter the mutton bustin' competition at the rodeo. She leaves for a few days in Los Angeles with my dad and sister tomorrow, tagging along on Sarah's college visits there and whatever else they'll be doing. She's looking forward to riding the carousel on the Santa Monica Pier again and proudly told me so. I do not like carousels as an interior decorating motif, but the history and workmanship have a soft place in my heart.

I'm going to be running full tilt with day camp this week in its "evening" 1500-2000 session and have to pick up a network cable so my laptop can reach the Intarwebs until we deal with the wireless router (Vogon thinks the A/C adapter is dead), so don't expect to see me commenting regularly until next weekend.

I'm accompanying Laurel to her summer palace vacation in Colorado this year, leaving the first week of June and returning by myself to Texas on the 16th. (She returns at the end of July.)

We'll probably do touristy things that first week, but I'll be available the second week if anyone wants to have coffee or get first dibs on household baggage I'll be sorting through. It'll mostly be books and general kitchen/housewares, plus a few furniture items like a metal/laminate dinette set, matching baker's rack, and a toddler bed. (This stuff has been in my parents' garage for three years and it's not being useful to anyone. Whatever's left over after sorting into our respective saved items and whatever anyone else wants will be going to Goodwill and local charity thrift stores.)

Vogon asked me if I was ever going to upload our New Year's photos. Here's our Christmas and New Year's photos in one fell swoop: http://www.flickr.com/photos/oddharmonic/sets/72157601006190616/

Due to the winter storm in Denver, our originally booked flight on 20 December was canceled. Laurel is terribly upset and cuts her bangs. We finally get going the evening of the 23rd.

( Can't fall asleep? Read this. Caution: don't drink and read. )

I have to do a quick once-over to confirm I've packed everything Laurel and I plan to take to Colorado, then I'm taking a quick shower and might answer a few e-mails. Once Vogon comes in from work to help load the baggage into the car, we're off to pick up the kiddo from school and he'll drive us to DFW airport. I am greatly relieved that our flight is not (yet) among the ones Frontier has canceled due to the weather in Denver.

Until the 29th or 30th, the best way to get ahold of me is my cell phone (720-480-2396), although I will check my e-mail a few times while I'm on holiday. I'll be back on LJ when I return to Dallas.

I hope you all have a lovely winter holiday.

edit 1300: Bah, our flight's been canceled due to the snow in Denver. I'm on hold with the airline waiting to find out what we can do about rebooking on a later flight. Thanks go to my brother-in-law for the heads-up -- he called my folks as soon as he saw it was canceled at the airport (he works there) and it's still not up on the airline's canceled flight list, although it is noted as canceled on the airline's automated flight information service.

edit 1400: After a 40 minute wait, I learned the flight isn't officially canceled yet but it probably will be, so I could rebook the flight for a later date at no charge as long as I hadn't started my travel. The soonest flight out we could get leaves on Saturday evening, so we'll see Colorado on the 23rd.

Wednesday, 20 December 06
Frontier 125
DEP 1520 DFW
ARR 1420 DEN

Friday, 29 December 06
Frontier 126
DEP 1320 DEN
ARR 1610 DFW

All times local.

...

Frontier came in $100 per person lower than Southwest with no stops (the Southwest flights to DEN I found on their site all had a plane change at Kansas City, MO) and $200 per person less than the cheapest flight Travelocity found.

I flew east through Phoenix yesterday without a repeat of last year's delay since monsoon season starts in July and my flight into Dallas arrived early. Laurel arrived in Las Vegas with my family around the time Vogon and I were on our way home from the airport yesterday, spent the night at Circus Circus (where else? ha) and are due to arrive in Colorado sometime today.

I noticed I was getting a bit of a sore throat while waiting to board in Ontario so I treated myself to a smoothie with added vitamin C, then started pushing water after that, but today I woke up with a gritty-feeling throat and a throbbing headache. I took a naproxen and more vitamin C, but my stomach decided to get in on it too while I was still considering adding some zinc. (We keep it stocked in orally disintegrating tablets and liquid nasal gel.) I've backed off the water and am nursing some ginger ale.

I'll write my travel notes up later. Until then, you can be amused that:
- Laurel acquired four pairs of sandals in a single week, ranging from tatami sandals to a pair of wedge-heeled slides with large rhinestone flowers (all for summertime and home wear; we'll find a nice pair of strap-on sandals for school later);
- I came home with Laurel's suitcase packed full of hand-me-down clothes from my late grandmother, a couple of stunning folklórico pieces (mostly embroidered, one decorative weaving and one cutwork) and embroidery pieces in various states of progress along with a shopping bag full of what looks like 2-ply crewel yarn; and
- we bought a t-shirt for Vogon that says "Diamonds are forever but a girl never forgets crabs".

We woke up early and had a leisurely breakfast before packing up the car and waiting for Grandpa Art to come over to say good-bye. This time, I told him to be good. (:

We made great time on the drive to Ontario, so I had an hour to kill after checking in and the security line looked to have no wait. Laurel looked very sad as I went up the escalator without her, but I heard later that she perked up after getting back on the road.

( Two quiet flights, but that throat tickle tripped me up. )