Well, San Antonio, Texas was rather gloomy the past couple of days - humid and overcast. Lots of clouds. The armrest ashtrays on some of Southwest's airplanes have been welded shut. I finally finished a book I've been reading off and on since last Thanksgiving, "Glass, Paper, Beans (revelations on the nature and value of ordinary things)" by Leah Hager Cohen. This book impressed me in so many ways. First of all, although this book is written in English, it helps the reader to know at least a smattering of both French and Spanish, as 1/3 of the book takes place in Northeastern Canada, and another 1/3 takes place outside of Oaxaca, Mexico. Secondly, the sheer amount of research and note-taking that Ms. Cohen has obviously done in preparation for this book is simply impressive. The book's appended bibliography lists exactly 118 works, plus approximately 20 more works referenced directly throughout the text itself. Now I know that most authors do lots of research before and during the process of writing a book, but never have I read a book that has struck me before with it's sheer volume of preparation. Thirdly, the extraordinary level of detail that the author captures is simply mindboggling. I really like this book a lot and highly recommend it.   =)

Had a reasonable amount of discomfort on this past business trip, including an overbooked hotel (they gave my confirmed room away), a transfer to another hotel that only had a smoking room (the Adam's Mark Hotel, on the Riverwalk), a toilet that didn't flush correctly, a shower that lost it's pressure midway through, an on-screen checkout process that didn't work (ended up having to check out the old-fashioned way), a wake-up call that didn't happen, a cab driver that seemed a little disgruntled and slightly agitated at the world, my fair share of airport layovers, a pager that doesn't seem to work anywhere but in Reno and Phoenix, and some completely crowded flights next to overweight people (the 'no armrest syndrome'). I'm definitely glad to be home.   =)