Day 144: Gross!

This picture is from last week. But it's a similar expression to the one that E5N1 greeted me with at the airport. He had come (with Exile #2) to pick me up as I am car-less until tomorrow, having dropped off my rental car on the way to Denver and not yet collected my own car purchase.

So, I've made it home. The journey included long waits at security, sprinting to just make a flight, a tight connection made easy by outgoing delays, turbulence, co-passengers impressed by my iPod nano.

One strange coincidence from the day requires a slight rewind. Having had a few drinks in a bar earlier in the week, two doctors (a man and a woman) came in who were in town for a rheumatology conference. We got talking to them briefly and I half-joked that they should call me so we could go out on Saturday night as at the time I thought I would be at a loose end. I gave them my number and left. As it turns out, quite a few of my colleagues were around and I didn't hear from the rheumatologists, so I thought no more of it until the snaking check-in queue brought be next to the woman doctor at the airport this morning. "You stood me up last night!" was my inevitable greeting. We ended up waiting in the huge queue at security together talking about her kids (her patients) and my kids (and whether I would see them before bed tonight - result=1 out of 3) and wondering whether I would make my flight (which I did with about 2 minutes to spare). I can't even remember her name, but she brightened up what would otherwise have been the most stressful part of the day - thanks pediatric rheumatologist from North Carolina - whoever you are!

Oh yes - nothing was gross, until I started typing the title for the post.