The good parts of the trip:
-cheap tickets on Frontier and Southwest
-hanging out at the Mall of America on the night we spent near the airport in MSP before flying out
-the pool and spa at the airport in MSP
-the Lake Wobegon USA store at the Mall of America — a dangerous place for me to know about
-seeing my family again
-seeing Jon’s family again
-being back in San Jose for the first time since Christmas 2002
-coffee with Abra and tea with Mrs. Griffin (neighbor who shared the Gospel with me)
-sushi on my birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
-having a $tarbuck$ in Claremont and San Jose (it’s nice to have a frappucino on occasion)
-Joanna (my sister-in-law) graduating from Pitzer
-Bernadine Dorn speaking at the graduation (ex-Weathermen member and currently a child law professor at Northwestern)
-the 12 cream puffs I had at the President’s reception the day before the graduation
-meeting Alyssa (in-law’s new cat) and Homer and Jethro (my mom’s new hooligans)
-seeing my mother’s resplendent Maine Coon sissy cat again (who happens to like me)
-watching Secondhand Lions with my parents
-reading the Harry Potter books at my parents’ house with Jethro snuggled in my arms
-seeing my dad’s best friend and his wife again (we stayed with them in Las Vegas)
-the rainbows in Utah
-the beautiful scenery in the West (which was very green as it’s spring)
-the NEW CAR (’92 Volvo 740 wagon)
-a decent bathroom in our hotel room in Omaha
-seeing my cats when I got home

The bad parts of the trip:
-running from one end of DIA to the other to make our connection without being able to stop in the bathroom because we couldn’t find our gate
-the sinus infection/bronchitis I’ve been fighting for two weeks (will be seeing my PA about that tomorrow saw my spiffy cool PA who gave me drugs — all is right with the world)
-the idiotic drunken frat boys on our flight from Ontario to SJC
-finding out that my parents’ cat Mouse went out two weeks ago and never returned (translation: he went off by himself somewhere to die)
-having to say good-bye to my parents at SJC on Friday
-having to say good-bye to my in-laws in Claremont on Friday
-the highway system in Las Vegas
-the drivers in Las Vegas
-the casino where we ate (the buffet was great but we had to walk around the casino floor to get there — lots of noise, smoke, and hypnotized people gambling away their grocery money)
-the street numbers in Salt Lake City (it’s made to confuse non-Mormons)
-the fact that they were doing roadwork on every highway in SLC in the direction that we were headed
-the Moonie who accosted us at the Applebee’s in Cheyenne
-the idiots trying to road-race me on I-80 going through central Nebraska
-gas prices (insert “nasty comment about Dubya being linked to the oil companies” here)
-the shower stall-sized bathrooms in our motels in MSP, SLC, and Cheyenne
-not being able to find Finian when we got home (he was hiding under the curtains)
-the realization of how far I really am from where I grew up and the disorientation I felt on the road after being “home” but being away from where I live (more on this later)