vacation

So I have been in Houston since Thanksgiving day. Travel at the holidays is such a strange time. People are so stressed. Even more than they normally are at the airport. I did learn a few things this trip. If you have anything on your bag that has to do with law enforcement TSA leaves you alone. One of my students is secret service and gave me a pin. I put it on my back pack not even thinking of it and TSA avoided me. I also wonder why the TSA guys that are standing around watching or checking boarding passes are wearing gloves. What exactly will they be coming into contact with while they are standing in a corridor? Are they really afraid of exposure or does it make them look more official? Is there some briefing that they go to and are told that people may dip their tickets in anthrax? Or maybe bleed on them? The airlines will do anything to make a buck. They offered to upgrade to first class on a plane so small it didn't have first class. They also offered to upgrade me to a seat with more leg room. All for a nominal fee of course. And 15 bucks just to check one bag that wasn't even over weight. The weather was great and much warmer than what I left. A few funny things happened while I was here. I learned that I never want to hear my grandmother say the words "dick extender" ever again. (we saw one too many commercials for some magic pill) and that it is very funny to listen to my mother try to explain how to "google" something. Everyone was fascinated with my Blackberry and kept asking me to google things. Even at the dinner table it was "hey go get your blackberry and google this". All because I looked up directions to the train station for my grandparents. Good times with the fam. It will be good to be home tonight and back with my friends, my pups and my peeps. Hope eveyone had a Happy Thanksgiving and it was equally as entertaining.