Last weekend for me started on Friday, a flex day since I was asked to travel on Sunday.  (When we were IBM, weekend travel was expected, but these days I don't squander my time as freely.)  I thought I'd get a few things done before my absence.  However, the wife wasn't feeling well, and the kid was leaking mucus, so I wasn't able to go do what I really wanted to do, which was to head over to the range and shoot the big rifle.  Actually, I had fully intended to go, but the wife made a remark to the effect of "leaving my sick wife and kid to go shooting".  She later insisted that that just slipped out and I should go.  Shooting that rifle in particular requires quite a  bit of mental energy, though, and having been chastised by my spouse wouldn't have been a good foundation for a pleasant time at the range.

In lieu of that, I went to get materials for a garage project that I hoped to finish the next day, and hung a picture in the dining room that I'd been meaning to do for a while.  Early Saturday morning, I woke in a state of illness.  At that point, the entire family was ailing from varying troubles.  We went over to the OMC FastCare clinic to get checked out.  Since I had to leave the next day I figured I needed to know if I was ok to fly.  Sachie had flu-like symptoms, Giada was complaining about her runny nose, and I had what could've been a stomach flu.  The clinic was packed, because of two things: one, the flu and strep throat were going around, and two, there was a winter storm watch overnight with 6-15 inches of snow forecast.

After a couple hours we finally were seen.  Giada was fairly well behaved considering, but I had to hold her while Sachie lay down.  It turned out that Giada had an ear infection.  Tests for flu and strep on Sachie were negative, but the nurse said it was more likely strep.  And I didn't have any particular ailment, and other than feeling totally depleted, had ditched my prior symptoms.  While waiting for the meds that had been prescribed, by chance we ran into B.H. and one of her daughters.

The rest of the Saturday the entire family spent in delirium.  In the evening, I woke up to a call from my manager, M.W., who was taking the same flight.  He said that our flight had been canceled and that he had re-booked for the following morning.  Sure enough, Delta had called and noted that I'd been automatically re-booked to fly to DTW Sunday evening, to spend the night there and to fly the following day.  No thanks; been there, done that.  I re-booked for Monday morning, not sure if I'd have to cancel based on my condition.  Late that evening I did my packing, hoping I wouldn't forget anything.



The connecting flight Monday morning was delayed by an hour and a half, but it went, and me with it.  The international flight out of MSP also was delayed, which was fortunate or I probably wouldn't have made it.  Both flights had to spend time prior to takeoff getting de-iced.  The big plane was sparsely populated, despite my expectations for a packed flight due to the cancellations the day before.  Instead, I had three contiguous seats over the left wing to stretch out on.  For me, the long hop over the Pacific is a time for me to get my thoughts in order, since I mostly just sleep and otherwise zone out for twelve hours.  This time it felt like a double reset, as my digestive system had just been rebooted.  Further, normally I'm short on sleep before traveling, whereas this time I was well-rested.  I'd like to say that I figured out something insightful, but for the most part I simply already missing home.

I caught a couple movies on the flight, Life as We Know It and Easy A.  Neither was particularly superb, but since I rarely make time to watch movies, they were a nice mental diversion.  The former had a couple interesting points about how a couple's relationship is strained with the responsibility of raising a child and how arguments are actually part of a healthy relationship.  In the latter, the parental style of the protagonist's parents caught my interest: while I don't agree in principle with such permissiveness, it was interesting food for thought.  There are many considerations and factors in a healthy environment for a child.

To further complicate matters, I arrived to find my luggage had been brutalized.  When I got out of immigration, all the bags were out on the carousel, but I didn't see mine.  One resembled it, but what looked like two luggage straps were wrapped around it.  Upon closer inspection, it turned out that the bag was mine, and the "luggage straps" were duct tape holding the thing closed.  I'm no stranger to how bad the airline baggage handlers "handle" luggage, as anyone who's watched them throw bags onto conveyor belts knows, but this was horrid even to that standard.  The hinges were bent, which pushed the frame out of alignment.  At least nothing was missing.  The Delta customer service rep wanted to give me a replacement bag, but I'm no stranger to that game either.  On another trip, they'd destroyed a piece of soft luggage, and I was going to accept a replacement until they wanted me to give up the original, which had been a gift and I was going to hold onto.  (The replacement I declined was worthless junk, anyway.)  This hard luggage I'd bought in Japan because it was made in Japan, and, having cost me several hundred dollars, I wasn't about to give it up for some ersatz article.  I told them I wanted it fixed, so they gave me a tag to send it in for repair.  Who knows what I'll get back, but it'll be better than I would've gotten on the U.S. side.  I'm thankful that this happened in Japan at least—the airlines' customer service here is better in my experience.

After having dealt with that, my boss and I just missed the NEX to Yokohama and had to wait almost an hour.  With the delayed flight and train ride to Shonandai, we didn't get to the hotel until about 22:00.  Even so, my first day was 14 hours.  Not getting horrid jet lag can be a blessing and a curse.  Despite the work overload, I still like being here.  If only the wife and kid could be along, it'd be much better overall.