To the folks who read this for news from me:

I left Ann Arbor on Friday the 12th. Thanks for the ride, John and Josh. At the airport, I was involved in a small mix-up. I had booked and payed for my ticket online but I didn't bother to write down a confirmation number or remember what airline I was flying, only that my flight left Detroit on Friday at 7:30pm. Unbelievably, the check-in counters have no way to search other flights leaving from that airport that day. Kindly, Joyce of the Spirit counter called Orbitz and found out that my reservation was on Northwest, so I shuttled over to the other terminal and checked in succesfully. Take-off was delayed by an hour due to mechanical problems, but I had an empty seat next to me, sat by the aisle, and slept most of the way to LA. I really should drop my habit of not sleeping the night before a flight, but it sure is darned convenient for cutting down perceived flight time.

I've been lazing around home for the last couple days, polishing up some wiki development work, reading, watching Japanese soaps on channel 18, visiting relatives, etc. On Saturday I talked with Ted about our China2004 trip, and today I ordered a digital camera for keeping a visual record of our travels. NewEgg has been good to me before, it should be here in a few days.

John G, I picked up the Chitra Banerjee book you pointed out at After Words, it's not my cup of tea, but I bought it fully intendeing to leave it with my mother, who really enjoyed the Maladies book. They're birds of a feather.

It's 9:20pm and I can hear the Disneyland fireworks finale popping just over the horizon.