Back in Red State

It was good to get off the plane last night. In a very odd sense, I felt like I was going home and not visiting... perhaps because this is the third weekend in a row that I've been here. I'll be in the cheese state next weekend for debate and then back here again to celebrate our anniversary. Hubby will be home for Turkey and then December is a mystery -- but I suspect I'll be back again at least once in December.

I've decided that I will NOT bring this set of papers back not graded. I have to have them back to my students on Monday, as it will have been almost 3 weeks... aak. When I told my class that their papers would go to Red State with me again, one of them quipped, "my paper has left the state more often than I have, EVER"... which is sad in and of itself... but, funny.

For this trip and the next I'm flying on the chocolate chip cookie airline. This involves a stop in the cheese state to change planes before heading back west... this is kind of a pain, but the cheese state airport is really pretty easy to deal with so the extra time involved is worth saving the few hundred dollar differnce between that and the direct flight.

Besides warm cookies in the air and decent seats, the other advantage to this airline is that, in BN state, this airline has been relegated to what was the 'charter' terminal... why is this an advantage?? NO lines at security, close parking at a lower rate and a generally nice, relaxed airport atmosphere.

Yesterday I got to the airport about 90 minutes before my flight. After a quick check-ing and FAST security check -- which would have been faster without the old guy in front of me -- I had time for a nice lunch before my flight. They brought in a local restaurant to run the food service, and the one that came in has their main location very near where I grew up. What was cool about that is that their decor is all about the lake etc.. and under plexiglass on every table is a copy of an antique map of the lake where I grew up... I got to eat lunch looking at where my childhood home was... it was kind of fun.

I also noticed that, when the Red State flight was called -- all the people I suspected of being from Red State got in line. They (and probably I) have a look that screams, Red State. After you see it, you can pick it out of any crowd...

Today I'll polish a paper to submit as a writing sample here in Red State -- then I'm going to grade papers and relax... no real dissertatin work this weekend. I need a short bit of time off, and I'm going to take it.