The site seems not to have caught fire while I was away, and we haven’t been kicked off the server. I’m so proud of you all.

But anyway, I made it back despite O’Hare International’s best efforts to destroy my soul. My future father-in-law says that O’Hare is the worst airport in the country, and I’m inclined to believe him — I was delayed on my layover in both directions, and Chicago wasn’t even suffering from inclement weather. I can only imagine what the place is like in the thick of a winter storm. The last time I flew through O’Hare was about two months after 9/11/01, so I figured the general crappiness was just a side-effect of the overall aviation freakout that was crippling the world at the time. I mean, even Japanese airports were horrible to be in at that point, and that’s saying something.

On the plus side, O’Hare does have delicious popcorn. Yup. Take the good, take the bad, etc. etc. facts of life.

The real plus side is that despite a weekend packed with irritating travel and mildly stressful family-to-be gatherings, I feel refreshed. My fiancée’s family is great; I’m smitten with her adorable, Servbot-like nephew and niece; and I’ve even divorced myself of thinking of the lunar new year as “Chinese new year.” (This is very important when you’re marrying into a Vietnamese family, it turns out.) I think most of all it was good for me to get away from work for a few days, not even checking email, because now there’s genuine distance between myself and the black events of January 6. This means I feel much more energized and compelled to write again, both for work and for fun — i.e., here. In other words, I’m back. Did you miss me?

No? Thankless creeps. Man, some people’s kids….