Actually, it’s already begun. We took the red eye last night from Honolulu to Los Angeles. 2 hour layover here, then depart for Houston, where they are having “wicked awful” wind. This will make landing more than a little interesting. To make matters worse, I wound up not having the CPAP machine loaded into the car, and by the time we got to the airport, it was too late to go back. But, who knows, it could be just fine. We’ll be out on the water, exercising, and having fun, so sleep shouldn’t be too difficult. And I am afraid that my transformer may be a little too old, and it could fry my machine. And those puppies aren’t cheap.

Once we arrive in Houston, it’s a nine hour layover. We’ll be meeting with my former roomie and still buddy, Gingee’s sister, Lore. G was one of our happy foursome in our Korean bowling ball hooch. When G went off to Afghanistan for a deployment, Lore made G’s shepherd a Facebook account so that Lucy could keep her mom up to date as she was deployed. I thought that was fantastic, so I asked to friend Lucy and Lore both -- and then I made Maiya a Facebook account, and Maiya friended Lucy, too. =] Maiya and Lucy both appear to have a very active Facebook social life, especially now that G is deploying again.

Logging off for now, and getting ready for boarding on the next leg. More later!

Well, we just got back from meeting with Lore - what a treat! Lore is the Coordinator of Information Literacy at a branch of the University of Houston, and has quite the impressive resume -- PhD in Archaeology, and she and her staff of two go out and teach new students exactly how to use a library. For many of her students, it’s a brand new learning experience. She and her team do outreaches, and help those who want to learn understand the process of tapping all the information out there.

But better than that, she’s a great human being. Warm, family oriented, friendly. It was a great act creating Lucy a Facebook account in order to keep G and the family in touch by means of the beloved canine. She and I met online through accident, and I really do count her in the friend category!

She came in and picked us up, and then we headed out to the Humble City Cafe. It was the first time for any of us - and quite good. If ever you have time to kill and you are at the Houston airport, give it a try: http://bit.ly/hNJeNt. There are all sorts of options, and it is just a good, warm place to be. Eclectic, mid 19th century decor, a bunch of interesting rooster products for sale in the adjacent shop, and great food and service. During the lunch, the owner came over and, after asking us how everything was, regaled us with a story of how people objected to any thought of changing the decor - almost an uprising! - after not too subtly advertising a skillet dessert. Definitely a place dad would love, and definitely a place to which one should go back!