Airports. Ugh. TSA folks have been, by and large, great to work with, but that doesn’t mean I don’t mightily resent to the depths of my toes what happened to this country to create the perceived need for their jobs. I resent it every time I have to stand in line, everytime some stranger gropes me in public in the guise of “homeland security” (actually only happened once in Frankfurt, Germany, but it still galls me, and they can do it anytime they feel like it, and I have no say), every time I have to take off my sneakers, outer jacket, and anything else that I can’t walk through the metal detector with on my person (let’s just ban clothing, then we would have far less luggage to pack, and we could walk through the damn machines naked–of course, that would inspire more terrorist attacks, I think. Most of us just shouldn’t be out in public naked), I hate having to carry on anything of any value because I can no longer lock my luggage (not that locking luggage was anything more than a virtual feel-good approach anyway–much like TSA security), and I hate that airline seats are so narrow (and I really hate that part of that is probably due to me getting wider).

But I read through three books from my TBR pile in three days. I don’t think my choice of order was wise, but, oh well. I started with Monica Jackson’s In My Dreams. I’ve never read anything quite like it, but she explores some interesting ideas, and I’ll read more of her work. Next, I read Lynn Viehl’s If Angels Burn. Another book I’ve not read anything like before, but another well-written premise that I suspect may be a unique approach (but, since I’ve not read any other vampire novels, I can’t really say). It had humor mixed with seriousness, and I am looking forward to the next however many books there will be in this series. That was the book I should have read on the plane ride home. Instead, I read Erin McCarthy’s Houston, We Have A Problem. This was a fun book, but it was 293 pages of sexual tension (some release) with brief interludes in orthopedic surgery and the hospital cafeteria–and the usual assortment of “oops” things that make authors cringe, because they didn’t get caught before making it into print. But, like I said, it was a fun book, so I didn’t get too annoyed.

I left here Sunday night with lots of pain in my wrists, my left pinkie joint hurting, and my middle two fingers on my right hand unable to straighten and curling up. Earlier in the day, I picked up a night wrist splint for each hand (could barely get the right one on–fingers wouldn’t straighten enough). I wore them each night while I was gone (three nights), by Tuesday, the pain was still there, but it had subsided significantly. Today, there’s little change, but it’s not debilitating. I do have to make a different arrangement with my keyboard at home. I think the desk sits too high. I’ll also be paying more attention to other writer’s tips. I know about DVORAK but don’t believe I can switch until after I retire–I may have to re-evaluate that position though. I should also consider getting a current version of Dragon Naturally Speaking and start training it–or train the version of whatever is in Windows XP.