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jimsjournal

Back at home -- 04/21/11




I haven't just arrived back at home -- I've been back home for almost a week and somehow each day I've managed to run out of day before I found time to write an entry.

Where was I? I was in Las Vegas for a week (from Saturday, April 9th through Friday, April 15th). I'd mentioned the trip via email to those on my email notify list but didn't mention it online. I flew Southwest out of Providence (although, as some large signs in the airport seek to remind travelers, PVD airport is actually in the city of Warwick, RI). It is only about a six hour flight, but with all of the airport "security" nonsense it takes much longer than back in the days when you only had to get to the airport half an hour before your flight -- and makes the thought of having to travel by air about as inviting as the thought of a visit to a Rhode Island Department of Motor Vehicles office. My return home flight touched down at 11:10 pm Friday. By the time I got off the aircraft, retrieved my suitcase, met up with Jill in the passenger pick up area, and we headed back home -- it was past midnight by the time I actually arrived at home.

The next day I had to drive up to the airport to pick up Nancy -- she had been in Indianapolis for the annual meeting of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. I think that weekend was sort of a lost weekend with both of us being somewhat jet-lagged and out of our normal routines.

I had scheduled a week of vacation time for this week because it is spring break for the local school systems and so Nancy has the week off. She, however, had lots of work to do for a course she is taking, so she spent most of Monday and Tuesday studying -- and I had stuff I had to catch up on at work (including the agony of dealing with the online expense reimbursement system) so I worked on Monday and put in another half a day on Wednesday. I had some trouble sleeping properly during the first part of the week -- partly perhaps due to lingering schedule disruptions from travel and partly due to a certain cat meowing for attention in the middle of the night. (Yes, I'm talking about you, Tiger.)

I've done some straightening around the house (the pantry next to our kitchen is now nicely arranged again after having become increasingly cluttered over recent months) and I have fixed some nice meals and I have done a little bit of work in garden preparation. (Well, actually I also planted a cherry tree that had arrived while I was away.) Mostly, I think, Nancy and I have just been hanging out and relaxing.

Tonight we have tickets to see Steel Magnolias at TrinityRep and tomorrow we are hosting a dinner party.




Scott Dikkens is, among other things (such as being a film maker and a comedy writer and former editor-in-chief of The Onion) a cartoonist. Back in the late eighties and early nineties he put out a comic strip called Jim's Journal which was popular in college newspapers (and collected in various books during the nineties). A few years ago he wrote me to ask if I would be willing to give up/sell my jimsjournal web address. Around the same time, a real estate agent in Utah was also interested in owning this URL. However, I was not interested in selling my address (as you can easily see, since I am still here).

I have recently heard from Scott again. He has plans to bring his Jim's Journal cartoon to the web again. (I think this will include new episodes, although I am not sure about that.) Anyway, the grand online debut of his Jim's Journal comic strip is coming in a few days and I will be placing a link to it on my home page. He and I both assume that people searching for his cartoon site may end up on my site



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