It’s done. We’re going to Rome.  And the flying is free.  Lest I ever complain about working for a tour again, here’s what you can tell me: “You had to buy the most expensive tickets, miles-wise, to get the flight that you wanted, but because you did, you got exactly the flight that you wanted. So suck it up.”

Now, even with the free flights I can’t afford to be staying in $250/night hotels while I’m there or anything, but at least we’re going.  Honestly, where we stay isn’t really that important – having a bed and a place to put my bags is really the only thing that matters.  Now comes the fun of figuring out how much the rest of the trip costs, and how we’ll do it economically enough to make it possible.  Let’s just say that I’m saving as much of my per diem as I can while I’m on the road. Of course, with these Canadian exchange rates, it’s not easy.

That’s all for now.  I’ll update with more plans as we make them.  Put the first week of June on your calendars, ’cause if you’re going to be in Italy around then, we’ll totally have to meet up.

If the Brothers Wright could see what atrocities were being done to their work by the TSA and a willing public these days, they’d probably have kept flying to themselves.

Flying today has become an embarrassment of epic proportions – incompetent drones following absurdist mandates from an ever-terrified group of know-nothings in suits who sit in dark rooms and think up ways to look like they’re doing their jobs without once considering whether their jobs are providing the service for which they were intended lo those many years ago. The act o getting to a seat on an airplane these days can make even the sanest folk crazy.  No wonder Americans largely eschew flight for staying home and watching American Idol.  They’re not ignorant, backwater, dis-engaged and incurious, but rather staging the largest, longest and most sedentary sit-in of all time because they know what the TSA can (and does) do to you when you dare to try to fly.

That said, it’s still marginally less obnoxious than driving across the country (and sailing across oceans), so I do it when called upon by the minstrel gods of rock n roll.  Especially when those same singers give me a couple of days off to hang out with my mom in Glen Mills.  Good stuff.

There’s snow here (that I should be shoveling out) and the poor dog is lamed by cancer (most likely) in her shoulder and foreleg, but mom is well and the house looks great.  I’m getting work done sitting here at my mom”s kitchen table, checking 4 email boxes with only a bit more difficulty (and 2 computers) than usual.  This leg of the tour is the official start of the “working from the road” program that I should have been implementing throughout all of 2010, but was too lazy to attempt.  so far, it’s been a smashing success.  Having Emily at home to help out is actually really awesome – knowing that things will get done well in my absence is important to my mental health, I think.

Okay, time to get outside to shovel a little more of the driveway before moms gets home.