Pinewood derby, United at the HDC and the ASM in Philly

What makes you feel more like a failure as a father than having your son's car come in last in his races at the Pinewood Derby?

Having both your sons cars come in last in all their races.

Thing1 took it pretty well. Thing2 (who was racing in the Friends & Family race since he isn't yet old enough to be a Cub) didn't.

Unfortunately, I had to leave on the ferry just after the race, so I didn't see how quickly they bounced back. It just ate at me for the rest of the day.

Once on the mainland, I meandered on over to the Home Depot Center in Carson. By fortuitous happenstance, DC United was playing Chivas USA that evening, so I got a chance to see the Black and Red play locally. I'd not been to the HDC before - it's a very nice facility. The type they could really use in DC to house United. I was sitting with some United fans; they were rather rowdy. The game wasn't going so well (we went down two goals in the first half), but late in the second half we tied it up, so the evening was saved. The players came over after the game to thank the away-from-home fans. That was pretty cool.

Next day I missed my flight to PHX, thanks to a hotel room alarm clock that was off by 12 hours. (Grrr.) So I had a happy day of stand-by plane travel. It's curious that when you're a ticketed passenger, things seem so regemented and documented. But when you're on stand-by, they just say "get on the plane" - no boarding pass or anything. I got on a flight that was direct to PHL with a stop in Denver, however the leg from Denver to PHL was full, so I got bumped from the plane. Having 20,000 microbiologists converge on a town from all over the world tends to book up the flights. So I was told I was put on a later flight. When I talked to the guy at the gate, however, he was like "Do you have a confirmation number?" And I was like "I don't even have a boarding pass stub. All I have is my luggage claim check." Fortunately that was sufficient for him to find me in the system. I finally arrived in Philadelphia at 11pm (only 8pm CA time!). My luggage was already there. Not having to wait for your luggage in PHL is a huge perk (if you've never flown through there). I get to my hotel and take a real close look at the clock. It's off by 12 hours. I swear they train the cleaning ladies to set them that way...

The meeting was very good. I saw many good talks (almost all with really lousy slides - what, is it a lost art to make a straightforward clear slide?), and saw many old, dear friends. I had an Italian Hoagie and a Cheesesteak at the Eastern Terminal Market (a crazy place), saw an old friend from Bucknell days, and that's about all that I think you'll be interested in from the meeting. After that I took the train to Wilmington to see my folks.

I was only semi-looking forward to this, because my mom reported earlier in the week that my dad had the flu. The last thing I wanted was to be home just long enough to catch the flu, then get on a airplane and bring it back to the island - Typhoid Bill bad! But it turns out Dad was on the mend, and past contagion stage. So I had a nice time. Saw one old friend from high school (she'd probably cringe at the 'old friend' comment :) ; another bailed on me because she came down with shingles. (I swear, any excuse to not see me...) I tried to mow the lawn for my dad, but the pull rope broke on my first try. (Too many Wheaties?). And now I'm out of story, really. The flight back was uneventful. I didn't get flu, and I was happy to be back with the family.

School's out next week. We're getting ready for camps and vacation. Whoopee!