Well I flew back to Arizona this week.
That's the sunset from about 100 miles outside of Chicago.

Kind of a good trip. Saved some money by flying to Phoenix and then planning to drive to Tucson. The only exciting thing was that I managed to leapfrog over the two people in the middle and aisle seat on my way to the bathroom. Including the fact that they had drinks on the tray table. The flight attendant was impressed. I shrugged it off. The prize, one free drink.

United Airlines might be losing money, but the flight was still completey full. I was seated next to a retiree, and a family going to visit their grandparents. Ugh! It's spring break for the kiddies.

Then again, the cheap fares were offset by the taxes in Phoenix. There's a 35% tax on rental cars from the airport there. 35% !!!! What do they think this is, Europe?

I got into Phoenix, checked into the hotel. Was tired so just went straight to the room, called my parents, and then watched a bit of tv, and went to sleep.

Had I known there was a 99 Ranch market across the street I would have went there, and got some grub... I only discovered what was around my hotel the next morning leaving the hotel.

Drove to Tucson, took a little over an hour, 20 mins. Got to the office without incident, people actually remembered who I was.

I was actually somewhat impressed with the rental car. Wasn't the tincan I expected. Only then did I take a decent look at it, Kia Optima LX-V6 - hmm.. maybe the guy wasn't kidding when he said he upgraded me. Cruise control, stereo was decent, no sunroof though, but it cruised along pretty smoothly, even at 80+ mph the whole way. Transmission is a bit mushy, even with the auto-stick feature. Edmunds says it's a re-badged Hyundai Sonata. Despite my general antagonism to things Korean. I'm very impressed, and waiting till Hyundai builds a car plant in the USA.

Went to the rock gym last night. Typical crowd, a lot of people, but most people sitting. Wasn't as agile as I thought I could be. Can't climb much for overhanging sections, and the bouldering stuff... blech! For comparison sake rock climbing routes are scaled from 5.0 to 5.15+
5.0 is basically somthing you could walk up.
5.2 is a ladder leaning against a wall,

So my skill level is as follows
5.6's okay..
5.7's maybe...
5.8's were giving me some real problems...
Thank goodness for the top ropes there. I was hanging quite a bit.

Anything more - I'm out of it. I guess they've been extending the idea of what's absolutely unclimb-able. Used to be 5.10, now it's up to 5.15...

My back is stiff today.