Wows (and the VAcation continues)

Smooth travel
It is truly amazing how painless travel can be when things actually go according to plan. Don't get me wrong--I will travel in spite of the various mishaps that occur involving lots of strange weather, missed/delayed flights, lost baggage, flight switcheroos, arbitrary regulations, etc; however, it is just a beautiful thing when none of those things happens! Yesterday, Wendi dropped me off at the Ft. Walton Beach airport (which is, much like JB's hospital, very cute) with plenty of time to spare for an early a.m. flight. Flight left on time. Flight arrived on time in Memphis. Layover was 50 minutes (often a troubling thing with my travel luck but, this time, it worked great!). Second flight left on time. Second flight arrived on time (actually, 10 minutes EARLY!). Called Mom when plane landed at National airport. Bag arrived on time. No, scratch that. The important thing: BAG ARRIVED. Walked outside, where Mom had just circled around to come back to the arrivals area to pick me up. Drove home, without traffic, arriving by noon (EST! I left CST!). Aah (in contentment; not AAAAAAAAHHHHHH in exasperation).

Tara flies first class
Since I was feeling rich and thinking it would be fun to spend some extra money to treat myself on my vacation, I opted to fly first class this leg of my journey. Ha. Just kidding. I would never do that. But, for some reason, the NW flights I was on from Fla to VA had me in seats 2A or 3B or something which are those front, business-class seats! I initially panicked, thinking that, somewhere along the way in booking this convoluted multi-city ticket, I accidentally picked business class instead of economy and somehow got gipped of my precious miles or some hard-earned cash. But my boarding passes said "silver/elite member" and maybe that's why I got those seats (as the flights weren't full)? I guess, at this point, I've flown so much on Northwest to qualify for this special status? I'm not sure. I was thinking of my long-legged friends back in Florida and must say that, even for a vertically-challenged girl, the extra leg room was quite nice, but it was obvious that I don't fly business class very often because when the stewardess presented me a basket of fruit, snack packs, and other things, I wasn't sure if I was allowed to take one of each, or just one item and just looked really confused. And who needs two drinks over a flight of 1.5 hours' duration? Really.

Three Cups of Tea
Now THIS is a very inspiring book which I would highly recommend (and am trying to promote as the end of the book suggests). It is about an American climber, Greg Mortenson, whose failed attempt to climb K2 in Pakistan leads to his life's work in funding and building schools (primarily for girls) in the rural villages of northern Pakistan and Afghanistan. Here is an excerpt for you, when Jahan, one of the brightest graduates of one of the early schools, returns to talk to "Greg sahib" about her life's plans in women's health care:

"When I was a little sort of girl and I would see a gentleman or a lady with good, clean clothes I would run away and hide my face. But after I graduated from the Korphe School, I felt a big change in my life. I felt I was clear and clean and could go before anybody and discuss anything.

"And now that I am already in Skardu, I feel that anything is possible. I don't want to be just a health worker. I want to be such a woman that I can start a hospital and be an executive, and look over all the health problems of all the women in the Braldu. I want to become a very famous woman of this area," Jahan said, twirling the hem of her maroon silk headscarf around her finger as she peered out the window, past a soccer player sprinting through the drizzle toward a makeshift goal built of stacked stones, searching for the exact word with which to envision her future. "I want to be a ... 'Superlady,'" she said, grinning, defiantly, daring anyone, any man, to tell her she couldn't.

Mortenson didn't laugh at all. Instead, he beamed at the bold granddaughter of Haji Ali and imagined the contented look that would have been on the old nurmadhar's face if he had lived long enough to see this day, to see the seed they planted together bear such splendid fruit.

Five hundred and eighty letters, twelve rams, and ten years of work was a small price to pay, Mortenson thought, for such a moment."

In any case, it is a great read. If you purchase books from the above-linked website, 7% of proceeds will go to a girls' education scholarship fund in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Or if you're looking for a good charity to support (in addition to personal favorites Faith Alive or Amazon Promise), consider the Central Asia Institute that Mortenson founded and runs (the book's acknowledgments section details that it costs $1/month for one child's education there and $1 for a teacher's salary for one day). Wow, huh?

Okay, that's in it for plugs, except...

Election madness
On my first afternoon "home," after I was welcomed by the massive "Obama '08" banner on our front door, my Dad already had me distributing Barack Obama fliers around Hallcrest Heights (our townhouse development). I felt slightly weird, but am okay with some degree of Democratic activism. The "Potomac Primary" (VA, DC, and MD) is tomorrow, when he'll be busy all day shuttling people to polling stations and whatnot (at the moment, he is trying to convert people at the Metro stop during rush hour!). If I was undecided before, all I know is that, if I desire to remain a member of this family, it is now more than obvious which candidate I shall support from henceforth :)

Brrrr
I've been told that it was like -10 (or maybe even colder, I'm not sure.... and this is WITHOUT WINDCHILL!!) in Rochester, MN yesterday. This, folks, is just crazy. Or more than that being crazy is that people voluntarily live there (Lesley, Rachel, Kristen, are you still alive?? Comment if you are! :)) or move back (Ray family! Are you nuts?!). We had a cold front come in to northern VA last night and this is barely tolerable! How 'bout some comparisons:
Currently:
Rochester, MN: 5 (Yes! This is FAHRENHEIT!!!!) (feels like -8)
McLean, VA: 28 (feels like 20). Brr.
Sacramento, CA: 63 (feels like 63).
Eglin AFB, FL: 66 (feels like 66).
Okay, John. You win again. But I chose pretty wisely, too.
:)

Tia does q3
I finally caught up with Tia on the phone today! Since she is severely overworked, she wanted me to send love to everyone she has not had a chance to talk to. Although she says she is doing "better" and that her IM residency in Boston is "not that bad," q3 call for 2 months of ICU (if you recall, I whined about q4 call, with q4 OFF, on my ONE month in the unit) sounds utterly miserable to me. She definitely wins the most overworked intern award. I can't believe her schedule. Or her optimism, which she seems to have regained to some degree.

In any case, I'm enjoying continuing to NOT be in the hospital and rather being at "home,"where I am doing lots more sleeping/reading, relaxing, and catching up with friends and family. I love VACATION!! Please, please, let it never end!