I'm back. I got in yesterday morning at 1am after being up for 25 hours to fly home from Germany. We left Komarno, Slovakia on the 6th, driving back through Bratislava and then crossing into Austria and then back to Germany. It took most of the day. I got up around 6am and Alicja fixed me a wonderful breakfast. Around 9am, we left to go to the airport. Once we found the place to check in, I was locked into the system for the trip home. I had to clear three checkpoints to get to the boarding area and had to wait only about 40 minutes before getting on the aircraft. The flight to the US was smooth and uneventful. The line to get through immigration and customs was long, but moved relatively quickly and I got through with no problems. I had a several hour layover before the flight to Hartford. In the waiting area, I met a post-doc from Microbiology and it turned out we were seated in adjacent seats on the plane, so it was nice to have someone to chat with. We got on the plane and started to taxi out when there was suddenly a horrible shuddering. They shut the plane down and announced that they were calling the emergency vehicles, although they didn't think there was actually any emergency. Eventually, we taxied back to the airport and de-planed. Then we got to wait while they tried to figure out what to do next. When we finally got back on another plane a couple of hours later, the pilot informed us that the steering linkage to the front wheels had been improperly attached, but that it still didn't feel right after it was reattached so he had insisted on getting another plane -- a conclusion I enthusiastically endorsed. After that everything went smoothly.
I got a little sleep and then went into work like usual. I was relieved to discover that there hadn't been any hideous problems while I was gone. I'm not caught up yet by any means, but I put in a good start and got a lot of stuff done. I had planned to go home around 2pm, but couldn't seem to get away. I finally went home at 5pm, even though there was still a bunch of stuff to do. I had a quiet dinner, played Animal Crossing with the boys for a little while and, by 7pm, I was completely exhausted and went to bed.
I woke up this morning at 1am and my body was convinced it was 7am and time to get up. I slept fitfully after that (not helped any by little Pennykins howling pitifully from her crate). This morning, Buzz and I presented our class to a critique group. We got some good interesting and useful feedback, a bit of skepticism, and a lot of enthustiastic comments about what we're doing. I'm a bit stressed about being away from the office this morning, but I'm sure that people will survive me being away a little longer.
At noon, I have to go to FSUC&ECC. Joe talked me into being chair this year. Actually, he just asked me and I said "Yes". We was very pleased and shook my hand, but then pointed out that I was way too easy because he'd prepared a bribe and didn't even have to use it and wouldn't even tell me what it was. I don't mind -- if Joe needs something, I'll do whatever I can to make it happen.