and they fell upon me with a piteous glad meowing....

[lagilman]

And lo, I am home. Not only did Delta not give me any agita there or back, my connections were all seamless, my seatmates friendly, we slipped in and out ahead of Weather on both ends, and the pilot informed us on landing at LaGuardia that we should all go buy lottery tickets because we arrived at the gate 12 minutes early. This? Never happens. Not at LGA.

Fair warning: I have not read the f-list for several days. Odds are good I won't get to it for a few days more. If you want me to know something, call or e-mail, or post it here. Deep Thought Vibes won't cut it -- brain otherwise preoccupied. Much work. I missed you all. Yes, even you. Although not you.


And now I must forage food, console felines, rescue water-starved plants, and OMG sort through the massive pile of mail awaiting me...

Comments

[fakefrenchie.livejournal.com]

Well, of course they did. They love you.

[lagilman]

Pandora's on my lap, Boomer's at my feet. When I get up, they move with me. This will continue for about 24 hours, based on past experiences. I predict cat-pile on the bed tonight....

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

Not even the cold shoulder for fifteen minutes? Great is your cat karma!

[lagilman]

*snort* I walked in the door, called out "hey kids, I'm home" and was glommed onto and headbutted by Boomer saying 'welcome back, feed me.' About a minute later Pandora came out of the bedroom, whinging mightily about how I had left her and she had been lonely and I was mean, etc etc. and could she knead my lap back into a pleasing shape, please?

A day or two away, Pandora might be standoffish for a few hours. A week or more? She reverts back to shelter kitty abandonment fears, and never mind she's had a decade-plus to learn that I always come back...

[kradical.livejournal.com]

Though oddly? Pandora actually came out from under the bed when I came over to feed them. Mind you, she stayed under the coffee table in the living room, but I view that as progress....

[lagilman]

You are an Acceptable Feeding Substitute, but I'm afraid she likes 0eris0 better....

[kradical.livejournal.com]

Well, who can blame her, really....

[smoemeth.livejournal.com]

The further miracle associated with your early LGA arrival is that they actually had a gate available when you arrived. I've *never* heard of that happening.

It's either sign that 2009 will truly be the year of Change We Can Believe In, or a sign of the Apocalypse. Could go either way. :)

[lagilman]

Ayup. Even moreso, we were supposed to be at a tow-in gate, but were bumped to a taxi-in one. Miracle of miracles....

(the descent was the usual LGA bump-and-whee, tho. Thankfully I don't mind turbulence)

[smoemeth.livejournal.com]

The turbulence isn't nearly as fun as the hit-the-ground-then-slam-on-the-brakes-while-throwing-it-into-reverse, though. I'm sure the pilots take a perverse pleasure in having to do that. It's almost (but not quite) as much fun as taking off out of John Wayne Airport in the OC (due to local noise ordinances, they have to take off almost perpendicular to the ground, it's the closest thing to a rocket launch the average person will ever encounter).

[ckd]

Yeah. "LGA: the closest thing to a carrier landing." The SNA "top of the roller coaster" effect is pretty good, too.

(My best takeoff ever was from CDG, but that was all about the aircraft and not the airfield....)

[lagilman]

SO long as the plane stays on the runway and out of the water, it's a successful landing.

(our pilot came in hot but didn't need to jam the breaks. Small favors...)

[smoemeth.livejournal.com]

My favorite takeoff was from Fayetteville (can't remember the code for that one). The runway is plopped exactly in between two mountains, so if you don't pull straight up immediately, you literally hit a rock wall. I'll never use that airport again.

[caryabend.livejournal.com]

Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) is similar, in that you take off at a seriously steep angle and then turn hard while still climbing to avoid the no-fly-or-get-shot-down zones. Kinda like hitting a rock wall, except with projectiles.

[martianmooncrab.livejournal.com]

Its amazing that the fab felines had enough energy to even mew at you after their abandonment and subsequent starvation and neglect. They will of course, give you the opportunity to make up for all that.

[bentleywg.livejournal.com]

If you want me to know something, call or e-mail, or post it here

It's probably all over your friends list: Livejournal imploded (http://bentleywg.livejournal.com/1235087.html) this morning. Cats and dogs etc.

[lagilman]

Again? What set it off this time?

There was just an article in...the NYT, I think, about how social networks have to either start making money or prepare to be boarded (as it were). In other words, time to cut costs, raise revenue, and play like grown-ups. I can't imagine there's anywhere that isn't going to be going through this....

[bentleywg.livejournal.com]

"The bubble in social networking has burst, decisively. LiveJournal, the San Francisco-based arm of Sup, a Russian Internet startup, has cut about 20 of 28 employees — and offered them no severance, we're told. ... The company's product managers and engineers were laid off, leaving only a handful of finance and operations workers — which speaks to a website to be left on life support. Matt Berardo, a Yahoo executive hired on last summer, is also believed to be gone."

[lagilman]

which speaks to a website to be left on life support

as opposed to the support we got before? /fe

*shrug* If it goes, it goes. The Internet is both eternal and ephemeral, and I've already survived the great Genie bust-up and the fading of SFF.net. We'll find each other again. I am on Facebook and blogger, if we all go boom one morning.

I would advise people not to put their hopes in any of the other similarly-build social networks, as they're going to hit the same fiscal problems LJ did --- or be run as a hobby with no cash to keep it going long-term.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

I would advise people not to put their hopes in any of the other similarly-build social networks, as they're going to hit the same fiscal problems LJ did

Which is pretty much why I'm not running off to the other LJoids. But I would loathe the breakup of my flist, even though it would probably resurrect JYG.

Apparently Facebook is the growing thing. I find that a bit frightening.

[lagilman]

Facebook is fine for what it is -- a way to keep in casual touch with a lot of people. LJ and its kin have developed into an actual Community. There's really no way to compare the two

(Facebook is also much easier to find someone -- a plus and a minus, depending on what you want. Plus, Facebook has Tetris. Eeeep)

[neadods.livejournal.com]

Plus, Facebook has Tetris.

Somewhere along the line, I stopped playing computer games at all. A little while after that, my listening to music dropped drastically in favor of audiobooks. All text all the time, baby!

To grab this wandering thread and haul it back where it belongs, welcome back, I'm glad it was a safe trip, and I'm glad the cats are happy to see you. Ours still aren't sure if they're happy we're back, mad we're gone, or just missing the people who gave them more treats then they ever saw at once before.

[infiniteviking]

Wow, your plane must have taken a detour through the Twilight Zone! *grins*

[handlebar605.livejournal.com]

I like the fact that you can have a conversation based on one person's post and it's all written down. Kinda like GEnie was, except here, you can actually lock a post so that only your friends could read it.

[spiritworld25.livejournal.com]

Glad to hear that your back in one piece and that your flight was safe. :)