It brings me great comfort to say that I’m here in Massachusetts for the next week visiting friends and family, and trying to squeeze a little bit of work in along the way. It’s been a hectic and tiring past couple of days, but I thought I’d toss out a few humble observations:

1) The economy may be going through a its own set of ups and downs, but, judging from the number of young families with children on my flights (of which there were many) between Phoenix and Massachusetts, it can’t be doing too bad.

2) …and this is even with the latest astronomical increases in airline tickets – a trend I’m afraid is not going to reverse itself anytime soon. For flights from Phoenix to Boston, the increase is over 100% from this time last year.

3) I used to love Northwest Airlines, but obviously the labor tensions throughout the airline have made their employees either: a) bitter, b) disinterested, or c) both. Their new boarding policy seems to first allow all first class passengers to board, then allow a free-for-all where everyone stands in a long line waiting to board regardless of their seating. And, I’m NOT amused by their new policy of charging extra for window seats. A fare from one place to another should be the same for everyone in a given row. I’ll tell you this – as much as I hate the litigation-centric society we have come to be, that policy is destined for a legal challenge in court.

4) I predicted Sergio Garcia wouldn’t make the cut at the U.S. Open. Well, “Mr. Underachiever” didn’t disappoint – a +16 score after two days sealed his fate. Hell, he didn’t even come close to Tiger Woods (who had problems of his own).

5) We had a brief rainstorm here tonight. So starved for rain have I been that I went outside and allowed myself to get soaked to the skin basking in the glorious wetness. It was fantastic.

It’s great to be back here on the East Coast – it is a lovely change from th heat and dust of the desert Southwest. Be blogging with you soon.