Back from the Empire State

Sadly, I didn't pick up a souvenir for my SP. We barely made it to the plane. The four of us were picked for extra screening, and we were already running late. I may be paranoid, and, admittedly, I only got married a few months before September 11, 2001, so I don't have a control group experience of post-9/11 travel with my maiden name, but I do believe that my last name gives me a predisposition toward extra screening. I've been selected twice out of maybe 5 times (10 potential screenings) that I've traveled, my MIL has been selected the only time that she flew, and my step-son has never been selected until this trip (who has a much more pronouncable last name, but flies at least as often as I). I suspect, that like the Vietnam war draft, this is not so random. I may or may not be implying that it's "culturally" or "racially" biased, but I'm just saying I should be so lucky with the lottery. I told my husband that it's not too late to change our last names to my maiden name. Ours is a typical Vietnamese last name, my maiden name was a good, solid French Canadian one - both difficult to pronounce correctly, but the French Canadian was less mangled. I think in 20 years we'll find out something interesting about the random screening process.

So, I got some knitting done. I'm almost ready for the descent for the garter-stitch blanket. I'm at a point where I can start descending any time, but I'm just not ready to commit yet. I started the handles for the FMB. Got 1 1/2 done, ready to graft together. Showed the before and after (mine) to my sister, and she thinks it's cool. Oh, and I got three grocery bags full of cool stuff from my Grandma's stash - lots of yarn (I only took the soft stuff and didn't feel bad about it), some very pretty scarves and hankies, 3 size 10 knitting needles, one random DPN (not one set, one needle - figured I had a bunch of others from her, so I might have the rest of the set already), 2 other pair of straights (sizes 6 and 8?), an apron or two, and some patterns (sewing and knitting).

It was a really nice trip. I decided that I love driving through the countryside of upstate New York. Where do people from Orlando go on vacation? Upstate New York. How's that for funny.