At last, I’m back in Atlanta. It was an interesting trip home, but it’s great to be here.

Getting out of Las Vegas was easier than expected. The airport wasn’t too crowded, which is unusual just after an NAB show. I’m guessing everyone made their escapes early. My cellphone was briefly misplaced by the highly professional TSA agents at the security checkpoint, and I got a bit irate about that, but they eventually found it. I had a nice drink called a Desert Lemonade which calmed me quite a bit, and I wandered down to the gate where the flight boarded right on time.

I was tired, so I fell asleep almost immediately on the plane. I awoke about 3 hours into the flight, looked out the window, and saw thunderstorms in the distance. They’re beautiful, seen from the air at night, they’re like flickering candle flames in the clouds. There certainly were a lot of them. It was then that I noticed that the moon was in the wrong place, and that we were flying south, probably being vectored around the storms. We made quite a few turns, and I even lost my sense of direction at one point before spotting Anniston, Alabama and getting my bearings again. The captain turned the seat belt sign on and left it on for the rest of the flight, and we started to encounter some light turbulence.

There were no announcements about anything untoward as we descended through very rough air, with lightning flashing on both sides of the plane. I heard the flaps coming out, heard the gear come down, and all the while the ride got rougher. I snugged up my seat belt and hoped fervently that we’d drawn a good, experienced captain. I was glued to the window now, quite attentive. I saw the usual landmarks go by … the warehouses, the truck depot, the Ford factory, and there was the airport perimeter fence … I saw it quite clearly, because the airplane had conveniently (and violently) rolled about 20 degrees toward it. Oops. The captain corrected the roll, only to have the wind shove us so far off course I actually saw the runway centerline lights in my side window. We yawed hard left, and I could feel the plane’s tail swinging back and forth. “Give it up. Don’t push it,” I thought, and as if in response to my suggestion, the 757’s engines spooled up to the roar of full power. For a sickening second we continued to sink toward the runway with which we were now not at all aligned, and then I felt that pleasant acceleration and we climbed away.

The next five minutes were a pilot’s nightmare. Women screamed. While we were now climbing safely away from the ground, we seemed to have flown right into the core of a thunderstorm. Lightning flickered everywhere, the plane bounced, rolled, pitched up and down to alarming deck angles, and vibrated. The engines spooled up and down, people bounced against their seat belts, and rain pelted the windows.

In a few moments, things calmed down. We had climbed above the weather. The captain gave us his best “calmly professional” voice, announcing that we’d executed a missed approach because “conditions at the airport dropped below the minimums and exceeded the wind limitations of the aircraft”, a phrase that easily wins my “euphemism of the year” award. He then announced that since four other aircraft had also gone around, the airport had closed. We were diverting to Birmingham, Alabama, would take on fuel, file a new flight plan, and return to Atlanta when the weather had moved past.

We landed in Birmingham without incident, a very sleepy fuel truck driver refueled us, and a new flight plan was filed. We were told we would be moving out quickly, as another aircraft needed the gate and fuel truck … Birmingham at 12:30 AM is not a bustling place. Off we went, and the second approach and landing at Atlanta were uneventful except for the applause of everyone on board.

Several people had nasty things to say to the captain, who stood in the flight deck door as we filed off the plane. It was after 2 AM, and clearly many of these folks blamed him for the delay. Here we greet yet another bit of evidence that man has not quite finished evolving from the apes. I set down my bag and shook his hand as I went by, simply saying, “Thanks. Well done.” Another captain might have pushed that bad approach, and I might not have had the chance to write this.

I came straight home, arriving at around 3AM. BB the cat was absolutely beside himself when I came through the door. He meowed, he purred, he rubbed against my legs, tried to climb me, and in every other way showed his total glee at my arrival. If he’d been a beautiful woman with long, dark brown hair, a lovely face, and a British accent, it would have been the perfect homecoming! Even the feline welcome, however, was not unappreciated.

The birds were amother story. They were so loud with their welcoming squawks and shrieks, I feared they’d wake the whole neighborhood. I bribed them with some treats and they fell into a nibbling quiet that lasted long enough for me to collapse into bed.

I slept until 10:00 AM, then went directly to the vet’s to collect Tony. To my great relief and joy, Tony looked fantastic … he was bright-eyed, not at all depressed, and he seemed to have even put on a bit of weight. He was very happy to see me, it was a wonderful reunion, and I brought him straight home. He couldn’t quite believe he was home, but settled in quickly. As I write this on Sunday night, he seems quite himself, but he’s totally glued to me. I get up, he gets up. I sit down, and he’s on my lap again within seconds. That’s fine with me.

As for me, I still feel a bit off. I think I’m just readjusting to the time and climate change. I slept most of the day yesterday, and slept until noon today. My sinuses feel a bit raw, and I’m a bit lethargic, but I’ll get a good night’s sleep tonight and should be fine in the morning. I definitely need a short mini-vacation, and since I worked both days last weekend, I fully intend to take Thursday and Friday of this week as comp days. Four days of rest will be just what I need.

Now for some sleep. More tomorrow!