Thursday I traveled to Marshall, MN to visit a client.  Having lived in Phoenix and Austin for the last 10 years, I’d forgotten what real cold was like.  Here in Austin, cold usually means that I have to wear long pants rather than shorts, and it doesn’t get that cold very often.  It was 18 degrees when I landed in Sioux City, SD on Thursday, and it never did get above 25 degrees the whole time I was in the area.  I’m still amazed that people live up North.  Not that I’d like them all to move South, mind you.  I just think they’re nuts for freezing.

I’m also starting to absolutely detest commercial air travel.  My original flight out of Austin on Thursday was canceled.  The replacement flight was late leaving, and the flight from Minneapolis to Sioux City was late as well.  At least my rental car was waiting in Sioux City, and nothing went wrong with that.  Both flights on the way back were late, too, and I ended up getting home two hours late today.  Our commercial air transport system is becoming overloaded.  As airports get busier, small irregularities cause huge traffic tie-ups.  I hope somebody has the answer to this problem.  If things continue on their present path, we’re going to end up with air traffic gridlock.