Looks like it’s going to be a long three weeks of McDonald’s food and an empty house.

kellyv has gone to visit her parents for three weeks–a trip that began under shadow of a curse. She was supposed to leave by Amtrak Autotrain yesterday, but did not, because Thursday, the train she was supposed to be taking derailed and crashed north of Tampa. Several people killed, hundreds injured, no service for the forseeable future.

It was a scramble to find plane tickets. Note to self: Never try to buy plane tickets 24 hours in advance of the flight. Note to self #2: Put lacaba down for a Medal of Honor for service above and beyond the call of duty; she was of great help in finding tickets that cost less than three years’ pay and our firstborn.

So. She leaves Saturday morning. Note to self #3: Never, ever, ever fly Delta.

Delta’s marketing slogan should be: “Delta Air Lines: Where service is something we have heard of.”

An hour and fourty-five minutes to check in. Self-service ecommerce kiosks out of order, because Delta knows less about maintaining their equipment than they do about service. A lack of organization that would make Aeroflot blush.

But she’s away, and safely in Virginia.

Note to self #4: Learn to cook.