As I flew back into Austin last night, after a long day of travel, I found myself thinking how good it would be to be back home. And then I realized that since leaving New Orleans, I hadn�t stayed anywhere for more than nine days in a row, including my new home in Austin.

I�m pretty much settled here now with the exception of the trip that I have to make to New Orleans to pull what I can from my place there. I found out today after talking to one of my former neighbors, that although my place didn�t flood, there was fairly extensive roof damage, enough to let water into the attic and cause the ceilings to fall in on my neighbor�s side. Sammy couldn�t figure out the keys, so no one has actually been on my side of the house to look, but I�m certain now that my side is also trashed and full of mold.

It makes things a lot easier for me in a way. I had been wondering how I would deal with what to take and what to leave. My ability to move things is limited, especially since it�s impossible to rent a trailer or a truck and I can�t lift and tote much at any rate. Now it�s limited to things that I can boil� or at least wash very thoroughly. There are some dishes, a pot or two, a saut� pan, some knives that I�ve had for a long time. A few other things, but not all that much I think.

I�ll miss the books. I�ll take a picture of the Select Comfort bed that I only got to sleep in for three weeks and send it to the company; maybe they will give me a new one, maybe not. My scooter is fine, it�s still where I parked it after the accident and I think I have a buyer for it. Fare well to the rest of it.

I had a good visit with the family. The trip there from Austin was long enough; there aren�t any direct flights, but I was able to upgrade to business class on the leg from Midway to Boston and that was sweet.

The return trip was a disastah! The main radar at Logan airport was malfunctioning; showing planes that weren�t there. This was, of course, a major problem for the air traffic controllers and about half of all the flights were cancelled, including my flight this last Tuesday. After waiting in line for over three hours, they offered me a flight out on Thursday! I told the agent that if I wanted to be two days late getting home, I would have taken the train! I called South West and I was offered a flight on Wednesday from Providence, RI, which I took. My bro drove me the 70 miles to Providence, which looked incredibly dreary in the rain. The airport is really pretty small, but they had so many TSA�s (total security assholes) there. Like it was the terrorist capital of the world� all these low paid morons full of self importance and not much else. (My bag was handled by five different people during the tem minute baggage x-ray process. Could they have wasted more time and money on this? I doubt it.)

And when I went to check in, the agent told me that I didn�t have a reservation, so there was nothing that she could do for me. She seemed to think that her job was done and that I should just move on. I explained to her that I had a confirmation e-mail and that her job was to find my reservation. She asked to see �this email� and when I told her that I didn�t have time to print it out before I left the house, she gave me this smug look to let me know that she had my number; I was obviously a lying customer. So, I had to pull out my laptop, power it up and show her the email. Then she said, �Well. I am not going to argue with you anymore, I am calling a supervisor!� I told her that we hadn�t been arguing in fact there was nothing to argue about; her job was to find my reservation and issue a boarding pass, or find out how.

So then her supervisor shows up and asks me what he can do for me.

�Just find my reservation and issue a boarding pass, so I can get on this flight�.

�Well!� he says, �I am going to try to help you,� as if this was a big personal favor, �but I think you could have a better attitude!�

I couldn�t help myself. �Well, where I�m from, Texas, (hehe), we focus on fixing the problem, not on criticizing the customer.�

That seemed to sink in for him, he tried to be nicer but he still couldn�t find my reservation. He finally just put me on the plane. He had from the very beginning, the override code to do it and once he saw the confirmation email, that�s what he should have done right away as he apologized for my inconvenience...

The line is, �Oh, I�m so sorry! Let me fix that for you right away.�

He had the power to fix a problem and he didn�t want to use it for fear that he might make a mistake somehow and in doing so he made the biggest customer service error of all, implying that the customer must be at fault. Listen, I know as well as anyone that the customer can often be wrong or has just misunderstood something, but that�s not the customer�s problem. Companies that offer excellent customer service totally believe that it�s always their fault if the customer isn�t happy. There�s no other way to do this�

So. I get my bag in good time and then go out to the Fast Park bus area to get my transport to the where my car is parked. The bus shows up in five minutes, the driver gets out and asks if I need help, takes my ticket and tells me that we will be at my car in five minutes.

It was sweet to see my car again; I had only had it for two days before I left. I put my bags in the back and drove to the exit. The guy there handed me a bottle of ice cold water before he told me how much I needed to pay. (They hand you a newspaper when you drive in, in the morning). What a difference�

I turned on the radio in the car and my favorite Austin station was playing that song by Little Feat; �If you�ll be my Dixie chicken, I�ll be your Tennessee lamb, and we will live together in Dixie Land.� I cranked that 270 watt sound system UP!

And everything was all right; I was home.