The Sequence of Events

1. Leave for trip to Chicago (hub of United Airlines)the day that United grounds 11% of its fleet

2. Attend conference in between dousing work fires based in Oakland and relationship building activities with non-Oakland based colleagues. Discover the "vodka mojito," custom-made, it seems, for people who drank too much rum one night in 1989 and still, to this day, cannot smell diet coke without thinking about it.

3. Leave for home the right after ATA goes out of business, resulting in all kinds of crazy people at O'Hare trying to bust in on my United flight out of Chicago.

4. Finally arrive at SFO where I have mercifully parked very close to the terminal, only to discover my keys are most likely still in Chicago.

5. Take BART home, as cab to Oakland AND airport parking cannot be expensed.

6. Remove cell phone from bag at MacArthur BART, only to be sideswiped by bicycler. Cell phone flies from hand and crashes to sidewalk, now in 3 separate parts.

7. Home to loving husband, son, dog and hateful cat.

8. Count blessings