2004-02-23 - 9:49 a.m. Spent the weekend in sunny Sarasota, FL, visiting in-laws and my old stomping grounds. Went to the Museum of Fine Arts in St Pete for the Chihuly exhibit (tacky glass sculpture), went to the beach, took a yoga class with a teacher who was bent on injuring us all through sheer ignorance of human anatomy, saw 21 Grams which left me feeling as purified and moody and glum and happy as a former Catholic can be. By far the highlight of my trip was discovering Song Airlines (the budget imprint, if you will, of Delta). The interior design of their jets is comfortable and saturated with pretty, soothing colors. (I've never been on an airplane that was anything but navy blue-themed.) and they have this interactive music-trivia game that pits you against your fellow passengers, which is really ingenious and friendly and makes the time go by quickly. It helps, of course, that I won. Also, if you must know, my in-laws forced me (with a gun!) to read The DaVinci Code. It's very badly written...and a total page-turner. Everything he talks about (secret societies! cryptology! art history! the Holy Grail!) is fascinating, and makes me wish Dan Brown had just hired Ian Pears to write it for him. The second-coolest thing that happened was that we got a flat tire on the way home from the airport, and since our jack wasn't working, we had to drive, at about 10 m.p.h., to a flat-fix place in Ozone Park, Queens in the middle of the night. Watching the flat-fix-man replace our bum tire and then fix another mis-rimmed tire w/a slow leak was a rare and interesting opportunity to watch a craftsman at work. And he did it with calm assurance and a pleasant attitude. I love watching people work. thoughts? (2 comments so far) previous - next blog archive contact