Back in the USA

Well, we're back home and in full swing to try to get our lives in order.  The flights home were on time and uneventful except for one item: we flew first class from Beijing to Chicago.  Providentially, we were upgraded from coach due to overbooking in that class.  I have flown first-class once before for a business trip but this experience was far beyond that.  The first and most significant aspect: each seat is effectively a recliner.  I took a six-hour nap in a near horizontal position and didn't have to worry about the people behind me or next to me having to wake me up so they could get by to use the restroom.  The amount of space given each seat is absolutely enormous; it is an embarrassment of room compared to our flight over.  There were other luxuries like a personal TV with multiple channels, an actual menu with choices for each multi-course meal and almost real pillows and blankets but I would forsake all of those just for the reclining seat.All good things must come to an end and our flight from Chicago to Wichita was back in economy (though the flight was on-time).

Customs in Chicago was a bit weird.  After officially entering the country we waited a good forty minutes to pick-up our luggage.  We then hauled it no more than a few hundred feet to customs agent who, after looking over our paperwork, let us pass without incident, and then dropped it off at another luggage check point.  I assume that if the customs agent didn't like our paperwork they wanted the ability to search our luggage but for virtually everybody entering the port, this seems nothing more than jumping through hoops.  Such is life.

We got back home to find a pile of mail, some bread and milk from friends who were watching the house (very, very kind of them) and an inability to get to sleep quickly.  By 2am we had both nodded off and slept in until around 10am.  I was able to stay up the whole next day but Katie wasn't feeling well and slept through a good portion of the day.  Not surprisingly, she wasn't quite ready for bed when I was and we had another not quite as late night.  Today is looking better and we're both hoping a normal bedtime will work for us tonight.

We unpacked a bit yesterday and found out, much to our surprise, that all our fragile goods survived the flight unharmed.  We had worked pretty hard in Beijing to package them securely and our efforts were rewarded.  The rest of unpacking is moving along just fine with most of the laundry almost done.

There was one unfortunate half-surprise when we got home.  I preparation for our trip I had turned off the water to the washing machine.  The valve was damaged, though, and it took a about half an hour to find the magic position where the valve was closed and didn't leak.  When I got home and turned the water back on I quickly remembered that it was broken as I couldn't find a non-leaking open position.  I spent an hour or so driving around trying to find a replacement valve.  No luck.

At the final hardware store I visited I realized with a washer or gasket I could position the valve in the full-open position and prevent it from leaking.  I got the o-rings I needed, took everything home and reassembled the valve to find my idea worked.  No leaking and we could use the washing machine.  The big catch is that turning the valve off will mostly stop the water flow but not completely; the valve is still broken and needs replacement.  

Maybe I work on that next weekend.