I also got lucky in the upgrade lottery on Midway — and since Midway uses Delta as their agent here, they had no way to tap my American account for stickers, so I got upgraded for free. This is definitely an encouraging way to begin a trip — and I didn’t even get awakened early!

I just checked my AAdvantage AAccount AAnd (oops, I’d better stop doubling my A’s!) discovered:

• they hadn’t taken any upgrade stickers out of my account for my flight on Tuesday
• they had given me first-class mileage credit for that flight
• that my paper boarding pass was for class F, rather than the X that is usual for a sticker upgrade.

So I guess that one of the people I talked with on Tuesday decided that he or she could, indeed, give me a free upgrade and did so, but didn’t tell me, and so I can’t thank him or her. But the kindness is greatly appreciated (though I’d’ve rather had the extra couple of hours of sleep anyway).

Happy Birthday, EditThisPage.Com

As has been noted in many places, today is the first birthday of EditThisPage.Com. Thanks, Dave and UserLand, for providing me a place to practice my typing skills in public, as well as giving me a chance to read weblogs written by some terrific people.

My trip home Friday was uneventful, and I made it home before Jeffrey went to bed. I hope to be as lucky this week.

And when I arrived home, I found the house had been painted blue while I was gone (fortunately, this wasn’t a surprise!). The painters still have a little touching up to do, especially on the porch steps, but other than that, I think the house looks great (and if it weren’t dark outside, I’d take and post a picture).

This evening, I’ve been watching the live video from the Shuttle as they put the wings on the International Space Station; it seems very futuristic to be able to sit in my home office and watch live video from space on my computer screen. Oh, yeah…we’re almost in the 21st century, aren’t we? I guess the future is now! Unfortunately, it was cloudy when I went outside to try to watch the station with my own eyes, but there will be more passes in the days to come.

Until a few minutes ago, I wasn’t sure if I was going to participate in Day Without Weblogs or not — it looked like I was going to omit today’s blog entry by reason of circumstance rather than intent. But I got to Logan Airport in time to connect up and to read Al‘s page, and I realized that even the tiny contribution that my joining the effort makes is worthwhile.

If you don’t think AIDS has affected you, read what Al has to say — and think about it next time you visit the doctor or dentist or find yourself too close to a sick stranger on a train or bus or airplane.