how the grinch stole homecoming

how the grinch stole homecoming, originally uploaded by mattcotham.

Well, we made it back yesterday after a long trip where I nearly got
bumped from my flight to Johannesburg, my luggage was deliberately left
behind by United in Washington so that we wouldn't have too much weight
on the plane (they told us about that decision when we landed 13 hours
later), and about $1000 of gifts/equipment got stolen out of my bags
along the way. I'm struggling with thoughts of wishing plagues of
hemorrhoids and ingrown toenails (that would be revenge for us doctors)
on the perpetrator of that deed, since these were things that I had
planned for months to get and some of the stuff were things that people
here had given me money to buy for them. I was feeling a little bit
like Santa Claus bringing it back for people, and now I feel a bit like
the Grinch came and stole our Christmas, and there won't be any little
dog with a large bone tied on his head bringing it back. But like the
Grinch points out, stuff is stuff, and although not always replaceable,
it's not the end of the world when it goes away.

I'm trying to get more photos on the blog; they are not always related
to the stories (I'm not picturing feeding this guy to the crocs,
although come to think of it....)