A note to all who have been following the sad tale of my sibling's career as a dope smuggler: he got four years, not five. It's still a dreadfully long time. He's being incarcerated in Boise in the medium security section. Any bonus points earned by the family's letters and phone calls were erased by his refusal to cooperate or name names. So he'll sit in jail for four years and when he comes out he will be a much different person than he went in.
And that's the last you'll hear about my brother in this diary.
Meanwhile, in my reality, I've spent the day cleaning up after the short, painful death of SABRE yesterday afternoon. Yes, the American Airlines reservation system choked, and stayed choked until midnight. I couldn't do anything, or look at anything; we work in that database exclusively, so when it's down we all pray it'll get resolved quickly. It wasn't. I organized a rescue mission from our 24-hour service, who are on a different system and can check our queues, and spent the rest of the day planning my September vacation.
The vacation is going through some changes. I had every intention of going to England until my dad mentioned he had several extra weeks of condo time, and offered me one. He earns swapped condo time through his timeshare association. He can never use it all by himself so he occasionally gives us a week. I have to choose three or four places around the world and he'll put in a request for me. As always, I've been seduced by a plan featuring free accomodations. The bad part is I already know there's nothing in Britain on the list. The good part is it means I can go somewhere pricey and afford it. My first choice would be northern Italy; I missed Venezia and Firenze last time, opting to see Milano, Verona, and Streza instead. It's not all that different from what I had planned, actually. Instead of viewing the interpretations of Palladian villas I can go see the originals. I can recreate the Grand Tour and see the art which inspired the 18th century English fascination with everything classical. And I can look for antiques to take home with me to my own stately pile, although in my case the pile is composed of 1400 square feet of cat toys and books.
Of course, I might not get Italy. I might get Oaxaca, or Barbados, or Cape Cod. At any rate, I'm kind of excited about this opportunity. It makes up for having such a crummy day yesterday. In fact, I feel so good about it I've decided to take John with me.
I only wish I could take my brother, too.
