The Gift of Flight
A few years back a recent graduate of the ChemE Ph.D. program at Berkeley advised me to rack up as much credit card debt as possible in grad school, because the second I get a job I'll go from having plenty of time and zero money to having plenty of money and zero time to spend it.
It's those wise words which have helped me rationalize the ridiculous amount of money I've dropped on plane tickets lately. In the past two days I've purchased tickets to Ithaca for Elizabeth's wedding and Cancun to meet Marie after the Electrochemical Society Meeting, (where else would the world's leading electrochemists want to talk science?). Plus there's that other wedding in New York next week, and the two more planned for next spring, (one in Hawaii!) and presumably I'll be coming home for the holidays.
Not that I'm complaining... I just hope my family doesn't mind getting Christmas presents from the dollar store this year. And isn't my mere presence gift enough?
UPDATE: Hmmm.... Northwest Airlines, I humbly request that you have your shit together by October. I knew flying directly into Ithaca was going to bite me in the ass somehow.