So just before 9 I appeared at the PreCheck line only to
get the secondary search. A semi-friendly TSA agent
explained that I'd flunked the test by tucking my shirt in
wrong, and if I merely left my shirt untucked, everything
would have been fine. Whatever; the process took 3 minutes.

To the lounge, where the American membership got us in
after only the briefest of pauses.

The bar offers free beer and wine. I ordered an Alaskan
amber and was informed that they had only the IPA and the
stout, so I got the latter. Lilli asked what red wines were
on offer and was told that owing to the holiday rush, only
Woodbridge Malbec (not awful, not good) was available. I
noted that those were odd choices with the apologetic
response that the next booze shipment was going to be
soon. Soon did not help us.

Lilli found us a place with electric outlets in the least
crowded part of the lounge, this being because the TV was
blasting Fox News at full tilt. I tried to find a way of
turning the power off or at least cutting the volume. but
the wires were soldered (perhaps welded) in, and there was
no volume control.

Ah well, lots of beer and wine helped, and we had over an
hour and half to sit. Longer, it turns out, but we didn't
know.

AA1617 ANC LAX 2324 0550 5AB

Things were all balled up at the gate. Firstoff, we were
half an hour delayed. Then, the seatmaps were shuffled -
what's the use of reserving a seat if things get messed up
by the computer? There was a bit of kerfuffle as frequent
announcements were made by the staff trying to fix the
nonsense. I ignored all this, not wanting to open a can of
worms. We began boarding at departure time or so. So I was
in 5E, and some woman with an infant was put in 5F with
her husband in 3E; the spouse of 4E was in 5B and Lilli,
5A: a cluster all around. 4F offered to switch with 5B,
but 5B didn't want to sit right in front of a potentially
squalling baby (who ended up being quite good except on
descent, when pressure changes are enough to make grown
men cry); similarly she didn't want to switch with me
across the aisle, because that would put her right next
to the infant. By a complex switch I got 5B to accede to
the inferior but farther from baby 3E; 3E moved to 5E
with his family, and I got to sit in 5B next to Lilli.

It was a decent flight. I guess I'm old enough to be
deemed harmless, because the quite gorgeous bespectacled
part-native attendant kept smiling at me. I'd have thought
it was an artifact of my eyesight or my ego, but see below.

The catering was nuts followed by a fruit and cheese plate
or a charcuterie plate. Before landing some kind of baked
good - having eaten and drunk enough I refused it all,
except for a Woodford on the rocks to ease me into
unconsciousness. When I finished my drink, the FA came by
and collected my glass, briefly holding my hand in both
of hers briefly, which I thought peculiar but still made
my heart go pitty-pat.

We managed to make up some time and landed just a few
minutes later than scheduled, which made the connectors
happy. On deplaning I told the attendant thank you, and
she smiled largely and gave me a wink. Hey, folks, I am
not nearly so rich (or even solvent) as I look.

There was a flight to San Fran that a bunch of our
cohort were on; this was supposed to leave at 6:35,
and as it was after 6 when we landed, they had to get
a dedicated bus for these passengers and take them
directly to their plane, which delayed us a few minutes,
but all we could do was wish them well.

Our next flight was out of the hated commuter terminal,
so presently we got onto our bus and trundled off there.
We had, wonder of wonders, nearly an hour to enjoy the
club, where cereal, hot and cold, and fruit were the
order of the day. Lilli had oatmeal and coffee; I had a
bowl of quite big blackberries and quite good blueberries
and a cup of hot chocolate. Off to the gate during the
midst of boarding, only they weren't boarding yet - missing
flight attendant. Back to the club, where the friendly and
caring agent called us when our flight was ready. It turned
out that they got someone off the reserve list who had to
fly! in and then, as the commute was on United, which is
housed four terminals distant, book it over to the American
commuter gates, which eventually happened. We heard the
other FA in the galley assure her that it wasn't her fault,
these things happen, and the schedulers should have done
their job better.

AA2960 LAX SAN 0800 0850 2C

A little bag of Kettle chips from the snack basket. Lilli
had noted that our delay had been longer than our flight,
which was true by a factor of three, as we were an hour
late and our trip was only 21 minutes. We got back about
an hour late, but the shuttle to parking was there in just
a couple minutes, and Lilli's car was waiting for us at
the exit. So back home at a decent hour, where after some
chores I collapsed and woke up in time to fix dinner for
us. My poor overtaxed brain wasn't operating on all
cylinders, and it didn't register that the steak we'd
pulled out of the freezer when we got home was a bit
smaller than normal and had come fully to room temp (76F)
by suppertime, so I cooked it medium-rare to medium
without any need to do so. It was still at least as
tasty and good a piece of meat as what I expect from a
steakhouse, plus I got to supervise the seasonings.

Next day we had a steak from the same batch that was
two ounces bigger. I let it thaw only to cold to the
touch before cooking it exactly the same way - it
ended up perfectly blue-to-rare with a nice crust.
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