I’m due back in DC on Friday to sit in on a 45 minute briefing. Don’t get me wrong, it’s nice to feel wanted, needed even, but shuttling back and forth between Memphis and the capital of the free world is a little wearing. It’s not so much the flight itself, as that is only a quick two hours and barely enough time to serve drinks, but the two hour ordeal that is checking in and waiting to board, playing Russian roulette with your luggage, and the hour ride back to where you are staying that makes it something to be avoid whenever possible. I’m sure there was a time when travel like this was fun, and maybe it would be if it were for purely personal reasons, but there’s something about working all day, dashing to catch the last flight out, and then needing to show up at 6:30 the next morning looking well rested and put together that makes you wonder.

I could even almost justify it in my own mind if the pain and agony were for something more than 45 minutes. I stopped wondering why the government is in hock up to its eyeballs a long time ago… know what I mean?