digital plug and play Handspring

I was demonstrating my portable, digital plug and play Handspring (Palm OS compatible) camera to my seat mates on one flight, a brother and sister from Waco [TX], and somehow, getting off the plane, the unit fell out of my coat pocket. Them nice folks from Waco, they caught up with me in the Phoenix Sky Harbor airport, just to return my lost toy. Ain’t that nice? Happy Holidays! Even better, I had chance to stretch out over three seats for the final leg into SFO. Now, Sister had promised a big [unknown something] upon my arrival. I waited, I was almost the last person off the plane, dodging and weaving in the jetway to see if there was a big horde of folks, or a banner or something. Nothing. I fished my cell phone out, dialed up her phone, remind her that cell phones are more effective when they are turned on, and started to look for my luggage. She and her friend caught up with me, and she did have banner — ink was still damp — announcing my arrival and welcome. Then, in true Wetzel fashion, we had to dash out for one last minute round of shopping. While I was standing in line to make purchases to cover Sister’s backside, I couldn’t help but notice the couple in line in front of me had one of those “card table” sets, the table with the cardboard top, four matching chairs, and I asked, “You going to make the kids sit at that?” A chuckle, then the real story came out, “This is our new dining table, it’s about all the room we have in our place…..” That’s right, I was in Silicone Valley. After a quick bite, it was back to the airport to scoop the folks up. The banner was unfurled again, Santa hats were put on, and we certainly looked like we were having a lot more fun than anyone else. “So you’re a misplaced Texan?” one guy asked. “Misplaced? No man, I’m just visiting — she won the toss this year,” my standard reply. My family may be a little weird, but I do believe we have more fun than anyone “normal.”