a quick recap of houston

Dad met me at the airport friday night. It was good to see him again, and it was good to see he was noticeably thinner than when I last left Houston about two months ago. The gun case came out on the conveyer belt like everything else.  One thing about the Houston airport- the airport has set up a special lane for "clear" enrollees, a new program which frankly disgusts me. Cue the music for

PERCEPTIVE BLOGGER CHANGES SOCIETY WITH PROVOCATIVE POST!

The way Clear and PreCheck, the TSA's program, works, is you give the company an extensive amount of personal information, consent to a background check, have a perfunctory interview and pay between $100 to $200 a year to participate. In return, you get to keep your jacket, shoes, and belt on and notably, you get to bypass the regular security line.

I have to admit that this is kind of a petty disgust- the same you might reserve for people who walk off after their dogs shit on the sidewalk. There is much more contemptible and vile systemic behavior in government and business. This program is a gilded turd on the sidewalk which runs to a steaming mountain of feces.

Wait, where was I? I got distracted from the narrative with a rant which was derailed by a sub-rant. Focus.

I have problems with this program for two reasons.

1. It sets up a tiered system of "trusted" and "untrusted" citizens. One could say "fine, don't share your personal information with the government," but when a large percentage does, then it increases the scrutiny on everyone else. It's an erosion on the expectation of privacy. Twenty years ago, people would be shocked to find out how much information the DHS snoops into when you buy a plane ticket. In twenty years, will travelers be required to hand over personal location data for the past year plus intense ideological scrutiny via algorithmic analysis of their online presence?
2. The TSA is security theater which is forced on travelers. The only thing it does is reassure people. This isn't even my option. They've failed every security test. Repeatedly. Congressional committees have issued numerous damning reports and have called for the TSA to be disassembled. My opinion is that if you're going to force a circus on the US population, you force it everyone equally. For one, I'm offended you can buy your way out of it. Second, people need to call a fried turd on a stick a fried turd on a stick- and the people most in position to call "bullshit" are the ones who would buy their way out of eating the crap. I don't want the movers and shakers taking the "no fried turds" line, I want them to get so sick of these clowns they shut down the circus. 

Done ranting for now! Might launch into a tirade against Macs, Houston, or trackball mice and pairing microsoft windows keyboards with Macs, but I think I lost the steam on the TSA circus. 

Anyway, we went out to a restaurant called Shade after I got back to the house. Really good food. I ordered a wild mushroom risotto and a butternut squash soup. The really outstanding dish was the donut holes on the dessert menu. They brought out six freshly fried donut holes with a maple dipping sauce and house vanilla ice cream. Pretty stellar stuff.

Weekends are slow to get started. Dad usually gets up very early for work, so he likes a very laid back weekend. It's quite Tayloresque. We eat breakfast around noon, and don't get out, if we're going out, until around 3pm. I'd gotten used to the rhythm of mom's house where she's up by six, and most weekends I was out the door by nine. At the same time, it's not like I have a serious agenda here other than preparing for Germany and trying to not eat or drink too much. 

Saturday was mostly shopping once we got out. Sam's Club. Central Market is crazy on the weekends. It is interesting through because looking and listening demonstrates that Houston is the most diverse city in America. I heard two languages I couldn't identify. Sunday dad and I went out mostly working on my list of things to do. I picked up a shipping box for mom's painting, and hit an art supply store for some stuff for Tay and Germany. 

Today, I got out around noon and made a walking trip of errands. I cashed a check for some money to get started in Germany, mailed off requests for duplicate diplomas, picked up some raspberry brandy to make margaritas (and also picked up a four pack of my favorite IPA: Bengali Tiger by SixPoints Brewery), ate a responsible adult lunch of french fries and a white russian milkshake, and picked up some shaving supplies at the drug store.

Chatted with Saori about her recent submission to an international design competition and dad grilled up some steaks and asparagus for dinner. Alles ist gut.