Seen on road: “Want a threesome?” bumper sticker showing a figure running, biking, and swimming. So far, the only good advertising I’ve seen for triathlons.

DFW to RNO: With 30 minutes to go, the pilot asked all of us to congratulate Ryan and Allison in row 14, who had just become engaged. Least romantic proposal ever or just what you do when you finish the Sudoku and still have half the flight left?

Predatory lending: In beginning to cover the Mom’s mortgage (“Estate Preservation”), I’ve discovered that appoximately 2.25% of each payment goes to principal and the rest goes to interest and “fees”…like late fees, which seem difficult to avoid when the statement date is 1/28 and the due date is 2/1. I am the very picture of a Motivated Seller.

Heard on NPR last week: “Owning a home isn’t The American Dream. It’s the dream of the National Homebuilders Association.” [paraphrased] The more I deal with my mom’s house, the more I love living in a high-rise with a garbage chute, a balcony, and automatic snow removal.

Apologies for the radio silence — I was out of town for a couple of days. You can also thank facebook and twitter, as many of my thoughts these days are microbloggy, so that’s where they go. Before my trip and since, I’ve been a little preoccupied with work issues.

During my trip, I learned that an old pal from marching band just found out her mom has lung cancer. Her mom’s young and the prognosis is good, relatively speaking, so there’s a lot of hope, but it still sucks. It’s also raised a question in my head about my grandmother and I haven’t figured out who can answer it.

And that friend at work undergoing chemo for breast cancer? 33. She’s only 33.

So cancer’s been on my mind a lot lately.