1. No direct flight from ACV to PDX. (Upside: Living in Humboldt County is still worth it.)

2. Arrived at ACV on time to discover flight delayed by two hours. (Upside: Consoled myself upstairs in The Silver Lining.)

3. Landed in SFO with possibility of making connection undone by 20-minute wait for available gate to pull into. (Upside: Resources to book a hotel room instead of spending 14 hours hanging out at SFO.)

4. Shuttle driver unclear about the fact that two different SFO Embassy Suites exists, so I ended up at the wrong one. (Upside: The “wrong” hotel paid for the cab ride to the right hotel.)

5. Room too cold, then too warm. (Upside: Killer view, excellent shower, comfy bed, plenty of Earl Grey with real half-n-half.)

6. Breakfast line like waiting for a ride at Disneyland due to apparent concentration of all AYSO youth at Embassy Suites. (Upside: free breakfast!)

7. Return to airport marked by three separate near-collisions thanks to sketchy maneuverings of shuttle driver. (Upside: Survival.)

8. Pouring in SF! (Upside: Sunny in Portland!)

9. Not arriving last night means I missed a chance to hang out with people I really like. (Upside: Five more days of opportunities to hang out with people I really like. And I have an awesome job.)

Remaining optimistic about remainder of trip.