"To everything there is a purpose..."

I have returned to Cluj after a five-day round trip to Kansas City. The ACBSP Board of Commissioners meeting went well. After the meetings ended, I had to spend Saturday afternoon and Sunday until 4:00 PM in town, or my air ticket home to Cluj would have cost double. So I rented a car, went out to a mall, bought some books and provisions (peanut butter and sugarless Smuckers jam), and on Sunday hit the Argosy Casino for an hour, where I sat at a 4/8 Hold 'Em table, doubled my money, and left having recovered the car's cost twice over. I proceeded to the airport. There I got to security, where I was caught holding, and sent back to the ticket counter to check my duffel full of PBJ. But, it also contained my computer, so I traveled light, but anxious that this loyal old HP might not arrive with me after two changes of planes. (Obviously, it made it.) In the waiting room at O'Hare's Gate B17 (an inauspicious gate from which to fly to Munchen), I met an American Army Captain with 18 years' service, who was born in the Phillipines, was of African-American/Asian descent, and had earned his ranks from Private to Captain in 18 years of service. God Bless America. Then, in line, I met John (Ioan) L. of Chicago, a native of Bistriţa, Ro., where I had spent the previous weekend. We shared a coffee during our two-hour layover in Munich, and flew together to Cluj. At 36, John has become a sizeable property-owner of apartment blocks in Chicago. He is a really fine businessman who shares many of my interests, not the least, motorcycles. I have invited him to be a guest in my American Economy and Business class next week. The beat goes on.