I didn't have anyplace to go so went back to the house and
socialized with family and helped prepare for the afterparty
- I'd sort of wanted to cook, but as that had all been taken
care of by the bride well in advance (with detailed
reheating instructions that I left others to expertly
misinterpret) ended up broomsweeping three floors, something
I haven't done in decades.

Interstitial snacks included tuna and salmon tartare,
sausage and mushroom gow gees, and various kinds of nuts.

The party had various phases. The 4-6 early birds with early
flights, a fairly staid lot; the until 10 crew, performing
major feats of eating and drinking; and the 10 to close,
adults only, doing what adults do. I managed to stick around
until somewhat after midnight, helped by a good tot of
Johnnie Blue (it's not my favorite, but seldom does one get
to drink all one can of it) followed by a long communing
with my friend Mark (Maker's, that is). Many of the guests
seemed overawed by Johnnie, which is in fact very smooth,
though also very sweet and wimpy. There are acquaintances
of mine who fit that description.

I left as the party was getting into gear; Fish's former
colleague George drove me to the airport, where I snoozed
briefly and played on the Internet for a while before
passing security in a jiffy and getting on my plane well
into boarding.

UA 552 SFO DEN 0545 0917 763 1H

Where I found some guy comfortably ensconced in my seat. I
opened the front bin only to find it jampacked with the
guy's stuff. I went to look at the next bin, to be met with
a steward's .....ily intoned statement "if the bin is
closed, it's full." I handed my bag to the offending party
and asked (I thought fairly nicely) if he could take care
of it for me. He sort of spluttered and pointed to an open
bin on the other aisle about at row 4. Then back to see
what was what with my seat. I just decided to cave and take
1J, which seemed fine until the real 1J showed up, and the
guy said "shall we do this the easy way or the hard way,"
gesturing at his real seat, 2H. I opted for the hard way.
He seemed fairly gracious - as well he ought to have been
- about losing his apparently favored seat; he kept his
belongings where they were, though. Funny thing: a rather
less nasty FA managed to find space in the overhead for
the real 1J's belongings.

The .....y one, having got it into his thick noggin that I
was in fact the aggrieved party, was grumpily solicitous
through the flight, what I was awake for, anyhow.

It was a fairly bumpy ride, especially going over the
Rockies on our descent, and breakfast was really horrid;
not the flight to beat all flights.

The fruit appetizer consisted of unripe pineapple, honeydew
that was so green it could hardly be bitten into, and half a
dozen decent red grapes. An omelet, much less soft and fat
than the normal (often rather good) United omelets and a bit
hard around the edges, was loaded with rather bad-tasting
cheese. The usual sausage and ham that were both strongly
salted and otherwise tastefree; of these I took just a few
nibbles.

I probably should have had a bunch of Courvoisier (it's my
role in life to make sure that United doesn't stop offering
Courvoisier, but I didn't need any in order to catch a few
more Zs, powered by last night's boozy excesses (I didn't
participate in any other kind).

UA 484 DEN DCA 1051 1600 752 2B

A little ramekin of warmish cashews, followed by hot towel
service.

Our lunch choice was a Black Forest ham sandwich or teriyaki
chicken salad, sided with a "spring asparagus soup," the
irony of which name was apparently lost on the FA taking our
orders, who intoned these words seriously and without
cracking even the tiniest smile. I told her that I'd take
whatever came for the main course; as it has been
represented to me that I need to watch my sodium, I was
marginally gratified that there was a salad left at the
end: a sizable brined breast, fairly tender, counteracted by
mandarin oranges, shredded romaine, soybeans, canned olives,
red bell peppers, pea pods, and almonds (this being sort of
the standard mix that can go either teriyaki or southwest,
depending on what's on this year - the oranges, soybeans,
pea pods, and almonds alternating with corn, black beans,
and cheese).

The red wine was tolerable for a change, Courvoisier better
especially with the white chocolate cranberry cookie that
has replaced the much preferable chocolate chip on many
flights.

We landed on time and as usual did the gate wait thing.