I did have to get on a plane to get to Hawaii and back. I sure will be glad when they get that bridge built.
Minor detour for an old joke:
A guy is walking on the beach alone, feeling sad because his girlfriend just broke up with him. He stubs his toe on something, looks down, and sees a bottle. He picks up the bottle, looks at it, rubs the sand off it, and when he removes the cork ... out pops a genie. The genie tells the guy he can have any wish he wants as a reward for having released the genie.
The guy says, "I thought I was supposed to get three wishes." The genie says, "No, that only happens in fairy tales. This is the real world, it's one wish per customer. What would you like?"
The guy thinks for a minute. "Anything at all?" he asks.
"Anything at all," replies the genie.
"Well," says the guy, "I've always wanted to see Hawaii, but I'm afraid of flying and I get seasick, so I can't go by plane and I can't go by ship. How about building me a bridge from California to Hawaii?"
"Whoa," says the genie. "You know, the bridge itself isn't a big deal. But it's 2500 miles from California to Hawaii. You can't drive that on one tank of gas, or in one day. That means I'll have to build service stations, hotels, and restaurants. And that means I'll have to create several islands to put all those service facilities on. And I'll have to find people to work in them all. That's really a tremendous undertaking."
The guy looks crestfallen. "You're right," he says. "I didn't think through all the implications. I'm sorry, that was too much to ask even of a genie. Tell you what -- how about if you can just make it so that I understand women?"
The genie looks at the guy for a few seconds, then he says, "Okay, then -- did you want that bridge to start in Oakland, or Los Angeles?"
We now return you to your regularly scheduled ... whatever.