one day layover at home between the GDC and a friends's wedding in Georgia.

Neighbor Oliver stops by with a question: where do I find cheap plane tickets? I don't, I realized, I nearly always buy plane tickets from United Airlines. More proof that the Mileage Plus/Frequent Flyer programs are among the most successful promotions in the history of brands and merchandise (WSJ journalist Ron Lieber's theory). I fly United even if it costs me a bit more, because they treat me nice - I accrue advantages. Not much use to my neighbor I think, who wanted to hear about some kind of magic web site,where overlooked tickets wait for smart eager clickers to travel the world for pennies. I'm no such magician, but I can tell you that if you fly one airline frequently for years and years, you'll be able to fly business class more than you would otherwise.

Oliver has one of the few manicured stretches of grass on this block. He looks after his yard. Heck his window is high on the street, so he looks after just about everything. He sees when people come and go, and if they leave anything behind. Oliver shared his technique for dealing with our neighbors who let their dogs poop on his lawn. If they leave crap on his grass, he shovels it on to a paper plate and leaves it on their porch. He laughed: many people have even stopped walking their dogs on his side of the street.