I used to book the big hub without thinking twice, but adding up the train and bus for a Denver trip last spring finally made me check the small airport fares too. Your Spokane numbers make me wish I'd run that math sooner.

A buddy of mine did almost the same thing, dropped close to $400 on one of those fancy ones with the gas spring and everything. He used it for maybe a month, then the little knob that sets the tilt stopped holding, so the whole thing would flop down mid drawing. It's been folded up against his garage wall since spring and he's back on the kitchen table with a cutting board under his paper.

Did you ever have a client pay late and then hand you a Starbucks gift card as an apology? Happened to me once, the card was for five bucks, and I still don't know if that counted as the late fee or not.