The technology gods were not all that generous today, thus the late blog.

Here are some first-day-of-the-session moments:

- New Sen. Bill Carris of Rutland made it to the Statehouse for his swearing in Wednesday even though a building at his business, Carris Reels, burned down Tuesday.

- Returning Sen. Doug Racine of Chittenden County has been both Senate president pro tem and Senate president (i.e. lieutenant governor), but he returned to the chamber Wednesday as a regular old senator after a four-year break. He landed the most un-coveted seat in the row where the six Chittenden senators sit - the one in the middle. The coveted end-of-the-row seats typically are claimed by seniority. Sen. Ginny Lyons, who sits at one end, joked with Racine about whose seniority mattered more. They were just joking, but both recalled the time when Sens. Barbara Snelling and Jean Ankeney got in each other's faces about the same end seat. Ankeney prevailed.

- Sen. Ed Flanagan of Chittenden County has the other end seat, even though he has less seniority than Sen. Jim Condos, as Flanagan still moves a little gingerly from the affects of his near-fatal 2005 car accident. Flanagan, who flipped his car again last month, got a ride to the Statehouse from Sen. Hinda Miller on Wednesday. He said he's going to have tests done to see if there's anything wrong with his vision that affects his driving.

- Sen. Dick Mazza of Grand Isle/Chittenden is generally a man of few words. He used them concisely Wednesday. Mazza was sworn in to the three-member Committee on Committees after President Pro Tem Peter Shumlin's 40-minute speech. Mazza said, "I was going to give a speech but Peter took my time for the next two years."

- Sen. Dick Sears of Bennington County, who fought a few years ago for legislation that made it easier for adopted children to search for their birth parents, welcomed his newly found birth sister to watch Wednesday's swearing in.

- Racine, comfortable in his middle-of-the-row seat, said he prefers being senator to being lt. gov. because senators have more say in legislation. He also said returning to the Senate this time was not as weird as the last time he was presided there. After he lost the 2002 election for governor to Jim Douglas, Racine's job on the first day of the 2003 session was to preside over the Senate until Brian Dubie was sworn in as lt. gov. the second day. Because Douglas didn't win more than 50 percent of the vote, the Senate that day was voting to affirm Douglas' election - not exactly something Racine wanted to preside over.


- Terri Hallenbeck