export adventure

[Matt Blaze]

Some of you may recall that about a month ago I posted the long and tortured
story of my efforts to obtain a tempory export license for a so-called
"exportable" telephone security device.  I promised to report on what
actually happened when I tried to go in and out of the country with the
thing.  Well, I just got back. I'm in the process of writing up the details,
and I'll post a full account in the next few days, but the bottom line
is that I've come to the conclusion that Kafka must have been trying
to export something under one of these licenses when he wrote "The Trial".
(Nothing bad happened, mind you, just a twistied maze of essential
bureaucratic processes each more arcane than the last and all well
beyond the grasp of humble travelers such as I).

-matt