Flying has returned to the miserable, crowded, delay-ridden level of pre 9/11. In the year 2004, I logged 32 round trips from Newark to San Fransicso, and about 12 other trips to other locations. This is what I'd call a "moderate" travel year. In that time I learned quite a bit about carry-on versus lost (or, as some prefer to call it "checked" bags). First of all, airport security is barely doing anything.
Case in point: on one of the trips to SFO, my son "helped" me pack by putting a 4" steak knife in my carry on bag without my knowledge.
I passed through the first level of security, nobody noticed the knife. For some reason, I had to exit the secure area (I think I forgot something on the concourse), and go through security again. Again, no knife. When I got to the gate I was randomly selected for a bag search at the gate, and they STILL didn't find the knife. I found the knife, tucked into an interior pouch, when I got to SFO and unpacked.

I've decided that for trips that would take 6 hours or less to drive, it's just not worth the hassle of flying. For me, this includes trips to DC, Boston, NY, Pittsburgh and a few other locations.

And never check your bags.