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the friendly skies

Sarah posted a quote a while back:

If you think there is some terrible injustice in being asked to pay, say, $1,000 to fly halfway around the world, at 600 miles per hour, in a $200 million airp*lane, in almost absolute safety, you're being unreasonable.

I remember thinking to myself at the time that it didn't quite add up. Flying around the world may be an exercise in speed, safety, and economy - but to Alb*any NY, or Roa*noke, not so much.

Everyone should know by now that when I fly you're bound to hear how it went. I don't know what flights the author has been travelling on, but when I fly *domestically* to a small town, extreme inconvenience seems guaranteed.

In this case, it happened on the way out. Uni*ted misplaced the power unit necessary to start the engine - Oops! - and stranded between 60 and 100 passengers in DC overnight, including many who had been hoping to leave the good old USA for Eur*ope. I was one of them, though I was on my way to Alba*ny.

The next day, I got up at 3 AM Seat*tle time to make my flight only to spend more than 4 hours sitting at the airport. In the time I spent sitting in the "small town" wing of Dul*les, I don't think I witnessed a single flight go off on time! When the time my flight was supposed to depart came and went, I asked the 3 Unit*ed personnel at the desk if there was any status since there had been nary an announcement, and they informed me that they didn't know anything about my flight and that it was being run by someone else. They pointed at 3 dubious looking characters standing by the door, who turned out to be the people in charge of whatever airline Uni*ted had hired to run my flight. It was a miracle we got out of there with only a 3 hour delay! There was a complete absence of announcements so I was scouting out seats on flights that left in the afternoon over the phone. Fortunately, that wasn't necessary.

And let me just mention that despite flying midweek, my flight was more than $600.

Just for the record, subtracting scheduled layovers, the average speed calculated from the scheduled departure time to actual arrival time was not 600 mph.

It was 110 mph. Add in travel time and scheduled layovers, and it only gets slower.

From where I sit (last row, next to the toilet) flying sucks.

6:46 p.m. - Jul. 22, 2008

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day before vacation

Tomorrow I'm off to New York, the third busy weekend in a row. Last week involved relations visiting and the week before I went out of town on a mini-vacation.

It's been nice, though. Working less, that is! I feel behind on everything, but there have been no catastrophes to speak of. I'm having a hard time getting any work done today. I just want to get out of here!

However, due to high airline prices, I am flying through the dreaded ORD (O'Hare Chi*cago) on the way home. Wish me luck.

2:19 p.m. - Jul. 16, 2008

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number 3

The New Yorker cover of Obama is ridiculous. The media tiptoes around his actual *content* but publishes this absurd cover? Maybe I just don't pay attention to this stuff, but I can't remember that any cartoons this insulting to McCain.

4:52 p.m. - Jul. 14, 2008

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bear

I enjoyed this article on investing in a bear market. I think the author is ignoring a couple factors, including the fact that practically non-existent commissions DO make a difference, Oba*ma's threats of raising taxes on small invstors (as well as large), etc. However, I have been gritting my teeth and setting targets. Every time the market falls below a price target, I buy a little bit more. I figure being young, I can afford to wait 10 years or more if necessary. However, I sincerely hope that I don't have to wait that long.

We'll see, I guess.

Obama's wishy-washiness on other issues lately does give me hope that he will prove to be wishy-washy on the issues that I DON'T agree with him on as well as the ones I do.

12:23 p.m. - Jul. 14, 2008

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offshore drilling

The writing is on the wall. It seems like it is only a matter of time before the congressional ban on drilling is lifted as well. We argue about whether to use plastic bags, which is a drop in the bucket (if you read the stats), and now this. I feel like it will show a weakness of American character if we begin offshore drilling. Various congresspeople and citizens have been puffing out their chests, and if I hear "green" anything else I'll eat my socks, but the going gets tough, and things look bad. Bu*sh never puffed out his chest as an environmentalist, so I actually don't fault him.

I really hope I'm wrong.

Anyway, no matter what happens, I know the Washing*ton senators, and Maria Cant*well in particular will be on the front lines opposing drilling. Oba*ma? Mark my words - oppose or support, he'll be keeping real quiet if he can. (Again, I hope I'm wrong.) I wonder what McCa*in will do? He's been portraying himself as an environmentalist as well, but on this one I believe he's already come out in support of offshore drilling, though I could be wrong.

It's easy to blame the politicians, but they just want to get re-elected, so they're doing what people want, so the people are equally to blame.

For those who weren't watching, he of course voted FOR the wiretapping bill, a slight variation of which he threatened to filibuster the day before! Amazing. Hillary (as well as the Wash*ington senators) voted against.

8:21 a.m. - Jul. 14, 2008