Prime Your Pump

Google blogger, for iphones, is not a very good ap.   I tried to upload this while sitting int he back yard, eating almonds, and sipping wine with my wife.  Obviously, it didn't work well.

I came home from a 9 day trip (driving the Mazda to South Carolina to give to Nathan Jr, and then a week of work) to find my back yard fountain non-functional.  Added water to it, no go.  Tripped GFI and reset, no go.  Cleaned the bowl, didn't do it.  I could hear the pump trying to run (click, click, click) but nothing was coming out.  So I thought "what would Bernoulli do?"  I took off the 90 degree spigot off the output, put my lips around the tube, and blew in.  GURGLE GURGLE GURGLE could be heard...  removed my lips...  and Gush!  The water began to flow!  The pump needed to be primed.  Sure, it required mouthwash afterwards, but to got the pump running.  = )

When the licensed electricians I hired installed the GFI properly (pulling new wire, clearing out the conduit under the cement, and sealing it at both ends) and the pump first started running, a LARGE wolf spider came crawling out of the pump output tube (larger than a car key spider) whose body had been blocking the tube...  so I wanted to make sure she had not come back to inhabit the water supply tube   = P  .. No arachnids were harmed in the priming of this fountain pump.

Lost Puppy Thomas

Now that Antonin Scalia is decomposing, someone will need to adopt Clarence Thomas.  Thomas has not, since joining the Supreme Court, had an original thought (look it up, SCOTUS blog... It's a fact).   Clarence is a lost puppy without his master to guide him.  Maybe Samuel will take Thomas under his wing.

Volvo XC70 Phasers, Photon Torpedos & Tractor Beam

Recently, DDF and I upgraded our 2007 Mazda 6 station wagon to a newer, more modern model.
There was nothing "wrong" with the Mazda 6.  I'd been running full synthetic Castrol oil in it since we bought it with just 50 miles on it.  Regular filter changes, routine inspections, 2 sets of rear brake pads and one set of front pads, and 4 Yokohama tires (the front 2 which wore out faster than the back two when I fell behind on rotations).  It made it to 81 thousand miles without any major (or minor) problems, driving around Arizona, and then to California, and back to Arizona again for a Mardi Gras trip 2 years ago.  It's been a good car, and I will be driving it to our son Nathan Jr's home later this year.

When we got the XC70 home, DDF asked me "what are those things on the windshield?" (pictured above, onto which the rear view mirror was mounted).  I looked at them, and replied "Oh, those are the photo torpedoes, the phasers, and the tractor beam."

Pedestrian Sensor Array, blocking engine cooling air-flow

You see, this Volvo is covered in sensors.  Blind spot sensors, pedestrian sensors, back-up sensors, collision avoidance sensors, a 10,000 image library of "similar images" that the on-board computer tries to compare on-coming obstacles to and determine if it is a threat (person, raccoon, bike, bridge abutment...) or if it is benign (sign post not on a collision course, rock on the side of the road, turtle that has crossed the street, etc...).

This vehicle has more I/O than the first two projects that I ever designed and built back at Michelin Tire in the 80s, combined.  It is a technologically advanced machine, modern, and very impressive to the engineer within me.  And it cost substantially less than Mercedes, Audi, Cadillac, Porche, Land Rover, or BMW.  There's ultrasonic sensors for the curb sensors, digital imaging cameras and range finders for the collision avoidance and image libraries, and at highway speeds, the ultrasonics kick up their range to double as blind-spot vehicle detectors All Around the vehicle.

There's front bumper, rear bumper, left and right front quarter panel near the fog lights, left and right rear quarter panel near the tail pipes, rear camera, front camera, rain sensors for automatic wipers, And all the collision avoidance.  THere's almost so much technology that is Could lull the driver asleep or enable distracted driving, but so far I am enjoying the sensor feedback and driver-interaction.  There are options to turn off the sensor arrays while driving, but I've not found them overly intrusive or annoying yet, so I keep them on.

The XC70 has the same engine as DDF's C70, turbo-charged inline 5 cylinder, 2.5 liter, 250 HP, 266 ft-lbs, dipsticks included. Volvo (along with Audi & BMW) is moving away from dipsticks to this ridiculous "computer controlled maintenance schedule" that is supposed to tell the driver when to add & change oil.  No thanks, I'd Much Rather do it the old-fashioned, more accurate, and less-dealer-interactive way that has worked for over 100 years, with a dipstick and rag.  The 4 cylinder 2 liter engine was fancier, had no dipstick, but was not available on the AWD model, so that's not what we bought.

And, since it's a Station Wagon, and not a SUV [superfluous un-useful vehicle] it fits in my cramped, Tetris-like, barely a 2-car garage.





Sadly, it has Pirellis...  but those will get replaced with Michelins once they quickly wear out. At 235/50 R18s they are the LARGEST tires I've ever had on any vehicle I've owned in my life... but I am secure in my masculinity and have no need to put on Huge, over-sized tires or desire to "sit up higher than everyone else" on the road as apparently so many Umerikuns are afflicted with such a height
jealousy disorder.

I would have been happy buying another Mazda, had they not stopped making station wagons in 2007 for the American market.  I test drove a Toyota Venza, but it was huge, bulky, low tech, unimpressive.  I was interested in an Acura Station Wagon, but Honda decided in 2012 to stop making Acura wagons... and all the used ones I saw were unusually high mileage vehicles, so I passed.

I could not buy an Audi or VW since they falsified their emissions and have a corporate culture of dishonesty.  Looked at the Porche SUVs and laughed at the +$60K price tags. No thanks. (and they're part of the VW corporate culture).  Buick makes no station wagons, just SUVs.  Cadillac stopped making wagons in 2014.  Mercedes wagons are famously prone to chronic mechanical and electronic defects & operability issues.  BMW stopped making a 5 series more than 5 years ago in a wagon, and the 3 series was just too small.  Ford's Flex was far too boxy and far too expensive for what was included when compared to the Volvo.  Mazda's CX-5 sat up too high, never would have fit in my garage, and was too small for what we needed it to do.  I Really Wanted a V70 (we had one back in 2000, and it was a very good car), but Volvo only sells them in Europe, and I was not going to wait 10 to 14 months to have one shipped over, modified to meet California emissions, and then have the Only 2017 V70 in California where I could never find a part for it.   Europe and Australia get all the good wagons.

So with El Niño upon us, combined with the fact that Northern San Diego County is remarkably hilly, an AWD vehicle was not a hard choice to make.  And if we ever drive it to the mountains or off-road, the AWD and 18 inch wheels will give us clearance and traction advantages as well.

The mirrors turn in when I lock it, which is one of the coolest features... no more wondering "did I lock it, or did I forget?".  All 4 windows roll down, and go back up, All The Way, with a single touch - as every car should but most American cars don't.  There's handy grocery bag pop-up holder walls and straps in the cargo area, seat position and mirror position memory tied to his & her keys, blue tooth, USB ports, 12V charging, a large center counsel digital display... it is the fanciest & most advanced vehicle I've ever owned.  And it will likely be the last internal combustion engine car I ever own as well, as a Tesla or other electric vehicle will probably be the next car we get in 2 or 3 presidential election cycles from now.  
This was the sunset that I witnessed the first time I made a blue-tooth call from my phone, through the car, to my parents, while parked next to the PCH, US Route 101, watching the sunset over the Pacific Ocean.  The call came right after I enabled the Sirius Radio, and personalized the dash board display.  

It was almost 80F here today, with a gentle breeze.   Yeah... life doesn't suck here in Southern California.  You should come visit.

Republican Hyperbolic Allergies to Islam

The Washington Post has a nice article today about how Republicans presidential candidates and primary voters are all in a tizzy about President Obama visiting a Mosque yesterday... yet 15 years ago, George W Bush did the same thing and there WAS NO OUTCRY.  (Link here)


The hypocrisy is so thick, it's ridiculous.  W can visit a mosque and no one denounces him, or says he's being divisive.  President Obama visits a Mosque and he's obviously a secret Muslim, or trying to divide Umerika, or stirring up religious divides??? No Rubio... you're incorrect, again.  Short-sighted, fear mongering, myopic fools.

Bush visits a Mosque in 2001... no Republican Outcry resulted.

Peacocks' Evening Calls, 2016

I am marking my calendar, that today, at 5:40pm 26January 2016, is the first time this year that I've heard the neighborhood peacocks calling to each other at dusk.  I understand the mating season is February to May, so this is just the beginning of the calls.

I had the opportunity to take my mom and dad to the local park where the peacocks and peahens roost in the neighborhood, and they thoroughly enjoyed the displaying peacocks and the coy peahens.  It's nice to live in a neighborhood with very little road noise, no military fly-overs, rarely a siren, and the melodic natural sounds of peacocks "Ca-CAWing" to each other. and hummingbirds buzzing through he air around my home.

Kubrick's The Chickening (2016)

I stumbled upon this video today that made me literally, laugh out loud, and it had me glued to the screen.  Too funny!!!!  Tons of embedded props and imagery in the back ground of each scene as well (watch it more than once).

Since DDF and I had recently watched The Shining at Halloween (it had been more than 20 years since I saw it previously) the hilarity had even more impact.  Beautifully done! The Chickening!

Russia Apparently Loves JustJoeP

I checked my "audience" stats, and apparently, Russia has latched onto JustJoeP.  The Internet Explorer hits from Russia are far out-weighing all the rest of the globe combined.

Sucks that Google Blogger eliminated the "zoom in by country" stat feature they used to have, where you could see which cities were hitting your blog, and not just country granularity.  All the hits from Russia might be from one node of hackers who are using JustJoeP as a proxy to launch / match / obfuscate other traffic...  dunno.  I'm not inter-webs savvy enough to figure out all the from-and-to details.

Childless Single Men Who Masterbate to Anime

I was watching Chris Hayes this evening, when one of his guests - Rick Wilson, Republican Strategist - said the following about the devout followers of Donald Trump:  "They are (for the most part) childless, single men, who masterbate to anime" .

It made me guffaw!  It made me rewind my DVR.  It made me howl!

19% of the American Electorate are white males over 35 years of age.   The majority of Trump supporters are also caucasian.   Ugh.

Happiest Girl... In song

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=aks4VBj9wVw

Apparently, there's no intuitive way to upload a you tube video... Via phone 😟

Location, photos... Sure... But no link insertion. 

"No iPhone For Old Men"

👅

Happiest Girl This Sunday

Watching the Seahawks Panthers playoff game this morning, I was struck not only with how the Panthers are dominating the game in the first 1/4, but also how ecstatic one little girl was made.

#28 Stewart easily waltzes into the in zone, goes to the crowd, sees a little girl with her parents, and hands her the game ball...

Her parents, decked out in full Panthers attire, help her to draw in the ball, and then...

She REALIZES what just happened... Pure, unabashed, overwhelming joy!  A fan for life now.  👍😃😀

(This is my first Ever iPhone blog post... So if it is clunky ... My apologies)

Irony or Destiny?

The White House Press Secretary has a really crappy job.  You have to go in front of reporters
everyday who are trying to "scoop" each other, who are probing for information (much of which you can't comment upon) and nearly 1/2 the country despises you.  You're an outsider in the confidential halls of the White House, but a public face to the administration.

So it makes me wonder, is the current press secretary's name ironic, or was it destiny?

josh

jäSH/

informal

verb

1. 1. 

   tease (someone) in a playful way.

   "he loved to josh people"

noun

NORTH AMERICAN

1. 1. 

   good-natured banter.

   
   

ear·nest

ˈərnəst/

adjective

1. resulting from or showing sincere and intense conviction.

   
   

Since I do not believe in destiny, I will say it is coincidental irony, and leave it at that.  = )

The Revenant

Yesterday afternoon I took my retired parents to the Carlsbad Cinépolis to see the movie The Revenant.  Cinépolis costs more then a normal movie but it has drinks service during the film and you get to sit in the reclining leather chair with foot rest and assigned seating so that know one blocks your view.  Headquartered in Mexico City, Cinépolis has multiple theaters in Southern California.  I had seen several films there previously, and I was not disappointed.  

My father absolutely loved the leather recliner and catered atmosphere.  I ordered a pineapple martini and he ordered an Icee, raspberry flavoured, with my mother abstaining from any delicious beverages.   The theatre darkened, and the film began.   

I will not spoil the film The Revenant but I will say that it is an excellent piece of cinema. There is a substantial amount of blood and violence depicted in the film.  Filmed in Canada i& Argentina the scenery is spectacular.   If you go into the theatre with any romantic or idealised notions of the 1800s in the Western North America, you will find those notions quickly obliterated in the opening 10 minutes of this film.  The next 2 1/2 hours continues to grind the heel of reality brutally into the romantic illusion to destroy any idealized notions of the "Wild West".  

Leonardo DiCaprio's Golden Globe was well earned.  This movie is a cinematic masterpiece.  If it does not get an Oscar there is something wrong.  

Intense. Remarkably sad. Violent. Carnal, base, unaccountable evil, juxtaposed with magnificent scenery, fantastic acting, cut to the bone writing, and superb direction... I will go see it again with DDF sometime later this month.   (She had to work, while I hosted my visiting parents).   

If you are squeamish about blood and violence, then you probably should not pay the price of a theatre ticket to go see this… But you will be missing out.  

On a closing note, Tom Hardy shows that she can again play a complete asshole, like unto his Batman Bane character, if Bane had been a mercenary & ruthless fur trapper in the early 1800s.  Since this theatre was the same theatre I watched Mad Max Fury Road, Hardy's performance impressed me tremendously.  Also, being fluent in French, I was able to understand the slang spoken (and written) in French without subtitles, which was an unexpected pleasure.  

Sprouts Grocery Divas

At 1:30 PM on Tuesdays, the bitchy, selfish, self-centred, oblivious Divas of Carlsbad go to the Sprouts on Rancho Santa Fe.   I made the mistake of trying to go shopping for some tea.   I won't repeat that same mistake again on a Tuesday at 1:30.

What do I mean by the above description?  Picture one woman holding up each item to the cashier asking her how much it costs and then saying "I don't want that" & then handing it to the cashier to put aside.  Apparently she never learn how to read a pricetag that are ubiquitous on all sprouts shelves.  

Add caption

I could not tolerate waiting behind that woman so I changed lanes. The neighbouring lane had only one shopper in it. Sounded like a good idea, no?  No! The shopper ahead of me was not yet done shopping and had decided during the time that the cashier was ringing up her groceries, to go get more items including organic celery and a hot lunch item from the deli.   Don't mind the three shoppers building up behind you, no.  Your ugg boots and yoga pants broadcast that you understand you are the most important person in all of Carlsbad and everyone needs to wait for you, regardless of how long you delay everyone else.  

Aggravatingly, they didn't even have the tea that I wanted and were out of stock. "Check tomorrow" a stocking clerk told me, Unhelpfully.  I did purchase four bottles of organic wine from California all priced at Less than $10 a bottle... il faut voir.  Perhaps information about these organic wines will be posted here later in the future.  ...il faut voir.

Surfin Christmas

6 to 10 foot waves for Christmas week...  at Moonlight Beach in Encinitas where there are changing and shower facilities.

4 star waves on Wednesday, at the beach closest, chez nous.

I think I know where I will be tomorrow.  Concept in Encinitas will rent boards and wet suits.

If you have cats...

Don't get these:

Unless you're trying to give them a heart attack.

Chez Nous, N San Diego Co

If those electronic deer could eat the grass upon which they are standing, they'd eat it all Winter as there's < 0.01% chance we'd ever get any snow here.  And if we did get snow, it'd be melted within an hour or two of sunrise.

Our home is The Least decorated on the adjacent street, where several of the neighbors have gone "the Full Griswold".  We may add some electronic peacocks and a "under the pam tree laser" next year... we'll see.

Merry Christmas, Happy Saturnalia, Happy Hanukah, Joyful Winter Solstice.

10am, 11Dec2015

10am on the 11th of December, 2015...  I will remember this day and time.

I had taken the day off, to run some errands, get several things done, and get my beard trimmed that I'd been growing since I visited Nathan Jr in Charleston, South Carolina  back in mid September and realized I was (more than once during my visit there) the only adult male human without a beard in the room / in the building / in-sight.  It had been more than 20 years since my last terrible attempt to grow a beard... one that came out with brown mutton chops, a reddish goatee, and a white blond mustache... none of the three connecting, and definitely not complimenting the pony tail that went down to between my shoulder blades.  The 90s facial hair I tried to cultivate looked akin to  US Civil War Major General Alphas Williams   (link here) sort of... but without the length or fullness.

The new version in 2015, looks more like Ulysses S Grant's beard when he was elected.  I'd been trying to coif  it with the various trimmers I have, but all I succeeded in doing was to snag it, make it asymmetric, or or leave whiskers all over the tall sink and vanity in the bath room.  Mirrored-hand-eye coordination, like Javier Bardem's character Anton Chigurh had in No Country For Old Men, when he removed the shot gun pellets and shrapnel from his leg and behind in Mexico, I Do Not have.

So after I picked up some things at the CVS and Sprouts in Carlsbad, I simply pressed my iPhone 5s, and said "Barber".  Siri found 5 barbers within 5 miles of me.  I went to the one that was not SuperCuts, driving 3 miles down to Encinitas.  It was a barber shop, with 3 seats where customers could have their hair cut.  No non-sense, straight forward, barber shop.  I walked in...  there were two open chairs, one cut in-progress, and was offered the middle chair, which I accepted.  Told the barber what I wanted...  "shorter, but not buzz cut, leave some length on the top and front, remove all curls you find, and when the hair is done, ah... I see... you Do trim beards... good, I would like the side burns tapered to the beard, and then short and not bushy like it is right now."  "Number 2 guard?" the barber asked me.  "Sure, just make sure the sideburns and beard and mustache all 'connect', so not too short".  "No problem".

The cut progressed nicely... nearly all completely-white hair fell down on the black draped cape covering me that the barber had fixed around my neck.  Snipping, trimming, more careful snipping.  20 minute later, at 10am, I was done, and stood up to pay the nice barber.  Then the question came that was so unexpected, that I asked the barber to repeat it.  "Are you a senior? You want the senior discount?"

No, no thank you...  I'm not a senior yet.  Men's hair cuts were $16; beard trims $12 but only $6 with a hair cut.  A "Senior hair cut" was $12.  I looked around at the other two customers getting cut and the two men waiting to be cut... they were indeed, all eligible AARP members, or perhaps even all old enough to be getting medicare, 10 to 20 years older than I, at least. I gave the nice barber a Jackson and Hamilton, and wished the shop a Merry Christmas (they had a small Christmas tree in the corner, and were playing "The View" on an over-head television, that had some kind of Christmasy theme on the show that day.  I paid little attention to it, as I did my best "Ben Carson" closing my eyes and taking a micro-nap which getting my hair cut and beard trimmed.

I don't know at what age most people are asked if they want a Senior Discount, but for me, I'm not yet 50 and it's already begun.  Sigh.  10am on the 11th of December, 2015

Winter IS Coming, but...

I checked the mail today... and there was a large US Postal package addressed to me, from a Brooklyn NY T-shirt shop.  No other return address nor note as to "from whom" or for what purpose...  Within the package was this XL white cotton sweat shirt:

It is humorous...  and it coincidentally goes along with he next post I was planning on doing, based upon a unique event that happened to my yesterday... but... I have no idea who sent this.  If it is someone who reads my blog...  thank you for the unexpected gift.  = )

Nominally, Winter will be here the week after next, in December 22nd.  In reality, North San Diego County doesn't really get "Winter" ... sure it might drop down into the low 50s or upper 40s some nights, and the days might not get up above 60 or 65F... but it's not really "Winter".  No dire wolves... but lots of Coyotes.  = )

Lackluster Alaska Air

In the last month, I've had the misfortune to fly Alaska Air four times.  I say "misfortune" because I had previously held Alaska Air in rather high esteem when they were a partner with Northwest Airlines, and I was a NW Airlines Platinum member.  "Membership has its priviledges"... indeed.  Lemme 'splain.

The day after Halloween, I had to go to Hong Kong for a business trip.  I booked the trip with Alaska Air on the US domestic legs, continuing onto their PARTNER Delta Airlines for the international legs.  It was supposed to be all one big ticket, and supposed to be San Diego to Seattle, and then Seattle to Hong Kong DIRECT, Non-stop, so I could sleep on the flight and arrive Well Rested to talk to the customers I needed to talk to the day after I landed, 14 time zones away. The multi-national corporation no longer allows business class travel anywhere, so this was going to be 15 hours in a coach seat, hoping to not get deep vein thrombosis from the cramped inactivity of being a human sardine / steerage / valued-slightly-less-than-cheap-cargo-under-the-plane.  I booked the ticket..  and then... my corporate travel agent Split the Alaskan ticket and the Delta, then Delta cancelled the direct flight, routing me through Tokyo Narita.  Well, for an airline with useful IT support and adaptive ticketing, this should not have been a problem.  Unfortunately, Alaska Airlines has terrible IT support - very nice & friendly staff who interface with customers in the airports and on the phone, but abysmal computer infrastructure and inter-connectivity.

When I attempted, on Halloween morning, to check-in online, all I kept getting was an error message online "There has been an error, please contact customer service".  4 times I entered my information, four times I was foiled.  I called a customer service person... they manually checked me in, and then told me "we cannot check you into the Delta flights, our system doesn't talk to theirs. You'll need to check in at the airport with them when you get to Seattle."  WTF??? (Wednesday, Thursday, Friday...)  My $2000 flight over 15,000 miles of this planet, is checked in only from San Diego to Seattle? Seriously?  Great.

So I take off out of San Diego Lindberg field 45 minutes late, land in Seattle with barely enough time to SPRINT from the N to the S gates (along with a snail's pace tram ride, since both the N and S gates are not connected to the rest of the airport, and the underground tram is the Only way to get there = lame), wolf down a Wendy's Baconator without bread or cheese, arrive at the Delta gate to Tokyo, with no boarding pass (since Alaska Air's system doesn't talk to Delta's) and I am told by the gate agent that "I'm sorry, you not checked in"  Exasperated, I told her I was checked in, I'd spent two hours checking in the day before, I'd talked to both Delta and Alaska Air on the phone, and I do have a seat back in row 18.  Another passenger from San Diego who was also going to Hong Kong, had the same conversation with the next agent over at the gate desk... so it wasn't just me.  They printed up my Seattle to Tokyo and Tokyo to Hong Kong passes, and I was literally the 2nd to last person on the Airbus 330 (the other SD passenger was the last), squeezing my luggage into the already over-burdened over-head racks, and sitting down hot & sweaty & itchy in my coach seat.  Awesome.

8 hours later, when I get to Tokyo, and I get security scanned like all the passengers, since Seattle security screening is obviously incompetent and inferior to the Tokyo security screeners - and I am finally queued up to get into the next plane to go to Hong Kong...  Again, my boarding pass is invalid, and I am told that I need to step aside and let the other passengers board.  Incredible, and ridiculous.  Because Alaska's system could not communicate with Delta's system, I am being stopped at every boarding and being told I am not checked in.  Grrrrrrrrrrrr....

On the way back, the same thing happened... every time I tried to board, I was told that my boarding pass was invalid.  Maddening.  My frequent flyer miles didn't post, and I had to waste 30 minutes on the phone with Delta to get them to post when I got home.

Trying to be the eternal optimist, I booked a last minute flight to Portland and back through Seattle via Alaska Air because they had direct flights, it was last minute for a business emergency, and I didn't want to have connections on the busiest travel day of the year, minimizing my chances of being stranded at some connection city too far to drive back to California.  I thought to myself "Alaska used to be very good...  top awards...  excellent safety record... they'll do better the 2nd time."  Plus the fact that they were not part of a 2 airline trip, so at least one variable was being eliminated with the "our system doesn't talk to theirs" excuse.

This Pre-Thanksgiving trip BEGAN very nicely... I was TSA pre-check, bumped up to First Class (because I am now Gold on Delta), got a big comfy seat, used glass glassware, steel knives and forks, and was offered copious amounts of cognac, which I had to refuse after the first one since I needed to drive once I got to Portland.  Getting to Portland was not a problem.  4 days later, when I attempted to fly home, was when the Alaska Airlines fun began.

You see, my incompetent corporate travel agent cancelled my ticket, and re-booked it, for a fare that was $120 cheaper.   This COMPLETELY discombobulated Alaska Airlines.  I was not allowed to check in (again) on my phone the night before.  I DID have a seat... but could not get a boarding pass.    The fourth day of my emergency trip ended 5 hours earlier than expected, so I headed to the airport hoping to get not he 3:50pm flight instead of the 6:50 flight (I got to the airport at 12:30, far in advance).  The Alaska Air desk agent before security worked for a full 20 minutes to get a boarding pass to print for me.  In her words "4000 key strokes later, it worked!"  Pathetic programming.  Completely non-robust.  Any change upsets the fragile software architecture and crashes on the traveller.  Sickening.

The ever-friendly gate agent tells me "we don't wait list passengers.  The 3:50 flight is showing full, but you CAN go to the departure gate and ask the agent there if anyone has not checked in."  Okey-dokey.  I can do that.. I have 3 hours to spare!   I go to the gate...   and the very polite agent there tells me "we are solidly checked in, but you can check again 30 minutes prior to the door closing."  OK...  I hover around... charge my phone... text my friends...  and then I notice the off-duty Alaska Air pilots wearing their hats and leather jackets, but not flying the plane... OHHHHHH!!!  They're the ones who get the last unclaimed seats...  3 of them!  Me, the paying passenger, I am no-body.  Personae non gratis.  The smirking, smug, elderly Alaska Air pilots laugh as I hover, and I hear one of them say "poor bastard thinks he'll get on" and nods in my direction.  Grrrrrrr  (again)

So now I am standing at my 6:50pm Departure gate, adjacent to an Anchorage Alaska departure gate, with a bunch of Alaskans and Alaska visitors all around me, as I rant about how I will never be flying Alaska Air again.  I don't care if they are the cheapest or the most direct, my behind will not be in another Alaska Air seat again.  Their IT system programming is walled off from American and Delta (the friendly gate agents told me "we have the same problem with American...  no one's system talks to ours"), they don't wait-list travelers, and they cater to their own off-duty pilots for the last unclaimed seats, as opposed to paying, ticketed passengers.  I am wasting an extra 3 hours of my life in Seattle because of Lackluster Alaskan Airline's non-customer-centric policies, pathetic IT programming, smug off-duty pilots, and my corporate travel agent's misguided metrics of "cost is more important than the traveler".

It will be good to finally decompress when I get home at 11 or 1130 pm this evening, after working 14 hour days the last 4 days through he weekend, and not give a damn about much of anything.  The Packers can smear the Bears by 40 points tomorrow, and I won't be surprised or sad by it, because I will just not be giving a damn at all this holiday weekend.

Rant over...  now I feel better.   = )

If you fly Alaska Airlines, and you like it, you're probably a Gold or Platinum frequent flyer.  Or, you're one of their smug pilots.

Old Hard Hat, New Additions

While waiting interminably in the Seattle airport this Wednesday - the busiest day of travel in the United States - I stopped at Subpop records and did some early Christmas shopping for the family.  I also got a sticker for the hard hat I've had since 1986.

It's rather large, but, after spending Saturday-Wednesday at a local power plant, and noticing my rather ancient hard hat was one of the LEAST stickers of the millwrights, crane operators, and field engineers at the outage, I wanted to adorn it a little bit more.  Now the stickers on the front won't be as lonely as they were previously.

I do find it interesting that NIPSCO, where I first wore my hard hat, has plants that are spread across Indiana, and some in Illinois, not in Indiana At All... but... that's corporate America. [I also wonder, of the 7 billion people in the world, how many of them have been to the exact same plants I've been to, wearing a hard hat, as I have... keeping in mind, that the power plants in Europe and Asia that I have visited, I did not take my own hard hat and wore one that site provided... so there's more than stickers-to-the-eye would reveal]