The waiting really is the hardest part

The waiting really is the hardest part

I think the only thing funny about my experience today was standing in the American West line the second time. It seems that people on the flight to Phoenix had not been informed that the flight had been canceled for many hours. The girl behind me screamed “America West is the worst airline on the planet!” I think she might be on to something there.

It really is hard to keep yourself occupied, doing essentially nothing for six hours. I feel like I’m living out that crappy Tom Hanks movie about him living in an airport.

The only thing interesting in the Philly airport, (and believe me, I traveled the whole thing) was the piece of “art” in the baggage claim area. It consisted of a bunch of track and various balls. The balls set off music by bouncing off various things. I have to respect the craftsmanship it must have taken to get the balls to go the right way every time. Maybe I can find a picture of the thing. It really was cool.

I had an odd experience at a Burger King when I was in Philly. The guy at the drive-thru seemed to take his job very seriously. He obviously was a transplant from Africa, based on the accent. He got me everything and sent me on my way. But he had forgotten my straw. I motioned to him and he asked “what?” “You forgot my straw,” I informed him. He shook his head as to indicate a profound disappointment with himself. I assured him it was going to be ok. When I got my straw all would be right with the world.

Next up: a six hour flight to Vegas and a two hour flight to Portland. I miss my family and I miss my new home.

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Vegas was fine. I played a few dollars in slots and video poker and then decided that was stupid. There are some really interesting people here. The ladies don't mess around. I mean if you're going to dress like a hooker why do it halfway.Check out the picture of these two lovely specimens that pretty much fell off the walkway and right onto a slot machine. Classy.

I took a few sleeping pills before I went on the last flight. I rested my head on the tray and I’m not sure I even feel asleep. The weird thing is I feel pretty good. By the time I get home I’ll have been up 23 hours.

They are boarding for PDX...

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Got home about 2:30 and went to sleep about 3:30am. Came into work for a few hours to do some emails. Everything is fine.

Thank you for flying America West…for the last time.

Thank you for flying America West…for the last time.

So my business finished up early here in Philly so I wanted to grab an earlier flight with America West. There were a couple of America West flights out of Philly and a few US Airways. I figured I’d at least get one.

Stupid, stupid man. After standing in line for 30 minutes watching the four idiots behind the counter try to figure out one ticket for one man, I learned the America West flights had been canceled. The agent informed me that the system with US Airways hadn’t been joined yet, so he couldn’t do anything.

So I said, “Fine, just check me in”.
“I can’t check you in until four hours before your flight”
“Well this is the last time I fly your airline.”

I wish I had a better retort, but I mean that’s all you can say then. If I do have a choice I never will fly them again. So, I leave Philly at 8:20pm, get to Vegas at 11pm and turn around to fly to Portland. I really wish I had more time in Vegas, but I pretty much will have to go directly to the next plane.

Right now I’m in an airport hotel restaurant, trying to pass the time. At least they have wifi.

Philly Cheese Pizza?

Philly Cheese Pizza?

Once I got on the ground yesterday, everything was fine. National gave me the option of one of two cars. Both were Sunbirds. One was gold, the other was red. I got in the gold car which was plastered with no smoking stickers. It smelled like smoke. I tried the red one, which lacked any no smoking stickers but didn't smell like smoke. I took the red one.

I discovered this afternoon that my rental car has a nice ding in it. I hope National does not try to blame me for that.

Work was pretty bland today. I shadowed one of our senior consultants out in the field. We did four plodding hours of work and then called it a day. Tomorrow will probably be even shorter. I might try to get an earlier flight back, but we'll see, because sitting in an airport for hours isn't fun.

Philly seems to have three things in abundance which I believe are someone connected. There are a million Pizza places in the city. There are about 10 pizza places within walking distance of my hotel. I've never heard of a Philly pizza, but I guess it's, as a friend described it, "an east coast thing". There was even a pizza ad on my hotel key card (pictured left). I simply can't express how many pizza places there are here.

There is an abundance of fat people. No doubt this is connected to the abundance of pizza places. People have no choice and therefore must eat at aftermentioned pizza joints.

Lastly, there is an abundance of strip joints. The way I see it, men become so fat and disgusting on the pizza that they must buy the companionship of a woman.

So that's Philly in a nutshell. I think Springsteen nailed the tone of this place in that song.

Oh, I had pizza for dinner.

Philly

Finding the airport was fun this morning. I think the rule in Portland is to make everything as difficult as possible to find.  Once people get on the right route DO NOT provide helpful signs so that people know they are heading in the right direction.

When I got on the plane the pilots were doing the diagnostic tests with the cockpit door open.  I'm glad they have a helpful computer voice to tell the pilot "pull up, terrain!", but it's the last thing I want to hear when I board a flight.

The in-flight movie was Mr. and Mrs. Smith, which is pretty terrible.  Take a somewhat promising premise, extend it far too long, and throw in as many bland action scenes as you can.  The movie lacks any tension because we know when the movie starts neither of the characters are in any danger.  With that as a forgone conclusion, the only tension is how they resolve it all.  It's not done well here.

I have a connection in Cincinnati where I will probably post this.  I should arrive in Philly around 10 pm EST.  Then I have an hour drive to the hotel. Blah.

The landing was really hard.  I've been on a lot of flights and it wasn't good.  I have no wifi access or mobile access to the internet.  I may die of boredom.

You'll be in on Monday, right?

You'll be in on Monday, right?

I spoke with some of my old colleges from my previous employer in Houston. They told me on Saturday the management team was calling their teams telling them to report for work on Monday. This after a near miss from a hurricane pretty much depleted the city of gas and groceries. This after the mayor asked people to not return to Houston until neccessary. It's truly unconscionable the way some people do business. Even if you are responsible for a company, I think you still have to have some shred of decency left.

If you treat people like that indefinitely they do two things: They stop trying at their jobs and the look for a way to leave. Each one cost much more than what one gets out of harassing people to show up at any cost.

I have to fly out to Philly tomorrow for a few days. I've never been, but I'm not really excited either.

Treo software

Treo software

So, I've been playing around with the Treo for a few days now. I've found a few good games. Monopoly is incredible and Dope Wars is fun too.

What I have not been impressed with is how useless much of the software is. Do you need a dictionary of spices? How about a tool for tracking your thoughts on movies? No, me neither.

I've been playing a lot of poker lately and having awful luck. If I have AA, someone will beat me with JJ after the hit a set on the flop. If I have KK, they'll call my raise with A8 and hit a set on the flop. If I have a straight on the turn and go all in, they will call and hit a full house on the river.

Maybe it's time to quit.

dentist

dentist

I went to the dentist this afternoon to have my teeth checked out. I had not seen a dentist in years, so I was not very optimistic about how it was going to go. It doesn't help that they make you put that uncomfortable thing in your mouth to take x-rays and they poke your gums with a metal pick until your gums bleed and your eyes water. After that kind of treatment you expect them to batter you.

Since my last visit, dentist offices have gotten pretty high-tech. They tracked everything by computer and showed me a diagram of where my cavities are on a flat screen monitor mounted on a swivel arm. This seemed excessive, but I was happy they didn't feel the need to show me picture of dental neglect. They instead had a calming purple flower as the display wallpaper.

Fortunately, I only had two cavities, which I think is not too bad considering it had been so long since my last dental check up. I will be going back in two weeks for a cleaning and the two fillings.

I think I'll celebrate with some candy.

Treo

Treo

It appears my friends and family in Houston is going to be spared most of Hurricane Rita’s wrath. So that is something to be happy about.

Work set me up with a Treo 650 today (pictured on the left). It’s basically a phone/PDA combo with a big emphasis on email, phone, and schedules. As far as these wireless devices go, it's leagues better than the, somewhat inflexible, Blackberry. The best part is it has a camera which will allow me to take crappy low-res pictures of my non-adventures and annoy my friends and family until I grow tired of the novelty.

For example, check out the picture of this nutty protester in Pioneer Courthouse Square. I wish I had some witty commentary to go with this picture, but the picture will have to do for now.

Disasters are post-modern

Passengers on a recent Jet Blue flight were trapped helplessly on a plane ad it circled for hours due to stuck landing gear.  There’s nothing special about that except they were able to watch live television feeds of the drama unfolding on the plane.  They were participants in their own life or death televised show.  

It doesn’t stop there.  Friends of mine waiting for Rita to bear down on them in Houston are currently watching the hurricanes progress online minute by minute.  They are prepping their cameras to take pictures of the damage and post it on the internet.  After hurricane Katrina, maps integrating New Orleans flood data and Google maps sprung up overnight.  People didn’t have to wait to know the fate of their homes; they only had to check the proper internet sites.

When disaster strikes, we are slowly becoming our own stars in the drama.  Take Todd Beamer, a passenger on the hijacked United Airlines Flight 93 on September 11th, 2001.  Through a conversation with his wife, he discovered the terrorist that had taken control of the plane meant to use it as a suicide plane, killing everyone on-board.  Beamer had to know he would probably die and how he would be remembered.  

We’ve gone past the point where we consume the media that is relevant to us.  We have become our own stars in an unfolding drama, whether that is on a blog for others to see or on our own desktop for just us to experience.

Houston in Trouble

I’ve talked to a few of my friends and family in Houston and it sounds pretty awful.  The city is being evacuated and the freeways are packed.  

My brother saw an almost riot at the local Walgreens when the store closed and refused to fill any prescriptions, including one for anti-rejection medication by a recent transplant patient.  The district manager responded with a “too bad” and was escorted off by the police, because I don’t think the waiting crowd was going to let him go that easily.  

Mobile towers are overwhelmed; so many calls are not going through or are dropped unexpectedly.  I’ve asked everyone to stay in touch, so we will see.

One thing that the last few weeks have shown is that society doesn’t require that much to fall apart.  Your government can’t protect you.  We idealize things but in the end it’s every person for themselves.

Houston and Rita

I recently moved from Houston to Portland, which has been great.  It seems even better now that a category 5 hurricane, Rita, is bearing down on Houston.  Other than one particularly nasty day of rainfall, where I was trapped in a Denny’s parking lot for a few hours, I never had a huge issue with the water.  So I think I escaped just in time.

Houston has been in turmoil since Katrina refuges flooded into the city weeks ago.  The hotels are pretty full all over the state so I have no idea where the people fleeing Galveston Island and Houston will go.  I’m just happy none of this is my problem right now.
  

Oh, the MAX

For the uninitiated, the MAX is name of the light rail train system that travels through the city of Portland. I’m always amazed at the activities I see on the trains. This past weekend I rode with a man that decided a public train was a great place to trim his nose hair. Who knew?

This morning I saw a couple of lovers making out, which confused me for a few reasons. According to The Portland Mercury this is a fairly common occurrence. They received 600 police complaints about lewd activity on the MAX Blue Line. 85% of that activity was homosexual in nature. Good fun for the whole family...errrr something. (source: http://www.portlandmercury.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=33883&category=23483)