Recently, the Transportation Security Agency (TSA) announced that it would lift restrictions on certain items from being brought onboard aircraft. They have announced that starting December 22nd, items such as scissors, large screwdrivers and other items will be allowed onboard the aircraft.

Did someone forget about 9/11? They used boxcutters to gain control of the aircraft. Anything one can do with a boxcutter, one can also do with scissors or a large screwdriver. A screwdriver through the neck is awfully darn lethal, isn’t it?

Was our government asleep at the wheel again when they allowed this to happen? What MORON thought it would be okay to bring potentially lethal weapons back on board an aircraft? What REASON do people need to bring a screwdriver on board? And scissors? Pack them in your checked luggage! I really doubt you need to carry that stuff on board. It’s not like going without a screwdriver or a pair of scissors for a couple of hours is going to kill you, unless you plan to kill others with them.

Very rarely do I side with the Democrats on law enforcement issues, as they usually try to make it harder to convict criminals, but this is one time that I say right on! We need to protect our flight attendents, pilots, and ourselves. We should not be making it easier for terrorists to seize control of another aircraft and begin another 9/11.

There’s a petition that’s been started by the Flight Attendants union (ugh… I also side with a union for God’s sake)… but this is for a damn good cause. I’ve already signed it… if you even remotely feel the same way I do, you should do the same.

Leave All Blades Behind Petition

Do it now, before we have another WTC disaster on our hands.

Well boys and girls, I have just arrived home from my last road trip. I go back to work tomorrow and I’m not quite sure how I feel about that. Spending the next three months or more in the office day in and day out. I know that’s what I’ve been wanting, but I realized something. While I’m not going to miss airports and finding hotel rooms and rental cars, I am going to miss the people I’ve worked with over the years, and the new people I meet in every store. I’m going to miss the freedom of the road.

In regards to the rest of my last trip (the New Orleans trip)… I must say that I never slept better while I was there. The bed in that hotel was the most comfortable bed I’ve ever slept on. I wish I could have packed it up and brought it home with me. By comparison, my bed is like a brick. Despite losing my cell phone, I had a lot of fun down there in New Orleans. The last day was beautiful, bright and sunny, perfect temperature… and the last ride over the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway was beautiful. I always enjoy spending time with my best customers. As always, I made a few new friends at the corporate level and had a good time getting a new site opened up for so many people who were getting tired of the same old thing and needed someplace else to go. Of course, I also made some special local friends down there; Krystel, Amanda, Jayme, thanks, you gals rock.

I also finally got to see some of the major devestation down there. WOW, what a difference a few miles makes. There was one county parish down there where practically everything was completely levelled. I also got to ride through Slidell, where a lot of news crews were broadcasting from and the flood damage there was astonishing. I had opened this customers first store there, and a lot of what I remembered was totally destroyed by flood waters.

So, that brings an end to the road trips… no more Redeyes and Rearview Mirrors… it’s time to move on to the next phase of my life… Let’s see where it takes me!

Good Morning America, how are ya?

Here I am in the City of New Orleans… helping one of my best customers restore his businesses. I always enjoy working for this customer, something about his attitude about the whole process, and of course, the fact that by now he’s a friend. Additionally, I’m staying right in the heart of New Orleans, next to the Superdome, at Le Pavillon, a very nice five-star hotel. They say this place is haunted… According to local lore, at least one young woman bedecked in jewelry and gown does indeed drift around the hotel with her male companion, while another female entity that seems to enjoy the finer things in life (and death) likes to linger at the lobby bar—a gorgeous antique made of tiger oak—near the baby grand piano. Meanwhile, a girl in velvet-strapped shoes also reputedly appears on the ninth floor from time to time. I haven’t seen any of these ghosts… too bad, and so close to Halloween too. If you visit the website, you’ll also find out why they serve peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and milk every night. That’s been a nice treat too.

The destruction here is not as easily evident that it was on the TV news. You can see where trees have been cut down, I’ve seen a movie theater ripped open like a tin can, cars that were looted, cars that were flooded, and there’s been a run on blue tarp. It’s on rooftops everywhere. Another thing you can easily tell is where the electrical grids start and stop. I’ve drove through various sections of town that have no electricity still. I hear theres still some flooding, but I haven’t seen any.

The only part of this trip that has me pissed off is that yesterday, while working in one of my customers stores, somebody stole my cell phone. I had set it down, in the back office to do some work, and when I came back, it was gone. Of course, none of the employees working there had any idea of where it is or what happened to it. So I’ve reported my cell phone stolen. Geez, you can’t trust anybody anymore. I have no idea how to function without my cellphone. I talk on it all the time. Worst of all, all my phone numbers are in my cell phone. If I had your phone number, I now no longer have it. I had no paper backup or electronic backup of the numbers in my cell phone. So, if you want me to ever call you again, you’ll need to email me your phone numbers.

Ugh, I’m so glad this is the final trip. At least the jacuzzi tub was nice last night on my poor tired legs and feet.

Didn’t I say I wouldn’t be traveling anymore?

Oh yeah, one more trip. Let’s send me to New Orleans, where there’s no hotels, three flights a day into and out of the airport and hardly any rental cars. What a great idea. Of course, it does get good… the only hotel available was a five star hotel in the heart of the Crescent City and the company has to pay $300 a night to keep me there. You know they’ll find some way to charge the customer the difference. Too bad, I like this customer too.

At least I’m technically helping the recovery of the area. I’m helping our customer reopen some stores that were closed due to Katrina. This should be fun. I’ll make sure to take lots of pictures to show you guys. Internet access is likely not to be available, so you may not be hearing much from me over the next several days.

Wish me luck!

I’ve been in Rapid City, South Dakota for the past week and the other day, I took a break from the grueling work load (which I’ll save for a rant another day) I’ve had here to go visit Mount Rushmore. I remember that my parents took me to Mount Rushmore once when I was about seven or so, but I didn’t remember much about it other than visiting the gift shop and getting a neat toy. So, I figured while I was nearby, it was time to go check it out once again.

It truly is amazing to see the “Stone Presidents”, as the locals tend to call Mount Rushmore, and to think that this project was completed in the late 1930’s-early 1940’s using nothing but dynamite, chisels and jackhammers and 1930’s technology. The carvings are very awesome. I learned a few new things about Mount Rushmore too… for example, I never knew that Thomas Jefferson’s face was originally supposed to be on the left side of George Washington. When the carvers encountered crappy rock on that part of the mountain, they had to dynamite Jefferson’s face away and restart on the right side of George, where the face is today. Also, in the original design of Mount Rushmore, Borglum wanted to include a carved inscription alongside the presidents. The inscription was to include the nine most significant events in American History and was to be carved on an 80 by 100 foot area in the shape of the Louisiana Purchase. The problem was that the text couldn’t be carved large enough for people to read it. So, Lincoln is now located on the rock the sculptor, Borglum, had intended for the inscription.

One thing I didn’t remember was a trail that leads closer to the mountain. You can get some great close up shots there. I found it quite amusing that these signs (pictured on right) were plastered everywhere around the walkways. The sign says (in case you can’t read it) that if you go past the designated walkways and hike on the mountain, you can get a $500 fine and spend six months in jail. That’s not an either/or situation… you do both. Now, what I’d like to know is how they figure six months in jail is equal to about 500 bucks? Make the fine higher!

Have you ever visited a national monument? Have you ever noticed that every time you go to one, there’s always a crazy group of German students there? Well, pictured on the left is the prerequisite group of crazy German students at Mount Rushmore the day I was there. They were all singing various 80’s hits and they sat here for about 20 minutes while one person took pictures of the group with everyone’s cameras… I swear there was like 50 cameras there.

How do I know that they were German? Sprechen Sie deutsch? I do. Now, whether they were actually from Germany, or local high school students that just happened to be in a German class? I’m not entirely sure… but they didn’t *sound* American… their English was too good to be Americans. They didn’t sound like a bunch of stoners, which a lot of high school kids sound like these days. And besides, who busts out into 80’s pop hits anymore as a group? They seemed to be just getting to the mountain as I was leaving, so I hope they had a good time.

I certainly enjoyed my trip. I have a ton of pictures to process from this, you may see more in the future. Too bad I didn’t get a chance to see more while I was here. I really wanted to see the Crystal Caverns too, but I’ll have to save that for another time.

I made it. I didn’t die on the flights from hell.

Yesterday on my flight from Denver to South Dakota, I encountered The Plane Nazi, a Flight Attendant that was going a little over the top. That, or she was a control freak, not sure which.

She definitely had the safety briefing memorized, that’s for sure… she also rattled off a bunch of supposed “FAA No No’s” that I have never heard another flight attendant mention. Best of all, when she was done with the safety speech, she informed all of us that if we needed to get something from the overhead bin, that we couldn’t get up to get it ourselves, she would come help us. And in fact, no sooner did we get in the air, someone needed to get into the bin.

Well… I was hungry. I wanted my Snickers bar that was in the side pocket of my bag that was in the bin. But, I anticipated that I would want the Snickers bar, so I positioned my bag so that the side pocket was accessible without getting the bag down.

So, being that this was a small plane. I could reach up and open the bin and reach the side pocket, all without unbuckling my seat belt.

The Plane Nazi saw this and flipped out! She came rushing to my aisle and said, “Let me get that for you sir”… I told her I didn’t want the bag, just something out of the side pocket. She insisted on getting the bag down for me. I told her again I didn’t want the bag. She then got the bag down for me. It took me two seconds to retrieve my Snickers bar and before she could even turn to walk away I said, “Thanks, now can you put this back up there for me since I DIDN’T WANT MY BAG? Other passengers were laughing. It was great.

Then as we were landing, we were instructed to put everything away. Usually this means laptops, cd players, objects with a lot of weight behind them. But no, not on Plane Nazi’s flight. The guy sitting across the aisle from me was berated for continuing the hold onto his water bottle… a water bottle? What the hell? I asked her if it was alright for me to hold onto my magazine that I was still reading…. She didn’t answer me, nor do I think she found that amusing, but the other passengers did.

So, Mesa Airlines operating as United, you have a strange one interacting with your passengers. You might want to review that one. In case anyone at United reads this… use the contact me button on the right, I’ll give you my flight details…

Leave it to current employer to screw up my last official business trip before I start my new job. Obviously the travel arrangers either hate me, or are pissed I’m not working on the road much anymore.

For my last trip, I’m headed to Mount Rushmore Rapid City, South Dakota… in order to get there, I’m flying United and changing planes in Denver on the way, and Chicago O’Hare on the way back. In Denver, I have a three hour layover after a three and a half hour trip from hell in one of those Regional Jets. Hey United! Atlanta to Denver isn’t a REGION… that’s practically CROSS FUCKING COUNTRY! Do you really think I want to squeeze my ass into one of those little tiny seats for nearly FOUR HOURS? Do you think the person NEXT to me wants to be shoehorned in between my ass and the wall of the plane (as I’m on the aisle… this time) for FOUR HOURS? What the fuck were you thinking?

Anyway, it gets worse…. from Denver to Rapid City, I’m on a flying deathtrap Dash 8, which is a tiny 37 seat airplane that doesn’t even have jets… it’s a TurboProp. Oh goody. I’m gonna die.

Wait… there’s more. On the way back, I said I fly through O’Hare, right? After spending 2 hours on another Regional Jet, I get to change planes at O’Hare in the middle of FRIDAY AFTERNOON RUSH HOUR, and I have one hour in which to do it. What a treat for me.

Then, when I finally get on a United Jet (Airbus A319), I get to sit in the middle seat. What a fucking joy.

At least my company stepped up into the early nineties and raised our personal vehicle mileage allowance to 30 cents a mile. Ooooo. Too bad the federal rate is something in the mid 40’s now.

I will not miss traveling with this company.

Some of you didn’t believe me when I said there was nothing to do in Santa Rosa, NM. So, yesterday I took a little drive and recorded my drive through the entire town of Santa Rosa. Unfortunately it turned out to be a huge file that would steal all kinds of bandwidth, so I can’t share with you. I can’t believe a 2 minute, 55 second drive through the main drag of town would create a movie file that large.

Anyway, I do have a photo tour for you. Please enjoy. Click the link for the pics… Caution: Dialup users this will take a while!

continue reading "A Tour of Santa Rosa"