Flying in the post 9/11 era

For years I've flown on business. Been one of those Platinum Elite people, lots o' miles. Looking at my statistics the other day I discovered that with one airline alone I've logged over 1.2 million actual flight miles in 9 years...I knew I was gone a lot!
All of this is to say, I've done my share of time in airports, on planes, per and post 9/11 and I have to say these are the things that stand out the strongest.

We're all a lot more polite to the security and airline people post 9/11. No more screaming and yelling at the gate or ticket agents when your flight is cancelled, luggage lost, tickets or reservations screwed up....we're all appropriately afraid of incurring the wrath of the Homeland Security types and winding up with our name on that heretofore mystery list of people who routinely get pulled over for extra security checks...or worse are refused the "right" to fly commercial airline flights at all! I use the word "right" loosely here - it's not a privilege, more like a trial these days.

Prices up, flights overbooked, airlines losing money hand over fist - OK, I admit I understand the problems, but really - how is this possible?

Americans as a people are getting heavier every year - yet airlines keep making the seats in coach (and yes in first too!) smaller and closer together.....you figure it out - they truly don't give a flying $%^& about customer satisfaction or comfort anymore - that is clear. Oh, and am I the only one, but have the frequent flyers out there noticed that some airlines (based in Newark & Houston - starts with a C - just a hint) have started cutting the number of seats in first to the ridiculous. I've been flying the same 2 flights on a nearly monthly basis in and out of a major city in the US for the last 5 years - in that time the plane size stayed the same but the number of seats in first has shrunk from 14 to 6 - yes I said 6!

Airline "alliances" you know - Sky Team, Star Alliance - what a load of horse hockey. What this means is yes you can use your accumulated miles on more airlines - but so can all those other smucks with 90 gadzillion miles saved up - result - no one can get the flights they want. And, sorry, but being platinum used to mean you were guaranteed an upgrade into first - no questions - not anymore, because now you're competing for that handfull of seats with platinums from 7 other airlines!

Security checks - I'm not going to get into this in print - I don't want to wind up on that "list"!

Time spent in airports in lines - has increased exponentially in the last 4 years.....I figure I've spent the equivalent of an EXTRA 7 days a year in airport lines now than I did in pre 9/11 days.

So why do I do it?

Good question!

I think it has something to do with a paycheck and a lifestyle.....or maybe it's just that I refuse to crumble and give in...

Things I've learned over the years

We all wind up with a small collection of wisdom which ultimately is useful only to overselves and possibly a small group of scattered people in similiar circumstances....here I share some of mine with you....things like....

it's best not to leave crayons on the car seat in the summer...

travel always sounds better than it actually is...especially post 9/11

spouses don't really want to hear about what's going on at work......they've heard it all already! Save the urge for the truly spectacular story....

never tell strangers you are in publishing, no matter what level or type of job you hold, unless you want to be showered with unasked for manuscripts for stories only a monkey could love...

should you climb the ranks in publishing and actually become A publisher......never tell anyone!

the day you decide to take the afternoon off will be the day all #$%^ breaks out in the company...

karma.....it is powerful.....handle with care

two dogs are not better, easier and will definitely cost more than twice what one costs!

I think that's all the wisdom I can handle for today....

Hot Hot Hot

I am so tired of this unrelenting heat and humidity! It drones on day after day, making you want to stay inside in the cool air conditioned house...till you start to feel like summer is flying by and you have some weird form of cabin fever. Then you open the door. Smack in face it hits you. Heat. A wall of heat. You bravely step outside, perhaps a breeze will come to stir the air...no. The only air movement is caused by the buzzing wings of the mosquitoes and flies as they swarm around you sensing fresh blood. You blunder on, waving your arms, looking like some deranged person running for your car. You jump in and slam the door. Yow! Your hand seems to actually sizzle as you touch the steering wheel. Thank god you wore jeans or your legs would be melded permanently to the red hot seats. Your turn the key, the engine roars. You desperately crank up the AC hoping it will magically cool the unbreatheable air you are encased in. Finally it starts to cool a bit.....aaaaa, that's better. You go to put the car in gear when it hits you - wherever you go, you are going to have to make this crazy dash from car to building and then back out to the car again to return home....it hardly seems worth it - hmmmm perhaps a drive through is the answer - OK. You drive to the local fast food joint. Rats, you have to roll the window down to order, pay and get your food - but if you really turn the fan and AC up full blast it won't be sooo bad, right? You order - get your food, pay your bill and quickly roll the window back up. Now what? If you drive home with the food, the frigid blast of the AC in the car will render your hot juicy burger inedible (they never are the same after microwaving) if you eat it here you will have to leave the AC and engine running...further endangering the already fragile environment with those petroleum fumes...you decide to drive home - but as fast as possible and still not wind up wrapped around a lightpost, or pulled over by the local cops. You make the last turn, hit the garage door opener and prepare to make the dash through the buggy outdoors back to the safety of your home...only now your attempts at swatting the flies away is hampered by the bag, keys and cold drink you're balancing. You turn the key - throw the door open and shut as fast as possible letting in only one small - but thoroughly annoying fly who will elude your attempts as fly homicide for at least the better part of the afternoon. You collapse in a chair at the table, enjoy your still sort of warm lunch, slurp the last sip of your cold drink and realize you left your cell phone in the car, innocently sitting on the front seat, plugged into your lighter socket, quietly sucking up the power from your car battery.....and you wonder, how long until Fall?

Thoughts on a Friday in the summer

Why is it so hard to get any work done on a Friday afternoon, especially in the summer?
And why does every Friday afternoon seem to bring with it some crisis (real or imagined) that is impossible to take care of before the end of the day - usually because at least some of the people you need to solve it have already left, or gasp taken the day off! And so, there you are, not only feeling grumpy and abused because you have to work, but you wind up carrying little bits and pieces of this crisis all weekend until finally it can be taken care of on Monday!

Those long Friday afternoons - they seem to drag on forever from 1 till 5 (or in my case 6 or 7). Each hour is like a day in itself, while the weekend ahead sits tantalizingly close, glimmering like an oasis in the desert of the workaday world. Ohhhhh Saturday, the things you will do, the fun that will be had, tasks that will be accomplished, it's mindboggling! Yet in your heart you know that it would take ten people to do all that, cram all that into just one day. And still, each week we continue this crazy course, putting all the fun of the week off till Saturday - glorious Saturday.
LOL! OK, I've yet to have a really fabulous Saturday! And I have a spouse who chronically overbooks his time on Saturday.....hmmmm. Perhaps it's time for a change, time to stop putting all the fun off till that day of mythic proportions "next Saturday". Time to start snatching bits and pieces of that fun during the work week!
What's that! DURING THE WORK WEEK! Someone call the work ethic police - this one is becoming a slacker!
Well, I guess there's always Sunday......