Fun and Games Dept

It’s good to be home.

Does anyone know why airline passengers are so defiant when it comes to the “seat belts required” sign? A few moments ago there was a pleasant chime, followed by an announcement, indicating that it was now safe to use portable electronics but that passengers should remain seated with their seat belts fastened as the informational sign was still lit. This is indicative that someone important on the flight deck feels there could be unexpected turbulence ahead. I respect that, I get that and no one has really instructed me in this, I suspect that it falls in the “common sense” category.

The passengers on this flight are jumping up and roaming around the cabin like it’s nobody’s business. With 50 passengers on this flight, the flight attendant (his name is Roy) has a bit of a chore with keeping everyone safe. Why do passengers feel it is appropriate to just do their own thing? Are they too good for rules? Do they know better than the trained and qualified crew on this flight? Have people become so arrogant and ridiculous that they think they know everything?

I don’t know how my friends that are Flight Attendants put up with this sort of behavior. There’s a spiteful side of me that would love to give the passengers a little bit of extra turbulence just to give them something to remember. I wouldn’t do anything drastic; I’d probably bank around a few clouds or something. Maybe something to jiggle the ice in their drinks and demeanor a little bit. I know I’m capable of such a thing, given the right aircraft.

People. Please. If you’re on a flight and you feel you know better than the flight crew, please do your fellow, respectful passengers a favor and when the need to walk around arises and you decide to defy the instructions of the crew, just get out and walk.

The Mississippi River. I think. At least it should be.

Location:Fourche A du Clos Creek,Bloomsdale,United States

So I’m sitting over the wing of an Airbus A320 calling itself Delta flight 408. The emergency exit door is making a creaky noise. Hopefully it isn’t the ejection system. I can still breathe and it’s giving me a little breeze so I’m just fine. I notice the little things. And thankfully, it’s not as breezy as this.

I’m not wearing purple and green, either.

It has been a good week in this adventure called life and I’m happy that work afforded me the opportunity for this trip. I’m ready to get home though. A brief stop in Detroit and then I should be home in time for lunch.

Food is always a good thing.

The wifi on the A320 is working brilliantly and I am happy about this. Someone wretched about a peanut allergy so no peanuts for us today. Sigh. I was in the mood for peanuts. If you’re allergic to peanuts, I’m sorry to hear that, but just don’t breathe my peanut dust. It’s not hard. Take a Benadryl if you’re nervous.

I am resisting the urge to write some code on this flight, primarily because I don’t have a lot of elbow room. Someday I’ll be able to fly first class. By then someone else will probably be writing the code, though.

So this is the view from my hotel window in Allen, Texas. The freeway with the blurry cars is US Route 75. It’s always busy.

I’m in Allen, Texas on business this week. I’ve met the other members of the group I work in for the first time face-to-face and I have to admit that I feel more comfortable than I thought I would. I like these folks. It’s so much better when one can put a face to a name.

Tonight we had a team building exercise at a place called Top Golf and I swung a golf club for the first time in my life. I’m not good at it at all but I was able to hold my own and not completely embarrass myself. I was happy that I got up the nerve to golf in front of my co-workers! Perhaps a couple of beers helped the situation.

The training is going well and I think my eyes have only gazed over once or twice so far. Sometimes when there’s a lot of incoming data one can get overloaded. Reviewing notes and the like is certainly helping. I’m such a geek.

My theory about my insanity is holding true; I still sleep best in the Central Time Zone and I have absolutely no explanation as to why.

Since the advertised WiFi is not working on this flight, I thought I would try something else along the line of “firsts”. So I’m having my first in-flight alcoholic beverage.

I don’t know the name of the flight attendant that is working coach, but he is a handsome gentleman and he apologized for not having an orange to include with my Blue Moon.

The food choices are rather limited. My supper consisted of a can of Pringles, two free Biscotti cookies, a Diet Coke in a leaky cup and this can of Blue Moon. I see the first class flight attendant walking around with a submarine sandwich. Apparently that’s a first class thing only. Someone is going to have to let me fly somewhere via first class someday. Preferably on a 747.

That will be a grand blog entry entitled “Firsts”. In the meantime, I’ll enjoy my first alcoholic beverage on a flight.

So I was all excited on my flight from Syracuse to LaGuardia because there was WiFi. I confirmed that there would be WiFi on the 3 1/2 hour flight from LaGuardia to Dallas-Ft. Worth. I would be able to do my surfing thing and actually accomplish some things I wanted to get done online.

It was when we reached 10,000 feet and we were permitted to use electronic devices that they informed us that the WiFi on this aircraft was inoperative at this time. So, I paid $9.95 plus tax for a day pass of WiFi when I could have bought a shorter pass for the first flight today.

I wouldn’t say that I’m pissed off about this, but I do find it disappointing. If you’re going to scream about WiFi on your flights, you should make sure that your WiFi is actually working. Geeks get hostile when they’re promised an Internet connection and they don’t get it. I have several tech friends that have two internet connections at home so that they’re never disconnected. I have contingency plans for our internet connectivity at The Manor. While I’m sure that Internet connectivity is hardly a priority on a commercial flight, I do expect a company to come through on their promises.

So, Delta Airlines, you disappointed me a bit on this flight. I’m on a regional jet for three and a half hours, there is no entertainment available (though the three women in row 11 are amusing in an irritating sort of way) and now we have no WiFi.

Such a first world problem I know. I should have commissioned the LearJet.

So tonight Earl and I decided to mix it up a little bit try a restaurant at one of the local casinos for dinner. Normally we go to the ever-growing Turning Stone Casino but this restaurant is at Vernon Downs Casino, a much smaller venue that is trying to bring some year round pep to the aged horse track.

We knew it was going to be an interesting experience when Earl spotted a used condom next to the Jeep in the parking lot. It wasn’t ours.

The restaurant, Mr. G’s, was kind of meh. The ads showed an impressive bar space which led one to believe that it’s kind of like a pub. The truth of the matter is, the nice bar space is situated in one corner of this ballroom turned restaurant and quite frankly it had all the ambience of a hospital waiting room. Really high ceiling, foldable wall and one big fluorescent light fixture in the middle of the room. The food was decent, though Earl’s hamburger was kind of rare, but it didn’t kill us so we were satisfied. My beer was flat.

After that swanky experience we went into the casino, which only has video gaming machines. Since the ATM only gave out $100 bills, I put one in a machine and it was kind enough to let me take out $150 after three spins. I cashed in my ticket and called it a night. Earl had similar luck with his round of video gaming and we were out of there within a half hour. The condom stayed behind.

The slip pictured above is actually after Earl decided to play $5 on our way out. He actually came out ahead as well.

We decided to drive off to the aforementioned Turning Stone Casino where Earl played poker in the poker room and I watched people mill about for a few hours. I actually played one of my favorite games, “Count the Mustaches”. They were found on men both young and old and a couple of surly women. I didn’t include the ladies in my tally, that just didn’t seem like the galant thing to do.

Earl came out of the poker room with a wad of cash. We had a spot of dessert and decided to call it a night while we were still ahead in the game.

I think it was a good way to kick off the weekend.

I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night. I slept good when I actually slept, but I woke up around 0400 ET and I was unable to fall back asleep. So, I’m in the mood for a nap for the rest of this lunch hour.

There are men in their own cars on either side of me napping right now. I seem to have found the right spot for a nap today. Perhaps it’s the view of the snow bank that makes this the perfect spot.

So Earl, Jamie and I are sitting at the café at Barnes and Noble. It’s the closest thing we have to a Starbucks and it is fairly acceptable. I am curious as to how long this store is going to be here. The electronic age is slowly making books go the way of the dodo. There’s something not replicable about holding a book in your hand versus reading via an iPad, but people don’t seem to have that investment in classic things anymore. It’s kind of sad.

Speaking of classics, the man sitting across the aisle from us is using as 12-inch Mac PowerBook G4. These machines were always a great find back in the mid 00s, I have to admit that I would love to mess around with one just because they’re so cute. I shan’t have that chance, though. I hope the man that’s using it is enjoying it. It appears that he is.

Someone at work had the brilliant idea of programming a “time zone clock” into their application. This clock worked great for five days, until the infinite loop ran the server to a crash in the middle of a busy day. I would scold the programmer for his mistake but I feel funny scolding myself. At least it kept my afternoon interesting. It’s a good thing 1. Love my job, 2. They love means 3. I have a hot standby server at all times and that server isn’t a hot mess. Yay for uptime stats!

While at the gym earlier today I realized that a woman was glaring at me with a disgusted look. Turns out I was staring at her chest. She’s such a silly girl. I couldn’t care less about her boobs, I was more interested in the word “BACON” she had emblazoned across her chest.

I love bacon.