All posts by cs

price check

social

Dang! I wish’d I’d stocked up on R-134a last summer… The price has easily doubled. I got a clue — browsing the AutoZone and not finding the A/C supplies for garage do-it-yourselfers. The stuff is now too pricey to set out. Would be easy pickin’s. They keep it locked up. Dupont has the market cornered says the sympathetic cashier. Cost of oil blah blah blah. Gotta keep cool. Hopefully, it will only take one can to blow ice cold.

TPA layover

jogging, places

Safety Dinning. Settling in to a booth for a late-lunchearly-supper at the P.F. Changs I decided on Kung Pao. Chad, the waiter, makes note of my choice and then asks: any dietary requirements or allergy concerns ? [blink] Maybe Chad is gun shy? Another patron didn’t survive his meal? We live in a litigious society and must sign a release acknowledging that the coffee is really hot? Naw says I. Jazz it up. I take full responsibility for myself. and Chad dispatches my order to the kitchen. Perplexed from this interview , I realize that it’s the PEANUTS (listed in the menu description, although, a fine print disclaimer on the menu might have been more PC) Ah so! But I have an iron stomach. Those slippery buggers are a challenge with the chop sticks though. You have to position them from 12 O clock high otherwise they squirt away. Hard to nab one at a time.

Google Earth Placemark

trying to maintain

flying

Dealing with “Time on task”, “Circadian Rhythm” and “back side of the clock”. Decided to start off with a $4.99 breakfast buffet at Terrible’s (hotel and casino) but first — a brisk walk to the strip. The place looks different in the sunrise with fountains and glitter switched off. There’s the usual smokie crowd nursing drinks and still trying for that elusive good luck win but I was struck to find the place alive with regular people out pounding the sidewalks jogging. Personally, I’d save it for a natural wood or in this neck, a desert trail, but you’ve got to get it when you can. Got to avoid a morning cat nap. Will struggle until late afternoon supper and then siesta for our midnight show and the dreaded red-eye.

Las Vegas (baby!)

flying

T’was my first flight out west, the co-pilot’s first line flight since training, a cabin packed including the company C.E.O (sampling the product) and the flight attendants are all wearing St. Patties Day lime green hair wigs. We’re 5 minutes prior and still no sign of the Gate Gourmet which could be critical since they have the mini liquor bottles and there’s a bachelor party onboard amid many other hopefuls. The other half of the crowd will likely snooze and conserve themselves for the “I Do” city. Fearless leader uses his operational authority to hold the flight for commissary. After all, he just finished making a very nice, long winded welcome PA going on about how nice the airline is… and how we have the most leg room and comfy leather upholstery and… The flightdeck crew can (will!) make the time up enroute. No pressure or anything 😉 Highball it! Las Vegas we are coming!

trail

jogging

The Washington and Old Dominion right of way is 100 feet by 45 miles. The trains stopped in 1968. Virginia Power strung towers and transmission lines while the NVRPA built the greenway. The length is paved for cyclists and a parallel utility road of crushed rock and sand serves as a bridle access. I used the dirt path for my exercise as it offers more cush, and to avoid mixing it up with the fast 2 wheeled traffic. Starting from mile marker 21 I followed this route to the Sully Rd. overpass just short of marker 24 before doubling back.

Google Earth Placemark

and the meek shall inherit…

opinion

Once proud mainline carrier, and in its second bankruptcy in so many years, US Airways has exhausted its ability to attract capital. In a last gasp it has secured financing from Wexford LLC and the Eastshore Group. These are corporate shell names for regional airlines, Chautauqua and Air Wisconsin which have each ponied up 125 million. One would hope that these two have first dibs on assets because their gamble could end up being only a noble contribution to US Air’s struggle. At their current rate of burn, and even though that’s a lot of dough, the 250 million equity commitment is a mere donation. Not likely that these regional carriers are buying their jobs just to hang on to feeder contracts. The evolution of the regional airline industry is amazing as they transform and influence more than anyone would have imagined. It wasn’t long ago when these carriers were known as “commuters”. Could it be that this is an epic David vs. Goliath transfer of the old guard industry shake up? Or, is it yet another string of naive investors in aviation with ego and money to lose?

go wifi

social

A hotel’s Business / Computer Center — the modern day equivalent of the public phone booth. People lined up outside the cubicle impatiently rapping on the glass door, “R U almost off?”. Don’t know about phone booth etiquette? Whatsa phone booth?

higher level of consciousness

jogging

I felt self conscious to strip down to my shorts and running shoes. I was still some distance from any actual beach and could be there was some local ordinance about being shirtless on the outside of the SPA. The sidewalks of Palm Beach are lined with Bling and paved with Palms. Jogging across the ICW drawbridge from West Palm, I was struck that every other brick and mortar is a Private Bank, Brokerage House (private), Yacht Sales or Exclusive Realtor’s Office. A Jaguar Showroom that I passed had massive plate glass windows though which I counted seven (7) Aston Martin Coupes and Convertibles. The other sub-six figure luxo cars inside and on the lot were mere filler. I moved to a less traveled side street of multi-million dollar Villas, also lined with Palms and each of them well manicured (otherwise the dayhelp’s Kia might be pelted with palm fronds or falling coconuts). Very Rich. I’m the only one on foot. Everybody else is in a creme color Bently wearing topsiders, off-white slacks, polo shirt and panama. Better keep my shirt on.