The trip 2008 (or an insiders guide to what can happen when flying standby as the parents of an employee of Sky West / Delta Airlines)

 

This was the initial trip to see Randi, Joe and Lydia…

 

We originally planned to fly to Nashville (via Atlanta) on red-eye service and back  to SLC after driving from Nashville thru Chattanooga to go thru the Great Smokey Mountains on the road to Decatur, Alabama…

 

All of this being done on flight benefits (flying standby when space was available on a flight) due to Rodger being an employee of Sky West Airlines…

 

We started out listed thru Atlanta and on to Nashville….

 

The Atlanta flight had tightened up (no seats were going to be available) and it was apparent that we were not going to be able to get on that set of flights… (litle did we know why Atlanta had tightened up... which can be surmised by what was learned later)

 

So….. with a little research we decided to embark (on what later turned out to be a grand adventure) … Through New York City… JFK to be better known …

 

It looked as if were going to be able to maybe even get 1^st class seats into Nashville after JFK…

 

However. Murphy got involved…. (and maybe this is why Atlanta had tightened up)

 

We made the trip into JFK not being able to sit by one another .. but at least we were on the way!

 

On the flight into JFK … I (Ted) got into a conversation with the flight attendants in the galley area of the aircraft … (remembering that the last time Ted had flown this same flight route had been on 10 September 2001 and we all know what happened the next day …)

 

Having landed at JFK we were immediately faced with the understanding that there were problems (that will be discussed later) at JFK due to a large rainstorm that had happened on Wednesday that would cause us problems throughout the next 30 hours with flights having been canceled and passengers having to be shuffled on other flights… (ah... this is what caused Atlanta to tighten up...)

 

Our flight to Nashville (as we found out about almost all flights anywhere out of JFK) was overbooked… so much that they were offering monetary incentives of the value of $200.00 (and according to some … $400.00) per each that would give up their seat to allow someone else to fly… so we missed this flight…

 

Working with the gate attendant he informed us that the next flight was “wide-open” and would be leaving out of “Gate 25” 4 hours later… “Gate 25” would become known to us as “The Black Hole”… he listed us on the flight thru “Gate 25” and saw no reason we would not be catching that flight…

 

While awaiting our boarding at “Gate 25” we talked to many people that had been at the airport for a couple of days … awaiting their own “Escape from New York”… one set of people had been there since Wednesday … spending one night in a hotel and the next at the airport… just trying to get to Denver… they had been scheduled and attempted to get thru many locations … and finally they escaped VIA Washington… (planning on going to Atlanta and then onto Denver.. we wish them well and hope that they were able to get home …) however they also left us with a tidbit of information that would come back to assist us in making a couple of decisions later…meanwhile … we were awaiting to leave thru “Gate 25 The Black Hole”…

 

Ok… let me take a time out here to explain about “The Black Hole” … at Gate 25.. the gate agents (2 of them at Gate 25) would call to load and depart up to 4 aircraft at the same time … passengers crowding through the gate … We do wonder if some passengers might have gotten on the wrong aircraft and ended up at places they didn’t plan on going to … however they did Escape …also … with aircraft coming and going at “Gate 25” we discovered that nobody ever came back thru the gate .. except maybe a wheelchair or an active Delta employee.. (Twilight Zone music comes to mind)…

 

Finally they called for our flight to Nashville … which of course was leaving 15 minutes late and right between 3 other flights that were leaving and boarding thru “The Black Hole”…

 

It has become a Hot day in NYC … and JFK had listed weight limits (Air density problems) on the aircraft and they were limiting how many seats could be allowed to carry passengers… and then there was some mix-up with the standby passengers being controlled by the gate agents and some passengers that might have been lower than us on the standby listing were loaded on the flight… and then the gate agents noticed that they only had one seat that they could offer us … we declined that seat as how could we be able to do what was needed (meet with Randi, Joe and Lydia… and introduce Colleen to them…)

 

We then came to the realization that maybe we were not meant to get to Nashville … at least at that time …and were rolled over to the next flight that was to leave at 8:00PM…

 

Prior to 8:00PM we met George… a Delta Airlines agent (at the main counter between Gate 25 and Gate 23) that was very helpful… he bent over backwards to see if he could list us anyway else… we had pretty much decided that the Nashville part of the trip was going to be a no-go.. and we might as well start planning on making it back to Salt Lake City…

 

George worked with us … and thought he had us at least out of JFK through Cincinnati (which of course is another HUB Terminal city for Delta Airlines which would give us a different variety of destination locations that might allow us to continue to Nashville or go back to SLC)… however when he checked that gate VIA telephone with the gate agent, the gate agent said that they had cleared that gate of its standby passengers and had no room available on the flight … (however George had checked it before and after he called… and found that the gate agent had cleared the gate AFTER hanging up with George - George said he will have words with that gate agent later...) so … we missed that one … (are you starting to keep count yet?)

 

George also listed us on a flight to LAX that would leave at 8:30PM… besides the Nashville flight at 8:00PM that we were listed on…

 

During this time we heard that there was a flight going to Chicago (out of Gate 25 by the way … twilight zone music comes back…) that was to leave at 6:00PM and it was being downsized from a 90 seat plane to a 60 seat plane… and would be delayed until at least 10:00PM and would use a different gate…

 

After working with George we decided to partake of an eating establishment “Sam Adams” (named for the beer) on the upper deck of the gate area we were at… we had time … and even though we had time … the service was delayed (kind of like our trip) but the refreshments were well worth the wait ( or was it the stress of the day was leaving us since we had decided to go home that made it seem that way?) and enjoyable…

 

After we finished eating we went back to “The Black Hole” and awaited our flight at 8:00 (according to the gate display board our flight was shown as “at the gate”) then it was changed to 8:15.. and then it again changed this time to 8:45.. and again to 9:00 so we headed over to the LAX flight and found that we would miss it by at least 15 seats … (but it did leave at 8:30PM)

 

Remember earlier we told about the people that were going to Denver? Well the tidbit that they had related to us was… “IF a flight is late… and getting later … it was that they didn’t have a flight crew and the flight most probably was going to be cancelled … This is what had happened to them a couple of times …” well … we contacted another Delta Airlines employee that was trying to keep people calmed down at “The Black Hole” and he found out that the reason that our 8:00 flight had been held back is that they did not have a crew for our flight…

 

That pretty much sealed it … even if our flight did leave at 10:00PM we were not going to be into Nashville with any time to get our rental car … and would have had to have stayed in a hotel in Nashville .. thereby shortening our time with Randi, Joe and Lydia…so we never even checked that flight again…. Just let it ride … and hope that someone else could use our seats (if we had gotten any) on their way to Nashville…

 

We started to look to see what other options we could do to get back west … (of course remember we had already attempted to go to LAX…) and looked at a late flight (11:45PM) to Las Vegas … planning on sleeping on the way .. .and enjoying the Las Vegas airport until finding a way to SLC…

 

We missed the flight to Las Vegas by 2 seats … (well actually 4 .. there were 2 other people in front of us … but still it was real close … )

 

After that flight to Las Vegas was loaded and gone … I went to chatting with the gate agent .. she worked her keys real fast … and found that the best we could do was to leave to DC in the morning and wind our way back to SLC… 

 

Having that settled (after being listed for the early flight to DC) we inquired about where in the airport we could find a place to sleep… and another young gate agent informed me where he felt we could be safe and secluded and get internet access so we could continue our quest on “Escape from New York”… it was a couple of small alcoves that had platforms where displays had been set up … and it had power receptacles … and would have been ok…

 

After getting ready to settle down for the night (having acquired a few of the Delta Airlines lightweight blankets at the Las Vegas gate) I started chatting with another gate agent that was just sitting in the dark at a terminal just a couple gates from where we were going to bed down… and we discovered that a flight was boarding across the way (remember the flight that was to leave “Gate 25” at 6:00PM that was delayed until at least 10:00PM, downsized and had its gate moved? Twilight zone music is appropriate again) that was going to Chicago and there were 2 seats available … WOW…

 

The gate agent got us listed … and off we went to the gate … where the next gate agent assigned us SEATS and out the gate door into the aircraft … and away from JFK….WE HAD ESCAPED!!!!!!

 

On to Chicago…. (3.5 hours of non-sleep… uncomfortable seats in an exit row .. however they were seats … and not at JFK!!!)

 

In Chicago (at O’Hare airport) we settled down for a few hours rest and connected to the internet with my laptop … and searched to see what options of flights we could come up with to get home…

 

What was found was a direct flight from Chicago to SLC at 7:45AM and a flight to Cincinnati at 6:00AM that might get us part way (even though actually heading a bit back to the eastern time zone but to a Hub Terminal for Delta Airlines…)…

 

We decided that we might have a better chance getting thru the Hub terminal in Cincinnati… and so we took the chance at the 6:00AM flight… Since it was a Sky West flight for Delta we also ended up higher on the standby list and actually ended up in 1^st class seating to Cincinnati… We were exhausted and both slept not wanting to be bothered thus not really enjoying the 1^st class seats except for the comfort…

 

Arriving at Cincinnati, we found we were listed on a flight to SLC that was leaving in 35 minutes from the far end of Concourse B (while we were at the far end of Concourse A)

 

So a beeline was made to get to that gate …. Fast … down Concourse A… down the escalator … between the concourses … up the escalator … down to the far end of the Concourse B … ( A “U” shaped course to make) only to find that we were way down on the list and would not make this flight by about 15 people…

 

Of course Colleen had heard (mumbled by someone at the gate in Concourse A that we had arrived at) something to the effect that there was a SLC flight leaving from that same gate that we had just left in about 45 minutes after we had landed (we had not seen this on the internet the night before)…

 

So off we went down Concourse B… down the escalator…. between the concourses…. up the escalator…. down to the far end of Concourse A … to the gate that we arrived at… to get listed for a possibility of making the flight to SLC by way of Denver…

 

However that was not to happen ..

 

We were informed by the gate agent that they could only guarantee that they could get us as far as Denver … we took it …. At least we would be back in the same time zone and would work from there to make our way back home to SLC…

 

Of course we boarded the very same aircraft that brought us from Chicago and was now taking us to Denver with the same crew,,, but now we were in Coach as opposed to 1^st class…

 

On to Denver…. The flight was pretty much uneventful… as I slept again (same as from Chicago) … something about being up for around 50 hours with only a couple little cat-naps here and there… and of course nearing 32 hours since we left SLC…

 

Arriving in Denver we immediately worked with the gate agents to get to SLC and were informed that most probably we would not get to SLC on this flight (which the flight number was going on but they had to change aircraft and crews… so all of the passengers and crew had deplaned and were now boarding for SLC…)

 

So… we waited patiently … and what do you know … 5 people that had purchased tickets did not show up for the flight … we ended up boarding and leaving on that flight (again not sitting together) and made it home… the whole trip SLC to SLC took 36 hours … leaving at midnight Thursday night (Friday Morning) and getting back at noon on Saturday…

 

In retrospect, a fun adventure was had by all… Alas, no visit with Randi, Joe and Lydia… but that may happen in a couple of months…

 

Ted…

Remember back in 2008 'The Trip 2008'? 

Well just as an addendum with some other information... 

For the past 4 years and a few months my lovely wife has been an employee of Delta Airlines so we again are flying Non- Rev Space Available (NRSA) whenever possible. 

We have had some lovely flights around the continent and into Hawaii. But the most interesting are the ones VIA Delta One service into and out of Amsterdam (all the way to and from Salt Lake City) and just the other day into and out of Dublin, Ireland (thru JFK) with associated flights to and from SLC. 

When going to Ireland we landed at JFK and used Gate B39. 

A few hours later to go from JFK to Ireland with again used Gate B39. 

Upon arriving back at JFK from Ireland we again used Gate B39. 

However, when it was time to fly back to SLC from JFK we were to use Gate C65... 

Something felt ominous and familiar about Gate C65... something kinda eerie... 

When suddenly I realized that Gate C65 was the new designation of Gate 25 after it had been somewhat remodeled in the past 10 years... 

We did not get a chance to study this gates operations as when we were watching to see if we were going to be able to leave we were almost downtrodden as there were 4 comfort seats and we were number 5 and 6 on that list and the normal list for other seats on the flight were way overbooked and we would most likely be bumped to a later flight or have to look for other routing to get home... the curse of Gate 25 seemed to be overshadowing our return... 

Something (karma like?) happened... maybe it was because of the original 'The Trip 2008' and all but we were called to the gate counter and were told there were 2 seats in comfort but they were separated and not together in fact they were also middle seats (as opposed to being window or isle) and we jumped on them... no problem... we were going to get home as we had planned without any other delays ...yay.... 

It appeared that the curse of 'Gate 25' had been broken...  

The seating on the aircraft for those 2 comfort seats had us at the most forward area of the comfort zone which meant (to my seat) no seat back tray in front me ... and the tray came out of the armrest... I have come to refer to these as the squeeze seats ... tight to get into, and totally defined boundary area between seat mates... I also had 2 normal large gentlemen in the window and isle seats and we were able to all fit ok. 

The seating for my lovely wife was a little different. She had a window occupying young lady that seemed to have to have her way in how she was served by the flight attendants and getting her snacks just the way she wants them and could you please drop everything and bring her a water since she missed out of the cups being served (for hydration) but no she wanted it in a bottle anyway and also to bring her the correct snacks she wanted... the Flight Attendant held his own and kept to himself but I think he was trying to figure out a way to make the ejections seat work for this young lady when she went to use the facilities... 

Her isle seat mate was a gentleman that was of middle stature. However, he late in the flight (about 2-3 hours in) opened a takeout container that was full of sushi... not just some leftovers but a full serving and it had been away from cooktops or refrigeration for at least 3 hours... she said it reeked ... and she almost gagged and on... 

But other than that we made it home and 'Gate 25' no longer exists and 'Gate C65' which replaced it holds no ill for us to travel thru it for now...

This is where I will place all the correspondence with and about the python...



Never the less, once while traveling I met a man with a python...

Heartbleed and (not totally related but) The demise of Windows XP

I have listed the following link about Heartbleed at the top due to it having a need to be disseminated as wide as possible.

http://blog.malwarebytes.org/online-security/2014/04/be-still-my-bleeding-heart-qa-on-the-heartbleed-bug/

Windows XP has been around for a loooong time and its interactive functionality will be missed.

I still have computers running older operating systems version (Windows 98 and Windows 2000 Pro) however those were not meant for the same audience as XP.

XP became the most widely used operating system for access to the Internet. It was in service for 14 years - pretty much the length of time that most people using the internet have actually used the internet. Sure Window 98 and others had ways to use the internet, but those were tacked on and used additional software that was not packed into the operating system from the get go.

The 2 major variants of XP were Home and PRO. The major usable difference being that the PRO version could be accessed remotely with a static / public IP address directly without additional software. In other words you did not have to use software applications as: GoToMeeting, GoToMyPC, LogMeIn or TeamViewer to name a few to be able to access the computer running PRO remotely.

XP would also run on PC's configured very minimally as far as processor power and memory storage especially when compared to what can be had on the open market these days.

If your PC is capable of upgrading to one of the later Windows version (Vista/7/8) then that would be the more painless route. HOWEVER do realize that if Microsoft can drop support of XP then eventually they will drop support of sub-sequent versions of the Windows Operating System as well.(Vista/7/8/9/10/11 etc... ) And by the way for those running Apple Products Mac - Apple also dropped support of their version that is only 5 years old - and did not generate any fanfare to inform users it was going to happen unlike Microsoft who has been pushing information out for the past year that XP was to have a drop dead date of support on 8 April 2014.

Do not fret-- unless you have proprietary software that needs an actual Windows (XP/Vista/7/8) Operating System there is a low cost alternative out there that can do almost all of what XP did and will extend the usable life of that old XP PC. Of course the main proprietary software is Microsoft Office so you would also need a substitute Office Suite (Libre office is included in Linux Mint).

Linux... do not cringe...

Linux has been around for awhile. There are many versions of Linux out there on the market. There are some that are more supported so they have service capabilities and a way to charge for support on their proprietary version. And there are others that are voluntarily (even though they will always accept donations) supported. One of the most favored is Linux Mint http://www.linuxmint.com/ . I have installed this on a few PC's and found that there are 4 basic Desktop variations to the latest iteration (16 - PETRA) there versions are Cinnamon, Mate, KDE, and XCFE. http://www.linuxmint.com/download.php . I personally have found XCFE to be more to what I have become accustomed to in similarity to XP.

With the installation of a couple pieces of software on the Server side and one on the Client side, Linux can be controlled remotely by other  Linux PC's as well as other Windows PC's in a seamless arrangement. The only problem occurs when the Linux server machine is used where a Windows Proprietary Operating System is needed to be used (IE: talking to another computer type device that has a special program built that runs on Windows and will not run on Linux).

I will leave you with this and will come back to discuss more in a later blog.

For those of the TL DR (Too Long Didn't Read) crowd:

XP is dead but can be replaced by newer or by Linux. Office will not work on Linux, but there is a replacement included with Linux Mint. Remote Desktop can be worked with Linux.

Enjoy!!!

Words...

The story starts out that when I was a young lad (not quite as far back as the dinosaur time...) if it had not been for the Montgomery Wards and Sears & Roebucks catalogs (which I perused endlessly and not for the girl underwear photos... well ok ... not for them at the time of my life...) I might not have learned how to read.

Even with my father being a journalist and a college level English instructor I still had not totally grasped the passion I have now for words...

My punctuation may be erratic, and my sentence structure may take a life all its own. However this is my own style of writing ( similar to my original style of typing using the Columbus System - Discover it and land on it...) that tends to flow more like my mind does... until I get the chell-specker involved...

So to get back on topic.... Words...

When I was engrossed in those catalogs a word kept popping out at me AUTOMATIC... there were AUTOMATIC Washers, AUTOMATIC Toasters etc... (oh yes: etc... is correct and is short for etcetera NOT EKCETERA as some people have a tendency to corrupt it... continuing on ) while being a young lad in the 50's and 60's it was the ATOMIC era... so I was doing my best to read the word AUTOMATIC as ATOMIC... my mind wanted it to be ATOMIC Washers, ATOMIC Toasters etc... but it just would not want to sound out correctly like that way too many letters...

Words would continue to pile up that had interesting meanings and those that were spelled the same that meant different things WIND, READ to name a couple... and of course those that can be spelled differently but pronounced the same TO, TOO, TWO, TU, II,  and 2.

Of course we must touch upon those that are just plain corrupted by many... JEWLERY for JEWELRY, AKS for ASK, NUKULER for NUCLEAR (which in itself has the word CLEAR in it)some are made light of by knowing people on purpose while others are just plain old either not caring due to how they learned it and not wanting to learn it correctly... as in ATOMIC / AUTOMATIC.

One comes to mind this morning CALVARY and CAVALRY. Calvary - where Jesus was crucified and Cavalry (looking back I noticed that I had myself written Calvary here instead of Cavalry) - Horse Soldiers as in 'Here comes the Cavalry' (Now knowing the difference can you imagine for a moment 'Here comes the Calvary' ?)

One of my daughters when learning to read was sounding out words as she read them and began to snicker. She informed me that I was the stinky one - not for what you might be thinking... but because my formal first name as THEODORE she sounded out and read as THE ODOR e... therefore The Odor has now become one of my nicknames (not well known maybe until now). I am glad that was NOT discovered while I was young. imagine the humiliation that could have been encountered...

You the readers (followers and all) may at times find your own words that keep you elated and or enlightened and with that I leave you this time with a snippet from my grandfather (and after it one that one of my daughters found and passed on to me... with a simple one from my mother in between)

My grandfather brought to my attention a different way to spell FISH as in GHOTI...
The GH was derived from tough, the O from the word women and the TI from the word action thereby when combined spell GHOTI or FISH...

My mothers simple one was using the letters MT on a box signifying that it was EMPTY...

And last, but of course not least, from Randi we have: ghoughpteighbteau or more commonly spelled Potato... look it up.... I can pretty much assure you it is not in the Montgomery Wards or Sears & Roebucks catalogs...

Ball in a Cup

There we were.

 

My lovely wife and I at the Salt Lake Bees home game against Las Vegas (the font on the Las Vegas uniforms is the one used for Star Trek (The Original Series)).

 

We were seated in the lower deck on the 3rd base side when Bees Right Fielder Matt Heim steps up to bat. He swings and misses and lets go by a couple balls. Then he whacks one real good... a foul ball into the upper deck on the 3rd base side.

 

We watch as it sails over our heads and way up in the upper deck out of sight beyond where we were sitting. Then all of a sudden here it comes flying crashing down almost right between Colleen and I landing right smack dab in the middle of her large cup of diet coke that was placed in the cup holder directly in front of her.

 

She had not understood what had happened ... however if she had moved any bit forward in her seat she would have been beaned directly.

 

The photo is of course a re-enactment as I had removed the ball almost immediately to force the claiming issue that it was captured and hers. Just one of those one in a million chances... maybe we need to go to Idaho and get lottery tickets or to Nevada and hit the slots...

 

Ted...

Thank you...

OK... It has been a while.... but that is about to end...

Many of you know that over the last 12 months (July 2012 thru July 2013) there have been many "trials and tribulations"  in my life... It seemed to start with my fathers passing and continuing on thru the end of an era with my mother closing up shop in Colorado and moving to Missouri where she will be closer to other siblings of mine if'n she needs some assistance. Of course I had my own interlude back in January 2013 which is suspected of having its genesis at thanksgiving time in 2012. This tuition brought me to understand a bit more about the gift of life and what it is to have support from those around you.

My lovely wife stood beside me in a way I hadn't yet experienced. She was there when I was out of it, and was there when I was recovering. She evidently had her own "come to Jesus" moments during this time where she relied on her minimal trust in faith. Her children and my children were even more assimilated into our children as they all assisted in keeping her sane. They all were there for her and for me. Their children prayed for me and my recovery. Their friends supported them and her as I was down and out for a couple of weeks. All this, I was unaware of but am greatfully thankful of, was going on whilst I was (with the assistance of my wonderful healthcare providers) recovering from the incident.

So, with all this having been said... I wish to extend a very exuberant  thank you to all of you who were there for me. I am extremely humbled by you for what you have done and continue to do for me.

Thank you...