Merry Tossmas

Pursuit of Excellence..or the lack of

Has the pursuit of excellence died or did it take the last bus out of town? I'm guessing a bus trip because if it wanted to get out of town quickly, a trip on Delta, United or Pinnacle (a Northwest regional out of Memphis) would have it at the terminal still guessing when it would board.

After a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday, I reluctantly caught a Northwest Airlines flight out of Baton Rouge and arrived 15 minutes late in Memphis. Exiting the plane, I checked the monitors and scrambled from the B terminal as quickly as I could, thinking I only had 10 minutes before boarding time at C1. Even though the monitors said the flight to Grand Rapids was at 6:40 PM, there was nothing on the monitor behind the desk that even mentioned Grand Rapids, so I waited in line until the old guy (my age) finally acknowledged me. "Grand Rapids?", I asked. "Yep, it's here", he remarked, not elaborating whether it was late or on time. The other guy behind the desk acted clueless about the GRR flight and Pops said to him, "I have two flights outta here". I took that as a positive so I backed off. Within a few minutes there were still no indicators on the board and wondered if I
was really at the correct gate so I walked down another 30 feet to gate C2 and asked the clerk if it was true that 5924 to GRR truly was flying out of C1. "Yes, that's correct", she said politely, so I sat down and waited. After the time had come and gone that I should be on the plane, I asked Pops again when boarding time would be. Pops turned his head, muttered something unintelligible and wandered off. Had I not thought I'd get arrested for causing a disturbance, I would have thrown a hissy-fit right there amongst them. Not believeing I couldn't get an answer, I picked up my carry-ons and walked up the terminal to the bank of monitors and saw that my flight had now been changed to 8:19 PM. When I returned to Gate C1, there was a female agent there and finally got an explanation out of her. Finally, an announcement over the system told us that there was a delay and they were waiting on a plane from Nashville to use on the Grand Rapids flight.

False hopes in hand, Pops' shift replacement had as bad of an attitude as he did and sat in one of the lounge seats overlooking the tarmac. He would get up and do something when the female agent seemed overwhelmed with passenger needs and complaints. At 9 PM, a group of passengers gathered at the gate desk to ask exactly when we would get an update. She made a call and explained that the departure time had come and gone with no call to board had been given. Finally, at 9:20 we boarded the plane and had sat there for another 30 minutes when the flight attendant announced we didn't have enough fuel and were in the process of refueling. Oh, and the lavatory isn't working so don't even think about needing it. Other passengers called on cell phones to friends and relatives who would be picking them up, while I tried to get through to the local desk at my car rental company. I tried unsuccessfully to talk with Benny in India but the accent barrier proved too challenging so I thanked him and called back to see if I could find an Indian that could stand toe to toe with me in vocabulary skills. On the third try, a lady Indian patched me through to someone in Grand Rapids who promised he would wait until my arrival before shutting his termial down.

At 10 PM we are pushed out to the runway and have and an ETA in Grand Rapids of 12:35 AM. I would be needing that lavatory by then.

One would think as much as I've flown, I would have taken all this in stride but somehow this time it was more than I was willing to accept in good nature. I don't know whose fault it is, whether it's Pinnacle flying for Northwest or Delta which shared the flight with them and Continental but almost every horror tale of delayed flights, missing luggage or completely missed connections had Delta or Pinnacle's name connected to it.

I believe Pops and his buddy must have scored a "D" on the Customer Relations exam.

Thanksgiving

It was a great Thanksgiving weekend, although my Mama couldn't come down. We hung out with, at various times, all our kids, grandkids and nieces and nephews. There was a lot of delicious food cooked up and brought to Rob and Janet's (brother-in-law/sister-in-law) who were our hosts for the day.

Heck, I even managed to get on Boudreau at some point every day even though some rides were cut short by rain.
After everyone had packed up and moved on, Darlene remarked that she was going to miss all the voices, babies crying and mass confusion as we tried to get around to hug necks and see everyone.

Sexagenarian

Main Entry:

sex·a·ge·nar·i·an

Pronunciation:
\ˌsek-sə-jə-ˈner-ē-ən\

: a person whose age is
in the sixties

Darlene had the time of her life today, turning sixty. We had a little gumbo over at Laurie and Blaise' Saturday afternoon attended by Darren, Donna, Jared, Jaime and an assortment of close friends, grandkids, nieces, nephews, neighbors, cousins and a couple of dogs.

Darlene Albritton

She was the queen, the lady of honor and the bell of the ball.

Newsbusters.org

There's something about Newsbusters that just cracks me up! Try this for a "different" angle.

The Golden Compass and the anti-religionists

A friend sent me one these fwd: fwd: fwd emails that I almost dismissed but I opened it, read it and eventually checked out the Snopes link about it. Apparently, there's a soon to be released new children's movie coming out based on The Golden Compass (His Dark Materials), a trilogy by Phillip Pullman. Basically, it's an anti-Narnia book of sorts. If you're familiar with C. S. Lewis' Chronicals of Narnia and the Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe, The Golden Compass is an atheist's answer to it.

The sad thing is, Nicole Kidman is one of the stars of this movie and some hope the movie will drive a demand for the anti-religion children's book just in time for Christmas. You can verify all this at the urban legend dispelling site, Snopes.com.

When will all this stop? Probably not while we're still on this earth. While my first reaction was to be offended, I stopped and thought, God's bigger than all this and He will get the last shot on it, all in His own timing. Pray for Mr. Pullman and Ms Kidman, they will need it.

The Kingdom of Cornflakes

(click pictures to enlarge)
Since I was a kid, I've always seen names like Battle Creek, Michigan on cereal boxes and so the image of Michigan being the corflake kingdom of the world was pretty much set in my mind, just like Detroit makes you think of the auto industry.

Since leaving Ada, Michigan back in February, I had not given much thought about ever coming back up here. Fortunately, this time, I arrived in the fall instead of mid-blizzard like the last time.

Ray, the other guy I'm working with, and I took a drive over on the shores of Lake Michigan to the village of Saugatuck Saturday. Really a nice day driving through the colors of red, yellow and orange. He's from west Florida so we both agreed it was really nice seeing real fall colors. Usually, at home, the leaves go from green to the ground before much change.

Worth noting, is the fact that Lake Michigan is like being near the ocean when the wind whips up the waves and somehow your mind keeps telling you it's the Pacific. It even includes sand dunes much like you'd find in places like the Oregon coast.

Looks like I'll be here past Thanksgiving so I started scrambling today for some tickets home. Usually I don't get them this early but knowing what it's been like in the past, I thought it best that I put my name in the hat already.

So, I'll be hanging out in the cornflake kingdom for a while when I get back.

Boudreau and The Myrtles

(Click pictures for larger view)

<------Louis & Jan

Having finished up a pretty intense week in Arlington, TX, the kind folks at American Airlines capped it off Friday with baggage mishandling and a couple of hours delay for my arrival home. Already dealing with some kind of stomach bug, it all made for a particularly long day.

With no particular plans, Darlene and I visited our friends up north of St Francisville. We, along with Louis, Jan and her sister Denise enjoyed the buffet lunch at the Myrtles there in St Francisville. It was a nice leisure lunch with tables resting on the bricked patio where a couple of black house cats twined through our legs as the girls swapped folklore tales of haunted experiences here. A Red Tail Hawk watched us from the top of a Cypress tree and eventually flew off in search of it's own lunch buffet.

After spending a little time, we checked out some kind of "festival" of sorts, looked a few restored cars and enjoyed a retro band playing their interpretation of Pure Prairie League, Van Morrison and a few others. After driving up to Louis & Jan's place, we let our hearts and minds wander by looking at a few lakeside homes for sale before turning south back to Baton Rouge.

All day long, Darlene had told me I should buy that motorcycle I've been wanting ever since my brother-in-law came and took the Sportster away 7 years ago. I had pretty much made up my mind that if I were to buy, it would be a Japanese bike because they used ones were so much cheaper. With absolutely no intention of going for a Harley, Darlene and I dropped off for a look at the local HOG pen on Siegen lane. Before I realized it, a dead serious, heart throbbing lust for a red on black FLSTC Softail Classic had settled on me and wouldn't get off. Vowing I wasn't going to "write a check today" to Bob the salesman, I left there at closing time with VIN numbers and name and phone of the previous owner of the contraption folded into my sweating palm.

I muddled all day Sunday and that night about whether I should buy it or and wasn't really sure one way or the other when I went back Monday morning for further looking and drooling. Long story short,I now own "Boudreau" (named after the original owner). The irony of all this is, the moment I signed the papers to take possession, my cell phone shattered my living dream and now found myself booking flights and hotels to Grand Rapids, Michigan. If that call had come in 30 minutes earlier, I probably would have delayed and backed off the deal but now, I'll have only this photo of "Boudreau" and the memory of the roar of those Screaming Eagle pipes to entertain me until I get home in a couple of weeks.

Oh, by the way, the critics hated it but the movie, Wild Hogs was a hoot. I loved it and recommend it for a rental.

Yeeeeeeeeeeeee....Haaaaaa!!!!!!

Friday, October 19, I thought I had a long weekend off but that fantasy came to a screeching halt when the powers that be called around 2 PM with news from Arlington, TX. At first my plans were to be there for Monday morning but the second call from the mother ship had me driving 250 miles back home to re-pack for Texas. Still miffed that I had missed my grandson's birthday party and would be missing my son-in-law's birthday get together Sunday, I went early to vote Saturday and boarded the plane for DFW.

Reluctantly, I worked Saturday but got in touch with my cousins and aunt up in Denton and arranged a meeting at the Texas State Fair in Dallas. "Meet us under Big Tex", cousin Ken said. "Bringing Aunt Leror"? I asked. "Yep, she'll be with us", he replied.

It was just nice connecting with family that I had not had a chance seeing for a couple of years. We all cruised the butterfly gardens, home exhibits, car shows and of course the food court before we split up. Giving Ken, Nancy and Aunt Leror all a big hug we parted ways and I made my way back to the hotel.



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North Georgia

September 14: With less than 24 hours since arriving in Baton Rouge from Virginia, I was already booking a flight to Burlington, Iowa. Thinking it impossible to be more remote than that, within 3 hours, the phone rang and my trip to Burlington was canceled and I on the cell phone in traffic booking a trip to Blairsville, GA. Not knowing for sure where that place was, I relied on the travel agent to choose the best airport. She tells me, "Knoxville". "Tennessee?", I asked. "Yep, your other choices are Asheville, Chattanooga or Atlanta". "Well", says I, "that's three states and a lot of space between those towns, are you sure?". Long story short, I'm on a flight early Thursday morning, flying over the tropical storm that had just passed through Louisiana and landing right back in the middle of it. Relying on my trusty (?) Garmin GPS, I took it's advice and went blazing down the road and within 30 minutes I'm on some little road in a drizzling rain questioning the wisdom of Mr. Garmin's invention. When I tell you that road was crooked, that is an understatement. At one point, I kid you not, I looked through the trees to my right and saw a car put on it's brake lights and 15 seconds later, I met that same car in the next curve. My trip to Blairsville lasted three hours through these curves and rain and had me muttering near profanities at the thought of my travel agent and the folks at Garmin Industries.

Blairsville is a Mayberyesque town of around 700 full time citizens with an old courthouse occupying the pivot point of a roundabout. The office where I met up with Wally, the other rep, sits on the north side of it. Unfortunately, it was nearly closing time by the time I arrived so Wally and I went out scouting for a place to stay. We chose Holiday Inn Express after a quick look at couple of other motels, thinking it was the safest bet, not knowing anything about the place.

September 26: After spending the past two days in St Louis, I flew back to Georgia. Thinking it might be best to fly into Atlanta, I flew in on American this time, giving my usual rant about Delta a rest. Feeling fortunate that we arrived on time, I retrieved my bags and tried to find the rental car shuttle bus. Atlanta's signage is less than wonderful so I found myself pulling two large bags to and fro outside the terminal building. After asking and receiving bad advice from two sources, I eventually was aboard the shuttle.

Instead of driving the fastest way, Saturday morning I checked out of my Patel and took Hwy 19 north. It soon became much more scenic than Hotlanta when I began to get into the north Georgia mountains. Arriving in Dahlonegah, I checked out a couple of motels and eventually unloaded at the Super 8. Believe it or not, it had more going on for it than the Holiday Inn Express and a lot cheaper to boot.

Dahlonegah, was hosting a couple of bike rides, one 50 mile ride and a hundred miler. There was more spandex covered butts there than at the flea market in Gonzales, LA. This small college town has a pretty neat historic downtown with satellites of shops and cafes all around the old courthouse. While the main attraction was supposed to be bicycles, the tight turned roads were constantly yielding to various arays of Porches, Beemers, vintage roadsters and everything imaginable in motorcycles.

October 6 and 7: Wow! Were the natives excited about the Sorghum Festival! Complete with a canon shot to start the parade Saturday morning, Blairsville denizens turned out on the courthouse square to take in the sights of all 5 fire trucks, Boy Scouts, people on stilts, Shriners, the high school marching band and every restored Camaro or Mustang still running. True enough, in conventional terms of traveling, there isn't a lot going on for Blairsville but somewhere deep down in your soul you'll find a lot and your heart will be better for the experience.

The last 3 weeks, I decided to stay at the Seasons Inn right on the square. It's an older inn that had been bought and run by a young couple. Furnishing were spartan but nevertheless, it was fitting for my stay in Mayberry......er...Blairsville.