Nothing like an hour delay that causes you to arrive at home at 1:00 AM to really end the week with a bang. Oh, my bad. As loyal reader/poster E-bro in NoCal is headed to Israel for a work engagement, I’ve been instructed not to complain about air travel anymore. So be it.
It’s Formula One week in Indy and there is much consternation about how well attended the least regarded of the three major racing events at the Speedway will be this year. After several years of racing in September, the race was moved up this year to piggy back on the only other North American F1 race which took place in Montreal last weekend. That made me quite surprised to hear a group of about 15 people at the Phoenix airport talking about the race as we prepared to board our flight last night. And none of them were Euros. Who knew gear heads in this country followed European open-wheeled racing?
There are many reasons to choose an airline. Some will go for economics and take the lowest fare first. Others may travel to a few select destinations on a regular basis and choose a carrier based on who flies to those places most often. I like to build up miles, so I fly American on a regular basis. However, if you’re looking to book a flight based on quality of flight attendants, give America West a look. Very impressive.
Long time readers may recall the string of non-functioning automatic faucets I had in airports last year. I’ve now been cursed by always having the seat that won’t stay in the locked and upright position. There’s nothing like the sensation of your chair automatically leaning back at takeoff. I think it’s the sensation of knowing the person behind you is cursing your existence and plotting to kick, knee, and shove your chair as often as possible over the next three hours. We can send a man to the moon, but we can’t make airplane seats that work.
Readers who were members of the 80s Trivia List may recall my efforts to tape “Axel F” off the radio in the spring of 1985. I believe I stayed up until nearly 4:00 AM one Saturday night flipping constantly between Q-104 and ZZ-99 until I got the classic Harold Faltermeyer tune on tape. I don’t know if I’ve ever told of the night in 1981 when I sat in front of our stereo, with headphones on, trying to hear REO Speedwagon’s “Keep On Loving You”. I’m pretty sure the babysitter thought I was some freak child as I sat hunched over for hours, wading through Nugent and Styx and Journey until I could hear my song. I had the Yellow Pages in my lap, open to the radio stations page, debating whether to call in and request it (My first ever radio request came a year or so later, and I believe was Loverboy’s “Turn Me Loose”.) She was right, I am a freak. Why do I share this story (other than to give you more reasons to have fun at my expense)? Last night, on the way home from the airport, I heard that classic REO tune. I have to give them credit; they were very clever. They recognized they had a cheesy song. So they mixed things up. Rather than go verse-chorus-verse-chorus-solo-chorus, Kevin Cronin and the boys threw the very interesting verse-verse-chorus-solo-bridge-chorus at us. No wonder it hit #1 on the pop charts! We’d never heard cheese served up like this before! I have a new found respect for REO. (Worth noting, REO’s classically titled Hi Infidelity was the album that knocked John Lennon’s Double Fantasy from the #1 spot after his death.)
What did you think of the audio blogging? Could everyone play the files? Waste of time?
Happy weekends to all, happy Father’s Day to the dads and prospective dads out there.