Seeing as I drive very little (down to an average of 592 miles a month), I figured I would maximize my insurance savings. For months I have seen the ads for Progressive featuring "Flo".
[singlepic id=590 w=640 h=480 float=center]
We have been with Geico for years. They were cheap....$680 every 6 months. I remember paying over $1100 every 6 months when I was in college.
A week or so ago I hopped over to Progressive.com for a quote. Their website is very high tech. I simply put in our address and it pulled up both of our cars complete with VIN numbers! Kinda scary.
I input our data and was very surprised by the insurance quote.....$501.
[singlepic id=594 w=640 h=480 float=center]
Our rate could be lower if we had "state minimum" coverages. The problem with state minimums is that they are designed to cover damage to an economy car. If we damage a Ford Focus we are likely okay. If we hit a Lexus....we could be sued civilly for more money. As is we have $100,000 in property damage liability. We can hit 2 Lexus and still be fine!
I then bumped up our Underinsured/Uninsured protection as most people either have state minimums or no insurance. There is a place in Arlington that sells insurance policies by the day. Why? Well for the people that never have car insurance except when they need it for license renewal, registration renewal or car inspection. Nice eh?
I signed up for the MyRate program in hopes of saving more money. One problem is that in the state of Texas there is a $27 fee for the device. Not all states allow the fee. The device is free in Oregon for example. If we don't save at least $35 on our next renewal I will be opting out of the program.
As far as rental car coverage I opted out. Instead I am going to setup an ING account where we can put in $30 every 6 months and use that if we need a rental car. In reality we can likely get by with one car for a limited time period if needed.
The MyRate device plugs into the OBD-II port in the car. Mine is located right above a cubby hole. The device partially blocks the hole, but I don't use the space so no big deal.
The device tracks what time I drive and how I drive. The first day I had it I was running late for work. I always keep my clocks on military time. Somehow before I went to bed I switched my alarm clock to normal time and then set to alarm for 4:55.................PM. That never would have happened with military time. Kelli woke up at 5:20 AM. She realized I was still sleeping. I rushed out the door at 5:25AM. The first day being observed and I was running late. I didn't speed and made it to work on time.
I assume the device communicates via cellular technology. It only communicates when the vehicle is turned on. There is a large wealth of information and charts I can view online. Here are a few.
[singlepic id=591 w=640 h=480 float=center]
[singlepic id=592 w=640 h=480 float=center]
Progressive assigns risk levels to driving times, below is a chart showing my drive from Albertsons to our house after work. I was driving during a "medium" risk time.
[singlepic id=595 w=640 h=480 float=center]
I think Kelli's Prius isn't eligible due to the hybrid system cycling the engine on and off. Would be nice if we could both enjoy possible discounts.
While driving yesterday I mentioned to Kelli that I wish every insurance company offered the devices and bigger discounts intially for having one. Then the rate a driver paid would be directly tied to their driving habits. I know many drivers would opt out as they are aggressive drivers (my father in law comes to mind) or don't want "big brother" watching them. It would be nice if the device had a GPS device to track the vehicle in case of theft. Allegedly the device does not track GPS location. Boo.
We will be laying our first vinyl flooring soon. We were going to do my office, but changed our minds as my office is full or crap. Instead we will do what might become the room for our offspring. The room has been mostly cleaned out by myself. The room is 11X12 plus a 2X4 foot entry way. Total cost will be $305 for the flooring plus $40 in supplies. We will start the process tomorrow and likely finish sometime next week. Our friends Jodi and Chelsea installed the same product and love it. The product is made by Trafficmaster and called Allure. We went to Lowe's to compare prices, but they carry and inferior product at a much cheaper price.
Friday, July 10, 2009
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Is my head really too big?
I spent the night in Cleveland last night. Nice overnight hotel. The thermostat is a liar. I have stayed in this hotel at least 20 times over the last year. I set the room to 65 degrees. The air conditioning system cycles on and off like it's maintaining 65 degrees. My atomic clock/thermometer states otherwise!
On the way back the Captain had to use the restroom. Policy requires two things. One, another crew member (almost always a flight attendant) come up and stand in the cockpit while he is gone. This is to allow her to open the door in case I pass out while he is gone. Two, I have to wear a full face oxygen mask while he is gone. This mask is very uncomfortable. It doesn't fit my head/face. After the Captain was back in the cockpit I snapped a self portrait wearing said mask.
If anyone wants to fly ANYWHERE....buy a ticket before Wednesday at midnight. Southwest airlines launched a fare sale. Highest one way ticket is $90! American Airlines matched the fare. This means if you want to go from Dallas to Las Vegas the round trip fare can be as low as $190 on American (non-stop) or Southwest (one or two stops). Seattle to Miami? $190 round trip. Nutty.Travel is from September 9th thru November 18th. Anyone up for a trip to Vegas?
The computer I built for my dad arrived. A hard drive power cable became loose in shipment. I had to walk him through reconnecting it. Nothing major. It works, but now he has Internet issues. I am trying to get him to order Uverse.
I REALLY want a Netbook. American Express had a nice one on sale today for $199. I didn't win it. I have my eye on a few other models.
Windows 7 is amazing. I actually ordered two copies for $49 a piece from Amazon. Anyone running XP or Vista....I high suggest you order Windows 7. I think it's the best version of Windows ever. Truly stable and easy to use. Nothing like Vista.
The dogs are still alive.
On the way back the Captain had to use the restroom. Policy requires two things. One, another crew member (almost always a flight attendant) come up and stand in the cockpit while he is gone. This is to allow her to open the door in case I pass out while he is gone. Two, I have to wear a full face oxygen mask while he is gone. This mask is very uncomfortable. It doesn't fit my head/face. After the Captain was back in the cockpit I snapped a self portrait wearing said mask.
If anyone wants to fly ANYWHERE....buy a ticket before Wednesday at midnight. Southwest airlines launched a fare sale. Highest one way ticket is $90! American Airlines matched the fare. This means if you want to go from Dallas to Las Vegas the round trip fare can be as low as $190 on American (non-stop) or Southwest (one or two stops). Seattle to Miami? $190 round trip. Nutty.Travel is from September 9th thru November 18th. Anyone up for a trip to Vegas?
The computer I built for my dad arrived. A hard drive power cable became loose in shipment. I had to walk him through reconnecting it. Nothing major. It works, but now he has Internet issues. I am trying to get him to order Uverse.
I REALLY want a Netbook. American Express had a nice one on sale today for $199. I didn't win it. I have my eye on a few other models.
Windows 7 is amazing. I actually ordered two copies for $49 a piece from Amazon. Anyone running XP or Vista....I high suggest you order Windows 7. I think it's the best version of Windows ever. Truly stable and easy to use. Nothing like Vista.
The dogs are still alive.
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Damn Victor and his rutabagas
So while driving around this weekend with Jami, Kelly, and Haley I listened to near non-stop childrens music. One song stuck in my head, Victor Vito by Laurie Berkner. Here is the video from Youtube.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQVNX4L2aRo
It's quite catchy. I downloaded all Laurie Berkners CD's to my zune collection. Speaking of Zune I am getting mine back again. The manager of a Starbucks next to where I left it called me last week. Someone gave it to her and she called me to see about returning it. She will be back at work this week. This is the third time I will be getting it back!
Wood floors. Kelli has wanted wood floors and granite counter tops for years. Her brother Bryan is getting them installed in his house this week. Once Kelli learned he is getting them she had to have them. While in California our friends Chelsea and Jodi told us about a product they installed themselves called Allure (click here for the product on Home Depot's site). We might try to install them this weekend.
Till then.....
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQVNX4L2aRo
It's quite catchy. I downloaded all Laurie Berkners CD's to my zune collection. Speaking of Zune I am getting mine back again. The manager of a Starbucks next to where I left it called me last week. Someone gave it to her and she called me to see about returning it. She will be back at work this week. This is the third time I will be getting it back!
Wood floors. Kelli has wanted wood floors and granite counter tops for years. Her brother Bryan is getting them installed in his house this week. Once Kelli learned he is getting them she had to have them. While in California our friends Chelsea and Jodi told us about a product they installed themselves called Allure (click here for the product on Home Depot's site). We might try to install them this weekend.
Till then.....
Victor Vito and Freddie Vasco
Ate a burrito with Tabasco.
They put it on their rice.
They put it on their beans.
On their rutabagas and on their collard greens.Hey Victor,
Hey Freddie,
Let’s eat some
Spaghetti.
Hey Victor,
I’m ready
To eat some
Spaghetti with Freddie.
Victor Vito and Freddie Vasco
Moved from El Cerrito all the way to Alaska.
Oh, they ate their rice.
They ate their beans.
They ate their rutabagas and they ate their collard greens.
Hey Victor,
Hey Freddie,
Let’s eat some
Spaghetti.
Hey Victor,
I’m ready
To eat some
Spaghetti with Freddie.
(slower)
Oh, Victor Vito and Freddie Vasco,
They like to eat slow.
They never eat fast.
Oh they ate their rice.
They ate their beans.
They ate their rutabagas and they ate their collard greens.
Hey Victor,
Hey Freddie,
Let’s eat some
Spaghetti.Hey Victor,
I’m ready
To eat some
Spaghetti with Freddie.
(faster)
Victor Vito and Freddie Vasco
Like to eat fast.
They never eat slow.
Oh, they ate their rice.
They ate their beans.
They ate their rutabagas and they ate their collard greens.
Hey Victor,
Hey Freddie,
Let’s eat some
Spaghetti.
Hey Victor,
I’m ready
To eat some
Spaghetti with Freddy.
(“One more time!”)
Hey Victor,
Hey Freddie,
Let’s eat some
Spaghetti.
Hey Victor,
I’m ready
To eat some
Spaghetti with you!
Glad we took the red eye
Overall we had a very nice weekend getaway. We will never again travel on a major US Holiday using my travel benefits. If we have to travel we will be like *normal* people and buy *real* tickets.
The house we stayed at was amazing. Attention to detail and just "wowness" throughout.
[singlepic id=575 w=320 h=240 float=center]
[singlepic id=576 w=320 h=240 float=center]
[singlepic id=577 w=320 h=240 float=center]
Saturday morning we woke up around 7AM. We all vegged around until shortly before 10AM when we began our trek to San Francisco. In order to save money and time we decided to park at a BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) station and take the train to the city. The drive was a little more than an hour. During the trip Haley, my niece, took off her sandals. I never knew kids feet could smell so....powerfully. I was sitting next to Haley and spent a good 5 to 10 minutes watching her smell her feet and then asking Kelli and I to also smell her feet.
[singlepic id=579 w=320 h=240 float=center]
A few minutes away from the station, Jodi and Chelsea called letting us know they were close by. They were going to the game with us so we all met up at the same BART station.
BART is not as user friendly or as nice as the transit stations in Chicago, Atlanta, Washington, D.C. or New York. We managed to get tickets to the station we thought was REALLY close to the stadium. We arrived Embarcadero station and then had issues. We thought we could easily walk to AT&T park. Well it was 12 blocks away. After about 5 minutes of walking around with mass confusion, I bought tickets for all of us to ride the "Muni" from Embarcadero to AT&T park. Round Trip tickets were only $3.50 a piece. The "Muni" is another train system located in the same Embarcadero station, but it separate from BART. Yeah...we were confused.
We made it to the game at the bottom of the 1st inning. Our seats were up high, but we had a great view.
[singlepic id=582 w=320 h=240 float=center]
[singlepic id=584 w=320 h=240 float=center]
[singlepic id=587 w=320 h=240 float=center]
[singlepic id=588 w=320 h=240 float=center]
About two weeks ago I read that the only stadium food worth buying was the garlic fries at AT&T park. I bought a plate for each of us. They were quite good. The fries were crispy on the outside, soft on the inside and covered in garlic. Awesome.
[singlepic id=580 w=320 h=240 float=center]
The temp outside was not too hot. The breeze was nice. As far as the game, the Giants ruled. The game went by very quickly.
We all made our way to Fisherman's Wharf and ate dinner. I had more garlic fries.
[singlepic id=589 w=320 h=240 float=center]
While walking back I had one of those amazing thoughts that often run through my head. If someone told me 7 years ago that I would marry a democrat and then travel to San Francisco to attend a ball game and eat dinner with 2 lesbian couples.....I would have laughed them out of the room. But there I was....and I was okay with it. I will say having someone in the family who is gay has opened my eyes quite a bit. The stereotypical lesbian that was in my head is no where close to how most lesbians are. My sister in law and her girlfriend are just everyday women. Jodi and Chelsea are also normal everyday people. The fact that they are lesbians is so far back in my head that I forget....until I see them kiss or hold hands....then I'm like..."oh yeah....". My sister in law, Jami, is doing an amazing job raising my niece Haley. I might be biased, but I think Haley is incredibly intelligent for being just 2 years old. Her vocabulary is way larger than other two year olds and her level of thought and reason is also advanced. Jami's current (and hopefully final) girlfriend Kelly is very nice and much more....hmmmm....grounded and "normal" than Jami's ex-wife. Kelli and I haven't had an odd or bad thing to say about Kelly yet....well beyond Kelly giving Jami her Iphone instead of giving it to me.
We started heading back around 6PM. On the way back to the car to get our stuff, Kelli and I discussed our options for getting home.
There was a red eye flight leaving at 12:20AM. The flight was booked pretty full with only 8 empty seats (all in First Class) while coach was overbooked by 5. There were a 6AM flight with 8 open seats and a 7AM flight with 12 open seats. We discussed simply going to a hotel and getting a morning flight. But why waste the money?
We decided to go for the red eye! The trip to the airport took an hour. We arrived at the gate and had 4 hours to waste. The gate area was very cold. Kelli was freezing. I had my nice warm Macbook Pro to keep me warm. Normally Kelli brings a jacket along.....not this trip. After an hour she broke down and bought a San Francisco sweatshirt.
I kept an eye on the load for the red eye. About an hour out First Class only had 4 empty seats (coach passengers were upgrading). Coach had over 20 empty seats. A lot of people were going to miss the flight.
Ten minutes to midnight we were sitting in First class aisle seats across from each other. Kelli was asleep as soon as the main cabin door closed and didn't wake up until we arrived in Dallas, 3 hours later. I was awake for most of the flight. I had a night cap and a cookie to put me to bed. I think I slept for an hour.
The flight crew had an interesting schedule. All they did was fly a 9:50PM flight out of DFW to San Francisco and then one flight back. That's it. They were all on the employee bus with us after the flight. This would be ideal if we had kids a kid. I could put the kid to bed, fly a trip and still be home when the kid woke up. Hmmmmm.
We landed at 5:20AM. By 5:45AM we were in my car driving home. We went to bed at 6:10AM and woke up around noon. I checked the morning San Francisco flights. The 6AM flight cancelled! No employee non-revs left on the first 3 flights and would likely not leave at all! Good thing we took the red eye. I left for work at 1:15PM. I am now sitting airport standby till 10PM.
The weekend was very nice.
The house we stayed at was amazing. Attention to detail and just "wowness" throughout.
[singlepic id=575 w=320 h=240 float=center]
[singlepic id=576 w=320 h=240 float=center]
[singlepic id=577 w=320 h=240 float=center]
Saturday morning we woke up around 7AM. We all vegged around until shortly before 10AM when we began our trek to San Francisco. In order to save money and time we decided to park at a BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) station and take the train to the city. The drive was a little more than an hour. During the trip Haley, my niece, took off her sandals. I never knew kids feet could smell so....powerfully. I was sitting next to Haley and spent a good 5 to 10 minutes watching her smell her feet and then asking Kelli and I to also smell her feet.
[singlepic id=579 w=320 h=240 float=center]
A few minutes away from the station, Jodi and Chelsea called letting us know they were close by. They were going to the game with us so we all met up at the same BART station.
BART is not as user friendly or as nice as the transit stations in Chicago, Atlanta, Washington, D.C. or New York. We managed to get tickets to the station we thought was REALLY close to the stadium. We arrived Embarcadero station and then had issues. We thought we could easily walk to AT&T park. Well it was 12 blocks away. After about 5 minutes of walking around with mass confusion, I bought tickets for all of us to ride the "Muni" from Embarcadero to AT&T park. Round Trip tickets were only $3.50 a piece. The "Muni" is another train system located in the same Embarcadero station, but it separate from BART. Yeah...we were confused.
We made it to the game at the bottom of the 1st inning. Our seats were up high, but we had a great view.
[singlepic id=582 w=320 h=240 float=center]
[singlepic id=584 w=320 h=240 float=center]
[singlepic id=587 w=320 h=240 float=center]
[singlepic id=588 w=320 h=240 float=center]
About two weeks ago I read that the only stadium food worth buying was the garlic fries at AT&T park. I bought a plate for each of us. They were quite good. The fries were crispy on the outside, soft on the inside and covered in garlic. Awesome.
[singlepic id=580 w=320 h=240 float=center]
The temp outside was not too hot. The breeze was nice. As far as the game, the Giants ruled. The game went by very quickly.
We all made our way to Fisherman's Wharf and ate dinner. I had more garlic fries.
[singlepic id=589 w=320 h=240 float=center]
While walking back I had one of those amazing thoughts that often run through my head. If someone told me 7 years ago that I would marry a democrat and then travel to San Francisco to attend a ball game and eat dinner with 2 lesbian couples.....I would have laughed them out of the room. But there I was....and I was okay with it. I will say having someone in the family who is gay has opened my eyes quite a bit. The stereotypical lesbian that was in my head is no where close to how most lesbians are. My sister in law and her girlfriend are just everyday women. Jodi and Chelsea are also normal everyday people. The fact that they are lesbians is so far back in my head that I forget....until I see them kiss or hold hands....then I'm like..."oh yeah....". My sister in law, Jami, is doing an amazing job raising my niece Haley. I might be biased, but I think Haley is incredibly intelligent for being just 2 years old. Her vocabulary is way larger than other two year olds and her level of thought and reason is also advanced. Jami's current (and hopefully final) girlfriend Kelly is very nice and much more....hmmmm....grounded and "normal" than Jami's ex-wife. Kelli and I haven't had an odd or bad thing to say about Kelly yet....well beyond Kelly giving Jami her Iphone instead of giving it to me.
We started heading back around 6PM. On the way back to the car to get our stuff, Kelli and I discussed our options for getting home.
There was a red eye flight leaving at 12:20AM. The flight was booked pretty full with only 8 empty seats (all in First Class) while coach was overbooked by 5. There were a 6AM flight with 8 open seats and a 7AM flight with 12 open seats. We discussed simply going to a hotel and getting a morning flight. But why waste the money?
We decided to go for the red eye! The trip to the airport took an hour. We arrived at the gate and had 4 hours to waste. The gate area was very cold. Kelli was freezing. I had my nice warm Macbook Pro to keep me warm. Normally Kelli brings a jacket along.....not this trip. After an hour she broke down and bought a San Francisco sweatshirt.
I kept an eye on the load for the red eye. About an hour out First Class only had 4 empty seats (coach passengers were upgrading). Coach had over 20 empty seats. A lot of people were going to miss the flight.
Ten minutes to midnight we were sitting in First class aisle seats across from each other. Kelli was asleep as soon as the main cabin door closed and didn't wake up until we arrived in Dallas, 3 hours later. I was awake for most of the flight. I had a night cap and a cookie to put me to bed. I think I slept for an hour.
The flight crew had an interesting schedule. All they did was fly a 9:50PM flight out of DFW to San Francisco and then one flight back. That's it. They were all on the employee bus with us after the flight. This would be ideal if we had kids a kid. I could put the kid to bed, fly a trip and still be home when the kid woke up. Hmmmmm.
We landed at 5:20AM. By 5:45AM we were in my car driving home. We went to bed at 6:10AM and woke up around noon. I checked the morning San Francisco flights. The 6AM flight cancelled! No employee non-revs left on the first 3 flights and would likely not leave at all! Good thing we took the red eye. I left for work at 1:15PM. I am now sitting airport standby till 10PM.
The weekend was very nice.
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Never again will we travel on a major US Holiday
This was typed up while sitting in a coach seat. The formatting is a little funny as the cut and paste from Microsoft Word to my blogging software didn't go very well.
Never again will I travel on a major US holiday. Never.
A month or so ago my wife asked if I had July 3rd and 4th off. Lucky for her the line I was awarded gave me those two days off. With that said she planned a trip for us to attend a San Francisco Giants game with her sister.
We kept an eye on the flight loads for the night of the 2nd and the morning of the 3rd. With all of the fare sales recently all the flights were really full with just 5 to 10 seats open per flight. In addition to all the paying passengers, there were a lot of non-revenue passengers looking for a way out as well.
The day of the 2nd I was assigned to be available from 10AM till Midnight for a reserve assignment. I knew I would likely not get called. My wife took the day off and spent the day watching flights. At one point she was monitoring 5 different destinations and all preceding flight loads!
I spent the morning building a computer for my dad. By 3PM I was done. I shipped it off via FEDEX. FEDEX gives an awesome discount to my airline (likely all airline employees). After my travel benefits, the FEDEX discount is the next best perk!
Once I was back home my wife picked out the best option. A flight close to my sister in law. A direct flight to my sister in laws house was the next best option. The flights were full…but were our best options.
The first flight was to leave at 7:05PM. We arrived at the gate. We were very far down on the list. It left full. The direct flight was supposed to leave at 8:05PM. I made a quick dash to a ticket counter and bought a ZED fare for my wife. This was to be used as part of a backup plan.
We made our way to the 8:05PM gate. Once we sat down they changed the gate to a gate near the 7:05PM flight. Hmmm this would end up helping us. Whenever an airline changes gates people don’t listen. They make several announcements over and over again and people will still miss the flight. I have watched people sit 10 feet from the counter and still miss the announcement and then the flight. Amazing.
After arriving back at the gate we started checking loads again. Things were looking okay. Boarding started. Halfway through our names were called along with all of the standbys. Nine passengers didn’t show up. We got the last two seats in First Class! We quickly made our way to our seats. Then I got a bad feeling.
The cabin was very warm. Only external air connected. Normally at my airline we fire up the APU a few minutes prior to departure or if the external air can’t do the job. We were AT departure time. The jet bridge pulled back and the cabin door was closed. I still didn’t have a good feeling. Then it happened. The power went out. Most passengers didn’t notice, as it was still daylight outside. I noticed the emergency lighting system had activated. After about 3 minutes the cockpit door opened and the jet bridge reattached. I heard the Captain tell the flight attendant to de-board. Not good.
Since we were seated in First we were one of the first passengers off. I saw several passengers at the gate talking to a gate agent. The passengers were happy. Why? Because now they would make the flight!
The gate agent advised all standbys that our seats would be pulled and we might not get them back. Over the next 2 hours we waited for the plane to be fixed. We missed a flight to Phoenix we had lined up as a backup because we thought we would make this one. If we didn’t make the flight we would be going back home. While waiting I used Facebook to get load information for US Airways that would end up being our new backup plan. Thanks to my connections from ATP, I have friends at regional’s serving all major airlines. He let me know that we had a good chance of getting on a flight from Phoenix to San Francisco or Oakloand the next day if we could make it to Phoenix.
As boarding finished there were 3 passengers who were still missing. My wife and I were #2 and #3 to get seats. Right at the last minute three twenty something’s came running from a bar and onto the plane. Doh!
We had the gate move our reservation to the American Airlines Phoenix flight leaving the next morning. By doing this we would be near the top of the list.
We went back home. This was our first time to not make a flight out. We have had to wait for 2 or 4 flights before getting a seat, but we always got a seat. After getting back home we worked out the details for our backup plan. We went to bed tired.
The next day we woke up early and headed to the airport. We normally plan or arrival so we clear security right at boarding time. We didn’t anticipate the super long lines due to the holiday weekend. We made it through 1/3 the way through boarding. We had seats…. along with 52 other non-rev passengers! This flight was one of the very few “open” flights. We weren’t the only ones to figure this out.
After getting to Phoenix we had to head over to the next gate. These security lines were long. I was still in uniform so I zipped through the employee line, “Membership has its benefits”. Kelli had to go check in at the ticket counter since she was using a ZED pass.
She had to wait in the security line for about 45 minutes. Next time I will escort her through the employee line.
Our planned flight to San Francisco left in an hour. We waited by the gate. I used passrider.com and the US Airways site to check the status and flight times. I noticed the US Airways site was showing a 2-hour delay. Hmmm not good. I then found another flight leaving to Oakland.
We headed over to that gate. I have never jump seated on US Airways and wasn’t quite sure how the process worked. Thankfully it was pretty straightforward. The gate agent also moved my wife over to this flight as well. Nice.
Twenty minutes prior to boarding we were given seats. Nice. I boarded with the preboarding section and went up to the cockpit to ask permission to jump seat from the Captain. Even though I already had a real seat, it’s still required/polite to ask for a seat.
The Captain was very nice and welcomed me aboard. I went back to stow my suite case and relax. A few minutes later my wife took a seat right in front of me. Nice.
Once we arrived I did my “superman” routine and changed out of my uniform and into normal clothes.
Two friends of ours, Jodi and Chelsea, happened to be in Oakland when we arrived. They were heading up to Sacramento to hang out with my sister in law and her girlfriend. They agreed to pick us up on the way. We really lucked out as they picked us up and drove us 140 miles away!
This has been a very interesting experience. We will never travel on a major US holiday weekend again. Ugh.
Never again will I travel on a major US holiday. Never.
A month or so ago my wife asked if I had July 3rd and 4th off. Lucky for her the line I was awarded gave me those two days off. With that said she planned a trip for us to attend a San Francisco Giants game with her sister.
We kept an eye on the flight loads for the night of the 2nd and the morning of the 3rd. With all of the fare sales recently all the flights were really full with just 5 to 10 seats open per flight. In addition to all the paying passengers, there were a lot of non-revenue passengers looking for a way out as well.
The day of the 2nd I was assigned to be available from 10AM till Midnight for a reserve assignment. I knew I would likely not get called. My wife took the day off and spent the day watching flights. At one point she was monitoring 5 different destinations and all preceding flight loads!
I spent the morning building a computer for my dad. By 3PM I was done. I shipped it off via FEDEX. FEDEX gives an awesome discount to my airline (likely all airline employees). After my travel benefits, the FEDEX discount is the next best perk!
Once I was back home my wife picked out the best option. A flight close to my sister in law. A direct flight to my sister in laws house was the next best option. The flights were full…but were our best options.
The first flight was to leave at 7:05PM. We arrived at the gate. We were very far down on the list. It left full. The direct flight was supposed to leave at 8:05PM. I made a quick dash to a ticket counter and bought a ZED fare for my wife. This was to be used as part of a backup plan.
We made our way to the 8:05PM gate. Once we sat down they changed the gate to a gate near the 7:05PM flight. Hmmm this would end up helping us. Whenever an airline changes gates people don’t listen. They make several announcements over and over again and people will still miss the flight. I have watched people sit 10 feet from the counter and still miss the announcement and then the flight. Amazing.
After arriving back at the gate we started checking loads again. Things were looking okay. Boarding started. Halfway through our names were called along with all of the standbys. Nine passengers didn’t show up. We got the last two seats in First Class! We quickly made our way to our seats. Then I got a bad feeling.
The cabin was very warm. Only external air connected. Normally at my airline we fire up the APU a few minutes prior to departure or if the external air can’t do the job. We were AT departure time. The jet bridge pulled back and the cabin door was closed. I still didn’t have a good feeling. Then it happened. The power went out. Most passengers didn’t notice, as it was still daylight outside. I noticed the emergency lighting system had activated. After about 3 minutes the cockpit door opened and the jet bridge reattached. I heard the Captain tell the flight attendant to de-board. Not good.
Since we were seated in First we were one of the first passengers off. I saw several passengers at the gate talking to a gate agent. The passengers were happy. Why? Because now they would make the flight!
The gate agent advised all standbys that our seats would be pulled and we might not get them back. Over the next 2 hours we waited for the plane to be fixed. We missed a flight to Phoenix we had lined up as a backup because we thought we would make this one. If we didn’t make the flight we would be going back home. While waiting I used Facebook to get load information for US Airways that would end up being our new backup plan. Thanks to my connections from ATP, I have friends at regional’s serving all major airlines. He let me know that we had a good chance of getting on a flight from Phoenix to San Francisco or Oakloand the next day if we could make it to Phoenix.
As boarding finished there were 3 passengers who were still missing. My wife and I were #2 and #3 to get seats. Right at the last minute three twenty something’s came running from a bar and onto the plane. Doh!
We had the gate move our reservation to the American Airlines Phoenix flight leaving the next morning. By doing this we would be near the top of the list.
We went back home. This was our first time to not make a flight out. We have had to wait for 2 or 4 flights before getting a seat, but we always got a seat. After getting back home we worked out the details for our backup plan. We went to bed tired.
The next day we woke up early and headed to the airport. We normally plan or arrival so we clear security right at boarding time. We didn’t anticipate the super long lines due to the holiday weekend. We made it through 1/3 the way through boarding. We had seats…. along with 52 other non-rev passengers! This flight was one of the very few “open” flights. We weren’t the only ones to figure this out.
After getting to Phoenix we had to head over to the next gate. These security lines were long. I was still in uniform so I zipped through the employee line, “Membership has its benefits”. Kelli had to go check in at the ticket counter since she was using a ZED pass.
She had to wait in the security line for about 45 minutes. Next time I will escort her through the employee line.
Our planned flight to San Francisco left in an hour. We waited by the gate. I used passrider.com and the US Airways site to check the status and flight times. I noticed the US Airways site was showing a 2-hour delay. Hmmm not good. I then found another flight leaving to Oakland.
We headed over to that gate. I have never jump seated on US Airways and wasn’t quite sure how the process worked. Thankfully it was pretty straightforward. The gate agent also moved my wife over to this flight as well. Nice.
Twenty minutes prior to boarding we were given seats. Nice. I boarded with the preboarding section and went up to the cockpit to ask permission to jump seat from the Captain. Even though I already had a real seat, it’s still required/polite to ask for a seat.
The Captain was very nice and welcomed me aboard. I went back to stow my suite case and relax. A few minutes later my wife took a seat right in front of me. Nice.
Once we arrived I did my “superman” routine and changed out of my uniform and into normal clothes.
Two friends of ours, Jodi and Chelsea, happened to be in Oakland when we arrived. They were heading up to Sacramento to hang out with my sister in law and her girlfriend. They agreed to pick us up on the way. We really lucked out as they picked us up and drove us 140 miles away!
This has been a very interesting experience. We will never travel on a major US holiday weekend again. Ugh.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Netflix....good value?
Found a site called Feedfliks.com that analyzes your Netflix usage. We aren't doing too bad. We pay an average of $2.55 per DVD we watch. I thought we were doing better. We are doing better than 50% of other Feedfliks users. Hmmm. Redbox is just $1 a movie.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Lunch with my dad
Yesterday I took advantage of my benefits and flew to Houston to have lunch with my dad. I'm known for being on time and being able to remember things. This has not been my week.
Monday I lost my Zune for good. I left it in an airport lounge. It has my name and phone number on it. No calls. Nice.
Tuesday morning I thought the flight to Houston left at 8:45AM. I made my way out the door at 7:40AM thinking I had plenty of time. On the way I looked up the departing gate using my phone...that's when I saw the flight left at 8:25AM. Doh!
I made it to the gate with 10 minutes to spare. No biggie.
My dad is still kind of old school....no cell phone. I called him and said I would meet him downstairs at baggage claim. When I arrived...no dad. Hmm. I walked around a bit looking for his car . While walking outside I heard a car honk...I turned around to see a Silver Hyundai Sonata.....Dad? Yep. Wow.
Growing up my dad always had a full size extended car truck. Let me rephrase that, a full size AMERICAN made extended car truck. Here he was in a Hyundai Sonata? He previously had a Mercury Sable....which while not a truck, is still "American" made.
He drove me up to a BBQ place for lunch. I ate way to much....but it was good.
We then went to Wal-mart as he needed a new printer for his computer. His current printer is 5+ years old and barely functional. I picked out a very nice Canon printer/scanner a crazy cheap $35! Of course ink refills will cost $45 for color and black. Nice.
I installed the printer and then realized how old his computer is. I built it for him a good 4 years ago. It's old. As far as performance it's not bad. It's a 1.8 GHz Celeron, 40 Gig HD but only 512 MB of RAM. That's part of the issue. I'm building him a new computer as we speak.
After installing the printer I install a DVD/VHS combo unit. He bought it months ago. The unit can play DVDs, play VHS tapes, record TV to DVD and copy VHS tapes to DVD. Pretty neat. I connected it up and then we went back to Wal-Mart to buy blank DVDs. To both of our surprise copying a VHS tape to DVD is literally a one button affair! Nice.
About an hour later it was time for me to head back to the airport. About 20 minutes away I realized I forgot my car keys at his house. Back we went. Because of this I would miss the next flight.
When I got to the airport the flight I wanted to catch was still at the gate. Delayed. I still missed it by minutes. No big deal as it was full and I would have been on the jump seat in the cockpit. As it turned out the flight left the gate then came back for more fuel. The next flight arrived. I ended up getting a row to myself and arrived in DFW just 8 minutes after the "earlier" flight. Nice.
I've only had one other job with really good "perks". My first job out of college was working for Time Warner Cable in Houston. I worked in the high speed internet department. One benefit was free cable, all channels, free high speed internet and 1/2 price pay per view. That was pretty good. Flying for free/almost free is much better.
Monday I lost my Zune for good. I left it in an airport lounge. It has my name and phone number on it. No calls. Nice.
Tuesday morning I thought the flight to Houston left at 8:45AM. I made my way out the door at 7:40AM thinking I had plenty of time. On the way I looked up the departing gate using my phone...that's when I saw the flight left at 8:25AM. Doh!
I made it to the gate with 10 minutes to spare. No biggie.
My dad is still kind of old school....no cell phone. I called him and said I would meet him downstairs at baggage claim. When I arrived...no dad. Hmm. I walked around a bit looking for his car . While walking outside I heard a car honk...I turned around to see a Silver Hyundai Sonata.....Dad? Yep. Wow.
Growing up my dad always had a full size extended car truck. Let me rephrase that, a full size AMERICAN made extended car truck. Here he was in a Hyundai Sonata? He previously had a Mercury Sable....which while not a truck, is still "American" made.
He drove me up to a BBQ place for lunch. I ate way to much....but it was good.
We then went to Wal-mart as he needed a new printer for his computer. His current printer is 5+ years old and barely functional. I picked out a very nice Canon printer/scanner a crazy cheap $35! Of course ink refills will cost $45 for color and black. Nice.
I installed the printer and then realized how old his computer is. I built it for him a good 4 years ago. It's old. As far as performance it's not bad. It's a 1.8 GHz Celeron, 40 Gig HD but only 512 MB of RAM. That's part of the issue. I'm building him a new computer as we speak.
After installing the printer I install a DVD/VHS combo unit. He bought it months ago. The unit can play DVDs, play VHS tapes, record TV to DVD and copy VHS tapes to DVD. Pretty neat. I connected it up and then we went back to Wal-Mart to buy blank DVDs. To both of our surprise copying a VHS tape to DVD is literally a one button affair! Nice.
About an hour later it was time for me to head back to the airport. About 20 minutes away I realized I forgot my car keys at his house. Back we went. Because of this I would miss the next flight.
When I got to the airport the flight I wanted to catch was still at the gate. Delayed. I still missed it by minutes. No big deal as it was full and I would have been on the jump seat in the cockpit. As it turned out the flight left the gate then came back for more fuel. The next flight arrived. I ended up getting a row to myself and arrived in DFW just 8 minutes after the "earlier" flight. Nice.
I've only had one other job with really good "perks". My first job out of college was working for Time Warner Cable in Houston. I worked in the high speed internet department. One benefit was free cable, all channels, free high speed internet and 1/2 price pay per view. That was pretty good. Flying for free/almost free is much better.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)