A couple of weeks ago, on a flight up to Detroit, I spotted this beautiful glory effect on the clouds below. Quickly snapped a shot using my Palm 750 to share with y'all.
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Glory Effect
A couple of weeks ago, on a flight up to Detroit, I spotted this beautiful glory effect on the clouds below. Quickly snapped a shot using my Palm 750 to share with y'all.
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Strange Coincidence
Three of us flew out of Winnipeg this afternoon, on our way home from the project. In Minneapolis, we split up to our respective destinations. By coincidence the three of us left from adjacent gates,
15, 16 & 17, in the space of about 20 minutes.
15, 16 & 17, in the space of about 20 minutes.
Minnesota's Newest Tourist Attraction
Apparantly there is a new tourist attraction at the Minneapolis Airport. Airport staff are receiving 3-4 enquiries per day, as to where the "Larry Craig stall" might be. For those of you who travel through MSP, it is in the main (shopping) concourse, close to the lottery booth. For those of you who do not visit the airport, or who cannot enter the room, above is a video of this new tourist draw.
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Landmark Views
One of the benefits of my itinerant employment is that, occasionally, the view from my hotel window is of one or other well know landmark. (for those who do not recognise them, they are the St. Louis Arch and the CN Tower in Toronto).
Unfortunately, these kinds of views are fairly rare.
Monday, September 3, 2007
Phone upgrade
After being dropped a few times in the last few weeks, my trusted Treo 650 finally gave up the ghost. After scouting around I was able to find a very good deal through my company with AT&T, and was able to upgrade to a Treo 750. This gives me 3G capabilites, with 3G+ coming soon.
It did however mean that I had to go over to the Dark Side, switching from the Palm OS that I have used now for many years, to a Windows Mobile machine. There is a learning curve involved, and I am having to find replacements for much of the software that I used. But the 3G surfing speeds are great and I have even found some things that this phone can do, which were not possible before.
And there are some fun things that it will do too, e.g. the ability to have phone calls and meeting reminders annouced in a human voice.Built-in Windows Messenger, so I can IM with my family while on the road.
The only real problem is the fact that I cannot use my data connection in Canada due to the huge expense. I guess I just have to wait until this project is over and I am back at work in the US.
It did however mean that I had to go over to the Dark Side, switching from the Palm OS that I have used now for many years, to a Windows Mobile machine. There is a learning curve involved, and I am having to find replacements for much of the software that I used. But the 3G surfing speeds are great and I have even found some things that this phone can do, which were not possible before.
And there are some fun things that it will do too, e.g. the ability to have phone calls and meeting reminders annouced in a human voice.Built-in Windows Messenger, so I can IM with my family while on the road.
The only real problem is the fact that I cannot use my data connection in Canada due to the huge expense. I guess I just have to wait until this project is over and I am back at work in the US.
NWA another black mark
NWA found another way to mess me up last week. Due to weather conditions at MSP, my normal Thursday afternoon commuter jet from YWG was cancelled. In of itself unfortunate, but these things happen, if they must (see below).
What got my goat was that NWA had rebooked me the next day, on such a convulted itinerary; leaving YWG at 6:20 am and arriving home at MCO at 17:45, via MSP & MEM. I called my travel agent to look for other alternatives, and although they could not do much better on other airlines, they did find me a 7:30 am out of YWG connecting to a direct flight to MCO. This meant that I would arrive at MCO at 14:45, about three hours earlier than the NWA proposed schedule.
After having the agent book these filghts, I called the NWA customer service line to check that they were OK with these changes, and to see if they knew why the more complicated segements had been booked in the first place. Of course, no one could explain the strange route.
As it is I decided to stay with the 6:20am departure, reasoning that it would be better to sit in MSP for a couple of hours, rather than having an extra hour or two of sleep but running the risk of a missed connection. I really neede to get home as this was the weekend that my wife was away in Europe, and the friend that were lokking in on our dogs were not expecting to do so through the weekend.
Of course, the question arises, how necessary was the cancellation of the flight? True there was some weather in MSP, but according to the FAA Fly.faa.gov site, delays at MSP were less than one hour. Could it be that the weather "situation" was used as an excuse, to save having to pay for hotels and meals, although the real reason was lack of capacity at MSP due to one of the major runways being resurfaced.
What got my goat was that NWA had rebooked me the next day, on such a convulted itinerary; leaving YWG at 6:20 am and arriving home at MCO at 17:45, via MSP & MEM. I called my travel agent to look for other alternatives, and although they could not do much better on other airlines, they did find me a 7:30 am out of YWG connecting to a direct flight to MCO. This meant that I would arrive at MCO at 14:45, about three hours earlier than the NWA proposed schedule.
After having the agent book these filghts, I called the NWA customer service line to check that they were OK with these changes, and to see if they knew why the more complicated segements had been booked in the first place. Of course, no one could explain the strange route.
As it is I decided to stay with the 6:20am departure, reasoning that it would be better to sit in MSP for a couple of hours, rather than having an extra hour or two of sleep but running the risk of a missed connection. I really neede to get home as this was the weekend that my wife was away in Europe, and the friend that were lokking in on our dogs were not expecting to do so through the weekend.
Of course, the question arises, how necessary was the cancellation of the flight? True there was some weather in MSP, but according to the FAA Fly.faa.gov site, delays at MSP were less than one hour. Could it be that the weather "situation" was used as an excuse, to save having to pay for hotels and meals, although the real reason was lack of capacity at MSP due to one of the major runways being resurfaced.
Seeing it live, makes it hit home
On a recent flight into Minneapolis, our approach took us close to the site of the bridge tragedy. I was sitting on the correct side of the aircraft this time and had a view of the collapsed bridge from about 8000 feet. Seeing it in person and that close really makes a hugh difference to seeing newspaper accounts or short TV views.
It was clear day and I could clearly see the broken pieces of the bridge, as well as the cleanup operations that had started by then.
It was clear day and I could clearly see the broken pieces of the bridge, as well as the cleanup operations that had started by then.
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