I arrived at the airport at around 5 a.m. to find out that all flights had been cancelled out of area that morning due to bad weather and that the best US Airways could do was to put me on a flight out of Mobile, AL at 5:30 p.m.. So much for flying out early. I got to the airport in Mobile at 4:00 and was sitting patiently waiting for the airplane to pull up to my gate. As time drew on, I knew that the plane should be at the gate by now, so I kept watching the departures screen nearby for any hint of an admitted delay. As I knew it would inevitably to, the screen changed to show a new delayed depart time for my flight which was about 45 minutes later than its original. I did some quick calculations using the times on my itinerary (I had a connection flight in Charlotte, NC) and was relieved to figure out that I should still be able to make my connection. That was, until the screen again changed to now reflect a 1 1/2 hour delay in my flight. I had this sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach.

Up to this point, there were absolutely no airport employees present. Not at my gate or any gates nearby but after a few minutes of this second change, they appear to announce that most flights out of Charlotte were also delayed and that we might still make our connection flights but that they had already prepared us with hotel vouchers for Charlotte, just in case. Our flight actually kept to its second change and we landed about 15 minutes after my connection should have left but at the first screen I saw that it was also about 20 minutes delayed, so I began the airport dash because of course it was located in a different concourse.

I arrived to find my flight was already gone, no surprise there but when I approached the gate counter to arrange another flight, I was told by the agent that he could not help me at this time, he had to get all his paperwork done. No suggestion on who I could talk to or where I should go.. not even an attempt to find out what I wanted. Customer service at its finest. Also, I found out quickly that US AIrways had already closed its customer service counter, I guess there is no correlation between your customers and when you provide customer service. Who knew? I went to another gate and they were able to lock me on for a flight out the next morning at 9 am. I won’t get into the details, this post is already long enough but needless to say, it wasn’t the greatest New Year’s Eve I’ve had. The only thing open near the hShoney’s a Shoney’s and the idea of going to Shoney’s was even more depressing than the hotel room, so I just ended up watching the ball drop on TV.

or

The next morning I decided to check online for my flight status, just in case. I was finally learning as this flight was also cancelled due to “Flight Crew Unavailable”. That was a new one for me. I decided not to get too worked up because it could be that the crew partied a little too much last night, someone had to and in my opinion I’d rather them unavailable rather than operating my flight home! I decided to just do some work out of the hotel and finally went to the airport at noon which was about 4 hours before my flight. Fortunately, they managed to get me on an earlier flight and I only had to wait 2 hours for my flight.

Well, I finally made it home. I guess I shouldn’t be too upset, most of the people I dealt with during this ordeal were pleasant enough; considering they were working on New Year’s Eve. At least I made it home alive and well and I know it could have been much worse as I’m sure many people can attest to from personal experience. My take on the whole event, the year can only get better!

dotBoom is a web-based puppet show about dotBoom, a website development firm in Toronto, Ontario. dotBoom the show is all laughs and honey because the company isn’t: that it’s successful is in spite of the inept management team, not because of it. dotBoom is, for the most part, about the creative department, whose members are smart, talented, and want to go home.

Even though I don’t work for a website development firm, some of the scenes and characters are a little TOO familiar. And what can I say, there is something strangely mesmerizing about perverted puppets…

Um, does anyone know where I can get another one?

YouTube link

YouTube link

I knew this was most likely a parody of William Shatner doing Rocket Man but I had never seen Shatner’s version, so it was over to YouTube again. Absolutely hilarious, you can’t write stuff this funny. It’s a little long but worth watching since the funniest part in my opinion is when “3rd Shatner” makes his appearance or as I refer to him “Drunk Shatner”. Family Guy did a great job on their parody while making it much shorter; the only part I think they should have left in was when “1st Shatner” a.k.a “Smoking Shatner” talks to “2nd Shatner” and tells him “It’s cold as hell”.

YouTube link

Oh yeah, that’s the good stuff!

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You scored as Seth Bullock. You didn’t want to be sheriff, but someone had to do it. You wish you didn’t have such a high moral compass, because you just want to sit in the background. However, in this town someone needs to step up, and if no one else will, that only leaves you. If evil only needs the good to do nothing, you won’t watch from the sidelines. (Seth Bullock is played by Timothy Olyphant) Seth Bullock 69% Doc Cochran 63% Joanie Stubbs 56% Alma Garret 56% Calamity Jane 44% Mr Wu 44% Trixie 38% Cy Tolliver 31% E. B. Farnum 31% Al Swearengen 31% What kind of (Deadwood) Cocksucker are you? created with QuizFarm.com

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I tried to answer the questions honestly while hoping not to be Farnum! Oh, and as a side note, this is for anyone else was wondering exactly what was a hoople-head.

1. Veritas
2. Tomahawk Mill
3. Tarara
4. Rockbridge
5. Horton Cellars
6. Barboursville
7. Ingleside
8. Rebec

I actually enjoyed some of the wines at each of these vineyards/wineries but Veritas, Tomahawk Mill, and Barboursville have definitely made it on my “to visit” list. I also had my first chance to try Pinot Noir that was produced in VA. They were actually better than I expected, my opinion is still that the climate of VA would make it very hard to produce a really good Pinot but you have to give credit to the vineyards that are trying to make wine with this notoriously fickle grape in a state that has a much less consistent climate as my favorite CA Pinots (Santa Barbara Wine Country). Specifically, that would be Tomahawk Mill, Rockbridge, and Rebec. I managed to make it out only buying four bottles (2 from Barboursville & 2 from Veritas) but I did end up joining the Virginia Wine of the Month Club which means I’ll be busy entering wines at least monthly into cork’d!!