Category: Travel

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It’s nice to be in my home state

IMG 1244My Brother’s place feels like home. It’s spartan. very little junk, and everything that’s here is something that my brother loves or which has obvious significance.

It’s strange that I feel so at home here, and did so instantly.

My sinuses lost their minds in the hours after landing here. They’ve calmed down considerably and now my skin is relaxing too, it’s the humidity here. 

Ibrothers.jpg.jpeg slept soundly once I fell asleep it took some time for my head to quite due to the  rigors of traveling. Once I went to sleep I slept well and deeply.

My memories of this area are surprisingly good. My brain automatically pointed out poison ivy. I wasn’t even aware that I was avoiding it until I went to reach for some of the berries, then I remembered and thought, “Huh” 

I’m in my home environment the world is right and I’m comfortable.

I’ve had a bit to drink after a day with my brother. Brother(s) actually, I got to spend time wIMG 1249ith the eldest sibling from my Father’s second marriage. he’s only 4 years older than me and looks very good.

I’m smiling a lot for no reason, and it’s not just from the booze. 

Okay, I’ve had too much to drink over the course of the day. But I don’t care.

Spending time with family is like the warmth of a fire on a cold night.

It’s comfortable and good. No-one is trying to outdo the others, we’re just laughing and enjoying being in each other’s presence.

I’ll admit that I was tense about this trip, but that tension was only about the flight and having to deal with the bullshit of security and close confines.

There’s joy in being here and in the company of people who generally think like I do, meaning in my family.

There’s also joy in faith in people generally who might disagree, or potentially take you to task about your beliefs but if it comes to that. Southern politeness and decorum will be followed.

It’s nice to feel that I have freedom of speech again.

I suppose all of this is to say that it’s nice to feel like I belong.

Social rules are those that I remember. I know, perhaps this place isn’t as diverse as other places, but I have to ask… 

Is that so wrong?

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I hate DST!

clocks.jpgWho doesn’t?

I never sleep well the night it’s going to take effect. I’m always worrying about getting to work, being on time and it takes me a week to begin to get adjusted.

I worry about the one clock (there’s always one) in the house that I’ll forget to change, and invariably that forgotten clock will be the one that I’m looking at while planning to get out the door to go somewhere.

I feel like I’m late for everything for days after the time change even when I’m actually on time. 

It’s like a mandated jet lag for the whole damn country.

Thankfully my phone, computer, and most of the tech in my house figures it out for itself. Unfortunately that actually makes it more likely that I’ll miss a manual clock somewhere.

plane.jpgNext weekend, I’ll be taking a trip. The time change during the trip will make things more interesting and coming back home will force me to “Reset”. I just hope that I’m not going to be totally screwed up for the week after I get home.

Yes, I’m getting on a plane. God help me. I’m hoping that I’ll be able to sleep most of the way to/from my destination. I’ll probably end up next to some chatty kathy who wants to tell me about their life. The whole time we’re airborne.

Thearing protection.jpghis is going to be a real test for my AirPod Pros. Can all annoyances be blocked out? or just the drone of the jet engines?  I had another type of noise cancelling headphones years ago when I traveled a lot. They were great at cutting out background noise, but allowed me to hear every word spoken by the passenger next to me.

Maybe I’ll fly with my shooting range ear protection. If they can kill the sound of a .45 perhaps they can kill the sound of annoying talking and baby screaming in a plane cabin.

I’m going to be traveling light. Just enough clothing to be comfortable and if I need something else I’ll buy it when I get there. I’ll have my computer with me, I think that the battery will last me the whole flight and if I can’t sleep I’ll write. I doubt that I’ll need the aircraft WiFi but I think that’s an option.

Don't fuck with time!What still is to be determined is if I’ll need to extend my stay. From what I understand I have relatives that may not be with us much longer and that means that perhaps I’ll have to make the rounds to several states.

Well, I can look for a job from my destination as easily as I can from home. The corona virus will give me a great excuse to do Video interviews.

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Sometimes ya gotta bend the rules!

Karen Momsen-Evers

I read about this woman the other day.

Seems her husband sent her a text message just as she was getting on a plane and now she’s saying that Southwest Airlines prevented her from calling her husband to prevent his suicide.

I think that the whole incident was handled badly from start to finish. I hate to say it but I think the woman is trying to implicate Southwest as somehow partially responsible for her husbands death, perhaps for monetary gain.

I’ve read several versions of the story and with each version it seems more like she’s looking for someone to blame. 

Sadly her husband killed himself. But this lady had the option to step off the plane

Southwest

The Flight attendant could have explained other options to this distraught lady.

The flight attendant was DEAD wrong if in fact, she slapped the phone down. Try that with me and it’s going to get REAL ugly REAL fast!

I’ve noticed that flight attendants these days are far more sanctimonious and rule bound than they need to be. I know they put up with a lot, and passengers are already spun up by security, lines, and the cattle car environment of planes these days, but flight attendants don’t have to be assholes! They are after all, servicers!

Flightattendant

It would have been nothing for the flight attendant to tell the pilot about this lady’s concern and get a call to emergency services in her township. In fact it would have been easier for the airline to make that call than the lady herself. If she’d dialed 911 in New Orleans, she’d have gotten 911 in Louisiana. Someone at Southwest ticketing or even the control tower might have had better luck finding a Sheriffs number in Wisconsin, making the call with the address and getting emergency services to the lady’s home.

The problem is that the Flight attendant wasn’t listening. A problem we see all too often, these days and more often than in the past this not hearing someone out ends in tragedy.

All that being said, with each telling of the story I’ve heard or read, something doesn’t sound quite right.

This event doesn’t’ pass the smell test with me, I think if someone digs into it we’ll find other issues and possibly simple greed. 

Do life insurance policies pay off if the policy holder kills themselves?

Makes me wonder, how about you?