Posted by Seth on September 25, 2007 under Uncategorized | 
The FAA has closed down the world’s busiest cargo airport – and FedEx headquarters – this afternoon, Memphis International, because of an equipment failure that was preventing them from tracking planes in a 250 mile radius around the airport. Some flights are operating again now, but there were plenty of cancellations from various airlines, including NorthWest, for which MEM is a hub. At least these cancelled flights aren’t because there aren’t enough pilots.
Posted by Seth on September 25, 2007 under Uncategorized |
I posted a couple weeks ago about spotting Wallace Shawn at dinner that night and noted that I am really bad at the celebrity spotting game because I never recognize anyone. I managed to prove it to myself again the other day with an entertaining “celebrity” run-in.
One of my clients needed some work done in Washington, DC the other day, which isn’t all that out of the ordinary. I am not a huge fan of traveling round trip to DC for about 30 minutes worth of work, but that’s the job, so off I went. It happened to be a pretty nasty day in NYC, so I chose Acela over the Delta Shuttle, figuring my chances of actually getting to DC and back were much higher (and I was actually correct – the DL flight cancelled!). Sitting in the Acela lounge at Penn Station I was a bit surprised to hear a woman ask for a Red Cap to bring her bags down to the train, especially when I realized that her “bags” really was just a normal roller board. Even more entertaining was when a man standing in the entry way said hi to her and offered to carry her bags instead. I didn’t think much of it, nor did I think much of the two Amtrak Police officers standing there chatting with the guy at the time. They all left the lounge, and I followed them out and over to the tracks. The security guards escorted them down to the track (and in front of everyone else waiting in line) and then I noticed them all settling in as I found a seat. Again, I didn’t think much of it, though the guy was clearly chatting up the cops.
I thought that the show would end at this point, but there was a repeat performance at each stop along the way, with a uniformed and armed Amtrak officer walking through our car, and another on the platform, every time. As we finally approached Union Station in DC the attendant came through the car and asked all of us to remain seated on arrival so that they “could do their thing” and then we’d all be allowed to depart a few minutes later. Sure enough, on arrival there were two more Amtrak cops on the platform, along with a customer service manager, waiting for the special guest to arrive. They escorted him off the train and then stood around for a couple minutes on the platform while getting his bags situated and ready to go. At this point I started talking with a few of the other passengers in hopes of figuring out who the surprise guest was. Finally, after probably longer than it should’ve been, one of the women recognized the guy: Former Vice President Dan Quayle. I stared for a few more minutes and am still pretty sure that I couldn’t pick the guy out of a lineup today, unless there were flashcards for vegetable spellings involved. Oh, and he was pretty short – maybe 5′ 8″ or so, which was surprising to me.
Anyways, yet another “celebrity” spotting even that was probably wasted on me since I didn’t know who it was in the first place.
Posted by Seth on September 22, 2007 under Uncategorized |
for the most part the FA’s job is pretty boring/routine. Every now and then, however, one is having a good day and actually makes the flight all that much more enjoyable. A couple weeks back I did a quick turn to New Orleans to celebrate a friend’s bachelor party. On the way back we were on a 10:00am flight that originated in EWR earlier that morning, which meant that the FAs were pretty much up at 4am on a Sunday morning. Not a great schedule for work, but they made the best of the situation. Two great comments from them (after serving me a much needed bloody mary upon boarding):
This is your final flight verification that you have boarded Continental
flight number 617 with service to Newark. If Newark isn’t in your travel
plans [loud sound] it is now because the forward cabin door is now closed.
And, following the safety demo as we were about to take off:
We will be dimming the cabin lights for departure as quite frankly some of
your cabin crew looks better this way.
Glad to see them enjoying their jobs, making the best of the situation, and making the trip all that much more enjoyable for the rest of us.
Posted by Seth on September 6, 2007 under Uncategorized |
Some folks make a hobby of celebrity spotting in NYC. Personally, I’ve never been all that in to it, mostly because I probably wouldn’t recognize a lot of them anyways. But every now and then they’re hard to miss. This week’s example came over dinner at Bombay Talkie (though it appears they forgot to pay their web hosting company this month, maybe this link instead), our local Indian joint, which recently hit the NYC Michelin Guide — pretty impressive.
First up, the food was great, as usual. Portions seemed a little smaller than last time, and I think the prices may have gone up a dollar or two on the entrees (Tandoori shrimp was 4 jumbo shrimp for $20), but the food is good. Not a “typical” heavy Indian meal, but lighter and with lots of different flavors blended together. The spicy food still had flavor, not just heat, and the Malai Kofta had a great sauce that was more than just heavy yogurt. Plus we were actually able to get a table without any waiting. Maybe because it was the Tuesday after Labor Day and half the city was still on vacation, but we still got to sit and eat without waiting, which is somewhat rare there.
So, on to the spotting. About 6 or 7 years ago when we started going to our regular Italian place in the neighborhood, Wallace Shawn could often be found sitting in the back corner enjoying a meal. That stopped a few years back and I always just assumed he had left the neighborhood or was dining out on different days than we were. It would now seem that it is the latter of those two, as we ran in to him at Bombay Talkie this week. He was happily ensconced at a window table between two other couples, enjoying his meal and a newspaper. Eventually one of the adjoining tables figured it out (with a shout of “You were Cher’s teacher!” that all of us heard) and they seemed to have an enjoyable conversation for the rest of the time we were there.
So there it is…celebrity spotting, plus good Indian food.
Posted by Seth on September 1, 2007 under Uncategorized |
Mario Batali has a few restaurants scattered around NYC, including the easy-going and relaxed Otto on the corner of 8th street and 5th avenue. We’ve been a few times now, and I’m still struggling to find the substance through all the hype about this place.
The wine list is pretty impressive, with a couple hundred options spanning a wide price range, so that is hard to beat. And their cheese plates are delicious. They offer up three different dipping sauces to go along with the cheese: black truffled honey, apricot and black cherry, and the cheese are pretty good as well.
But the entrees are just blah. Last night was a pasta puttanesca and a pizza with artichoke hearts, chile peppers, bell peppers and garlic. Neither was particularly impressive. Ditto for the previous few visits.
Combine the food quality with the obvious high volume turnover approach to their service and I’m just not all that impressed with the place.
If you are looking for a fun bar scene for a pre- or post-dinner cheese plate and glass of wine, Otto should definitely be a consideration. But not really a great dinner option, especially when I compare it to the comparably priced Nebo in Boston where I had dinner a couple weeks back.
Posted by Seth on September 1, 2007 under Uncategorized |
As a follow up to the earlier post about the new Vatican airline, there is a story out of Rome about a group of pilgrims that picked up some miraculous water in Lourdes, France, but were forced to discard it when they tried to carry it through security on their way back to Rome. One guy chugged his, but most of them left their containers at the security checkpoint. No word on whether any passengers chose to check theirs for the return flight.
