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Those who know me well know that I’ve had a history of anxious flying. I would never let it get in my way of where I needed to go but at the same time it’s not completely ignorable. Luckily for myself I’ve been able to overcome the anxiousness over the last year… flying is of no ordeal for me, yet when it comes to commercial flying I follow the news and can consider me a statistic master.

Leading into the point, today two separate incidents were reported at Newark’s Liberty Airport. The first incident being a Lufthansa 747 clipping a stationary Continental 757, which resulted in a damaged wing on the Lufthansa airplane. Although it shouldn’t have occurred at all it’s still the best of all accidents – no one injured.

On a similar note, the other incident actually occurred Saturday night which also involved a Continental 757 but was a bit more severe in nature; the plane landed on the taxi-way rather than the runway. How the hell do you land a plane on a taxi-way rather than the runway?!?!?! You have two pilots in the airplane a pilot and a co-pilot, yet neither realized they weren’t landing on the runway?

These are the type of incidents that got me anxious of flying in the first place. According to FAA statistics, over the last 31 years there have only been eight incidences where a plane has landed on the wrong runway – ironically I don’t think this incident falls in that category because theoretically it didn’t land on a *runway*.

While I was focusing in on the blame of the flight crew, I read that one of the passengers made the following statement:

“To be honest, it’s a little bit scary. I know they’re trained to know what they’re doing, but they’re human. They’re going to make mistakes,”

This was definitely a major blunder by the flight crew – no doubt about that. But I have to ask myself, whether the incident should end up costing the flight crew their career. This is where I have to think about the passenger’s quote. We are human and we all make mistakes, we live through most and some are forgivable, but regardless of the circumstances there is one thing we should always do and that is learn from them – even if it’s other’s mistakes. That being said, I for one would fly with these pilots but only if they are completely cooperative in the investigation and let others learn from the circumstances; plus living through this ordeal I would doubt they would ever allow it to repeat itself.

Sure, I signed up on a frequent flyer program last year thinking that I might actually get something out of it even though I was somewhat doubtful it would actually formulate. I’ve always been under the impression that the miles they award you are worthless and just meant to be peanuts they feed you just so that you come back for more… no pun intended.

Well I was chatting with my friend Greg today and he mentioned that he was headed to St. Louis this weekend courtesy of some “miles”. First off give me a break, like the Cardinals REALLY has a chance in championships!?!?!

Anyways, what he said still got me thinking… I have all these miles, can I actually use them? I figure let’s give it shot, after all I need tickets for the holidays anyways. In order to make a long story short — WOW, THESE THINGS ARE NEAT! I was able to book my holiday travel plans solely on miles (minus $7.50 that I needed to pay in taxes). Even with as odd of an itinerary that I had (SEA -> TUL, MEM -> SEA), it worked out extremely well. In fact they were able to get me in first class on one of my long duration flights!

Lesson learned; don’t doubt the power of the miles!

I’ve been contemplating whether or not to get one of the new TiVo Series 3 (high-def w/ dual-tuner support). The motivation is centered on all the issues I’ve been having with the Comcast DVR. I had to have it replaced about a month ago because it had stopped recording ANY shows (the whole purpose of having a DVR right?) and since it likes to reset itself frequently (typically during prime time). It also likes to frequently freeze in fast-forward mode — doesn’t sound that awful but it is (it’ll fast forward through the rest of the show during which you get spoilers into upcoming scenes). The only thing that’s been holding me back on the TiVo is all the horror stories with dealing with the cable companies on getting the TiVo setup. Given the new series 3 acts as a digital decoder it requires a couple of CableCards (one for each tuner) which “authorizes” the device with the cable provider as to which content you’re allowed to receive. If you read the ‘TiVo Community’ message boards you’ll realize what a task it can be to obtain the CableCards. There are posts indicating some cable providers (Comcast included) have refused to provide the cards citing they’re only allowed to install the cards in televisions. The FCC mandates that they provide the cards for any Cable Labs certified device (TiVo included) though I have no motivation to have to deal with a bunch of bureaucracy.  I’ve also seen posts indicating that if they do agree to provide the cards that professional installation is typically required – costing anywhere from $17 to $70; in addition the on-going costs have been quoted anywhere from both cards being free upwards to $15/month. After reading everyone else’s experiences there’s no wonder I had no idea what to expect. So before making the investment on the TiVo I wanted to ensure that I’ll be able to use it without getting raped on installation and monthly fees – so I on Thursday I headed down to the Comcast office in Redmond to see what it was going to cost — I walked out less than 5 minutes later with two CableCards in hand…at no cost. 

So I decided to make the leap and have placed an order for the unit (I couldn’t find any locally) and it should be here by Wednesday… more to come later once it’s in hand and setup.

If you didn’t already know my last MP3 player (30GB Dell Jukebox) was stolen when my car got broken into a several weeks ago. I’ve been holding out on replacing it in anticipation for the release of the Microsoft Zune.

Well with an official launch date of November 14th that time is nearly here — ok, so it’s still well over a month out but that’s not the point — the point is that I’ve secured mine, have you?

“Zune 30 GB Digital Media Player (Black)”
Electronics; $249.99

 Sold by: Amazon.com 

Shipping estimate for these items:  November 14, 2006
Delivery estimate:  November 15, 2006

I highly believe Microsoft can provide some firm competition with the Zune although it’ll be some time before it can be determined whether this venture is a success or a failure. It’ll be very interesting to see how well it’s adopted into a market that is already monopolized by Apple’s iPod brand. One feature I’m personally looking forward to in the Zune that the iPod lacks is it’s built it FM tuner. I ride the bus most mornings and it’d be nice to be able to dial in to the local morning shows and yet still have the ability to pull up other media content.

President Bush speaking at a fundraiser last night effectively stated that the Democrats shouldn’t be trusted to run Congress…

“If you listen closely to some of the leaders of the Democratic Party, – it sounds like — they think the best way to protect the American people is, wait until we’re attacked again”

Wow, talk about the pot call the kettle black!

Does he know that a State Department official has confirmed that Secretary of State (Condoleezza Rice) did indeed receive a CIA briefing regarding active terror threats two months prior to the attacks even though she has repeatedly stated she doesn’t recall such a briefing? In which case it would have been his administration who *waited until we were attacked *. I also guess he didn’t read the recent intelligence report that suggests that the war on Iraq has if anything *helped* recruit more terrorists.

Bush is scared of the fact that control of the House is up for grabs in the November and current signs indicate a less than ideal outcome for the GOP. Perhaps they should have thought of that sooner and kept a tighter leash on former GOP representative Mark Foley — which allegations surfaced today that he interrupted a vote on the House floor in 2003 to engage in cyber-sex with a former page. Let’s also not forget the allegations — some of which from fellow GOP representatives — that Foley’s behavior had been covered up by House Speaker Dennis Hastert. Although there is no hard evidence regarding Hastert was involved in a cover-up the allegations aren’t completely without merit based on what information is available.

I’m not all that surprised that even with all this going on that President Bush would stand up and say that it’s the Democrats that can’t be trusted, afterall he’s never really known what’s actually going on in reality, so why should he start now?