December 2012

United could do better

December 5, 2012

United text messages giving inaccurate times.Today began as many travel days do. I checked the phone and looked to see what United's app said before jumping in the shower. Like usual it said our flight should take off on time and land a few minutes early.

After wrapping up the suitcase and heading outside I got my first indication how wrong that was. The often sunny Cupertino was showing it's rainy-season side again with torrential rains. During my first meeting of the day I pulled up the FAA's website and sure enough just down the road San Francisco Airport showed a flow control program in effect. Flow control delays are often quite exacerbating when you're on smaller regional jets because you wait around for the aircraft that was late, get on board and then end up waiting, sometimes for quite a while, for clearance to take off because the FAA is managing traffic flows into the airport you're headed to.

On Flight and Argo

December 1, 2012

A few weeks back I went with a buddy to see a movie. We were angling to see Flight for which the trailers made look somewhat like an adventure-drama. Turns out it was opening night and the movie was full save for those souls who would sit in the front row and make like baby cows with their noses in the air searching for mommy. Not caring for the neck ache we returned to the theater closer to the hotel and saw Argo instead.

What a great choice that ended up being. Argo is a fantastic tale told very well. The filmmakers did a wonderful job taking this based on real events tale and turning it into a riveting adventure story. Cutting in actual footage in key places gives it the sense of realism. Of course the film's relationship with history is only good when matched against a tale like Peter and the Wolf. The bits of history woven in, however, lend great credibility to the drama and make the film great. It is worth taking a busy afternoon in the holiday season and seeing this film.