News from the East Coast

With the aid of their text messaging, Patrick and Alison walked up to each other, somewhere in Manhattan, and had a short visit (near Central Park as I recall.) I'm happy to learn that Patrick has found me some NY souvenir's... yea for me! Alison enjoyed Jersey Boys on Thursday night, and Wicked last night. Sounds like Alison, Mary and Kris have been doing some shopping, though she emphasized that she hadn't seen anything that I might need.

Alison was growing weary of the city. Sounded like either too much walking, too many people or both. Patrick is probably finished with his performance on the stage of Carnegie Hall, and is somewhere on his way to the dinner cruise on a boat, sailing past the Statue of Liberty and to include a dance on-board. There are 7 other HS choirs participating so he should be able to keep his dance card full.

It's of note that Patrick has been moving about the big apple and hasn't required my assistance. As might be expected, not a telephone call or a text message... I'll need to bug him while on board the ship here in a few minutes and see how his evening is going.

Half way to China

Laurie was watching the little in flight monitor as she left SF on her way to Taipei. She saw the little airplane icon nearly reach the midway point when it began to turn and head in the wrong direction. A passenger had suffered a stroke, and the flight plan was altered to fly to Anchorage Alaska. I'm guessing that Anchorage was the nearest medical facility from that point in the middle of the pacific ocean.

Laurie and I exchanged a series of telephone calls and text messages when the plane had landed. We cobbled together a system where I was able to relay her information to Elizabeth in Taiwan regarding the change in plans... It turned out that the detour had caused the pilots and crew to then exceed their legal limit of number of hours in flight, and the plane had to remain in Anchorage until 4pm - Alaska time... A nice room was made available to Laurie at an Anchorage hotel and she cools her heels waiting. (a trip to the nearby convenience store for toothpaste... as the Good folks in the Anchorage airport lacked the facilities to unload and reload that amount of luggage, the checked baggage had to remain checked.)

Interestingly, as they approached Anchorage, they had too much fuel on board (plus people and luggage) so they had to dump some fuel. The pilot advised them of this so the spray they might notice coming from the plane was known to be intentional. In the style of a true economist, Laurie and her seatmate came up with some calculation that inlcuded $100 per barrel of oil, and some sort of gallons per minute... concluding that they probably dumped something in excess of $75K worth of fuel. This calculation was aided by their having done some internet research on her new friends IPhone internet browser...

I haven't heard anything since 10am CST, which I assume means that Elizabeth has gathered flight information from the airline, and Laurie is once again on her way. My coordinator services are no longer needed.

Interesting article... grumpy women...?

Why a lack of sleep makes women grumpier than men

By DANIEL MARTIN - More by this author » Last updated at 00:49am on 26th March 2008

If your wife or a woman colleague snarls at you this morning, lack of sleep may be to blame. Females need far more sleep than men and suffer more mentally and physically if forced to go without it, research suggests. Lack of sleep can also put them at higher risk of heart disease, depression and psychological problems.

Grumpy: Sleep deprivation hits women harder than men

devotion to media?

I was reading this morning and came across something that hit a little close to home...

"An uncritical acceptance of the values of the modern world. It includes blind faith in technology, inordinate attachment to material gadgets and conveniences, uncritical acceptance of the march of scientific progress, devotion to the electronic media, and a lifestyle dictated by adverstising."
Thomas Moore (1994) describing what he called "psychological modernism."

hmmm... I don't like feeling like a sheep... and I am quite fond of my gadgets and conveniences. My wife has suggested a few days ago, that the time is nigh to disconnect the cable television - because it is used so little, the cost benefit ratio is off the chart... I think she may be on to something there.

But what if I needed to use the bathroom?

There's an interesting way to have dinner.