Nor'Easter

The Family Furious is headin' out, road trip-style. Mrs F is supposed to go wedding gown shopping with her best friend in NYC, so we decided to make a pseudo-vacation out of it. A couple stops along the way, a couple days in and around New York and then back again. One wants to think that North Carolina is closer to NYC than Michigan, but it's actually almost exactly the same distance—actually slightly further...

Denizens of Gotham, beware. I'll be on the streets with two little girls, lookin' to rumble.

The Jet Set

The first of three new JetBlue videos/ads aimed at CEOs...



All three are here.

Shaking off the rust...

Since "both" of you have probably been wondering why nothing's been happening on the blog all week, I suppose I'll give an update...

I started a new job.

Out of state. In fact, this week I've actually been at the corporate HQ, which is out of state from the new state. So the last few weeks have been consumed by travel and preparing to relocate the family from Michigan to Asheville, North Carolina. That has entailed selling and buying houses, and the all-consuming task of packing. And packing. And getting rid of stuff. Then packing some more...

Since I arrived in Charleston on Monday, I've been relived of those duties in the evening, but I just haven't been feeling the blogging...I've been reading 'em, and have probably even been to each of your blogs—but I'm just a bit burnt out on the whole thing. So, I haven't been commenting in my usual haunts, and I really haven't felt like sitting down and working through a big post here.

I'm sure I'll snap out of it—I enjoy ranting too much, and there's far too much fuel for it out there—but I've been sequestered from my normal immersion in all things politics, baseball, etc.

There's a tv in my room, but I haven't turned it on. I've spent no NPR time in the car, but the biggest single thing hampering me? My new job requires that I actually, um, work?

What the fuck is that shit?

So, quickly, here are some things that have been rattling around in my head this week:

1. I'm pissed at Obama on FISA, but I recognize he had no choice. Clearly (to me) the Dems in "command" wanted—no, needed—the immunity as badly as Bush. And they aren't handing any reins over to Obama without some serious CYA maneuvering—this was the price for his ascension.

2. I have never before lived in a state without a bottle/can deposit, and I have actually forgotten that not everyone does that...What the fuck is the matter with the rest of you people? Get your shit together and...Recycle. Your. Fucking. Cans!

3. This year the A.L. will lose the All Star Game.

4. People in the South ARE more friendly.

5. My car got an astonishing 28 mpg on one leg of this trip—on the highway. It is back to it's gluttonous ways around town again.

6. Starbucks iced coffee is pretty good. Starbucks hot coffee still sucks.

7. A big-ass G5 tower is not a laptop. But I've still been taking it "home" every night and gotten very adept at hooking it all up in less than a minute.

8. Did the internet abandon italics? None of them showed up in this post, and they seem to missing everywhere else, too.

9. iPhones. Mrs F and I are strongly considering getting iPhones when we move to replace our current cells.. and, no, we won;t be waiting in line tomorrow like a jackass to do that.

10. I'm beat. I am going to bed and possible get 8 actual hours of sleep.

Miscellany

Troubled Bridge Over Water
Yikes! Stay the hell out of New York.

Extreme Makeover
Steve Benen does the best political work on the 'tubes, and the site now looks the part. Check out the redesigned Carpetbagger Report.

"Never a good Idea to attack the dude with the microphone."
Don't crack wise with Kevin Smith, he feeds on the laughter of comic geeks. Video here. Warning: NSFW. Oh, the fan is right—Smith's movies suck.

A Bad Idea
Chrysler's set to offer a lifetime powertrain warranty. As in forever. Something tells me this is going to be another insurmountable legacy cost (aka: another nail in their coffin).

"My name is Ian, and I'm from Minor Threat..."
The David vs. Goliath story of Nike ripping off an old punk album cover to sell stuff. The Legal Satyricon

New Batman Teaser
Unveiled at ComiCon last week. Doesn't show anything, but following on the heels of the excellent "Batman Begins" I have high hopes for "Dark Knight." May suffer from the SM3 problem of too many villains, but so what. Christian Bale is far and away the best Batman yet, and I could listen to Michael Caine read the phone book. Go. UPDATE: That's DC's "viral" Joker site, and it's already something else. Found it on YouTube. Enjoy.



My Path of Destruction
Everywhere I've been long enough to sleep a night or attend an event. Driving through doesn't count. [h/t Fridge]

Visited US States Map from TravelBlog

Worst. Airport. Ever.

Washington D.C.'s Dulles International.

Let's start with the outdated, foul-smelling Damnation Alley terminal shuttles. Is this the only airport using these crazy-ass things? If so, how much did it cost to custom-order a fleet of fifteen-feet-in-the-air double-wides? And was Halliburton the lucky recipient of that contract? They probably could have had gold-plated monorails for less.

And once you ride one of these things (which drive around the same lanes as the jetliners, btw) to your terminal of choice, you are greeted by an endless line of half-closed steel gates—because everything in the airport closes at 9:00 p.m.! I had to walk the more-than quarter-mile length of the A/B terminal, without the assistance of any type of moving sidewalk, to get the last sandwich of the night from Potbelly's. And then make the long trek back eating said sandwich in front of the people who had been shut out at the Potbelly's counter moments after I ordered. Talk about awkward...

Is there any excuse for an airport that had flights going out as late as 11:00 p.m. top have NO food available after 9:00? I had just arrived on a flight that served us soda and that's it. Not even pretzels. I, and surely everyone else on board with a connection, was counting on getting food while waiting for their next flight. Awful.