News from Work

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These are exciting days at old Southwestern Airways. I’m pretty much limited to discussing publicly available or personal information (no company secrets), but here’s an overview of what’s going on in my work world:

  • Our purchase of AirTran is moving along nicely. Yesterday the AirTran (AAI) shareholders voted to allow the sale with 98.6 percent approval. Since we’re paying a significant premium for AirTran, the shareholders were widely expected to approve the sale, but it’s still a crucial milestone. Now we just need approval from the regulators, which is also expected. Then we can close sometime in the second quarter. The two companies will continue to operate separately for at least a year or two while we integrate our computer systems, operational plans, employee groups, and numerous other details. Combining two airlines takes a huge amount of work.
  • I’ve worked the day shift from Monday through Thursday this week. The first three days provided my annual recurrent training. Today I worked a West Coast desk. It’s almost like living a “normal” life. I wake up around 5am and leave for work before 6:30am. Jenny stays home with the boys. Then I come home in the afternoon. Weird.
  • I might be switching to the day shift for quite a while if I get chosen for a special project. If I do, I’ll post details later this month.
  • Our union has been negotiating a new contract since December 2009. Last week the company decided to request a mediator to help move the negotiations along. In theory, the mediator should help speed things up, but only time will tell. I’m not involved in the negotiations and know very little about what’s actually going on. I have plenty of thoughts on the topic, but for obvious reasons, we’ll have to discuss them in private.
  • My department is hiring again, which is always good news. Four new guys start in early April, and we just posted the position externally for a few more that will start this summer. Right now I’m #103 of 149 on the Dispatcher seniority list. It’s hard to believe we’ve grown that much, and I’ve moved up that much, in just six years.

Support Adoption, Win an iPad 2?

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The McCuiston family is in the process of adopting a child from Ethiopia. They have completed their paperwork and home study and are now on the waiting list. International adoptions can be very expensive up front, so the family is raffling off an iPad 2 (drool) to raise money for the adoption fund. Tickets are $10 each. Follow the link for your chance to help (and win?):

McCuiston Family iPad 2 Raffle

Good luck, and thank you for supporting them in their journey!

March 2011 Rants and Raves

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Rave – Life Time Fitness Yes, it’s expensive, but it’s a fantastic gym with good facilities, a wide variety of classes, and great child care. It’s so good that my wife, who always hated exercise, truly enjoys working out there and misses it when she doesn’t get to go. She’s even training for her first indoor triathlon in September.

Rant – AppleCare When I bought my beloved MacBook in fall 2008, I sprung for 3 years of AppleCare, Apple’s extended warranty program. The battery has been acting weird lately, and I fear it has reached the end of its life. I had assumed that AppleCare would cover a new battery, but apparently the battery isn’t covered except for manufacturing defects. Apple considers the battery a consumable part, like tires on a car. Its useful life for this model is about 400 charge cycles. I’m sure we’re close to that figure if not past it. A new battery is $129. ***UPDATE – Jenny took the MacBook to the Apple store for a new battery. The rep initially said we would have to buy a new one, which magically cost only $99 at the store. But then their computer decided that the new battery was covered under AppleCare, so we got it for free. I’ve read several reports of Apple covering work that isn’t technically under warranty. They want to keep their customers happy.

Rave – The People of Japan In the face of natural and manmade disasters that many Americans will never face, the people of Japan seem to be handling the situation with remarkable grace and maturity. Instead of descending into anarchy, violence, and looting, the Japanese are sharing with each other, trying to remain calm, and patiently waiting in line for hours to pick up supplies. A skeleton crew at the damaged nuclear power plant is staying behind, knowingly taking radiation, to continue working on the reactor and contain the effects. See this letter to the editor for more commentary.

Rant – Door-to-Door Salespeople Want an easy way to put me in a bad mood? Try to sell me something. Want to put me in a really bad mood? Knock on my door and try to sell me something. I don’t care whether you’re selling vacuums, lawn service, or your version of God, I assure you that I am not interested. Door-to-door sales went out of style decades ago. Let it die. And yes, I’m looking at YOU, Girl Scouts of America.

Rave – Melatonin Although I enjoy working the night shift, it does make sleeping more difficult. Sometimes it’s hard to stay asleep during the day. It can be especially difficult to transition between night schedule and “normal” schedule. On my first night off after a stretch of shifts, I’m generally trying to put my body to sleep at 3:00 or 4:00am when it’s gotten used to 8:00am instead. An over-the-counter supplement called melatonin can be very helpful in handling these issues. For me, it has no side effects, but it helps me get to sleep and stay asleep longer when I need to.

Random Facts about Me for March 2011

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Ten more. Count ’em off!

  1. I have disproportionately large calves. I got them from my dad. So did my sister. We’re cool like that.
  2. My job could become obsolete someday. Even today, software exists that can automate most of my duties. That’s a weird feeling.
  3. I think smart women are extremely sexy. My wife is a science nerd, and I love her for it. She currently has a 101 average in her chemistry class.
  4. Ditto for women who work out. Sports bras are hot.
  5. I generally dislike being in leadership positions. I would much rather follow and serve than lead. However, it seems that most other people feel the same way, so sometimes I end up leading simply because a leader is needed and no one else wants the job.
  6. Someday, once I have more time and disposable income, I might try flipping houses, possibly in the lower end of the market. I like the idea of transforming old, broken houses into appealing ones and helping to revitalize neighborhoods.
  7. I want a solar-powered hot tub for our backyard. They actually exist, but it’s not as simple as it might sound.
  8. As a teenager, I published a couple of stories/articles in a Christian teen magazine called Straight. They earned me $30-40 apiece. Although the magazine’s name probably referred to “the straight and narrow” rather than sexual orientation, its publisher eventually changed the name to Encounter.
  9. I want my next commuter car to be all-electric. If my Fit can last at least 10 years, it’ll be about 2017 when I go shopping. By then, electrics should be cheaper, better, and more common. Perhaps by then, they’ll finally have a hybrid minivan on the market, too.
  10. Parenthood is great, but it has also given me a new appreciation for the simple pleasure of a quiet meal in the company of adults.

Netflix

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I shouldn’t have been surprised when I saw the “STORE CLOSING” signs at our neighborhood Blockbuster, but I was.

Back when Jenny and I first got married in 2003 and lived in a one-bedroom apartment in Euless, we paid many visits to that Blockbuster store for DVDs and PS2 games. Pizza and a $5 movie or game rental made a perfect date night. Blu-Ray hadn’t been released yet. I don’t think the whole streaming-video thing was popular yet. (for context, I also didn’t text, Cingular – remember them? – was our cell phone provider, and I still hard-coded my blog in HTML) We spent a lot of time in that Blockbuster trying to decide what to rent.

Even though we never went there anymore, it’s still weird to think the store will soon be gone. But times change, and Blockbuster didn’t keep up.

As a society, our movie watching preferences have changed significantly. After completely taking over the video-rental market not too many years ago, Blockbuster is currently in bankruptcy protection and looking for a buyer. The Blockbuster model of large neighborhood video and game rental stores is dying out, made obsolete by two new models. One is RedBox, the movie vending machines you can find at Wal-Mart, gas stations, and other locations. For $1/day, you can pick up a movie while doing another errand and then keep it as long as you please. I’ve never tried RedBox, but Jenny’s parents really like it.

The other model is Netflix, a hybrid of mail-order and streaming media. It began by shipping out movies and TV shows on DVD. As bandwidth became cheaper and high-speed internet connections because common, it added the ability to stream video to a computer or advanced gaming system such as a Wii or Playstation 3. Blockbuster tried to catch up to Netflix with its own mail-order service called Blockbuster Online, but Netflix just did it better. Its operating costs are lower, largely due to its lack of stores, its website is better, and the service is more reliable.

We used Blockbuster Online for a while and switched to Netflix perhaps two years ago. Now that we have kids, we mainly stream cartoons through the Wii to keep Brenden still during his breathing treatments. It works extremely well. Sometimes we stream movies for ourselves as well as workout videos or TV shows. We also get 1 DVD at a time through the mail, which I generally watch at night while the family is asleep. One thing Netflix doesn’t offer is game rentals, but the rest of the service is so great, I’ll give them a pass. For us, it’s about $10/month, the cost of two old-school Blockbuster rentals with much less hassle. If you’re on the fence, I strongly recommend giving it a try.

Any of you use Netflix?

Things You Should Try

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I posted my bucket list a couple of years ago, but I’m also interested in little, soul-enriching things that don’t require huge amounts of work, money, luck, or flight time. Here are a few of my recommendations from my own experience:

  1. Enjoy a steak sub at Captain Nemo’s in Irving (OK, this is more stomach-enriching, but you really need to try one)
  2. Go skinnydipping
  3. Turn down a job because they won’t pay you what you’re worth
  4. Take a walk in the rain…on purpose
  5. Watch the sun rise without offering commentary
  6. Stay up late and watch a meteor shower
  7. Take a walk on the beach or through the woods with someone you love
  8. Stand on a mountaintop and realize how small you really are
  9. Eat dessert first
  10. Sing karaoke, even if you can’t sing

Please add your own ideas below!

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