Last weekend I was coming home from a Labor Day vacation on a very small airplane filled with soldiers from the nearby Army base returning from holiday leave. I remember people I went to high school with joining the military 15(!) years ago; back then it didn't seem like such a crazy idea, and we didn't seem nearly as young. And the looming anniversary had not escaped me: It was hard to believe that some of these kids were fighting a war that had started when they were in fourth grade.
When I was in fourth grade, I asked my mom how long wars were supposed to last. It was one of those naively surreal questions that only a kid can come up with, but my mother fielded it with parental expertise. "About five years," she said. "Sometimes more, sometimes less." It looks like this one will wind down around year 10--the age of a fourth-grader, no less--and by the time this one is over, the kids on the plane will probably have spent more of their lives at war than at peace.
Around anniversaries five and six and seven, I seemed to hit the sweet spot of remembering: I knew I had forgotten just enough of the panic and confusion to be able to simply recall the day plainly, as it was, with few blanks. I used be able to remember exactly what I was wearing on that day. Today I remember that it was dark jeans and a white shirt. I don't remember the shoes. I don't remember the brand of my jeans. I don't remember what bag I was carrying. I don't remember the movie I tried to return to Blockbuster that day. I don't remember what color my hair was, or how long it was. I don't remember the number of the bus that took me down Broadway to Lincoln Center. I can't remember if I was able to reach my parents that day. I know I used to know all of these things, and it sort of saddens me that I don't anymore--it was a terrible day, but I don't want to lose it. For whatever reason (or, likely, no reason) the memory of one tiny piece of that day is in my care and I feel responsible for it. I do remember buying Peanut M&M's from the one street cart still doing business in Times Square, and they've been my favorite candy ever since. And I remember the sirens and the soldiers.
I think most of us who were in New York or Washington on 9/11 feel a connection with the soldiers who have gone on to fight this war for us (one is my uncle, one is my cousin, some are my friends, but part of me loves them all, even the assholes). I know that whatever happened to me on 9/11--and let's be clear: nothing happened to me, I just happened to get dirty--can't compare to a tour in Afghanistan or Iraq, or three tours. Leaving New York has given me some distance from 9/11, but in some ways--now that I live near Fort Campbell, which has the highest suicide rate in the Army--it's brought me closer to the war. I have always objected to the war in Iraq. I objected to the war in Afghanistan at first, but grudgingly came to accept it. I don't know what winning means in either conflict anymore. I don't know that there is anything objective left to win but peace. I'm not going to sit here and analyze the disproportion of experience between my tiny battle and their big war, but I have to acknowledge that I feel the debt. It was only chance that I was so close to the attacks, just an accident that I joined the ranks of those to be avenged. Some of these avengers are young enough to be my children (if barely), which seems so backwards and unjust, and I don't know how to make it right besides pile them all into my heart and hope they all make it home safe.
I am in love with Mike Doughty's* "Fort Hood," which is the source of the title of this post. It's not so much an anti-war song as it is a war-sucks song. I listened to it on repeat on the plane. Most of those kids on the plane had gone home for their holiday leave. I hope this time next year, they all get to go back.
*PS: Mike Doughty is great. In exchange for using his video without permission, here's a free ad for him: Buy his albums, Haughty Melodic and Golden Delicious. Thanks.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Thursday, February 19, 2009
please refer to my status updates on facebook
to sum up the past four months: packing, moving, unpacking, selling, arguing, storing, selling, have you ever noticed how crooked that picture is, painting, finding studs, working, reading, training rambunctious dogs, sitting in traffic, occasionally sleeping, getting a personal trainer i never have time to train with, forgetting hallmark-conspiracy holidays, sucking up at work because the jobs are starting to bleed, finding a moment to hug my lover, sitting in traffic and more traffic, cutting all my hair off because it annoyed me, trying to figure out how this new universal remote works, trying to learn how to use this fancy new can opener, becoming a crock-pot cooking whiz (when we remember to plug it in, anyway), spending 11 hours a day commuting to and from and doing my day job and another 2-3 doing my other projects, visiting target on a weekly basis, spending more time at petsmart than we ever dreamed, vacuuming and mopping after the filthy beasties every other day, fighting metastatic laundry, did i say sleeping? we do that sometimes. good thing we all love each other or it would be a disaster.
next week we'll be on vacation. don't call.
next week we'll be on vacation. don't call.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Sunday, January 11, 2009
is this thing still on?
hello?
i imagine the only people reading this by now are those who long ago put my blog on an RSS feed and have since forgotten it or i exist. well, here i am.
i don't have a decent excuse for my radio silence--mostly i just got wrapped up in coordinating and executing MoveIn.org: The Cohabitation Campaign with J and also somehow got lulled into thinking facebook status updates were a reasonable alternative to this forum.
so, now i'm mostly moved in to this tiny house (although not tiny by new york standards, by which i still judge real estate although i have not lived there for more than two years). we have two dogs--a basset named voltaire and a beagle/doberman (a beagleman!) named mo--and a lot of books. here are the dogs:
so, more later. just wanted to check in.
i imagine the only people reading this by now are those who long ago put my blog on an RSS feed and have since forgotten it or i exist. well, here i am.
i don't have a decent excuse for my radio silence--mostly i just got wrapped up in coordinating and executing MoveIn.org: The Cohabitation Campaign with J and also somehow got lulled into thinking facebook status updates were a reasonable alternative to this forum.
so, now i'm mostly moved in to this tiny house (although not tiny by new york standards, by which i still judge real estate although i have not lived there for more than two years). we have two dogs--a basset named voltaire and a beagle/doberman (a beagleman!) named mo--and a lot of books. here are the dogs:
so, more later. just wanted to check in.
Sunday, December 14, 2008
duck bush
i was going to say that this iraqi journalist has probably ended his career, but i'm sure he'll be able to live off the proceeds of his tell-all of what will surely be an interesting experience in gitmo.
Sunday, November 09, 2008
happy birthday to me
on friday, someone called in a bomb threat and i happened to be the one to take the call. detectives, fire department, dogs--it was nuts.
last night i made stir fry for J and i and gave us both food poisoning.
let's hope today is less exciting.
last night i made stir fry for J and i and gave us both food poisoning.
let's hope today is less exciting.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
evolution
this photo of obama reminded me of e.b. white's obituary for john f. kennedy:
"When we think of him, he is without a hat, standing in the wind and the weather. He was impatient of topcoats and hats, preferring to be exposed, and he was young enough an tough enough to confront and to enjoy the cold and the wind of these times, whether the winds of nature or the winds of political circumstance and national danger. He died of exposure, but in a way that he would have settled for--in the line of duty, and with his friends and enemies all around, supporting him and shooting at him. It can be said of him, as of few men in a like position, that he did not fear the weather, and did not trim his sails, but instead challenged the wind itself, to improve its direction and cause it to blow more softly and more kindly over the world and its people."
reader, i voted for him.
Monday, October 06, 2008
just another forwarded email
I was a little confused, but see if I have this straight.....
If you grow up in Hawaii, raised by your grandparents, you're 'exotic, different.' Grow up in Alaska eating mooseburgers, a quintessential American story. If your name is Barack you're a radical, unpatriotic Muslim. Name your kids Bristol, Willow, Piper, Trig and Track, you're a maverick. Graduate from Harvard law School and you are unstable.
Attend 5 different small colleges before graduating, you're well grounded.
If you spend 3 years as a brilliant community organizer, become the first black President of the Harvard Law Review, create a voter registration drive that registers 150,000 new voters, spend 12 years as a Constitutional Law professor, spend 8 years as a State Senator representing a district with over 750,000 people, become chairman of the state Senate's Health and Human Services committee, spend 4 years in the United States Senate representing a state of 13 million people while sponso ring 131 bills and serving on the Foreign Affairs, Environment and Public Works and Veteran's Affairs committees, you don't have any real leadership experience.
If your total resume is: local weather girl, 4 years on the city council and 6 years as the mayor of a town with less than 7,000 People, 20 months as the governor of a state with only 650,000 people, then you're qualified to become the country's second highest ranking executive.
If you have been married to the same woman for 19 years while raising
2 beautiful daughters, all within Protestant churches, you're not a real Christian. If you cheated on your first wife with a rich heiress, and left your disfigured wife and married the heiress the next month, you're a Christian.
If you teach responsible, age appropriate sex education, including the proper use of birth control, you are eroding the fiber of Society. If, while governor, you staunchly advocate abstinence only, with no other option in sex education in your state's school system while your unwed teen daughter ends up pregnant , you're very responsible.
If your wife is a Harvard graduate lawyer who gave up a position in a prestigious law firm to work for the betterment of her inner city Community, then gave that up to raise a family, your family's values don't represent America's.
If you're husband is nicknamed 'First Dude', with at least one DWI conviction and no college education, who didn't register to vote Until age 25 and once was a member of a group that advocated the secession of Alaska from the USA, your family is extremely admirable.
OK, much clearer now.
If you grow up in Hawaii, raised by your grandparents, you're 'exotic, different.' Grow up in Alaska eating mooseburgers, a quintessential American story. If your name is Barack you're a radical, unpatriotic Muslim. Name your kids Bristol, Willow, Piper, Trig and Track, you're a maverick. Graduate from Harvard law School and you are unstable.
Attend 5 different small colleges before graduating, you're well grounded.
If you spend 3 years as a brilliant community organizer, become the first black President of the Harvard Law Review, create a voter registration drive that registers 150,000 new voters, spend 12 years as a Constitutional Law professor, spend 8 years as a State Senator representing a district with over 750,000 people, become chairman of the state Senate's Health and Human Services committee, spend 4 years in the United States Senate representing a state of 13 million people while sponso ring 131 bills and serving on the Foreign Affairs, Environment and Public Works and Veteran's Affairs committees, you don't have any real leadership experience.
If your total resume is: local weather girl, 4 years on the city council and 6 years as the mayor of a town with less than 7,000 People, 20 months as the governor of a state with only 650,000 people, then you're qualified to become the country's second highest ranking executive.
If you have been married to the same woman for 19 years while raising
2 beautiful daughters, all within Protestant churches, you're not a real Christian. If you cheated on your first wife with a rich heiress, and left your disfigured wife and married the heiress the next month, you're a Christian.
If you teach responsible, age appropriate sex education, including the proper use of birth control, you are eroding the fiber of Society. If, while governor, you staunchly advocate abstinence only, with no other option in sex education in your state's school system while your unwed teen daughter ends up pregnant , you're very responsible.
If your wife is a Harvard graduate lawyer who gave up a position in a prestigious law firm to work for the betterment of her inner city Community, then gave that up to raise a family, your family's values don't represent America's.
If you're husband is nicknamed 'First Dude', with at least one DWI conviction and no college education, who didn't register to vote Until age 25 and once was a member of a group that advocated the secession of Alaska from the USA, your family is extremely admirable.
OK, much clearer now.
Sunday, October 05, 2008
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
the obligatory 9/11 post
even though i moved away more than two years ago, i still sometimes wake up thinking i’m in new york. in my pre-coffee haze, i can’t figure out why the public radio announcers and traffic reports are all wrong, or why the streets are so quiet. i still carry a metrocard in my wallet—they’re good for a year, and i visit new york often—and on these mornings i will sometimes take it out in preparation for my commute only to be confounded by the silver corolla in the driveway that i still can’t quite believe i own.
still, i’m adjusting to life in a red state (albeit in a blue neighborhood in a purple city) and have found, completely unexpectedly, both a job and a partner that i love. although some part of me will always be new york, i do feel it fading more and more as i settle more comfortably into my life here. i could rattle off the list of dysfunctions and superpowers the average girl has to develop to survive in new york, but those have been well documented on television more amusingly than i could in this space. so go rent “sex and the city” for that one.
but, september 11 inevitably pulls me back. i spent a few years after the attacks pretending that this anniversary didn’t exist. i didn’t do much to mark it—i might have noted it on a blog or something, but nothing big. i didn’t go to memorials or light candles or anything. i just tried to get on with the business of life—grad school, trying to find a job in a recession, trying to find an apartment, and love, and perfect shoes. some of my friends had similar reactions; one said, when “united 93” came out, that she didn’t mind that someone had made a movie about it, but she just wasn’t ready to feel those feelings again.
neither was i, but i realized that pretending everything was normal was probably kind of silly. it was a big deal. although i didn’t play a large role in the disaster response, i did do some volunteering, which completely pried me out of the world i knew and into something else for about 36 hours. since no transit was running, i miraculously found a cab heading downtown driven by a pakistani man who burst into tears and said, “this thing, it was not islamic. killing is not islamic.” i got out of the cab early, gave him all the money i had, and told him he would be safer if he stayed home that night. then i spent that night with the red cross in a sports complex folding sheets so they would be ready to receive bodies (brought by u-hauls commandeered as hearses) that would be laid out on the ice rink, which would serve as a morgue. when we realized there would be no bodies to speak of, we packed the sheets back up and sent them over to the recovery workers’ tents. how could i not acknowledge that, even if wasn’t particularly traumatized, this had been an incredibly fucked up thing to go through?
still, i got through. unscathed, with little more than a great story to tell at a bar when we’re feeling drunk and weepy. life went on, and five years later, i left new york. or most of me did, anyway.
but i hate this day, not so much for what it did to me, or even to new york, but what it did to our country, our government. our fear turned us into a nation of gullible, foolish children goaded in to supporting an authoritarian administration that systematically unhinged half of the principles we, as a nation, hold dear, in the name of patriotism and security. i hate this day because it turned a good country into the stuff of shakespearean tragedy.
but, you know, despite all of that, life has to go on. i’ll go to work, go for a run, and have a beer. and this little scribble will be the only thing i do differently. but it’s more than i used to do, and maybe it’s enough.
still, i’m adjusting to life in a red state (albeit in a blue neighborhood in a purple city) and have found, completely unexpectedly, both a job and a partner that i love. although some part of me will always be new york, i do feel it fading more and more as i settle more comfortably into my life here. i could rattle off the list of dysfunctions and superpowers the average girl has to develop to survive in new york, but those have been well documented on television more amusingly than i could in this space. so go rent “sex and the city” for that one.
but, september 11 inevitably pulls me back. i spent a few years after the attacks pretending that this anniversary didn’t exist. i didn’t do much to mark it—i might have noted it on a blog or something, but nothing big. i didn’t go to memorials or light candles or anything. i just tried to get on with the business of life—grad school, trying to find a job in a recession, trying to find an apartment, and love, and perfect shoes. some of my friends had similar reactions; one said, when “united 93” came out, that she didn’t mind that someone had made a movie about it, but she just wasn’t ready to feel those feelings again.
neither was i, but i realized that pretending everything was normal was probably kind of silly. it was a big deal. although i didn’t play a large role in the disaster response, i did do some volunteering, which completely pried me out of the world i knew and into something else for about 36 hours. since no transit was running, i miraculously found a cab heading downtown driven by a pakistani man who burst into tears and said, “this thing, it was not islamic. killing is not islamic.” i got out of the cab early, gave him all the money i had, and told him he would be safer if he stayed home that night. then i spent that night with the red cross in a sports complex folding sheets so they would be ready to receive bodies (brought by u-hauls commandeered as hearses) that would be laid out on the ice rink, which would serve as a morgue. when we realized there would be no bodies to speak of, we packed the sheets back up and sent them over to the recovery workers’ tents. how could i not acknowledge that, even if wasn’t particularly traumatized, this had been an incredibly fucked up thing to go through?
still, i got through. unscathed, with little more than a great story to tell at a bar when we’re feeling drunk and weepy. life went on, and five years later, i left new york. or most of me did, anyway.
but i hate this day, not so much for what it did to me, or even to new york, but what it did to our country, our government. our fear turned us into a nation of gullible, foolish children goaded in to supporting an authoritarian administration that systematically unhinged half of the principles we, as a nation, hold dear, in the name of patriotism and security. i hate this day because it turned a good country into the stuff of shakespearean tragedy.
but, you know, despite all of that, life has to go on. i’ll go to work, go for a run, and have a beer. and this little scribble will be the only thing i do differently. but it’s more than i used to do, and maybe it’s enough.
Monday, September 01, 2008
the giant sucking sound
of a dream deflating. let's enumerate what has gone wrong with john mccain's campaign for the presidency in the past 48 hours:
-mccain nominates a vice presidential candidate with almost zero political experience
-said candidate is currently under investigation for misusing her influence
-said candidate, held up as a conservative darling, turns out to have a teenage daughter who is 5 months pregnant (did mccain outsource his VP vetting to the college interns??)
-coverage of the republican national convention gets pretty much decimated by coverage of hurricane gustav
-which unfortunately reminds all voters of the current administration's complete failure to cope with the disaster following hurricane katrina three years ago
i don't think john mccain has enough comeback-kidditude left for this one.
-mccain nominates a vice presidential candidate with almost zero political experience
-said candidate is currently under investigation for misusing her influence
-said candidate, held up as a conservative darling, turns out to have a teenage daughter who is 5 months pregnant (did mccain outsource his VP vetting to the college interns??)
-coverage of the republican national convention gets pretty much decimated by coverage of hurricane gustav
-which unfortunately reminds all voters of the current administration's complete failure to cope with the disaster following hurricane katrina three years ago
i don't think john mccain has enough comeback-kidditude left for this one.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Friday, August 08, 2008
an uncommon opportunity
from the nyt:
"Rejecting a prosecution request for a severe sentence, a panel of military officers sentenced the convicted former driver for Osama bin Laden to five and a half years in prison on Thursday. The sentence means that the first detainee convicted after a war crimes trial here could complete his punishment by the end of this year."
interesting that his sentence will end during the interregnum between bush and (i hope) obama. the defense department wants to hang onto him, but many say that this would cause more legal and political trouble than it's worth. so our new president will certainly have an interesting decision to make; it will be striking if our current president takes the opportunity to address it as well. (it is interesting that since becoming a lame duck, bush has become the president he promised to be 8 years ago--negotiating, settling, making deals. so who knows--he might show his true colors a little bit more before the end.)
"Rejecting a prosecution request for a severe sentence, a panel of military officers sentenced the convicted former driver for Osama bin Laden to five and a half years in prison on Thursday. The sentence means that the first detainee convicted after a war crimes trial here could complete his punishment by the end of this year."
interesting that his sentence will end during the interregnum between bush and (i hope) obama. the defense department wants to hang onto him, but many say that this would cause more legal and political trouble than it's worth. so our new president will certainly have an interesting decision to make; it will be striking if our current president takes the opportunity to address it as well. (it is interesting that since becoming a lame duck, bush has become the president he promised to be 8 years ago--negotiating, settling, making deals. so who knows--he might show his true colors a little bit more before the end.)
Wednesday, August 06, 2008
Monday, August 04, 2008
how american airlines ate my vacation
the letter i am sending...
To whom it may concern:
I am writing to express my dismay and frustration over my experience with American Airlines on my recent trip to the Virgin Islands. I am an AAdvantage member, have an AAdvantage Mastercard, and have flown American almost exclusively over the past 10 years. I have always had good experiences with American. But due to weather, personnel, and technical delays, my boyfriend and I were 41 hours late to our destination and incurred nearly $500 in additional hotel, meal, and taxi expenses.
While we cannot get the time back, we feel it is only fair to ask you to address directly the additional expense and inconvenience we incurred. I know that you are not legally or contractually obliged to compensate us for what happened, but I think our complaint is justified and hope you can do what you can to rectify our good will toward American Airlines.
Below is a detailed account of what transpired. I believe you will agree that our experience falls far short of the goals you set for customer service.
On Tuesday, July 29, my boyfriend and I had tickets to travel from Nashville, TN, to St. Thomas, USVI, via Miami. We made it to Miami with no problems, but around 4 pm on Tuesday the 29th, we learned that our 5:15 pm (AA 795) flight had been canceled due to volcanic ash from Montserrat temporarily drifting over St. Thomas.
I immediately connected with customer service and was informed that the soonest we could get to St. Thomas was via a 9:45 pm flight to JFK on Wednesday, July 30 (AA 1908), connecting to an 8 am (AA 655) flight to St. Thomas on Thursday morning. As this put us more than 36 hours behind schedule, I asked if we would be given hotel or food vouchers and was told no, because it was due to weather. I asked if we could just go back to Nashville and reschedule our trip for another time and was told no, we could go back but it would use up our ticket value and we would not be able to apply the unused portion to future travel. (We had used my AAdvantage miles for the tickets.)
So I went ahead and confirmed the MIA-JFK-STT itinerary for peace of mind, but called back frequently to try to reschedule for something more reasonable.
It was like pulling teeth to get any information about standby possibilities or connections on other airlines. At one point we had almost nailed down a route through San Juan when the customer service agent began questioning us about how we wanted to pay for the change to our ticket. By the time I was able to get her to understand we were trying to reschedule after a flight cancellation instead of making a voluntary change, those seats were gone. The agent then blamed me for not mentioning the situation sooner.
It was during this time that I learned that my American Airlines online password apparently had been reset or deleted--I never discovered what happened, only that it no longer worked.
Being unable to make better arrangements or find standby space, we took the 9:45 flight to JFK (AA 1908) on July 30th. It was delayed for 2 hours because the flight’s first officer had not arrived.
During our wait, we discovered we had been issued flight coupons for our rescheduled flights instead of boarding passes when we noticed our travel documents did not include a boarding group number. Had I not happened to ask the gate agent about it, we never would have checked in and our seats would have been given to standby passengers from an earlier canceled flight to JFK.
We arrived at JFK at 2:15 am on July 31st, approximately 4 hours before we had to return to the airport for our connecting flight. This made the hotel reservations we’d made at the JFK Best Western earlier in the day pretty worthless, but because we were not informed of the delay until after the hotel’s cancellation deadline, we could not get our money back for the hotel.
After that, our 8 am flight to St. Thomas (AA 655) was delayed for almost 90 minutes due to a technical problem connecting with the satellite system.
We incurred approximately $70 in parking fees because we had planned to meet family in St. Thomas who were returning to Nashville shortly after our arrival, and they were going to get our car out of the airport garage. Due to our excessive delays, they had left before we arrived and were unable to get the keys from us, although our trips were originally supposed to overlap by more than a day.
Finally, when I returned from St. Thomas on August 4, I was erroneously charged the $25 checked-bag fee for a box of duty-free liquor. When I mentioned this to the baggage agent, she said, “You should have said something to me before you paid. I can’t do anything about it now.”
My boyfriend was recently given a $275 travel voucher from AA for getting off an overbooked flight from Chicago to Nashville and waiting a few hours for a less crowded flight. Surely if a few hours of voluntary delay is worth $275, we deserve comparable compensation for our expenses, delays, and poor customer service.
I appreciate your patience for reading through this long and complicated story, and would be very grateful for your prompt attention to this matter.
To whom it may concern:
I am writing to express my dismay and frustration over my experience with American Airlines on my recent trip to the Virgin Islands. I am an AAdvantage member, have an AAdvantage Mastercard, and have flown American almost exclusively over the past 10 years. I have always had good experiences with American. But due to weather, personnel, and technical delays, my boyfriend and I were 41 hours late to our destination and incurred nearly $500 in additional hotel, meal, and taxi expenses.
While we cannot get the time back, we feel it is only fair to ask you to address directly the additional expense and inconvenience we incurred. I know that you are not legally or contractually obliged to compensate us for what happened, but I think our complaint is justified and hope you can do what you can to rectify our good will toward American Airlines.
Below is a detailed account of what transpired. I believe you will agree that our experience falls far short of the goals you set for customer service.
On Tuesday, July 29, my boyfriend and I had tickets to travel from Nashville, TN, to St. Thomas, USVI, via Miami. We made it to Miami with no problems, but around 4 pm on Tuesday the 29th, we learned that our 5:15 pm (AA 795) flight had been canceled due to volcanic ash from Montserrat temporarily drifting over St. Thomas.
I immediately connected with customer service and was informed that the soonest we could get to St. Thomas was via a 9:45 pm flight to JFK on Wednesday, July 30 (AA 1908), connecting to an 8 am (AA 655) flight to St. Thomas on Thursday morning. As this put us more than 36 hours behind schedule, I asked if we would be given hotel or food vouchers and was told no, because it was due to weather. I asked if we could just go back to Nashville and reschedule our trip for another time and was told no, we could go back but it would use up our ticket value and we would not be able to apply the unused portion to future travel. (We had used my AAdvantage miles for the tickets.)
So I went ahead and confirmed the MIA-JFK-STT itinerary for peace of mind, but called back frequently to try to reschedule for something more reasonable.
It was like pulling teeth to get any information about standby possibilities or connections on other airlines. At one point we had almost nailed down a route through San Juan when the customer service agent began questioning us about how we wanted to pay for the change to our ticket. By the time I was able to get her to understand we were trying to reschedule after a flight cancellation instead of making a voluntary change, those seats were gone. The agent then blamed me for not mentioning the situation sooner.
It was during this time that I learned that my American Airlines online password apparently had been reset or deleted--I never discovered what happened, only that it no longer worked.
Being unable to make better arrangements or find standby space, we took the 9:45 flight to JFK (AA 1908) on July 30th. It was delayed for 2 hours because the flight’s first officer had not arrived.
During our wait, we discovered we had been issued flight coupons for our rescheduled flights instead of boarding passes when we noticed our travel documents did not include a boarding group number. Had I not happened to ask the gate agent about it, we never would have checked in and our seats would have been given to standby passengers from an earlier canceled flight to JFK.
We arrived at JFK at 2:15 am on July 31st, approximately 4 hours before we had to return to the airport for our connecting flight. This made the hotel reservations we’d made at the JFK Best Western earlier in the day pretty worthless, but because we were not informed of the delay until after the hotel’s cancellation deadline, we could not get our money back for the hotel.
After that, our 8 am flight to St. Thomas (AA 655) was delayed for almost 90 minutes due to a technical problem connecting with the satellite system.
We incurred approximately $70 in parking fees because we had planned to meet family in St. Thomas who were returning to Nashville shortly after our arrival, and they were going to get our car out of the airport garage. Due to our excessive delays, they had left before we arrived and were unable to get the keys from us, although our trips were originally supposed to overlap by more than a day.
Finally, when I returned from St. Thomas on August 4, I was erroneously charged the $25 checked-bag fee for a box of duty-free liquor. When I mentioned this to the baggage agent, she said, “You should have said something to me before you paid. I can’t do anything about it now.”
My boyfriend was recently given a $275 travel voucher from AA for getting off an overbooked flight from Chicago to Nashville and waiting a few hours for a less crowded flight. Surely if a few hours of voluntary delay is worth $275, we deserve comparable compensation for our expenses, delays, and poor customer service.
I appreciate your patience for reading through this long and complicated story, and would be very grateful for your prompt attention to this matter.
vacation
well, two-thirds of one. thanks to american airlines' expert and professional (hah) handling of a temporary weather delay, we arrived in the virgin islands 41 hours late and out $500 in hotel, food, and taxi expenses. gory details to follow for all interested parties.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Wednesday, July 09, 2008
the annals of uncommon decency
north carolina weights and measures lab director l.f. eason was forced to retire on monday for refusing to lower the lab's flags to half-mast for jesse helms, citing helms's "doctrine of negativity, hate, and prejudice."
eason had been with the department of weights and measures for 29 years and is 51 years old. anyone got a job for a scientist with a moral backbone of steel?
eason had been with the department of weights and measures for 29 years and is 51 years old. anyone got a job for a scientist with a moral backbone of steel?
Friday, July 04, 2008
Tuesday, July 01, 2008
next, it will rain frogs
so, about 4 weeks ago i started running. which is hilarious, because i hate running. always have.
still, the scale is starting to read numbers i've never seen before, and gyms are expensive, so i invested in a new pair of running shoes and hit the pavement.
the first week, i thought i was going to die. then it got tolerable. then i started to look forward to my runs. now, i'm home sick with this yucky cold/stomach thing that's roaming around the office (i swear, it's like daycare there) and i'm actually considering going out for a run anyway. i won't, because i'm sick, and because i have a sore IT band that could use a day's rest, but i am seriously starting to doubt my sanity. (especially since i haven't lost a single pound...grr)
i haven't gotten to the point where i feel better after running, but i do feel better having run, if that makes sense. i am often tired and sore afterwards, but now on my rest days i find myself feeling antsy and discontent. so who knows, maybe i'll become one of those crazy runners like forrest gump.
still, the scale is starting to read numbers i've never seen before, and gyms are expensive, so i invested in a new pair of running shoes and hit the pavement.
the first week, i thought i was going to die. then it got tolerable. then i started to look forward to my runs. now, i'm home sick with this yucky cold/stomach thing that's roaming around the office (i swear, it's like daycare there) and i'm actually considering going out for a run anyway. i won't, because i'm sick, and because i have a sore IT band that could use a day's rest, but i am seriously starting to doubt my sanity. (especially since i haven't lost a single pound...grr)
i haven't gotten to the point where i feel better after running, but i do feel better having run, if that makes sense. i am often tired and sore afterwards, but now on my rest days i find myself feeling antsy and discontent. so who knows, maybe i'll become one of those crazy runners like forrest gump.
Saturday, June 28, 2008
do a little jig
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
baby steps
Court rejects death penalty for raping children
you know, if child rape doesn't warrant the death penalty, i think maybe we've reached the end of capital punishment's utility. (i'm just sayin'.)
you know, if child rape doesn't warrant the death penalty, i think maybe we've reached the end of capital punishment's utility. (i'm just sayin'.)
Sunday, June 22, 2008
the morning news retreat 2008: fire island!
the staff of the morning news are among the best and brightest writers on the web today, and it's always my privilege to edit their work. i loved being able to hang out with them and, since we all live in different cities, meet some of my regular correspondents for the first time. what fun.
(click the photo to see the entire album)
(click the photo to see the entire album)
 |
| TMN Retreat 2008: FiRe iSLaND |
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
quite a crowd
get a load of this 360-degree shot of an obama rally in detroit.
(hint: maximize your browser window and give it a few seconds to load. it'll start playing automatically.)
(hint: maximize your browser window and give it a few seconds to load. it'll start playing automatically.)
Monday, June 16, 2008
mazel tov
the picture on the cake shows phyllis lyon and del martin in the early years of their life together. they have been partners for 55 years and now, in their mid-80's, finally legally married.
interestingly, gay relationships have proved to be a goldmine for social scientists attempting to understand better how couples succeed (or don't). among the notable (but obvious in retrospect) discoveries: same-sex relationships are far more egalitarian than heterosexual ones. food for thought, anyway.
Friday, June 13, 2008
observation
i see a lot of obama bumper stickers around town. it occurred to me today, while sitting in traffic, that i have yet to see a single mccain sticker.
related: i have begun to see more and more "W" stickers crossed out with hand-drawn lines.
tennessee's a pretty red state, at least at the federal level, so i find this somewhat interesting.
related: i have begun to see more and more "W" stickers crossed out with hand-drawn lines.
tennessee's a pretty red state, at least at the federal level, so i find this somewhat interesting.
Sunday, June 08, 2008
what dreams may come
i know this google news page is fake, but it makes me really happy. among the headlines:
-china withdraws from tibet, with apologies
-the renaissance of new orleans
-big three unveil emissions-free lineup
-chicago cubs: could this be the year?
-successful third round of trials for aids vaccine
-economic gap narrows as real wages rise
-"serenity" sequel tops box office six weeks running
(via boingboing)
-china withdraws from tibet, with apologies
-the renaissance of new orleans
-big three unveil emissions-free lineup
-chicago cubs: could this be the year?
-successful third round of trials for aids vaccine
-economic gap narrows as real wages rise
-"serenity" sequel tops box office six weeks running
(via boingboing)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
