Viva Las Reno....

Reno at night

Getting up at 4am sucks. Plain and simple. There are only two reasons to get up at 4am. Fishing & Golf. I had a 6:47am flight and thanks to Mr. Atta and his 9/11 buddies I now have to arrive two hours early to remove my shoes and go through security with every blue head snow bird fleeing the dismal NJ winter. None of which have any intention of causing harm on the aircraft.

As far as my last post goes you can throw all that out the window. Imagine my surprise when a woman came inching down the aisle with a nothing less than a bow and arrow set in her hand. Come to think of it I did not see bow and arrow on the list so I guess she was OK. Granted it was a tourist bow and arrow set but it was a large one and you could have easily taken the suction cups off and fashioned a sharp tip that could have poked an eye out or something. Needless to say I kept one eye on her the whole flight.

Speaking of flights... my flight out took me through Phoenix then to Reno. It was an uneventful flight to Phoenix the only hiccup was that the video system was on the fritz , darn. I was really looking forward to a straight to DVD movie and a couple of the lost episodes of Three's Company. It was pretty funny when the flight crew was trying to get the system to work. Now when I say trying to get to get it to work I mean flipping the switch back and forth causing the small overhead LCD screens to raise and lower repeatedly. It was as if the plane was waving at you, or calling for help. Just when you thought they gave up the screens would come down again and flicker with some grainy image Joyce Dewitt or John Ritter. A few times I actually laughed out loud.

Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport

The Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport is interesting. Interesting and LARGE! I was glad I had both my legs and only one "Polock" to drag with me. According to my calculations the Phoenix airport could not be the Rhode Island airport 'cause it wouldn't fit! I had to switch planes. Not airlines. I figured I would have to walk from gate A3 to A4 or something simple like that. Noooooo..... If you check with the Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport hall of records, you see my name under "Longest distance traveled and still in the building while dragging a "PoLock" who has never traveled before except for the trip from Poland to the USA and who asked more questions than my 8 year old son". That's some record, and I am damn proud of it.

On to Reno on a short hop. The flight was a little over an hour and the weather was clear so it made for some interesting viewing. I played tourist shot some pictures out the window. Coming from New Jersey you forget what a large and beautiful country we live in. I can't imagine what it must be like to live in some of the small towns that we flew over. I mean I grew up and live in a small town but it doesn't feel small sometimes. When you drive out of town in NJ you simply drive into the next town. Out here when you drive out of town, you "drive out of town" you better have some supplies with you, like gas and water for one. If you break down or get a flat or run out of gas it's gonna be a while before you make human contact again. Cell phone service? Ha ! I laugh in your general direction.

My vote for road of the week.

Reno is a good looking town and although I did not get to explorer all of I was impressed with what I saw. Impressed enough to consider bringing the family out here this summer to see the area including the Lake Tahoe region. I was quite disappointed when I did not make it over to Tahoe.

View from my room.


Same view if you leaned out really far... or zoomed in....



That's all for now. I will finish some time this weekend with some tales for the border of "Dumbfuckistan"..........in other words ...pretty country.....pretty slow people........

Tj

Infrequent Flyer

Belmar Beach, Spring 2006

This Monday I embark on my first ever business trip. I am going out to Reno, Nevada. The company I work for now (www.permapure.com) has purchased another company and I have to go out there to ensure the smooth transfer of all their engineering data back to here in NJ. Sounds important doesn’t it? The company being purchased is a small one and their assembly procedure for their equipment is kept in form of hand done drawings, notes and kept in the heads of people that do the assembling. Since none of the folks that work there are coming here I have to glean this information by what ever means necessary. Thanks goodness President Bush has signed a bill allowing for tougher interrogation tactics. I’ll get these people to talk.

Being the infrequent flyer that I am, I figured I better read up on some of the latest travel restrictions and procedures. So I punch the Transportation Security Administration web site ( www.tsa.gov ) to get the latest info. Everyone has heard about the liquids & gels ban on the news, and I wanted to make sure it was ok to board an aircraft “gelin” as TV commercial for Dr. Scholls says. Well it turns out that you are not allowed to board an aircraft gelin. Ok so we scrap the gel filled insoles. At this point I figure I better check the rest of the list.

Who knew….

They really have to publish a list like this? Could there really be a person on this planet with an IQ above a cucumber that thinks some of this stuff is ok to bring on a plane? The following list is only a snippet for the whole list which is actually quite funny go here.

TSA Prohibited List

What do you mean I can’t bring fireworks onboard a plane? How ‘bout my cattle prod? I can think of nothing more fun than juicing some jackass who is blocking the aisle with one of these 9,000 volt babies. I can’t bring tear gas on a plane? WTF? They have removed all the fun of traveling. You can bring your brass knuckles but only in your checked baggage, not in your carry on. I thought brass knuckles were illegal anyhow? Most martial arts weapons are not allowed onboard either. Nunchkus, throwing stars, black jacks? Who travels with a black jack? I prefer a sock full of dimes anyhow!

Gasoline…. Hmmm…..Gasoline…. ? ……..nuf said

Axes, Guns, Flares ? I don’t know about you but these are a few of my favorite things. How am I going to motivate that lazy flight attendant to bring me another bloody mary with out having my “Starter Pistol” . Nothin’ says get up and go like the pop from one these little gems.

Anyway…. I will let you know who the trip/flight went when I get back. Or maybe I’ll have a special “Form the road” report for ya’..

Tj

Resurrection...

Fall Colors....

Good morning, afternoon, or evening dear reader. As you can see or will notice I have wiped clean my entire blog. It did not take that much effort, but it was a rather difficult decision. The reason I purged the entire thing was, I got paranoid.

You see, I was laid off again in May of this year and had to embark on the dreaded job search yet once again. Being the up to date trendy sort, I read and article or two about today's job market, and the do's and don'ts of being hired in these very competitive times. The articles focused on how people, that were more than qualified for jobs, did not get them because of questionable content in their blogs. Particularly discontent at work style stuff.

Initially I left the blog alone, with all of it's work place/boss/co-worker bashing, I figured no one would ever find it and put 2+2 together and figure out it was me. After a couple months of no interviews or even call backs, the paranoia set in.

I meant every word I said in the old blog and every word of it was true, but I have many mouths to feed and I could not let anything stand in the way of landing a new job. Anyway..... So call me a yellow journalist or a wuss or any other derogatory emasculating word you can think of but, I did it. I'm not proud of it. But it's over and that’s that.

Now you are asking your self: What's to become of the blog? Where am supposed to go, to get a semi regular dose of sharp tongued cynicism and cringe inducing wit? Well stay tuned faithful friend I am sure that something will get under my skin and need to get out. More than likely I will use as a platform for what ever I damn well please. Maybe even some enlightenment about today’s world and the times we live in, all with the extra shake of the hot sauce bottle that is the mind of me.