As mentioned, this week has been a week of multiple 'first-times'! I've unknowingly attempted so much that i've not planned for and the feeling, after going through it all , is just GREAT. I was watching a hongkong movie today on Chn 62 and i was unexpectedly enlightened! One of the lead actresses mentioned something about life being full of fears and we should take every single possible opportunity to overcome these fears before gets too late to regret those great things we could have done, but retreated due to our lack of confidence and fear. Sounds like a logic that almost everyone knows, but fail to put into practice till our deathbeds. And we lie there , in that wooden box buried 6 feets under wondering what we could have done for those past times.

The first activity that zoomed the week was the Flying Trip @ Malaysia last saturday. It was spectacular. Initially it was kinda weird cuz most of the guys who went for the trip were like super engineering students who were particularly keen on aviation. Man, i bet they were wondering what on earth was an arts student like me doing in the midst of this 'we-love-engineering' group. But well oh well, putting such differences aside, i must say i thoroughly enjoyed myself that day, although personal flight time was only 30 minutes. The day started with some introductions , followed by some Voice procedure briefings and introduction to some ground school lessons. The flight started with the instructing pilot controlling the key controls while we steer the direction of the plane. Take off was smooth but as the plane ascended, my heart started to pounce faster and faster. The thrill started when i tried to descend the plane just a little, it felt so much like a roller coastal fall . You know, the feeling of having your heart in your mouth. Words can't describe how great the feeling of controlling the plane yourself is, although i was a little paranoid.The highlight of the flight for me , was definitely the air acrobatics that the pilot performed. And guess what, I was sitting right in the cockpit ! We did sharp manoeuvres , fast flypast many weird and really exciting moves that got me pretty much in shock actually.The plane certainly didn't look capable of carrying out such high-speed stunts! The biggest thing that i experience was the plane fall! Or at least, it felt like a plane fall. The plane just dived right towards the woods below with me feeling as if i'm in Jurassic Park 3 with my 747 crashing right into the woods , totally bounded only by the straps of the safety belt.My headset flew right to the back behind me totally.All the force was just totally brought up to my head!As scarey as it sounds, its still a DAMN cool experience, i have never experienced such weird force effects before.. superb experience of the year. Kudos!

Next up ..'work stuff'..totally no mood to talk about it now but hmm in short. I received a new jobscope and a new 'working environment'. i am adapting slightly well so hope things go smoothly till i finally 'FINISH my BOND'. So thats something totally new for me too.

And today i did something really stupidly new too, that was being emcee for a event. It was kinda stressing, considering this was my first time doing it. Handling such a role with no prior experience in such a rather massive event.. i have to admit i was superbly nervous through out and i tried my best although i screwed up a couple of times...i got pissed off at times too and i felt bad for my mistakes. But sometimes i wonder if its worth the the point of feeling bad for these people above us because they have to answer for our mistakes. But who knows , maybe we're just simply their stepping stones to higher grounds. I'm not sure about this, but i certainly hope these guys aren't like that.but still, i can't believe someone fussed me over a stupid little small error!! Oh my..please don't give me so many first times in a week ok?! Its just super pants-peeing.

The website is not only a great place to compare airport parking prices and read impartial reviews provided by previous car park users. You can book your parking space and get a fantastic discount on the rate that you would have to pay if you simpy turned up without booking.

The Gosimply.com site also provides comparisons of both airport hotels and airport lounges. You can take a look at the facilities available in a variety of hotels, compare prices and book in advance for some incredible savings.

Airport lounge facilities are often overlooked by holiday travellers but they provide a great way to give you and your family a little luxury before your flight. They are also excellent for business travellers who may want to have a meeting with colleagues in comfort before flying to their next destination.

The new Gosimply.com website looks set to become an extremely popular and valuable resource for UK travellers. It's a pleasure to use, packed with useful information and resources and is clearly focussed upon providing travellers with exactly what they want - the best service possible at the best available price.

Anyhow, in the meantime, I’ve been learning some new things. Remember how I told you I love to pronk, like a gazelle? Well, this is really cool! I’ve figured out that if I slow myself down while in the air , and change the angle of my leap, I can actually HOVER!!! Yipeeee! I’m an official HOVER DOG now!! Those silly flying nun ears of mine make great wing flaps, too.

Check out my photos, and you’ll see I can hover at a pretty good altitude for a dane puppy. My landing is a little sloppy sometimes, but I’m still learning how to get the angle of my ear flaps correct for a smoother touchdown. Hey, I’m just a pup.

Actually, mom said I’m not supposed to be jumping around so much, but that maybe when I’m a little older I will be able to compete in jumping. Now THAT’S something I’d really like to do! Maybe I am part antelope afterall. Hmmmm. Would that make me a “dane-alope?”

♥ Behr Behr, the danealope hover dog :)

I've been dyeing again finally!  I dyed much yarn on Tuesday before starting work on Wednesday, so I'm pretty excited to get home and see the dry results!  I ordered a sock blank from Knit Picks which I painted with loads of different designs to test knit with the intention of making my own blanks and selling both dyed ones and un-dyed ones.  I also wanted to spy on the exact dimensions/gauge/stitch counts also for replication purposes.  I'll be showing pictures of the dyeing session once everything is reskeined/test knit.

I finally knit a sample of my handpainted yarn.  It's a pair of socks, but I only have a picture of the first one.  The second one is done except for kitchenering the toe and weaving in the ends.  You'll have to check my projects page on Ravelry to see both, but here's the first one:

This pattern was from the Pattern-a-Day Knitting Calender from 2007.  The socks fit really well and they were quick!  The best part is the 200 yds I burned for the Ravelry Stash and Burn July challenge!  I've also been working on Kureopatra's Snake, a super-awesome entrelac scarf, but I fear I may run short on yarn and have to track down another skein.  The stash-busting has been fast and furious, I just hope I can keep it up. 

That's all for this time.  The sun is getting low and I want to be in bed by 9.  Thanks for reading!

Got fear of flying? Better try to suppress it, at least until you're on the airplane, because the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has started conducting random additional at-gate screening of airline passenger who display "involuntary physical and physiological" actions indicating stress, fear or deception.

There he goes, there he goes
Where he stops, no one knows
There he goes, there he goes
He's tryin' to, tryin' to blow out the rest of your mind
He's gonna blow out the rest of your mind
Talkin' about lookin' for peace of mind

::: Jimi Hendrix ::: Astro Man Lyrics :::

On Denise’s inner left ankle she Charlie tattooed and since her marriage has ended, she wants to get it altered, which is actually the best thing to do if you have a tat you don’t want anymore. Its less painful than having it removed by way of laser. So, she decides to go to Kat Von D who owns LA Ink. Kat also had a show on for a minute of the same name. Of course the paparazzi has followed her there.

It looks like she’s getting the tat turned into a butterfly. Kat told her it won’t hurt, but it does end up hurting because Kat is tatting on the bone of her ankle and for any of you who have tats that are on the bone, you know the bone hurts the most. Kat has revealed the tat and its not a butterfly after all, but a fairy. Both Denise and the friend that accompanies her say, “Good Bye Charlie!” I could actually say the same.

Denise is going to Hawaii with her sister and their girlfriends but is leaving her kids behind. Denise said since she didn’t lose the 10 bounds she wanted to lose all her bikini bottoms are skimpy and she’s gone up two sizes in her jeans. I’ve gone up two jean sizes as well. Wait..did I just say that? Am I comparing myself to Denise Richards? Or am I just copying her? Well I’m not copying her because I have gone up two jean sizes…ok probably more like three, but who’s counting? Right? Shall we continue? We shall.

She’s very excited about her trip. Well, who the hell wouldn’t be going to Hawaii? But she has a fear of flying because she’s had a few really bad flights. She said before 9/11 she would go into the cockpit and she would feel fine but since 9/11 she can’t go in the cockpit. She said a few years ago she had a panic attack on the plane. Now, if anyone has had a panic attack you know its no fun and I am speaking from experience. Hold up folks…this time I am being honest. I used to have panic attacks and some would last two hours, but I haven’t had one in a long time. Back to Denise, since it is Denise’s show. When the plane landed they had to take her the ER because she blew up in hives from head to toe. She told them (doctor’s I guess) that she ate something bad and had an allergic reaction because she was too embarrassed to tell them she is allergic to planes. Now how the hell can you be allergic to planes? Now, she’s making things up. Her friend Kim is going to help her get over her fear of flying.

There’s a company called iFlying which is has an indoor sky diving and wind tunnel. Denise tells her assistant and friend its perfect, yet when she’s speaking to the camera she feels it’s a crock of sh** but she’ll try it. When she arrives at iFly (wow, I am really plugging their name aren’t I? I hope they plug my name some day) she has to sign a waiver. Then this fool is telling her about his hand signals and she asks him if this will cure her fear of flying, he says Yes but not in a convincing tone. I think she’s more nervous now than when she arrived. She finally goes into the wind tunnel to begin her indoor skydiving. She not happy and to the camera she says, “What part of fear of flying did he not understand?” She’s sooooooo sarcastic. My kind of woman. She goes on to say, “He taught us a lot of hand signals, but the one thing he forgot to tell us is how to get the f*ck out of there.”

Well she ends up getting on the plane and sits next to her friend Kim and those two end up arguing (not in a serious way) about something and they laugh and talk the entire five hours it takes to get to Hawaii. Well it was five hours for me when I went.

When she arrives in Hawaii there’s a fool there with a camera taking pictures of her. The paparazzi has followed her to Hawaii. What is wrong with these people???? I know they get paid for the pictures they take, but what about ethics, if that’s the word to use. This fool knows she’s on vacation and he will not leave her alone. She’s at a coffee shop by the airport and the stupid-head (paparazzi, not Denise) asked her where she was staying. Are you serious? Did you really just ask Denise where she was staying? Denise, in turn, asks him where is he staying and of course he would not answer. She and her friends leave (Kim, Michelle (D’s sister) and Trish) to go find their hotel.

Denise and her friends are walking on the beach and there’s the guy again. Denise walks up to him and asks what magazine does he write for. He says he’s independent. She asks him again the name of the magazine and he said he can’t tell her. She says when the pictures are published she will know which magazine and walks off. He next thing is learning to surf and again, that f*ck wad is there taking pictures of her. He’s the only one, mind you, doing this. She ignores him the best she can. She is not going to let him ruin her vacation. The girls decide to go lay on the beach to sunbath and for some reason, to take their tops off. Denise was a bit apprehensive because of that paparazzi guy. They all looked around carefully and what they thought was no sign of him, they took their tops off and rolled onto their stomach but sure enough here comes the needled*ck out of the bushes and begins snapping pictures. Well, now Denise has had enough and confronts the guy. She grabs her towel and tells him she wants to see what in his camera and he refuses. Her friend Kim goes to get her because she can see Denise is about to go off on this guy, which she does. Kim is finally able to get Denise back over with the girls and they leave the beach.

I believe Denise was in Hawaii for a few days. When she gets home her first mission is to see what pictures ended up on the internet and hopes her father hasn’t seen them yet. Her father, Irv (hey, I remembered his name) welcomes the girls home and says he just baked some cookies and offers the girls some, the agree. While he’s in the kitchen taking them out of the oven, Denise and her friends get on the computer and do find the pictures taken of her on the picture. She doesn’t seem that upset about them because they weren’t the one of her on the beach without a top.

And as usual, alls well that ends well.

NEXT WEEK: Denise is flying to NY to promote her show (the one I am watching) and all they (the interviewers) want to talk about is the supposed stuff she has done. It doesn’t seem any of them want to discuss her show. A few of the previews shows Denise very upset and crying on the phone to her father about what’s going on.

Back in the days of plenty, flying was fun.  People were well behaved, dressed nice and were pleasant to be with for a trip.  Airlines were a prestigious business and, thanks to government regulation, made a great return for their owners.  I say thanks to regulations because the airlines were generally run poorly from a business standpoint.  Salaries were generous and pensions and benefits were great. 

Along came deregulation and the majors failed to adopt prudent business practices.  Tickets were priced below cost and flying became similar to the old days on a bus.  Ticket prices fluctuated from minute to minute and the odds were that no two people on a flight paid the same price.  Costs remained high and revenue plummeted.  Eastern, Pan Am, TWA and others – great aviation names – gone due to mismanagement and excesses spent by management for perks and benefits.  The time had come for better managers.

Instead of improved management practices and managers the existing airline management looked at expenses and halfheartedly tried to reduce them.  When that didn’t work, they brought in the legal hit men who suggested bankruptcy to break the employee contracts.  That underhanded strategy did work but the underlying bad practices and bad managers remained.

Airlines, in the name of security, instituted ID checks.  This was only a ruse to prevent people from reselling tickets.  This so called security measure was exposed for the scheme that it really was on 9/11 and the traveling public has since been paying billions in money and days of lost time simply because airlines touted security but were really watching for the person who dared to buy a ticket from someone else.

Add higher energy cost and real security costs to poor management and you will get the result you expect.  With the exception of a few well run airlines like Southwest and without massive government intervention, they will all go away and that really is a shame.

Geo.

It's been a non-stop day starting out with an early rise in order to get Cameron to the airport for his midday flight to the states to stay with his dad for the summer holiday. This trip is nothing new for the boy since he's been flying back and fourth to the states all his life but what did make today different was the fact he took the flight by himself for the first time.

Ever since we lived here and his dad lived there his dad either made the trip here to pick Cam up or I took him over but now that he's 10 and the prices of flights has nearly doubled since last year the choice was for him to do the trip alone (on British Airways unaccompanied minor program) or potentially not go at all. Cam decided without hesitation that he'd have no problem going alone. Since he's quite mature and confident I didn't think he'd have any problems either so that's what he did leaving Wil and I and his dad fretting at either end whilst he was up in the air for 9 hours. I can't tell you what a horrid feeling it is to check your child in at the airport and then watch as someone just walks off with them!

He got there ok anyway. I've just had a phone call from a very wide awake, chatty and excited kid who I've no doubt will now fall asleep within minutes of getting in the car and then wake his dad up at 03:30. Ha! Have some of that pops!

Meanwhile we needed to go do something to kill time besides watching the phone for 9 hours. So, after leaving the airport once we knew the flight had taken off we came home, loaded up the bikes and headed to the reservoir for a quick lap before closing time.

It wasn't so much a quick lap due to a few small issues, the main one being my SPD pedals. For those who are not familiar with Shimano Pedal Dynamics allow me... You wear a shoe with a metal cleat fixed into the sole. This cleat then clips into the small sprung pedal and to get your foot in - you place your foot on to the pedal and push down until you get an audible 'CLICK'. Now you're fixed to your bike and as well as pushing each pedal down to propell forward, you can pull on the upstroke too thus giving more efficient pedaling. However, in order to get your foot out of the pedal you must twist your heel away from the bike and the springs let go of the cleat. It works well until you either forget or lose your balance, as frequently happens when you're biking off road. I always swore I wouldn't use these pedals off road but I'd forgotten just how bumpy and potholed the track around the reservoir can be. I won't forget again! Because along with my feet fixed to the pedals, slick tyres which were lethal on lose sand and gravel and my right knee kicking off with a bit of annoying pain just under the knee cap it wasn't the best effort. I think on a good day with everything right we've done this track in 30 minutes or less.

http://sportstracker.nokia.com/nts/workoutdetail/index.do?id=315369

for inspire me thursday - a beautiful site!

So tonight I will be at Preview Night of the San Diego International Comic-Con. Woo. On tonight's schedule is a screening of the pilot of JJ Abram's new show Fringe. I still can't really figure out what the hell it is. I guess if I were hardcore I'd already know. I do know that some crazy person tried to hand me an apple with a Fringe sticker on it in Times Square about a month ago and as much as I love JJ, I'm not going to eat some creepy apple from a stranger, even if it has his name on it. I don't want to die!

Tomorrow's panel schedule has a lot of sci-fi stuff for me to enjoy. Things along the lines of "Humor in Science Fiction" and "Science Fiction that will change your life." Considering my recent OSC hatred, I think it is time for some different sci-fi to change my life. Kevin Smith is also moderating a panel about working women in the sci-fi/fantasy/horror field and seeing as how that is my life goal, makes sense that I should go.

Here's a silly thing for my two regular blog readers to give insight into the strangers who end up reading my blog. Wordpress has a creepy function that tells you all of the search terms that people use to find your blog. I get a kick out of reading some of them and I figured, I have nothing else to talk about and maybe you'll laugh at some point too. I've narrowed it down to search terms that contain the word "introvert" so you can see how my goofy title has brought interesting people to the blog.

• gay introvert
• introverts sleep
• introvert comic
• christian bale introvert (This one pops up every other day)
• introvert and imaginary friends
• introvert who never had a girlfriend
• introvert teachers
• introvert=loser (now that's just not nice)
• moving introvert
• introvert at awork
• introvert aliens (this person sounds like my type of person)
• how to have fun in a bar as an introvert
• trouble living life as an introvert
• sad introvert

I feel bad for the people who are looking for advice on dealing with being an introvert and instead get my crazy ramblings on BSG, OSC, the downfall of Broadway, etc. I still think it is a kind of creepy function for wordpress to let me have.

OH NO!!!!!!!!!! My flight is delayed!!!!!!!!! I might miss my connection which means I'll miss JJ's new show!!!!!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!

UPDATE!

I got to Houston in time to make my flight to San Diego! About to board. In the two hours since I posted all of the introvert search terms, another popped that I enjoy immensely.

• Introverts can't be trusted

Ain't that the truth?

In the meantime, hubby will be working hard on the written test and check-ride this year so that he can soar with his buddies. Some great fly-outs are being scheduled. We are hoping to invite the public to a discussion panel to learn about Deaf pilots and their accomplishments. We have several pilots that have passed their rating for IFR (Instrument Flight Rating). Most pilots are rated at the VFR (Visual Flying Rating). Both hearing pilots and Deaf people have questions about flying without a radio.

The DPA website has great information for those wanting more.

But also, I've been thinking about flying because, in a little less than 3 weeks, I will fly for the first time, down to Florida to visit my oldest sister and her fiance.  I am really quite horrified at the notion of this.  I know that it is highly unlikely that my plane will go down in falmes, but even as I sit here writing this, I feel like I'm definitely jinxing myself... Sorry, fellow flyers!  If the plane goes down, it's definitely because this random girl in Ohio thought it might happen!  Honestly though, I have no idea how I'm going to keep myself calm, but plans definitely include listening to "Flight 180" on repeat and averting my eyes from the windows.  I really don't think I could handle being in amongst the clouds for an extended period of time without losing my shit.  And it doesn't help that I'm traveling with another first time flyer, my older sister Whitney, or that we have a plane switch (or whatever they're called.... told you, I'm not good at this) in Atlanta, which is supposed to be one massively busy and hellish airport.  Great!  Good times all around!

On a completely unrelated side note, IMDB suggests that if I loved Death At A Funeral (which: I really, really did; any movie containing Matthew McFadyen, poop jokes, and madcap British hijinx?  I'm there), I would also enjoy The Godfather.  I sincerely doubt this, but then again, maybe it is time that I give The Godfather a try....

During my debut air travel, I did everything that my 12 year old brain could think of to act like I belonged there. With all these people I had been waving to, till then. The people I had strained my neck to catch a glimpse of and admired. It was going to be an important moment in my life. A moment that was going to mark my crossing over to the other side.  When I entered the aircraft, I couldn't help gaping at my fantasyland, inspite of all rehearsals in my head about acting cool. It was hard to accept that fact that everything was nice and classy. No gr ubby TTRs, no rusty window panes, nothing smelly or old. The cool carpet, the pretty attendants, the chocolates, the free kiddie goodies, even the small little toilet was just the way I thought it would be, impeccable. Then when your stomach stops churning after landing, your luggage even finds its way to you (mostly). To top all of this, when you see someone holding your name on a placard, announcing your glory to the rest of the world, not that any of the people you travel with would even care, the sense of accomplishment is just something else.

Talk about being narcissistic :)

Over my years as a professional musician, I've invested a phenomenal amount of money in musical gear. Amps, pedals, guitars, effects systems, you name it, I've probably bought it, beat it up, and traded it off in my search for "that sound."

After about 40 years of playing, I've arrived at the combination of analog and digital gear that presently outfits my studio, and a few choice instruments. I was pretty happy with this too, except it isn't very portable, and the setup is complex enough that there are times when I spend more time twiddling knobs than I do actually playing or recording.

Well, I've found something rather extraordinary. So much so I thought it was worth telling the world. As it turns out, there's an easy, sensible, cool way to go that costs very little and gives you the world. Here's the scoop.

[caption id="attachment_79" align="aligncenter" width="450" caption="Flying Haggis Interface"][/caption]
Hardware: M-Audio JAMLAB

This is a USB-connected guitar interface with a 24-bit guitar input and a stereo audio output. You plug it into a primary USB port (left hand side of the Macbook or Macbook Pro as the notebook faces you, or a front port on the Mac Pro - you can't run this through a hub, either internal to the Mac or elsewhere - too much data.)

Basically, you download the latest drivers from m-audio.com, install them, and the interface is ready to plug in and go for clean guitar input. Not that most of us are looking for such a thing. More on that in a bit.

I got my JAMLAB some time ago for about $60 at thinkgeek.com; It came with software called "GT Player Express", the latest version of which is called "InTone Guitar Express (and Pro) which is, in my musical opinion, not very good. Nor is the upgraded version, intone Guitar Pro, which I also bought, any better. The current release as I write this has a relatively simplistic view of what an "amp" is, and some of the stompbox emulations simply don't work. But not to worry. This software isn't what you want to use anyway, though it is there if you decide to try it.

Software: Flying Haggis (No, really -- that's what it's called.)

This comes with quite a few stompbox emulations, and they are excellent -- I'll come back to them. But the most important thing here is that the amplifier and speaker cabinet emulations are nothing less than superb. You want a little blues amp? It's in there, and it sounds right. You want a Marshal stack? It's in there, and it is right. The range of preset emulations is outstanding, and you can tweak any one of them in a number of very, very cool ways. You have an early stage gain, a distortion control, compression, cabinet emulation, cabinet miking and a master output level -- all of which can be varied from the preset amp settings or from custom ones.

So once you've got the amp sounding just the way you want it to, you can save it under a new name, and it's a permanently available setup. This is just primo, and though that may sound over-excited to you, it sounds not excited enough to me. That's just how good the amp and speaker emulations are. You can even control the mike placement in front of the amp. Did I mention this thing sounds absolutely, unbelievably primo? Well, it does.

The stompboxes extend the fabulous sound into the usual areas, but they do so with the same quality as the amplifier emulations. You get a noise gate [threshold] (which you will use with some of the high gain amps);

You get an auto-wah [depth / speed / tone], which does a very credible job of keeping up with heated leads or mournful picking;

You get a phaser [depth / speed / tone], which goes from flange to gentle wash with authority;

You get a tremolo [depth / speed] which does just what you'd expect, just as you'd want it to;

You get an Echo [time / feedback / width / mix] which serves as a quiet, studio quality system (though one thing you can't make it do, as near as I can tell, is make it act like an old Echoplex... it's too clean for that.)

And you get a Chorus [depth / speed / mix] which again, is ultra-clean and does just what you'd want.

Up on the amp system, there's a Reverb -- just a single control, seems to do just the right thing. Initially I thought I'd be wanting more control such as how deep the room was, how hard the surface, but as it turns out, this thing acts just right and I have no complaints.

Flying Haggis is $99, however, they're perfectly happy to let you try it for free without anything disabled. So you should do that!

One sour note: Flying Haggis is copy protected, so you are at risk to some degree if they go out of business. They claim otherwise, but frankly, if you don't have control over the software, you're at risk and there's no way around that fact.

Having said that, I say buy it anyway. It's that good. They've let me authorize the software for my main desktop, a Mac Pro, and my laptop, a Macbook pro; no extra charges, no delays, easily done. The copy protection is a little annoying to get going, authorization requires one more step than usual, but once done, it hasn't bothered me any further.

Playing Out

Now, this system is the type of thing that doesn't need a guitar amp. What it needs is a wideband, high-fidelity amp and speakers. That's important. If you feed this combination to (for instance) a Fender Twin, then *everything* will sound like it's being pumped through a... yeah, a Fender Twin. In order for things to work as well as possible, you're going to want a few hundred watts per channel stereo amplifier, and two wide-range PA-class speakers.

You doubt me, I know, but you'll see. The system does *not* use the amp or the speakers to color tone; if you try to do that yourself, you'll severely limit the type and quality of sound you can produce. An easy way to convince yourself is to plug in a pair of stereo headphones into the JAMLAB output and play. Those headphones are wideband, right? Now listen to the various amps. Each one has a totally different character. You will lose that character if you use, for instance, a Marshall cabinet or a Fender head.

Garage Band

You can plug Flying Haggis right into Garage Band, too; which gives you recording and solo-oriented jamming capability immediately. It's just a very well integrated, ultra-high quality experience from start to finish.

Summing Up

I am deliriously happy with this setup. I play jazz, blues, rock, metal, classical and folk; everything I want is right at my fingertips. Perfect. I just drag my laptop, a stereo amp, and a couple speakers out, and I'm good. Aside from the Mac, amp and speakers, the outlay is about $160 in total, which is a screaming bargain for what you get. I highly, totally, ultimately and without quibbling recommend this setup. If it weren't for the copy protection, I'd rate it stone perfect.

* * * * *

Flights were delayed at the San Francisco airport yesterday.  I stood in a long line with other downtrodden passengers, hoping to snag a flight so I wouldn't miss my connection in Los Angeles.

"That does it," said a man behind me to the woman next to him.  "We're never flying Southwest again."  She murmured in agreement.

I don't know about that.  I still like Southwest and its oddball spirit.  I watched the young guy behind the Southwest counter who played his computer and constantly ringing phone and complaining customers like a concert maestro.

"You told me I could get to Little Rock tonight," a hostile, blue-eyed man said to him accusingly.  "Well, I can't.  I'm going to have to spend the night in Los Angeles."

"Can I get on an earlier flight?" somebody else asked the Southwest guy, as his phone rang again.

"You gave my your word," the Little Rock agitant said.  "I guess your word doesn't mean anything, does it?"

It was at this point I realized the whole scene reminded me of Casablanca, with the desperation to be flown, the fury, the frustration, the long lines, the hopelessness, the despair.  But I have to get out of here, monsieur!  I have to get to Little Rock!  (Wouldn't not getting back to Little Rock be an advantage?  Evidently not.)  All we needed was the piano music and the romantic black-and-white imagery and maybe the Marseillaise and a bunch of aggressive Nazis at some critical point.

"People used to keep their word," the Little Rock guy grumbled.  "Not anymore."  The guy behind the counter apologized and his phone rang again.

Finally, we shuffled onboard the plane and sat there for about an hour because of a backup in LA.  Little Rock wasn't getting any closer, but nobody complained this time. 

Finally, takeoff.  The Southwest flight attendant commandeered the microphone, telling us to shut off our cell phones because he didn't want to hear our embarrassing ring tones.  That's when I realized the movie theme had shifted.  The flight attendant, with his bored, world-weary voice, was more like Addison de Witt in All About Eve, more George Saunders than Humphrey Bogart.

"Did I tell you you can't smoke?" he said.  "FAA regulations.  If you're smoking, you'd better be on fire."

An hour or so later, we landed in LA.  The flight attendant warned us not to leave anything behind or he'd be selling it on Ebay the next day.  We yanked suitcases out of the overhead bins and shuffled off the plane.

In an era of spiraling energy prices and a plummeting economy and crowded skies, why blame the guy behind the counter?  Just try to enjoy the sheer inanity of it all and stow your expectations under the seat in front of you.  If you expect to get to Little Rock on time, if you think flying's still glamorous and effortless, look at it this way: You've been misinformed.

(Copyright 2008 by Ruth Pennebaker)