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October 05, 2005

Back In Town

Yesterday was a tiring one, what with a six hour flight from Boston to San Francisco aboard a 757. I don't know where that extra hour's flying time came from, I haven't seen any speed limit signs sticking out of passing clouds and using high fuel prices as an excuse won't cut it because the slower you go, the more fuel efficiency you burn off.

I usually fly United, but this time I flew American, and I think I'll stick with them in future travel. Six hours is a long time to be cooped up in an airplane any way you look at it. I was in 1st Class, and the purser and a flight attendant(a second one helping out during the meal service) made the long flight go quickly. The food{I had a steak with a pepper glaze and spinach mashed potatoes} was better than any previous cooked meals I've ever had on an airplane, they even cooked the steak to order, in my case light-medium rare. They were very forthcoming with wine, liquor, desserts and were constantly handing out things to eat.

Hats off to the TSA people at Logan!

Unlike their colleagues at O'Hare, Reagan National, Dulles and Orlando, these folks were real pros, both in their attitude and in the performance of their duties. Conversations with some of them revealed both healthy senses of humor mixed with total professionalism and more general intelligence than their coworkers at other airports.

And something else, which could only serve to support my complete admiration for the security staff at Logan -- This is funny!

Some time before I left on my trip in early September, someone gave me a mini Victorinox{Swiss Army Knife}as a token gift or whatever, and I dropped it into my notebook's carrying case and forgot about it. Naturally, that's my one piece of carry-on luggage when I travel, and that Victorinox knife I'd forgotten existed passed through security at four airports, in my carry-on luggage, only to be discovered, finally, by the Transportation Security people at Logan!

There was no problem, we'd been having dialogue and understood we were on the same side, so I had no objection to their keeping it per their SOP. Hell, I didn't even remember owning it, anyway.

I suppose that since Logan was the airport at which 9/11 hijackers boarded two of the four aircraft involved, there's a certain amount of understandable "never again" attitude. One of the things that struck me as different in the TSA personnel at Logan was their easy way with people passing through their checkpoint. It flowed, and for me, well... I travel differently than many people in some ways that tend to earn me extra scrutiny... I won't say why, because that would only give terrorists a useful look at another thing that might get one of them caught should one happen to read this blog. At any rate, even though such things are an inconvenience, the TSA people at Logan made it a smooth procedure(No, I don't get strip searched or the rubber glove, get your mind the frick away from there!).
Another thing that amazed me at Logan was that they didn't waste their time searching my suitcase. The lock is one of those that are made in a series to which the TSA has master keys. If you don't have one of those, they'll cut your lock if they decide they need to get in and look. My suitcase is an Atlantis, and they include a TSA lock.
The contents of my suitcase at any given time compose a quagmire, and at the tail end of my month-long trip, coming home, we're talking major chaos. At most other airports that my bag's been checked, I afterward found the obligatory notice from the TSA inside that they'd searched it. At Logan they didn't, probably because their government security crew knows what they're looking at when they look at an X-ray of a piece of luggage.

I didn't have a whole lot of time for reading anything on line -- as soon as I got home, I went back out to buy coffee and other basic necessities, since then most of my time has been spent going through a month's worth of mail of the USPS, UPS and FedEx variety, and we're talking a lot.

So this morning, before hitting the rack as I will soon, I've been exploring a few of my favorite blogs.

In the Eminent Domain Strikes Again Department, Ogre's Politics And Views details an ongoing example of the deterioration, due to corruption and government policy supported by the Supreme Court, of our American right to own property in our country.

Sister Toldjah! links us to Michael Yon in another example of the human compassion within our military forces that you won't read about in the liberal Mainstream Media.

Debbie Schlussel talks about a complete waste of skin named Josh Rushing.

Me? I'm about ready for some serious slumber, so I'm saying goodnight for now, and "Ah'll be bock!"

Posted by Seth at October 5, 2005 02:17 AM