Do They Sail to the Bermuda Triangle?

For some reason, about once a month I get an e-mail from The Yachts of Seabourn. This month they want to get to know me, and tried to entice me to click their link with a pentad of tray-bearing, tuxedoed valets with soggy shoes.











I clicked.

They asked for my name and address, the usual stuff. Then they had a check list, I Dream Of . . . which has items on it such as:

• Discovering the kings and Czars of Scandinavia & Russia

and,

• Discovering the gilded shrines of Southeast Asia (Asia, India & Arabia)

Maybe someplace where people don't mind getting salt water up their rented tux leg there isn't a recession. But this is their business niche, so good luck to them.

Here's where we have a problem; further down the list they had a Grand Voyage, which they promised to be the "Journey of a Lifetime". But wait a minute -- under that, they had the "Ultimate Voyage". I thought the journey of a lifetime was already the ultimate. Now we have a paradox; an impossibility created by thoughtless and sloppy marketing folks.

I hope the time-space continuum doesn't have a fit.

Come Fly with Me

On Saturday, RDU had an open house for their new terminal. There were freebies and big-beaked mascots, but the one of the coolest things was to pass through security and know I didn't have to fly anywhere. The absolute coolest was that there *was* no security. It felt like we were in a whole new world order, one where people are actually safe doing day-to-day things and don't need guards, metal detectors and McAffee Firewall.

The in-terminal restaurants had food samples (which we didn't line up for because we had already eaten). But got chocolate money at the newsstand and entered a few drawings.

Here's the Eagle for American Airlines. I can't find his name on the Internet, so I'll just call him "Eggleton" for my Toronto friends. AA held a drawing for air miles and gave out pens, pads of paper and magnets shaped like 737s. We're all stocked up now.



















Below, the people mover. And shiny, shiny floors.




















These two photos are of check-in, what you see when you first come into the terminal. BTW, all photos are courtesy of my husband and his snappy cell phone.

Courtesy of LOL Cats

Some much needed smiles courtesy of http://icanhascheezburger.com/. I'll be back with more deep thoughts after I get over having to fish my 401K out from the bottom of the lake.

Warning -- Economic Rant Ahead

You mind if I rant for a minute in a non-journalistic, CNN kind of way?

What kind of spoiled, deluded egotists run some of the biggest companies in America? Days after I, my friends and neighbors, my coworkers and other Americans gave billions of dollars to AIG, AIG sent executives on a $440,000 resort romp.

Here's what Eric Dinallo, superintendent (intentionally non-capitalized) of the NY State Insurance Department said about it:

". . . the absolute worst thing that could have happened would have been for employees and underwriters in its life insurance subsidiary to flee the company.

"I do agree there is some profligate spending there, but the concept of bringing all the major employees together ... to ensure that the $85 billion could be as greatly as possible paid back would have been not a crazy corporate decision."

I've heard better excuses from panhandlers. Quick! We need to figure out how to pay back the American people for the money their government decided they would give us. To the spa! And unless we get some some royal perks, we'll jump ship. That'll show you. We'll go to, oh, I know. We'll go to work for the Treasury Department.

(To which I would say, No, no, no. Here's more money. Stay put.)