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This page contains a single entry from the blog posted on October 3, 2004 8:22 PM. The previous post in this blog was So long, Ruckley. The next post in this blog is Outside in. Many more can be found on the main index page or by looking through the archives.

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Sunday, October 3, 2004

Y'all miss me?

Just returned to Portlandia from a long weekend in Atlanta. I traveled to that warm, sunny city to give a speech to a large group of lawyers and accountants about tax law. The audience was warm and appreciative, even though most of them had been sitting around listening to speakers for the better part of a mind-numbing week.

My wife and kids came along for the ride, and we had a great time once the official doings were over. We stayed at a great hotel -- the Grand Hyatt up in the toney Buckhead part of town. We took a fun day trip yesterday out to a place called Stone Mountain, where there's an amusement park of sorts at the foot of a large loaf of granite that sticks up about 500 feet or so above the tops of the Georgia pines. An offbeat spot, to be sure, but just right for a little family fun. They've even got an aerial tram that rides up the side of the mountain, past the large relief sculpture of the three Confederate generals that's been blasted into the granite wall. Up top? A snack bar and a great view of the smoggy landscape. Back down below, we got in a long playground session, visited the pumpkin patch, caught the pie eating contest, petted the farm animals, and skirted the edges of a large, loud chili cook-off. All in a day's work out at Stone Mountain.

As I rode up in the tram, I couldn't help but think of the skylift that Portland's taxpayers are about to build for the oh-so-important physicians. I hope the thing gets overrun with tourists, and the white coats have to wait 15 minutes to get a ride. Next thing you know, it will be closed, or made prohibitively expensive, to the public who paid for it.

Anyhow, for a few days we were a million miles from the foibles of those who live under the volcano. The fried chicken was excellent, the people were friendly (by and large), and the weather was highly cooperative.

The one blue note, and it was a big one, was another trip on Delta Airlines. I've blogged about these folks before, and they're not getting any better. Their new slogan appears to be, "We're insolvent, and it shows!" Somewhat dirty planes, no towels in the lavatory, no envelope to put your boarding passes in, and at their Atlanta headquarters airport, torn-up gates and long, long security delays. You pay for your food on Delta now ($8 for a sandwich), and you wind up busing your own garbage to the back of the plane while the flight attendants close the curtains and work on their resumes.

Awful. Those guys deserve what they get.

Comments (8)

Tell us how you really feel about Delta
(^_^)

i flew on United a couple of years ago. We got sack lunches. Paid $3 for a can of Heineken. I feel your pain, bro.

Most of the airlines charge for food now. This is a good thing, as the quality has improved (marginally), and I don't want to pay for airline food as part of the price of a flight anyway.

United also will bug you about upgrading to "better legroom" in the middle of the plane, which to me just reeks of sleaze.

Just a matter of time before they have a standing-room section on board. Why pay for a seat if you don't really want one? Worship the Free Market -- it's our equivalent of Radical Islam.

"Standing room only flight" If that flight was signifcantly less, I'd certainly pay for it.

I agree that airline services has dropped, but for the most part, so have the fares. And this is fine with me.

Don't like United, fly another airline. Don't like the lousy legroom and deteriorated interior, fly first class.

You get what you pay for.

I agree about United, it is HORRID. I'd walk before I flew with them agian. =^..^=
~K!

I just returned from a trip to Memphis, and I flew American. Same scenario. No paper towels in the bathroom, no toilet seat covers, etc. Now I can understand letting a few "niceties" fall by the wayside, but something is wrong when I have to dry my hands on my jeans after using the toilet!

Go Jetblue!




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