Airplane Gray & Comfortable Seats

You recognize Airplane Gray, right? The diagram and lit buttons guide you in adjusting your seat. Bed. Mainly seat.

Now, there's a nifty flip-down foot rest that makes all the difference in one's comfort in the 767 fancy seats. That foot rest is the only non-electric feature of the chair and only after much consternation can you make out its part of the diagram. It also helps to have a businessman seat mate to point out these things. Else you see a lot of women with dangling legs.

I know the airline's purpose is to provide long-flight comfort but I'm ready to name the major benefit of these seats: distraction. You can expend a good portion of the trip adjusting your seat.

© 2009 Mary Bold, PhD, CFLE. The content of this blog or related web sites created by Mary Bold (www.marybold.com, www.boldproductions.com, College Intern Blog) is not under any circumstances to be regarded as professional, legal, financial, or medical advice. Or education advice. Or marital advice. Or even a tip.

Cab Driver #2

Last weekend's stop in Las Vegas involved a second cab ride (back to the airport). A 60-something woman drove me and poured out her story when I asked, "How's business?"

It's awful. You're my 9th customer since 5 a.m. That's in 10 hours. I'm not making the average yet today and we have to or we get suspended for two weeks. I can't afford that but I can't do anything about getting more business. See how the cabs are weaving in and out? They're all hurrying to get this passenger out and find the next one. But there's not enough to go around.

If I didn't have Social Security, I'd go under. I'm living under God's arm. I am. My big bills are practically covered with my Social Security. Then I have to make the rest. I've been cutting back but you can't cut back forever. It's pretty bad here. But I'm not going to drive people extra to charge them more. I wouldn't want that to happen to me if I went to another city.

I left the same tip you would have.

© 2009 Mary Bold, PhD, CFLE. The content of this blog or related web sites created by Mary Bold (www.marybold.com, www.boldproductions.com, College Intern Blog) is not under any circumstances to be regarded as professional, legal, financial, or medical advice. Or education advice. Or marital advice. Or even a tip.

The Vegas View and the One Not So Visible, Too

Granted, it doesn't look like a great view, but at night the parking garage recedes, the strip is quite lively, and the volcano at the Mirage is visible (every hour, 8pm to midnight). The vantage point is 15th floor of Treasure Island, a hotel with a right price last weekend as I passed through the city on return from San Francisco.

The view that's not so visible to us visitors is the Las Vegas economy so dependent on tourists that if we thought about it more, we would tip more.

My cab driver invited me to sit up front with him. That's just not a typical invitation for female cab customers. So, I accepted. In that passenger seat, I listened as he spoke at length about the economy and how he is faring.

At 70, he would like to retire but cannot because he needs extra medical coverage, which he concisely described along with a recent experience in a Canadian clinic (his total bill was $75 and that covered all lab tests and X-rays) and a friend's inability to purchase any policy at a price he can afford.

At 70, he would like to retire but cannot because his monthly retirement income covers rent and that's all.

At 70, he would like to retire but cannot because he needs the cash that comes from driving the cab, even though the income is shrinking. He pulled out his log to show me his fares for the past 7 hours. They totaled about $100. He quickly calculated his costs, the cab company's share, and the taxes based on the IRS assumption that tips would equal 23% of the fares. The end result was not encouraging: his take-home for the day would be $45.

I gave him a big tip.

© 2009 Mary Bold, PhD, CFLE. The content of this blog or related web sites created by Mary Bold (www.marybold.com, www.boldproductions.com, College Intern Blog) is not under any circumstances to be regarded as professional, legal, financial, or medical advice. Or education advice. Or marital advice. Or even a tip.

Chasing Internet Access in San Francisco

The Kimpton advertising is the biggest text outside my hotel window. As you might guess, the closest Kimpton isn't across the street. But there are two of them in the thick of San Francisco: the Triton at the start of Chinatown and the Argonaut at Fisherman's Wharf. And I am immediately homesick for a good Kimpton.

I've been in two hotels in the past three days, chasing stable Internet so that I may work at a reasonable pace. Keeping pace is what allows me to continue to travel to conferences and meetings. What's interesting about having back-up is you don't know if you really have it until you need it. My back-up is an air card, which is actually a USB stick that serves as a laptop's cell phone on the road. (Thus, Internet access is provided through that phone connection.)

But in the past three days, I've hit more dead spots than live spots. The air card has not performed and I don't know whether to blame AT&T or the city of San Francisco. In any case, when the Hyatt Regency couldn't solve my intermittent access, I called an old favorite: the Hilton on O'Farrell.

So, I have a room and I have good Internet. But the sign outside my window reminds me that with a little planning I could have had Kimptom benefits. Free Internet, free cookies in afternoon, free wine in the evening, odd little games like pick a duck for a prize (everyone wins, near as I can tell), and the stylish lobby that comes with a boutique hotel.

As I am wont to say lately... next time.

[The image above, by the way, is a glass of wine on the left and a goldfish on the right.]

© 2009 Mary Bold, PhD, CFLE. The content of this blog or related web sites created by Mary Bold (http://www.marybold.com/, http://www.boldproductions.com/, College Intern Blog) is not under any circumstances to be regarded as professional, legal, financial, or medical advice. Or education advice. Or marital advice. Or even a tip.

Disappearing Dollar Menu

At my regular Sonic locations, I missed the dollar menu. Alas, a promotion that ran its course. But The Sociologist is a dedicated field researcher. Drove to all three Sonics in her North Texas town. One of the drive-in's has kept its dollar menu. So, this must be a franchisee decision. (Happily, Happy Hour does not seem to be affected.)

And isn't it cool to have a friend who does field work? The really important field work.

© 2009 Mary Bold, PhD, CFLE. The content of this blog or related web sites created by Mary Bold (www.marybold.com, www.boldproductions.com, College Intern Blog) is not under any circumstances to be regarded as professional, legal, financial, or medical advice. Or education advice. Or marital advice. Or even a tip.

Personal Technology for 2-Year-Olds

Today, a good host has wireless Internet access for guests, right? Or, in the case of Child Visitors, perhaps just a toy laptop will suffice. Well, and stickers, of course. So, I placed a toy laptop down low for a C.V., satisfied that I was a good host. Alas, the C.V. assumed the unit included touch screen technology and jabbed a finger on bad graphics, trying to access new games. All I could do was shrug. How do you explain to a 2-year-old that the preschool version of computers doesn't include the best technology?

© 2009 Mary Bold, PhD, CFLE. The content of this blog or related web sites created by Mary Bold (www.marybold.com, www.boldproductions.com, College Intern Blog) is not under any circumstances to be regarded as professional, legal, financial, or medical advice. Or education advice. Or marital advice. Or even a tip.

Ike's remains: Port Arthur, Texas

Damage from Ike is still very apparent on Port Arthur's Pleasure Island in Texas. These boats were moved from marina to land and there they have stayed. The State Parks in the area remain closed. And many people are still working on their house repairs.

© 2009 Mary Bold, PhD, CFLE. The content of this blog or related web sites created by Mary Bold (www.marybold.com, www.boldproductions.com, College Intern Blog) is not under any circumstances to be regarded as professional, legal, financial, or medical advice. Or education advice. Or marital advice. Or even a tip.

Personal Technology: Skype might have saved the day

Having multiple technologies at one's fingertips is the key to productivity. No, remembering the technologies is the key....

So, when the iPhone froze yesterday and my feeble attempts at recovery were too feeble, I stared at my many computers for a while. Then decided to send a couple of emails to the folks who I knew were trying to call me at 11 o'clock. The people gathered for the conference in another state were sitting around a speaker phone; no one was checking email. (In some groups, there would have been an undercurrent of email, of course. Just happened not to be the case with this group.) So, in email I offered my skype username but no one saw it.

After 15 minutes, I remembered that my skype account could dial phone numbers. Unfortunately, my contact person had never included a phone number in her emails. I located a web directory displaying her office phone and used skype to call it. Of course, she wasn't there because she had gone to the speaker phone gathering point in someone else's office.

I gave up on making that connection and drove 8 miles to the Apple store where a pleasant young man pushed two buttons and re-set the phone. I don't mind admitting that I had to be shown how to press the only two buttons on the unit. It's not as if I could have pressed the wrong buttons.

And then, two hours later, it occurred to me that I could have used skype to call Tom Bold to ask him if he had any ideas about what I could try to turn on my phone. What amazes me is that it took me two hours to realize I could have called Tom Bold to get him into tech mode. Or I could have used skype to call either of my adult offspring to ask what to do with the non-functioning iPhone. Or I could have used skype to call the Apple store. Or I could have simply googled for iPhone tips and likely found out what I needed to do.

Next time.

© 2009 Mary Bold, PhD, CFLE. The content of this blog or related web sites created by Mary Bold (www.marybold.com, www.boldproductions.com, College Intern Blog) is not under any circumstances to be regarded as professional, legal, financial, or medical advice. Or education advice. Or marital advice. Or even a tip.

Not exactly the lake view

To change scenery and refresh the brain, I visited a lake yesterday: Ray Roberts in north Texas. You've already spotted the not-lake photograph. That's Lost Pines Nature Trail near the entrance to Isle du Bois unit of Ray Roberts Lake State Park. The trail is only a half-mile loop but makes for a nice shady introduction to the park. The longer trails are open to both humans and horses.

Of course, the lake is the famous feature of the park and it certainly drew a weekend crowd. Swimming beach was over-full (both people and cars). Campside fishing was my view of choice. I parked in an overlook area and enjoyed the scenery. And felt sorry for the nearby fishing family. Actually, the family consisted of a fishing father and a mother standing in knee-deep water juggling three children between roughly 3 and 10. The children looked very happy. Guess who I felt sorry for.

I can report great 3G network, allowing me to spend an hour in email using air card on a laptop.

© 2009 Mary Bold, PhD, CFLE. The content of this blog or related web sites created by Mary Bold (www.marybold.com, www.boldproductions.com, College Intern Blog) is not under any circumstances to be regarded as professional, legal, financial, or medical advice. Or education advice. Or marital advice. Or even a tip.