Tied to a Chair and Forced to Watch Advertisements

[aja8888]

You get that system up and running to power the O2 generator in the car?

No, could not get all the parts assembled buy the time we were scheduled to leave. They all should be there when we get back.

We have 6 O2 bottles that last about 10 hours each until empty, so those will carry the oxygen demand in the car (3 days each way of driving). The new Imogen One is the back up unit as we brought the large O2 unit along and use that in the hotel rooms and at DW sister's house where we are spending most of our visit time. So far, so good.

I'll have more time when we are back in Texas to get the heavy #2 power cable run and tied down, then mount the 1000 W inverter, make a battery box for the AGM battery, install the fuses and the battery isolater.

I'll mention though, travelling with a person that has "special medical needs" is quite trying. I've never had to do this before. Making sure everything is working properly, moved in and out of hotel rooms, packed right, getting the walker set up and configured during stops, etc, etc, is a full time effort.

I've learned a lot about hotel rooms for a handicapped person and they are not all the same and not well described in the hotel literature. We had to relocate one room because the shower was not equipped with a seat and the hose assembly was not working properly. Moving from room to room is a pain.

 

[folivier]

Hey Al, no need to fly to get that experience. Just go to a gas station and you can be assaulted visually and verbally by the same type of trash. And don't think of walking away because there is a sign that says you have to remain there while refueling.
At least it's a cheaper and shorter option than flying....

 

[HadEnuff]

Hey Al, no need to fly to get that experience. Just go to a gas station and you can be assaulted visually and verbally by the same type of trash. And don't think of walking away because there is a sign that says you have to remain there while refueling.
At least it's a cheaper and shorter option than flying....

I was just going to bring that up. GSN (Gas Station Network), makes me want to shove a rock through the screen. I avoid those gas stations, but it's getting harder and harder to find the ones that don't have it.

 

[TromboneAl]

How about a sleeper car for a train trip. ?

We tried that. Drove to Sacramento (6 hours), took train with sleeper car. I looked forward to it, figuring I could read, etc. Thought I'd sleep well.

It was 30 hours of boredom, and we didn't sleep well.

Just go to a gas station and you can be assaulted visually and verbally by the same type of trash.

We don't have that here yet. When we do, it will be another reason to enjoy our electric car.

I'm seriously considering the super-expensive first class seats. On the plane to Denver, passing through toward steerage, I saw really nice individual seats with little consoles. On the way back, they were only a bit larger than economy.

Looks like it would cost $1,600 to upgrade to first class, SFO to Denver (Round trip, DW and me). Ack!

 

[athena53]

We mute all commercials on TV. When I was working, people would say, "have you seen the commercial where ..." I'd be clueless.

I fill out a lot of e-Rewards surveys and since I have only Netflix I don't see commercials on TV. I think I've trained my eye to avoid the margins on news sites so I don't see banner ads either. I can't remember a single e-rewards survey where they've asked if I saw a particular ad and I remembered it.

 

[OldShooter]

Getting mad because an airline mistreats me is like getting mad at the weather and just about as productive. Once I accepted the fact that the airlines are my enemies and that their goal is to cheat and screw me at every opportunity, my blood pressure went down.

In my case the main enemy is Delta, but the US domestic airlines are all the same. Except in the case of South African Airlines, I rejoice when I can arrange to fly on non-US national flag carriers.

I don't even worry about frequent flier miles any more, because any I earn will be rapidly depreciated in purchasing power and become increasingly harder to use. Same thing with credit card miles. USBank recently started stealing miles from me because they have not been used within a time limit buried in the fine print.

 

[W2R]

I admit I have a low tolerance for commercials, but I usually can find a way to avoid them.

Recently, a major corporation strapped me to an uncomfortable chair. Had I tried to get loose, I would have been arrested.

Next, the company put a video screen less than two feet in front of me and played advertisements. The audio was very loud, and I had no way to turn it down.

Sound like something from a thriller novel? No, it really happened.

The name of the corporation: United Airlines.

The ads play at the beginning of the flight, while the seatbelt sign is on.

Al, you may have noticed that I keep telling you diehard travelers, that staying home is the way to go! No commercials, no TSA lines, no germs from other passengers, and I get to sleep in my own bed. Life is pretty good here at my house.

 

[TromboneAl]

Al, you may have noticed that I keep telling you diehard travelers, that staying home is the way to go! No commercials, no TSA lines, no germs from other passengers, and I get to sleep in my own bed. Life is pretty good here at my house.

Right, I'm with you.

I'm seriously trying to—don't tell anyone—figure a way that I don't have to go to my daughter's wedding.

 

[OldShooter]

... staying home is the way to go! ...

"A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are for."

Leaving for Indochina on the 4th, 24 hours of misery followed by three weeks of new experiences and enjoyment, then another 24 hours of misery to get home. Life is a tradeoff.

 

[harley]

Well, sadly the mini remote didn't work on the plane TVs, either on United nor American Airlines. Luckily the off button did. Al, I noticed on the United flight you had to hold the off button down for about 3-5 seconds, then a slide bar appeared. Continuing to hold the off button eventually made it turn off. But they make you work for it.

So, two miserable flights (narrow, uncomfortable seats, and I think AA was worse than United) plus two days in 1 degree Chicago. Happy New Year! Luckily we're back in FL now. My current goal is to never fly again unless it's international. And if we ever get to Australia/NJ, I'm going to pay for first class.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

Al, you may have noticed that I keep telling you diehard travelers, that staying home is the way to go! No commercials, no TSA lines, no germs from other passengers, and I get to sleep in my own bed. Life is pretty good here at my house.

No doubt! We just got back from visiting DW's parents (about 1000 miles away, 2 days by car) and I have never been happier to be home. I once enjoyed traveling by car, but now it's just a pain in the arse. People are idiots and are doing their damnest to kill us.

While were at the in-laws, we were treated to hours and hours and hours of various television marathons and the requisite commercials that repeat over and over and over again. I don't think I fully understood the value of Netflix and the no-commercials Hulu until seeing idiotic commericals almost non-stop for 10 days. With the exception of a football game yesterday, the TV hasn't been on in 3 days.


And hotels? Why, oh why does Carl Clodhopper have to walk back and forth 1,213,328 times in a single night? And the doors...do these idiots not realize how freaking LOUD they are when they let them slam closed from the fully open position?!?

So yes, it absolutely fabulous to be home.

 

[folivier]

I coulda' used one of the zappers today. Sat in the doctors office and blaring away was some sort of divorce court. 2 judges, apparently married, listening to a couple trying to outdo each other with their outrages. And the 2 judges were laughing and making fun of them while they were talking. Don't people have any self pride any more?

 

[bUU]

There's loads of pride to be found; just elsewhere. Where you were looking is where you'll find loads of money-love, attention-seeking, etc.

 

[CaptTom]

I coulda' used one of the zappers today. Sat in the doctors office and blaring away was some sort of divorce court. 2 judges, apparently married, listening to a couple trying to outdo each other with their outrages. And the 2 judges were laughing and making fun of them while they were talking. Don't people have any self pride any more?

Whenever I run into daytime TV, or for that matter, news, sports or even weather, I'm reminded how glad I was that I cut cable a couple of years ago.

Each new show has to be more shocking, more dramatic than the last. And the so-called news programs use dramatic and emotionally-charged words with reckless abandon.

Even the weather has to be dramatic. "Bomb cyclone" when all it means is a rapidly intensifying low pressure system developing a rotational (cyclonic) wind pattern. "Super moon" instead of Perigean Full Moon. And what's with naming snowstorms? Even the NWS, NOAA and others have drawn the line and are actively trying to discourage that crap.

Too much drama.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

Even the weather has to be dramatic. "Bomb cyclone" when all it means is a rapidly intensifying low pressure system developing a rotational (cyclonic) wind pattern.
Too much drama.

This made me laugh a little. A local broadcast meteorologist (who has been on the air for a VERY long time) apparently came unglued about this "label". Almost as ridiculous as The Weather Channel's instance on naming winter storms.

 

[bUU]

I think this "drama" is to some extent part of a vicious cycle: People have become jaded, curmudgeonly, excessively skeptical, and generally more dismissive of warnings than they should be, leading to general intransigence with regard to taking recommended preventive measures. This is fed by the reality that sometimes warnings are just that - the variability of the process means that they may turn into problems or may not, but that doesn't negate the fact that if they would turn into problems that prudence dictates taking preventive action at the time of the warning. And I suspect underlying some of this general dismissiveness is that some people feel that society and the people within it should be as vulnerable as they used to be, even though we have the means to be less vulnerable now (leading to the rationalizations that typically start with, "back in the day, we didn't..."

Consequently we see these bombastic presentations of warnings - crafted to try to cut through the intransigence.

 

[CaptTom]

I think this "drama" is to some extent part of a vicious cycle...

I think you're onto something. What these self-styled saviors need to realize, however, is that crying wolf all the time only makes it worse.

Save the bombastic language for when it's really needed.

It's like the current trend of casual swearing. If you cuss like a trucker in everyday speech, what's left to say when you stub your toe?

 

[bUU]

This is fed by the reality that sometimes warnings are just that - the variability of the process means that they may turn into problems or may not, but that doesn't negate the fact that if they would turn into problems that prudence dictates taking preventive action at the time of the warning.

I think you're onto something. What these self-styled saviors need to realize, however, is that crying wolf all the time only makes it worse.

Issuing warnings when there is a significant chance of a problem is not "crying wolf".

Save the bombastic language for when it's really needed.

Weather is always going to be somewhat unpredictable so the only way to reserve the strongest warnings for when they're "really needed" will require a time machine.

 

[GravitySucks]

We have to go back to Denver in August for my daughter's wedding, and I'm looking for some alternative way to get there. Tried the train (too slow and boring).

The train from Oakland to Denver had beautiful scenery until a landslide forced it onto the freight tracks in Wyoming. (The back yard of lamb packing house 7 was not real pretty) I'd like to try it again.

Alternatives could include bicycling or, if the prevailing winds work, ballooning.