Off I go to CA...

Off I go to CA...

tickets.purchased

I'm heading down to NYC on Wednesday and I have my tickets! It's been too long and I am taking the train, which will be a first. I am hoping to get to do some grading on the train and avoid the whole tense drive from Boston to NY.

spring.fever

The high today is only in the 60's and with the breeze you can't exactly call this warm. Being the adopted New Englander that I am and a certified "white person" I am maximizing my opportunity to be outside on this spring day. To be fair I also really enjoyed wearing my shorts to work on Friday with highs in the 70's! My Dad, of course, still calls to remind me that it is, "76 and sunny at Calafia Beach and the carne asada burrito is delicious". At least I got to call him for once and remind him that I was outside enjoying spring while he was still at work (one of the benefits to the time zone thing). The warmth and sunlight has brought me out of doors and I am about to take my first vacation since Christmas. Ahh, the power of the change of seasons.

sunday.afternoon

middle.of.july

The idea that the fourth is long gone and the start of school at the end of August is fast approaching is almost paralyzing some moments. Still onward I press. I am working nights this week and I can only describe the experience as confusing. As I look at the clock now shortly after 4pm it is impossible to really understand that I will be awake 12 hours from now heading into the last hour of an 8 hour worknight. At least I have the work I say to myself when I pull up into the driveway after the sun is up and wave to my roommate just heading out to work. OK, so I didn't actually wave and he was actually already on his way to work but this is a more poetic image. I suppose I should figure out a way to sleep all day and work all night but is no way to spend a summer. Is it?

optometry?

Almost as a way to remind myself I say this now. I am planning on becoming an optometrist. The road is long and not entirely smooth and yet my heart is filled with excitement. What does the future hold for me and those around me? "God knows the plans he has for me..." Here goes the next step.

map.to.your.head

"I need a map of your head translated into English so I can learn to not make you frown."
- Clean (Make Yourself) - Incubus

That line always makes me laugh and then think about how true it is that we just don't really understand what goes on in the minds of the people around us. He is singing about the mind of a woman but I think it applies in a much more general way. There is so much that we don't understand and most of it seems to be trapped in the minds of the people around us. How much more do we wish we had a map to the mind of someone who knows all and understands the whys and hows for every action and circumstance in our lives.

the.low.fare.customer

In recent years the "low fare" airline has come to dominate the airline industry news. As it turns out this has had several consequences. The most obvious result is the current affordability of air travel for most middle class families and individuals. That has drastically changed the demographics of the passengers. Certainly the middle class families that saved to fly and see Grandma seem to make up a large portion of the flying public today and their frequency of travel has increased. Now the groups who would have never considered the ability to fly will save up and fly to visit Grandma. This has intensified the number of angry passengers who feel that they are paying good money and deserve something. Don't believe me? Just watch "Airline" on A&E with their coverage of Southwest passengers. Southwest is of course the airline that pioneered the low fare, no-frills, airline. They have maintained profitability where others have failed but air travel will never be the same. You can always tell which people fly often and know that this time they will have to put up with the insanity the "low fare" creates.

Some might say that it is far too easy to split people into groups and we are certainly all guilty of classification based on preconceived notions. I for one am grateful for the low fare trend especially when it come to convenient and reasonably priced travel between Boston, Long Beach, Oakland, and Washington DC. Those just so happen to be the cities I travel to. I don't know if that is because JetBlue flies there or if I want to fly there and JetBlue has obliged.

Speaking of JetBlue, there is an airline that gets what today's price conscious but feature focused consumer wants. I am loyal for now. The only thing that could sway me is the launch of Virgin America (that assumes of course that I can afford to fly them).