9/11 pilots/crew get recognition

"WASHINGTON--Firefighters and rescue workers weren't the only heroes of 9/11.

"The pilots and crew members of the hijacked jets were every bit as heroic, their colleagues say, but have never gotten due recognition.

"Yesterday, several American Airlines flight attendants and the author of a new book about the industry's recovery from the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, met to call attention to those they say were the day's first heroes."

To read the entire article, click here.

I have always felt the pilots and flight attendants killed that day were not given the recognition they deserve. Almost immediately after the terrorist attack, attention to the roles the crews played fell off the radar, just as air traffic did. There has not been, to this day, adequate recognition for their heroic efforts. Hopefully this new book will help bring attention to the role the crews played and they will be more appropriately memorialized.

For more information, check out Reclaiming The Sky.com


To order the book, click here. Proceeds from the sale of the book will be donated to various 9/11 victim charities.

No joke

You may or may not be keeping up with Northwest Airline's recent labor trouble. They've been seeking concessions from their employees while in bankruptcy for months and have yet to come to a deal with its flight attendants. Recently a deadline came and went and Northwest had failed to reach an agreed upon concession package and sought court approval to abrogate, or terminate, the flight attendant's contract. They won that approval so the company imposed its own terms on the flight attendants and in turn the flight attendants have threatened to strike because their contract was abrogated. Northwest sued the flight attendants to block a strike but the judge turned down the company's request for an injunction and the flight attendants are set to begin striking Friday night.

In the meantime, to help other employees at the company get used to less pay, or even worse, help those that are getting the ax, the company set out to offer a gesture of good-will by providing employees with a booklet of 101 ways to save money. Following is a tid-bit my union shared with me:

"The second event of great significance has to do with the extraordinary/above and beyond detachment between upper management and the employees of Northwest Airlines, some of whom are soon to be left without jobs. Northwest published and began distributing a book that included a list of Â?101 Ways to Save Money.Â? On this list were suggestions for the about-to-be-laid-off employees such as creating your own holiday cards and gifts rather than buying them, borrowing a dress for Â?a big night out,Â? securing prescription drug samples from your doctor, and dumpster diving, or as the list advises, Â?DonÂ?t be shy about pulling something you like out of the trash.Â? Sixty pamphlets went out containing this list before Northwest began receiving complaints and removed it from the pamphlet it is distributing to NW employees."

Dumpster diving? Give me a freakin' break. I'll be the first to admit SpyC has dumpster dived before and even I became compelled one time while on an evening walk in our neighborhood. But to have your employer recommend it as a way to save money, especially for those about to be layed off? What a joke. As my union rep stated, "the extraordinary/above and beyond detatchment between upper management and the employees..."

Yeah, I'd say they are detatched. What was Northwest thinking? In the end, a strike for Northwest would be very bad news. However, I have no respect for that company, nor its management, and I wouldn't mind seeing them fold. The sad part is upper management could care less. They've got their golden parachutes just in case, and it's the front line employees that will pay most dearly. In which case I hope they make it.

Happy Birthday Jenn!

Happy Birthday SpyC!

And what a birthday it was! This is cutie's birthday present, a 2006 Volvo S40 with all wheel drive and all the bells and whistles. The Altima, her previous car, was a piece of shit so we sold it about a week before we left Las Vegas. We had planned on getting a new vehicle here, and the S40 was on our list, but we hadn't planned on getting it on her birthday. It just happened that way. We also test drove a SAAB 9-3 and a VW Passat. The SAAB was ultra-lux, and although the price was similar to the Volvo, it will definitely cost more in fuel and maintenance in the long run. A nice ride, for sure. The Passat wasn't quite it, but a nice ride as well. The Volvo was just right for SpyC and she was sold on all the safety features. The picture isn't her actual car, but it is the model and color we bought. We're pretty excited about it. Especially SpyC... she's so excited about it I've only driven it once. Boohoo. Happy Birthday honey!

Slowly settling...

And that's been difficult because we don't have our furniture yet. It was supposed to arrive tomorrow or Friday, but the driver called today to say his truck broke down, but that it's fixed and he's back on the road. He'll be here Saturday now, instead, and offered to put us up in a hotel for a night because he'll be a day late. I told him that wasn't necessary and he offered a hundred bucks instead for meals. Sounds good to me. It really is no big deal and the guy is super nice. Hey, shit happens.

We closed on our new house Monday afternoon and took delivery of the keys. We are officially with mortgage again! Hoorway! SpyC and Sofakitty painted the dining room yesterday. Today, I sealed the grout in the master bathroom and put together a pole caddy for the shower, since there are no shelves in there. We've been doing little things like that, getting the house ready while waiting for the furniture. Tomorrow, I plan to take the shelf and rod out of our master closet and replace it with a closet organizer. It'll be nice to have that done... that way when our clothes arrive we can immediately put things where they should be.

We went and visited the ladies' new school yesterday and they got to see their classrooms. Their nice and big, but painted kind of a dark beige, so it's kinda drab in there. It isn't bright enough, I thought.

We've already made the requisite five trips to Home Depot/Lowes, with another dozen to come soon I am sure. We've been looking at mailboxes... woohoo! Didn't ever think about shopping for mailboxes. And they can be as expensive as hell. I was looking at one model that would cost $250. That's insane, so I decided against it. Some I've seen are as high as a thousand bucks!

Today we spent a considerable amount of time at the mall looking at curtain panels and pillows at Z Gallerie and shoe shopping for the three of us. I'm the only one who walked away with shoes, and that's a good thing since I spent nearly three hundred dollars on just two pairs. Eek! That's ok, one pair was for work, and those have to be nice since I'm on my feet constantly, and the other was a new pair of Keens. Love those things.

Over the next two days we plan to keep doing little things to the house while waiting for the furniture. It's kind of nice to have the house for a few days without the furniture because it makes things like painting easier. But we're anxious for our goods to come, too.

On the move

Here we sit at the airport in Las Vegas awaiting our flight to North Carolina. We moved out of the house yesterday and stayed with Dale and Carter last night. It has all been so surreal, it still really hasn't sunk in that we're moving... this is it. It was tough to say goodbye to Beth's parents tonight. We couldn't help but be whispy. I guess that's the way it goes. We're so excited about the opportunity that awaits us, and moving into our new home, but it's still hard to leave.

Vegas was a good place for us the six years we've been here, but it's time to move on to other adventures. We will certainly miss our friends and family here, but we'll back. We just won't be right down the street anymore. Change is difficult, but often for the better, and this is for the better. Thanks for the good times Vegas!

The Joys of Moving

1) Finding over $225 in unused gift cards that you filed so you wouldn't lose and ended up forgetting all about! $175 of that is for Best Buy... surely I could find a nice little something for my home there! Yeah... shopping spree!

2) Friends invite you over for dinner (so you don't have to cook, or, more realisticly, so you don't have to go to Taco Bell one more time) and give a brief respite from all the packing.

3) more to follow... ok... I found no other joy now that the moving truck is gone. But I tried.

Happy Birthday Dytz!