Thursday, September 20, 2007

Air Travel and Children

Shannon usually is a really, really good air traveler for her age. We keep her distracted with books and once the flight takes off we take out the portable DVD and she is locked in.

This past Sunday we flew from Buffalo to Atlanta and Shannon had a fit. She was kicking and screaming and nothing would settle her down. Not only did she have a fit, but the stewardess threatened to kick us off the plane.

That pissed me off to no end. Instead of having one ounce of sympathy or advice for us they just threatened us. All Shannon wanted to do at the time was be held by one of us but she wasn't allowed out of her seat. So she tried to get out of her seat, but Erin and I were holding her down.

I told them that she had just turned 2 but I guess being honest doesn't get you anywhere in life. If I had said she was 23 months they would have let her sit in my lap.

She eventually fell asleep during the flight, but when we had to get ready for landing it all started back up again.

There is a child seat harness that is called CARES that you can buy for 75 bucks that is pretty similar to the straps in a car seat. It pretty much straps a child under 44 pounds into the seat and won't allow them to wiggle out of a lap belt. Why don't the airlines provide you with it? I mean they don't ask you to bring your own seat belt onto a flight, do they? So if they are gonna charge me full price to fly my 2 year old, they why don't you provide the proper safety equipment for them? I mean to buy a few of these belts can't possibly cost more than it does when they have to return a plane to a hanger before it takes off.

Another thing that pissed me off: When there is a child losing his/her shit on a plane, don't look back at the parents. Trust me, we are aware the child is being loud, but there is nothing we can do about it. Especially when the flight crew limits your abilities to calm a child down. It is extremely stressful for the parents and your looks aren't gonna help the situation end any sooner.

Just turn up your iPod, go to your happy place, and don't look back. I so wanted to just blast this guy in the face. Nothing would have given me more satisfaction. He sat in front of us and all he could do was look back and make faces.

I sent a letter to Airtran letting them know about my feelings on the CARES issue and to state that the flight crew could have acted more professionally. You'd think they would have some training in these type situations instead of just threatening passengers. Airtran did kick a family off the plane in a similar situation a few months back and took quite a PR hit over it. They must encounter situations like this all the time. Everyone has a story about a crying baby on a plane.

This only tells me that either their policy or training for these situations isn't working and needs to be adjusted.

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Diet? Not So Much

After 4 days of being on our diet, Erin and I decided to modify it back to our normal eating habits. Erin wasn't feeling well and began to feel ill because her body wasn't adjusting to the lack of peanut butter in her system I guess. That and we were getting sick of eating nothing but salad and brown rice.

I'm still doing parts of Phase 1 of the diet but we have reintroduced breads, meats, alcohol, and sugars back into the diet. We just couldn't live without the pizza.

I did lose about 3 pounds so far. Erin lost 2.

Sunday, September 9, 2007

The Green Concert


Great show last night at Piedmont Park. Erin and I parked at Turner's Techwood campus and then walked 1.5 miles over to the park. When we got there Allman Brothers had already taken the stage. We found a spot near the middle of the lawn and towards the back. Put our blanket down and had a good location speaker and video screen wise amongst the 50,000 people.

The Allman Brothers sounded great and everyone seemed to be in a mellow mood. The reason could have been the 6 packs of Bud Light people were walking around with. How do you know you are seeing a concert in the South? When they sell people 6 packs of beer on one trip to the beer stand that's how.

Their set list:

Trouble No More, Ain't Wastin' Time No More, Hot 'lanta, Woman Across The River, Midnight Rider, Statesboro Blues, Hoochie Coochie Man, Come And Go Blues, One Way Out, Black Hearted Woman, In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed
Encore: Whipping Post

I spent most of the time between bands waiting on line for Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream. Erin's idea.

At 8:14 Dave Matthews Band took the stage and everyone seemed to come alive. They played a good mix of older and some newer songs that I wasn't too familiar with. The sound was perfect, the setting was perfect, and the weather was perfect.

Their set list:

One Sweet World, Two Step, Corn Bread, Don’t Drink the Water, You Might Die Trying, Grey Street, #27, What Would You Say, Melissa, Louisiana Bayou, Dreaming Tree, Eh Hee, So Much To Say, Anyone Seen The Bridge, Too Much, #40 [tease], Warehouse, Stay (Wasting Time)
Encore: All Along The Watchtower, Ants Marching

Highlights were having Warren Haynes play electric guitar on What Would You Say and Gregg Allman sharing vocals with Dave Matthews on Melissa with the band backing them up.

Best Dave quote: "We are gonna do kind of a newer song for you. If you like it great, if you don't like it, what can I do about it."

We left before the encore so that we could make the 1.5 mile journey back to our car. Susan was nice enough to watch Shannon for us so we didn't want to get caught up in the crowds getting back home. I left my Turner ID in my car so they stopped us at the gate. After running my drivers license thru their system we were allowed to get back to our car and go home.

Song stuck in my head today: Louisiana Bayou.



Wednesday, September 5, 2007

Dave Matthews Band

Dave Matthews Band is playing a "green" concert in Piedmont Park here in Atlanta on Saturday. The proceeds of the show are going to a planned 53 acre expansion of the park.

Turner is a corporate sponsor of the show and they had a ticket give away this week. There was a set of 5 true and false questions and you had to find the answers by looking around the Piedmont Park website.

From looking at the website I found out that not only is DMB playing but the Allman Brothers Band is opening for them and palying a 2 hour set. How cool is that?

So I filled it out and I actually won tickets to the show. It is general admisson and they are expecting 50,000 people to attend. So Erin and I will be bringing our blanket and hopefully pulling up a nice piece of grass to see the show from.

Fat Smash Diet

Erin and I are both doing the Fat Smash Diet right now. We are into day 3 of Phase 1 which lasts for 9 days.

I did this diet last year and lost 15 pounds over the course of a month. This time around seems to be a little harder. Erin has used the word starving a few times but has been good so far.

For the first 9 days we are in a "detox" phase where all we can eat are fruits, veggies, egg whites, yogurt and brown rice. You have to eat at least 5 meals a day. Phase 2 lasts for 3 weeks and we get to eat small portions of meat and cheese but no breads.

The breads don't come back till Phase 3 so no pizza for a month!!! That is huge in our house where Friday pizza night is an institution. Did I mention no alcohol this whole time either???

By the end of the diet you are eating all the stuff you used to eat but in smaller portions. So the goal for us to shed a few pounds and improve on our eating habits.

My first weigh in was 171.5 pounds. I don't get to weigh myself gain till day 9. We'll see how good I do.