"Up in the Air" is a lead baloon

I fly. A lot. It's essential to my job. I fly a lot on American Airlines. For those two reasons, only, I went to see "Up in the Air" on Saturday night. What an utter disappointment. I had read very little about the movie, other than seeing zillions of ads plastered all over my "usual" airport haunts; AUS, DFW, ORD, and JFK and the various Admirals Clubs. Yes, the movie was clearly an advert for AA, Hilton and Hertz.

I really can't imagine what AA was thinking in being such a big part of this movie. "We know why you fly" is their tagline that they display prominently on jet bridges and elsewhere. In the movie, they had replaced that slogan with "We value your loyalty" or some such lame slogan. Clearly, their real-world slogan didn't match the movie, and here's why.

The lead character has an empty life. His self-professed life goal is 10,000,000 miles. His family barely knows him, and yet, in one of the only redeeming moments of the movie, he warms up his future brother-in-law's cold feet on his wedding day.

Just when you think Clooney's character has it figured out, he didn't have a clue. Bammo!

So, to wrap this up, don't bother with it in the theaters. DVD, maybe, if you feel like being disappointed in a movie. And again, American Airlines, what were you thinking? What was the positive in this movie? Your presence was distant, corporate, and awkward.

Big Month

Hey peeps,

I know. It's been a while. A long while. I was chatting with Kim (@PutItAway) and Deb (@dallisonlee) last night about Blog Catharsis at a Tweetup organized by Shashi (@shashib). Kim and I were in a bit of blog entry malaise. Well, Kim got her "blog on" this morning, and now I'm sitting here at DCA's Admiral's Club on my way home [Home (n): the place where (some of) my mail is delivered and my kids occasionally visit] after 28 days straight on the road, and I'm feeling a bit reflective. Yes, you read that correctly; 28 days. So here we go...

So much has happened this month, professionally and personally. Honestly, before I left I had a picture in my mind of how the trip would play out. It was all for work, but there would be one or two days and 1/2 days where I could carve some time out to take a look around. I tried to document my travels/experiences over here, but sadly (also somewhat expected) I fell off with time and energy to do so as the month went on.

• Barcelona: Beautiful, dense, city. Gotta go back.
• Kuala Lumpur: I barely saw it. :( But I did snag a few pictures of the Petronas Towers that I'm happy to have had the opportunity to snap.
• Sydney: This was my third trip to Sydney, and the town just "fits" for me. I like it.
• Canberra: Capital of Australia. Imagine if Washington D.C. were in Kansas, no, more like Western Kentucky. I love the Australians. They're brilliant, actually - they send their politicians out in the middle of nowhere. We build beltways around ours and worship them. We're just silly.
• Brisbane: Beautiful, hilly, town. Home to great group of people doing some pioneering work. I'm honored to be able to work with them.
• Washington D.C.: See "Canberra".

It was a great trip. It really was. Much was accomplished. Much was noted for what we must do next. My industry is populated by some extremely talented and visionary people. Sure, there are exceptions, but the list of people who truly know what they're about and actually get stuff done, is pretty awesome.

In my last conversation of this trip, I was speaking with one such person. We were talking about how to move something to the next level. "We're at a rare point in time where the timing of so many things are advantageous for us to have a lasting, positive, impact in all these areas. It's up to us to screw it up." (I paraphrased the first sentence, the second sentence is an exact quote.) When he said "us", he meant the collective "us" of our industry, and it's true.

Let's do this.

As for the blog, I'll try to do better. I don't write this thing for any particular reason or for any particular audience, but I do get an e-mail or two every now and then from a few of you who actually subscribe. I appreciate that. I really do. :)

Time to button-up for that flight home. I might just throw up my arms in glee when we're wheels-down in Austin. :)

100 Life Experiences

A Twitter bud of mine, @marinamartin, was testing some web analytics thing just as I was about to call it a night tonight. "Sure, I'll just pop over to her homepage. Will take no time." But then I started browsing, and came across this. Looked like fun, so I've given it a go below. Yes, it appears that memes can keep me up past my bedtime. Hope you have fun with it. I did. :)

1. Started your own blog.
2. Slept under the stars.
3. Played in a band. (once, long story)
4. Visited Hawaii.
5. Watched a meteor shower.
6. Given more than you can afford to charity.
7. Been to Disneyland.
8. Climbed a mountain.
9. Held a praying mantis.
10. Sang a solo.
11. Bungee jumped.
12. Visited Paris.
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea.
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch.
15. Adopted a child.
16. Had food poisoning.
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty.
18. Grown your own vegetables.
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France.
20. Slept on a train.
21. Had a pillow fight.
22. Hitch hiked.
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill.
24. Built a snow fort.
25. Held a lamb.
26. Gone skinny dipping.
27. Run a Marathon.
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice.
29. Seen a total eclipse.
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset.
31. Hit a home run.
32. Been on a cruise.
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person.
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors.
35. Seen an Amish community.
36. Taught yourself a new language.
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied.
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person.
39. Gone rock climbing.
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David.
41. Sung karaoke. (once, never again, ok?)
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt.
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant.
44. Visited Africa.
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight.
46. Been transported in an ambulance.
47. Had your portrait painted / drawn.
48. Gone deep sea fishing.
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person.
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling.
52. Kissed in the rain.
53. Played in the mud.
54. Gone to a drive-in theater.
55. Been in a movie.
56. Visited the Great Wall of China.
57. Started a business.
58. Taken a martial arts class.
59. Visited Russia.
60. Served at a soup kitchen.
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies.
62. Gone whale watching.
63. Got flowers for no reason.
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma.
65. Gone sky diving.
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp.
67. Bounced a check.
68. Flown in a helicopter.
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy.
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial.
71. Eaten Caviar.
72. Pieced a quilt.
73. Stood in Times Square.
74. Toured the Everglades.
75. Been fired from a job.
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London.
77. Broken a bone.
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle.
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person.
80. Published a book.
81. Visited the Vatican.
82. Bought a brand new car.
83. Walked in Jerusalem.
84. Had your picture in the newspaper.
85. Read the entire Bible.
86. Visited the White House.
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating.
88. Had chickenpox.
89. Saved someone’s life.
90. Sat on a jury.
91. Met someone famous.
92. Joined a book club.
93. Lost a loved one.
94. Had a baby. (I'm not properly equipped, but I have two awesome kids.)
95. Seen the Alamo in person.
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake.
97. Been involved in a law suit.
98. Owned a cell phone.
99. Been stung by a bee.
100. Read an entire book in one day.

2009

Something has gotta change in 2009. (YouTube refused to embed, so a link is a link).

[Fwd: In memoriam...]

A good friend and colleague wrote this e-mail while he waited in transit at DFW on his way to Europe last week. I present it here with his permission. It gave me pause to remember the true cost of our freedoms that we (increasingly) consider lightly.

But, there's hope, as demonstrated by the DFW ground crew. Thank you, DFW, for showing respect for this fallen Member of the U.S. Armed Forces.

Tim Jurgensen wrote:

Those profound events that go on all around us as we rush through our ostensibly important daily schedules.

As my flight from Austin to DFW was pulling in to Gate A11, I noticed a plane at the next gate over... a casket was being unloaded from it. The casket was coming down the loading ramp, out of the belly of the plane. It had an American flag draped on it.

At the bottom of the loading ramp was a special baggage cart; each side of the cart was a large American flag. On one side of the ramp was a soldier in dress uniform; the escort that is accompanying the casket to its home.

As the casket came down the ramp, all of the ground personnel working on the plane stopped and stood at attention. There were two security police cars flanking the ramp, each with lights flashing. The security officers stood at attention as the casket came down the ramp and was loaded into the baggage cart. They then led and followed the baggage cart as it made its way to the terminal.

As I watched, I remembered a cold January day in 1952 when my brother Doran's body was brought home from Korea to Sayre, OK. He was killed in August, but his body was interred in Korea until there was available space to ship it home. His casket arrived on a train. There was a Captain (I only remember his name as "Allen") who had accompanied the body from San Francisco. There was an honor guard from the ROTC detachment at Oklahoma A&M where Doran had graduated just a year before.

Today, here in Dallas, it seemed that the airline and the airport tried to lend some honor and dignity to a fallen soldier. Perhaps it is not always the case. But, it was today, at least for a part of his journey.

Regards,

Tim

Conflicted

I'm certain that there will be many who mis-interpret this post, but let me be clear; the loss of life on Tuesday morning, September 11, 2001 must never be forgotten, nor should we ever forget the enemy which brought death to our cities that day. However, I'm a wee-bit concerned about our apparent need to memorialize everything.

When I was abroad recently on a business trip, a foreign national colleague commented, "Washington D.C.; you guys sure do have a lot of monuments in that town." My reply was, "Sure, we've live a lot of history in our first 230-some years." But what I was really thinking was, "We build monuments for nearly everything so as not to offend some group, rather than to make a historical judgement on long-term historical relevance. Meanwhile we race headlong trying to run from much of our history (such as National Park Service's removal of a display inside the Washington Monument that explained the inscription at the top of the Monument that reads Laus Deo, or "Praise Be to God").

We built a very powerful, moving, monument to those fallen and missing during the Vietnam Conflict; mainly out of shame for how our Government miserably executed that campaign. And yet, it we waited nearly two decades after that monument was built to erect the WWII Memorial; probably the single greatest event to shape the last century.

And now, we erect monuments to one day's battle in the midst of a war. That day was indeed significant - the war that has prosecuted in the shadows for decades (over 400 days of the Iran Hostage Crisis, bombings around the world for decades, leading up to the U.S.S. Cole, and then 9//11 - just to name a few) had finally "come to light". So yes, 9/11 is seared in to our memory, but I sure hope we don't go knee-jerk erecting a dozen monuments or so when the next Islamo-fascist gets through the net. I'd rather we send in a few thousand more "snake eaters" to kill the cancer.

We must not forget that this is a war - that extends well before President George W. Bush, and will last as long as Muslims permit extremists to cohabit in their religion.

And finally, what brought me to make this post, is that there will be the dedication of a 9/11 Pentagon Memorial tomorrow at the Pentagon. The ceremony will be closed, but the monument area will open to the public at 7pm.

Please go there, if you can. Remember. And think about the war we are in, globally, to defend ourselves and our allies against the cancer of Islamic Fascism.

And finally, and most importantly, I sincerely thank the members of the U.S. Armed Forces and their families, who get up every day, put on the Uniform, and go in to harms way - for you and me, and our families. May God bless them.

No really, I need to post and I know it

I had a really great "tweetup", (or "dentup", if you're an identi.ca convert like @marinamartin) last night with @dacort and @marinamartin at the Tap House Grill here in Bellevue, WA, where I am this week for some meetings hosted by Microsoft.

One of the topics that came up was something along the lines of "I haven't blogged in so long, but I have all of these things that I've wanted to blog". Well, keeping in mind that one of the people at the table is in fact @marinamartin, you'd expect that she has a list for that sort of thing, and if memory serves me correctly, she confessed to not only having a list of such things, but notes on what she would write on if said posting opportunity/motivation/priority were to materialize.

As for me, the list is in my head along with all of the other dust bunnies that accumulate there. I think the list changes, and I do recall saying to @dacort and @marinamartin that what I REALLY wanted to blog about was my long ride I took on the bike a few weeks back. I'm somewhat hopelessly in love when it comes to my bike.

And just now on Twitter, @megfowler comes to the rescue with her own post on the matter of blogging, frequency, depth, and randomness. It's a good read, which is par for course on her blog. Oh, and the Heart bit, Meg, I'm right there, too. My previous blog post pretty much establishes where I am right now. Definitively? No. But hey, like you say, "It's JUST a blog post." :)

(* See Mike! There, you wrote a blog post while the rest of your colleagues are swatting e-mail for 10 minutes. Just do it. *)

I did.