ALB-DEN-ALB, Part IV: The chicken's good for me

Here is author David Sedaris' take on undecided voters in this election:

"I look at these people and can't quite believe that they exist. Are they professional actors? I wonder. Or are they simply laymen who want a lot of attention? To put them in perspective, I think of being on an airplane. The flight attendant comes down the aisle with her food cart and, eventually, parks it beside my seat. 'Can I interest you in the chicken?' she asks. 'Or would you prefer the platter of s**t with bits of broken glass in it?' To be undecided in this election is to pause for a moment and then ask how the chicken is cooked."

On Sunday, in Fort Collins, CO, I had the chance to look at and listen to "the chicken."
And so did another 44,999 Coloradoans.
The chicken looked good and sounded great. We ended up on the stage behind Senator Obama, which was quite fortunate because otherwise we would have been in that sea of people.

It goes without saying, but this was perhaps one of the most exciting moments of my life. Senator Obama spoke at 3:30pm, and the first person in line showed up at 4:00am. There were so many people that wanted to see and hear this transformational leader, that even though the 2 mile-long line started moving in 2 hours ahead of when he was going to speak, there were still people entering the Oval as he closed his remarks.

Believe me, and the other tens of thousands of inspired Coloradoans: the chicken is for real, and it is good. When the flight attendant pulls up to your seat on November 4th, you can comfortably order the chicken.

And, in case you are wondering, I did not get to see his campaign plane, but it wasn't for lack of trying.

ALB-DEN-ALB, Part III: A pro-aviation enthusiast airport

We all know the importance of first impressions, and by all accounts, Denver International Airport did not make a good one. It was late, overbudget, had an inoperative baggage handling system, and was perhaps the home base of a shadown government.But I'm a believer in second chances, and boy did DIA ever make it up. If you arrive at the C Concourse, make sure you look up so that you don't miss this:This Learjet, owned by a local businessman and philanthropist, was the first plane to officially (?) land at DIA in 1995, as memorialized by this stamp underneath the wing.
After the historic landing, the plane was donated to the airport and ceremoniously placed in the C Concourse for all aviation enthusiasts to admire. I asked around and learned that the plane was disassembled and came into the Concourse through the windows.

Now that's what I call decorating. They should put that on one of those design shows.

ALB-DEN-ALB, Part II: A mosaic of flight

Here are some images from my flights. I sat on an exit row window seat for each leg of the flight, so the images are wing-heavy. Each leg was operated by an A319.

Here are some shots from the flight from the flight out west. This is the aircraft that took me the whole way to Denver. The sun tries to catch up to us as we head west to Detroit.The foliage around Detroit, which is no match for the foliage in Albany.

And the arrival in an overcast Denver.

And here are some shots of the flight back east. She was a sweet ride. Here she is pulling into the gate at Denver International.

This time, I'm leaving the sun in the west (and probably will not see it until April - jk).

A rainy approach into Detroit.

And a rainy Albany, just like I remember it!

ALB-DEN-ALB, Part I: Walking the talk

I have broken up the news from my surprise trip to Denver into four parts so that I can stay focused and on message, and so that the length of the posts is not overwhelming. With that in mind, here is topic numero uno: as the old saying goes, don't talk the talk if you can't walk the walk.

Well, I have talked the talk, and here is evidence of me walking the walk. A short time ago, I endorsed the green bag from the Unspeakable Visions Market as the "must have accessory for today's air traveler" since it allows passengers to pack their own, hopefully healthy lunch and carry it on board.

Folks, I not only own a green bag of my own, but on this last trip I baptized it at 35,000 feet. And I even did it with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, as one of the resident experts recommended. And all it cost me was about $.22 in peanut butter, $.17 in jelly, and $.47 in bread. That's $.86 instead of $12 for a tuna crapwich at the airport.

On the way back, I turned it up a notch. I packed, or rather, had packed for me by my mother and sister, four milanesa sandwiches, two apples, and four oreos. (Not all pictured.)
Don't worry - I did not eat it all at once, although I really wanted to. But after a horrifying pant-buying experience, I did not need any more motivation to slow my food intake down a bit.

So - there you have it. Green bagging it at 35,000 feet. With the economy as shaky as it is, every $11.14 kept in your wallet counts.

Rain, rain, go away

Here are the Flight Aware charts for my flight from Denver to Albany via Detroit.

I could picture these charts as the flights were occuring because of all the maneuvering that we did in our approaches. These look like my flight paths on Flight Simulator - you know, due to the non-directness of the routes. In Northwest's defense, there was some pretty nasty weather around both Detroit and Albany last night, so much so that the captain of the second leg did not allow the flight attendants to offer the complementary beverage service.

Here is the flight between Denver and Detroit:
The pilot announced we would be flying over Des Moines, IA, Madison, WI, Milwaukee, WI and Flint, MI.

Here is the flight between Detroit and Albany:This was a really bumpy ride, especially during the approach. I was a bit disappointed that we landed on runway 19 instead of 1. A landing on runway 1 gives you a great view of the city, and I would have been positioned to get a great overhead shot of the Empire State Plaza. No such luck though.

I cannot recall landing in such rainy weather before - I am sure I must have at some point. But I was especially vigilant last night, and it was really neat to see the rain drops illuminated every time the strobe lights on the wing flashed. I tried to get a picture of it, but I could not get the timing down.

Speaking of pictures - I have not downloaded my trip pictures yet. I expect to do that tonight, so expect a comprehensive blog post (including evidence of Green Baggin' it at 35,000 feet) in the very near future.

How do you sneak up on somebody in an A319?

It's not easy. It takes a lot of planning. And you have to be ready for the slightest alterations to your plan.

Since Gov. Paterson is on a mission to ruin the summer, Thanksgiving, and Christmas (Hannukah for me), I had to scrap any plans to fly to Colorado for the high holidays. So instead, I decided to surprise the mother and the sister this weekend in Colorado.
I booked a flight to Denver International for Wednesday and rented a car with the hopes of showing up in Fort Collins to surprise the family. It was a simple plan, a plan that could not fail. That is, until my sister told me casually that she and my mother were going to be in Denver on Wednesday afternoon.

Great. There goes Plan A.

I secretly became very interested in the whereabouts and travel plans that these two renegades had for Wednesday. I feigned massive interest in when they were leaving, what street they were going to be on, and how long they planned on being there.

Since I got to Denver in the mid-morning and they were not going to be in Denver until 4pm, I had plenty of time to scout the location and make a plan, Plan B at this point.

I staked out the office and secretly spied them as they arrived. My sister was going in for an interview, so I did not want to spook her before that in case it affected her performance. As soon as I saw my sister go in, I called my mother and told her that I had done some web-based research and discovered that there was a Starbucks about three doors down from where my sister was interviewing.

My mother took the bait. I planted myself on a bench between the building where my sister was interviewing and the coffeeshop. As my mother made her way to Starbucks, talking to me on the phone and thinking I was still in Albany, she suddenly realized that the voice she was hearing was coming at her from the park bench to her right.

Needless to say, she was both shocked and awed. She muttered something about how she thought she was going crazy and imagining things - going as far as demanding that I remove my sunglasses to verify that it was indeed me. (NOTE: I still don't know if she believes I am here.)

After sipping our coffee, we went back to the building where Luci was. As soon as Luci left the interview, my mom told her, "Call your brother, he's been bugging me and wants to know how it went."

My sister dialed me up and was somewhat surprised to hear my ring tone around the corner. She was even more surprised when I emerged from said corner and asked, "May I help you?"

As my loyal readers undoubtedly know, I have fully documented the trip, and will have pictures up as soon as they are downloaded. For the impatient ones, occupy yourselves with this map of my connecting flight between DTW and DIA. I flew on Northwest, which was a first. I have no major observations or complaints, except to say that I had a ton of legroom on the exit row, and I actually liked it very much that they allow people sitting in the exit row to board with all the special members/elite folks. I got a free cup of coffee on both legs of the flight (which incidentally was on the same plane - deplaning required in Detroit).

The aircraft was an A319 (but not the one above), which I must say was rather beat up on the inside. But whatevs...it got the job done. Like I said, and I am sure you believe me, I documented the flight extensively - so stay tuned.

I try my hand at food service

It's the start of another work week, so you know what that means: a blog post!

A few weekends ago, I was summarily recruited by one famous teacher dudette from the T.O.C. to assist in the selling of adirondack kettle corn and kettle corn accessories at a Harvest Festival in Colonie's Heritage Park.

I know exactly what you are thinking: that is a great place to watch planes approaching Albany International from the south. You read my mind.

Unfortunately, I was so busy bagging, selling, dodging, and snacking on popcorn that I was not able to take in the full extent of the viewing opportunities until the way out, when this very classy SW B737 made it's approach.
What a poetic picture. A human-made flying apparatus in the background and nature's version in the foreground.

And here is my photographer's depiction of the plane flying into a tree.
Don't tell anybody this, but if I had known our location, I probably would have worked for free. Plane-watching is its own reward.