Riddle Me This, Jishman

WTOP, the Washignton, DC all news radio station, was reporting this morning about the most expensive airports to fly from in the United States (based on a Cheapflights.com survey). The survey is very interesting for a number of reasons. In no specific order, here are some of the issues I have with survey’s like this:

1. Why only 101 airports? Far more than that offer commercial air service.

2. With three airports in the Washington, DC, New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco areas why not also report average for the region? This would be a more realistic indicator of true choice for passengers in those markets. For example, when I fly out of Washington, I look to see the cost of flights at Regan National (DCA), Baltimore (BWI), and Dulles (IAD) all by using the code WAS (same for New York City with NYC).

3. Of the three airports in Washington, National is the “cheapest” at #23, followed by Baltimore at #74, and Dulles at #99. If you look at where flights from those airports go, you may notice that National is almost exclusively domestic flying (with some flights to Canada and the Bahamas) whereas Baltimore has limited international flights and Dulles is a major international hub for United Airlines. The more international flights an airport has, I would think the average ticket price would be higher as the result of business and first class seats being sold on international aircraft. (As a point of reference, the same can be said for New York City, with La Guardia at #9, Newark at #91, and JFK at #98).

While it is interesting that La Guardia and National (with their statutorily controlled slots) are cheaper than other area airports, what does this really tell you about air travel? There are many destinations (especially international) where you cannot get from point A to point B from La Guardia and National. If you live in a major metropolitan area, why would you chose to use those airports, regardless if they are “less expensive” if you cannot fly where you want or need to go?

Maybe next time, surveys like this will use a real methodology to actually say something about how people use these airports and not just have a blanket statement about average cost that is ultimately meaningless for most travelers.

Greetings to all of the RMTJ readers out there! Mrs. Jishman here.

When Jishman and I started dating, I insisted that RMTJ would and could always be his pet project and that I was not really interested in being a regular contributor. Blogging just isn’t my thing though I certainly appreciate reading what many of you contribute to the site. But, this one time is different…

In January of this past year, my father was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS; aka: Lou Gehrig’s Disease). ALS is a progressive neurodegenerative disease with no treatment and no cure. According to the ALS Association, there are approximately 30,000 people living in America with ALS. Every 90 minutes a person in this country is diagnosed and every 90 minutes another person will lose their battle against this disease. 5-10% of ALS cases are genetic and for those who have genetic ALS, each of their children has a 50% change of developing the condition. Dad’s father, my grandfather, lost his battle with ALS in 1966. It’s time to make sure that we find a cure so that future generations are not be forced to continue this fight!

May is National ALS Awareness Month and, in the spirit of education and advocacy, I ask that you please take time to learn a little about the history, research and realities of ALS. www.alsa.org and http://www.als-mda.org/ are two great places to start. My family will be participating in the ALS Association’s “Walk to Defeat ALS” in June. It’s a fantastic way to support the ALS community, to raise awareness and to raise money for research and patient care.
In 1939, after news of his diagnosis had spread far and wide, Lou Gehrig addressed 61,808 fans at Yankee Stadium and expressed his love for the sport and for his fans in a heart-felt speech that ended with, “I might have had a tough break; but I have an awful lot to live for.”

Over 70 years later, my Dad is tackling ALS with the same commitment to live life to the fullest. It is an important and inspiring lesson and I strongly encourage each of us to answer the call to do the same!

Live Science Dot Com came out with their list of the happiest places in the United States to live (including District of Columbia). So I looked through the list and found a very disturbing trend for most of my friends; they/we all live in the most unhappy states in the Union. Being from MA, I understood why we were in the bottom ten and as I look at the other bluest of the blue states, they made the bottom of the list as well….. hmmmmmm!

Here are the bottom ten:

42. Rhode Island
43. Massachusetts
44. Ohio
45. Illinois
46. California
47. Indiana
48. Michigan
49. New Jersey
50. Connecticut
51. New York

But that isn’t it…..

(more…)

I saw this post on the Wall Street Journal’s Middle Seat Terminal blog and thought it was sad (and hilarious). Basically, a band member for Sons of Maxwell had his guitar broken by United Airlines and they would not reimburse him for it. After his claim was denied, he wrote a song about his experience. Read the whole story, listen to the song, and watch the video here:

United Denies Claim For Broken Guitar, Passengers Sings for Revenge

Word of the day:

Nonversation

A completely worthless conversation, wherein nothing is illuminated, explained or otherwise elaborated upon. Typically occurs at parties, bars or other events where meaningful conversation is nearly impossible.

Sounds like another word of the day: “Meetings.”

Happy Thanksgiving to all of our loyal and not so loyal readers. Enjoy your day, and don’t forget, tomorrow is Black Friday….so…do whatever you’d normally do when crazy lunatics go shopping.

Sincerely,
Jishman

I need the help of the RMTJ readers to settle a debate. You all know that I hate “fees and charges” but putting aside the tongue and cheek for a moment, I have a new dilemna on my hands.

Whenever I order food, the restaurant tacks on a $1.50 or $2.00 as a delivery charge. I used to tip on delivered food at ten percent plus the change (ie: $33.50 meant a tip of $3.50) but now that everyone charges a delivery charge, what do I tip?

If I tip on the total cost (ie: $33.50, plus $3.50, plus $1.50), I am now paying a $5 tip or 15%. But if I tip the additional amount over the delivery charge (ie: $33.50, plus $1.50 delivery charge, plus $2 tip), I still pay the same $3.50 that I intially paid prior to the inclusion of delivery charges.

So please let me know what you think… I am in a quandry over this one…

That’s right, folks, Avi McHates-You, our conspiracy theorist at-large, reports to us that there has been a mad rash of cow abductions. Apparently, martians really DO like cows, and our gentle mocking has been taken the wrong way. Well, hopefully they take the ones from New Jersey, so we can put up more shopping malls and housing developments.

This comes from our “efficiency expert,” Avi McHates-You (who clearly was using his time to the best of his ability)…

I just wanted to take a moment and make a few quick observations about the first week of September:

1) (And this has more to do with August) This past Sunday, I celebrated twelve years of marriage with my beautiful wife. She is more amazing, wonderful and gorgeous today then she was when she kissed me for the first time under that apple tree sixteen years ago. Here’s to at least twenty-four more!

2) My commute to work has doubled in time because the “part-timers/seasonals/I only work when my kids go to school” people are back on the roads. For the past two months, my commute has been 10 to 15 minutes, and this week it has been an average of 35 minutes. I only go 4.5 miles….

3) Is anyone really going to take Chad Ocho Cinco seriously?!?! It was humorous, yet ridiculous, when I heard he had his name legally changed. I thought it was a publicity stunt… but the NFL and the Bengals are changing all of their literature and his jersey to read “Chad Ocho Cinco!” How stupid can this thing get?!

4) Speaking of football, a bright spot, the NFL starts this weekend!!!!

5) Even better, Fantasy football starts this weekend: NERFL and the Mavericks of Mayhem … woo hoo!

(more…)

The voice of more movies and commercials than you can shake a stick at has passed on. Our voice over expert, Brammy McHates-You, reported to us that Don LaFontaine’s career spanned 3 decades, over 5,000 movies and 350,000 commercials.

It is a sad day for voice overs everywhere.

Two of our roving reporters bring us new info. I had to break into our regular coverage for these two bits of info.

Number One: Tami McHates-You, our Detroit Blood reporter (or is she one of the Cribs, I never remember), she wants to let us know “three year olds create a lot of laundry.” Well, thank god we found that out.

Number Two: Professor Plum McHates-You, PhD., our Blogging Scholar in Residence, wanted to let us know that apparently Clue is going to be updated for a new generation. Say goodbye to some of your favorite and beloved characters. They will be gone but not forgotten.

The six characters’ last names remain the same, but their first names and bios have been updated. For example, Miss Scarlet is now Kasandra Scarlet, a famous actress often featured in tabloids. And Mr. Green is now Jacob Green, an African-American “with all the ins.” Colonel Mustard is now Jack Mustard, a former football player. The professor? Now Victor Plum, a billionaire video game designer.

And new rooms will include a spa, theatre and guest house. Ladies and gentlemen, start your engines! No, seriously, I’m totally getting this when it comes out. We used to have Clue the VCR game as well as the original Clue. Man did I love that game…

Check out this commercial from Coca-Cola. It plays on the Beijing National Stadium or “Birds Nest”

Clever, very clever.

We all remember the line from Varsity Blues… “I don’t want your life!” (okay, teeange girls and jishman remember the line)

Anyway, apparently people want this guys life. He put it up for bid on ebay and the bidding currently stands at $2.2 million… say what?!

So I ask my RMTJ readers, what would your life go for on EBAY?! I am guessing mine would go for a bottle of Coke and some Pop Rocks… hmmmmmm