Greetings!
Once again, it's not that I really don't like to fly...really. I just think that maybe flying does not like me. After all, 12-hours to get across the country seems like an awful long time, doesn't it? First stop, SFO on Tuesday where I arrive to the airport late and find a huge crowd of people moving at a snails pace through the security line that I'm sure reached all the way to LAX. Here I catch a break, with thanks to my Starwood FF miles that nabbed me a free first class seat for this trip. I see a virtually empty line through security, tagged for the "special people" with a first class ticket? Whatever. So even though I feel like kind of a dirtbag walking briskly past the 587 people in the "regular" line, hey, I'm late man, sorry. As I slink on by everyone else, I wonder how the airlines convinced the TSA folks that the people in the front of the plane needed their own security line. I mean, c'mon - I'm pretty sure everyone in the first 6 rows on my flight were using their ff miles as well, so it's not like they are selling a lot of these tickets buy offering a super-duper "YOU RULE!" first class security line, right? But what do I know, and here I am digressing and the story hasn't even gotten off the ground yet. I hustle through security ("Is that more than 3 oz of hair gel, sir?!" - Please) and cruise quickly down to my gate. Here I learn one more important rule of modern day air travel - Rule 14B: the faster you run to make your plane, the longer the delay will be before you actually get to leave the airport. As I'm sweating my way up to the counter, I see the numbers on the Departing Time roll over in front of my eyes, stealing 90 minutes of my life in a blink. So, I go to find a seat to get some work done while I wait wait wait. And you know how you always hear about things like "Free WiFi!" at the airport, well, that's pretty cool and obviously popular since my Airport card picked up about 34 networks - all locked. I thank my lucky stars and Verizon as I pull out my 3G card and jump online - dreaming that someday I may be able to actually connect my MacBook Pro using my 3G iPhone, thus saving me $60 a month for the Vcard that sits in my bag most of the time anyway.
So, tons of WiFi but, we're now missing one more, very important piece of the puzzle. Say it out loud with me now, all at once: P-O-W-E-R. OK, I feel better. How about some extra plugs in those fancy new airports?! I search and search, quickly figuring out the SFO "Rules of Power" that essentially says if you are actually lucky enough to find a top secret power plug, there's going to be about 12 people milling around it like modern day eVampires, waiting their turn to fill their devices with the nectar of life. Two little plugs about every 60 ft, with a bunch of shell shocked people standing around with dangling power cords. Here's a hint to the cool looking electronics boutique at the airport....SELL A MULTI-PLUG POWER EXPANDER! But no, the geniuses at these places would rather try to hawk you the nifty $80 Bluetooth earpiece that you didn't really come to the airport for anyway. OK, I'm done with my little rant and I did finally find some power, hidden behind a trash can that was totally missed by the other power zombies. I finally get on my plane and have an uneventful, if a little bumpy, flight to Dallas where I have to run (once again ignoring Rule 14B) to "catch" my connecting flight to Raleigh, NC....which is, you guessed it, delayed about 2 hours. I meet up with my business partner, Jay and we spend the time talking about the conference we are headed to - which was fine, no problem, just a little delay, right? Ahem. We finally get on the plane, load the carry-on's, buckle up, ready to go! Then, I notice an ominous sign: the captain (I presume since he's in the neat outfit) is outside the plane, pointing up at some part of the plane and speaking into his phone while he shakes his head. This can't be good, can it? About this time, the folks in the big seats start getting free drinks hoisted on them (thankfully, I was still one of the people in the YOU RULE! group) and while I enjoyed the free beer, I was less than cheery when the captain walked back into the plane and announced that a few parts had fallen of the plane during the previous flight. Talk about a confidence builder! Way to go AA! And even though I feel w-a-y safer being in the first few rows (don't ask me why), I still don't want to be on the plane when stuff is falling off - just doesn't sound good. Captain Bob explains that the thingies that fell off help get rid of static electricity that builds up on the plane during flight. And even though I wanted to make a loud comment about finding the solution to the power problem inside the terminal right in front of their faces, I held my tongue and we waited a bit more, then a bit more. Then Capt. Bob broke it to us, this plane wasn't going anywhere....
Wow, I've taken a lot of your time here with this story (nightmare) - I'll tell you what, if you want to read the rest, click over to our blog and I'll try to wrap it up by the weekend. ;-) Otherwise, let's move on to some other topics.
Who Wants a T-shirt?
Everyone loves a cool T-shirt. It's the most popular part of our MacWorld Expo booth every year and my closet is of full of TechRestore shirts from over the years. With the massive popularity of our Stop-Motion video series, we have had lots of requests to spread some of those exploded product views onto a series of shirts that we could offer up for the betterment of geek fashionistas everywhere. You speak and we listen, powerful Overlords. Introducing the new TechRestore T-shirt shop! Shirts start at just around $14 and we will be adding new designs frequently to the store. Check out the selection here: techrestore.com/shirts
The Specials
Here we go with this week's deals. For those hundred or so new subscribers this week, here's how this works: use the coupon codes online or call 1-888-572-7372. Note that some codes are valid for phone orders only. This batch of specials will expire on 5/11 at Midnight Pacific Time.
Labels: specials, t-shirt, Things I Know Are True
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