Airports, Security, Travel, Fox, Death

In order to save $400, I flew from Tulsa, OK to Bakersfield, CA, via Atlanta and Phoenix.

And they wonder why the airline industry, as a whole, has never had a single year of profitability?

I learned never to fly via Phoenix. They have multiple terminals like many large airports, but they aren't actually connected except via bus, outside security. That's freakin' genius.

On top of that, well, don't even get me started on "security" at the airports. It's a huge joke, which anyone who knows anything about security will confirm. The ONLY reason there hasn't been another plane flown into another building is because the crazies haven't decided to do it yet- not because of any "security" -- and I use that term only because they call it that.

So, I finally got to Bakersfield, and my equipment wasn't there yet (DHL?) and I had to head on to Sacramento, because the schedule this week is very tight and I have a lot of ground to cover. I'll be in Oregon on Wednesday and Washington on Thursday. I don't expect you to care.

The Courtyard in Sacramento gave me a free upgrade because of my "gold" status in the Marriott Rewards program. I've never been a room this large at a Courtyard- I've been in bigger, nicer rooms (TownePlace Suites, for example, or the ultra-suite at the Venetian) but not at a Courtyard. I kind of just assumed they must be all the same.

Fox News is back on Sirius as of today or tomorrow, so I've re-subscribed. They better give Fox whatever they want in the future. The drive will be easy.

Finally, and speaking of Fox News, I don't know how one responds to something like this.

At first, I thought it was some sort of hoax, because it seems like one of those really bad jokes. But then, after reading the first bit of it, I realized it was true, and just really sad.

The executive summary is, Miss Deaf Texas was killed by a train. Actually, that's the headline. But if you're an executive on the go, that might be all you have time to read.

We all agree that it's sad, but I think that it is also weird- what in the world was this person doing, apparently walking on or alongside railroad tracks? If you're deaf, if you know you won't hear the train, would this be a suicide method? Along that vein, given the db level of a train horn at close proximity, wouldn't a deaf person feel something with those sound waves hitting her skin so hard?

And the hardest thing of all to take in- I've been next to tracks when a train is coming- even if there are only engines and no cars in-tow, you can *feel* the thing coming, long before it gets to you, and this is from 10 feet OFF the tracks. The ground shakes/vibrates a lot. Being deaf since birth, I would expect that her ability to feel things like that would likely be greater than mine- and all she has to do is turn around, move out of the way. Even if it was going 65 mph, you're going to feel it in time to move, unless you're unconscious, inebriated, or otherwise incapacitated. You don't let a train kill you just because you're deaf and "didn't hear it coming."

Now then, dive in and tell us all about your travel and near-death-by-train experiences. Ever been in a really cool hotel, or a really crummy one? Does flying just piss you off? Aren't trains huge!? :)