Is exactly what I’d like to be with one of each of these pieces from Fable Bay on Etsy!

Always looking for my new favorite airline, I’m finally trying out VirginAmerica today. I’m on a direct flight from SFO to JFK. I was excited to find out that they use the International Terminal at SFO, since I do love that terminal.

Next was the boarding pass. I like to use the kiosks at the airport. It is the whole reason that I love e-tickets; I never forget my ticket at home. The ticket I received is 4 inches by 3 inches and only contains the most pertinent information and a bar code. It was sweet and simple, and just something small, but it made me smile.

Since VirginAmerica charges its coach class passengers $20 to check a bag, I packed in my carry-on bag. But I was grateful when I arrived at the gate and was offered to have my bag checked for free. This was a necessity due to the number of bags in the waiting area.

As a result of the checked carry-on bags, they loaded the plane first with first class passengers and passengers with children under 5. Then they invited everyone who had only under-the-seat bags. Brilliant! I didn’t have to wait for all the people trying to jam their luggage in the overhead compartments. I was grateful!

On the plane, I enjoyed the mood lighting. I felt like I was going into a club, but it was difficult to see which direction the electrical outlet aligned, and it didn’t work the first six times I tried plugging it in. But the fact that I have an electrical outlet at all is fabulous! And today, thanks to Google, we have free wifi.

The entertainment system is pretty cool. I feel like there are fewer tv stations than on JetBlue, but I like how VirginAmerica has the remote control inset into the arm so that I don’t change the channel and the volume with my elbow. And the entertainment system has a bunch of other features, including onboard chat, which I have not been using. Maybe I should be. Is there a dating chat room?

Although the design is better with the VirginAmerica seats, the outlets being on the back of the seat next to the tv was more convenient on Singapore Airlines. Sometimes form and function don’t play nice together.

Just like JetBlue, I love the leather seats. Warm, and easy to see if the previous occupant spilled something. I think that JetBlue has more legroom though.

Overall? I’ll probably still fly JetBlue most of the time because I can catch flights out of San Jose, but VirginAmerica is a viable alternative.

JetBlue, please give me back SJC to BOS direct flights when the new terminal is done, okay? Pretty please! I do love T5 in JFK, but I’d rather just get home.

friday, october 2nd
stopover in new york and it happens to be the day they’re having a party for jetblue all-you-can-jet passengers! woohoo! lots of free food. good thing an all-you-can-jetter who was sitting next to me tipped me off on it. fucking score. free alcohol too, and people kept tossing their extra drink tickets to my table for some reason. i didn’t drink, though.

unfortunately, the guy who tipped me off to the event had stinky breath… i could smell his breath through his exhale of his nose. blah!!! talked with jason? mike? someone else? while at the free food thing. jason is a dude from portland who works for idealist, another guy is this kinda older, cocky rich guy who does real estate in florida… ex-navy, talks about being rich and how once you make a certain amount of money you can never go back to getting mediocre money (he said something like $100,000 was not enough a year because of what he was used to). he WAS a consultant, after all.

anyway, off to san francisco after that. parents pick me up and then get into some ridiculous argument action about a detour and driving. stupid. go to bed asap.

—

saturday, october 3rd
eat breakfast at denny’s with the godparents and then nap. putz around. i have a note here that says “moon day” but i’m not sure what that means. watch “zombieland” with my brother and roxanne, and then eat japanese food for dinner at sakura with the rentals.

a church family owns the restaurant so we got massif free foodages.

continue to putz around, and then bart to sherry’s. relax.

—

sunday, october 4th
go to church with sherry and tin-win. it’s whatevers, the pastor is pretty funny and amusing, and he certainly has charm, but as always, i don’t agree with the bs he spews. go to korean lunch (soondooboo! they actually have veggie soondooboo!) with one of their friends, and then i go muni to the castro st. fair.

view from sherry and tin-win’s fancy apartment.

hilarious back massager ;x is that REALLY what it is? can’t tell.

i was expecting more, unfortunately, but it was really quite tame.

this guy was dancing up a storm, though.

really awful mash-up band.

look at that stomach.

so awesome!

met up with jesse and his sister shortly thereafter and went to this really super cute tea house called salmovar that had a $65 pot of tea!!!!

<img src="“>
this is a tray of cookies we got. karla met up with us but it took her a while to get there. right when jesse was taking off, actually. too bad!

ate pizza buffet with sherry and tin-win for dinner, and then putzed around! it was good, but there weren’t much veggie selections, so when the workers found out i was vegetarian they kept bringing me everything ad nauseum. really nice of them!

—

monday, october 5th
explored san francisco by myself, particularly the mission district.

… is it just me or does that not look like michael??

lotsa murals in the mission district.

<img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_RqrWKVC07xM/SttvGlLPz-I/AAAAAAAAVno/lnFJ0waqk8Q/s720/DSC_0068.JPG"

this one particular alley had shitloads of murals!

my favorite.

found a neat market and bought this amazing! beets drink! so delicious!

went to the ferry building shortly thereafter to meet up with jesse.

found this amazing soap. i want i i want it i want it i want it. unfortunately, i broke the bottle of beets juice before i got to finish it all :/ i want more, though. someone get me some.

as i was standing in the ferry building, waiting for jesse, i caught a glimpse of the back of some girl wearing green, and she walked like jean-claire so i thought it was maybe jean-claire, so i texted jean-claire, and it WAS her, which is really weird, because if i hadn’t been looking in her direction or had looked in her direction literally five seconds later, i wouldn’t have seen her. not to mention… i met her in peru, and she’d lived in portland up until that point. so what the fuck. it was weird and random.

jesse and i went to eat mexican food and then he went back to work.

after this, i didn’t take notes, so it’s all a blur. teehee!

General Electric, Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer and airline Azul (owned by Jet Blue’s founder), and biotech start up Amyris Biotechnologies are assessing the use of sugarcane-based renewable fuel in passenger jets, a press release said Wednesday.  The parties signed a memorandum of understanding to assess technical aspects of the renewable fuel with the aim to launch test flights by 2012. According to a Dow Jones article, Amyris is developing the fuel, while GE will develop the engines that will be used on an an Embraer aircraft belonging to Azul.

by Stefania Revelli

Iconoculture is now taking bets on the most outrageous airline fee. The current frontrunner is the holiday surcharge recently introduced by most major airlines for Thanksgiving and late-December flights (AP 11.2.09).

Frustrated passengers may appreciate the transparency and exactitude behind charge-by-charge fare breakdowns, but it wasn’t long ago that itemized services were a standard part of a fare deal (like being able to switch economy seats on a half-empty flight without having to pay an upgrade fee). From consumers’ bird’s-eye perspective, an itemized bill for basic travel needs is equivalent to being taken for a ride.

Conscious consumers expect a commonsense approach to pricing — like costs based on mileage, not airline margin. In a recent 72-hour promotion, Southwest Airlines lowered its one-way fares for flights based on distance flown (USAToday.com 10.27.09). Buffet-style promotions have also garnered positive attention. In September, JetBlue ran a limited All You Can Jet promotion ($600), which sold out quickly (DallasNews.com 10.27.09). United’s flat baggage fee for a year may seem excessive, but it does have value in its favor (MercuryNews.com 10.9.09).

OK, so we aren’t actually taking bets. But as airfare extras multiply, we are making a bet that for travelers, the pain points of flying are reaching a tipping point that is no longer about the peanuts, but about some basic principles: simplicity, flexibility, logic and reward. How about a $15 price break for packing light and not checking a bag?

Today, Advertising Age released it’s Top Brands of the Year list. JetBlue joined the ranks, cited particularly for its innovative use of social media. The JetBlue Twitter page has 1.4 million followers, the most of any airline, which serves as a general information resource and consumer support mechanism.

JetBlue also recently launched JetBlueCheeps, a Twitter feed dedicated to communicating last minute flight deals. Posted every Tuesday, Cheeps broadcasts special rates and route offers good until 6 p.m. that evening. The tweets direct consumers to the JetBlue website for purchase. Cheeps has already built 38,000 followers in just three months.

This is a fantastic, yet simple idea. Some of the best uses of Twitter I’ve seen while exploring social media for this blog are like Cheeps – promotional or tactically focused. What’s particularly effective about Cheeps in my opinion is that the tweets drive users to a landing page on JetBlue.com, so the airline can measure traffic and sales to the site through this vehicle, producing tangible metrics for evaluation.

Terrific story last week in USA Today about the continuing strength of the “low-cost” airlines.  While airlines such as Southwest and JetBlue rose to prominence through their mutually reinforcing use of low-cost operations and low prices.  This isn’t the case any more.

With a little bit of work, flyers can find fares on the legacy carriers that are as low as what is available on the Southwests and JetBlues of the world.  As one frequent traveler put it.  “For a lot of us (frequent travelers), the shift toward the low-cost carriers isn’t about price.  You can get pretty much the same prices in coach on the Uniteds and Deltas of the world as you can on the Southwests. And a lot of us still don’t mind paying more for first-class service. The shift really is because of flight availability,” he explains. “You can get to so many more places these days on the low-cost carriers that you couldn’t 10 years ago.”

So this isn’t a price game anymore?  Increasingly, it is not.  And the irony is that this the mark of a highly successful implementation of a specific pricing strategy.  The “low-cost” carriers used low-prices to initially attract customers but their pricing strategy has always been deeply intertwined with their business strategies – and perhaps as important – a willingness to stick to their strategic guns.  The result has been achievement of the critical objective for pricing – increased revenues and profits – which have been used to improve service and expand coverage.  As this occurs, pricing strategy is still critical but it has begun to fade into the background in the eyes of consumers.  One mark of a successful pricing strategy is when it disappears before our very eyes.

jetBlue on 29OCT09 announced expansion in the Boston market in 2010. It will be expanding its presence by 30% in terms of departures. Detailed schedules and the launch dates are the following: (Note these schedules vary during certain periods)

San Francisco Increase from 1 to 2 Daily eff 05JAN10
B6631 BOS0910 – 1301SFO 320 D
B6635 BOS1740 – 2128SFO 320 D

B6632 SFO1355 – 2219BOS 320 D
B6636 SFO2219 – 0648+1BOS 320 D

Boston – Montego Bay 1 weekly eff 09JAN10
B6893 BOS1155 – 1545MBJ 320 6
B6894 MBJ1645 – 2053BOS 320 6

Denver Increase from 1 to 2 Daily eff 11FEB10
B6493 BOS0930 – 1218DEN 320 D
B6491 BOS1955 – 2234DEN 320 D

B6494 DEN1315 – 1858BOS 320 D
B6490 DEN2325 – 0502+1BOS 320 D

B6493/494 operates current flight times operated by B6491/490
B6491/490 departures shifts to evening/red-eye flight

Baltimore Increase from 4 to 5 Daily eff 01MAR10
B61329 BOS2050 – 2221BWI E90 D
B61320 BWI0644 – 0810BOS E90 D

Only 5th Daily schedule is shown here

Charlotte Increase from 2 to 3 Daily eff 01MAY10
B61241 BOS0610 – 0821CLT E90 D
B61245 BOS0910 – 1128CLT E90 D
B61243 BOS1511 – 1729CLT E90 D 02MAY10-

B61242 CLT0856 – 1111BOS E90 D
B61248 CLT1205 – 1424BOS E90 D
B61244 CLT1804 – 2021BOS E90 D

Chicago O’Hare Increase from 1 to 2 Daily eff 01MAY10, 3rd Daily eff 17JUN10
B6921 BOS0735 – 0921ORD E90 D
B6923 BOS1355 – 1541ORD E90 D 17JUN10-
B6925 BOS1700 – 1845ORD E90 D 01MAY10-

B6922 ORD0956 – 1311BOS E90 D 01MAY10-
B6924 ORD1620 – 1937BOS E90 D 17JUN10-
B6926 ORD1925 – 2246BOS E90 D

B6922 until 30APR10 operates schedule operated by B6926

Raleigh Increase from 1 to 3 Daily eff 01MAY10
B61223 BOS0700 – 0901RDU E90 D
B61227 BOS1146 – 1343RDU E90 D
B61225 BOS2056 – 2249RDU E90 D

B61226 RDU0700 – 0853BOS E90 D
B61228 RDU1420 – 1616BOS E90 D
B61224 RDU1704 – 1905BOS E90 D

Note B61224 departure moves from 2000hrs to 1700hrs from 01MAY10

San Diego Increase from 1 to 2 Daily eff 01MAY10
B6415 BOS0915 – 1237SAN 320 D
B6411 BOS1730 – 2039SAN 320 D

B6416 SAN1330 – 2150BOS 320 D
B6412 SAN2245 – 0705+1BOS 320 D

Washington Dulles Increase from 6 to 7 Daily eff 27MAY10, 4 of 7 Daily flights changes with E190 to A320
Boston – Santo Domingo increase from 3 weekly to Daily in Summer, eff 27MAY10
Ft. Lauderdale Summer service Increase from 3 to 4 Daily eff 17JUN10
B6459 BOS2015 – 2330FLL E90 D
B6452 FLL2053 – 2359BOS E90 D

I was excited to learn that my flight on JetBlue had BetaBlue on it! They are testing wifi on board. I liked that they told you this when you opened your try table! Surprise!

Well the surprise was that it didn’t work for me. I followed the directions and tried to access my email. No dice. I could access Amazon.com however it was text based, not HTML. Hmm.

Epic Fail.

Sad face!

Holy moly is this fate?! Leaving NYC today and I learn that the JetBlue and Lufthansa party is today at Terminal 5!!! And here I am and it’s like this glorious reunion of some of my fave Lufthansa ladies are here: Jennifer and Patti! What are the odds?!

I love this trip.

Was it really only a week ago that I was ranting about how I’d never travel JetBlue again because they held me hostage for 3.5 hours? Wow does it seem longer ago?

Well, after a flu scare and missing two days from work I had to find a way to get to the office in the morning for several hours of meetings and then to Tampa by dinner. Not such an easy thing to do, especially when you live near Albany. I was REALLY hoping for one of those nice Delta flights out of LaGuardia that have wireless in the air, but noooooo. JFK? Nothing. My only option was JetBlue out of Newark. So, I booked it.

I have to confess, the flight was flawless. We boarded easily, we took off on time, the DirectTV kept me entertained while I plowed through a pile of work and the flight attendant gave me extra orange juice since I wasn’t feeling well. Cesar, the aforementioned flight attendant, was delightful and his excellent service was very much appreciated. It was a good flight. And, when we landed, I walked up to baggage claim just as the bags were coming out. Yeah, that is the idea.

As satisfied as I was, I still think JetBlue has a communications problem. When I wrote in to the website about the issues I faced last week they sent me a lame apology email two days later. Puh-lease! Give me a break. They told me how sorry they were but made no offer of compensation. It was only when I wrote back again and asked if the incident was a Controllable Irregularity or Uncontrollable Irregularity, which of course defines whether there is compensation, that they came clean and offered me a round trip ticket. Listen up JetBlue. You need to communicate with your customers. That was the problem last week – no one was happy we were delayed but it was the lack of information that had people screaming.

Flights like yesterday’s encourage me that there is hope, but I’m not drinking the koolaid just yet.

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of delivering a presentation to our company’s Business Development Directors on the benefits of considering certain social media tools to reach their goals.

Mixing sales (or marketing) and social media is, of course, done by companies and individuals all over the world every day.  But, if your social media approach is lead by what you’re going to get out of it (ulterior motives) as opposed to shining the spotlight on other people (altruistic motives), make no mistake that people will see right through it.

My main point then was two-fold.  If you’re not participating, that doesn’t mean the conversations aren’t happening, they simply go on without you.  And, once in the game, are you there for the right reasons?  If it’s primarily to add value to whatever community you’re in and to help whenever possible, then the answer is yes.

Thanks to Brian Solis, Olivier Blanchard, John Haydon, Chris Brogan and everyone else who inspires me every day to aide those around me in their quest to make sense of all this stuff.  By the way, I tried embedding the presentation here but apparently wordpress.com doesn’t like Prezi.  At least they’re not playing well together.  Instead, I’ve included the public link.  I hope you like it.

Sales and Social Media: PB & J or Oil and Water?

by Katie Elfering

• Twitter gets a lot of grief for letting people share the most mundane aspects of their lives (“I just ate a Pop-Tart”) or for being a tool that encourages self-promotion and narcissism. But lately, Twitter has started shaping up into an almost (gasp!) practical utility for consumers’ lives.
• One of the most obvious examples of this shift is the customer service that many brands have implemented on Twitter. JetBlue and Comcast have become 140-character service experts. Newer entries, like HyattConcierge, are taking off by offering specialized tools to help travelers on the go.
• Another oft-mentioned Twitter tool? The ability to report breaking news. From earthquakes to planes in the Hudson to the aftermath of elections in Iran, Twitter users are posting events the second they happen.
• But beyond brands and breaking news, cities and states are starting to see the value in using Twitter as an info disseminator. New York state’s transportation and travel service, 511NY, has Twitter feeds that alert NYC residents to traffic conditions and emergencies on the city’s subway and highway systems. @SF311 lets Bay Area residents send messages to the city government about city utility issues. And the Stolen Bike Boston Community Alert program uses Twitter to help catch bike thieves by posting descriptions of stolen bikes for citizens.
• Online classifieds? Try 140-character classifieds. iListMicro lets consumer swap and sell goods. Users tag tweets with “#ihave” or “#iwant” to get their listings added to the service.
• Even day-to-day activities are getting the Twitter touch. PackageTrack lets consumers track incoming deliveries from FedEx, UPS and the USPS. After users follow @packagetrack, it updates them each time a package status changes.
• Twitter tools can even keep consumers healthy and safe. After the recent rash of food recalls, the FDA set up a Twitter feed to keep concerned consumers up-to-date and (perhaps overly) informed about what’s safe to eat.
• Maybe the most useful Twitter tool in today’s economy? TwitterJobSearch, which uses crowdsourcing and link-crawling to track job openings. Twitterers can search for jobs in categories or by company and save desired gigs in a special account. 140-characters to find a career? Works for us.

You guys already know about the ridiculous baggage fees airlines charge since oil-crisis in mid summer 2008. Airlines were losing tons of money from high oil prices and not enough consumer taking flights due to economic meltdown. I don’t blame them. They need us to fly so to make money, we’re the customers and consumers – there’s no other way airlines can make money.

When the baggage fees were first introduced in summer 2008, I thought it was a ridiculous idea. I was thinking “we’re not flying because it costs too much, and now you’re charging us more for our bags?” Southwest were clever by advertising “WE DON’T CHARGE YOU MORE” phrase and probably earned more profit (and stole tons of customers) last year.

Since I was a working for as a consultant, I didn’t have to worry about my airline tickets nor the baggage fee. But I did notice a long line in Southwest Booth but only handful people in the United or Delta every time I was at the airports. I thought it was so stupid of these airlines to charge for bags when they should be LOWERING prices to fight against Southwest. Well, I guess I was being little immature. These airline companies were actually able to generate large volume of revenues from extra baggage fees and in-flight beverage services (seriously! why do people keep paying for these?). I guess only the rich people flew with United, Delta or other airlines, because I certainly wouldn’t want to pay for those ridiculous fees when I know I can get those for free with Southwest!

It has been almost a year and oil price had calm down little bit. These big time airline companies aren’t losing tons of money nor firing their employees off. However, I believe they’re still struggling big time with smaller and clever airlines (JetBlue, SW, AirTran) eating up some market shares. The market isn’t an emerging market and you can only fight for so many customers. It’s a hard business market. I understand.

I was eating my breakfast from my hotel in San Diego one day and I read an article about airline passengers fighting for overhead bins for their carry-on luggage. The article goes on and say people are literally fighting for those spaces (by rushing into aircraft and pushing people around to secure overhead bins). As I was reading this, I thought about the flight I took to get to San Diego few days earlier. I flew from Washington DC to San Diego with a stop at Chicago. Both flights were 95% full – most people had at least one luggage and an extra bag. Some ladies had a purse as their 3rd carry-on, which isn’t allowed but they got by. It was an ugly scene. The flight attendances warned us that since we have full capacity and most of us having luggage, they encouraged us to hold onto our bags and purses. And yes, it was very crammed flight. Many people had their backpacks and other belongings on their laps for entire travel. People who were on board at the last minute even had to put his/her luggage at the end of aircraft where flight crew were sitting.

When I landed in San Diego and told my colleagues about the situation, they agreed that they too had similar problems coming in. The airline companies charging extra fee for luggage has made this into a total chaos and people are fighting for overhead bins and crowding the in-flight capacity. And you know what’s more funny? Airlines are thinking about charging more for fat people! They claim that you’re heavy thus need to pay more. How ridiculous!

I would also like to add that coach seats are no longer fit for big people. I remember reading article that these coach seats were set back in 1950s when people weren’t as big as today. Today, we have guys who are 6″2 and 210 lbs sitting in the middle. Forget the leg room, you almost have to hide your shoulders just to sit – doctors tell that this is very bad for your bone structure. However, the airlines refuse to change the lengths of seats – leaving only Asian women to enjoy coach seats. I’m not that big dude, but coach seat is small for me too. It’s time for airlines to adapt new coach seating. Make it bigger for us, please.

I often see airline advertisements on TV – how actors/actress look so comfortable, enjoying, flight attendance providing good services with smile. ALL FAKE! The reality is a very crammed seat, no leg room, crowded overhead bins, no services provided – oh wait, but we’ll sell Coke for $2. And they wonder why people don’t fly more often.

I can’t help myself but wonder what these airline executives are discussing during the so called “strategic business meeting”. The obvious reason we don’t fly more often is because you guys charge a ridiculous price for airline tickets, don’t provide any services, and now we have to pay more for other ridiculous fees. It just doesn’t make sense for us to fly. We’ll rather drive our car and save $250. Sure, it’ll take us more hours to get to our destination, but at least we can take stops to rest, take our foods, nice roomy car, and no bullshit from flight attendances.

Attention airline executives – when you meet in January for 2010 business strategy, consider us too. If you guys keep bullying us this way, we’ll eventually forget about you too. And without us, you aren’t living too long. Remember that.

jetBlue plans to add more flights to more destinations from Boston next year. In fact, they will increase service by 30%, which will bring their daily departures to 78. The sudden increase in flying comes as no surprise since the airline wants to focus on expanded flying outside of their New York JFK hub. As well, US Airways plans to decrease service and shut a crew base in Boston.

Good idea jetBlue? Nobody can really tell, but they are very popular in the Boston market and Boston has a lot of money. Whether it is educational travel, finance, or science, yields are pretty solid there. It will be interesting to see if Southwest ups their flying as well.

AirAsia/AirAsia X scoop top award at Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation’s annual Awards for Excellence

AirAsia X set to increase capacity to Australia

US airline strategy: It may just be time for a rethink

JetBlue SWOT Analysis: Third consecutive quarter of profitability in 3Q2009

Norwegian Air Shuttle SWOT: LCC reports industry-leading operating margin in 3Q2009

INDIA AIRLINE EARNINGS WRAP: Kingfisher and SpiceJet report losses; Jet Airways losses widen

Saudia adds two Airbus A320s to its fleet

Chinese airline profits surge on economic recovery

Japan May Announce Japan Airlines Bailout Thursday

Lufthansa turns from profit to loss

BAA Says Worst Over, Targets Bond Market

Air Arabia Sees Q1 2010 Yield Improvement

American Airlines to cut up to 700 jobs, some in Bay Area

Is that it, Michael?

Increase in most airline surcharges

Flybe dashes ahead with new pilot recruitment

Air Berlin expands service from winter schedule

Hello world! I already know there are a lot of readers out there, we scored more than 100 yesterday and knocked out my fear of not having readers, just as Julie, or Julia with their book and blog – great movie by the way! -

Long day and a lot of stories to telll…so, I hope you join me!

First the good news: Yesterday on the evening I spoke to Dr. Veghese´s assistant who told that I´ll be an outpatient, which means that if everything on the surgery results as planned, I won´t have to overnight not even just 1 night at the hospital! I would be cleared to go to the hotel (Courtyard by Marriott at Dupont Circle) to sleep like a baby with the remnants of the anesthesia on my wife´s arms. Then the recovery for some weeks, and a new appointment with Dr. Mohan Verghese, who is from India, and I´ll tell you more about him and the rest of the staff on a new post next week. But, to be honest: The staff from the Washington Hospital Center (which is like a small town), is absolutely great; a lot of people and doctors from abroad, a special unit for the war veterans brought in directly from war in Irak and Afghanistan, great Cancer Center, and the most important thing when it matters about health: great souls, great human beings that care about you and your family.

OK, those where the very expected great news. Don´t you think they are?

You may be asking yourself: ¿Why was this third day a trembling day for Sergio? And this is the answer.

My day started about at 6:30 a after my wife went out to work. I stayed in bed for a while, then had some breakfast, received the maid who comes every Tuesday for the cleanning (just behind our buliding they are making a construction, which brings a lot of dust to the apartament), and went out to the office. Well, today I had to go walking to the office because I forgot that my car had restriction (in Bogotá you can´t drive the whole week, depending on the last number of your plate, you have to leave the car at home twice a week)…so I walked, after all it was a beatiful day, and it makes me feel good to walk. -just 15 minutes away frommy workplace).

After today´s debate (remember, I´m a member of the council from one of the 20 Bogota´s boroughs) which was about cultural events in the borough, I went to my dad office to arrange more things related to the mesothelioma.

I bought my tkts to Washington, via Orlando (I love JetBlue) and from MCO to DCA via U.S. airways on Capt. Sully´s wings, and then started filling out forms for the insurance and some paperwork I have to deal with. At the time I was doing this and that, the earth started to move, literally. An earthquake happened about 300 km aaway from Bogotá and everything shaked twice. First for about 15 seconds, it made a pause, and then again for other 10 seconds. That was it. Nothing bad happened, just  the scare (there is a big campaign going on in Bogotá to prepare the citizens fore a major earthquake which according to who knows who, is going to happen one day on the next years).

Some minutes after the earthquake, I received a call from my mother in law (I thought she was calling me to check how I was after the quake), but she was really on a hurry and told me that someone was calling my home and trying to convince my maid that something wrong was happening to me, so that someone from the police had to go to the apartament to pick up some documents, because I was in jail or something like that. Well, in Colombia the thieves try to steal everyone´s belongings by fooling the house maids and by making them believe that something bad is going on to the boss, so that the bring out from home everything on trash bags and give them away to someone that makes them believe is a cop, investigator, lawyer or whatever, and that by giving everything away, one will be released out from jail. Smart guys, but smarter maid. They had my phone number, my name, but my maid had my mother´s in law phone number, and after giving to those “#”$% some info, she noticed that the situation was a little bit weird and didn´t convince.

So, as soon as she called me, I called the police, and came home. Nothing happened, it was just a a part of this trembling day. With so much things to think about my condition, and with such stupid problems to worry about: A small earthquake (5.5 Richter scale), and the stupid thieves that couldn´t take away even a penny from my house guarded by a smart maid!

On the afternoon went to colombian history class, picked up my wife after her physiotherapy session (Tomowrrow I´ll tell you why she is going to physiotherapy), and just arrived home to post this trembling day´s adventures.

Finally, the last but not the least: On the blogroll (right side-bar from the blog) you will find two new links: One is a journey form another mesothelioma fighter. A woman who contracted a lung mesothelioma, after many years of washing her husband´s clothes. He worked on an asbestus industry for many years, and everytime she washed his clothing, she inhaled the asbestus dust impregnated on the pants and the jacket, and everywhere. That was many many years ago. Last year she developed the mesothelioma. As far as I know, I haven´t been exposed to this material, for me is just a matter of bad, bad luck.

The second link that you will find is the one from “The Spice Doc”, who is my cpousiin. She is a specialized doctor on oriental medicine, and works with herbs, food, cigars, needles, and a lot of weird stuff to heal her patients. Well, she has this great blog, where she writtes about food and health, absolutely recommended. I´ll be with her for some days in Chicago after the doc´s appointment, and will interview her so you can know more about her treatments and about how food can help to improve your health.

See you tomorrow fox, on our fourth day of this blog, of this adventure. I can feel you are reading. Keep posting comments!

S.

Alert the press! JetBlue made an announcement.

The plane coming to rescue us from JFK would be here by 3:15 or so and we’d take off at around 3:45ish. Everything with JetBlue at LGA today is “ish.” The entertaining part is that as they make their rare uninformed announcements, I check their website. As they told us we’d be taking off at 3:45 the website was saying 4:15pm. Regardless, it is 3:35pm and the rescue craft isn’t here so I still have no idea when we are taking off.

The link

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