Airlines: A Nightmare Before Christmas

 

a disgruntled family, approx. 6am, Newark Airport

Check me out on iReport: http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-167794

When you hear the phrase, “I think the China Town Star is the best bet right now,” you know there is a problem. 

This lovely air travel debauchery began early Saturday morning in a typical Brooklyn apartment, with a pestering alarm, creaking radiator, and chilling floor boards; 27 hours later, it still is not complete. I should have known something would turn awry when New Bell put me on hold. 

I am writing this from the first floor baggage claim level of Concourse C in the Newark Airport, and no, I am not waiting for my luggage, because it has since been misplaced. Instead, I am sitting here (along with 18 other stranded holiday travelers) on what I can only assume to be a large wooden crate covered in gray berber carpeting. I am watching the tired faces and disgruntled children, and for a moment I forget that I have not slept or eaten in approximately 36 hours. 

Unlike the majority of my in-flight-family, I have chosen — out of sheer stubbornness — to stay behind in the bleak, factory wasteland that is New Jersey, and not return to Queen’ airborne playground. After eight hours, I managed to cross the Holland Tunnel and leave the traffic hell hole that is Broome Street, and I refuse to undo my one bit of progress. My destination is Norfolk, Virginia, and going south to New Jersey is a step, though a baby one at that. I have lived another life here in New Jersey’s dumpster, and I would like to see it through the end. 

This other life began around 4:00pm Saturday, when I pulled on the stereotypical “New York Bitch” attitude, commanded my cabbie through SoHo, and criticized his professionalism. (I am not fond of driving with the windows down in the snow, nor deafeningly loud gossip radio while on the phone.) I shared this taxi with a New England woman who had never experienced the City, so I did my best to comfort her and relate my wise ways of the world; mind you, I am a third her age. 

One hour and $135 later, we arrived at Newark, only to be confronted with “random” security checks. It is not random when an entire flight is sectioned aside to additional inspection. Along with my items being thoroughly inspected by seven (yes, seven) TSA officials, I was ushered to a glass waiting area (similar to that on the tv show “10 Years Younger”), personally searched, and mildly interrogated. I will not even go into detailing my experience with “The Puffer.” 

However, the true fun began at the our departure gate, or gates. 

Over the course of four hours, my flight transfered to five different gates and was delayed four times. We were beginning to lose hope, and a few military men began to fume. If the phrase, “Ma’am, we are busy, we do not multi-task, that is not ou job,” was heard one more time, I do believe a riot would have spawn. After a duel of words, we were transfered (yet again) to a gate with no attendant; I am adamant this was conscious. 

Once at the new gate, Concourse C, Gate 105, a select few of us began to form a family: we shared abridged autobiographies and family photos via cell phones. We plotted and planned to hijack any other plane departing before ours, and how we could make the employees’ lives a living hell. Unfortunately, we never acted. Rather, we boarded a plane five hours late, only to find ourselves sitting on the tarmac; I have yet to see a propeller move. 

Our fight was canceled and there was nothing to do. The airport was closed, the phone numbers were unresponsive, and the cabs were expensive. 

This morning, after waiting in a line of over 2,000 passengers, I am still in New Jersey and no closer to seeing my family. My luggage is lost, my wallet is light, and my eyes are tired (I have a bed across the river, yet can no longer afford the cab fare). 

So, now I am a hi-tech Bag Lady. I am walking around with my belongings. I haven’t showered, slept, or eaten, and all I want is an outlet for my laptop, an apology, and a refund from US Airways.

 

A Time Frame …

Saturday, December 20

8:07 – wake up in Brooklyn

9:15 – get in cab to go to LGA

10:00 – get through security at LGA

10:30 – flight delayed

11:00 – flight delayed

11:52 – flight from LGA to ORF original departure time

12:30 – flight delayed

1:15 – flight delayed

2:00 – flight canceled

2:01 – stand in line to get rebooked

2:55 – actually speak to a person

3:00 – wait for luggage to arrive (to no avail)

4:00 – get a cab to EWR, in the snow and SoHo traffic

4:45 – flight delayed

5:25 – pay $135 for cab; arrive at EWR

6:00 – flight from EWR to ORF original departure time

6:30 – get through security, after 7 checks, and “the puffer”

6:35 – buy coffee

6:40 – gate change

7:00 – gate change

7:25 – flight delayed

7:45 – flight delayed

9:20 – flight delayed

9:21 – slip into madness

9:22 – passenger rebellion/family bonding time

9:23 – gate change; we assume it is so that we can no longer annoy the women at the counter

9:24 – the planning of the revolt begins

9:25 – flight delayed

9:27 – snow starts to fall

9: 38 – flight delayed

10:05 – photographer does shoot/interviews

10:45 – flight delayed

11:05 – board plan

11:15 – told 60 minute wait to de-ice the plane

11:55 – flight canceled

Sunday, December 21 (my birthday)

12:00 – EWR closes

12:30 – stand in pointless baggage line

12:40 – wander EWR, aimlessly

1:00 – we find a 24-hour Hudson News

1:45 – leave Hudson News with a bad attitude, little food

1:50 – passengers conspire

2:00 – the “Sit-In” begins; we begin to form a line at the ticket counters

3:00 – line reaches 1,0000 people

3:45 – mad dash to check on getting luggage back (once again, to no avail)

4:00 – a Continental employee shows face

4:05 – said Continental employee says it will take 30minutes to start the computers

4:15 – Greek Girl gets sympathy and is allowed to cut in line

4:30 – they start to actually do shit

4:35 – line exceeds 2,000 people

5:00 – leave line, on a Stand By list; find that the only flights guaranteed aren’t until 7am Tuesday

5:15 – snow starts to fall (again); once again, we meander EWR

5:30 – talk to baggage claim, and they have no clue; meet family from Texas

5:45 – buy coffee

6:00 – walk around trying to find outlets to charge our cell phones

6:05 – find 1 outlet; establish that we are “Bag Ladies” and “Hobos”

7:00 – group goes back to LGA and take their chances

7:05 – buy coffee

7:15 – meander, once again; run into family from Texas

8:30 – snow turns to sleet/rain

8:45 – buy coffee

9:00 – move upstairs to find an outlet (to no avail)

10:30 – try to “freshen up” in baggage claim bathroom (mascara and a comb)

10:45 – occupy uncomfortable wooden block to sit on; write

I’ve conformed…

I’m actually starting a blog. Me. A blog. 

Anything before this post was required, so don’t hold your breath for much to follow.

We ARE Virginia Tech

It’s been one year since everything happened.

It’s been one year since I got a phone call saying “I’m fine but Will went back to campus”.

It’s been one year since the world fell apart.

Every TV in my house covered a different news channel, and every phone held a different call. As morbid as it was, we were doing a body count. My sister was “fine”, but her friend had been shot and things didn’t look good. Molly was “fine”, aside from the SWAT men lining her windowsill. Michelle was locked in her Engineering class, but “fine” nonetheless.

It’s been one year since the words “We will prevail” reverberated across the radio.

I’ve lost count of how man times people said that they were “fine”, that their son was “fine”, that their daughter was “fine”. It doesn’t even sound like a word any more. We all knew we were lying, that inside we were being shredded to ribbons while remaining composure for the rest of the world. We did what had to survive.

It’s been one year since “Let’s Go Hokies” sent shivers down my spine.

I vividly remember my sister breaking down in the middle of Starbucks after receiving a phone call, and a woman soothingly asked her if she was okay.

Of course she wasn’t okay. She had to sit by as her school was rampaged by a raving lunatic. She had to sit by as her roommate hid under her dead friends to stay alive. She had to sit by as her friend loaded his riffle and patrolled the campus like any military man would. She had to sit by as her peers were murdered at point blank range.

Of course she wasn’t okay. She was a walking train crash, and everyone was stopping to look at the wreckage. None of us were okay.

It’s been ONE YEAR since this Hokie Nation banned together as an army of one.

Tomorrow I will walk around New York City in Hokie propaganda with “We Are Virginia Tech” plastered to my chest, but chances are no one will care. Not here at least. Back home, I’d receive a somber nod or consoling smile. Below the Mason-Dixon there lies a silent pact, an acknowledgment of that day last April, that day the world fell apart.

We are Virginia Tech.

We are sad today, and we will be sad for quite a while. We are not moving on, we are embracing our mourning.

We are Virginia Tech.

We are strong enough to stand tall tearlessly, we are brave enough to bend to cry, and we are sad enough to know that we must laugh again.

We are Virginia Tech.

We do not understand this tragedy. We know we did nothing to deserve it, but neither does a child in Africa dying of AIDS, neither do the invisible children walking the night away to avoid being captured by the rogue army, neither does the baby elephant watching his community being devastated for ivory, neither does the Mexican child looking for fresh water, neither does the Appalachian infant killed in the middle of the night in his crib in the home his father built with his own hands being run over by a boulder because the land was destabilized. No one deserves a tragedy.

We are Virginia Tech.

The Hokie Nation embraces our own and reaches out with open heart and hands to those who offer their hearts and minds. We are strong, and brave, and innocent, and unafraid. We are better than we think and not quite what we want to be. We are alive to the imaginations and the possibilities. We will continue to invent the future through our blood and tears and through all our sadness.

We are the Hokies.

We will prevail.

We will prevail.

We will prevail.

We are Virginia Tech.

-Nikki Giovanni

Police storm temple at polygamist ranch

ELDORADO, Texas (CNN) — Authorities stormed the temple of a Texas ranch that’s home to a rogue Mormon sect Saturday, as part of a search for victims of physical and sexual abuse, police said.

Police escort church members off a school bus Saturday night in Eldorado, Texas.

Police called in ambulances and other emergency vehicles as they prepared to search the polygamist group’s temple, officials said.

Authorities wanted medical backup “in case they’re involved in sensitive areas that could escalate into a negative reaction,” a law enforcement source said. A police helicopter circled the ranch Saturday night.

The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is a rogue branch of the Mormon church and forbids nonbelievers from entering its temples.

There were no immediate reports of injuries or arrests at the compound.

Earlier Saturday, 131 children and young women were removed from the ranch, bringing the total of people removed from the ranch to 183 since law enforcement officers raided the compound Thursday.

The majority of the 137 children removed from the ranch were girls. About 40 boys were removed, said Marleigh Meisner, a spokeswoman for the Texas Child Protective Services. Watch why police want every child removed »

“We’re trying to find out if they’re safe,” she explained. “We need to know if they have been abused or neglected.”

Eighteen of the girls, who the state believes “had been abused or were at immediate risk of future abuse,” were taken into state custody, Child Protective Services spokesman Darrell Azar said.

The others were taken to a nearby civic center where they are being questioned about abuse.

Law enforcement agencies raided the ranch Thursday after receiving a Monday report that a 16-year-old girl had been “sexually and physically abused,” said a protective services spokesman. Watch a neighbor talk about the raid »

Warren Jeffs, the 52-year-old leader of the 10,000-member church, was convicted in Utah last year on two counts of accomplice to rape, charges related to a marriage he performed in 2001. He still faces trial in Arizona on eight charges of sexual conduct with a minor, incest and conspiracy.

Critics of the sect say that it arranges marriages for girls as young as 13 and that competition for brides may be reduced through exiling young men. If male followers are excommunicated, the critics claim, their wives and children can be reassigned to someone else. Watch buses take girls from compound »

The church openly practices polygamy in two towns straddling the Arizona-Utah state line — Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Arizona — but members living on their Texas ranch rarely venture into Eldorado, four miles to the south.

The church bought 1,900 acres near Eldorado four years ago and built what it calls the YFZ Ranch. It is home to as many as 400 members who relocated from their Arizona and Utah compounds.

YFZ is a reference to a song written by Jeffs, “Yearning For Zion.”

Previous visits by CNN revealed the ranch was guarded by armed men equipped with night-vision gear and other high-tech surveillance tools to prevent intruders from entering.

Ambulances entered the ranch about 7 p.m. No one had been injured and there had been no violence when they arrived, the sources said.

Law enforcement agencies and four agents from Child Protective Services continued to search the compound late Saturday.

A warrant was served Thursday night for Dale Evans Barlow, 50, who authorities believe fathered a child with a 16-year-old girl that he married.

The warrant cited an “immediate need” for authorities to have access to the 16-year-old and an 8-month-old child with either the last name of Barlow or the girl’s last name. It instructs law enforcement officers to look for any records showing that Barlow and the girl were married and any evidence of them having a child.

As of Saturday night, Barlow had not been located and child welfare workers could not confirm whether the girl or her child had been found.

Barlow is in Arizona and does not know his accuser, his probation officer told The Salt Lake Tribune.

“He said the authorities had called him [in Colorado City, Arizona], and some girl had accused him of assaulting her, and he didn’t even know who she was,” Bill Loader said.

Barlow pleaded no contest last year to conspiracy to commit sexual conduct with a minor, The Associated Press reported.

He was ordered to register as a sex offender for three years, according to the AP.

His lawyer in that case told AP he had not spoken to Barlow in a year.

———-

i personally find this concept so incredibly strange, and i’m kind of conflicted as to how i feel about it. i mean, i think it is kind of weird to have these puritan-based societies where men can marry 3 or four women and have 15-25 children, but i don’t think that all polygamy-based neighborhoods are like this. i just find it kind of interesting how these people have created their own society that goes against today’s norms or what is politically correct, and that it is illegal. i am not for the cases where the men abuse their wives and children and basically use the women as slaves, but i don’t understand why the government has to interfere in the personal relationships of others. if a woman wants to be “wife #3″ then let her, it’s her life. who is the government to tell people how they should run their personal/domestic lives?

Activists Against China’s Olympics

I find it really interesting that there are a lot of people who are completely against the Olympics because of China’s political stances and workings. I guess people are finally speaking up against the communist political party and their unethical (according to the Western world) social standards and just using the Olympics as a means to an end. I don’t know, I mean, I am against China’s treatment of women and the way they run their government, but that doesn’t mean that I’m not going to watch Michael Phelps swim this summer. I am an extremely strong supporter of giving aid to Darfur/Sudan – I happen to be friends and co-workers with a few of the Lost Boys of Sudan and volunteer with the ONE Campaign – however, I can’t decide if people can  force another country to help in a cause that they disagree with. I think it kind of goes with the whole “do the right thing” concept – we all have our own perceptions on what the “right thing” is, and that is what creates factions and why things stay interesting. I dunno – I guess it’s a tricky subject … Activists, Olympic Athletes Pressure China Over Darfur Conflict

By Victoria Cavaliere New York 12 February 2008

Activists and Olympic athletes gathered in front of the Chinese mission to the United Nations Tuesday to urge Beijing to use its leverage with Sudan to help end ongoing violence in Darfur region. From VOA’s New York Bureau, Victoria Cavaliere reports the rally’s organizers say China, the host of the 2008 Olympics, is failing to uphold the game’s principles because of its support of the Sudanese government.

Actress Mia Farrow speaks at protest over China’s policies on Darfur

Protesters outside the Chinese Mission said they are not calling for a boycott of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Instead, they want the international community to use the games to pressure China to do more to end the conflict in Darfur.

China is Sudan’s biggest foreign trading partner, importing nearly two-thirds of that country’s oil. Beijing’s economic partnership with Khartoum, which also includes arms sales, has drawn criticism from western governments and human rights groups.

Some two million people have fled their homes in Darfur and another 200,000 have died since the conflict between ethnic rebels and the pro-government Janjaweed militia broke out in 2003.

In an open letter to the Chinese government, Olympic athletes, Nobel laureates and celebrities, including U.S. actress Mia Farrow, said Beijing “has both the opportunity and the responsibility to contribute to a just peace in Darfur.

“How can Beijing host the Olympics at home and underwrite genocide in Darfur? China still has the chance to spare its games the humiliation as being remembered as the genocide Olympics. We are all calling upon China to use its unique point of leverage to bring about an end to the human catastrophe in Darfur,” she said.

Farrow told several dozen protesters that China could use its influence by demanding Khartoum disarm the Janjaweed and by halting weapons sales to Sudan.

More than 200 Olympic athletes from around the world have also joined efforts to end violence in Darfur. Canadian swimmer Nikki Dryden said China’s support of the Sudanese government is at odds with the spirit of the games. “We are very concerned about the image of the Olympics being sullied by a host nation that can and should be doing more to end the genocide in Darfur. China’s role as the host of the Olympics and as close partner to Khartoum is inconsistent, even hypocritical,” he said.

But, the Chinese say the protests, and attempts to link the Olympics with Darfur, violate the spirit of the games. China also says it was the first country to contribute troops to a fledgling U.N. peacekeeping force for Darfur.

Critics say China has repeatedly used its veto power in the U.N. Security Council to prevent tough punitive measures against Sudan.

What is the “Right Thing”?

While I was watching Spike Lee’s “Do The Right Thing” I couldn’t help but thing about the seemingly basic concept of what exactly the “right thing” is.

As children, we are told that things are black and white. There is good and there is bad and that is all that there is to it. There is no gray, just as there are no exceptions to the rule. Helping the poor is good. Judging people is bad. Being honest is good. Stealing is bad. etc.

Unfortunately, however, this isn’t how the world really is and things/situations are typically more complicated and troublesome that that. Helping the poor is good, but is that person poor because they are a druggie, or does he/she have a job? Judging people is bad, but shouldn’t you always do your best to set a good example and be presentable? Being honest is good, but what if a small lie helps someone to sleep a little bit better at night? Stealing is bad, but what if you are getting food to feed your starving family?

There are so many difference factors involved in making decisions and actually choosing what the right thing is. In Spike Lee’s film, he confronts racism and the opposing ways of dealing with it in a modern context, however the true message isn’t exposed until the film’s final frames. The finale of the film reveals two different mindsets revolving around how to deal with racism, the first being non-violent, the second being violent.

“Violence as a way of achieving racial justice is both impractical and immoral. It is impractical because it is a descending spiral ending in destruction for all. The old law of an eye for an eye leaves everyone blind. It is immoral because it seeks to humiliate the opponent rather than win his understanding; it seeks to annihilate rather than convert. Violence is immoral because it thrives on hatred rather than love. It destrous community and makes brotherhood impossible. It leaves society in monologue rather than dialogue. Violence ends by defeating itself. It creates bitterness in the survivors and brutality in the destroyers.”

-Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

“I think there are plenty of good people in America, but there are also plenty of bad people in America and the bad ones are the ones who seem to have all the power and be in these positions to block things that you and I need. Because this is the situation, you and I have to preserve the right to do what is necessary to bring an end to that situation, and it doesn’t mean that I advocate violence, but at the same time I am not against using violence in self-defense. I don’t even call it violence when it’s self-defense, I call it intelligence.”

-Malcolm X

These two quotes, by the two most influential men during the civil rights movement, represent two opposing means to an end, with both parties believing they are correct. In MLK’s mind, non-violence is the “right thing”, just as in Malcolm X’s violence is the “right thing” if necessary.

This keeps drawing me back to the movie “The Kingdom”, in which a team of FBI agents go into Saudi Arabia to figure out who was responsible for the bombing of an American Base. In the process, to comfort a grieving co-working, an FBI Agents says: “We’re going to kill them all” in regaurds to the Saudis/terrorists. This exact line becomes repeated later on by a Saudi bombmaker on his deathbed, trying to comfort his grandson. The fact that both the FBI Agents and the Saudis believed that they were doing the right thing means nothing, because everything is subjective in the end.

There is no right or wrong, there simply are opinions and gut-instincts, and best judgments.

I, New York – Time Out NY

I, New York

Time Out New York / Issue 645 : Feb 6–12, 2008

TONYPD

Bar and grilled

Happy hour gets ugly when you mix alcohol with poor decision makers. Our barhopping cop lays the smackdown on law-breaking boozers.

By Laura Leu

Kurt from the UES

Photograph: Michael Kirby Smith

CRIME Doing work at the bar
After eight hours in the office, the buzz should be coming from the blackberry schnapps, not your BlackBerry Curve.

VIOLATOR Brenda from Essex, New Jersey
At Hotel Gansevoort’s O Bar, the culprit yadda yadda yaddaed on her cell phone, ignoring the man, sushi and drink sitting in front of her. Her excuse? “I was checking in with the office because they needed me.” Screw the TPS reports, Brenda! The only person that needs you right now is the bartender. And me. (Can you buy me a drink? I forgot my wallet.)

CRIME Burly men drinking girly drinks
Gender equality should not pertain to drinking. If the beverage is pink, your underwear should be too.

VIOLATOR Kurt from the UES
Kurt may have bulging biceps and a studly stature, but his masculinity was no match for the ladylike Cosmopolitan I caught him sipping. I could practically see his chest hairs melting off, while his accomplices stood by and did nothing to save his machismo. “I was drinking wine earlier, but I wanted to switch it up to something fun,” he admitted sheepishly. Also fun? The Which Sex and the City Character Are You? quiz. Clearly, Kurt is a Carrie.

CRIME Serving a hot girl first
For some NYC bartenders, tits beat tips.

VIOLATOR Colin at Fiddlesticks Pub in Greenwich Village
When three hot ladies boobied up to the bar, it was poor Jim—and his sobriety—who suffered. Bartender Colin ignored Jim’s empty pint glass and gave the trio of babes full service. Montse, one of the well-endowed lasses, claims it’s a normal occurrence: “I always get served first. Sometimes, bartenders give me free drinks—one once gave me a $200 bottle of vodka!” Isn’t that larceny? I’d handcuff her, but I think Colin would like that too much.

Time Square this morning

so at 9:02 a.m. my friend Lisa woke me up with the following Text Message:

“so my mom hyst called me and told me that she may not let me go to ny that weekend cause a bomb went off in times square this morning”

lovely wake-up call, huh?

now, I love Lisa’s mom – she’s practically my third mother – but seriously? there is always a possibility of something happening at some point in some place, just because this is New York doesn’t mean that is  a city under constant threat, or even unsafe.

so in my mature manner, I simply replied:

“goober – tell momma robertson there were no injuries and i don’t live near time square and cmon its brooklyn – no one wants to bomb us”

I think that convinced her.

in class poem

Why are blackboards green?

Midnight on a Friday

– jokes laughing nothing –

Sweet Virginia, down Waterside Drive

Thats where I met Mr. Pitt, Ellen Burstyn too

Sailing to The Rolling Stones with Jack and Johnny Walker Black

Sweet Virginia, come December

Sarah said let’s go to Europe – Ireland, Italy and more

Fly fly away

Flye like an eagle

Sweet Virginia, always red at night

Sailors take flight

Afraid to fail, just play along

Oh Sweet Virginia, you’re alone

Say hi to Pluto, maybe Spain

Why are people rude?

Flood gates to open in Mozambique

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7231154.stm

Flood gates to open in Mozambique

One hundred thousand people have already been evacuated

The authorities in Mozambique have begun evacuating thousands more people from the Zambezi river valley. The move follows an announcement by neighbouring Zambia that it would release water from the Kariba dam.

The water is expected to flow down the Zambezi into areas of Mozambique already struggling to cope with high flood waters.

Aid agencies are describing the growing crisis along the Zambezi river valley as going “from bad to worse”.

Just as the authorities thought the floodwaters had stabilised, the rains have started up once more, says the BBC’s Peter Greste.

Controllers of the massive dam say they will have to release water or risk having the dam burst in the next week to 10 days.

In Mozambique there are already almost 100,000 evacuees and the reception centres are full to capacity.

Struggle to aid flood victims

But with the river already at a record high, they are now looking to move another 40,000 as well as having to re-evacuate people sheltering in centres they thought were safe.

Chris McAiver from the aid organisation Save the Children says the Mozambican authorities have managed the crisis admirably so far, but the pressure from the continuing rainfall is putting immense strain on the already overstretched resources.

The flood waters are now spreading to Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland and Zambia, and more people will have to be evacuated.

More rain is forecast to fall this month and it could continue into April, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said.

Torrential rains in Zambia and Zimbabwe have swollen the Zambezi river to well above the flood limits. Valleys in Malawi and Mozambique are bearing the brunt as the waters flow down to the Indian Ocean.