UPDATE: Delta Airlines has released a statement about the two guys who claim to have been kicked off the flight because they were speaking Arabic... "Upon landing the crew was debriefed and multiple passenger statements collected. Based on the information collected to date, it appears the customers who were removed sought to disrupt the cabin with provocative behaviour, including shouting. This type of conduct is not welcome on any Delta flight. While one, according to media reports, is a known prankster who was video recorded and encouraged by his traveling companion, what is paramount to Delta is the safety and comfort of our passengers and employees. It is clear these individuals sought to violate that priority."

Since this guy has a history of pranking airlines (and also lying about it), it's very likely that they were kicked off the flight for cause. Which is really too bad, because lying about being a victim of racism and bigotry only makes it harder for those who are actual victims of racism and bigotry to be believed. And heaven only knows we've seen enough of that in recent years.

Regardless as to whether they deserved to be kicked off... and, to be clear, if they were disrupting the flight they absolutely should have been... I can't help but wonder if they would have been treated differently (pranks and all) if they were white.

I was once on a post 9-11 flight out of LAX where some kind of evangelist dressed in a suit and tie was screaming about Jesus as he boarded the plane. While the flight took off, he was praying... loudly. He was asked more than once to lower his voice so he wasn't disturbing other passengers. Which lasted all of ten minutes before he started loudly preaching about Jesus again. Nothing happened to him. He was mostly left alone. He walked off the plane without incident. He was white. But if this had been a Middle-Eastern guy screaming about Allah and talking about Mohammed? He would have probably been restrained... at minimum. Then likely arrested upon landing. Assuming they didn't make an emergency landing and have him arrested before he even reached his destination.

So... food for thought.

Two guys were kicked off a flight because one of them was speaking Arabic to his mom. Apparently it made a woman and her husband in the row ahead of him "nervous" and he was told he should be speaking English.

Action Delta Airlines was apparently happy to engage in...

If people speaking a different language upsets you... THEN DON'T GO OUT IN PUBLIC, ASSHOLE! If being around other people on a plane upsets you... THEN DON'T FLY, ASSHOLE! This is just the tip of the iceberg. If I were there and saw what happened, they'd end up kicking me off the fucking plane too.

Hope you're prepared for the day only people with blonde hair are allowed to fly.

In other Delta Airlines news, this landed in my in-box...

Delta partnership change
As of April 30, 2017, Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan members will no longer be able to earn or redeem miles on Delta flights. Don't worry, though–thanks to our acquisition of Virgin America and ever-growing list of global partners, it's easy to get where you want to go.

I may die of un-shock.

Delta was never a true "partner" to Alaska Airlines. They shit all over Alaska every chance they got, then decided to set up camp in a Seattle hub in an attempt to force Alaska out of our airport. Interesting to note how they employed this same strategy in Memphis circa 2013... setting up a hub to drive other airlines out, then pulling the hub once the deed was done. After all went down getting in and out of Memphis became difficult and expensive, and the city still hasn't fully recovered from the damage Delta did.

And speaking of damage...

No word yet as to whether Delta is going to allow only English to be spoken on their flights.

And... I'm home.

Except I almost wasn't, because when my plane landed one of the mountain passes was a complete disaster with chains required and the other was closed. This would have meant adding 1 to 1-1/2 hours to my trip... except the pass miraculously opened up ten minutes before I reached the turn-off.

While there are many ways to get in and out of Redneckistan, there are only two that really make sense when heading to the coast are the two main mountain pass routes.

Stevens Pass (2-1/2 hours) is usually very well maintained in the winter because there's a big ski resort at the summit and they want people to be able to get to it. You're deposited quite a bit north of Seattle, but it's a quicker run so you can usually arrive in a similar time-frame. The major downer is that Highway 2 is a 2-lane affair with not a lot of opportunities to pass slower traffic. Get behind a truck driving 10 miles per hour under the speed limit and you'll be stuck for a while...

   
Blewett and Snoqualmie Passes (2-1/4 hours) create my preferred route to Seattle. Once over Blewett (a 2-lane highway), you merge onto I-90, which has a 4+ lanes of traffic and a speed limit of 70mph...

   
Quincy/Vantage/Snoqualmie (3-1/2 hours) is an alternate route you can take when Blewett Pass is closed (which happens surprisingly often). This was the route I was going to take today... until Blewett opened back up at the last minute...

   
Portland/Central Basin (7-1/2 hours) is the grueling route you take when all hope of getting over the mountain passes is lost. Yes, there are White Pass (5-1/2 hours) and Crystal Mountain (4-1/2 hours) routes you can take, but the odds are very good they'll be either closed (or more trouble than it's worth) if the main passes are closed. I'd rather just bite the bullet and drive home free and clear if it seems that's a better option than waiting out the weather (you can read about one of my times traveling this route right here)...

   
You can, of course, always fly in/out of Wenatchee (assuming the airport isn't closed) if you don't mind having to abandon your car in Seattle until you can find a way back to it. I've done this at least twice, because sometimes not driving at all is the best option.

Today I had to make a last-minute trip to San Diego for a quick work project happening tomorrow morning. I'll essentially be in San Diego for nine hours to do 15-20 minutes worth of work. But it's very important work which will end up benefitting people who could really use it, so I don't mind so much. I've gone much further for much less.

I took this as an opportunity to test the new "download" feature for Netflix, which allows you to view programs and movies without an internet connection. It works in that I could view downloaded content offline... but it's kind of flakey. Siri kept activating over and over and over again, even when I turned her off (iPhone just switches to Voice Command) and the video kept pausing randomly, even though I never touched my iPhone to make it happen. I have no idea if this is a problem with Netflix, or possibly my headphones somehow sending commands, but it was incredibly annoying.

Oh well.

I'd be beside myself if I didn't have anything to complain about while traveling, so I guess this is as good as anything.

I didn't have to be at the airport until 12:30, which meant I could wait to pack my suitcase this morning and relax a bit before taking my three flights home.

It also meant that I had time to stop by The Maine Mall for lunch. Which would usually be at Johnny Rockets... but they changed their buns to these small crusty things (even when you ask them to ditch the shitty "healthy wheat" bun that now comes on their veggie burger)... so this time I ate at Qdoba. Never thought that would happen.

Anyway...

Flights were uneventful. Even if I did have a layover at shitty Washington Reagan National Airport, which makes you exit security to change concourses. Landed back home at 12:10, got my suitcase by 12:30, cleaned off my car by 12:45, was at my house by 1:20am.

Where my cats were happy to see me. So happy that I had to distract them with treats so they'd leave me alone long enough to unload the car.

Needless to say I was exhausted and decided to go straight to bed.

Which is where I stepped on this...

It's... a rabbit foot?!

I rush back down to the guest room and, sure enough, this happened...

Okay then. The cats knocked one of my rabbits off the shelf. Sad... but nothing super-glue won't fix.

The question is... how?

I was careful to not have any tall furniture near the shelves that the cats could climb up. The headboard is under the shelves, so they can't be using that. Or can they? Hell if I know. Obviously I don't have security cameras in my guest room... but I'm tempted to put one in there temporarily so I can see what in the hell they're doing in there.

Besides scratching up my new chair.

Welcome home, me.

I wish I could say that my ambition showed itself today but, alas... I still had no desire to drive anywhere or fight the Christmas shopping crowd, so most of my day was spent catching up on sleep and working. An entire waste, I know, but this was never a vacation trip.

I did venture out for lunch and again for dinner though. So I guess that's something. For the walk back to my hotel I had my camera with me, which is always fun...

And now... I pack. For tomorrow I take the long journey home.

When traveling for work in winter, I have to take precautions that I usually wouldn't when traveling in not-winter. Primary of which is arriving early and staying late.

You arrive early in case there are weather delays so you will still get to the job on time. You stay late in case work runs late and you don't miss your flight. It's a bummer because it means your travels are extended, but it beats the consequences when things go wrong. The consolation I have is that if the job finishes on-time (ha!) or early (ha! ha!) you can always catch an earlier flight.

Except when you can't.

Which is me today.

I'm done with work so I can fly home tomorrow. This is great news because I had been planning for it all along. The nice thing is that catching an earlier flight, which can be quite expensive for infrequent travelers, isn't such a big deal when you have status with the airline. But all of that means nothing if they can't find a flight to put you on. Since I've got three flights home this time, it just proved too difficult to get all of them lined up within a reasonable time. My best option had me leaving a day earlier, but arriving home only five hours earlier. Nineteen hours stuck in airports? No thank you.

And so now I'm majorly bummed that I can't go home. Usually I'd try to make the best of it, but I just don't feel like going out into the Christmas shopping crowds of Portland or driving anywhere in the snow. Maybe I'll change my mind tomorrow... but, in the meanwhile, it looks like I'm stuck.

< Insert Frowny Face Here >

Meanwhile, back at home...

The first thing I do when I get up each morning is check my security camera footage so I can see what the cats are up to. I have no idea how many other times during the day I check on my cats, but it's a lot. This is both a blessing and a curse. On one hand, I know that Jake and Jenny are still alive and haven't burned the house down. On the other hand, I miss them and am powerless to fix any problems that come up.

Like Jenny seemingly not being able to decide where to sleep last night. Usually, she sleeps with me. But since I'm not there, I have to watch her wander from spot to spot all around the house for hours. Eventually I thought she had settled on a donut bed I leave by the stereo...

But she gave up on that too. Eventually, after more wandering, she headed upstairs. She must have found somewhere to sleep there, because she didn't come back downstairs all night.

And now she doesn't want to come back downstairs at all... even when the pet feeder activates. Jake heard it this morning and came bombing down to eat. Jenny peeks around the stairwell corner at the top, but doesn't come down. I set a motion alert, which texts me 40 minutes later that she's finally coming down. Except she doesn't. She stops at the bottom...

Eventually she turns around and runs back upstairs.

Not knowing what's going on... I scrub back through all the security camera footage. Nothing. Then I check the exterior cameras to see if somebody is outside making noise. Indeed there is. The snow plows are running. And Jenny is apparently scared of the noise they make.

Tonight I checked at feeding time again, and it's the exact same story...

She made it down an extra step, but still runs right back up before she hits the floor. The snowplows weren't running then, so I can only guess she's still scared from this morning.

I'm assuming eventually she'll get so hungry she overcomes her fears and makes it to the feeder.

Until then I'll spend my time being sad that I can't fly home tomorrow.

How's Maine? Maine is cold.

I didn't have a car until noon, so I skipped breakfast at the hotel and decided to have pizza at Otto in downtown Portland. They make a Butternut Squash and Cranberry pie that is one of my favorite things. And it totally delivered...

While eating I got to watch a woman let her baby stab the wood table repeatedly with a fork. When she noticed me watching, she took the fork away.

Then gave the baby a knife to stab the table with.

I don't know that it was an improvement, but okay.

On my way back to my car I saw two pumpkins on the sidewalk, assumably waiting to be tossed in the trash...

I guess the magic of pumpkin spice has passed. They look to be in great shape, so somebody should totally save them and make pie.

The hour trip north was boring, which is the best you can hope for when driving in Maine during winter. After checking into my hotel, I look out to see that the Androscoggin River has once again closed down for the season.

Here was my view from last year, around this time...

And here we are now...

Exciting, I know.

Since there's not much to do while I wait for my job to start, I've been getting some work done and catching up on Facebook. It was while looking through the latter that I ran across a video of Christmas tree shearing. It's fascinating to watch. Relaxing even. Very zen...

Depending on size, these guys can shape 2,000-2,500 trees per day! They don't say how many ninjas they could slash their way through. Oh well.

As exhausted as I am, I suppose I should take a nap before starting work at midnight.

Or search YouTube for more Christmas tree shearing videos.

One of those two things.

Traveling for work is something that people who don't travel for work will never truly understand. It's not like going on vacation where you excitedly pack your bags and skip off the the airport looking forward to fun and adventure. It's more like a necessary evil that inconveniences your life as much as possible. A drudgery in repetition that you endure over and over and over until you're numb to the horrors that a life of travel dumps on you.

Something I had forgotten about. Probably because this past year I haven't been able to travel much, and had blocked it from memory.

And now I have cats.

Cats who can sense when I'm getting ready to leave, and decide that's the perfect time to go bonkers on me.

Knowing I had to get up this morning at 3:00am, I went to bed last night at 8:00. Usually the cats follow me up to my bedroom, pass out on me or the floor when I close my eyes, and that's the end of it. But not last night.

Earlier in the day Jenny had caught a bug out in the catio and brought it in the house. Not my favorite thing, but it makes her happy, so I resist my urge to go running up with a paper towel, put the bug out of its misery, and flush it down the toilet. She batted it around for five minutes or so, happy to have something new to do. At which point Jake came sauntering in the room and ate it.

Jenny did not take it well.

She cried because the bug was gone, then ran back out to the catio to catch another one...

Alas, after over a half-hour of waiting, no bug came. So she decided to come in from the cold and cry about it. A lot. She cried as she laid on my lap to get warmed up. She cried as I got up to go to bed. She cried as we climbed the stairs. She cried as I crawled into bed. Then she sat next to me and cried as I turned off the lights to try and get some sleep...

After I didn't cough up another bug for her to torture, she wandered off. Jake decided to take her spot since she kindly warmed it up for him. Thinking all the problems in Cat World were solved, I closed my eyes.

For all of twenty minutes.

So there I am in bed dozing off at 8:30 when all of a sudden BOING! BOING! BOING! BOING! BOING! Jenny has discovered one of the few door-stops left in the house. Apparently she decided if she didn't have a bug to play with, this would do. Jake hears it and goes running to investigate. Now they are taking turns BOING! BOING! BOING! BOING! BOING!

I think I finally managed to fall asleep around 10:00.

Five hours later I'm getting ready to head to the airport. Snow had been falling, so the drive was a bit more treacherous than usual. But I make it with plenty of time to spare. Here is my view at 5:00am from my seat on the plane...

Exhilarating, is it not?

Once in Seattle, I have my morning Qdoba burrito and wait for my flight to Reagan National Airport in Washington DC. As we leave, I am thrilled to be parked next to the one plane I really want to fly on before I die... Alaska Air's Salmon Thirty Salmon!

The flight is okay, despite my ending up in a middle seat because I had to book with the plane mostly full.

While I have flown to Washington, D.C. many times, I have never changed planes there. Turns out that Reagan National Airport is just fine if that's your final destination. But a total pile of shit if it's not. In order to get from B Concourse to my next flight on C Concourse, I HAD TO EXIT SECURITY, WALK A MILE, THEN GO THROUGH A SECURITY CHECK ALL OVER AGAIN. Which is buckets full of stupid in a day and age when security procedures are such a major cluster-fuck. Come on, Reagan National, get your shit together.

And then... one additional plane-ride later... here I am in Portland, Maine.

Where it's cold.

And dark.

Which makes the fact that I am tired and hungry that much worse. But at least my luggage arrived this time. After getting to my hotel, I decide to eat at the restaurant there so I can have some fries and Maine blueberry pie before turning in. The waiter asks if I want my pie with my fries or after. I answer "Definitely after, thanks!"...

I'm guessing this is indicative of how the rest of my trip will go?

Back in September of 2004, I posted the BBC's Fifty Things To Do Before You Die List. For some reason it popped in my head this morning, so I thought I'd revisit it 12 years later and see how things have changed.

Boy howdy. I've been busy.

I marked the updated places in blue and added new comments in italics...

1. Swim with dolphins (Done it!)... The dolphins I swam with were wild, so it was pretty special. — Though I feel kinda bad about having done it, I did swim with captive dolphins at Discovery Cove in Orlando as well.
2. Scuba dive on Great Barrier Reef, Australia (Wanna do it!) (Done it!)... I would want to re-up my certification first (it's been a while), but I would absolutely do this. — Though the reef was badly damaged, I did manage to finally scuba dive it... for which I'm thankful, because it's pretty much completely dead now.
3. Fly Concorde to New York, New York, USA (Probably not!)... Now that the Concorde has been grounded, this is impossible.
4. Go whale-watching (Done it!)... From shore on Maui... no need to go buzzing around the poor things in a motorboat.
5. Dive with sharks (Done it!)... For my certification graduation dive in Maui, there were reef sharks (fairly harmless) swimming around.
6. Skydiving (Done it!)... A friend wanted to go tandem skydiving, and I loved it so much I went back and took parachuting classes.
7. Fly in a hot air balloon (Done it!)... Just up and back down again... would have been nice to actually go someplace.
8. Fly in a fighter jet (Probably not!)... And how, exactly, does one go about arranging this? I would do it, if it's possible.
9. Go on safari (Probably not!) (Done it!)... This would be okay, so long as no animals were harmed in any way. — This ended up being one of the greatest experiences of my life.
10. See the Northern Lights (Sorta did it!)... On occasion you can see the Northern Lights from Washington State, but they are nothing like the show you would get in Alaska. So, while I have done this, I don't think I'll count it until I've seen them "for real."
11. Walk the Inca trail to Machu Picchu, Peru, South America (Wanna do it!)... My brother and I were going to do this, but he decided to get in an accident and nearly blow his face off instead. Oh well, maybe one day.
12. Climb Sydney Harbour Bridge, Sydney, Australia (Wanna do it!) (Probably not!)... And when I finally end up making it to Australia, I probably will (despite my fear of heights!). — Finally made it to Australia. Saw what was involved. Noped out in the biggest possible way!
13. Escape to a paradise island (Done it!)... Both Maui and Bali are candidates, and I love them both. — Should probably add Fiji to this list.
14. Drive a Formula 1 car (Probably not!) (Kinda Done it!)... I've sat in a Formula 1 car, does that count? — I got to go to the "Richard Petty Driving Experience" in Disney World and drive a race car, which was close enough to a Formula 1 for me... probably more fun too.
15. Go white-water rafting (Done it!)... Granted, this was a pretty tame run down the Columbia and not something spectacular like the Colorado or something.
16. Walk the Great Wall of China (Wanna do it!) (Done it!)... Absolutely want to do this one. — Was first on my list when I visited Beijing.
17. Bungee-jumping (Done it!)... Probably more frightening than skydiving for me.
18. Ride the Rocky Mountaineer train, Canada (Probably not!)... I'm not ruling it out, but there are a lot of other things I'd rather do first.
19. Drive along Route 66, USA (Done it!)... Well, not the entire thing, but I've driven parts outside of L.A., outside Chicago, and around St. Louis. Seems like it would be a great motorcycle trip to run the entire thing though.
20. Fly in a helicopter over the Grand Canyon, Nevada, USA (Done it!)... And I took my mom along for the ride.
21. Take the Orient Express from Venice to London (Probably not!)... Okay, it's not that I am opposed to this, it's just that it's so incredibly expensive that I don't know how I could afford it.
22. See elephants in the wild (Wanna do it!) (Done it!)... Since I'm sure the elephants at Disney's Animal Kingdom don't count, I do think it would be cool to go to Africa or India and do this one. — Saw multitudes of elephants in the wild when I was in Zimbabwe.
23. Explore Antarctica (Probably not!) (Going to do it!)... Uh, why? I might consider it if they built an authentic Hard Rock Cafe but otherwise no. — I have a hard time believing that I felt this way at one time. It ultimately found its way at the top of my bucket list and I'm going next December.
24. Ride a motorbike on the open road (Done it!)... Every chance I get!! — While I have done this... a lot... for health reasons I had to give up my motorcycle (insert frowny face).
25. Have a go at cowboy ranching (Probably not!)... Not exactly my cup of tea considering that the object of ranching is to breed cattle for slaughter.
26. Climb Mount Everest (Probably not!)... You've got to be kidding. Putting the extreme danger aside, can you imagine how much money it would cost to put such an expedition together? I'm guessing it would be a minimum of $10,000, which is ridiculous.
27. Wonder at a waterfall (Done it!)... Kauai has some nice falls, as does the Big Island of Hawaii. — Beautiful as they are, Hawaiian waterfalls kind of pale in comparison to the wonder of seeing Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe.
28. Travel into space (Probably not!)... Now this is just stupid. How many people are going to get the chance for this in their lifetimes?
29. Explore the Galapagos Islands (Probably not!) (Wanna do it!)... This is a preserved area, and only scientists, researchers and such are given permission to visit. — I didn't know what I was talking about. There are all kinds of ways to visit the Galapagos Islands, and I would totally love to do it.
30. Trek through a rainforest (Done it!)... Fortunately for me, my home state just happens to have a rain-forest available at Olympic National Park! — I've also been to the Costa Rican rainforest and the Daintree Rainforest in Australia... both of which are frickin' amazing too!
31. Gallop a horse along a beach (Wanna do it!)... My riding skills are crap though.
32. Ride a camel to the Pyramids, Egypt (Wanna do it!) (Probably not!)... Absolutely something on my list to do. — Ended up watching my mom ride a camel, but wasn't inclined to do it myself when I was there for some reason. Maybe because I had already ridden a camel before? I dunno.
33. Take the Trans-Siberian Railway from Moscow to Vladivostok (Probably not!)... Whatever. I wouldn't pass it up, I suppose, but I'd think it would be a bit boring for a trip wouldn't it?
34. Catch sunset over Uluru (Ayers Rock) , Northern Territories, Australia (Wanna do it!) (Done it!)... And, again, when I finally get to Australia I probably will. — And I totally did. Here's your sunset right here. Heck, here's a sunrise for you too!
35. Go wing-walking (Done it!)... Part of parachuting is walking out on the wing strut to jump off, so I guess I've done this already.
36. Climb Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa (Probably not!)... Gack! Again with the massively expensive expedition that only a handful of people on earth could even manage to afford!
37. Fly over a volcano (Wanna do it!)... While on the Big Island of Hawaii, I walked over a volcano, which seems much more impressive, doesn't it?
38. Drive a husky sled (Probably not!)... Sorry, but I am one of those people that thinks this is cruel to the sled dogs, and have no plans to ever try it.
39. Hike up a glacier (Done it!)... My home state of Washington has glaciers as well. Nothing like Glacier Bay in Alaska, but still. — And when I made it to Alaska's glaciers, I took a helicopter ride up to one and hiked around it.
40. Ride a rollercoaster (Done it!)... Who hasn't? The Incredible Hulk Coaster and Universal Studios Florida being my favorite.
41. Fish for blue marlin (Probably not!)... I don't eat fish, nor would I kill them for sport, so this is something I have no plans of doing.
42. Go paragliding (Done it!)... Well, parasailing, which is close enough in my book.
43. Play a round of golf at Augusta, Georgia, USA (Probably not!)... Bah! If I were to play a round of golf anywhere, it would be in Scotland where the game was invented!
44. Watch mountain gorillas (Wanna do it!)... Who wouldn't?
45. See tigers in the wild (Wanna do it!)... But don't tigers EAT you in the wild?
46. Do the Cresta Run, Switzerland (Wanna do it!)... Heck yeah I would do this! Probably die while trying, but what a way to go!
47. Visit Walt Disney World, Florida, USA (Done it!)... I think I've been seven times, though it is not really a place I enjoy much.
48. Visit Las Vegas, Nevada, USA (Done it!)... Hasn't everybody?
49. See orang-utans in Borneo (Wanna do it!)... Why not? Boy, sure a lot of wild animal watching on this list!
50. Go polar bear watching (Wanna do it!)... Why not? Boy, sure a lot of wild animal watching on this list!

Of everything left on this list... walking the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu in Peru is probably the most likely after my Antarctica expedition has been checked off next year. Something I've always wanted to do... but it probably won't happen until after I've been to India.

I first visited Gatlinburg around my birthday in March of 2000. There was a Hard Rock there I hadn't visited yet, and I had some time to drive through the region after a work trip took me to Memphis. So far as places go, The Great Smokey Mountains is a beautiful part of the country. Gatlinburg itself is fairly touristy, but a perfectly charming and lovely town.

And now it's engulfed in flames...

Which is heartbreaking in so many ways... especially when you see families losing everything in the devastation. Fires like this are commonplace where I live, and we've had major fires here the past two years (The Carlton Complex Fire of 2014 and The Okanogan Complex Fire of 2015). I've been through a fire myself, and have come close more than once (the most recent close call being in 2004).

It's hard to know who to trust when it comes to all the charitable organizations that have popped up around the Smokey Mountains fires, but Dolly Parton (who was born in the area and has a theme park there) has stepped up to help...

If you can't trust Dolly Parton, who's giving a huge chunk of her own money to help, who can you trust? If you'd like to help Dolly help others, here's a link to donate to her My People Fund.

Stay safe, everybody.