In what was described as a "real bummer," 25 year-old marketing specialist Mitch Jaronski immediately realized his much looked-forward-to egg salad sandwich actually tasted like shit.
"I don't know what the problem was," says Jaronski. "I wanted to eat something cheap, and the company cafeteria had an egg salad sandwich for only $3.50. Egg salad isn't something I normally have, but it sounded kind of good - so I was like well, what the fuck?"
Speculating that it had been approximately 10 years since he last consumed an egg salad sandwich, the thrifty marketing specialist ordered his sandwich with much gusto. While the hispanic, non-English speaking woman working the deli counter didn't seem impressed, his enthusiasm remained high.
"It actually looked good, ya know? I mean, egg salad all looks the same, but the yellowness is kind of a novelty, and I was thinking that it used to taste pretty good when mom made it every once in a great while," he says.
Upon returning to his desk, however, the dream was cut short.
"I took a bite, and I just wanted to cry," says Jaronski. "It tasted ... I don't know, kind of gross, and the texture was kind of like vomit and bread. I choked about three-fourths of it down, but I just couldn't stand to look at it anymore, so I dumped the rest down the garbage."
Unfortunately, the nightmare wasn't over. Because he threw the unwanted sandwich away in his own office garbage can, every few minutes he "caught a whiff of that stinky thing" and shuddered in his chair.
Undaunted, he looked forward to his next sandwich encounter. "Well, the egg salad sandwich wasn't a winner, but I've heard they make a mean peanut butter and jelly - and that's only $2.50."
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
It's been too long ...
And lots has happened!
A British Airways Boeing 777 safely crash-landed at Heathrow after losing all of its electronics on short final. (NY Times)
Delta has embarked upon merger talks with both United and Northwest (separate talks - not a three-way merger). (NY Times)
and probably other things too - but those are the top two!
The top story will be the most interesting - something like this has never happened to a fly-by-wire aircraft like the 777 before. Luckily in this situation, everyone survived, including both pilots and the black box, so it's very likely the British and American investigators will figure out what happened at some point in the hopefully-near future.
The second story is probably the most important, in terms of airline economics. In one of my former newspaper columns, I wrote enthusiastically about airline mergers, but right now I am skeptical.
Maybe I'll even tell you why some day.
In closing, go patriots!
A British Airways Boeing 777 safely crash-landed at Heathrow after losing all of its electronics on short final. (NY Times)
Delta has embarked upon merger talks with both United and Northwest (separate talks - not a three-way merger). (NY Times)
and probably other things too - but those are the top two!
The top story will be the most interesting - something like this has never happened to a fly-by-wire aircraft like the 777 before. Luckily in this situation, everyone survived, including both pilots and the black box, so it's very likely the British and American investigators will figure out what happened at some point in the hopefully-near future.
The second story is probably the most important, in terms of airline economics. In one of my former newspaper columns, I wrote enthusiastically about airline mergers, but right now I am skeptical.
Maybe I'll even tell you why some day.
In closing, go patriots!
Monday, January 7, 2008
I hate the SEC.
So much.
But that's beside the point.
Tonight, again, I will write about a pertinent subject and the aviation consequences. Last week, I blogged about the Iowa caucuses and the packed airplanes that would follow.
The next day, along with the myriad of full airline flights, there were ten private and chartered flights between Des Moines and Manchester - New Hampshire's main airport. The flights were full of journalists, essential campaign staffers, and of course, candidates.
But onto the BCS National Championship Game of tonight:
Today, there were only five flights between Columbus and New Orleans, but this past weekend has seen more flights than usual, obviously. There have been more than 10 charter airline flights from the Columbus area in the past few days, from both CMH and LCK. Some of these flights are operated by little known charter carriers like Miami Air, Champion Air, but also mainline carriers like Southwest and AirTran.
Sports charters are an interesting business, and most professional teams contract out with an airline, partly because of the marketing opportunities for the airline (for the cheaper costs - making that particular airline "the airline" of XYZ Sportsteam), but also because of the flexibility airlines offer with aircraft size and availability. It also depends on the sport played - baseball, basketball and hockey teams often have their own flight departments, because of the large number of out of town games played. Pro football teams, on the other hand, almost always (with the exception of a few, notably the Seattle Seahawks, from their owner, Microsoft founder Paul Allen) contract with an airline.
College teams, however, are similar to NFL teams, because they play few away games. And it just wouldn't be feasible for most colleges to own their own aircraft for sports travel.
But, I need to watch the newest edition of The Colbert Report (or should I say, the Col-berT ReporT), as Ohio State is losing it again, making everyone else think the Big Ten sucks and the SEC rocks.
Damn SEC.
But that's beside the point.
Tonight, again, I will write about a pertinent subject and the aviation consequences. Last week, I blogged about the Iowa caucuses and the packed airplanes that would follow.
The next day, along with the myriad of full airline flights, there were ten private and chartered flights between Des Moines and Manchester - New Hampshire's main airport. The flights were full of journalists, essential campaign staffers, and of course, candidates.
But onto the BCS National Championship Game of tonight:
Today, there were only five flights between Columbus and New Orleans, but this past weekend has seen more flights than usual, obviously. There have been more than 10 charter airline flights from the Columbus area in the past few days, from both CMH and LCK. Some of these flights are operated by little known charter carriers like Miami Air, Champion Air, but also mainline carriers like Southwest and AirTran.
Sports charters are an interesting business, and most professional teams contract out with an airline, partly because of the marketing opportunities for the airline (for the cheaper costs - making that particular airline "the airline" of XYZ Sportsteam), but also because of the flexibility airlines offer with aircraft size and availability. It also depends on the sport played - baseball, basketball and hockey teams often have their own flight departments, because of the large number of out of town games played. Pro football teams, on the other hand, almost always (with the exception of a few, notably the Seattle Seahawks, from their owner, Microsoft founder Paul Allen) contract with an airline.
College teams, however, are similar to NFL teams, because they play few away games. And it just wouldn't be feasible for most colleges to own their own aircraft for sports travel.
But, I need to watch the newest edition of The Colbert Report (or should I say, the Col-berT ReporT), as Ohio State is losing it again, making everyone else think the Big Ten sucks and the SEC rocks.
Damn SEC.
Thursday, January 3, 2008
The Iowa Caucuses ...
... are over!
No longer will my relatives and friends be inundated with 5+ phone calls per evening. But I'm not a political commentator.
I'm an airplane commentator.
So what does this mean for aviation?
Well, if you're the Des Moines International Airport, it means a huge vacuum.
D.M. airport plans good show amid post caucus surge - Des Moines Register
Thousands of volunteers, journalists and consultants will be flooding out of Iowa starting tomorrow. Des Moines, where the majority of candidates are headquartered, will see most of the travelers. The article mentions that the airlines flying out of DSM have brought in bigger airplanes, but that's not really true. United has replaced one 737 to ORD with a 757, and that's pretty much it in terms of capacity upgrades (about 50 seats) for that airline.
Here's the makeup of flights, airlines and aircraft tomorrow out of DSM (not including Allegiant Air, a tourist airline not likely to carry many business/political pax):
Atlanta: 3 flights on Delta, 3 CRJ-200s
Chicago: 15 flights on UA and AA, 2 CRJ-200s, 2 CRJ-700s, 2 737-300s, 1 757, 1 Emb. 175 (UA) and 7 ERJ-145s (AA),
Cincinnati: 3 flights on Delta, 3 CRJ-100s
Dallas/Ft. Worth: 6 flights on AA, 6 ERJ-145s, 1 CR-700
Denver: 5 flights on UA, 2 A319s, 2 737-500s and 1 CRJ-700
Detroit: 4 flights on NWA, 2 CRJ-200s and 2 CRJ-900s
Houston: 2 flights on Continental, 2 ERJ-135s
Memphis: 3 flights on NWA, 3 CRJ-200s
Milwaukee: 4 flights on Midwest Airlines, 4 Dornier-328s
Minneapolis: 7 flights on NWA, 4 CR-200, 2 Saab 340 and 1 CRJ-900
New York LaGuardia: 2 flights on NWA/AA, 1 CRJ-200 (NWA) and 1 ERJ-135
Phoenix: 2 flights on US Airways, 1 CRJ-200 and 1 CRJ-900
Salt Lake City: 1 flight on Delta, 1 CRJ-200
St. Louis: 4 flights on AA, 4 ERJ-135/45s
Washington National: 1 flight on NWA, 1 CRJ-900
That's a lot of flights, but basically no extra than what is usually flying out of Des Moines. So, that means that there are NO open flights whatsoever out of Des Moines on Friday, January 4. All the seats are filled.
Good for the airlines, and good for the airport.
No longer will my relatives and friends be inundated with 5+ phone calls per evening. But I'm not a political commentator.
I'm an airplane commentator.
So what does this mean for aviation?
Well, if you're the Des Moines International Airport, it means a huge vacuum.
D.M. airport plans good show amid post caucus surge - Des Moines Register
Thousands of volunteers, journalists and consultants will be flooding out of Iowa starting tomorrow. Des Moines, where the majority of candidates are headquartered, will see most of the travelers. The article mentions that the airlines flying out of DSM have brought in bigger airplanes, but that's not really true. United has replaced one 737 to ORD with a 757, and that's pretty much it in terms of capacity upgrades (about 50 seats) for that airline.
Here's the makeup of flights, airlines and aircraft tomorrow out of DSM (not including Allegiant Air, a tourist airline not likely to carry many business/political pax):
Atlanta: 3 flights on Delta, 3 CRJ-200s
Chicago: 15 flights on UA and AA, 2 CRJ-200s, 2 CRJ-700s, 2 737-300s, 1 757, 1 Emb. 175 (UA) and 7 ERJ-145s (AA),
Cincinnati: 3 flights on Delta, 3 CRJ-100s
Dallas/Ft. Worth: 6 flights on AA, 6 ERJ-145s, 1 CR-700
Denver: 5 flights on UA, 2 A319s, 2 737-500s and 1 CRJ-700
Detroit: 4 flights on NWA, 2 CRJ-200s and 2 CRJ-900s
Houston: 2 flights on Continental, 2 ERJ-135s
Memphis: 3 flights on NWA, 3 CRJ-200s
Milwaukee: 4 flights on Midwest Airlines, 4 Dornier-328s
Minneapolis: 7 flights on NWA, 4 CR-200, 2 Saab 340 and 1 CRJ-900
New York LaGuardia: 2 flights on NWA/AA, 1 CRJ-200 (NWA) and 1 ERJ-135
Phoenix: 2 flights on US Airways, 1 CRJ-200 and 1 CRJ-900
Salt Lake City: 1 flight on Delta, 1 CRJ-200
St. Louis: 4 flights on AA, 4 ERJ-135/45s
Washington National: 1 flight on NWA, 1 CRJ-900
That's a lot of flights, but basically no extra than what is usually flying out of Des Moines. So, that means that there are NO open flights whatsoever out of Des Moines on Friday, January 4. All the seats are filled.
Good for the airlines, and good for the airport.
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