Ultra Conservative Christian Radio

I think Ultra-Conservative Christian radio is the most entertaining type of media these days. I am neither Conservative nor Christian – so some might find this fact surprising. It’s become my #1 habit when driving around the country. - there’s always a station that’s within range whether I’m in Mobile, AL or San Francisco, CA. What really excites me is listening to people that are so elitist and single-minded that they don’t even realize how absurd they’re being.

I was listening to a broadcast today as I drove from Pleasanton, CA to the Oakland International Airport and it was probably the best Conservative Christrian station I’d heard yet. A woman was on the line that had written a book about Paganism in public schools. She talked for about 90 straight minutes about how public schools are leading children down a primrose path to hedonism, irresponsible sexual promiscuity, paganism (was she serious?), and ungodliness. It was a call-in show, and I was SO close to giving her a ring to just chat…like we at a slumber party. She also claimed that the number of “witches” (yes, she used that word) has increased considerably over the past decade – I think I was laughing out loud at this point.

I always find people like this fascinating. Their arrogance is the first trait that I always notice. They’re always 100% convinced that they are absolutely right and EVERYONE that doesn’t agree with them is absolutely wrong. It must be so boring to be that closed-minded! I mean, I’m a Philadelphia Eagles fan, and everyone that doesn’t like them is evil to me….oh wait….shit.

I may joke about these shows/people, but in all honesty, they fascinate me more than most people do. Since I disagree so strongly with just about everything they say, it’s almost like I’m a scientist examining a new species of centipede that was discovered in the Amazon…it’s such a peculiar type of ethos, that I just have to stop and stare…er, listen.

Plus or Minus

Things I Like:

California – Yeah, it’s crowded, expensive and wrought with natural disasters. But having spent the last couple weeks there I’ve become a fan. It’s without question, the most dynamic state in the country, with culture, unique food, exciting cities, and incredible scenery for days.

Having an Assistant – Having a “right-hand-man” is a great asset. Able to react to situations when I am on a plane or unable to be reached, it’s the ultimate piece-of-mind. I recommend everyone getting one.

Tuna – I am happy that all of this “tuna is bad for you because it has mercury in it” news has come out. Hopefully, it makes prices drop so that I can eat more. What’s the problem with mercury again?

First Class Seats – It’s just annoying sitting in the back of the plane. Why should I wait to board or deplane when I travel? All that is to me is a hassle. Plus, what’s the deal with paying for food in coach? I’m not really interested in doing that either.

Things I Don’t Like:

People who think Annie Hall is a romantic comedy: I heard someone say that on tv last week and I wasn’t happy. Annie Hall happens to be one of the most serious, important movies of the 20th century – calling it a romantic comedy makes me think of a two-bit movie that was shot on a $10 million dollar budget.

Airplanes that break: I’ve been sitting in the Oakland airport for 5 hours now because a plane wasn’t working properly. No reason for me to explain why this doesn’t excite me.

Brake Lights – People are so scared of brake lights…as soon as they see one ahead of them (on a car) they go bezerk and slam on their brakes…causing traffic. Ease off the gas, and if necessary use your brakes….what’s so hard to understand here?

People who stand on the left side of a moving walkway or escalator: Just recently I was in the Memphis International Airport and this couple was standing on the left side of the moving walkway…directly on the “walk on this side” sign that was painted on the walkway. Perhaps they were blind, didn’t understand English or cannot read.

People who are walking briskly in an airport terminal then decide to stop immediately to “look around”: I encounter this type of person FAR too often. It got so bad in O’Hare that I decided I’d ram into the next person that did it. When it happened, it was so funny – they guy was perplexed why I ran into him and I looked at him and asked, “why did you suddenly stop walking in the middle of the busiest walkway in the 2nd busiest airport in the country?” I didn’t stick around to hear his response, but I hope that it was his last time doing that (true story).

Trick-or-Treating For Adults

The title of this entry is a quote from my friend Dave. This was how he described wine tasting in California. We'll start there.

This was my first time out in California since the late 1980s. Much has changed out there since then; the tech industry exploded, the 49ers franchise has collapsed, and the wine industry has taken off. I was most concerned with the changes in the wine industry.

After a couple days of bouncing around the city, my friend Dave, his roommate Jeremy and I headed north to Napa. The drive was totally easy, not what I was expecting from both a traffic prospective and a geography prospective. I had visions of the road from SF to Napa being dominated by small inns, massive grape fields, rolling hills, and singing birds. Nope. A lot of it was marsh lands - something I hadn't known even existed in California before I saw it up close. We of course made our way to the inns, and grape fields, but the journey up was just different.

We began trick-or-treating on the early side - 11am - at Cakebread Family Vineyards. This is one of those wines that started as a big cult wine and has exploded across the country. Bottles now are between $100 - $200 at restaurants. The three of us had a private tasting in a very fun private wine room. Enjoyed some good stuff - picked up a bottle and headed further north.

This process continued for the next 5 hours.

We made friends along the way too. Namely a 55-year old tipsy woman from San Diego. Here's the story. Dave, Jeremy and I stopped at the Silverado Brewing Company for lunch and the opportunity to catch some of the Pats v. Chargers game. It was packed, and we were forced to sit outside (by ourselves) and watch through a glass door. Next thing we knew, this woman from San Diego came out and took it upon herself to find us a place to sit. First, she got us two seats at the bar, then came back over to us and said she'd saved a table for us right in front of the big screen. The three of us were in awe of her dedication. Perhaps earlier in her life she had been a hostess at a restaurant - that was the only explanation we could think of.

Overall, the trip to the Bay Area was fantastic. The weather was great, the food was incredible, and the wine was top-rate. The one disappointing part of the trip was that there wasn't an earthquake. I had been hoping for at least a small one - what's cooler than saying that you've been through a San Francisco earthquake? Not too much.

I'm out in Tuscon, AZ now and will be updating this space more frequently.

Headphones

For Christmas, I received a pair of Bose noise-cancelling headphones. I had been looking forward to getting a pair of these for years now - and now that I use them all the time, my life is a lot quieter.

For those that haven't had the opportunity to use these yet, let me assure you that they work. I put them on as soon as I step onto an airplane, and I suddenly feel like I'm in an orb of quiet - my own secret garden. It's incredible. I've enjoyed using them so much, that I walk to the Metro with them on, ride the bus with them on, ride the Metro with them on...and sit at my desk in the office with them on (usually without music playing).

It got me thinking.

I remember when I was using my first iPod, with my neat little in-ear earphones that made all the noise of the New York City streets fade away. No longer would people ask me for money on the street as they'd notice my white earbuds, people wouldn't ask me for directions either - I became very insulated. Now, as I walk around in even more quiet around Washington, DC - I feel like the city has disappeared around me.

By their nature, cities are noisy places - honking horns, screaming people, public transportation, and the unmistakable drone of air conditioners in the summer. As more and more people put on headphones, more and more people are redefining the city experience...in a way. As much as I've enjoyed wandering around Philadelphia, Washington & New York listening to Robert Plant and or/ Mick Jagger sing to me - what have I missed? People asking for help? Sirens? Someone sneaking up on me? Laughter?

It's time for me to take off my headphones and pay more attention.

Year in Review (Part 2)

Over the holidays, I received feedback from my father that he was upset at my first attempt at a "year in review" column. So, in my continued attempt to satiate my father's hunger for my writing - I'll write more.



Best Dinner of 2007: This happened before I moved to Washington. I was with my mother in Philadelphia - we tried a new Spanish restaurant near my apartment called Tinto. What a place! Amazing wine, amazing service, amazing food. My mother and I started the meal off with some Spanish cheese and honey. A combination that obviously affected my mother - during Christmas she had various cheeses and honey for appetizers two different nights. It's a restaurant that I'd recommend to EVERYONE that has time for dinner in Philadelphia.



Best Book of 2007: This is an easy one for me. I read Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point over a couple days in June. I had just moved to Washington and had about 10 days before my new job started. Each day I'd hang out at my pool and read Malcom's book. Really great stuff. Very easy to absorb, and totally applicable to everyone's everyday life - much like Tinto, it's something I'd recommend reading to EVERYONE.



Worst Airport: This is a very hard category. I've been to so many awful airports this year....I think I'll break this into a couple different categories.



Worst Airport Late at Night: This is a no-brainer. New Orleans International Airport. After the devastation of Hurricane Katrina a tornado hit the airport just a couple weeks later. It hasn't recovered from either. It's a HUGE airport - with the capability of processing thousands of people a day. After the flood, flights were slashed into MSY and after the tornado, the infrastructure was in trouble. Even at peak times during the day, the airport feels empty, vacant, and kinda creepy. Late at night all of those feelings are multiplied. You walk into an airport designed to compete against the largest, busiest in the country, and you find yourself alone, a stranger in a quiet superstructure.



Worst Airport Overall: This is a tie. It goes to RNO & BNA (Reno, NV & Nashville, TN). I hate both airports. Reno is under so much construction/renovation that you feel like you're walking down Chestnut St. in Philadelphia while a new building is being built alongside you. Uncomfortable, crowded, and unnecessarily glitzy - I pine to figure out what the airport's GM thinks on his drive to work each morning. Nashville's airport is different. It's being redesigned as well and I just hope it's for the better. BNA is a skelton of what it used to be. American Airlines used to have significant operations here, but after they pulled out, the airport found itself with about 30 more gates than it needed. Much like New Orleans, it's empty, quiet, docile, and annoying. Security lines are long for no reason, there are hardly any food options once inside security, and the highways around BNA aren't easy to navigate.



Best Domestic Airport: Of the airports I visited this year, this is a hotly contested category. Here's my Top 5:
1. Washingon - National
2. Tri-Cities (TN)
3. Denver, CO
4. Ft. Smith, AR
5. Rapid City, SD
Besides Denver, these airports are all small, efficient, and friendly. After growing up in Philadelphia, the idea of breezing through both check-in and security still gets me excited. At TRI, FSM, RAP, & DCA this is a reality of everyday travel. It's also nice to be offered free wi-fi at these airports (at DCA I access free wi-fi at the Delta Crown Room Club) - it's great to be able to do work prior to getting onto the plane.



Favorite Destination of 2007: Chicago. I'd never really spent time there before November 1st. I had to go there for a conference and despite only being there for one day, really enjoyed everything about the city. The airport (ORD) isn't too fun - but it's an easy cab ride to downtown - and once I was checked into the Westin Michigan Ave, I felt very much at home. Great restaurants, shopping, nightlife, and living opportunities were all close by - hopefully, I'll get the chance to spend more time there and learn more about the Second City.



One last thing - the picture at the top of this column is from Salt Lake City. Taken on my return trip to Washington this past week, it made me really want to hit the slopes....ideally, in Little Cottonwood Canyon.

2007 Travel Year in Review

I wanted to put together a year in review column to document the highs and lows of the past year I've had on the road. Below is the first installment:

Favorite Airline: Delta Airlines - began flying them for the first time this year and have never had a bad experience with them. I was sitting next to a Delta frequent flyer on a flight from CVG-ORD a couple months ago and he characterized the airline in the following way. "With United, Continental, and almost all other domestic airlines", he said, "you have lots of good experiences and lots of bad experiences. But with Delta you just have a continuation of average experiences without all of the drama of the bad ones. It's this consistantcy that I value." Well put.

Favorite Hotel: Westin Memphis Beale Street - Been at this property three times over the course of the year and always love it. It's a brand new property so all of the rooms are fresh and clean. I usually get upgraded there to large suites which is always a plus. I was at the Daily Grill last week and a server stopped by and we began talking about a conversation we'd had the last time I was there a couple weeks before - it was nice being recognized. The one thing that threw me off was their in-room food offerings. On the tv stand is a mini-bar along with a small little container of goodies. If you're like me and like to see what your options are, you may pick up, say, the canister of cashews to see what exactly is inside. Well, even the act of picking up the food out of its resting spot results in your bill automatically being charged. A very sneaky practice.

What's New?

There's something different about walking off a plane in Memphis. It's the smell.

No other airport I've been to comes close to comparing to what faces the millions of passengers that transit through Memphis. It hits you as soon as you leave the plane, the smell of barbeque. It's shocking just how strong the smell is, but it's quite possibly the best welcoming a weary passenger can receive after being on a plane.

The Memphis airport is filled with BBQ shops. Most notably are Corky's and Interstate BBQ. Everytime I'm there, I go to at least one of them. Earlier this week, I stopped by Jim Neely's Interstate BBQ - had a glorious meal of pulled pork and baked beans. Despite not really loving Memphis, it's always nice to get off a plane there because I know a great meal is just yards away.

I've also been surrounded by obnoxious drunk people this week. On my flight from Memphis to New Orleans a 40 year old woman locked herself in the bathroom during taxi - which resulted in us stopping while the flight attendants and her male companion tried to coax her out of the bathroom. It was actually pretty funny - and I had a nice laugh while sipping a gin and tonic up front! Next was my flight from New Orleans to Chicago. In the boarding area, 5 guys showed up completely intoxicated - to the point that they were stumbling around the terminal, yelling and carrying newly purchased Corona's with them. I was almost positive they'd be kicked off the flight or not allowed to board at all - but I failed to remember that I was in New Orleans, and this stuff happens all the time. As people were boarding the plane, about half of them complained to the flight attendant about them - and warned them that, "the drunk college guys are about to get on board!". Oh well, they weren't booted off, and we took off ahead of schedule.

I had the fortune of flying through O'Hare during a snowstorm. Always fun. I sat a terminal bar, having a glass of beer - staring out the window at the deepening snow and thought that my night may just end here, in Chicago. We had 3 gate changes, 3 hours worth of delays, and about 3 inches of snow on the runway during takeoff - all of which contributed to a FUN night at O'Hare. In retrospect, I wish I had just stayed at my cozy terminal bar and enjoyed a couple more Goose Island beers. I'll know better next time.

I'm heading back to Washington tomorrow - a short flight from Knoxville, TN to Washington Dulles. Next week, I'm going to Arkansas - A FULL WEEK THERE. Hitting up the cities of Paragould, Harrison, Ft. Smith (possibly) and of course, Little Rock.

Remember, all those that wander aren't necessarily lost.