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Uncle Markie out and about.

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Tue
16
Sep '08

That Will Teach Me.

That will teach me to give Frequent Flyer tips…

The answer is that 1 hour 25 minutes is NOT enough layover time. Not for SFO and it’s fog related delays also made worse by Ike and all his wind and rain throughout the midwest.

So, yesterday I got to the airport 90 minutes early — to find that the flight BEFORE mine into SFO hadn’t even left yet. Within the hour it proved that I wasn’t going to make my connection — when they called for volunteers to give up their seats on that delayed flight, I signed on for the free round-trip ticket in the lower 48 and the $15 food voucher. The next flight they could confirm me on was at 10:30, so why not wait in Eurkea/Arcata and get goodies in exchange.

Of course, my habits could be worse. Take the story of this guy:

The “Pudding Guy” remains the most famous instance of an individual resorting to extremes to obtain miles. David Phillips, a University of California Davis professor who specializes in mortality statistics, bought 12,000 boxes of pudding over sever weeks, after noticing the maker was offering 500 miles for each 25- cent container of pudding. Phillips’ $3,100 pudding spree bought him enough miles for 50 roundtrip flights in the U.S. – along with an $800 tax write-off or donating much of the pudding to the Salvation Army, in exchange for volunteers to help him remove the UPC codes needed to redeem the miles.

Over all it was a beautiful visit in spite of that — on the way to the airport I swung through the campus of Humboldt State University — NICE wooded campus!

Got lucky, made the 7:30 standby flight — with just enough time to sped the $15.00 dinner coupon on half of a sushi take-out bill. And walked in to find that MoonSong had come and cleaned the house. Now THAT is a nice surprise.[

Today is meeting with Jill about paper, a couple of hours of Events and Adventures work, then cocktails with Swanda, then back to the house to prepare for a late dinner with Mr. Jameson who is on his way back from Tennessee.

[219.6 – damn road food]

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