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Odds and Ends

blusk
Aviator C

We have a temporary shortage of posts in the ol' "blog larder" this week, so I thought I would share some unusual stuff I found while monitoring the blogosphere.  

The first "blink" comes from Flight International again, and it is about a priest who is missing after he strapped himself to a bunch of helium balloons.  (The scariest part about this post is the commentator saying that this practice "isn't that unusual.")  

Boeing's Randy's Journal has an amazing video clip of what the inside of the new 787 will look like.  (I don't think Randy's trip to Brazil had any relation to the previous link.)  

For those of you who read our blog regularly, you know that I am a total airline geek.  I've been flying as part of an airline family my entire life (53 out of my 55 years), and since I have been a teen ager, I have logged every flight I have taken--and was able to go back and log earliers through all of the passes I had kept from fifth grade going forward.  My log book is dog-earred and smeared, but there is a new web site, FlightMemory.com, where you can log all your travels online.  It's free to register, and once your have loaded all the information, you can amaze friends and family with your travel history.  (And, they can talk behind your back about how crazy you are.)

Brian

16 Comments
Harrison2
Explorer C
Hey Brian - One of the other really fun things about Flight Memory is that you can share your log with friends so that they can talk behind your back even easier about how crazy you are. I've got two of my own, one for paid travel, and one for my non-rev flying I did last summer. Any chance you want to share yours with all of us so we can see just how much crazy flying you've gotten to do over the years?
blusk
Aviator C
Harrison, My eyes were turning to jelly while I have been transcribing the paper to the site. Right now I am just up to where I began my airline career in 1976, so there is lots to go. When I get it done, I will be happy to share. Brian
andrew_cohen
Explorer C
Brian, Can you pass this along to corporate? I want to thank everyone at Southwest Airline for their service excellence I received the other day! Our 19 year old U.S. Marine son is on his way home from Fallujah, Iraq. My wife and I had to change our original flight made on the internet a few weeks prior to his "scheduled" return to San Diego where we are meeting him and his unit for the homecoming. Well, just days prior to his expected arrival, his schedule was changed. I immediatley called S.W. reservations at which time I informed them of the short notice change (1 day prior to departure) and our situation (we had non-refundable tickets). Well, I was pleasantly surprised when I was informed that your airline would honor the original flight cost and not charge a "change fee" to this Marine family going to see their son who was returning home from war. In addition, the customer service representative asked us to thank our son for his service to our country. Please note: other airlines have charged change fees to parents who were in our situation. In my opinion, Southwest Airlines is truely commited to service excellence and are patriots! Thank you all for being there for us during this stressful time in our lives. Loyal customers, Andrew and Janice Cohen Ellensburg, WA
r_______nato
Explorer C
when the heck are you guys gonna post the winners of the Ding! headline contest? I submitted a pretty cute limerick and I want to see if I won! Have the notices gone out to the winners yet? Is there a date by which you plan on posting the winning entries? Even if I didn't win, I would love to see what the winners wrote! Thanks for the fun blog.
Melissa1
Explorer C
Airline geek! Nice to know I'm not the only one. =D Well met, fellow geek! Going to check out Flight Memory myself...now I wish I'd kept better records. Unfortunately I was never very daring with my non-rev flights; usually just flew back and forth from PHX to my hometown.
Kevin1
Explorer C
How about answering some of those questions people asked a few weeks back?
blusk
Aviator C
Andrew and Janice, Thanks for sharing your thoughts and give a welcome home to your son. We are proud of him! I will be happy to share your thoughts with the appropriate folks. Brian
Anonymous548
Explorer A
Where has Captain Ray been hiding? I'd like to see a few new posts that follow his trips around the US, the photos are great from the flight deck perspective!
flyingphotog
Explorer B
re: the Priest and the balloons... Where's the 'Flying Nun" when you need her?
FriendofBlogBoy
Frequent Flyer B
Brian, What a cool looking website! I've explored it a bit, and I'm impressed by the thought that has gone into setting this up. My problem is that years ago when I was moving my office to my home, I threw away stacks and stacks of hundreds of those old tear-off stubs that were given to confirm Company Club and then Rapid Rewards flight credits. So, if I was going to even attempt to log mine, I'd need you to reach DEEP into the old SWA computer records, back to when Herb used to list every day's business on a yellow, lined legal pad! When you get YOURS entered, be sure and give us a peek. Kim EBB P. S. Now, if you want some REALLY impressive statistics, instead of a log of how many flights I've taken in my life, how about a log of how many little bags of Southwest peanuts I've eaten? LOL 🙂
David_Ross3
Explorer B
I've slowly but surely been adding to Flight Memory. If you care to look, my flights are at http://my.flightmemory.com/damiross As of today (4/27/08) I've entered my flights from 1971 (my earliest recorded flight) to 1987.
pthompson
Explorer A
Here's my Flight Memory stats: http://my.flightmemory.com/FlyingPhotog
Melody
Explorer C
COULD WE PLEASE KNOW WHO THE WINNERS ARE OF THE "DING CONTEST"
Randy3
Explorer C
How do I find out who won the DING Headlines contest? I see that others have asked the same question over the past few weeks, but apparently Southwest is keeping it a secret. Any clues?
Not applicable
are the ding headlines winners ever going to be posted.why wont southwest address this?This blog is being monitored by southwest?right .An official answer please.
blusk
Aviator C
Thanks for your patience. We will be running a post this week with the winning headlines. Brian