The short flight that wasn't

The other day I was flying from Denver to Nashville to attend a conference with our Federal sales team when things went a little wrong. After a smooth flight over from San Francisco (at 5:55 am Ugh) I made it to my gate with plenty of time. This leg of the flight was on a regional jet which is usually fine.

We boarded on time, closed the door and look ready to go when…we were told we were delayed by at least 15 minutes. 15 minutes turned into 45 and we still had no answer.

Finally the person in front of me asked and was told “someone in the back had what was described as a “deeply personal” problem”.

It turned out that someone had an "incontinence" problem and there were several seats and the bathroom in the back of the small plane that were not usable.

It took them more than 2 hours to fix the problem!

So my short 2 hour flight ended up taking more than 4 hours!!!

Happy Anniversary Mom Mom & Pop Pop

Last week my grandparents, Hugh and Mildred Falconer, celebrated their 67th wedding anniversary and I want to wish them a hearty (and slightly belated) Happy Anniversary!!!

What an amazing achievement! I wanted to let them know that even though we gave them a 59 year head start Melissa and I hope we are celebrating our 67th someday.

I Love You - John

Upgrades - harder to come by but more worth it than ever

I've been making a few work related trips lately (hence the lack of posts) but now have a little time before I am back out on the road. On one of my recent trips to NYC I was taking a red-eye in order to minimize time away from home (awwww) and put in for an upgrade. It has been quite some time since I was able to get an upgrade I think because I generally fly out of San Francisco and there are so many frequent flyer's there that I am always at the bottom of the upgrade list despite my premier executive status.

Anyway it was a grim site when I arrived as the upgrade board showed me as 6th on the list with just 40 minutes to go. As they called boarding and cleared off the final few upgrades I resigned myself to make the most out of my regular seat.

As I passed the boarding agent they called out my name and I was made the last upgrade! This was doubly sweet because of the red-eye and my need to get some sleep.

The seats themselves are better than ever, reclining further with softer leather. But one of the real nice things was that instead of a regular blanket they actually gave me a full down-filled duvet and pillow! Talk about catering to sleep! Plus you don't have to pay for any of the food or drink which is an additional bonus.

Needless to say I was able to get some sleep thankfully.

No wonder I am rarely able to get an upgrade.

Sports Fans Dream Month

October has to be considered heaven on earth for any "sports for sports sake" fan. There is a veritable smorgasbord of games available including pro-football mid-season (how bout those browns?), ice hockey, major league soccer, the NBA, college football (Hook 'Em Horns!) and of course the baseball playoffs!

It is definitely times like this when I wish I had more time because I could certainly step up to the sports buffet on a Saturday morning and not get up until, um, the following Saturday and watch, discuss, prognosticate, predict, ponder and watch more sports. Yes I am a sports for sports sake kinda guy (just ask Melissa about Australian TV options)

Alas, I get precious little time to watch and have to focus in on just the most important (to me) sports at this time of year which happens to be, you guessed it, college football.

Happy Birthday Melissa!!

Today is Melissa's birthday (she is turning 29 again if you must know) and so we wish her a very happy day!

The kids started her day off right by coming in un-prompted to wish her a happy birthday with kisses and hugs in bed. Later the gave her homemade birthday cards (made on recycled paper no less).

Tonight we will all go out for a family dinner at one of our favorite local restaurants.

Happy Birthday Melissa!!

Welcome Rain!!!

Last night I woke up to the first rain of the fall here in Northern California. It was a nice medium downpour that lasted for several hours giving the ground a nice soaking and washing the dust off of everything.

Having lived most of my life on the east coast I still haven't gotten used to the idea that after late April or May we don't see a drop of rain here in the Bay Area all summer. None, not a sprinkle, drizzle, shower~ nothing! Where I grew up we would get awesome summer thunder storms which roll through at all hours and can have window rattling thunder and house illuminating lighting so I may never get totally used to the dry summers. It is extremely convenient for camping I must admit.

The rain issues in another winter time phenomenon here too which is the greening of the hills in the east bay. Unlike other places I have lived which turn brown in the winter the rain bring life to the grasses of the hills turning them a deep green after spending the summer golden brown.

We always welcome the arrival of rains, it is a nice change and gives the kids a chance to go out and splash in the puddles.

I am also glad that I was able to give the window sills a much needed paint job last weekend, protecting them from the winter rains.

Ryan Get's a Blog

As any self respecting 21st century new-age parent does now a days my friend Darren has created a blog to record his experiences as a new father.

In the early days of parenting it is very hard to find the time to do anything but feed, burp, change and sleep but he is already off and running with the blog including some nice pictures.

I've been reading Darren's work related blog for some time and he is very good and thoughtful so I expect this will be a great read (no pressure Darren!).

We can all follow along here: http://ryanlicunningham.blogspot.com/