Sometimes traveling for work sucks

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BackInTex
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Sometimes traveling for work sucks

#1 Post by BackInTex » Thu Apr 18, 2024 8:37 pm

I was supposed to fly back to DFW tonight, from Minneapolis via Denver, and get in around midnight. Then I have an hour or so drive home. But my connecting flight is late arriving, an hour late, so now i won't get back to DFW until 1:00 AM, IF the pilots haven't timed out, so home around 2:00 AM.

The good news is I treated myself to a United Club Card this year that gives me access to the United Clubs. So, I get to spend the 3 hours in the Denver airport in what I think are United's best club's (renoveated last year). Free food, free drinks, absolutely wonderful chocolate chip cookies. :)

Yeah, the card costs a boatload per year, but the inital year I get 80,000 frequent flyer miles which I calculated are worth 2 to 2 1/2 years of fees. So we'll see if I continue with the card after year 2.

Last year my boss paid for my United Club membership, but he retired and I now work for a much younger guy who seems to be a bit tighter on the spend. I didn't ask him, maybe I should have. I might after this year.
..what country can preserve it’s liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? let them take arms.
~~ Thomas Jefferson

War is where the government tells you who the bad guy is.
Revolution is when you decide that for yourself.
-- Benjamin Franklin (maybe)

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Bob Juch
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Re: Sometimes traveling for work sucks

#2 Post by Bob Juch » Fri Apr 19, 2024 10:17 am

I start a new contract with the Illinois Secretary of State next week. I have to fly to Springfield on Monday and back home on Friday. Fortunately, American Airlines has a nonstop flight to O'Hare, which connects to the flight to Springfield. No other airline has a nonstop flight to Chicago.

The only downside is that it departs Tucson at 6:10 AM. After next week, I'll be working from home.
I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.
- Douglas Adams (1952 - 2001)

Si fractum non sit, noli id reficere.

Teach a child to be polite and courteous in the home and, when he grows up, he'll never be able to drive in New Jersey.

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BackInTex
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Re: Sometimes traveling for work sucks

#3 Post by BackInTex » Fri Apr 19, 2024 11:20 am

Bob Juch wrote:
Fri Apr 19, 2024 10:17 am
I start a new contract with the Illinois Secretary of State next week. I have to fly to Springfield on Monday and back home on Friday. Fortunately, American Airlines has a nonstop flight to O'Hare, which connects to the flight to Springfield. No other airline has a nonstop flight to Chicago.

The only downside is that it departs Tucson at 6:10 AM. After next week, I'll be working from home.
United flys direct to ORD from Tuscon, but they don't go to Springfield.

I could fly direct to and from Minneapolis on American or Delta. I really don't like American, but it is the only hub airline at DFW, so I choose two legs on United for most places. I did take Amercain to Phoenix a month ago because the two legs on United were more expensive and the time differential didn't work for me at all that week. It wasn't bad but not having status once you've had it is hard to swallow....middle seats, last to board, pay for your checked bags, etc.

Delta really only benefits me if I fly to Minneapolis (one of their hubs) as there hubs are really anwhere I usually fly. I do fly to San Fran and Denver a lot so those being United hubs are nice.
..what country can preserve it’s liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? let them take arms.
~~ Thomas Jefferson

War is where the government tells you who the bad guy is.
Revolution is when you decide that for yourself.
-- Benjamin Franklin (maybe)

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Bob Juch
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Re: Sometimes traveling for work sucks

#4 Post by Bob Juch » Fri Apr 19, 2024 12:02 pm

BackInTex wrote:
Fri Apr 19, 2024 11:20 am
Bob Juch wrote:
Fri Apr 19, 2024 10:17 am
I start a new contract with the Illinois Secretary of State next week. I have to fly to Springfield on Monday and back home on Friday. Fortunately, American Airlines has a nonstop flight to O'Hare, which connects to the flight to Springfield. No other airline has a nonstop flight to Chicago.

The only downside is that it departs Tucson at 6:10 AM. After next week, I'll be working from home.
United flys direct to ORD from Tuscon, but they don't go to Springfield.

I could fly direct to and from Minneapolis on American or Delta. I really don't like American, but it is the only hub airline at DFW, so I choose two legs on United for most places. I did take Amercain to Phoenix a month ago because the two legs on United were more expensive and the time differential didn't work for me at all that week. It wasn't bad but not having status once you've had it is hard to swallow....middle seats, last to board, pay for your checked bags, etc.

Delta really only benefits me if I fly to Minneapolis (one of their hubs) as there hubs are really anwhere I usually fly. I do fly to San Fran and Denver a lot so those being United hubs are nice.
United uses an Embraer to Chicago from here. No, thank you; I don't fit in their seats.

The only jobs I've had where I had to fly a lot were when I worked for the Postal Service in the 1970s and on a DoD contract where I had to fly from Boise to Denver and back every week for six months in the 1990s. All the crisscrossing the country I did in the 1990s to get ready for Y2K was in my autos.

I really hate flying, but I flew to Las Vegas and southern California with my wife and daughter because they didn't want to drive.
I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.
- Douglas Adams (1952 - 2001)

Si fractum non sit, noli id reficere.

Teach a child to be polite and courteous in the home and, when he grows up, he'll never be able to drive in New Jersey.

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mrkelley23
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Re: Sometimes traveling for work sucks

#5 Post by mrkelley23 » Sat Apr 20, 2024 4:22 am

Bob Juch wrote:
Fri Apr 19, 2024 10:17 am
I start a new contract with the Illinois Secretary of State next week. I have to fly to Springfield on Monday and back home on Friday. Fortunately, American Airlines has a nonstop flight to O'Hare, which connects to the flight to Springfield. No other airline has a nonstop flight to Chicago.

The only downside is that it departs Tucson at 6:10 AM. After next week, I'll be working from home.
I don't know if the timing is right, but Springfield is going to be one of the exciting places to be for the cicada emergence this year.
For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled. -- Richard Feynman

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Bob Juch
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Re: Sometimes traveling for work sucks

#6 Post by Bob Juch » Sat Apr 20, 2024 10:15 am

mrkelley23 wrote:
Sat Apr 20, 2024 4:22 am
Bob Juch wrote:
Fri Apr 19, 2024 10:17 am
I start a new contract with the Illinois Secretary of State next week. I have to fly to Springfield on Monday and back home on Friday. Fortunately, American Airlines has a nonstop flight to O'Hare, which connects to the flight to Springfield. No other airline has a nonstop flight to Chicago.

The only downside is that it departs Tucson at 6:10 AM. After next week, I'll be working from home.
I don't know if the timing is right, but Springfield is going to be one of the exciting places to be for the cicada emergence this year.
I was in Nashville when they had a double emergence in 2011. The sidewalks were inches deep in them.
I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.
- Douglas Adams (1952 - 2001)

Si fractum non sit, noli id reficere.

Teach a child to be polite and courteous in the home and, when he grows up, he'll never be able to drive in New Jersey.

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mrkelley23
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Re: Sometimes traveling for work sucks

#7 Post by mrkelley23 » Sun Apr 21, 2024 5:54 am

Bob Juch wrote:
Sat Apr 20, 2024 10:15 am
mrkelley23 wrote:
Sat Apr 20, 2024 4:22 am
Bob Juch wrote:
Fri Apr 19, 2024 10:17 am
I start a new contract with the Illinois Secretary of State next week. I have to fly to Springfield on Monday and back home on Friday. Fortunately, American Airlines has a nonstop flight to O'Hare, which connects to the flight to Springfield. No other airline has a nonstop flight to Chicago.

The only downside is that it departs Tucson at 6:10 AM. After next week, I'll be working from home.
I don't know if the timing is right, but Springfield is going to be one of the exciting places to be for the cicada emergence this year.
I was in Nashville when they had a double emergence in 2011. The sidewalks were inches deep in them.
As far as I can tell, the 2011 emergence was just Brood XIX. Double emergences are extremely rare, since the most common periodical cicadas have 13 and 17 year cycles, and those don't overlap very often. The last documented one I can find evidence of was in the 19th century. Additionally, the two broods occupy different areas of the country. So the reason Springfield is so important this year (and probably annoying for residents) is because they may be the closest city to both swarms, as the map in the article I linked shows.
For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled. -- Richard Feynman

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tlynn78
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Re: Sometimes traveling for work sucks

#8 Post by tlynn78 » Sun Apr 21, 2024 9:33 am

Bob Juch wrote:
Sat Apr 20, 2024 10:15 am
mrkelley23 wrote:
Sat Apr 20, 2024 4:22 am
Bob Juch wrote:
Fri Apr 19, 2024 10:17 am
I start a new contract with the Illinois Secretary of State next week. I have to fly to Springfield on Monday and back home on Friday. Fortunately, American Airlines has a nonstop flight to O'Hare, which connects to the flight to Springfield. No other airline has a nonstop flight to Chicago.

The only downside is that it departs Tucson at 6:10 AM. After next week, I'll be working from home.
I don't know if the timing is right, but Springfield is going to be one of the exciting places to be for the cicada emergence this year.
I was in Nashville when they had a double emergence in 2011. The sidewalks were inches deep in them.
As that apparently would have been a singular emergence of the XIX variety, I'm glad I live in Montana during the double emergence.
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Re: Sometimes traveling for work sucks

#9 Post by Bob Juch » Sun Apr 21, 2024 4:11 pm

mrkelley23 wrote:
Sun Apr 21, 2024 5:54 am
Bob Juch wrote:
Sat Apr 20, 2024 10:15 am
mrkelley23 wrote:
Sat Apr 20, 2024 4:22 am


I don't know if the timing is right, but Springfield is going to be one of the exciting places to be for the cicada emergence this year.
I was in Nashville when they had a double emergence in 2011. The sidewalks were inches deep in them.
As far as I can tell, the 2011 emergence was just Brood XIX. Double emergences are extremely rare, since the most common periodical cicadas have 13 and 17 year cycles, and those don't overlap very often. The last documented one I can find evidence of was in the 19th century. Additionally, the two broods occupy different areas of the country. So the reason Springfield is so important this year (and probably annoying for residents) is because they may be the closest city to both swarms, as the map in the article I linked shows.
Well, huh! I misremembered they made a big deal about it being a double.

They are going to get one this year, though: the 17-year Brood XIII and the 13-year Brood XIX.
I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.
- Douglas Adams (1952 - 2001)

Si fractum non sit, noli id reficere.

Teach a child to be polite and courteous in the home and, when he grows up, he'll never be able to drive in New Jersey.

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mrkelley23
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Re: Sometimes traveling for work sucks

#10 Post by mrkelley23 » Sun Apr 21, 2024 8:56 pm

Bob Juch wrote:
Sun Apr 21, 2024 4:11 pm
mrkelley23 wrote:
Sun Apr 21, 2024 5:54 am
Bob Juch wrote:
Sat Apr 20, 2024 10:15 am


I was in Nashville when they had a double emergence in 2011. The sidewalks were inches deep in them.
As far as I can tell, the 2011 emergence was just Brood XIX. Double emergences are extremely rare, since the most common periodical cicadas have 13 and 17 year cycles, and those don't overlap very often. The last documented one I can find evidence of was in the 19th century. Additionally, the two broods occupy different areas of the country. So the reason Springfield is so important this year (and probably annoying for residents) is because they may be the closest city to both swarms, as the map in the article I linked shows.
Well, huh! I misremembered they made a big deal about it being a double.

They are going to get one this year, though: the 17-year Brood XIII and the 13-year Brood XIX.
Again, if you will look at the map attached to the article I posted, Nashville is only going to see one brood, because cicadas are confined to one area of the country or another. That doesn't mean they aren't going to get a sh*t-ton of cicadas; it just means that they will all be from brood XIX. Brood XIII inhabits much more northerly climes. Springfield is unique in that it lies very close to geographic borders for both broods, so residents of that place might actually see cicadas from both broods.
For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled. -- Richard Feynman

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Re: Sometimes traveling for work sucks

#11 Post by Bob Juch » Mon Apr 22, 2024 2:01 am

mrkelley23 wrote:
Sun Apr 21, 2024 8:56 pm
Bob Juch wrote:
Sun Apr 21, 2024 4:11 pm
mrkelley23 wrote:
Sun Apr 21, 2024 5:54 am


As far as I can tell, the 2011 emergence was just Brood XIX. Double emergences are extremely rare, since the most common periodical cicadas have 13 and 17 year cycles, and those don't overlap very often. The last documented one I can find evidence of was in the 19th century. Additionally, the two broods occupy different areas of the country. So the reason Springfield is so important this year (and probably annoying for residents) is because they may be the closest city to both swarms, as the map in the article I linked shows.
Well, huh! I misremembered they made a big deal about it being a double.

They are going to get one this year, though: the 17-year Brood XIII and the 13-year Brood XIX.
Again, if you will look at the map attached to the article I posted, Nashville is only going to see one brood, because cicadas are confined to one area of the country or another. That doesn't mean they aren't going to get a sh*t-ton of cicadas; it just means that they will all be from brood XIX. Brood XIII inhabits much more northerly climes. Springfield is unique in that it lies very close to geographic borders for both broods, so residents of that place might actually see cicadas from both broods.
Okay, I read bad sources.

https://www.nbcnews.com/science/science ... rcna146622
I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.
- Douglas Adams (1952 - 2001)

Si fractum non sit, noli id reficere.

Teach a child to be polite and courteous in the home and, when he grows up, he'll never be able to drive in New Jersey.

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