WWTBAM Bored

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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