Let’s Make a Deal

Okay, kids. If you haven't already heard enough reasons to stay away from drug and alcohol abuse, let me give you one more. Leah's brother is going to begin his most recent stay in jail today for violation of parole due to drug and alcohol abuse. Regardless of what you might think of him or his actions, we all have to acknowledge that he has some serious problems and needs some serious help. Knowing that let me tell the options that the courts offered. Keep in mind that through all of this, he will have a felony drug conviction on his record making it extremely difficult for him to ever be employed again.

The courts put two options on the table: prison or rehab. Cool! He could go into rehab, kick the substance abuse habits, and become a productive member of society. Or he could just choose to serve time in prison, be released, have trouble finding a job, turn back to substance abuse, get arrested again, serve time in prison, etc., etc. Let's avoid door number two, Monty.

Oh, but for the gritty details. If he goes to prison he has to be there for 6-9 months, then he's on probation for the remainder of a 24 month sentence, and he has to pay $15/month for the entire duration. That doesn't sound like too much fun. I hear bad things happen in prison and it's not really treating the problem.

On the other hand, if he goes into rehab, he has to wait in prison for 6 months to get in, then he'll be in total lockdown (no visitors) for 9 months, then he's in a halfway house for 4 months, then he's on probation for 10 years, and he has pay $240/month for the duration of this time period. Hang on. Let me get the calculator out….that plus that…times that…carry my one…that's $33,360! Compare that to the $360 total in the first choice.

Which of these would you choose?

Even if you knew you needed rehab, which would you choose?

Is it just me, or does it seem like our justice system is trying to encourage Leah's brother to decline rehab?

Why would they do that?

Seems to me like you have to be on drugs (and actually high at the time this deal is offered) to ever choose to get help. No rational person would pay 100 times as much money and spend 6 times as long in the system just to get help.

I thought we had overcrowding in our prisons. That's probably why they'll let him out in 6 months; they don't have room for him to be in prison when all he did wrong was abuse some substances, put the public in danger, ruin his life, and stress out the rest of his family.

Most of the time, the crazy decisions that you about in the news don't seem to affect us directly, and I enjoy poking fun at the news and our government, but now that it's hitting closer to home, it's just that much more ludicrous. It seems to me that our justice system has become a lot less like justice and a lot more like a game show, but this game show is rigged.

Criminals plead their cases down so that they don't have to serve time for their crimes, and the justice system puts together deals that steers people to make decisions that are not in the best interest of the people. Don't get me wrong. I'm all about Leah's brother serving time for his crimes. I'm all about society punishing him for doing wrong. I'm not really interested in spending my tax dollars to clothe and feed him so that we can turn loose again on the streets with his only option being to turn back to substance abuse again; especially not when I know that there is a rehab program that is part of the corrections system.

Maybe I'm just naïve and the rest of you already knew that the world works this way. Maybe I just haven't lived enough to be okay with this system. Maybe I've got too much rose color in my glasses. Whatever the case, I still think this is a crazy way for our tax dollars to be spent.

She’s Home

Welcome home, Aunt Sis!

My dad's sister, Debbie, and my stepmom, Lynn, set out from Springfield, OR this past Saturday in a U-Haul loaded with all of Aunt Sis' things and pulling a trailer with her car. They suffered one blowout somewhere in CA along the way, but otherwise, I hear that the trip went well. Apparently, things went well enough for them to avoid much sleeping as they arrived earlier this afternoon in Dallas. They were nearly a full day ahead of what they originally anticipated. Right now they are all at Dad's resting and recovering from the trip, and I think we are going to give Aunt Sis a little time to get her head straightened out before we visit with the kids.

The Smeller’s the Feller

Since I never work anyway (according to some), it will be no surprise that I ran across another humorous news article today. It reminded me again of how silly our airline security rules have become, and of course, how you can underestimate the stupidity of the general public. You can find the actual article here, and you can read my commentary below.

As many of you have experienced, or read about in my blog, the rules for items that can be passed through security are becoming more and more strict. No gels, liquids, lighters, aerosols, etc. Interestingly, this article points out a hole that I'm sure will soon be plugged (pun intended) in that matches are not restricted. As a matter of fact, according to this article, you can take up to eight books of matches onto an aircraft.

Let me get this straight. I can't take hand sanitizer on board or a mostly empty tube of toothpaste. I can't take Lysol air freshener or deodorant on board. I can, however, take enough matches to burn down the entire state of Texas. Given these odd rules, is it really any surprise that when a woman passenger has to pass gas during that she would light matches to cover the odor?

Well, maybe it's a little bit of surprise since generally only guys, and more specifically drunk, frat guys, try to light their farts, but what else was she supposed to do? The gas needed masking, and since the passengers had no gas masks, all you can do is light up. Heaven knows that matches are far safer than hand sanitizer. After all, they were safety matches. There's no safety in hand sanitizer. That stuff is a killer….of germs. And we sure don't want her to have any air freshener. That stuff could explode. A fire contained in a tube of metal roughly 6.5 miles above the surface of the earth, hurtling through the air at 550 mph is at least contained. Geez.

I'm wondering if the no smoking sign was off during this exercise, or if she's going to get in trouble for that. The article says that she has already been released (thank God. I don't think anyone could take any more releasing from her) and that she's not going to be charged. She apparently broke no rules; just wind. I guess that means that it was a smoking flight.

The other thing that I wonder is why they had to land the plane, deplane everyone, conduct an investigation, and interview passengers before they determined that this lady had been lighting matches. They say that there were 99 passengers, so the plane was probably fairly full. No one noticed those bright flares of light and thunderous roars of gas from her seat? Or did they think it was just part of the show?

All I'm saying is that as a result of this, not only will matches be banned, but they'll probably figure a way to make sure that we can't fart in mid-air either for fear that a crafty terrorist would ignite the gas with the spark of someone's seat belt and then use the plane as a flaming rocket to rain death and destruction on the infidel hoards. They'll probably have to install sniffers in every airport to conduct a Flatulent Attack Response Test (we'll call it the FART system) before allowing you to board. Next to go will be all of the fast food restaurants inside the secured areas of the airport because once you're past the sniffer, you can't be allowed to introduce anything that your body could convert into explosive materials. It stinks, but this article really doesn't bode well for McDonalds.

Fallout

As usual, the network hyped this as the biggest show of the season, and it turned out to be ho-hum. I've almost gotten to a point that I don't want to see the "scenes from next week" or any ads for my favorite shows for fear that it will ruin the experience as my expectations are dashed on the rocky shores of reality. The writers/producers/director/someone just tried to cram a little bit too much into this episode and ended up with not enough of anything substantial. It wasn't that it was a bad episode, per se, it was just not great. Read below for more:

Claire told her dad, Mr. Bennett, about her ability to heal, and Mr. Bennett revealed to Claire that he already knew. Cryptically, he revealed to her that he's "done things he's not proud of" to protect her, and that there are "others" out there that want to hurt her. Obviously, Sylar is on that list of others, but is he implying that there are more people like Sylar that are after the Heroes? And who the heck does Mr. Bennett work for? Regardless, once Claire told Mr. Bennett about her abilities he sent the Haitian out to erase the memories of those that knew. Interestingly, we found out in that process that the Haitian really can talk and that her mother may be dotty simply because her mind's been erased repeatedly. But what is it that the Haitian wants Claire to remember? Maybe in the next episode we'll find out.

Mr. Bennett has dropped hints in the past that he reports to someone else, and this week that was made resoundingly clear as he had to submit to someone else's authority in the handling of Sylar (not named directly in the conversation but strongly implied). I'd like to find out more about his true employers as they were already ahead of Chandra in identifying the Heroes when Chandra first started looking. How did they know? And what are they after? They appear to have helped Isaac, Eden, Matt, and Ted. We don't know what they would have done to Nathan, and we don't know exactly what they want to do with Sylar. It's still a bit ambiguous.

Interestingly, Mr. Bennett was extremely confident that Sylar's powers were blocked while he was in that room, but Sylar was still able to pull Eden through the glass. This begs for explanation, and the best that I can come up with is that the Haitian was actually blocking Sylar's power while Mr. Bennett was there, but that no such protection was available for Eden. That still leaves the question, though, of why Eden was able to "push" Sylar outside of the school and prevent him from attacking her, but she was unable to do the same when she told him to shoot himself. We know that the Haitian was present with Eden when Sylar was captured, so perhaps he was more of a factor than Eden realized. It's just not clear.

Before Eden shot herself (presumably so that Sylar couldn't steal her power), she left Isaac with a cell phone and access card. I said before that this group of Mr. Bennett's appears to have helped Isaac and the others, but he still had to escape from the compound. Interesting. Will Mr. Bennett and the Haitian be in pursuit in the next episode, or will they just let him go? And did anyone else notice that the painting of the fiery man was prominently displayed in this episode?

As for Isaac, he's finally learned that he can use his power without the drugs. No more awkward "Just Say No" commercial spots for NBC. I liked the tie-in with Hiro's comment in the last episode about going back too far and becoming lunch for a T-Rex. Now, Hiro just has to find that sword, but I don't see how it will necessarily help him against a dinosaur. I wonder if the sword will be a family heirloom or something. It's been reported in TV Guide that George Takei (Sulu on Star Trek) is cast to play Hiro's father in an upcoming episode. So, it will be cool if part of that episode (arc?) is the passing on of a samurai sword.

Other than the escape of Isaac and his new painting, Hiro and Ando, were relegated to the back seat for most of this episode. They still get some of the best lines, though, like when Isaac calls to meet them, Hiro comments that it's Destiny calling, and Ando replies, "I wish Destiny would lose our number." That's classic!

During all of this, Peter is sitting in a holding cell while Nathan and his lawyers wrangle to get him released. Now, I think Peter is a classic good guy with a heart of gold, but the boy doesn't have all of his candles lit. This is the third episode where he's surmised that he can take on the powers of those around him, and he's still talking like he's not really sure. I think we need to see him in at a Mensa party so he can take on some intelligence and get past the whole, "Whoa, dude! I feel just like, Neo, when he found out the world wasn't real," act. He's channeling a little too much Keanu for me lately.

Of course, my predictions were correct. Nathan did come down to bail Peter out and Matt came to investigate the Sylar murder. Now, Peter, Nathan, Matt, Claire, Eden, Sylar, Hiro, Isaac, and the Haitian are in the same town. Kind of a convenient way to put them all together, but hey, it's TV. Now for another prediction: Peter will come into contact with Ted and won't be able to control the power. That's what is going to cause Peter to go nuclear. The way to stop it is for Nathan to grab him and fly him away from Ted so that he can get himself back under control. Before all of that, though, we'll need to understand more about what's going on with Peter. I loved the scene between him and Matt while they are reading each other's minds. That was pretty funny. After that scene, though, Peter started looking more and more sickly and he developed a cough. I thought that sitting with Claire might have healed him, but it didn't seem to do any good. Anyone else wondering if the drugs that Matt gave him had some kind of adverse effect on him?

Finally, Niki/Jessica shot D.L. in the shoulder. Having been shot, D.L. was warned enough to be able to allow the second shot to pass through his head. That was a pretty cool special effect. So, D.L. and Micah ran, which I'd have done in the same situation. Niki/Jessica had an argument with herself. The three of them met up again. Jessica hurled Micah into some rocks. Niki came back out and said, "Micah, it's me. Mom." Or something like that, and then they turned into the Cleavers. What a load of crap!

From D.L.'s perspective, his wife has gone completely insane. She's cracked, and her secondary personality is a homicidal maniac that not only wants him dead has actually tried to complete the task by shooting him. From Micah's perspective, his mother is nutty and sometimes she's just mean. Most recently, the mean side fooled him into taking her to D.L. by saying that she was his mother, and the next thing he knows she trying to shoot his dad again and throws him several yards into a pile of rocks. It's completely believable, then, that when Niki comes back out to play and says, "I'm your mother," that Micah is going to believe her. He's never been fooled by that before. Well, except for that time 2 minutes ago just before she tried to kill D.L., and of course, D.L. is going to believe her because the way she says those words makes him forget about the roomful of murdered criminals, the stolen money that she took, the fact that she framed him for crimes she committed, and the danger of her snapping again; she's just so hot when she says that! Guys might be simple, but give me a break. That whole storyline is getting to be pretty ridiculous, and if it weren't for the fact that she really is hot, I'd probably have already started calling for us to vote her off the island.

Now we get a nice long break for the holidays to ponder over what will come next. Until then.

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

Anyone else love the movie Planes, Trains, and Automobiles as much as I? Probably, since most of us share the same twisted sense of humor. Along those lines, though, I feel like I have now lived a few scenes from that movie.

As many of you know, Dallas received a winter storm last Thursday and Friday. At the same time, I was scheduled to fly to and from Greensboro, North Carolina. My flight on Thursday was scheduled to leave at 6:45am, so I contacted American when I woke at 4am to see if things were still on schedule. They were. After finishing my packing and getting dressed, I headed out into the weather. The storm had not arrived, by then, though, so the roads were in good shape and traffic was minimal. Yes, there's even traffic in the wee hours of a Dallas morning.

Once at the airport, I got checked-in and on the plane with no issues, but we were delayed for take-off. We were made to idle on the de-icing pad for about 45 minutes since the temperature was dropping. They didn't want us picking up any ice on takeoff as we went through the clouds. It took 45 minutes for that process, though, because once the truck finished the plane next to us, they got our left wing done and drove off. The pilot announced over the intercom that the truck had apparently run out of gas and needed to go refuel before they could finish prepping our aircraft. Needless to say, I was about an hour late landing in Greensboro, and my colleagues who flew in after me were about the same margin late as well. We were still in time for our meetings, though, so everything still worked out fine.

The next afternoon, we returned to the Greensboro airport for our return flights. We all checked-in at the same time even though my flight was about 4 hours later than my colleagues. Since there's nothing to do in Greensboro, I was just going to hang out at the airport and watch a movie or play a video game on my PSP. We had to get through the security checkpoint first, though.

I and one of my coworkers made it through with no issues. No such luck for our other travel partner. She was flagged for closer inspection, and as they started rummaging through her purse, they came across hand sanitizer. She was busted for attempting to sneak contraband past security. The germs on that plane have a right to life, and she certainly can't be allowed to bring such a dangerous weapon aboard. It could kill millions….of germs.

The TSA inspector told my coworker that she could take the sanitizer if she could put it in a Ziploc bag. It just so happened that my other coworker had such a bag that she had used to bring her own liquids and gels through security, and since we were standing right there she asked if the hand sanitizer could be in her bag. The TSA inspector said that was okay and handed the sanitizer to my coworker. The inspector never one checked to see if the gel was placed into the bag. She never once asked for the bag to be sent back through screening. She never once thought about it again, and my coworker literally just held the bottle of hand sanitizer in her hand until the inspector was done. Once everything was cleared, she just handed the sanitizer back and it went right back into the purse it had been removed from. Boy, I feel safer now that I know how easy it is get liquids and gels past security.

After all of that, my coworkers were nearly late for their flight, but they managed to get on board just in time. About 10 minutes after their plane left the gate, though, is when my story really began to unfold. An announcement was made throughout the airport for everyone already checked-in for flight xxxx to return to the American ticket counter. Since that was my flight, I headed back to the unsecured section of the airport and the ticket counter.

There were about 5 of us already at the airport and checked-in and we all stood around the counter to hear the news that our flight had just been cancelled. Then the next 45 minutes was spent working with an agent to find any flight with available seating so that we could be rerouted. It was like a bad Christmas movie, or a dull episode of "The Amazing Race." A flight was found from Raleigh, NC that was direct to DFW, but that would require driving. The pregnant lady next to me offered to drive, and I briefly considered the offer. I held out for a better deal, though.

As it turned out there were two Northwest Airlines flights leaving from Greensboro soon that could connect to DFW. One through Memphis and the other through Detroit. I asked the ticketing agent which city had the best odds of clear weather, and she said it was Detroit since Memphis was receiving snow at that very moment. My decision was made. Fly to Detroit with an hour layover then direct to DFW. I would be on the ground by 9pm and home by 10pm. Things didn't work out quite so easily, though.

My flight to Detroit was in a sardine can with four seats across. Two on either side of the aisle. I think the plane was originally designed to only have one seat on either side of the aisle, so we were all nearly sitting in each other's laps with the roof looming only an inch or so above our heads. It was cramped. It wasn't a prop plane, but it was only one step up from one. Add to that the weather that we flew through, so there was a lot of turbulence. Add to that the fact that the pilot couldn't seem to make up his mind whether he wanted to be above, below, or in the clouds. Add to that the fact that the pilot couldn't decide how fast he wanted to fly. Add to that the fact that the guy sitting next to me was trying to get home to Oak Lawn (that's where Boy George would live if he were a DFW resident) and just wanted a "hand to hold." (this request was not accommodated) And then put a screaming 2 year old right on the top. The perfect way to start my trip home.

It got better, though, as we started to descend into Detroit, I realized that we were going to be landing about an hour late, and I only had a little over an hour layover scheduled in Detroit. The flight attendant assured me that every flight in America was at least an hour late, so there would certainly not be an issue with me catching my connecting flight. The flight attendant was incorrect. We landed at gate E6 and I checked with the agent at the end of the gangway and she informed me that my connecting flight was leaving from A71, it was on time, and that I had just 10 minutes to get there. When I inquired as to the fastest way to get there, I learned that the Detroit airport does not have a tram system to connect gates and terminals quickly. She said simply, "Run."

Run I did. All the way. With my laptop in my backpack. I ran around kids, old people, up escalators, down escalators, through a tunnel, across moving sidewalks. Finally, out of breath, I arrived at A71 with less than five minutes to spare. The agent told me that they were just getting ready to close the doors and that I had made it just in time. I told her that I had left a few others behind, so she might want to wait a little bit longer.

Thankfully, this flight was 3 large seats each on either side of the aisle, and I only had one other person sitting my three section of the row. We split the seat between us and had plenty of room to stretch out. The wind, though, was horrific. During takeoff, I swear the plane yawed sideways. The pilot did a great job keeping it level, and we were soon to a smooth cruising altitude all the way to DFW.

Our landing at DFW was little later than they anticipated. I was on the ground at about 9:30pm, and then I had to wait on luggage, the tram to terminal B, and find my truck again. After all that and my drive home, it was about 10:45pm. Not as good as my original plan, but it was better than spending the night on an airplane or in an airport.