3 posts tagged “atlanta”
Obi-Wan, perhaps it's time to cut back on the bantha-burgers.
Couldn't begin to guess what sci-fi series she came from, but the episode was entitled: "Maisie Discovers Her Sister's Corset Has Unexpected Buoyancy Properties."
Obligatory middle-age Star Trek geeks, trying to summon up the Klingon word for "Bad Hair Day."
Full disclosure: I own a $400 Captain Picard jacket. But Atlanta, in August, wearing suede leather? With no pockets? The jacket stayed home, and I wore a 10-year-old "Trouble With Tribbles" T-shirt. And no one wrote pithy captions about my attire, either.
Seen at Dragoncom in Atlanta, Ga., this recent weekend: people who make my casual preoccupation with Star Trek seem positively pointless:
I wasn't there the day they issued short-sleeve Star Trek uniforms. These guys -- who may still be searching for their starship -- ought to know by now, the old Klingon adage: "It is very cold ... in space." Bring a sweater, ensign.
Airtran. Cheap U.S. airline. And I've figured out where they make money. They don't fix things 'til they break. Maintenance is a sign on a door, not what they actually do.
On our first Airtran flight, two years ago, we were literally 12 feet off the ground when one of the engines blew. I mean, POW, and the pilot settled the big plane down on the tarmac in Atlanta. No injuries, but it was a bit surprising. Never had a rubber band blow out on take off before.
Last night, they squeeze us into a Boeing jet for the late flight out of Atlanta. I press the button for the overhead light. Nothing happens. Dead bulb. I reach up, unscrew the lamp housing, remove the bulb, and ask for a new bulb. I am a writer -- but I do know how to change a lightbulb.
You would think I poured sand into the engines. "Don't ever do that again," the flight Nazi-ette admonished. No spare bulbs, of course. Maintenance would have to fix it after we landed.
Hey, Airtran: Maintenance means you service the plane BEFORE it takes off. Little things, like engines. Comfort things, like light bulbs so I can read my book in the effin' dark. Don't ask the passengers to help you clean up the cabin on arrival if you can't bother to maintain the damn airplanes yourself.
Oh, and here's a freebie for the Sky Marshal's Textbook: opening that little lamp housing took no special tools at all. Fingertips, that's all. And with the bulb removed, I had easy access to the aircraft's ELECTRICAL SYSTEM. I'm no McGyver, but it wouldn't take a shoe bomber to monkey around with it. A Bic pen would probably do it.
