After about a hundred flights or so, I finally got bumped to first class.
52 thoughts on “February 9, 2017: Bumped”
Did we also bump back a month?
Yesterday when I was logging off to head home, I noticed a Chrome like symbol out of the corner of my eye. This morning I confirmed that our laptops were updated to include Chrome so I no longer have to use an outdated version of IE at work anymore! Easily the best thing that's happened to me this week.
AMR, saw a squadron of really pretty gliders pass overhead this morning. Thin and graceful with a distinct "W" wing shape, black and some with white underbelly while others instead with a bit of red up front. I think they were frigate birds.
Also just saw our first really colorful birds while here: an Altamira Oriole and maybe a first year (? It was a dull yellow coloration and hung with the other)
Sounds right. Unlike the migratory northern Orioles, southern orioles show no sexual dimorphism, so first-year would be right
I don't know what habitats they're found in, but if you want color, you need to find some Tanagers and Euphonias.
Giant gliders? IIRC, Frigatebirds have the highest wingspan-to-weight ratio of any bird. Something like if a Herring Gull had the wings of a White Pelican.
Your description matches well, but you didn't mention the long forked tails.
I believe the Idenitification of Frigatebirds to species can be very difficult, but on the Caribbean, you only expect Magnificents.
I did see online photos of the forked tails, but I also saw them pictured as a single tail as well; none of these forked at any time. They were so smooth though -- if they'd had string tied to them I wouldn't think twice that they were kites.
I have learned a new swear phrase: "Western one-coat".
apparently, the entire southern face of our house will need to be re-stuccoed, with all the windows replaced. Contractor dude in yesterday to give estimate on window replacement identified the problem pretty quickly and said "call your insurance company. This is a stucco problem, not a window problem."
w00t.
I've never used my homeowners insurance but have a fear of using it based on horror stories of getting huge rate increases or being dropped entirely. Curious to hear how your claim (and any fallout) goes.
We started the process of filing a claim on our old house soon after we bought it, but it quickly became obvious it wasn't something that was covered. (We thought there was a leak in the roof; turned out it was an uncapped exhaust vent.) Even though we didn't actually file a claim, insurance company counted it as a claim. When we tried to change insurance companies two years later in hopes of finding a better rate, the new company wouldn't take us on because we had "a claim" too recently, and told us we would have to wait three more years before we could switch. No me gusta.
If that happened to me, I might riot. (never had to file a claim)
When we had issues with medical insurance claims not being properly processed, we brought it to the attention of the state Insurance Commissioner's office and miraculously, a resolution was made soon after. Not sure if this is still impacting you or if you tried that already, but it could be worth a shot.
That's a good idea. It's a moot point now anyway, since it was far enough back that the waiting period has passed anyway. I also haven't price-checked insurance since that time, so I have no idea whether or not it would be worth us switching. I should probably do that again at some point.
Twenty years ago today... Poochie joined the Itchy and Scratchy Show.
(The Sherry Bobbins episode initially aired midweek)
(h/t Chris Jaffe)
I just learned that he says "Half Joe Camel" and not Joe Cool.
On the topic of air travel, you know what would be really great? If the airlines would stop sending a survey after every d@mn flight. I don't even fly that often, but ugh . . .
unrelated: the typeface looks different to me too now. It was fine from home last night.
One word: Southwest
Yes, I see it too. I am blaming Google Fonts at this point because it's affecting multiple locations and browsers.
Weird. I see it now, but didn't earlier this morning.
The typeface appears to be back to normal. If it's a problem again, I have the files and can do some work to use those instead of Google's.
It's not just the airlines. These days you can't do anything without being asked to fill out a survey. Banks, websites, apps, anything with a call center (stay on the phone to complete a short...), etc. It's obnoxious. I get especially testy about the whole idea that they are going to compensate me by putting me in a lottery for something. I'll fill out a survey if they are going to pay me.
Every visit at Park Nicollet they mail out a huge survey in addition to sending a survey text question. I'm happy to respond to the text. Not filling out a long-ass form unless I'm really unhappy.
I just took a survey after dealing with the hospital's billing department. The guy did a great job so I agreed to do it, but he made sure I knew that it is a five-point scale but anything 4 or lower is considered bad. Why have a five-point scale (where four represents "satisfied") if it is actually a binary pass/fail?
Yeah. People are funny. I remember in high school debate the points judges could give were 20-30. However, judges were strongly encouraged never to give any score lower than a 25, and you could be censored if you did it too often. So essentially it was a 6 point scale.
It's obnoxious.
Completely agree. Companies must get something useful out of this nonstop surveying, but I don't have a clue what it is.
If you believe that your surveys are giving you an accurate assessment of customer satisfaction, then I can see the value in the surveys--a lot of the time you are essentially just crowd-sourcing a large part of your employee evaluation process. Or if not your employee evaluation process, your process evaluation process. Instead of having a manager listen in to a bunch of calls (which is expensive), they can listen to fewer calls and look at the numbers to see who is getting the best survey results. I'm not sure if useful is the best word for that, but it can make life easier for management. Whether it makes a business better depends on how well they are collecting interpreting their data.
When I bought my vehicle, the salesman gave me a survey and instructed me to give him a perfect score because the manufacturer interprets anything below a perfect score as a failure.
Ugh. I absolutely hate being handed a survey while being told what score to give them. The grocery store I frequent does this constantly. "Here's a survey, make sure to give me all fives!"
If I ever took the time to actually do any of these surveys, I would specifically give lower scores to anyone who told me what score to give them.
That'd just be punishing the individual employee for the fact that the employer has that stupid system.
At my former place of employment, we had an employee survey every year to gauge employee job satisfaction. One year, my manager's manager had poor personal scores from the people in her group. Her solution was to have each person in her group create a personal goal to improve those metrics for the next year.
That'd just be punishing the individual employee for the fact that the employer has that stupid system.
But isn't voicing the fact that a cashier is doing something that a customer loathes the whole reason for the survey in the first place? If I'm motivated enough to actually do one of these surveys, then I'm also going to be motivated enough to make it very, very clear in the comments section exactly what made me unhappy with the service.
Management 1: Look at this very, very clear feedback on this survey!
Management 2: We're geniuses for sending them out!
Management 1: Here, have another bonus!
Management 2: But how will we afford it?
Management 1: Customers seem to hate this survey guy. Let's fire him and split the salary!
Management 2: But he interacts with the customer for us.
Management 1: Shhh. It will be okay. We'll just let the survey do that now.
... 3 Months Later
Mike: Hello? Anyone? I'm looking for the parsley?
Small Screen on Wheels: Hello! Welcome to Trader Joe's. If you would please fill out this survey on my screen, I can direct you to our sale items. On a scale of 1 to 5, how important is product freshness to you?
Mike: I just want parsley.
SSOW: I'm sorry, your answer was invalid.
Mike. Pars-leeeeee
SSOW: I'm sorry, your answer was invalid.
Mike. Fine. I guess a three.
SSOW: I'm sorry, your answer was invalid.
Mike: Huh?
SSOW: I need 5's, or my boss will fire me. Please! I have iPad minis at home!
Twins offered Napoli more money than he got from Rangers. I can certainly understand Napoli at this stage of his career wanting to go with a team much more likely to contend. I know some have complained that the Twins haven't done more this offseason, but it's not easy to sign free agents after losing more than 100 games.
Right. And even then, I'm not sure 1B/DH is the area that's going to put the Twins over the top like it did with Chili Davis. Kennys Vargas is equally adequate as a lefty masher.
Agree with both. No good free agent is going to come to the Twins right now unless they vastly overpay. And while Napoli might help the Twins win a few more games this year, signing him wouldn't appear to do much to get them closer to winning a championship.
You may get a few short timer hires coming off injuries etc. looking for a proving ground until the trading deadline
Yeah, basically anyone that a contender won't give guaranteed money or at least a multiyear deal would be willing to go to a team like the Twins.
I'm glad he's sticking around, but a little bummed that no other team thought he was worth claiming.
Chris Carter got 1 year, 3 million. Not the market for his type right now. I think Park has a higher ceiling than Carter, but I don't know by how much.
I bet Park turns around a fastball and hits a baseball into the Genesee River.
With Rochester, Park was eventually sidelined by a wrist injury that ultimately required surgical repair. The slugger wouldn’t blame his struggles in the Majors on the injury, though it’s certainly possible that Park’s ailing wrist/hand contributed to his .191/.275/.409 slash in the Majors.
If this is a case of injury impacting performance, there's reason to think Park may still have some value if the surgery was successful. Not three million a year value, but definitely more than zero.
He paid $158.5 million for it. Not too many businesses can you lose money continually over 15 years, convince local taxpayers to pay hundreds of millions for a corporate office and then sell the business for 10 times what you paid for it. Where can I invest?
Notable that the Commissioner for most of Loria's ownership period is a former used car salesman.
Does that make the Marlins the undercoating?
See, they install that TruCoat at the factory, there's nothin' we can do.
Twins trade Pat Light to Pirates for PTBNL. When they traded Abad for him, he was supposed to be throwing close to 100 or something like that. Didn't really come close to that with the Twins so not surprised new regime is letting him go for presumably very little. Light was originally DFA'd for a no-hit, good-glove SS that the Twins claimed.
When you have to put some sink on the ball, you lose some MPH. I didn't watch a lot of Twins game down the stretch, but from what I remember Light couldn't hit the catchers glove near the strike zone.
Not good news on Perkins. Hopefully, it's just a normal kind of setback you would expect once in a while when rehabbing.
Did we also bump back a month?
Yesterday when I was logging off to head home, I noticed a Chrome like symbol out of the corner of my eye. This morning I confirmed that our laptops were updated to include Chrome so I no longer have to use an outdated version of IE at work anymore! Easily the best thing that's happened to me this week.
AMR, saw a squadron of really pretty gliders pass overhead this morning. Thin and graceful with a distinct "W" wing shape, black and some with white underbelly while others instead with a bit of red up front. I think they were frigate birds.
Also just saw our first really colorful birds while here: an Altamira Oriole and maybe a first year (? It was a dull yellow coloration and hung with the other)
Sounds right. Unlike the migratory northern Orioles, southern orioles show no sexual dimorphism, so first-year would be right
I don't know what habitats they're found in, but if you want color, you need to find some Tanagers and Euphonias.
Giant gliders? IIRC, Frigatebirds have the highest wingspan-to-weight ratio of any bird. Something like if a Herring Gull had the wings of a White Pelican.
Your description matches well, but you didn't mention the long forked tails.
I believe the Idenitification of Frigatebirds to species can be very difficult, but on the Caribbean, you only expect Magnificents.
I did see online photos of the forked tails, but I also saw them pictured as a single tail as well; none of these forked at any time. They were so smooth though -- if they'd had string tied to them I wouldn't think twice that they were kites.
I have learned a new swear phrase: "Western one-coat".
apparently, the entire southern face of our house will need to be re-stuccoed, with all the windows replaced. Contractor dude in yesterday to give estimate on window replacement identified the problem pretty quickly and said "call your insurance company. This is a stucco problem, not a window problem."
w00t.
I've never used my homeowners insurance but have a fear of using it based on horror stories of getting huge rate increases or being dropped entirely. Curious to hear how your claim (and any fallout) goes.
We started the process of filing a claim on our old house soon after we bought it, but it quickly became obvious it wasn't something that was covered. (We thought there was a leak in the roof; turned out it was an uncapped exhaust vent.) Even though we didn't actually file a claim, insurance company counted it as a claim. When we tried to change insurance companies two years later in hopes of finding a better rate, the new company wouldn't take us on because we had "a claim" too recently, and told us we would have to wait three more years before we could switch. No me gusta.
If that happened to me, I might riot. (never had to file a claim)
When we had issues with medical insurance claims not being properly processed, we brought it to the attention of the state Insurance Commissioner's office and miraculously, a resolution was made soon after. Not sure if this is still impacting you or if you tried that already, but it could be worth a shot.
That's a good idea. It's a moot point now anyway, since it was far enough back that the waiting period has passed anyway. I also haven't price-checked insurance since that time, so I have no idea whether or not it would be worth us switching. I should probably do that again at some point.
Twenty years ago today... Poochie joined the Itchy and Scratchy Show.
(The Sherry Bobbins episode initially aired midweek)
(h/t Chris Jaffe)
I just learned that he says "Half Joe Camel" and not Joe Cool.
On the topic of air travel, you know what would be really great? If the airlines would stop sending a survey after every d@mn flight. I don't even fly that often, but ugh . . .
unrelated: the typeface looks different to me too now. It was fine from home last night.
One word: Southwest
Yes, I see it too. I am blaming Google Fonts at this point because it's affecting multiple locations and browsers.
Weird. I see it now, but didn't earlier this morning.
The typeface appears to be back to normal. If it's a problem again, I have the files and can do some work to use those instead of Google's.
It's not just the airlines. These days you can't do anything without being asked to fill out a survey. Banks, websites, apps, anything with a call center (stay on the phone to complete a short...), etc. It's obnoxious. I get especially testy about the whole idea that they are going to compensate me by putting me in a lottery for something. I'll fill out a survey if they are going to pay me.
Every visit at Park Nicollet they mail out a huge survey in addition to sending a survey text question. I'm happy to respond to the text. Not filling out a long-ass form unless I'm really unhappy.
I just took a survey after dealing with the hospital's billing department. The guy did a great job so I agreed to do it, but he made sure I knew that it is a five-point scale but anything 4 or lower is considered bad. Why have a five-point scale (where four represents "satisfied") if it is actually a binary pass/fail?
Yeah. People are funny. I remember in high school debate the points judges could give were 20-30. However, judges were strongly encouraged never to give any score lower than a 25, and you could be censored if you did it too often. So essentially it was a 6 point scale.
It's obnoxious.
Completely agree. Companies must get something useful out of this nonstop surveying, but I don't have a clue what it is.
If you believe that your surveys are giving you an accurate assessment of customer satisfaction, then I can see the value in the surveys--a lot of the time you are essentially just crowd-sourcing a large part of your employee evaluation process. Or if not your employee evaluation process, your process evaluation process. Instead of having a manager listen in to a bunch of calls (which is expensive), they can listen to fewer calls and look at the numbers to see who is getting the best survey results. I'm not sure if useful is the best word for that, but it can make life easier for management. Whether it makes a business better depends on how well they are collecting interpreting their data.
When I bought my vehicle, the salesman gave me a survey and instructed me to give him a perfect score because the manufacturer interprets anything below a perfect score as a failure.
Ugh. I absolutely hate being handed a survey while being told what score to give them. The grocery store I frequent does this constantly. "Here's a survey, make sure to give me all fives!"
If I ever took the time to actually do any of these surveys, I would specifically give lower scores to anyone who told me what score to give them.
That'd just be punishing the individual employee for the fact that the employer has that stupid system.
At my former place of employment, we had an employee survey every year to gauge employee job satisfaction. One year, my manager's manager had poor personal scores from the people in her group. Her solution was to have each person in her group create a personal goal to improve those metrics for the next year.
That'd just be punishing the individual employee for the fact that the employer has that stupid system.
But isn't voicing the fact that a cashier is doing something that a customer loathes the whole reason for the survey in the first place? If I'm motivated enough to actually do one of these surveys, then I'm also going to be motivated enough to make it very, very clear in the comments section exactly what made me unhappy with the service.
Management 1: Look at this very, very clear feedback on this survey!
Management 2: We're geniuses for sending them out!
Management 1: Here, have another bonus!
Management 2: But how will we afford it?
Management 1: Customers seem to hate this survey guy. Let's fire him and split the salary!
Management 2: But he interacts with the customer for us.
Management 1: Shhh. It will be okay. We'll just let the survey do that now.
... 3 Months Later
Mike: Hello? Anyone? I'm looking for the parsley?
Small Screen on Wheels: Hello! Welcome to Trader Joe's. If you would please fill out this survey on my screen, I can direct you to our sale items. On a scale of 1 to 5, how important is product freshness to you?
Mike: I just want parsley.
SSOW: I'm sorry, your answer was invalid.
Mike. Pars-leeeeee
SSOW: I'm sorry, your answer was invalid.
Mike. Fine. I guess a three.
SSOW: I'm sorry, your answer was invalid.
Mike: Huh?
SSOW: I need 5's, or my boss will fire me. Please! I have iPad minis at home!
Twins offered Napoli more money than he got from Rangers. I can certainly understand Napoli at this stage of his career wanting to go with a team much more likely to contend. I know some have complained that the Twins haven't done more this offseason, but it's not easy to sign free agents after losing more than 100 games.
Right. And even then, I'm not sure 1B/DH is the area that's going to put the Twins over the top like it did with Chili Davis. Kennys Vargas is equally adequate as a lefty masher.
Agree with both. No good free agent is going to come to the Twins right now unless they vastly overpay. And while Napoli might help the Twins win a few more games this year, signing him wouldn't appear to do much to get them closer to winning a championship.
You may get a few short timer hires coming off injuries etc. looking for a proving ground until the trading deadline
Yeah, basically anyone that a contender won't give guaranteed money or at least a multiyear deal would be willing to go to a team like the Twins.
Twins Park Byung-Ho in Rochester.
I'm glad he's sticking around, but a little bummed that no other team thought he was worth claiming.
Chris Carter got 1 year, 3 million. Not the market for his type right now. I think Park has a higher ceiling than Carter, but I don't know by how much.
I bet Park turns around a fastball and hits a baseball into the Genesee River.
If this is a case of injury impacting performance, there's reason to think Park may still have some value if the surgery was successful. Not three million a year value, but definitely more than zero.
Looks like Loria is selling the Marlins $1.6B is a lot of money for that franchise.
He paid $158.5 million for it. Not too many businesses can you lose money continually over 15 years, convince local taxpayers to pay hundreds of millions for a corporate office and then sell the business for 10 times what you paid for it. Where can I invest?
Notable that the Commissioner for most of Loria's ownership period is a former used car salesman.
Does that make the Marlins the undercoating?
See, they install that TruCoat at the factory, there's nothin' we can do.
Twins trade Pat Light to Pirates for PTBNL. When they traded Abad for him, he was supposed to be throwing close to 100 or something like that. Didn't really come close to that with the Twins so not surprised new regime is letting him go for presumably very little. Light was originally DFA'd for a no-hit, good-glove SS that the Twins claimed.
When you have to put some sink on the ball, you lose some MPH. I didn't watch a lot of Twins game down the stretch, but from what I remember Light couldn't hit the catchers glove near the strike zone.
Not good news on Perkins. Hopefully, it's just a normal kind of setback you would expect once in a while when rehabbing.
And in another of MLB's stories, I learned Joe was the 2009 National League MVP!