(Sarah Beth Glicksteen/Concord Monitor photo) 

Last Summer, it was a bad year for travel. The flights were crowded and the season was fraught with extreme thunder storms almost every week. The delays were aggravating and overall it was a miserable year for travel.

I work on the outskirts of the industrial section of Shreveport, and occasionally I have the opportunity to do errands during the day.  I am especially fond of driving down a road that has hundreds of jasmine bushes which are in bloom right now.

A year ago today, I was walking the streets of Tokyo with two friends from high school. It was the first time I had really gone somewhere outside the country (I won't count Canada and a spring break trip to the Dominican Republic), and I found it to be a truly enriching experience. It was so interesting being immersed completely in another culture, and trying to view the world through a different lens.

 He appears to be just sitting.  "Goofy dog," I mutter, but he is alert, sniffing, completely captivated by his new surroundings.

The Globe May Be Warming But.....

The 2008 International Conference on Climate Change will take place on March 2 through 4, 2008 in New York City. I have been doing a ton of research on global warming for months and thought that this event might signal an opportunity to add some debate to the issue. This conference will be attended by hundreds of scientists, meteorologists, economists and public policy experts from around the world. It is the first major international conference to focus on issues and questions not answered by advocates of the theory of man-made global warming.

I'll be covering security updates, software updates, hoaxes and scams, tips to stay safe, helpful web sites, and useful applications. Mostly 'PC'-relevant (Windows-based) information but a great deal of it will naturally apply to all operating systems and computer types.
Please Note: I'm definitely not anti-Mac, I just don't own one.
I used Apple computers at the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale, and all of my friends in web design and prepress (I used to work for Capital Offsett Co.) use them, but when it came to buying my first computer I simply couldn't afford one. From then on I've existed solely in the PC world.

Southwest Airlines has one of the best safety records in the airline industry and they have planes with the least leg room, corny flight attendants (whose humor is getting old); the reviews are mixed.  The most aggravating thing about the ‘Southwest experience’ is the boarding process.  Yesterday marked day #2 of their new and improved system of boarding; obviously designed by a MORON!

Have you ever had one of those days when you just know that things are not going to follow your best laid plans?   I would love to have people share their air travel nightmares, so please join in on this blog after reading this unremarkable and expected account of a day of travel in the not so friendly skies.

Two emotions that are seldom experienced simultaneously are aggravation and amusement.  Flying on commercial airlines affords one that opportunity.