Since I first heard that Delta was offering paperless boarding passes I thought how fun this would be to try. On my last few trips from LGA I decided to try checking in on my phone. The first time there was no option for online checkin, obviousy a problem that day. The second time I got my online boarding pass but it did not include the barcode so TSA could not use it. Today for my third time I got the barcode and figured everything was fine. I went through CLEAR for security screening and they did not have the computer to scan the screen. They went to all the TSA agents and nobody had gotten the computers out that day. Finally they found one person who had the computer. After some “fiddling about” they got the computer on and then tried to scan the barcode for about one minute. After they they “determined” that the barcode on my iPhone was not compatible with their scanner, I suspect they did not have any idea how to use the equipment. I was then sent back through the security line, I had to find a checkin kiosk that was free, print a boarding pass (so much for that tree) and then go back through CLEAR to be screened again. I am almost certain that this is not the process Delta had in mind when designing the paperless boarding pass system. Should I continue trying and getting frustrated or just use the old-fashioned paper boarding pass and be relatively headache free? If I choose tha later, then hours and many thousands of dollars are wasted on Delta’s part.

What should I do here?  Am I expecting too much?

Ok, so putting your old or unused medicine down the toilet is bad, umm kay!  We put enough crap into our water supply through all the scented cleaning products, soaps, shampoo (why does it need to smell like desert?), etc.  And how about all those unnecessary prescriptions that people do not even need but rush out to their doctor after seeing the commercial the night before, never mind the rashes, incontinence and other annoying after effects, you can now walk on the beach with your loved ones!

UPDATE: My friend Mike scanned this insert that was included in his latest water bill.

I recently came across some materials that were mailed by Apple to me at an early employer.  I was particularly intrigued by the cover letter extolling the virtues of Macintosh/MS-DOS Compatibility.  The time frame had to be in the early 1990’s.  The products they were referencing were SoftPC and the Orange Micro Orange386.  The closing sentence “Thank you for taking the time to learn why your next MS-DOS computer should be a Macintosh.”  Is this some strange future prediction?  How interesting that today with the Mac product line transitioned over to the Intel processors, more and more people are making the Mac platform their Windows computer of choice.  Welcome to the 90’s again.

As a side note, I found it particularly funny that when doing some research the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article came up for Orange 386.

I was recently on a Delta flight from JFK (New York) to MCO (Orlando) on a recently updated and modernized Boeing 757-200(E) which happens to be International configuration.  The first thing I noticed is that seat 1A is configured for crew rest with a small privacy curtain. The seat pitch was definitely not domestic, and they had foot rests and even quite fancy chair controls with two position memory even!  On the right front portion of the seat was a standard US grounded power plug and in the right arm rest a flip out video unit.  Finally I looked down to the left and noticed a small white piece sticking out.  I looked closer and it appeared to be a USB and RJ-45 port.  Could Delta be putting in the first pieces for in-flight data services?  I know JetBlue has been testing on-board wireless connections on their BetaBue aircraft, but the limitations make me believe this is of limited purpose.  

I was at the self-checkout at IKEA today and as I pulled my American Express One card the clerk minding the stations walked up and asked why I as using an American Express card. I explained that it was my card choice. She then asked if I had another card, would I still use an American Expess card, obviously this woman does not know me. I said “of course.”. As I finished checking out she walked back up to me and offered me either a milk or hazelnut chocolate bar, I opted for hazelnut. I directly credit American Express for my free chocolate bar.