Keeping In Touch...

I'm a relatively busy person, and my schedule can make it hard for me to keep in contact with my friends as much as I'd like to. But just recently, it hit me that my way of staying abreast of the going-ons of many friends and acquaintances had changed... thanks to Facebook (and MySpace, somewhat). It's kinda sad, but outlets I once praised for allowing me to connect with friends I hadn't seen in years at the same time allows me to feel I know about the more significant events in their lives without ever picking up the phone.

A few months ago I hung out with a friend and his girlfriend on a Saturday, and they seemed quite happy. By Monday I saw a profile update popup on my facebook home page that said they were "no longer in a relationship." So after giving it some time I spoke to my friend who says, "I guess you heard," and I respond, 'well, sorta'. That's the thing; I don't need to "hear" anything. Just be on a networking site. And this is a case where I actually chat and see this friend regularly. I haven't seen one of my good friend in months but I'm able to track the growth of her baby through posted pictures. Another friend I have seen maybe once in last 2 years, but no worries... a quick read of her profile and I know she broke up with her longtime boyfriend, is tired of men, switched her orientation to bi, cut her hair and now loves the show "The L-Word" and Ellen DeGeneres. And an old school friend who was a quiet, nerdy, glasses-wearing bookworm? Well, she's now a contact-wearing stylish fun girl who is no doubt out throwing back drinks (usually shots) come the weekend. I've got friends/acquantainces that are everywhere from Dubai to Namibia to Honduras right now... and it's not like I'm opening any profiles, these are just what I know from status updates. These are just a handful of examples, but any divorce, marriage, child birth, job change, mood change, pet purchase, travel plans, lunch plans and on and on and on... I can learn about in 2 seconds off a website without even a word spoken to someone. Seems a bit impersonal...

I don't know. It's just interesting that as technology moves us forward, the benefit of progress can sometimes mean a sacrifice in good ol' human interaction.

I Want to Believe...

It's the official trailer release day for my X-Files movie! I basically saw this 2 months ago when the pre-trailer was released at a convention (thank you, youtube). That was awesome, since the leaked video from Paley has all the fan reaction, and they went CRAZY (screaming, awing, etc.). It's been so long since these characters have been on film or screen, so for a true fan to get that first glimpse undescribably cool. I was even more hyped up about the movie after viewing it.

Anyway... http://www.xfiles.com/

It's mostly the same thing from the convention with a few changes, including a shot of Xzibit and the new end shot of Scully and Mulder.

Just over 2 months till release day! July 25!

"Make my way back home when I learn to fly..."

So I got to fly... sorta. As a part of my "do sh*t I always wanted to do so I'm doing it in my last year of my 20s" list, I went indoor skydiving / windtunnel flying. Long story short, it is both fun and harder than you would think. The instructor my group had was great, but took a very hands-off approach, which meant a lot of flopping around at times. You can't even feel him holding you so it really wouldn't have hurt if he guiding us a bit more in the beginning like the other instructors I observed, but anyway, still a blast to do. I highly recommend it. Everyone should have a "flying" sensation at least once in their lives and this is one of the safest ways to do it. (Because jumping out of an airplane at 10,000 feet ain't for everyone!) I'm a bit of a rollercoaster wimp and even I loved it. Admittedly, reviews from the group were mixed but I think the key is to get an instructor who will give you a comfortable level of support until you know what you're doing.

I recommend to anyone interested (in the northeast) to check out the facility in the Meadowlands that will be complete in the next year. Otherwise, the closest location to NY is in New Hampshire.

I flew for about 3 total minutes (1 minute flights) but here is a brief clip...

The Front of the Bus... err... Plane

I recently made a trip to lovely California. I flew out of Syracuse with a connection in Chicago. For some BS reason that was never really explained (and was later changed to "weather-related" so people wouldn't bitch), my flight was delayed. I arrived in Chicago and I had missed my connection. As I walked around the terminal, something told me to not talk to the counter people by my gate but to walk to the adjacent terminal. So I did and came across this woman who wasn't even at a counter but I asked her to help me. She rolled over to the nearest computer and went looking for the next flight. So she looked and found a flight... with one seat. For whatever reason, the woman says, "let me see if I can get you into first class." So she does some typing and BAM, prints out a 1st class ticket. So I say a few thank yous and happily walk away with my ticket.

When it comes time to board for my flight, there are 36 people on standby due to a separate flight cancellation. And here I am with my golden ticket, so to speak. The first boarding group is announced and I commence my first class experience. I stood up and strolled pass the poor standbies. I make my way to the plane entrance and I take a left (toward the light) to 1st class instead of a right to economy. Now I travel a lot. I splurge on some things but plane travel is definitely one area where I'm fine with being cheap. Therefore, I'm more than content with sitting in economy. BUT it's still GREAT being a chosen one and strutting over to the "good seats".

I've sat in first class before on shorter flights (also by being bumped because of flight delays) but this experience in particular made me think of the class difference and therefore inspired me to do this post. There's a uniqueness about the class separation of first/economy class. It isn't like being in the front/back of the bus where people got separate seats and paid the same rates. People in 1st class are paying nicely for those seats. But this is one case where the differences are just so "in-your-face". I mean, if you stay in a hotel suite, the people in the crammed smokey room aren't looking through and adjacent window at all you're getting. I've been in skyboxes at sporting events and concerts but the people in the cheapseats at those things are separate enough from all the skybox goodness and can't really see all that's going on. But on most planes, you can see/hear the great service in the front section as you get jack squat in economy.

First of all, you sit down and they tell people in economy "for safety reasons, please don't use the first class bathroom". Yeah, sure, "safety". Economy people aren't even good enough for the first class TOILET. And while economy people are still cramming into their seats and fighting for overhead space, I'm up in first class already on my third drink. While economy is told to pay $5 for wine and beer (and your ass better have exact change), unlimited and *complimentary* wine is already flowing in first class. Oh, and in real glasses and not paper cups. Having imbibed a little, and getting comfy after takeoff, I get a warm towel to clean my hands before I partake of my hot food. As I'm finishing off my soup and cutting into my lemon chicken with a real knife on a real plate over a real table cloth, I can hear the announcement for economy that food is not included but snack boxes are available (and your ass better have exact change!) I finish my chicken and fruit, and then I get a warm cookie and milk to wash it down. The flight attendant asks if I need anything every other minute, and I've eatten and drank all I can fit in me, so I lean back and sleep for a bit in my huge, comfy chair until we landed.

Again, this is not a post about me not knowing about first class (or things like it), because I've experienced it before, but I was struck this time by the drastic differences in treatment just inches away and was inspired to post on it.

When we finally land and as I get up, I hear the woman in front of me say, "I paid $1700". What makes this all even better, I didn't pay anything (not even economy price). I flew on my frequent flyer miles. :D Haha!

And it gets better...

So my last blog post was about how my picture was featured in this blog about stuff white people like. My picture is in #31 Snowboarding. At the time I was informed, this site had 5 million hits. Shortly after, other people mentioned to me seeing this picture and wondered if I knew.

So today another friend informed me the site is at about 12 million hits and got an AP article written about it. Weird to know millions of people have been looking at my snowboard pic online. If I had known, I would have made it a better pic! Haha!

You never know...

I got an email from a Cornell friend now attending grad school at Johns Hopkins. She was perusing a blog on recycling a friend had linked her to when she linked to another site she randomly came across and happened to notice a familiar face...

Stuff White People Like

The poster probably did a google search on black people and snowboarding, and came across my pic, but I have no idea. I imagine it's rare to find pictures of black people doing anything snow-related. Anyway, this is just another reminder that one should always be careful of what pictures you post online because you never know where they could end up.

WiFiBi-nghamton...

Philly has been doing this for years, but more cities are catching on, including Bing.

http://www.wbng.com/news/local/15745362.html

This makes me want to go down to the Lost Dog Cafe on Water St. and sip on some hot tea while working on my laptop enjoying some WiFi. Nifty.