a demon banished

 

A childhood demon has been banished after 45 years.*

After my freshman year of high school, I spent part of the summer at the Hebrew Theological College in Skokie, Illinois. As I was waiting at the gate before my flight, airline personnel announced that the flight was overbooked, and they were seeking volunteers to be get bumped and wait for another flight a couple hours later. They were offering $100 (I think). According to Google, that’s the equivalent of $359 today – not life changing money, but nice. My parents, who were at the gate with me (yes, you could do that then) talked it over, but decided against having me volunteer -- this was my first time flying alone without anyone to meet me at the destination, and I was nervous enough without a change in plan.

I remember thinking that it would have been great to get that extra money for doing nothing other than waiting. I understood my parents’ logic, but part of me felt bad about missing out on the cash.** And I thought that, if I ever had another opportunity, I would volunteer my spot in exchange for cash. And in the decades since, I have never been in that situation again. I have had delayed flights. And I have had canceled flights. But I have never been bumped from a flight. And I have never been on a flight where they were seeking volunteers to get bumped in exchange for cash. Not that I’ve lost sleep over it, but I’ve thought about it every so often.

But a week ago, Blair had the experience. She had been in Vermont for a relative’s graduation. On Monday morning, her flight was oversold. And she volunteered to stay behind – in exchange for $1900, meal vouchers and a hotel voucher for the night. Technically, the money went to Blair and not to me. But it’s all the same, so I think of it as a victory for both of us. And now the monkey’s off my back.

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*In fairness, calling it a “demon” is too strong, as is saying it’s been “banished.” But drama requires me to use such words. And technically I wasn’t really a child. Stop being such a stickler.

**It’s worth noting that my parents would have likely kept the cash, since they were paying for my airfare. But that’s beside the point.

hawaii - 2013

My prior post was about my 1998 trip to Hawaii -- as a single man, attending a professional conference and then staying on for some sight-seeing. Continuing in that vein, because I promised a Facebook friend that I would, I'm writing this about my 2013 trip. In 2013, I went to Hawaii as part of a family of five. Ethan was becoming a Bar Mitzvah, and he had no real interest in the traditional rituals that most Jewish boys go through to celebrate becoming a Bar Mitzvah. Blair and I, both atheists, had no interest. The only relative who seemed to have any desire for us to go through with a traditional celebration was Blair's father, Hal. But with the health problems he was having at the time, he had more important worries.*

On this trip, we spent all our time on the Big Island. There's no way that I'll manage to cover everything we did. Sorry.

On the East side of the Island, I loved taking my family to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park to show them the sights I had seen fifteen years earlier. Of course, stuff had changed -- including the location of the end of Chain of Craters Road. But the feel was still there. No one in the family was taken with the Thurston Lava Tubes the way I had been. C'est la vie.

Fortunately, Blair had a few tricks up her sleeve. She got us booked for one night in a cabin within the park, which was really cool, and she found us a really nice hot spring. But the best, I thought, was the seven (I think) miles-long walk across the Kilauea Iki crater. Yeah, there was lots of bitching and moaning. But we made it.

One morning, while we were touring a botanic garden, Ethan recalled that a friend had told us about his trip to Hawaii, getting onto a tour that got closer to an active crater and visible molten lava than one is legally allowed. We hadn't looked into it before the trip, but decided to see if it was possible. We texted our friend, and the exchange went something like the following:

Me: Hey, Jason, we're in Hawaii, on the Big Island. Do you have the contact information for that lava tour you told us about?
Jason: You're on the Big Island? I'm on the Big Island! We should get together for lunch!

So we made our lunch plans. We met up with Jason, who was touring with an old friend of his (who also happened to know my cousin -- small world). I forget why, but the tour didn;t work out. Maybe the lava wasn't flowing. Maybe the guide was uncomfortable allowing someone as young as Ethan along. So we went back to the botanical garden.

We saw a variety of beaches, including one with green sand and a couple with black sand. I loved these -- not least for the fact that they were off the typical tourist path, and I enjoyed the low-key atmosphere. And there were a couple of other beaches we got to on the West side of the Island. Fun swimming.

The kids wanted to go snorkeling, which would have been great except that Asher was too young -- he was four at the time. So I skipped that tour and hung out at the hotel pool with him. He was not happy to be left out. But he was allowed on the nighttime manta ray snorkeling trip. I'd never seen a manta ray up close before, and found them fascinating. Too bad I got seasick and ended up puking into the ocean. That did not endear me to the others on the outing.

I recently asked Sharon if she remembered the trip; I knew that Ethan remembered it and that Asher didn't. She recalls one particular trip to a restaurant. She went outside to look at lizards while she waited for her chicken salad sandwich. By the time her sandwich was ready, she had caught several lizards. On that note, I remember trying a hamburger with grilled pineapple on it. That was the best. What wasn't the best was liking it so much that I got a second one (even though I was already full). Yeah, there's a reason I'm overweight.

It's too bad that two of the kids don't remember that trip. We'll have to back.

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*As an aside, people talk about "getting Bar Mitzvah'ed" or "having their Bar Mitzvah," and both of those formulations give the impression that one has to go through some ritual (akin, I think, to a Confirmation -- but I could be wrong about that, since I'm not really expert in Christian ritual) to become a man (in a religious sense). In fact, when a Jewish boy turns 13 he becomes a Bar Mitzvah (literally, a "son of the commandments"). No ritual required. No party required. It happens. For religious purposes, he is viewed as an adult. There are some functions during the regular prayer services that can only be performed by a Bar Mitzvah. Accordingly, it has become common for people to perform these functions when they are first able to (i.e., at the first Sabbath service after they become a Bar Mitzvah. And then to have a big party celebrating it. Those events are now colloquially referred to as getting Bar Mitzvah'ed. Oh, and let's not get into the gender issues here. I'm already off on a tangent.

hawaii - 1998

I'm not much for blogging about past trips unless there's a specific purpose. Anyway, a Facebook friend said he wanted to hear about my visits to Hawaii. That counts as a specific purpose. So, Rod, if you're reading this, please forgive the fact that there's probably more boring information than you really want.

In this post I'll talk about my first trip to Hawaii, which was in 1998. I'll try to get to the 2013 visit in a future post. Sadly, I can't find any old pictures from the 1998 visit. Photos in this post are not from my camera.

Back in the halcyon days of the 1990s, the company I worked for had a policy of letting FSAs attend one SoA meeting per year*. They were usually in fancy hotels and conference centers in cities that made good tourist destinations -- Boston, Montreal, San Diego. But for 1998 the SoA upped the ante and held their June meetings in Maui. At some point, there was a bit of concern at the office. An unusually large percentage of the actuaries wanted to attend that one, and everyone was wondering how the powers-that-be would decide who gets to go. In the end, they decided that the only fair thing was to let us all go. There were some actuaries who didn't want to bother, but anyone who satisfied the requirements and wanted to, went.

My first impression was that this was heaven. The meeting was being held at the Grand Wailea resort In Wailea -- on the southern part of the West coast of Maui. The beautiful ocean looked like you could just jump in and float forever.

I planned to take extra vacation time after the meeting, but (other than a car rental and my hotel reservation), I made no specific plans. I figured I'd find stuff to do.** I ended up meeting up with four female colleagues who had planned on hanging out together, but didn't have transportation. For a couple days after the SoA meeting had ended, I was happy to hang out with them. They had activities planned.

One day was spent in a chartered van riding the "Road to Hana," which is basically an all-day scenic drive around the southeastern lump of Maui***. My best memory was of a series of several pools. Seven? I'm not sure. Whatever it was, it was beautiful. I seem to recall being told that you shouldn't drive it on your own because it was too rough a road. But it didn't seem so bad.

sunrise over Haleakala

Another day we had to get up early for a bus ride up to watch the sun rise over Haleakala crater. Haleakala is one of the volcanoes that make up Maui. It was June, and the weather was generally warm. But the early morning hour and the altitude made it quite chilly. Still, it was worth it. The crater had an other-worldly look, and the sunrise was stunning. One popular activity that I didn't know about is to ride a bicycle down the side of the mountain. We rode up in a van and rode back in the same van. What some tour companies do is drive you up, and drive bicycles up in a separate van. Then you ride the bike down the road to some predetermined pick up spot. From there the tour company drives you back to the base. I probably would have enjoyed the bike ride, but the sunrise was the real attraction.

We spent one glorious day at Club Lanai. Lanai is a separate island West of Maui. My understanding is that it was a leper colony, and most of it is still off limits to tourists. But they did set up a day-resort. In the morning we took a catamaran from Lahaina to club Lanai. There, we cavorted on the beach, lazed in hammocks, and drank.**** Eventually, we took the catamaran back to Lahaina.

I also remember a couple of scuba diving trips, including one to Kahoolawe, which was the remaining rim of a volcano -- Southwest of Maui.

Plans changed one evening. We were having dinner and drinks.***** Somehow, the subject of the other islands came up. And suddenly I was jonesing to see one of the other islands before going home. Our waiter heard me and suggested that I talk to the bartender, who just so happened to be a travel agent. And so, the next morning, I found myself at a travel agent's office in Kihei. Flights between the islands were cheaper than I had expected. By booking a trip to the Big Island and cancelling the last few nights of my stay at the Grand Wailea (nice, but expensive), I actually saved money.

I approached my trip to the Big Island much the way I approached every trip back then. Zero prep. But I figured the hotel concierge would have ideas.

As my plane approached the airport in Hilo, I could see some stunning waterfalls out the window. And I was able to watch the roads and get a good idea of how to get to them -- they appeared to be in the middle of a residential neighborhood. As soon as I picked up my rental car I hightailed it for them. I was climbing around on the lava formations at the top of the falls when I lost my footing and almost fell. I took that as a sign that I had spent enough time there. On the way to the hotel, I saw a sign for lava tubes, so I went for a visit. These weren't long or impressive as lava tubes go. But it was my first ever experience with such things, so I was pleased. I also thought it cool that this was in the middle of a residential neighborhood.

I spent most of my time on the Big Island touring Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. On one day I took a helicopter ride to see things from the air. It was kind of interesting, but a bit of a letdown. I was fascinated by the holes in the crusted surface of the lava flows. Through these skylights you could see a bright orange or red surrounded by the dark gray of the rest of the surface.

Chain of Craters Road was a highlight. This was a road that zigzagged its way down to the coast, past a craters and volcanic vents, and through a series of lava flows (with signs indicating the month and year). And it ended at lava that had literally flowed across the road. There, there was a little kiosk with information from the park rangers. There was information about what was a safe walk out onto the flow -- near the kiosk, the lava was solid and safe. But venture too far and you could be on lava that had crusted over, but hid hot flowing lava beneath. Apparently, it was not advisable to venture too far out. But for some reason the rangers couldn't downright forbid it. So there were all sorts of posters warning about all the ways you could die if you ventured too far out. But they also gave useful information about how to make such a trip relatively safe. To paraphrase:

You really shouldn't go out there. Here are all sorts of ways that you can die. And here are examples of people who died in each of these ways. But if you really insist, here's what you should bring. And what you should do.

I really wanted to go out onto the flow. But I also wanted to not die. As the sun was starting to go down, a backpacking couple meandered back from out on the flow. The told of how they found a skylight, and just kind of sat by it, toasting hot dogs over the molten rock. That almost did it. If they can go out and come back safely, there's no reason I can't. And then a thought occurred: if 100 people go out, and 98 die, the only ones I'll meet are the ones who didn't die. So I went back to the car.

I took another trip on Chain of Craters Road, taking time to stop and explore the various trails. My favorite was the Thurston lava tube. It was so much tubier than the residential neighborhood tubes of a couple days before.

And, sooner than I would have liked, my trip came to an end. A flight back to Maui for my connection to LA and then NY.

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*IIRC, ASAs could attend once every other year.

** As an aside, this is indicative of one way that Blair and I work well together. When we go on family trips, I'm totally not into figuring out stuff to do. Blair does all sorts of research and comes up with lots of activities and alternates. I'm generally happy to go along with something she comes up with.

*** Modern-day Maui consists of two lumps. Each is a dormant volcano. At one point, one of them (Haleakala, I think) erupted enough to fill in land between them. See the map at the top of this post. Honestly, I would think they're both extinct, since the Hawaiian islands were created by a hot spot. As the Pacific plate moves over the hot spot, it creates a series of volcanoes. Now that Maui isn't over the hot spot anymore, I would think its volcanoes are extinct. But I seem to recall hearing a geologist say that that's not the case. I'm not sure if I remember that correctly.

**** One particular drink, the "blue hawaii" was particularly good.

***** The "lava flow" was another good one.

one night in fulnek

Our hosts' garden

Our hosts

In our recent trip to Europe, we had the good fortune to spend a night in Fulnek, a town in the Eastern part of the Czech Republic. For the most part we were staying in Prague, as we were visiting our friend, Eliska. But her parents live in Fulnek so off we went to visit. Actually, Blair had two nights in Fulnek. I had only one, as I spent one night on a bus ride from Brussels to Prague. Ethan and Sharon were in Fulnek that first night (when Asher and I were on the bus). The second night they were in Ostrava with Jonas, who's been one of Sharon's online friends for years.

Eliska's parents were incredibly welcoming, and we really enjoyed our time in the countryside.

One amazing thing was their yard. Apparently they had a ladnscape architect come in and design a garden about twenty years ago. And since then they haven't had to weed or replant. All they do is mow the grass and trim the shrubs. I'm not good at identifying plants, but I did recognize some daylilies, iris, hostas, shasta daisies and clematis. Sadly I couldn't tell what specific cultivars there were of each of those, but it was a really beautiful yard. And Asher was particularly excited to see a nest with baby birds in one of the trees. And almost maintenance free.

In the morning, Eliska took us for a walk in the woods outside of town, where we got to see Fulnek Castle. And then a little drink at a local cafe before the "dumpling train" back to a bigger town (I forget which) so we could go back to Prague.

The trip back to Prague begins

in case you're planning a road trip

Suppose you want to plan a road trip around this great country of ours.

Now, you want to visit all 48 contiguous states. But you're kind of anal retentive. So you want a path that will take you through all 48 without returning to any state once you've left it. The following is true:

• Your path will either start in Maine or end in Maine;
• If your path starts in Maine, the first seven states you visit will be (in order): Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York;
• If your path ends in Maine, the last seven states you visit will be (in order): New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine.

The proof is left to the reader.

if you must take pictures, call 911 first

I shouldn't have to write this, but apparently people don;t remember. If you see a horrific car accident (or the fresh aftermath), call 911. Don;t take picures; call 911.

Blair and I had just gotten into the car to go pick someone up at Kennedy Airport. It was early ona  Sunday morning. As we were getting onto the highway, I saw a car stopped in the entrance ramp. Then a row of them. Then I looked to the left. It appears that someone crossed the median and hit someone else head on. Both cars looked totaled, and one had flipped over. I'm not sure if there were other vehicles involved. It was clear that this was a new accident -- the cars were still smoking, and there were no emergency responders. I should point out that the highway near us can be dangerous during hours when it's largely empty. People often use it as a race course.

At least a dozen cars had pulled over (on both sides) and we could see people taking pictures with their phones. Blair called 911. They took the information, told her that no one had reported the accident yet, and thanked her.

I understand the morbid curiosity that leads people to take pictures of a wreck. I don't endorse it, but I understand it. But, please, folks, call 911 first. In a serious accident, time is of the essence, and an extra few minutes' delay can cost lives. If someone else has called already they'll thank you and say that they already have it. No negative repercussions. So call. Please.

UPDATE: Yeah, it was bad. Really bad.

southwest does boarding right

I flew Southwest Airlines for the first time this weekend*. I am now a fan. Or, at least, I'm a fan of their method for boarding passengers.

In my experience with other airlines, you have an assigned seat (usually picked when you bought your ticket). At the gates, boarding is done in groups. But, there are many people in each group, and within the group, boarding order is pretty much a race to see who can get to the line first. And I use the word "line" somewhat loosely. It's more of a mob. It kind of resembles commuters crowding around the escalator on the subway, except that in the case of the subway, people aren't waiting around for the escalator to open up. At the airport, people start arriving at the gate an hour or more in advance, often before the prior flight has taken off. Once there, many jockey for position, trying to be as close as possible to the door. They try to figure out how close they can get without breaking the rules or being too rude. That's the part of flying that I hate the most. The stressful competition to be the first on. You stand in your spot, thinking it would be wrong to go farther. And then someone who showed up afterwards calmly walks past you and positions himself closer than you are. AAARRRRGGGHHH!

Come on, admit it, you know what I'm talking about.

The fact is, you can avoid all that by simply waiting around and getting on at your leisure. You have your assigned seat, and the plane is going to the same place. So what does it matter? There was a time that it didn't really matter. But in today's age where most airlines charge for checked luggage, most passengers try to avoid checking luggage, so the overhead space for carry-ons is at a premium. If you get on too late and the overhead space is all taken, you have to gate-check your bag. It's not the end of the world, but it can be an inconvenience. And, of course, people are people. And we are just apes defending their own turf.

Now, with Southwest, there are no assigned seats. Instead, you get a number when you check in, and boarding is done by the numbers. For yesterday's flight I was B18. So I got to board after B17 and before B19. Once on, I got to take whatever unclaimed seat I chose. The stakes of boarding are higher, since seats are first-come first-served, but since the order is chosen, the stress is lower. Not just for me, but for others around me. I found it a much more pleasant experience.

Also, I love the snazzy yellow, red and blue hearts.

*And boy, are my arms tired!

even the bunnies aren't safe

So it's come to this?

For United Airlines, when it rains it pours.

The recent dustup regarding United Airlines and their mistreatment of passengers seems new, but I remember when DaveCarroll took the airline on.

Honestly, I don't know what;'s involved in flying with a musical instrument. I've never done it, but I know others have. Duh. I suspect there's more to the story than Carroll shares. And he shouldn't have called out a United employee by name. She's just trying to do her job and make a living within a restrictive corporate structure.

And then the more recent stuff. Not letting the girls with leggings on the flight, having a paying passenger beaten and dragged off a flight. Bumping the hedge fund manager to economy. Kicking the engaged couple off the flight to their destination wedding.

Seems to me United's culpability is clear in some cases (the Vietnamese Doctor who got beaten up). But in other cases, I just don't see it. The legging girls were flying nonrevenue, and the dress code for such passengers is clear.

But at some point, I have to wonder if the hype has taken on a life beyond reality? Do these things really happen only on United? Or are we only hearing about each new case because it's fun to pile on?

Poor bunny.