Here

I made it. No really bad stories this time, although the flight from LAX to Toronto had some bad turbulence which kept me from getting any rest. Managed to catch Dreamgirls on the flight; good movie, and some great singing, but I failed to see what most of the hype was about. I'd rank it a B+ for those who like musicals and a B- for those who don't.

Used Prime Time Shuttle this time out-- the base cost was quite a bit cheaper than Super Shuttle, but did not include a tip. There were three passengers in the vehicle total, and the other two were a nice couple who were surfers on their way to follow where the waves take them in Australia. Seemed like great people, and they were real surfers-- not the cardboard cutouts who talk funny in movies, but people who really believe and live their lives with the zen-like acceptance that real surfers have. Plus, they both had been surfing from at least the 70s on, so had been doing it before most of these bad stereotypes inundated modern cinema.

I still think there has to be a better way than what we are currently doing for mass transit and the 9/11 scare. It is frustrating that, even when things go well, you see things that can be done better. Like the nice Canadian security screens who insisted I take the Tic-Tacs out of my pocket and put them in a gray bin all their own to pass through the x-ray machine. Come on-- if the metal detector doesn't go off with my white-gold ring, the medical bracelet, or the change in my pocket and buttons and zippers on it, any foil you think might be on the Tic-Tac case isn't going to do anything.

Also, with web check-in and the automated services to self-check your own bags so prevalent these days, the rules on being to the airport X hours before your flight, especially the time "needed" for international flight, are absurd. With the 2-hour rule for International flights, I arrived at the airport by 7:30 (giving me 1/2 hour to get checked in and my bags checked, if I needed it). Since I had used web check-in and printed my own boarding passes, and since I didn't have any checked bags, I walked straight to the security line, breezed through that, and then got to wait from 7:38 until 10 pm for my flight to even board. I got to watch as two complete flights boarded and took off from the same gate before my flight was even announced. It's stupid and tiring.

Also, what is the reason for having me take out the laptop from its case for the x-ray machine? Do x-rays not go through the canvas or leather bags? And, since they are going to open it up and run it through the "sniffer" for bomb-making materials anyway, separating it at the x-ray machine is superfluous.

Lastly, and this gets me every time, what is the point of sending 15 rows of people to board the plane first, not waiting for them to be seated and stowed, and sending another 15 rows down. First, do it in increments of not more than 5 rows. Then, using the walkie-talkies you are so fond of, actually relay to the front desk once all of the people are seated and stowed before sending the next 5 rows. I think it would actually be faster in the long run and would be a lot less problematic than sending 15 rows at once, and then having it all bottleneck at the first person who has to stow his stuff and find his seat. And the next 15 usually only make it down the gangplank to find they are at the end of the previous 15 who are still waiting to get on the plane because of those bottlenecks. Stupid!

We need someone who travels a lot, and not on corporate jets or using first-class, to become head of the TSA and revise the rules to make sense. We have rules designed to keep terrorists off the plane-- except they don't work. We have rules that are designed to foil weapons and bombs-- except they don't make sense. We should scrap the entire system, write a procedure that works, and then implement it. Damn the cost.

Anyway, enough soapbox. I'm here. With my loved one. Happy. And very tired.