Old Nov 22, 2012, 4:10 am
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Old Mar 27, 2008, 6:27 am
  #91  
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Snow

Went to sleep to it snowing and it has started up this morning here in PUW... Supposed to get 2-4 inches of snow total, and another storm on Fri. Wonder if AS 2023 will make it in this morning. Looks like AS 2020 made it in last night which is good since rumor is it transports the newspapers to the area (USA Today, NY Times, etc)

Then again, delivery today will be an issue with the snow... people here don't know how to drive in the snow!

Update:

Looks like 2023 will be bypassing PUW again... oh well...

Departure Scheduled Actual Gate Arrival Scheduled Actual Comments Alerts
Moscow/Pullman 6:40 AM See comments HG Seattle 7:55 AM See comments Canceled N/A
Lewiston 6:00 AM See comments Moscow/Pullman 6:25 AM See comments Canceled N/A
Lewiston 6:00 AM ETD 7:30 AM Seattle 7:13 AM ETA 8:46 AM Not Operating as Scheduled

Last edited by beckoa; Mar 27, 2008 at 7:26 am Reason: Update
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Old Mar 27, 2008, 10:30 am
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Originally Posted by beckoa
Then again, delivery today will be an issue with the snow... people here don't know how to drive in the snow!
I came to Portland to go to school, and when I first came here I was *amazed* at how people reacted to snow. The city of Portland more or less shut down that first winter when it snowed two inches. A few years later we got some snow (probably 4 inches) and I was driving a Miata at the time, on my way home from work on I-5 there were a ridiculous number of 4x4s and SUVs in the ditches along the side of the road, I was doing fine until I nearly got taken out by a car in front of me that did a 360. After having lived here for 14 years I've learned my lesson: take the bus when the snow starts to fall.
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Old Mar 27, 2008, 12:10 pm
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Originally Posted by doog
I came to Portland to go to school, and when I first came here I was *amazed* at how people reacted to snow. The city of Portland more or less shut down that first winter when it snowed two inches. A few years later we got some snow (probably 4 inches) and I was driving a Miata at the time, on my way home from work on I-5 there were a ridiculous number of 4x4s and SUVs in the ditches along the side of the road, I was doing fine until I nearly got taken out by a car in front of me that did a 360. After having lived here for 14 years I've learned my lesson: take the bus when the snow starts to fall.
I remember when I was in preschool in California and it snowed 1/8" (circa 1990). I was in north San Luis Obispo county (near Paso Robles), and my mom and dad worked in San Luis, on the other side of Cuesta Grade. They shut the grade down, leaving me stranded at the preschool. My dad, who is from Minnesota, even drove up to the roadblock on the grade and tried to negotiate passage with the cops, but they firmly said no. (He ended up driving around the long way through Morro Bay, I think.) Meanwhile, I was finally picked up by a Paso Robles-based friend. Great fun!
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Old Mar 28, 2008, 5:41 am
  #94  
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One of my friends "down here" actually got hit yesterday due to the difficulties snow causes to some when driving. He was fine thankfully, but his Jeep wasn't quite... it has bent tierods and a bent axle in the front. Apparently the other driver hit the left front side, by the tire. The good news is the other driver had insurance so the damage is covered, all $1300 of it. (He had insurance too but did not cover damage done to his vehicle (can't recall which its called)).

They should seriously have a class on driving in the snow!
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Old Mar 28, 2008, 6:11 am
  #95  
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Originally Posted by beckoa
One of my friends "down here" actually got hit yesterday due to the difficulties snow causes to some when driving. He was fine thankfully, but his Jeep wasn't quite... it has bent tierods and a bent axle in the front. Apparently the other driver hit the left front side, by the tire. The good news is the other driver had insurance so the damage is covered, all $1300 of it. (He had insurance too but did not cover damage done to his vehicle (can't recall which its called)).

They should seriously have a class on driving in the snow!
Ouch.

I think you're referring to what is known as comprehensive/collision coverage. He probably had liability only (especially if he's a poor college student trying to save money on his insurance premium...).

Speaking of a Jeep...I have fallen in love with the new 2008 Grand Cherokee Limited. It drives wonderfully and has all the features I want, from a 4.7L V8 to heated leather seats to a remote start to the MyGig entertainment system to a Boston Acoustics sound system and on from there (even little goodies like rain-sensing wipers, automatic high beams, and a back-up camera). With the connections I have, I will probably be able get this normally $39,200 car for between $25,000 and $30,000 six months old and with 15,000 miles on it. I really shouldn't be getting myself further into debt, but it's hard to pass up a good deal on such a great car, and besides, my current car is beginning to desperately need to be replaced.

The upside is, it won't be available for purchase for another six months, so I have those six months to make a rational, emotion-free decision.

Any thoughts?
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Old Mar 28, 2008, 10:42 am
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At the risk of being told I'm pedantic, for the sake of the rest of us, I'd like to make a semi-public suggestion that these links be read and adhered to...


http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handou...r/g_quote.html
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/GRAMM.../quotation.htm
http://www.grammarbook.com/punctuation/quotes.asp
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Old Mar 28, 2008, 11:30 am
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Originally Posted by jackal
Ouch.

Speaking of a Jeep...I have fallen in love with the new 2008 Grand Cherokee Limited. It drives wonderfully and has all the features I want, from a 4.7L V8 to heated leather seats to a remote start to the MyGig entertainment system to a Boston Acoustics sound system and on from there (even little goodies like rain-sensing wipers, automatic high beams, and a back-up camera). With the connections I have, I will probably be able get this normally $39,200 car for between $25,000 and $30,000 six months old and with 15,000 miles on it. I really shouldn't be getting myself further into debt, but it's hard to pass up a good deal on such a great car, and besides, my current car is beginning to desperately need to be replaced.

The upside is, it won't be available for purchase for another six months, so I have those six months to make a rational, emotion-free decision.

Any thoughts?
My thoughts? Given the current trend in the economy, taking on debt might not be the wisest decision, of course it depends quite a bit on how solid your current employment status is, but everyone's talking recession right now and we're starting to see real job losses, so if you want ot be cautious I'd say hold out a little while. If the economy does go in the crapper you might be able to get a better deal on the car.

On the other hand, I'm always overly cautious when it comes to economic decisions, and if you can get the car for $25,000 that sounds like a pretty good deal. That 6 month cooling off period sounds like a good one to me, we should have a much better idea of what's going on in the economy by then.
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Old Mar 28, 2008, 4:23 pm
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Originally Posted by brarrr
At the risk of being told I'm pedantic, for the sake of the rest of us, I'd like to make a semi-public suggestion that these links be read and adhered to...


http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handou...r/g_quote.html
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/GRAMM.../quotation.htm
http://www.grammarbook.com/punctuation/quotes.asp
Good links, and I agree that everyone should work on their grammar skills (though I have come to accept that some people just can't write well, just like some people just can't understand calculus), but where on FT have there been egregious problems with quote marks?
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Old Mar 30, 2008, 3:00 am
  #99  
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Originally Posted by jackal
Ouch.

I think you're referring to what is known as comprehensive/collision coverage. He probably had liability only (especially if he's a poor college student trying to save money on his insurance premium...).
I think you are correct about the insurance. His is with GEICO and parents with State Farm. For his parents to upgrade (He's an authorized driver on theirs) for the minimum of 6 months would cost 1K for him to have collision. Since he's 19 they would not let him rent from Enterprise (basically a loaner car paid for by insurance) unless he had collision, so he's stuck w/o a car for a week until the jeep is fixed. He attends UIdaho but has a class at WSU, so commutes between them to make all his classes in a day, now he'll be taking the bus and missing one at UI. Oh well...

Originally Posted by jackal
Any thoughts?
Not sure, but the "limited" makes me think its smaller, not sure or not... but it does sound fancy... especially remote start! (Great for those subzero mornings)
Does it do satellite radio? If not, do any vehicles have it in AK, and does it work? (Just curious)
And as doog said, the 6 month wait is great, due to the mixup the economy is in. Thankfully in AK it seems stronger then most.
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Old Mar 30, 2008, 3:34 am
  #100  
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Originally Posted by beckoa
Not sure, but the "limited" makes me think its smaller, not sure or not... but it does sound fancy... especially remote start! (Great for those subzero mornings)
Does it do satellite radio? If not, do any vehicles have it in AK, and does it work? (Just curious)
And as doog said, the 6 month wait is great, due to the mixup the economy is in. Thankfully in AK it seems stronger then most.
Yes, it has satellite radio (Sirius). I've only been able to pick it up in sporadic locations and when the car is pointed in a certain direction. It's certainly not reliable. I've heard XM is slightly better up here due to different satellite positioning.

As far as the economy, I keep hearing that it's in shambles, but I haven't noticed it. Business is up even now, bookings are up for the summer season, tour contractors are booking more than last year (and they're mostly domestic tourists, although we expect more foreign tourists this year due to the dollar). Maybe it's because our economy is based on natural resources, and that fluctuates a lot less than jobs in the commercial and industrial/manufacturing sectors...
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Old Mar 30, 2008, 1:02 pm
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Originally Posted by jackal
As far as the economy, I keep hearing that it's in shambles, but I haven't noticed it. Business is up even now, bookings are up for the summer season, tour contractors are booking more than last year (and they're mostly domestic tourists, although we expect more foreign tourists this year due to the dollar). Maybe it's because our economy is based on natural resources, and that fluctuates a lot less than jobs in the commercial and industrial/manufacturing sectors...
It may be that American tourists who would travel to Europe are going to Alaska instead, the Euro is *so* strong versus the dollar right now that it's acting as a real barrier for overseas traveler. I've heard a lot of my friends talking about South America or Asia rather than Europe, but I'd bet Alaska could be benefiting from that as well.

The economy is just starting to shed jobs down here as well, but the credit crunch is going to cause real problems in the near term unless a miracle happens. The financial institutions are being VERY careful about lending, which means money is hard to get, which means businesses don't have easy access to capital. The Fed's rate cuts (which amount to what, almost 2% i nthe last couple of months?) are meant to provide incentives to the financial institutions to loan money out... but the consensus is that we haven't hit bottom yet, as the amount of home foreclosures continues to increase (in SoCal I think they're up something like 90% over last year). Home price have dropped in almost all major cities (on average by 11%), on NPR last week I heard that in something like half of the top 20 major cities home prices have dropped by 20%! That makes a real difference in our economy, as people have been using home equity to keep spending up, without consumer spending our economy goes straight into the crapper.

That was a rather long-winded way of saying that while things don't look bad now, in 6 months they might look quite a bit worse. Or the economy could recover and things will be looking up. I certainly hope the latter is the case.
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Old Mar 31, 2008, 4:14 pm
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So, did Missy's NW upgrades clear?
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Old Apr 2, 2008, 4:42 pm
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Green Airlines and energy efficiency: A lesson for our times

I figured I'd give the lounge a try instead of crowding the forum with another article...

Part of an article from Daily News, "Sri Lanka's National Newspaper Since 1918"

Dr. Ruwantissa Abeyratne
Thursday, 3 April 2008

Alaska Airlines is an American carrier which has taken measures to conserve fuel by reducing burn. It has adopted many of the same fuel-savings measures that American and other carriers have implemented. A recent audit conducted by Alaska revealed that the airline was doing everything that manufacturers recommended in terms of maintenance.
Audit report

However, the audit report recommended performing engine washes with hot water instead of cold to make them more effective. Alaska also is considering certain fuel- and weight-saving product improvements.

The carrier plans to have CFM 56 engine-performance improvement kits installed on its 737s, and the airline is considering putting carbon brakes on those planes, a measure that would save almost 800 pounds.

It is widely accepted by experts that the key to maximizing fuel efficiency is minimizing increases in aircraft drag, especially those associated with control surfaces that are out of rig and aerodynamic seals that are leaking.

They also recommend that operators look closely at gaps between fairings and external panels. Bad door seals impose a double penalty because the air conditioning system has to work harder, and leaking air can disrupt airflow around the airplane and increase drag.

In the final analysis, however, only a small part of fuel inefficiency can be attributed to the airframe. Most is caused by the way the engines are operated. For example, use of higher takeoff thrust can cause the fuel mileage of engines to deteriorate more rapidly. Conversely, using reduced takeoff thrust can save fuel.
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Old Apr 2, 2008, 5:40 pm
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Originally Posted by Eastbay1K
So, did Missy's NW upgrades clear?
HA! Thats funny.

Of the 68 people on the upgrade waitlist, 30 were NW Platinum, and only 1 person cleared.
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Old Apr 2, 2008, 5:44 pm
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Originally Posted by missydarlin
HA! Thats funny.

Of the 68 people on the upgrade waitlist, 30 were NW Platinum, and only 1 person cleared.
So while someone might be AS Gold, that translates to NW Rust.
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