Leaving on a 10 day trip. Longest times I've been away from the little ones. Caitlin (4 - oldest) took it in stride. When I told her I was leaving, she looked at me, smiled and said, "Then can I have your pillow? I like sleeping with two."

My wife, for whatever reason, is treating this like I am going off to war. On the verge of tears as I leave. I suspect she knows what's in store for her at home, outnumbered 3-1.

CO 3333 BDL-EWR on an ATR-42. I get to gate B23, and they don't know they have another flight departing. They were planning on closing the gate and going home! X-Ray machine not working, so they went forraging through my laptop case and carryon.

Board is uneventful. Shortly after takeoff, pilot informs us that ATC is keeping the flight below 6,000 feet, and to expect turbulence. Flight was smooth as silk.

Flying into EWR, got to fly over the Meadowlands, where the Pats beat the Jets. (Yay!) Didn't pass over Yankee Stadium where Sox lead Yankees 4-1. (Even bigger yay!)

In EWR, I am surprised to hear jungle sounds. I know what they say about NY/NJ, but still! There are speakers mounted at various points with these sound effects. Why, I don't know.

I am amazed that a soft-spoken and polite person such as Catman can maintain his civility flying in and out of this place. I know of hockey players who sustain less physical contact.

Nevertheless, I run the gauntlet and make it to the President's club. (My first visit to such an oasis). Ahhh! Now THIS is how to wait for your next flight.

Here at a databooth, I hear the startup sound of one of our products (a terminal emulator called Termulator II) in the next booth. It's a small world.

On my way to IAH and DFW. Depending what kind of shape I'm in, I may post more tonight.


------------------
"I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered. My life is my own."

JON! I'm very touched by your nice words about me.

I learned how to deal with transportation hubs in any form by riding the NYC subway system for years. It's a means to a better end. In the case of any airport, unless I am stuck there, EWR is a means to me getting to somewhere I really want to go. So I focus on somethign positive and take myself away from the chaos.

An added bonus is being a member of the RCC where I can escape from the cattle herds.

The CO terminal is terminal Chaos, especially when all the international flights come in at once and you have hundreds of confused people running around the terminal looking for their connection or someone who speaks their language.

Added to this: the construction that's turning Terminal C into another shopping mall so more areas blocked off.

Yes, the triangular shaped President's Club (the big one near gate 90 or 96) is an oasis.
I met MWeiss yesterday and after a fun few hours in NYC he took me back there and what a wonderful place. (Added bonus, no charge for Sam Adams!

And next time you have some time in EWR Jon Toner let me know and I'll b ehappy to come out and say hello and MEOW. EWR is just 10 minutes away for me.

Jon: I enjoyed your report but I must advise you of the following - - - the fireman who leads the chants "J-E-T-S JETS JETS JETS" is the brother-in-law of a friend of mine. After I've arranged for him to follow you around in Newark Airport for a while, you might decide you prefer the jungle noises.

As for the other sport you mentioned, I have just 6 words for you: Bill Buckner, Bucky Dent, and Babe Ruth !!!!!!!

Congratulations Jon for the outstanding job your Bosox did this three day weekend (3-0)in NY in front of record crowds. Attendance hit over 3 million with todays sellout. Now your just 3 1/2 games back. Could this be the year?

I was there today with my 7 year old son. Beautiful day, great seats, but not much to cheer about after Knoublachs early solo hr.

Thanks for the report.

The BEST part of my trip was the EWR-IAH leg. I sat next to a CO pilot / pilot-trainer and a woman who runs the family home construction business. We spent three hours talking about all sorts of things.

What impressed the heck out of me about the pilot was that he kept asking questions like, "What can we do better?" He was on his way to train new pilots, and likes to focus on these things then, as they are still impressionable. (By the way, we were all in coach - kudos to CO for giving the FC seat to a passenger).

I mentioned the two things I like the most.

1. Telling the truth about delays. I'd rather hear about a 30 minute delay once than a 15 minute delay twice.

2. When the flight is running late, informing passengers which gate they are arriving to and which gates they need to make it to.

He gave me all sorts of info on behind the scenes at CO's bankruptcy. I didn't know that at one point, they had to borrow money from Boeing to make payroll.

He also taught be how to read and understand all those signs by the runway (red ones and yellow/black ones). I'm sure a lot of folks know what they are, but for the benefit of us "rookies"...

The red signs like 22L-4R indicate the compass settings, divided by 10. For example, 22 means 220 degrees. The 4 is 40 degrees. Depending on which direction you approach from, your bearing will match the runway. L/R indicates left or right, for places where they have two runways running in parallel.

The yellow/black signs are basically "sidestreets". (That part I'd kinda figured out on my own). He also brought his flight maps, so he could show me what they use to navigate around unfamiliar airports.

The homebuilder was also fascinating - her company has an entirely different approach. The customer puts the $ in an account with dual signatures - homeowner and her company. They get a flat rated based on square footage. Fascinating stuff.

Finally, there was a thunderstorm on the horizon, which provided a brilliant light show.

I've never had a flight go by so quickly.

IAH-DFW was uneventful except for a two-bounce landing.

Marriott seemed nice. I arrived at 12:30 and checked out at 5:00, so I didn't get to enjoy any facility except the king size bed.



------------------
"I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered. My life is my own."

RichG,

Another word, BAGWELL !!!

Actually, after a days reflection. I think my comments about the Red Sox were a bit intemperate. The remark I made is one I usually save for Red Sox fans who p*ss me off. Jon Toner merely referred to this past weekend's sweep, which of course did happen, unlikely though it may have been, and he wasn't really gloating (yet, I guess). So I think I got a little carried away. We now return to FlyerTalk.


------------------
I'm only in it for the mileage

Another Commander Catcop rule...

Let's leave sports rivalries off the boards!

That we can all be best buddies and bruddars and sisters and be all one big happy and often disfunction family.

That is my friend Catman's dream... and the dream of the peaceful easy feeling cat!

Although Catman does like the Tribe and any team with feline mascots, but we'll leave it at that.

I was actually hoping for an indecipherable comment from Arturo.

I wasn't trying to stir up a hornet's nest over the sports comments. As trip reports tend to be pretty subjective as it is, I figured it was no big deal.

Besides, as a lifelong Sox fan, I've suffered enough watching my team play - there is nothing that anyone can say to add to the suffering!


------------------
"I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered. My life is my own."