Showing posts with label A380. Show all posts
Showing posts with label A380. Show all posts

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Margin Notes: Reunions, Travel, United


Nearly fifty of about sixty attendees of the Harper family reunion appeared in this group photograph in Kennewick, Washington on 12-June-2010

KENNEWICK, WASHINGTON - Yes, the purpose of this trip was substantially reunions, between the PRISM program reunion on Friday night and a Harper family reunion here in Kennewick yesterday, whose group picture appears above. About 60 of the 180 descendants of Charles and Florence Harper were in attendance, even if all of them were not in the photograph.

* * * * * *

Amongst the activities at the Harper reunion was a trivia contest in which I learned, besides many things about family members, that the family's long-time center of Connell, Washington had once been known as Chickensaw Flats as well as its old railroad name of Palouse Junction.

* * * * * *


Emirate Airlines Airbus A380, registration A6-EDC, was at Terminal 1 of Pearson International Airport in Toronto, Ontario on 9-June-2010

Modern travel is more likely to occur by plane than by train, and the largest commercial plane current in the skies is the Airbus A380. I finally managed a photo of one of the new planes as an Emirates Air A380 sat at the gate in Toronto, Ontario as I departed last Wednesday.

* * * * * *


The menu at the Billy Goat Tavern at O'Hare Airport in Chicago, Illinois alluded to a Saturday Night Live sketch on 9-June-2010

I changed planes for the first time in some years at Chicago's O'Hare Airport, which meant the revival of my tradition of getting my one hamburger a year (okay, I make it to In'N'Out often enough that it's more than once a year now) at the Billy Goat Tavern's airport food court location. Billy Goat is the establishment made famous by a John Belushi Saturday Night Skit in which they repeatedly state "Cheezborger, cheezborger, cheezborger," "no fries, chips" and "no Coke, Pepsi." Never mind that the airport establishment claims "No Pepsi, Coke."

* * * * * *

Besides being able to partake in a Billy Goat cheezborger, about the only good thing about flying United Airlines is that one can listen in to Air Traffic Control conversations on the audio system. However, that was not to be on my Seattle-bound flight, as that channel was rapidly taken over by a feed of the Stanley Cup finals. I almost thought I was still in Canada, but in reality taking off from Chicago just meant that there were Blackhawk fans on-board. They were happy, as the Blackhawks finished the job on Philadelphia that night.

* * * * * *

The Air Traffic Control feed did come back in time to hear the hand-off from the Salt Lake Center to the Seattle Center, which as usual took place about one hour from landing at Sea-Tac Airport, the sure sign that one has almost made it to the west coast.

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Margin Notes: Sun Dog, A380, Jackrabbit, Soul


A sun dog appeared as an American Airlines flight took off from Toronto, Ontario on 7-December-2009

PLACERVILLE, CALIFORNIA - Rainbows are a relatively frequent sight, no matter what songwriters would have one believe. Sun dogs or parhelions, which are like mini-suns with rainbow colorations, are also supposed to be fairly common, but I can't remember seeing prior to this Monday, as the plane I was traveling on took off from Toronto. The sun dog pictured above, as well as its mirror twin on the other side of the sun, were readily visible.

* * * * * *

Prior to takeoff, I noted an Emirates Air A380 at the terminal. I hadn't known that A380's were already flying to Toronto; apparently, they have been scheduled in regularly since June. The 517-seat Airbus actually didn't look that wide or tall; it simply looked fat--it was berthed with one skybridge to each level of the plane.

* * * * * *


A jackrabbit watched a railfan inspect the Union Pacific rail yards in Roseville, California on 9-December-2009

I'm starting to wonder how the jackrabbits in Roseville, California aren't all fat. The past two times I've visited the Union Pacific rail yards in that town east of Sacramento, I have been greeted by jackrabbits as if they were deputized by the railroad police. Could their constant presence be a simple function of grain leaking from rail cars in transit?

* * * * * *

It was not jackrabbits but hamsters that have been used to advertise the Kia Soul, and long-time readers of this blog will recall the Gleich family's take on the Kia Soul hamster ad. My rental car for this visit happened to be a Kia Soul. I can now testify that the car is actually quite roomy, not sized for a hamster, and actually seems to be pretty functional. A neighbor even commented on how cute it was--this is a car that puts the unergonomic Chrysler PT Cruiser to shame.