The Dads Center

American Airlines Faux Pas With an El Paso Soldier

Man, what a PR faux pas.  American Airlines charged a US soldier on his way to deployment an extra $100 for a third bag.  An AA spokesman shot off that they have had a policy for several years and that it's never been an issue before, etc.   He then blogged with our friends over at DMag on Frontburner giving a series of "ands" behind more trite, sarcastic, and sassy comments. 

Maybe their PR guy had a bad day.  I don' know.  This is relatively small issue, but it could quickly blow up into a big one given the blogging world. 

Little of what this guy said follows the basic rules of being sensitive to the needs of someone affected by your organization's policies.  No, this guy took a hardline all the way.  Mr. Rules.  There was no, "We certainly are sympathetic to this situation."  It was Mr. Drill Seargent this has been the policy.  This is the way it is. 

I wonder why I went ahead and flew US Airways last time I needed to go somewhere and couldn't fly Southwest.  Some of the bloggers on Frontburner called AA an embarassment.  That's unfortunate that they would over-react in this manner.  But this also is one more example of when being flexible could have saved a lot of heart ache and bad press.

Highway 140 where the Telegraph Fire is burning

This is a photo of three of the kids June 2007 as we made the drive
into Yosemite along 140, which basically is now a fire zone. As you
can see, it would not be hard for things to catch fire in this area,
and it being a month later in the dry season.

LA Times says 140 Open into Yosemite, sort of

For the latest in official Telegraph Fire information, please check here.  It's Yosemite's Web site. 

According to the LA Times, highway 140 in California is intermittently open depending on how the Telegraph Fire is progressing.  This report I found says the fire is 15 percent contained and has burned more than 29,000 acres.  Yikes. 

The local TV station, 30HD, has up-to-date information that's one to two days old here. 

The San Fran Chron has information here.

I noted that one comment said some of this information was incorrect on KSEE. 

As of 7:30 a.m. CST, this is all the up-to-date information I can find. 

Hang in there CA.  We're pulling for you. 

Here is an AP story on how the fire is curtailing the tourist industry along 140 after reopening from the '06 rock slide.   If you will  note, that point was made here  yesterday.

The scenery along 140 to me is the best way into Yosemite, though as much as we've been staying at The Logger's Retreat, we've grown partial to just landing in Fresno and driving up 41 straight into the south end of the park.   All this makes me sad, however.  The area that's burning is so beautiful.

Telegraph Fire is Heartbreaking, even in Dallas

Kari and I have spent a good part of the day keeping an eye on the news associated with the Telegraph Fire near Yosemite.  As you know, we've made trips to Yosemite every six months for the past 2.5 years now and when the most precious place on earth to us is having issues, we keep an eye on it.

Our hearts go out tonight to those who are in fear or already have lost a home in the area of this fire.  And we're concerned too, for the hard-working men and women who are seeking to stop this fire. Yes, fire is a part of life,  but to know that so much of beautiful countryside is being burnt for no good reason hurts to know about.

We love Yosemite and talk often about heading west once the kids are all out of the house.  Some of the kids might even beat us out there, they're so enamored, too.

Hang in there if you live in the area of the fire.  We're praying for you.

Telegraph Fire in Yosemite Area

California today closed Highway 140 into Yosemite.  The Telegraph fire, which has been burning since Friday, is wreaking havoc and closed the road indefinitely.  Just what the citizens of west of the park need, another indefinite closing.  If you recall, in 2006 they were burdened with the rock slide along the way up from Mariposa which did damage to the local tourist industry.

Meanwhile the fire burns.  Houses are at stake and the smoke from the fire is wofting into the park.  It's a good thing Kari and I went back in June when we did.  With all the smoke, my asthma would have been bad.

iPhone 2.0 needs an update

I have to say that two weeks into the whole new iPhone 2.0 that I'm less than excited.  Well, yeah, I have found fun and joy in Shazam and Scribble, and this neat app for Sudoku.  Shout it! has been cool, too, as has the light saber. 

But there have been several times when I've left one app to open another and the whole thing has just crashed and taken me endlessly to the Apple logo.  After holding down the off key and the home button, it'll perk back up after a few minutes, and then give me a new Apple logo, and then it just pops back into the works like nothing happened. 

That didn't used to happen before all the new apps came along.

Which keeps me harping on a line from one of the Mac commercials where the Mac guy is telling PC, "you can't help it, you've got all these other people writing software for you," etc.  Maybe that's happened here and a little too fast and too broadly for Apple to keep up with. 

Yes, there were troubles a few hours the first day.  Vista still doesn't work.  Which leads me to another thought.  Can you imagine how ticked Michael and Susan Dell are at the Gates' over Vista?  Dell makes his money by making a PC computer that runs Microsoft.  If that doesn't work well on a Dell machine, are people sitting there cursing Windoze at home, or are they thinking this "new Dell I just took out of the box doesn't work?" 

Yes, for those of you saying that, you should have bought a Mac.  Maybe next time.  And a few hundred Windoze crashes later.

While I know that Apple has fokes working the iPhone issues as I type and they'll have it fixed soon, we haven't seen any progress out of Microsoft, other than they have stopped selling XP all together.  What a solution.

The Dying News Business

Today we received news that the impending cuts at The Dallas Morning News, property of Belo, are much deeper than expected.  They're talking about 500 jobs or $50 million in cuts company-wide.

TDMN isn't the only paper in the nation in trouble.  Nearly all of them are since most of us get the news online these days.  Truth is, I haven't bought the paper copy of the paper since the day they made all the new cosmetic changes.  And I don't feel like I've missed anything either.  Yes, my boss comes in from time-to-time and shows me an announcement that I didn't see online, but for the most part, I've broadened my source for news. 

Where is all this taking us though as a nation?  And that to me is the real question.

News agencys have been the Fourth Estate, the checks and balance system for our national government since its inception.  Today, it's nearly all entertainment.  Focus groups lead TV coverage.  News rooms are laying off staff left and right and soon the veteran reporters who went to the good journalism schools will be obsolete.  They're being replaced day in and day out by young kids who barely know what a lead paragraph is, who look cute or pretty, who can read a teleprompter at 20 paces, and that's largely it. 

Papers here in Texas have stopped reimbursing for mileage.  So what's to encourage a reporter to leave the building?  How many news stories have you ever read that originated in the news room?  The answer today is more and more and more.

An important industry in America is being killed off by the Internet.  Is that good?  Some would say it is a sign of the times.  Others, such as me, see it as a danger to our country's future. 

News agencies must find a model that helps keep the lights on and staff paid.  I understand that.  But at the same time, we're killing off a solid profession.  Now I know a lot of people don't like reporters, but they have played an important role in our nation's history. 

The news today out of Belo is not good.  Not good for the families who are about to face the axe, voluntarily or not, of this booming economy, (yeah right Phil Gramm) and certainly not good for this nation, that has relied so much on freedom of the press and the recording of our history, it was even included in the Constitution.

Sunday night and back to work in the a.m.

The weekends just don't seem long enough.  Yeah, it's a cliche but it's very true. 

It's been an okay weekend, and I'm sure there is only fun and excitement ahead in the next few days.  In Dallas, no rain expected, though we need it badly.  Temps this week are supposed to be above 100 each day and it's not even August yet, the hot month.  Great time to be an electrical company exec for sure.  Wish I was, and then I'm glad I'm not.

Have several projects to do at work this week, and some good ones for at home, too. 

Storms heading into Dallas tonight?!

I wish. If only there were storm clouds heading this way.  It's 103 outside. 

What a week it's been

Geez.  What a week.  To say that I haven't recovered from last week's whirlwind sprint marathon from DFW to NYC to Baltimore to DC to DFW from Monday thru Thursday night would be a lie.  A big fat one. 

And work has placed additional stresses on trying to get a new proposal done in time for yesterday.  It got done and was pretty darned good, but it took a lot of reserve energy, for sure.

There are some incredible bright spots to talk about, however.

Last Thursday I was at McKinley High School in Washington, DC. I went to a computer lab there, actually two of them.  In one room, all PCs.  The kids were working on Java scripting.   It's the middle of summer.  What does that tell you?  No, not nerds, but normal kids who are smart enough to know this is something good for them to know.

In the next room?  Well, I actually said it was a room with "real computers" when I walked it.  It was full of Macs.  The kids were using Autodesk Maya.  One kid had built his own game.  Another was doing testing of an oil rig at sea with the 3-D application.  COOL. 

Sunday, we downloaded it on two machines in our house.  There is a free-bie of the Personal Learning Edition.  Tuesday night, we found a book at Borders.  Wednesday morning, our 11-year-old son built a replica of our solar system using Maya PLE with the aid of the book we bought Tuesday night.   Hello, do you hear me?  Eleven-year-old kid builds replica of our solar system on computer.  Eleven years old.  (Heck, he even put the rings on Saturn.) 

Wednesday night during dinner, we talked about the possibilities.  After dinner, all seven of the kids sat at the dinner table together.  Yes, it was loud.  Yes, it was a brainstorming session where they were each trying to voice their opinions over the other six.  But they sat there for almost two hours.  They were designing their own game.  Hello.  Do you know how many times all seven of our kids, from the 15-y-o to the four, have sat that long at the dinner table with no food (well, they did start popping pop corn, cracked open some Sunny-Ds, and chips, etc.)?!  I don't think they ever have.

I learned some new things, too.  An RPG isn't a grenade launcher the military uses.  It's a roll-playing-game.  An NPC is a non-playing-character; one whose functions you can't assume and control.  (Yes, I wound up learning from the kids.)

The boys were contriving the world 1,000 years into the future they'd like the game to happen in.  They want to do something, too, with black holes.  The girls were tasked with drawing characters for the game.  And designing fashion, (war-torn ones) that people will be wearing then.  Each person had a role to play.  That took some doing to make happen, but once they all got the idea that they each had a role and weren't going to be running the entire deal, well, the magic began to happen. 

I found the girls can draw better than I could have imagined.  The boys have a vast knowledge of things I never have thought about.  It truly was one of the best nights I've ever had of being a dad. 

Was it easy to weather?  No. It was very loud.  But for the first time ever, I saw all seven of my kids collaborating with no ends in sight on where they can go.  It was magical.  It was a start.  And it gave me great hope for all of them. That night was a melding of emotions for me.  Yes, I was very tired, but at the same time, I was elated.  Through things I'm learning at work, through things I'm seeing on the road, I'm bring them back home, and passing them on to my kids, who are taking things to the next level.  Who are dreaming of what the world can become.  And I'm the luckiest dad in the world, because I got to see it happening.  And Wednesday night was only a start.