I could read the headlines now… NB Man in Jail Cell over Cell Phone

On my flight back from Rhode Island last week, one gentleman got on the plan with his cell phone in his ear. He was talking with his family or something and was clearly preoccupied with his call. The co-pilot was trying to give pre-flight instructions (it was a VERY small plane) and was attempting with decreasing levels of patience to get this guy to end his phone call.

• “Alright, everyone, as soon as we are done with our cell phone calls, we can get underway.”
• “Sir, the whole flight is waiting for you.”
• “Ok. It’s - time - to - end - the - phone - call.”
• “I have no problem sending everyone back to the terminal, and we can deal with this from there.”
• “The Airport Police are just a phone call away!”

When the guy finished his call, the co-pilot immediately went into his announcements. The guy turned off his cell phone (like a good boy) and, of course, his cell phone played its little musical notification of powering down.

• “Are we still playing with cell phones down there!!”

All the while, the dude was yacking away, apparently oblivious to the repeated requests to end his call. So, he never heard him, eh? Still, you are on a plane…. an airplane! You know cell phone use is frowned upon. Duh! He is VERY fortunate that he was not arrested, or carted off the plane or something. In these days of international travel, you don’t frig around with that stuff. I’ve heard stories of people being carted away for less.
“The Airport Police are just a phone call away.” “If you wait a couple of minutes, when I’m done with my call, I’ll let you borrow my cell phone.”

I love it when a plan comes together.

Here I am, sitting cozily in my hotel room in Providence, Rhode Island. My trip here today from Toronto was full of wonder and adventure. My colleague and I had it planned. We were going to have a late lunch, and then mosey on over to Pearson International Airport with loads of time to spare for our 4:10 flight. Well, lunch started a little later than it should have and we were rushing out at around 2:30 to fight traffic to the airport. Not an ideal start.

Well, we get to the airport and the line up for check in is a mile long. I’m not exaggerating. My colleague has Elite Status with Aeroplan, so he has the privilege of checking in at the Executive Class line. I went with him. (I’m not Elite and I shouldn’t be there.) The lady at the check-in was classy enough to overlook my brazen approach, and even put a priority sticker on my luggage. Off to US Customs. Once I got through the line, I went up to the wicket. Besides saying Hello, all the agent did was hum and dance, stamp my customs declaration and shoo me along. On to security. The guy at security laughed and joked with me and my belt buckle didn’t even make the detector beep. Then, in Providence Airport, my bag was the first off the plane, thanks probably to the priority sticker the nice lady at Air Canada put on it.

What’s the big deal with people complaining about traveling through customs?

Happy Birthday, Shelly!

I’m never really sure when my sister’s birthday is. It was always November 14^th. But then, for some reason, she needed to get her original birth certificate from a hospital in Quebec. When she got it, it said November 15^th. So, then her birthday was November 15th. Our mother was insistent that she was not mistaken all those years, but how could you argue with official paperwork? Well, we came up with a theory. The hospital reproduced the birth certificate based on a Julian date, that is, the day of the year. Well, my sister was born on the 319^th day of the year. AND as everyone knows, the 319th day of the year is…. November 15^th. Except, of course, on a leap year. My sister was born on a leap year so ta da! She was really born on November 14^th. Mom, you were right!

Either way, Happy Birthday little sister!

The Beerbelly is a prosthetic device of sorts that allows stealthy service of your favourite beverage. Just pour your beverage into the plastic bladder, stow it in the beer-belly-shaped insulated pouch, and voila! You can sneak your beverage into just about any venue. It holds 80 ounces (more than a six pack); and it looks and feels like the real deal.

Ingenious. I want one.

And for the ladies…. the Winerack!

Thanks Ian, for the lead on the best invention to hit the streets since pretzels and canned peanuts.

“Wikipedia is an encyclopedia collaboratively written by many of its readers. It uses a special type of website, called a wiki, that makes collaboration easy. Lots of people are constantly improving Wikipedia, making thousands of changes an hour, all of which are recorded on article histories and recent changes. Inappropriate changes are usually removed quickly, and repeat offenders can be blocked from editing.”

Borat’s movie (Borat’s Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan) has caused quite a stir. Wikipedia had to disable anonymous or newly registered edits of the site entries for Kazakhstan due to vandalism and less-than-serious updates of their site. The alterations to the site said the country’s motto is “High Five” and the national anthem opening line was changed to say: “Kazakhstan greatest country in the world. All other countries are run by little girls.” They have since reverted (almost) all the changes… see picture.

I’ve seen this guy on Jay Leno and he is kind of funny, in a weird demented kind of way. His humour is based totally on shock factor. Poking fun at a whole country, implying a backward (at least by North American “standards”) mentality to life. This is cultural mocking at its finest, or worst, depending on your point of view. I can definitely say I won’t go see the movie. But I will probably rent it when it comes out. And I’ll probably laugh.

Go ahead… someone re-spark the “Great Newfie Debate“.