Why I hate United Airlines, Part IV in a series
I forgot to mention that on the four and a half hour flight from ANC to SFO, my headphones and the audio system once again didn't work correctly. Fortunately, the movie being shown was Wild Hogs, so only having audio in one ear wasn't really that sad a thing, except for the regular and horrendous audio volume leveling in the movie.
Why I hate United, Part III in a series
While I don't have any proof for this, it doesn't seem outside of the realm of possibility that the fact that the wifi just went down in the Alaska Airlines Board Room is somehow United's fault. Good thing that Alaska has ethernet cables and free connections, to provide for United's deviousness and malevolence.
Why I hate United, Part II in a series
Because their online and telephone flight status tools are both liars, and even when the information is vaguely current (I'm used to a margin of error of one hour) it doesn't provide any useful information about *why* a flight is delayed.
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Why I hate United Airlines: Part I in a series
I'm nearing hour 43 of my return trip from Anchorage to Salt Lake City, via San Francisco and Los Angeles. I'm writing from the Alaska Airlines Board Room at LAX. For those of you following this saga, you might be aware that no, I wasn't supposed to set foot in LA. See, it goes something like this. I was scheduled on UA 700, departing ANC at 2330 on June 26 for DEN, connecting to UA 141, departing DEN at 0825 on 27 June.
Well, UA 700 was indefinitely delayed for mechanical: apparently on an A320, there are two fans that cool avionics, a minimum of one of them is necessary to fly the plane, and neither was in working order. The gate agent was quite clear that it was distinctly possible that the plane was not going to go out that night, and that passengers would be lucky to get seats on UA 736 ANC-SFO the next day, and possibly even lucky to get re-booked on the next night's UA 700 flight. This was due in some part to the fact that an American Airlines (which TGS and I know better as Aerolineas Stalinsta) flight had already canceled for mechanical, and most of those passengers had already be re-booked on UA 700. She cheerily capped off this bad news by informing us that hotel rooms are exceedingly difficult to come by in the summer in Anchorage, and so hotel vouchers would be very unlikely.
So I called United Premier reservations and asked them what they thought I should do, and they quickly and easily re-booked me on UA 736 ANC-SFO departing at 1409 (notably, still in First,) and UX 6356 SFO-SLC departing 2101. I then (easily) got a hotel room for the night, and took a taxi back into midtown Anchorage. While this definitely was the correct decision at the time, let's just say that hindsight is 20/20. So UA 736 left ANC an hour and a half late, and I only had an hour and ten minute margin between the flights. Then, UX 6356 left SFO on time, and so I missed it by about fifteen minutes. I found out at a check-in terminal that UA's genius computers (note the dripping sarcasm) had already re-booked me: to fly out the next day, and connect through LAX, and arrive home around 2100. No, not on either of the TWO daily nonstops that UA and UX (United Express/Skywest) operate from SFO to SLC, nor on any of the SEVEN nonstop flights that Delta and Skywest operate to SLC.
I had a lovely half hour to forty minute wait in line at the United Customer Service counter, where they told me that there was not a single seat available on ANY of the abovementioned NINE nonstop flights to SLC, and that my current re-booked itinerary was definitely the best I would get. They did print out hotel and meal vouchers, telling me that the Crown Plaza in Foster City has a free shuttle every twenty minutes. Not wanting to miss the opportunity to get real food at a real (i.e., non-airport) restaurant, I went straight out to the curb, where I proceeded to stand with about seventeen other stranded passengers from UA 736. We all waited just under an hour for the shuttle to show up. While the check-in was friendly and easy at Crown Plaza (print, sign, date, endorse voucher, get handed keycard) this put us just a little bit past 11pm, which in the suburbia that is Foster City, means EVERYTHING was closed. Not only the hotel restaurants and all nearby chain restaurants, but also the Pizza Smut delivery service. (Who in the hell stops pizza delivery service at 10pm on a weeknight, and 11pm on Friday and Saturday?)
Note that in the midst of all this, my BIL, CKI, was very kindly willing to make the miserable drive from the east bay to come get my sorry ass if I couldn't get a hotel voucher. When I did get hotel vouchers, I opted to stick with them rather than inconvenience CKI and CLI, since I would have also needed an early morning drive to a BART station today. In retrospect, while I immensely appreciate CKI's willingness to come get me, it would have sucked for them.
For those of you who haven't had the pleasure of visiting Foster City, California, at least for anything but ingress and egress to the San Mateo bridge, it epitomizes lifeless, sterile, boring suburbia. Not only were no restaurants open, there was literally not a single convenience store open anywhere within eyesight or reasonable walking distance. Now looking at google maps, the nearest convenience store is 1.2 miles SE of the hotel.
By sheer luck, I still had an orange and a small bag of chips in my carryon, and so this, together with a cliff bar and a cup of chamomile tea, made for dinner.
So here I sit, in the Alaska Board Room at LAX, looking out at the planes lining up to depart, and landing regularly. Apparently all of this hassle was caused by the weather in the central and eastern US, especially in Chicago. You wouldn't know it by looking at the departures board at LAX, though SFO was basically in complete chaos. One woman in particular was hysterical (and idiotic, and hideously annoying.) She was quite literally yelling at a CS agent at my gate at SFO (gate 69 this morning awaiting the departure of UA 1179, in case any frequent flyers reading this are curious) about how waiting for five hours was totally unacceptable, and her time is "precious" and that they MUST put her on the next available flight to NYC. Apparently she has a concrt to go to tomorrow. From what I could glean, she had been IDB'd (involuntarily denied boarding) albeit along with 53 other people. Well, miss, I got news for you: I'm hoping that my return flight from ANC to SLC doesn't end up taking much more than 48 hours. I don't have a lot of sympathy for your five hour delay.
This is, once again, confirmation that jumping ship from UA to AS as my primary airline was the right choice: when your planes don't require regular trips to ORD, DEN, and Dulles, east coat weather doesn't much matter.
Well, hopefully in a few hours, I'll board a vaguely on-time flight LAX-SLC, and get back to SLC for four nights before we drive to Seattle. Cross your fingers. Meanwhile, the Alaska Board Room is treating me right: two Alaskan Ambers, and a maragrita. Yum.
I'm nearing hour 43 of my return trip from Anchorage to Salt Lake City, via San Francisco and Los Angeles. I'm writing from the Alaska Airlines Board Room at LAX. For those of you following this saga, you might be aware that no, I wasn't supposed to set foot in LA. See, it goes something like this. I was scheduled on UA 700, departing ANC at 2330 on June 26 for DEN, connecting to UA 141, departing DEN at 0825 on 27 June.
Well, UA 700 was indefinitely delayed for mechanical: apparently on an A320, there are two fans that cool avionics, a minimum of one of them is necessary to fly the plane, and neither was in working order. The gate agent was quite clear that it was distinctly possible that the plane was not going to go out that night, and that passengers would be lucky to get seats on UA 736 ANC-SFO the next day, and possibly even lucky to get re-booked on the next night's UA 700 flight. This was due in some part to the fact that an American Airlines (which TGS and I know better as Aerolineas Stalinsta) flight had already canceled for mechanical, and most of those passengers had already be re-booked on UA 700. She cheerily capped off this bad news by informing us that hotel rooms are exceedingly difficult to come by in the summer in Anchorage, and so hotel vouchers would be very unlikely.
So I called United Premier reservations and asked them what they thought I should do, and they quickly and easily re-booked me on UA 736 ANC-SFO departing at 1409 (notably, still in First,) and UX 6356 SFO-SLC departing 2101. I then (easily) got a hotel room for the night, and took a taxi back into midtown Anchorage. While this definitely was the correct decision at the time, let's just say that hindsight is 20/20. So UA 736 left ANC an hour and a half late, and I only had an hour and ten minute margin between the flights. Then, UX 6356 left SFO on time, and so I missed it by about fifteen minutes. I found out at a check-in terminal that UA's genius computers (note the dripping sarcasm) had already re-booked me: to fly out the next day, and connect through LAX, and arrive home around 2100. No, not on either of the TWO daily nonstops that UA and UX (United Express/Skywest) operate from SFO to SLC, nor on any of the SEVEN nonstop flights that Delta and Skywest operate to SLC.
I had a lovely half hour to forty minute wait in line at the United Customer Service counter, where they told me that there was not a single seat available on ANY of the abovementioned NINE nonstop flights to SLC, and that my current re-booked itinerary was definitely the best I would get. They did print out hotel and meal vouchers, telling me that the Crown Plaza in Foster City has a free shuttle every twenty minutes. Not wanting to miss the opportunity to get real food at a real (i.e., non-airport) restaurant, I went straight out to the curb, where I proceeded to stand with about seventeen other stranded passengers from UA 736. We all waited just under an hour for the shuttle to show up. While the check-in was friendly and easy at Crown Plaza (print, sign, date, endorse voucher, get handed keycard) this put us just a little bit past 11pm, which in the suburbia that is Foster City, means EVERYTHING was closed. Not only the hotel restaurants and all nearby chain restaurants, but also the Pizza Smut delivery service. (Who in the hell stops pizza delivery service at 10pm on a weeknight, and 11pm on Friday and Saturday?)
Note that in the midst of all this, my BIL, CKI, was very kindly willing to make the miserable drive from the east bay to come get my sorry ass if I couldn't get a hotel voucher. When I did get hotel vouchers, I opted to stick with them rather than inconvenience CKI and CLI, since I would have also needed an early morning drive to a BART station today. In retrospect, while I immensely appreciate CKI's willingness to come get me, it would have sucked for them.
For those of you who haven't had the pleasure of visiting Foster City, California, at least for anything but ingress and egress to the San Mateo bridge, it epitomizes lifeless, sterile, boring suburbia. Not only were no restaurants open, there was literally not a single convenience store open anywhere within eyesight or reasonable walking distance. Now looking at google maps, the nearest convenience store is 1.2 miles SE of the hotel.
By sheer luck, I still had an orange and a small bag of chips in my carryon, and so this, together with a cliff bar and a cup of chamomile tea, made for dinner.
So here I sit, in the Alaska Board Room at LAX, looking out at the planes lining up to depart, and landing regularly. Apparently all of this hassle was caused by the weather in the central and eastern US, especially in Chicago. You wouldn't know it by looking at the departures board at LAX, though SFO was basically in complete chaos. One woman in particular was hysterical (and idiotic, and hideously annoying.) She was quite literally yelling at a CS agent at my gate at SFO (gate 69 this morning awaiting the departure of UA 1179, in case any frequent flyers reading this are curious) about how waiting for five hours was totally unacceptable, and her time is "precious" and that they MUST put her on the next available flight to NYC. Apparently she has a concrt to go to tomorrow. From what I could glean, she had been IDB'd (involuntarily denied boarding) albeit along with 53 other people. Well, miss, I got news for you: I'm hoping that my return flight from ANC to SLC doesn't end up taking much more than 48 hours. I don't have a lot of sympathy for your five hour delay.
This is, once again, confirmation that jumping ship from UA to AS as my primary airline was the right choice: when your planes don't require regular trips to ORD, DEN, and Dulles, east coat weather doesn't much matter.
Well, hopefully in a few hours, I'll board a vaguely on-time flight LAX-SLC, and get back to SLC for four nights before we drive to Seattle. Cross your fingers. Meanwhile, the Alaska Board Room is treating me right: two Alaskan Ambers, and a maragrita. Yum.
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Confidential to TGS
Now THIS is what I'm talkin' about: the Alaska Board Room in Anchorage serves Glacier IPA (and Blonde) in addition to Alaskan Amber. Guess which one I'm on my second glass of? It's making my very delayed deparfture from ANC much more acceptable.
Now notes to everyone: I'm sure glad I have ditched United in favor of Alaska. Not only does it turn out that United is stopping year-round service to ANC, something I didn't know when I made the decision, but when you take a delay, you are basically screwed until you get lucky. My 2330 flight last night was delayed until almost 2 this morning, and the gate agent was clear that she really didn't know if it would go out last night at all, and that most connections were probably trashed, and further, that ANC in the summer is very difficult to get hotel rooms in, so hotel vouchers would likely be worthless. To top it all off, the only thing they could possibly have done for us, meal vouchers, would have to be used with no vegan food in sight in the ANC airport (and an already closed Board Room.)
So I did the smart thing and called UA's premier line, and got myself rebooked on a 1409 flight today, and (easily) booked a room at Qupqugiaq for $69. Well, it seemed like the smart thing, and while it did get me a good night's sleep and a nice lunch at Middle Way, now my 1409 departure (UA 736) is delayed until 1445, which likely blows my connection to SLC, on UX 6356, which is the last flight of the night SFO-SLC. Getting ugly, friends and neighbors, getting ugly. To top it all off, I'd really like to get to my dentist appointment tomorrow morning at 10:30 to have a cavity filled. Oh well: we do our best, and United Airlines just does a little less. Or sometimes, a lot less.
Confidential to CLI & CKI: will be calling very soon to possibly crash for a night.
Back to working changing address and phone on various things to ANC. YAY!
Now THIS is what I'm talkin' about: the Alaska Board Room in Anchorage serves Glacier IPA (and Blonde) in addition to Alaskan Amber. Guess which one I'm on my second glass of? It's making my very delayed deparfture from ANC much more acceptable.
Now notes to everyone: I'm sure glad I have ditched United in favor of Alaska. Not only does it turn out that United is stopping year-round service to ANC, something I didn't know when I made the decision, but when you take a delay, you are basically screwed until you get lucky. My 2330 flight last night was delayed until almost 2 this morning, and the gate agent was clear that she really didn't know if it would go out last night at all, and that most connections were probably trashed, and further, that ANC in the summer is very difficult to get hotel rooms in, so hotel vouchers would likely be worthless. To top it all off, the only thing they could possibly have done for us, meal vouchers, would have to be used with no vegan food in sight in the ANC airport (and an already closed Board Room.)
So I did the smart thing and called UA's premier line, and got myself rebooked on a 1409 flight today, and (easily) booked a room at Qupqugiaq for $69. Well, it seemed like the smart thing, and while it did get me a good night's sleep and a nice lunch at Middle Way, now my 1409 departure (UA 736) is delayed until 1445, which likely blows my connection to SLC, on UX 6356, which is the last flight of the night SFO-SLC. Getting ugly, friends and neighbors, getting ugly. To top it all off, I'd really like to get to my dentist appointment tomorrow morning at 10:30 to have a cavity filled. Oh well: we do our best, and United Airlines just does a little less. Or sometimes, a lot less.
Confidential to CLI & CKI: will be calling very soon to possibly crash for a night.
Back to working changing address and phone on various things to ANC. YAY!
Friday, June 22, 2007
As soon as I'm home, I'm not
After a luxurious three and a half days at home, and the delight of being with J again, I'm back in an airport. I'm at SFO, which at the end of the day will be my third of four airports en route to Anchorage. ANCHORAGE! Makes me happy.
Going mostly to hang out with TGS, and also to open a PO box, and possibly do a little bit of house hunting.
I keep promising some pictures of Australia, and I'm going to try to sit here and process a bunch of them. I'm realizing that I mostly took pictures of food, which seems appropriate, given that food is most of what I dealt with while on ship.
Okay -- back to pictures, and my cold pint of Alaskan Amber!
After a luxurious three and a half days at home, and the delight of being with J again, I'm back in an airport. I'm at SFO, which at the end of the day will be my third of four airports en route to Anchorage. ANCHORAGE! Makes me happy.
Going mostly to hang out with TGS, and also to open a PO box, and possibly do a little bit of house hunting.
I keep promising some pictures of Australia, and I'm going to try to sit here and process a bunch of them. I'm realizing that I mostly took pictures of food, which seems appropriate, given that food is most of what I dealt with while on ship.
Okay -- back to pictures, and my cold pint of Alaskan Amber!
Friday, June 15, 2007
All's well that ends well
My second to last full day on ship; I'll be taking an early (~6:30am) airport shuttle Monday morning, and flying for approximately sixteen hours through four airports to return home on Monday evening. (That crazy little interntional date line!)
I've been astonished, once again, at how preposterously expensive some things are in Australia. Examples:
* paint roller covers: AUD$11.80 (USD$9.91)
* four liters (roughly a gallon) of standard interior semi-gloss paint: AUD$70 (USD$58.80)
* blue 3M painter's masking tape, for a 1" wide roll? AU$18!!! (USD$15.11)
* And AUD$28 (USD$23.50) for a 2" roll!
Absolutely, totally, completely asinine, and utterly indefensible.
Working out some last minute travel issues, and getting ready to spend most of an entire day on planes and in airports.
Very likely this will be my last post from Australia, so images should soon follow. See some of you soon!
My second to last full day on ship; I'll be taking an early (~6:30am) airport shuttle Monday morning, and flying for approximately sixteen hours through four airports to return home on Monday evening. (That crazy little interntional date line!)
I've been astonished, once again, at how preposterously expensive some things are in Australia. Examples:
* paint roller covers: AUD$11.80 (USD$9.91)
* four liters (roughly a gallon) of standard interior semi-gloss paint: AUD$70 (USD$58.80)
* blue 3M painter's masking tape, for a 1" wide roll? AU$18!!! (USD$15.11)
* And AUD$28 (USD$23.50) for a 2" roll!
Absolutely, totally, completely asinine, and utterly indefensible.
Working out some last minute travel issues, and getting ready to spend most of an entire day on planes and in airports.
Very likely this will be my last post from Australia, so images should soon follow. See some of you soon!
More carpentry...
is what I've been up to for the last few days, a welcome relief from the galley before I depart. I helped complete some demolition, then laid laminate (pergo) flooring in another cabin, went out and bought molding, and cut and tagged it all today. Tomorrow we start prepping for painting, and possibly begin painting on Sunday before I fly out on Monday morning, early. Big times.
My thoughts about leaving are little different than when I posted a week or so ago: complicated. I'm eager to return home and get some stuf done, and then begin the process of moving to Alaska, but (only) slightly sad to be leaving the ship.
I'm on dish rota today, meaning I do everyone's common dishes from eating meals and snacks in between. It's a funny thing: I'm actually happy to be doing a dozen or so plates or bowls, associated flatware, and glasses, at a time, compared to doing the heavy-duty, burnt-on, baked-on cookware dishes of the galley.
I'm also quite excited to go to AK and see TGS, and do some scoping out for the move. Banal stuff, but critical: cell phones, a PO box, looking at houses, etc.
More may or may not follow before I fly out on Monday morning. I'll definitely try to post some thoughts, and lots of photos, when I return to Utah.
is what I've been up to for the last few days, a welcome relief from the galley before I depart. I helped complete some demolition, then laid laminate (pergo) flooring in another cabin, went out and bought molding, and cut and tagged it all today. Tomorrow we start prepping for painting, and possibly begin painting on Sunday before I fly out on Monday morning, early. Big times.
My thoughts about leaving are little different than when I posted a week or so ago: complicated. I'm eager to return home and get some stuf done, and then begin the process of moving to Alaska, but (only) slightly sad to be leaving the ship.
I'm on dish rota today, meaning I do everyone's common dishes from eating meals and snacks in between. It's a funny thing: I'm actually happy to be doing a dozen or so plates or bowls, associated flatware, and glasses, at a time, compared to doing the heavy-duty, burnt-on, baked-on cookware dishes of the galley.
I'm also quite excited to go to AK and see TGS, and do some scoping out for the move. Banal stuff, but critical: cell phones, a PO box, looking at houses, etc.
More may or may not follow before I fly out on Monday morning. I'll definitely try to post some thoughts, and lots of photos, when I return to Utah.
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Coming soon...
to the intermountain west. I'm short here, only four more whole days, and a couple of half days. As my time draws nigh, I've moved back to non-galley crew, to get more flooring and carpentry done. I spent all day laying another cabin's worth of pergo-type laminate flooring, and tomorrow afternoon when a "shore crew" member comes with her car, will go to buy molding for both cabins, and lay that.
The little things seem larger or smaller, as my time (in this stint) draws to a close. Already, I'm thinking about the next stint, hopefully to Antarctica. About what to pack: more batteries, and what not to pack: shampoo (the ships has heaps of organic shampoo that has been donated.) About what snacks to bring (more chocolate!) About books to bring. About ways to stay in better shape (yoga.) About digital photography equipment that is needed, and not.
Soon!
to the intermountain west. I'm short here, only four more whole days, and a couple of half days. As my time draws nigh, I've moved back to non-galley crew, to get more flooring and carpentry done. I spent all day laying another cabin's worth of pergo-type laminate flooring, and tomorrow afternoon when a "shore crew" member comes with her car, will go to buy molding for both cabins, and lay that.
The little things seem larger or smaller, as my time (in this stint) draws to a close. Already, I'm thinking about the next stint, hopefully to Antarctica. About what to pack: more batteries, and what not to pack: shampoo (the ships has heaps of organic shampoo that has been donated.) About what snacks to bring (more chocolate!) About books to bring. About ways to stay in better shape (yoga.) About digital photography equipment that is needed, and not.
Soon!
Saturday, June 09, 2007
Closing time...
Lately, my mind has been largely occupied with thoughts of returning to the states. Finishing our renovations, packing, staying in a hotel for a few nights, driving to Seattle, time there with J while she trains for her new job, possible travel, ferry to Alaska, and settling in to Anchorage.
We're actively looking for housing, both short and long-term. Our hope is to buy again, and we're looking around. We'll see. It sure would be nice to have a home that wasn't built in 1912 with brick frame construction and now-crumbling plaster on lath construction.
I'm so looking forward to going back to Alaska. It always has this draw for me. But then, so does Arizona, and parts of California. I have lots of projects on the middle and back burners for Alaska, and can't wait to get started.
Lately, my mind has been largely occupied with thoughts of returning to the states. Finishing our renovations, packing, staying in a hotel for a few nights, driving to Seattle, time there with J while she trains for her new job, possible travel, ferry to Alaska, and settling in to Anchorage.
We're actively looking for housing, both short and long-term. Our hope is to buy again, and we're looking around. We'll see. It sure would be nice to have a home that wasn't built in 1912 with brick frame construction and now-crumbling plaster on lath construction.
I'm so looking forward to going back to Alaska. It always has this draw for me. But then, so does Arizona, and parts of California. I have lots of projects on the middle and back burners for Alaska, and can't wait to get started.
Thursday, June 07, 2007
Leftovers!
I has discovered something important: if I put out one or two freshly cooked dishes, and one or two leftovers, the leftovers get shunned by the crew. I can't say I blame them -- I'd do exactly the same thing. So I had their number today for lunch: I put out ALL leftovers. cream of broccoli soup, mashed potatoes, stir fry, chili, green curry, baked pasta, and applesauce. Oh, and rice, which wasn't a leftover.
Dinner was more leftovers, of a sort: fresh bread popovers, filled with the stir fry vegetables and chili, and some with rice and curry, and some with just curry. Also salad, and banana peanut butter cream pie, and banana oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.
Yesterday lunch was wraps with roasted and sauteed vegetables, veggies, and spinach salad. Dinner was stir fry with TVP, rice, and salad.
Alaska looms large on the horizon, and much travel is ahead. I was granted MVP status on Alaska Airlines due to my status with United, and now I have to fly 20k miles this year to maintain it for next year. A vicious cycle, indeed. Of course, it's well worth it to be able to pre-book exit row seats on Alaska, which I'll be flying a lot in and out of ANC.
We're looking for housing options for ANC for when we arrive (around July 27.) The rough plan is to sublet or arrange something temporary while we look to buy. I guess we didn't learn our lesson about home ownership. I think we did, however, learn our lesson about old houses. Fortunately, relatively little housing in Anchorage is 95 years old (at least housing we'd seriously consider.)
Back to e-mails now...
I has discovered something important: if I put out one or two freshly cooked dishes, and one or two leftovers, the leftovers get shunned by the crew. I can't say I blame them -- I'd do exactly the same thing. So I had their number today for lunch: I put out ALL leftovers. cream of broccoli soup, mashed potatoes, stir fry, chili, green curry, baked pasta, and applesauce. Oh, and rice, which wasn't a leftover.
Dinner was more leftovers, of a sort: fresh bread popovers, filled with the stir fry vegetables and chili, and some with rice and curry, and some with just curry. Also salad, and banana peanut butter cream pie, and banana oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.
Yesterday lunch was wraps with roasted and sauteed vegetables, veggies, and spinach salad. Dinner was stir fry with TVP, rice, and salad.
Alaska looms large on the horizon, and much travel is ahead. I was granted MVP status on Alaska Airlines due to my status with United, and now I have to fly 20k miles this year to maintain it for next year. A vicious cycle, indeed. Of course, it's well worth it to be able to pre-book exit row seats on Alaska, which I'll be flying a lot in and out of ANC.
We're looking for housing options for ANC for when we arrive (around July 27.) The rough plan is to sublet or arrange something temporary while we look to buy. I guess we didn't learn our lesson about home ownership. I think we did, however, learn our lesson about old houses. Fortunately, relatively little housing in Anchorage is 95 years old (at least housing we'd seriously consider.)
Back to e-mails now...
Saturday, June 02, 2007
More notes on food
Today's lunch: mashed potatoes with carmelized onions, fresh sage, and spices (mustard powder, cayenne, and cumin.) Fresh guacamole. String beans sauteed with soy sauce and "hot chili" sauce. Salad with mandarins and red bell peppers.
I'm hoping to have the energy this afternoon to make the passionfruit banana muffins (though I might just make a cake out of it if I can't find any muffin pans.)
I'm at the Mission for the second time in two days, which is a little unusual, but I've felt a greater need lately to keep in touch. On which not, I'm going to try to call J, and then get back to the ship for a quick pre-dinner-cooking nap.
Today's lunch: mashed potatoes with carmelized onions, fresh sage, and spices (mustard powder, cayenne, and cumin.) Fresh guacamole. String beans sauteed with soy sauce and "hot chili" sauce. Salad with mandarins and red bell peppers.
I'm hoping to have the energy this afternoon to make the passionfruit banana muffins (though I might just make a cake out of it if I can't find any muffin pans.)
I'm at the Mission for the second time in two days, which is a little unusual, but I've felt a greater need lately to keep in touch. On which not, I'm going to try to call J, and then get back to the ship for a quick pre-dinner-cooking nap.
Super quickie food update
Since I know you all hang on the edge of your seats waiting to hear the vegan food I've pulled off on ship with crappy cooktops, one totally unpredictable oven that works, and 99% donated food, here is tonight's update:
Vegan pizza, with fresh dough, and fun fixins: carmelized onions, sauteed mushrooms, green onions; one with pesto and one with tomato. Also, another with pesto, and all the above good stuff, but with a bunch of hot peppers. YUM!
Since I know you all hang on the edge of your seats waiting to hear the vegan food I've pulled off on ship with crappy cooktops, one totally unpredictable oven that works, and 99% donated food, here is tonight's update:
Vegan pizza, with fresh dough, and fun fixins: carmelized onions, sauteed mushrooms, green onions; one with pesto and one with tomato. Also, another with pesto, and all the above good stuff, but with a bunch of hot peppers. YUM!
Friday, June 01, 2007
Power, water, and so on...
So we had a power outtage (necessary due to some wiring that needed to be upgraded) for a day and a half, which also affects the fresh water. It was almost eerily quiet on ship. I was on watch from 8pm to midnight the day we didn't have power, and the ship felt like a cemetary. The lack of power also kept us from getting started laying some flooring, though myself and a new crew member finished that task today, with only molding and some cleanup remaining to be done. Looks pretty good, though when you deal with 99% donated tools, you just have to accept the best you can do.
As I haven't been in the galley for two days while doing flooring, few things to report there. The last dinner I did met with great enthusiasm from the crew: penne pasta with sauteed mushrooms, onions, tomatoes, and broccoli; mashed potatoes with carmelized onions and lots and lots of fresh sage (so much it turned fairly green); and spinach salad with fresh veggies. Not sure about tomorrow, but probably something potato based. I'm kind of tempted to do potato latkes and applesauce, since it's fun, deep fried, easily veganized, and we have all the ingredients. Now that I've found the slicing and grating attachments for the food processor, doing large amounts of grating and slicing and dicing are vastly more pleasant. I actually have calluses built up on my palms from cutting with knives.
I met a couple of really fantastic people from Melbourne Food Not Bombs, and plan to go cook and serve with them on Monday night. Should be fun and interesting: I'll report more afterwards.
Last night I read a roughly 300 page book from start to finish in four hours, including time to dish up and eat my dinner. Not a particularly good book, mind you, or a challenging one: Pacific Vortex, by Clive Cussler. But it moved fast enough, and wasn't too ridiculous, such that about 150 pages in, I decided to just go straight through to the (lame and fairly predictable) finish.
Home, soon... while I'm excited about it, it's a bit odd to think of going back to the states in less than three weeks. It's interesting how quickly one can become accustomed to life on ship, and life away from home, and life in radically new environments. Not that I don't miss J every single day: I do. But just how you can find a home away from home, and lonliness; things to keep busy, and time fillers; quiet spaces, and social spaces; routines, and random interactions; expectations, and coping mechanisms when those expectations aren't realized.
Confidential to TGS: thinking about you.
So we had a power outtage (necessary due to some wiring that needed to be upgraded) for a day and a half, which also affects the fresh water. It was almost eerily quiet on ship. I was on watch from 8pm to midnight the day we didn't have power, and the ship felt like a cemetary. The lack of power also kept us from getting started laying some flooring, though myself and a new crew member finished that task today, with only molding and some cleanup remaining to be done. Looks pretty good, though when you deal with 99% donated tools, you just have to accept the best you can do.
As I haven't been in the galley for two days while doing flooring, few things to report there. The last dinner I did met with great enthusiasm from the crew: penne pasta with sauteed mushrooms, onions, tomatoes, and broccoli; mashed potatoes with carmelized onions and lots and lots of fresh sage (so much it turned fairly green); and spinach salad with fresh veggies. Not sure about tomorrow, but probably something potato based. I'm kind of tempted to do potato latkes and applesauce, since it's fun, deep fried, easily veganized, and we have all the ingredients. Now that I've found the slicing and grating attachments for the food processor, doing large amounts of grating and slicing and dicing are vastly more pleasant. I actually have calluses built up on my palms from cutting with knives.
I met a couple of really fantastic people from Melbourne Food Not Bombs, and plan to go cook and serve with them on Monday night. Should be fun and interesting: I'll report more afterwards.
Last night I read a roughly 300 page book from start to finish in four hours, including time to dish up and eat my dinner. Not a particularly good book, mind you, or a challenging one: Pacific Vortex, by Clive Cussler. But it moved fast enough, and wasn't too ridiculous, such that about 150 pages in, I decided to just go straight through to the (lame and fairly predictable) finish.
Home, soon... while I'm excited about it, it's a bit odd to think of going back to the states in less than three weeks. It's interesting how quickly one can become accustomed to life on ship, and life away from home, and life in radically new environments. Not that I don't miss J every single day: I do. But just how you can find a home away from home, and lonliness; things to keep busy, and time fillers; quiet spaces, and social spaces; routines, and random interactions; expectations, and coping mechanisms when those expectations aren't realized.
Confidential to TGS: thinking about you.
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