Eric Arnold's "The Whine Critics"

Here's an article well worth reading about the world of wine criticism: Each time wine journalists argue publicly, they put another nail in the coffin of their profession.

Air Canada and a crafty way to avoid overbooking and its costs

Air Canada has introduced what it touts as a new service to reward travelers who are flexible with their travel plans, called the Flexible Reward Option. If you register your willingness to accept alternate flight times (or even days,) you may be "rewarded" with those alternate plans and the rather paltry monetary reward of $57 if the airline bumps you to your alternate flight.

For the airline, this provides the clear benefit of knowing in advance whether some travelers are flexible and creates the possibility of avoiding that last-minute scramble to accomodate victims of overbooked flights.

For the traveler, this may give a chance to switch to an alternate flight without onerous ticket change fees. But it also may reduce the chances of the sometimes valuable benefits given to travelers who accept voluntary "bumping" when their flight is oversold. Free roundtrip tickets or vouchers worth $200 or more towards another trip are not uncommon.

Personally, if I am not in a rush to get where I am going, I intentionally try to book flights that have a good chance of being overbooked, and I almost always volunteer to give up my seat. Airlines have gotten better about capacity control, so I haven't been bumped in a while, but it's a fun part of travel for me -- sometimes. My recent trip to Chicago for my 25th year graduate school reunion would not have been possible without a free roundtrip United gave me for yielding my seat on a prior flight a few months earlier.

The Air Canada program is managed through a partner company Optiontown. This Massachusetts company appears to be developing programs like Air Canada's for other travel vendors. If Air Canada's success at implementing a la carte pricing earlier than most carriers is any indication, the Flexible Reward Option may take the place of Denied Boarding Vouchers on other airlines before long.

My plan for Oscar night

Security and other hoopla make just getting to the awards ceremony rather involved. My plan is to post blog entries when I have good dish or something else, but my "live" coverage may be limited to Twitter. You can see my Tweets on my blog page (http://douglevy.blogspot.com) or follow SFDoug at Twitter.com. My tuxedo is ready... On my way in just a couple of hours. Please post comments or send email if there's something in particular you want me to report about.

The scramble is on

In any other city, discovering a spot on a tuxedo at 11 PM the night before the big event would be a crisis, but this is Los Angeles, which has a culture unlike anywhere else.

It took some doing, but between Internet searches and the help of my hotel's concierge, I found an all-night dry cleaner with a good reputation (there's another in town that seems to have fewer loyal customers, or at least has a lot more angry ones posting info on line.)

Although I was the only customer arriving at Milt & Edie's cleaners in Burbank a little while ago, the woman behind the counter laughed when I asked if I was the only one bringing in a tuxedo tonight. "I've got three more" that had just come in, she said with a smile and the reassurance that mine will be ready around the time I plan to wake up Sunday morning. Gotta love LA!

My scramble also included finding a store with a vest and tie that I like enough to wear for my red carpet stroll... No luck at Macy's, but a Men's Wearhouse store in Studio City had a good selection, and the two men working there seemed well prepared for the stream of people needing formal wear this weekend. Wonder if there's anything going on besides the Oscars?

Random musings about LA

I can't complain about the weather... It's warm, sunny and crystal clear as I look out my hotel window and out to the Pacific Ocean... But I find myself puzzling over the incongruity of such beautiful natural surroundings and the, er, artificial augmentation that I am seeing all around me. I guess I prefer natural and organic, and not just my food.

Speaking of which, I had a nice lunch of jerk chicken with beans and rice at Cha Cha Chicken, at the corner of Pico and Ocean in Santa Monica. Around $10 gets a healthy portion of chicken in a spicy sweet jerk sauce that tastes reasonably authentic. I'll go there again.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

Words that resonate

President Obama's inaugural speech set an appropriate tone for the hard work that now begins. It was a fitting repudiation of the politics of the past eight years, and those of us who work in the world of science and policy were especially pleased that he included an absolute rejection of the Bush Administration's partisan interference in science. For me, the key part was his reminder that what needs to be done now is nothing different from what has been done before. In so many ways, it is simple: start by reminding ourselves of the values that make us American:

For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies. It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break; the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours. It is the firefighter's courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent's willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate. Our challenges may be new, the instruments with which we meet them may be new, but those values upon which our success depends, honesty and hard work, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism -- these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history.

The full-text of the speech is worth reading... and keeping around to remind us how important it is that all of us come together now and work together toward the common good.

And now everyone tries to get home

I have now spent the past five and a half hours at Dulles Airport,
where I and 65 others trying to get a standby seat on any United
flight to San Francisco are forming new friendships and sharing
stories about how we experienced the Obama Inauguration.

There is a physician who was here for military reserve duty, as he put
it, "sequestered" away from the crowds with a team positioned to react
if something happened. There's a family of four who arrived two hours
ahead of their early morning flight but didn't get through check-in
and security in time. And there's a woman who came to watch the
swearing-in and thought she could make a flight yesterday. Street
closures and traffic made that impossible.

Every flight appears to be going out full, with long standby lists.
But there remains a fair amount of good humor. If anything, I think
some folks are happy for the extra time to shop for Imaugural souvenirs.

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Not the most organized crowd control

I have always had great admiration for law enforcement, but I am
mystified at how poorly the different police agencies coordinated
their crowd control efforts. Park Police were not kept informed about
which streets the District Police opened to pedestrians. At one
intersection, Secret Service seemed to be at odds with District Police
and National Guard soldiers, resulting in a kind of scary few minutes
being pushed by a growing crowd of pedestrians. As one person near me
observed, this does not bode well if DC ever needs to do a mass
evacuation.

Another question that should be asked: Why didn't Metro set up a
system that would allow people to exit without farecards??? Collect a
special fare on entry, then open the gates at the jammed destination
stations. The crowds at Federal Center and L'Enfant Plaza were
overwhelming... And bordered on being dangerous.

Let's hope the officials do a thorough debrief and improve the
planning for Washington's next big event.

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Celebrate, but briefly

President Obama's speech was an eloquent, diplomatic rebuke of the
eight years of George W. Bush, and the transition to this new era is
well worth celebrating. At the same time, his remarks were especially
realistic about how much hard work lies ahead. But Obama is right: if
we put our political differences aside and look for the common good,
America once again will be respected around the world.

Even Rick Warren delivered a message of tolerance, respect and
inclusion. Let us never return to a day when only one point of view is
respected. We can disagree but still respect each other.

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Yes we did!

I hope that President Obama's call for each of us to take
responsibility soaks in across the land. And may his message to our
friends and foes around the world reach their targets, too.

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Emotions are running high

Many around me in this crowd seemed unhappy that Rick Warren was
giving the invocation, but his words resonated across this mall. We
are all here as one, united nation.

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The time has come

With members of the House and Senate taking their seats, we know that
the moment we are waiting for is near. Most of us are doing our best
to ignore the numbing cold (22 degrees last I checked.) but there
still is plenty of warmth here.

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What an awesome sight!

I am on the Mall, straight in front of the Capitol, which is two
blocks away. We can see the podium, but we will rely on a Jumbotron to
see what is really happening.

"Look at us. We are here," exclaimed Cynthia Bell, who traveled here
from Memphis. She said she is celebrating her birthday here "by being
a part of history."

Behind us, the crowd stretches literally all the way down the Mall.
The Washington Monument is in the distance. This is one heck of a party.

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The line stretches more than 10 blocks

My fingers are too cold to type much but this line is filled with
excited people. The Capitol Building is in front of us, illuminated
with floodlights. It is a gorgeous sight.

Slow going to the Capitol

Well, we have been on this Metro train 42 minutes and are just
reaching our third stop. Every couple of minutes, the train operator
gives an update. The stations near the Capitol are being opened and
closed depending on the crowds. At this pace, we still should make it
by the time security gates open at 8:00 am. The adventure continues.

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Bundled up and on our way

A 5:30 am walk to the Washington Metro station got this great day
going. The crowds are large and we are trying to figure out best
bets for walking if we get stuck. But it is a festive crowd.

Anticipation

There is almost an eerie calm quiet here in the nation's capital
region. Many locals have gone away. Many of us visitors are winding
down early tonight because getting to the swearing-in ceremony and
parade will be complicated, crowded, and slow.

But the people I have encountered today all share an energy that I
have never before experienced. The checker at Safeway said she was
trying to get all of her friends to contribute $5 a month toward
helping others. My friend Liisa said this is the realization of Martin
Luther King Jr.'s dream. Another friend said we now will have a
president who understands how complicated the world is today. One
person said we again have a great role model in the White House. Or
two, since Michelle Obama seems pretty amazing, too.

At dinner tonight, my friends and I toasted our new president, bid
farewell to Mr. Bush, and prayed that the world may be a bit better
now. I hope that we are all entering a new era of peace and prosperity.

I look forward to making a lot of new friends as we celebrate this
Inauguration Day.

Sent from my iPhone

Obama Girl + Obama Duet!

Check out this video on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2bhIboBr6Q

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National Day of Service

President-elect Obama's call to make MLK Day a national day of service strikes a strongly positive chord for me. Community volunteering has always been important, and too many people don't make time to help out others.

I was delighted to find that many of the events organized here in the DC area for today have reported they already had as many volunteers as they could use. My friend Chris and I are instead bringing a supply of healthy nonperishable food to the Arlington Food Bank. We will do more active service on other days. I hope many others will, too. The best way we can honor the memory of Martin Luther King, Jr. and our new president is to live each day as active members of our communities, unwilling to ignore problems or walk past those who need our help. We are one nation.

To find how to get involved near your home, visit http://usaservice.org.

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