life hereafter

random musings from a wannabe economist

As anyone who has ever flown in, once seen, or thought about an airplane, I feel as though it is my patriotic duty to add my inflation adjusted $0.02 into the mix.

In-case you have been hiding under a rock for the past week, Spirit Airlines announced that they will charge up to $45 for passengers bringing carry-on bags onto it’s jets this summer. The announcement has been met with much controversy and has even sparked a new Bill in congress entitled the BAG Act (whose cutesy title makes me gag a little so I won’t repeat it here.)

The great Senator from New York (no, the other one… yes, Schumer… near-sighted protector of consumers everywhere… ok, no? yeah, the CARD Act was short-sighted wasn’t it… ok, that’s a whole other debate, let’s move on…) has received commitment from five domestic airlines that they will not follow suit and also charge for carry-on bags. Unfortunately, the Senator may be on the wrong side of this issue. Closer inspection shows that the argument isn’t so simple.

This is a problem that airlines brought on themselves. Ever since they began charging for checked bags individual consumers decided to outsmart them and bring ever larger bags into the cabin itself. A cabin which was never designed to hold the quantity of cargo it now contains. This causes multiple headaches, it slows down the check-in process, slows down security, slows down boarding and slows down disembarkment. It now takes a solid half hour to board an A-390 as little old women struggle to lift 45-lb suitcases above their heads and into the over-head bins.

Spirit decided to apply a tried-and-true (and effective) economic principle using a (dis)incentive to force people to make a conscious choice about what they are doing. Do I REALLY need my bag with me in the cabin, slowing everyone down, or can it go below?

Of course no one wants to pay any added fees for anything, but perhaps we should all take a good look at what Spirit was trying to accomplish. Maybe folks bringing 40-lb bags into the cabin should pay the fee for the added convenience (for themselves) and inconvenience (for everyone else.)  Then we can all return to sanity and vacationers can check their over-sized and overstuffed bags. While we are at it, airlines should also enforce the rule that your first carry-on goes under your seat. No more putting your coat and purse in the overhead so that your little feets can stretch comfortably. (I’m looking at you.)

I am spending the next two weeks in Florida (my second home.)

Friday night I flew down to Naples, I am spending the weekend in Naples and then driving up to Tampa on Monday. There I will meet up with two other people and drive up to Orlando for a week of training put on by The Firm. Next Friday, I’ll hop on a plane down to Fort Lauderdale to visit family for five days.

Unfortunately my weekend in Dewey has resulted in some severe sunburn on my upper back, chest and shoulders. After spending a week religiously applying aloe and moisturizer to my skin, I laid off on Friday. Of course, that means that after my flight landed and I looked under my shirt, all my skin has started to peel off. Ugh. It’s actually one of the grossest things I’ve ever experienced. I am molting. My first stop in Naples was at a target to buy SPF 50 sunscreen and bottles of moisturizer. After a few swims in the ocean I seem to have “exfoliated” a majority of the dead skin. I have now revealed my semi-burnt, semi-pink, semi-white next layer of skin that is very sensitive to the touch.

I think I have learned my ‘not wearing sunscreen’ lesson.

I had to travel to Dallas for The Firm on Thursday and Friday of this past week, so I thought, why not extend the trip a little bit and visit my family for the weekend.

First, I decided to stay at the W Dallas Victory which was wonderful, whimsical and not the least bit woeful. (Sorry.) The rooms were fantastic, the ghostbar was intriguing and the views were quite excellent. I checked out a lovely little restaurant on McKinney Ave called Bread Winners. Everything on the menu was unique in some way, but tasted absolutely delicious. Although, I do not recommend the spinach dip, honestly I think they just warmed up a can of store bought spinach dip you can find in the chip isle of a supermarket. I had the Buttermilk Pan Fried Chicken as my entrée and it was superb. The chicken was juicy and not over done, the breading was just perfect and the cheesy potatoes and gravy were as homestyle as you can get.

After finalizing work my step mother picked me up from the office and drove me about twenty minutes north to the City of Frisco, where my father is now a police officer. Frisco was very cool. Everything is extremely new, and you can tell that what is there now, wasn’t there just a few years ago. It is growing very quickly, but the cost of living and housing prices are no where near what they are in the rest of the country. A house that would sell for $1.1 million in the northeast was barely $600k in Frisco. As my father has been tirelessly attempting to get me to move down to Texas, he took me around to a few open houses. The houses were amazing. Five bedrooms, two studies, a third “living area” and media rooms were standard. Even the “cheaper houses” in the $350k price range included all of the above features. Not a bad place to move if you are just starting a family, although it is a little too far outside of a city center for my taste. Also, the houses sit on zero property and backyards are non-existent. To get real land you have to move even farther outside of the city limits.

Who knows, Dallas and Texas made a good first impression on me, and I dare say that I will return.

Washington Monument

Originally uploaded by britoman.

Pictures from my weekend trip! The best part was, it was about 40 degrees out and I left my coat in Philadelphia!

…plotting another european adventure for september…

How cool would it be to head over to spain for two weeks with nothing but a change of clothes, some cash and a bike!

less than 24 hours before I leave for the Europe. I now have that weird mix of excitement and anxity, this is definatly going to be an adventure.

There is a 50/50 shot I will be arrested and not allowed to return home… I’m taking bets, 2:1.

Got a little surprise today when I checked into my hotel. Apparently my Firm and the hotel chain I frequent are having a little appreciation week. I was lucky enough to book a stay at this particular brand on this particular week and benefit!

I ended up with a supremely large room, fruit basket, bottled water, a luggage thing and the opportunity to earn double points the rest of the year.  Not bad for doing something I was going to do already.

On another note, this past weekend was supremely awesome in its own right.  The bike race on Sunday was not to be believed. I’ve never seen that many people, that drunk standing next to that many cops cheering for that many cyclists. It was pretty awesome. Oh and running into kids you graduated high school with but haven’t seen in six years is fun too. Especially when you are out partying.

Watching the races also made me that much more excited to go see the Tour de France this summer.  I’ve come to realize there truly is nothing stopping anyone from taking their road bike and just hoping onto the course, jumping in with the pack (if you can keep up) and essentially joining the race. I swear I saw one guy do it this weekend.

Yesterday was totally worth waking up at 8am for.