Tonight I am very unhappy.  First I have to depart for home now that my visit with Laila is over.  That was hard in itself, but then I got to deal with one of the most incompetent outfits I have had to deal with.

What you may ask is that?  It Is Philippines Airlines.  I understand that airport security is always heightened at airports since the 9/11 attacks.  I also understand the need for extra security.  What I am not ready for is a staff that is totally incompetent.

Laila and I left her house a little early to make sure we would get to the airport at least 3 hours before hand like they called for.  I got to the airport prior to 5PM and got in line to get my boarding pass.  I was the sixth person in line and I noticed it was right after 5 PM so I took a mental note of who was close to me in line.  I even helped an older Filipino man understand what a few things on his passport meant.

I noticed that at the front of the line there was a lady in pink and a man in white and they seemed to have some problems with the guy manning the counter.  A few of us in line started discussing the fact that our line was not moving while the other one moved quite quickly.

At about 5:45 PM they started opening up other windows to serve our flight, and took the passengers from the rear of the line.  We were still waiting for the man in white and the lady in pink.  Finally they changed ticket agent and after several trips to her supervisor the man in white and lady in pink were served and moved on at 6:10 PM.  I finally got through the line at 6:30 PM.  One and a half hours for a boarding pass when I am the 6^th person in line is inexcusable.

If these people had problems with their ticket, or they had other problems they should have been passed off to a supervisor or something.  Also when opening other lines for service you should take the next person in the longer lines first. 

As someone who has completed many QA and QC classes as part of my industrial technology studies I was definitely appalled by the customer service, or lack of service demonstrated by these so called professionals and I fill find it hard to book a flight with them again.  I will check the availability of alternatives before I do this one again.  The whole experience left me with a sour feeling.

Anyway after that I had to pay my $5.50 Peso airport tax, something that I don't have to deal with in the states, and then immigration and three more security checks before I got to sit down at my gate.   I did call Laila before I entered the gate, and she was kind of amused by the fact that I had so many hassles.

I also had some clown try and sell me a phone card but I had coins, so that did not go over very big.  He sold it to some woman who then tried to use it and it didn't work.  I bought a phone card the last time I flew out of the Philippines and it didn't work even though I bought it out of a machine.  They had a trouble call number on the back and when I called it the recording told me they were closed for the holidays and so I gave the number from the card to Laila so her mother could use it.

All in all I guess I learned from that one.  Anyway, they are calling for us to board so it is about time for me to wrap this one up.  I told Laila I was going to blog while waiting to board.  They just called my row, but rather than be a sheep and wait forever in line I will wait for the line to get smaller before boarding.  It is moving pretty fast so I guess I will board now.  I will post this in San Diego when I get home.

Well I am now on the plane.  Due to the fine wait I had in the ticketing line I was not able to get my normal window seat.  In fact I am in an isle row 1 row up from the back.  Awesome, at least by the time I get off the plane my luggage should be ready for pickup.  We too off 35 minutes late as bout 24 folks decided they didn't have to follow the rules concerning showing p 3 hours early for the flight.  So rather than leave and have everyone make it to LA on time we left late and the handy little board that gives us our flight status says we will be about 15 minutes or so late.  Not bad, unless you are waiting for a connecting flight like me, and many of the other folks on board. 

I guess if the airline had to pay to put you up for the night should you miss your connecting flight they would leave on time.  But since they could care less if you make your next flight or not, then who cares?

The some of the folks that came on late were real jewels.  This one guy brought a family, and first they found that someone had taken their seats.  After the stewardesses got that on figured out, then he of course had to unpack all of his carry on luggage looking for stuff for his wife and kids.  Now we are finally off the ground and he is still up and about.

Anyway, sometimes I wonder why the carry on luggage rules pertains to some and not to others?  It seems that way on this particular airlines.  It would be interesting if the airline weighted the luggage as it came off the plane rather than prior to boarding.  Just think of the overweight charges they could make.

The same with these people that have forgot about the two checked pieces of luggage, size, and weight restrictions on checked items.  Anyway, I guess that is me just being me as I am always critical when I follow the rules and others don't seem to have to or are not held accountable.

Well so much for that, they are about to serve our delicious in flight meal.  I don't know what they are offering, but I know it has a ton of garlic, as I have smelled it cook. Oh and that reminds me of something. 

Laila said her ex didn't like microwaves because microwave food causes cancer.  He as firmly convinced of this.  I don't know if he reads my blog of not but if so, hey Abdullah, airline food is heated in a microwave.  Surprise, they do not have an oven, bakeshop, or a fancy kitchen on board a plane.  Have a nice time eating on your next flight.

Ok, I have made it to Los Angeles and I have actually made it through all of the checkpoints and am waiting at the gate for my flight to load.  It should load in about 20 minutes.

I was going to find one of those Neptune things by then why bother.  I will be home soon enough and can get Laila on the Internet provided my son has not done any strange things to my pc and all.  In a way it will be good to be back home and in a way I will miss being with my woman.  But then I have to be able to pay the bills so I guess I had better go to work tomorrow.

Besides too much time off will get me lazy and I can't afford to have that happen.  Anyway something strange happened when I came through the security checkpoint here.  They took my laptop and did some test on it to see if it was a laptop or a bomb.  Neat the way they checked it after I landed on a flight from the Philippines.  These homeland security folks are all over things and really have me feeling very secure and comfortable.  Figures they would check someone getting onto a plane at an original destination, but not these guys.

Oh the flight from Manila to Los Angeles, besides being long was ok.  The food was acceptable, and I drank plenty of water.  I was sitting next to a guy from Mississippi who had met his girlfriend on the Internet also.  We talked for a while and we were both worried about making it to our connecting flights on time.  I made it and, I hope he did.  

The flight was a little bumpy and bouncy as the weather was pretty choppy from Japan until we got almost to the coast of California.  Now I have the little puddle jumper to catch to San Diego and then a cab home, and I will be back in my familiar surroundings.

I have to check my car and make sure it still works and then I will get online and talk to my honey.  I was going to blog about annoying people on planes, but it is about time to board the plane so I will wrap this up, put it on the memory stick and upload it to my pc when I get home.

The last couple of days Laila and I have been hanging out at home making sure the progress on her leg continues to improve, so we have been watching some DVD's that I brought from home and taking it easy.

She has still found a little time to sing Karaoke and play on Neopets though.  Her favorite game besides the slots seems to be Moon Rock Rampage and she can get a really high score on it when she wants to.  Today it is not a world challenge game so she is just trying to get her 1000 points.

She has also been talking about updating her blog for the last two days now, but has still managed to ignore it.   She has been getting quite a bit of spam in her comments section and she has been taking care of that part of her blog at least.  I think she has managed to tick someone off, as they seem to be pretty persistent and good at what they are doing to spam her blog from legitimate sites.  She has been fighting back by restricting more and more keywords and all, but then I think it may eventually keep anyone from posting any comments on her blog as she has so many banned words.

As for me, I have been making a run on blogshares when I get the chance.  When I started this trip I was is 28^th place and even though I haven't been playing as much I am up to 24^th place and moving up.  I have learned a few tips from the expert and am playing a bit smarter.  I will really start moving up when I get back home and have more time in front of a PC instead of sharing and doing other things instead of PC stuff like we have been doing lately.

Other than that I guess it is great to get away from the news for a while.  I am so tired of seeing the same stuff day after day in the press and it was nice to take a break from everything.  I will of course get back to regular blogging when I get back home on Sunday.

Being away from the news and home does make you wonder about things though.  I have really been feeling sorry for this one Ice Cream vendor that goes up and down Laila's street all day.  For one he is on a bicycle and is running I would say a 5-mile route, maybe a little longer, but the big thing that would drive me nuts is he has to listen o the same little song over and over all day.  I am sure he hears it in his head when he goes home at night.  I think that has to be a slow form or torture or something.  I get sort of like that after going to Disneyland.  I always wind up with "It's a small world" going off in my head and can't get it to go away.

I guess that's it for today.  I hope everyone has a great week.