New Traditions

I have to confess. I wasn't a big rah-rah sort of guy back at the U. Never bothered going to a homecoming parade. Never went to the homecoming dance (although in fairness, the homecoming dance was put on by the black student union, which seemed sort of strange when I was a freshman, and was something that I never questioned in my years in Champaign). Didn't do the pep rally thing. I supported my team by getting tickets, and yelling at the game. Some of the time, I was yelling at our guys, and some of the time I was yelling at the refs, and some of the time I was yelling at the other team. I did a lot of yelling.

So, I've been going to the volleyball matches here in NOLA. And they do a really cool promo during the "halftime" between the 2nd and 3rd sets. They lay out a bunch of t-shirts on one side of the court, and then they have people from the stands come down, and hit serves at the shirts. Hit a shirt, and you win a shirt. Everyone participates. And if you miss, you can get back in line, if there's enough time.

I was a volleyball player back in the day. A pretty good one, relative to normal humans. I never had a great attacking serve, but I was always pretty accurate. I was able to steal a couple points here and there by hitting the back corner with a high ball that looks like it's going out. I could probably hit a 3' x 3' square in the back corner of the court once every three times, and could definitely land it within a 10'x10' most of the time. So, if you lay out a bunch of shirts across the net from me, I figure that for a given shirt, I'm about 1 in 4 to hit it. And if there are like 3 shirts within a 10' x 10' box, I'm probably slightly better than even money to hit a shirt.

I've been to three matches. I didn't bother going up to get a t-shirt at the first match, but I realized that I needed some Green Wave gear at some point. And free is always better than purchased. So, next game, I head up there. My first attempt misses by a couple feet. Not a great effort. But I go back in line, and get a 2nd shot. There was a cluster of 5 t-shirts. I aimed for the middle, and actually hit the middle shirt. Free shirt. Next match, I go back up, and see another nice cluster to aim at. And get another shirt. Two times on the court. 3 serves. 2 shirts. Pretty good hit ratio. This may replace laundry as a clothing option.

After the 2nd match I was at, I ran into one of my students, who happened to be a president of the student boosters club. He was on his way out to set up for a pep rally after the match, and told me that if I swung by, he'd get me a t-shirt. So, I figured that it would be good to get another t-shirt, as well as some free food, so I headed over to the pep rally after the volleyball match ended.

Unfortunately, it wasn't much of a pep rally. Not many students showed up. Aside from the club members, there were maybe 50 people there, mainly looking for free burgers. The band didn't make it. No coaches showed up. No players showed up. The cheerleaders were there... but let's face it... Matt Doherty's comments about the Duke cheerleaders back in the day are generally apt for our Green Wave squad. The cheerleaders saw the story, get everyone together for one cheer, and got the hell out of there. Generally speaking, it was a bad turnout. So the school spirit is still a work in progress. But, I got a burger and hot dog out of it, and a free t-shirt. All told, I'd call it a wash for myself.

Tonight is homecoming, and there's another pep rally scheduled for 7pm, along with some music afterward. I think that I'm going to show up and check things out. This is going to be a new tradition for me, I think. I have to convince myself that I now bleed Green and Blue (the modern colors) or Olive and Blue (the original colors, and the ones referred to in our fight song). I may have to actually go out there to see this up close for myself. And at the very least, there's a concert planned for after the pep rally...

-Chairman

Misadventures in the Air (Sort Of)

Long time devotees of my ramblings (dating back to the Illini Update, which was sent out to folks back in NY when I was an undergrad), will know that I am not a fan of flying. Basically, I hate being in confined spaces with the general populace. I hate the shoddy customer service staffed by aspiring GED candidates. I hate the overpriced food. And most of all, I think that I hate the lack of control that I have over the situation.

So today, I'm headed out to Albany to see old friends. And I'm flying from NOLA out to the ATL, before heading up to Albany. Weather is beautiful out in NOLA. Upper 80's and sunny. Feels like summer. And the weather's beautiful out in Albany. Mid 60's and sunny. Great fall day. My game plan is to get lunch in Atlanta as Pascal's, a great soul food chain, and then hit the ground in Albany around 5:30 to rock it out w/ OD.

Unfortunately, the weather in Atlanta sucked. So, as a result, once we pull out of the gate in NOLA, they decide that we're going to be grounded for an hour. I'm supposed to hit the ground at 1:30pm, for my 3:03 pm connection. Losing an hour is definitely pushing it. Leave more than an hour late, and I get off the plane at 2:47. Now, last night I had checked my departure gate, and saw that it was in the same terminal as my arrival. I walk off the plane and look up to make sure that this was still the case. Obviously, not. Had to go over one terminal. Bastards.

I almost set land-speed records (at least close to a personal best, anyway), and make it down the terminal, down to the train, over to my terminal, and all the way down to my gate at 2:55. Only, I find out that they had just closed the doors. The damned plane was still there. I'd give even money that I could have still boarded, but they gave away my seat. I wasn't happy. I'm directed over to the "help" area for when they screw up. Probably not a good sign that they have so many issues that they have to have these dedicated areas...

So, I get over there, and the computer hadn't automatically rescheduled me. Which meant that that I had to go talk to some idiot on the phone. This is what I hated about the Detroit airport back in the day, before they got their act cleaned up - talking to the idiots. And this was a flashback. I get put on a standby flight that leaves at 8:30 tonight, as well as a confirmation for a 9:30am flight tomorrow. Those were the only options, so I had to accept that.

So, I figure that it's time to get reimbursed for some costs. First, when I booked the flight, I was right on the cusp of the 21-day cut-off point for having to pay an additional penalty for using my airline miles. I figured that the extra $75 was worth it to get an extra night in Albany, so I went with the Thursday flight, rather than the Friday flight. Of course, not I'm getting into Albany at 11pm, so that sort of kills things. So the first thing that I ask for is a refund of the $75. The other thing was a meal voucher. I was supposed to be on the ground by 5:30pm, in plenty of time for dinner. Now, I'm not leaving until 8:30pm. Figure that getting a meal comped should be an issue.

This is when things go downhill. The idiot on the phone tells me that I have to contact Delta.com for the refund of the $75. Okay. Fair enough. Then, I ask about the meal voucher. The idiot's response was probably true, but not helpful and didn't explain anything. The response:

"We can't give you a meal voucher because your delay was due to the weather."

Huh? What does the weather have to do with whether or not you can give a meal voucher? I remind the idiot that they've added 5 hours to my travels, including keeping us in a plane on the ground in NOLA for over an hour, plus did not offer drinks and snacks on the flight over. At this point, I was civil, and hadn't raised my voice. Instead, our customer service idiot took the proactive route, and started to yell at me:

"The plane was delayed because of the weather. How is any of that Delta's fault? Because the delay was caused by the weather, we can't give you a meal voucher."

At this point, I'm having images of Schultzie in Pere' Antoine's back at the Sugar Bowl. I keep it together, and realize that I'm not winning with her, so I just leave with something like this:

"Your explanation is nonsense. The weather and your ability to give a meal voucher are entirely tangential. I'm commenting on the outcome, not how we got there."

And with that, the conversation ended.

So, I'm steaming. I get my new boarding pass printed out, and head off to Pascal's to get my lunch, anyway. As I'm sitting there, I realized that I should have asked for something else. A day pass to the first-class lounge. That would actually make me relatively happy - free booze and cookies, internet access. Let's face it. I'm pretty simple. So, I wander off to the terminal where my new flight is (incidentally, this was the original terminal I had arrived at back at 2:45). I head over to the help desk, and ask if they can comp me a day pass. The guy at the counter was actually really nice, but couldn't give me the day pass. However he gave me a meal voucher. Damn. After I had already popped for lunch. Oh well. At least I can still get dinner before I fly out.

Undaunted, I decide that I was going to head over the lounge to see if I could talk my way in. I liked my chances since, I had gone from getting nothing but pissed off with the first conversation, a meal voucher out of the 2nd conversation... I thought that the 3rd time would be the charm. So, I walk into the doors, and take the elevator up. And I see that the desk is swamped. I take a quick look around. Bathrooms over to the left. I've got a gameplan.

Rather than talk, I decide that asking for forgiveness is better than asking for permission. I figure that if I go use the bathroom, then when I walk out, they'll assume that I've already checked in. Bingo. Two minutes later, I'm posting to the Board Room with cookies and a beer in front of me. At least something's working out well...

Now to see if I'm getting on this standby flight... And if not, I'll at least have dinner paid for, and be pretty buzzed from all the free booze in the lounge. Though, I may have to try to talk my way into a hotel voucher at that point... Maybe that'll be the charmed 3rd time...

-Chairman