Would TBS think this was funny?

It's a little hard to read, but I can't make it any bigger - click on the above image to enlarge it.

I knew that special license plates were issued to drunk drivers so cops would know to "watch" them and try to nail drunk drivers. I thought the letters were "WR" but after googling it it appears the letters are "WX/XY".

I was excited to have googled myself to the answer, but also excited to find that by official state definition, there are a class of drunk drivers named "hardcore drunk drivers". Nothing is funny about drunk driving, but definitions of things that officially contain the word hardcore are funny. Happy Thursday!

Dear American Airlines,

I just got off the phone with Tammy Smith out of the Dallas office and have to say that it was one of the best customer service experiences of my life. I am planning to redeem miles for a RT flight within Europe on a oneworld partner thus I'm unable to search online for availability. She was gracious enough to search no less than a dozen destinations for me, and wasn't annoyed when I asked her what continent certain countries were in or gave her a country and asked for flight availability without providing a city or airport code.

I really felt that the service that Tammy gave me today is a shining example of why I have switched my loyalty from NWA to AA in the last year and avoid all other airlines. I honestly can't name a single bad customer service experience I've had with American Airlines employees, but have to say that the help Tammy gave me this morning should be used as a textbook example of how to do it.

Tammy realized that with each search I wanted to know the availability, layover rules, and miles necessary and rather than make me ask each time I had her conduct a search for a different city, she automatically gave me the rundown without making me ask the same questions over and over. The funny thing is when I'm writing this it sounds very simple, but it made my day. It's a long process to do this type of research because of the lack of internet tools available but I appreciate that Tammy made it as painless as possible.

Give her a raise.

Thanks, Laura

NOTE: Usually when I write "Dear xyz" letters on my blog I'm just venting about things. This is a real letter I just submitted online to American because this woman seriously was awesome. So f-ing helpful it blew my mind. I love good customer experiences and love writing praise letters in addition to complaint letters so it was fun to have one to write today. Yeah, American!

Got art?

My favorite new poster - $10 from the Imperial War Museum in London

If you're in the market for poster art, check out the 25% off coupon from Art.com. Best part is - it's through 2/20/07!

American Airlines 241, NWA 7 (appx.)

By now you've heard that I heart American Airlines and have not been a happy NWA camper for a while. However, I am annoyed that NWA will text me info about my flight and try as I might, I haven't found that this is an option with AA (see footnote #1).

In the spirit of holiday giving, hopefully someone will turn me onto this feature from AA, but after at least 20 min of searching on 2 different occasions, I haven't been able to figure it out.

Footnote #1: AA DOES offer a texting option if you give them the email address of your phone. If I'm not mistaken, this system of texting was something I utilized *literally* in 2000 for the last time and then they overhauled the system. I could be wrong, so if you can tell me what the email address associated w/ my phone number is, that'd be just as good and let me take 1 pt from NWA's total.

I wish turkey only cost a nickel...

It's been a fun time in NYC so far - I've got to say that taking a trip over Thanksgiving weekend is quickly becoming my favorite thing to do. My recent Thanksgivings include:

2003 - Fam visits me in Boston (ok, actually NOT a trip for me but whatev)
2004 - I visit MN for a week over T-Day (again, this only count for 1/2)
2005 - Fried turkey at Alicia's relatives then off to Vegas
2006 - NYC for Thanksgiving week

It's nice to be in NYC for a full week because it give more time to fit stuff in, and being w/ my fam allows me to not stay out till 4am and get wasted thus, more productive daytime. Maybe not as fun, but nice.

Cousin Adam joined us in NYC b/c 2 full days of travel back to Pierre is not fun. He's a nice addition because he's agreeable, is good at directions, and helps minimize fighting between my immediate family members.

So far highlights include:

* Meeting Michael and getting to see his REEEALLL FAAAANCY apartment. 2 thumbs up - and he and Glenn have an extra bedroom so they can accommodate guests - right, Michael :)

* Ellis Island Immigration Museum - real fun but takes most of the day

* Fab restaurant recommendations per Let's Go - all have been muy bueno

* Hotel that I'd highly recommend - Hotel Belleclaire. the 2 queen bed room is $200/night w/ 4 person occ - one bed 2 occ is even cheaper - it's at 77th and Broadway 2 blks to the train and it's REAL nice for the price. I also am a big fan of the neighborhood - lots of fun shopping and restaurants. Ooh - and a fridge in the room - a big plus in my opinion...

* We got to see Letterman tape last night - fun for me b/c I'd never been to a show taping before, fun for my parents because they are religious Letterman devotees...

* Deja Vu - it got a bad review in Time Out New York but I thought it wasn't too bad.

* Transportation Museum - the history of the subway wasn't all I expected, but I set the bar pretty high. I'd still give it a solid 3.5 stars, though - even w/ the trek to Brooklyn to see it.

I've gotten to drink Yeungling (x4) and Harpoon Winter Warmer (x2) and am trying to coordinate getting some w/ me back to MN. F-ing no liquids on a plan rules...

Tata, I must go fetch tickets for Broadway. We're sending the boys to an Islanders game - w/ military ID (thanks Adam) tix are deeply discounted the day of the show :)

Slowly but surely

I've posted pix from Upstate NY vacation in September with Grandpa, Grandma, and my cousin Adam in a flickr album.

Why Mommy is a Democrat

This is a real book - for more info go to the website.

And I thought it would be Danish or British...

Your Inner European is Dutch!

Open minded and tolerant.You're up for just about anything.

Who's" Your Inner European?

Much Love, Grandma

I just reread an email from Grandma Johnson and realized that she signed off with "Much Love, Grandma". I do not believe she sees the humor in this that I do, nor that she intended this to cause me to giggle.

New House Shit Thursday

They started installing my floor today - I failed to take a pix but it's really pretty :) :) :)

On a plane

To Naples, FL for Kerry's wedding as of 6am on Friday. Can't wait to see Ker, Michael, and Glenn!

How much?

All I can think is that without accessing MLS records or digging through county records, I can find out how much the fancy houses around Lake of the Isles cost using Zillow. It's super fun and covers major cities (but not necessarily everywhere).

Your husband might be gay if...

• You have a normal sexual appetite, but your mate thinks you have excessive sexual needs.
• There is a decline of sexual activity early in your marriage.
• Your husband is repulsed by normal sexual activity.
• Your mate admits to having had more than two homosexual encounters.
• Your husband reveals he's bisexual.
• Your partner visits gay bars claiming he's there only to hang out with his gay friend(s)
• Your mate watches porno movies with gay males.
• Your mate makes continual homophobic comments.
• Your partner's ego appears to be boosted by compliments from gay men.

Thanks for this checklist from MyFox News.

You'd have to be an idiot

to throw a keg in a bonfire. Seriously, stupid stupid stupid.

Who knew

that this is how methy looks?


COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado (CNN) -- The Rev. Ted Haggard agreed Saturday to resign as leader of the New Life Church after its independent investigative board said he was guilty of "sexually immoral conduct."

Haggard has admitted contacting a male escort for a massage and to buying methamphetamine. He has denied the accusation that he paid the escort for sex over three years.

Sexy stewardesses

I'm reading a somewhat silly article about flight attendants and found 2 funny pix to share. The first, says that in the 60s, stewardesses went from professional career girls to sexy stewardesses, as pictured below:

My question - what freakin plane is that huge on the inside? I've rode on 777 and they don't feel that big. Gosh.

Then, the article starts to talk about advertising being influenced by the sexy stewardess feeling - I like that this ad uses my name: