Taking that Big Saddle to the Sky

Behold the sexy sleek new Skyrider.

You gotta be kidding me. I don't know what scares me more, the look of these seats or the fact that some people actually think that these are a good idea. Don't get me wrong, I'm all about a little discomfort if it's going to save me a reasonable amount of money. Forget the leg cramps, the simple economics of this just does not make any sense to me.

They say that they can increase capacity on an airplane by 40%. If you think that means that you are going to save 40% or more on a ticket, you got to be smoking something. I have to admit that when you start talking about saving 60% on an airline ticket, I start to get giddy and as far as I'm concerned, they could strap me on the wing and I would be happy. But...let's look at the math.

Let's consider that the 40% can be viewed equally as 40% more money to deal with. First of all, just because they can fit 40% more people doesn't mean that they will convert the whole plane to a stock yard. What? Are they going to make first class special by adding spurs, a cup holder, and a free unwedgie service at the end of the flight. I think not. So let's be over generous and say that they add 20% capacity to a flight.

Next, more people means more weight. More weight means more power and fuel to keep that thing aloft. I'll be kind and just say 5% there. Oh, and what about the new carry on dilemma. As you can see, you no longer can place anything below your seat because the only thing that is below your seat now is your feet. So now all that has to go above in the overhead bins, but wait, there are more people now in the cattle car so you will have to check more luggage. Another 10%.

Lastly, the only reason why an airline would do this is so they could increase their profit margin. How about 4.75%. Guess what? This leaves the passed on savings to you as 0.25% or about $1.00 on a good 3-hour flight. Is it worth it? Maybe for the quads workout you'll get, but other than that, I think that is a little shy of what I would need to make my tailbone happy with the imposition.

You know, the scariest thing about this is that the federal government may weigh in on the issue. In this day and age of 'no amount of constitutional rights can ever make a wrong', the president may launch a campaign to free us from the tyranny of oppressive air travel, and state that every American has the right to affordable air travel. Thus, countless billions will be given to the airline industry to upgrade all airplanes with these new seats, and without any real cost savings to you, you will be forced to ride the 'saddle'.

YEE-HAW!!!!

P.S. By the way, the lady up above is actually taking more room than she is allowed. You might notice that she would not fit in the row behind her.

Investigative Reporting at it's Finest

Well, I made the return to the spot of the mysterious encounter from the last post. This time I took along reinforcements in the daylight. If you are wondering, the picture is of my reinforcements, my friend Brett, and not the lurking unidentified creature.
I found that there was absolutely nothing at the spot that would have been reflective, no signs of any human encampment, or anything else that seemed strange. There were some animal bones that were maybe several months old, but did not look like freshly eaten meat. It had rained heavy the night before so there were no tracks left behind.

So, the mystery remains.

Presently here is the vote tally for what people think it was

(15) Mountain Lion
(6) Bear
(3) Coyote
(2) Moose
(2) Wolf
(1) Bigfoot
(1) Human
(1) My Imagination

I voted once on everything.


Here is a photo of the area we hiked in.

Things that go Bump in the Night

Of course most things I write must be taken with a grain of salt, and I promise that I really am a normal functional adult, but then again that's what all delusional people say. Regardless, I love a good story and here is my attempt at one.

I decided on Labor day to take a hike into the mountains not far from my home. For some reason, I sometimes like to hike alone, which I understand is not always the best thing to do. but hey, it always presents a good opportunity for stories that, of course, no one can dispute.

I hit the trail head at 5:00 a.m. and donned a head lamp (in fact I donned two). It was pitch black. It would take me about 1 1/2 hours to get into some steep rugged area, which is how long I would be in total darkness. So, I figured everything would work out just great. One hour into the hike is where the strangeness began.

I was nearly 2 miles away from the nearest anything when I noticed a little fleck of light ahead of me several hundred yards. I only saw it for a brief time until it disappeared. The thought that occurred to me was that it was probably a reflector on a fence post or something like that. When I got within about 100 yards, the little light appeared again. This time I could see that the little light was clearly moving around.

My first thought was that there was someone up ahead of me, with a head lamp on, walking around a campsite. It seemed really strange, though, because I could clearly see that my light was projecting light out in front of me, but this other light was not. It could only be a really weak light that was not projecting any noticeable light out in front of it. That's when I made another huge realization. When I turned my light away, the other light disappeared. So clearly it was reflecting my light, but it was moving over a pretty good sized area. So out went the theory of a something reflective hanging in a tree.

It was very ethereal and did not seem to fit anything that would appear to be reasonable. The light moved with purpose, though. It would move up and then over, hold that position and then turn away. That's when I noticed that not only was I looking at one strange light but two: these were eyes. I stood there for 15 minutes watching this phenomena not clearly being able to determine what it was. If it was something living, it clearly was not moving away, though it would have known that I was watching it.

A couple of times, I thought that I could make out a silhouette of something with broad shoulders, though I couldn't be sure that my eyes weren't playing a trick on me. This thing was slightly off the trail into some trees, that if I passed by, I would come within about 40 yards of. I didn't want to pass by until I knew for sure I knew what it was. I didn't want to get above it on the trail, only to have it cut off my escape back down the mountain towards safety.

Then another thought occurred to me. Whatever it was knew I was there because my light was shining right towards it, but it was not going anywhere. So, maybe my light was the only thing keeping it from coming to have an encounter with me. As soon as it was light enough for my head lamp to not block me from direct view, whatever it was that was out there might just come down and visit me.

That's when I decided that my hike was over and I turned around and made the hour long walk back to the car, only with the occasional look over my shoulder for good measure.

Curiosity has me, though, so I'm heading back up this weekend to check things out.