Back in the air, heading back to Sacramento from snow country

NEW YORK, New York, USA - The Admiral and I are sitting in JFK International Airport, getting ready for the third leg of our travels today, a cross-country Jet Blue flight that will get us home to Sacramento late this evening - and to our warm casa with Pam and Steve.

The day started with swirling snow in Ithaca, New York where we stayed overnight with brother David's special amiga, Caren. I was a little groggy as we departed after a great dinner party the night before, but not so groggy that I didn't notice it was snowing pretty hard while David drove us to the Syracuse Airport, an hour and a half from Ithaca.

In Ithaca, NY, Dec. 5, 2010 - brrrrrrrrrrr

We breezed in without issue, however, until the Admiral got held up at the security gate and was given the choice of either one of those new TSA pat downs, or taking some other form of transit to Sacramento.

The Admiral was not amused and will likely vent her wrath on how ludicrousness of what passes for security when she writes in her own blog.

The overall trip was a success, however, on several levels (pat downs aside).

And among the things accomplished was getting some video broadcast on WENY, Elmira, New York. I braved the cold and shot the Christmas parade for the station, which used some clips in their evening newscast the same night.

More on what the other levels of success were will show up in another blog.

Below are two videos.

One is of our trip to Syracuse, and the airport snowplows busy at work. The second is a TSA ukulele video. It's pretty fun, but for now, I am not sharing it with the Admiral.

Back in the USSA - surviving culture shock

PHOENIX, Arizona, USA - I always make some gaffe at the immigration counter coming back into the U.S., sometimes humorous, sometimes close-to-ugly.

So it wasn't much of a surprise today that I forgot to list the Admiral on our customs form and got mildly chewed out by the female immigration agent who checked our passports - even asking what I had bought that was worth $25 in Mexico.

Strike one.

An hour later, we found our way to a Chili's Restaurant in the Sky Harbor airport after our Phoenix amigos Jim and Pam Carr said they couldn't make it for dinner. :-(

At Chili's, I decided to order a nice glass of cold white wine, which the server said was fine, except I had to show him some photo identification to be served alcohol. My identification. Considering how far from 21 I am, it seemed, well somewhat absurb - especially considering that only a few hours ago we were living in a nation whose alcohol laws are so loose, it's hard to determine if any really exist.

But to make the young waiter happy, I flipped open my wallet, but that wasn't good enough, of course. "Sorry sir," he said. "You need to take your ID out of the plastic.

Strike two.

And a few minutes ago - after taking off my shoes, my belt, putting my glasses and change into separate little dishes - I tossed my backpack onto the conveyor belt to be X-rayed, but with my computer and video camera inside.

Strike three.

At least this time, the TSA agents didn't do an entire explosives test on the camera (as they did once in Sacramento). Instead, they simply pulled out the offending electronics and ran everything through. Very civilized, indeed.

Now, my shoes back on and tied, my stomach full and my bags repacked, I will have to see how well I fare with the flight attendants on our red-eye, cross-country flight to Philadelphia in a couple of hours. I never seem to get my tray table closed and my seat in the upright condition quick enough for the attendants, male or female.

Remember the friendly skies?


Phoenix's Sky Harbor