News just came out that Etta James passed away from complications from leukemia, age 73. Etta, later in life became known for her addictions but she can never be forgotten for her classic, At Last. Etta released At Last in 1961. Etta resided fairly close to where I lived in California. Reflecting on how many weddings, engagements, etc that this was played at…

For pictures and more information Visit - CNN – Etta James Passes Away – Age 73

In looking on Youtube, here is a clip from 2009 where she was still able to belt it out. This song will always mean a lot to Papa and Marsha as it was their wedding song. For her being 68 / 69 during this appearance, damn still good!

Rest in Peace Etta and thanks for singing a song that so many created memories to for decades. 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPBGIBc3YV4

Thinking back on the past 3 weeks, it seems 2011 was already a month ago. The holidays have come and gone, and the dreaded long haul from MLK Day to Memorial is quickly approaching for us in the U.S.

res·o·lu·tion/?rez??lo?oSH?n/

In thinking about how to approach the year we have jumped into, the cliche of “New Years Resolution” resonated with me. The definition of Resolution is ‘A firm decision” – key word firm. I thought to myself, what could I do that would be a change in my life that I could focus on in 2012 but would last greater then one year. While gym membership / activity sky rockets in Quarter 1, with the “I’m going to lose weight” group, I thought I would try a new approach in my personal goal.
 

I thought of the approach of the phrase coined by the book – “How Do You Eat An Elephant? One Bite at a Time. by Bill Hogan” . Smokers don’t quite overnight nor can a person expect to see immediate change in their life starting on January 1. Deni noted on facebook not too long ago, “People worry so much about what they eat Christmas to New Years, they should think about what they eat from New Years to Christmas”.

What is my firm decision, as my 2012 Resolution? A few things actually! During the holiday season, I spent time with family and began to develop a strategy to improve in the new year. I thought what do I need to do to get to my goal – Remove the Noise from my life. This is a variety of things, but the key is what do I need to do, to get their, versus what is my goal.

1. Mental Health – Quit sweating the small stuff. Somethings we acknowledge are out of control. When I travel, if something happens to me, I know it’s beyond my control. Let more roll of your back, and not lose sleep over the small things. (As I type this at 5am).
2. Financial Health – I have balanced my checkbook in Microsoft Money since 1998, and have since 2000. MS quit supporting it last year, and the direct connection to banks has gone manual. Is having a budget noise, you may think, but I wanted to focus on curving my spending habits.
3. Physical Health – To have good mental health, I needed to get this back on my list. Minus the ankle that still makes a unique clicking sound when I walk, I hope to be up to full speed to return to more activities after the visit to the specialist later this month.
4. Work Life Balance – In looking back in 2011, the amount of “me” time was a bit less then I had hoped. With losing a bit of vacation during the annual rollover, I anticipate making a comeback in 2012. My goal remains, 5 Repeat Countries and 5 New Countries which I have achieved or exceeded every year but 2011 (Only 5 Repeat Countries and 1 New). Planning the vacation for the spring now. With the right money saved, this supports Mental and Physical Health. (I have an awesome team at work, that helped me realize its okay to take a break)
5. Private Pilots License – Yes…. Everyone knew this would eventually make the list, and I hope to complete this in Quarter 1 of this year. I have flown about 165 hours in small general aviation planes, with 23 hours of lessons, and 6.5 of that in the first week of 2012.
6. Continue to Appreciate what I am fortunate to have in life, and give back when possible.

That is how I am going to Remove the Noise in my Life in 2012 – I will provide updates on each one as the year progresses. Do you have a resolution? Send me a note, or comment below, we can look back in 2013 on what we planned to tackle.

Happy New Year!

Hopefully 366 for 2012

The Medallion Qualifying Miles (MQM) sweep has happened for Delta, a bit quicker then last year. I concluded 2010 with about 19k MQM rollover. With the additional work trips this year to launch our new application, a bit more then last year! I am not complaining! I have mixed thoughts on the Roll over program in general – I can understand the marketing behind it, after you hit the tier, why keep flying an airline, but it aims to continue to build business after thresholds have been met.

After being a 1K with United for a few years, I am still learning Delta benefits, UA maintained a 1K website, 1K email address, and a 1K phone line where the person stayed on the line until full resolution. It’s the small things I remember, though even UA pushed Global Services a bit more before I departed Chicago.

Last year was an incredible year of flying – with less then 4 flight cancellations for the year, and most flights on time, if not early. Congrats to Delta on being the number one mainline carrier (just behind AirTran) for on time performance in December. Article - http://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/news/2012/01/05/slideshow-airlines-with-the-best.html

On 31 December 2011 – Compared to 130 flights a year while in Chicago, happy for the long hauls! 

Delta MQM status year end 2011 - No complaints in 2011!

January, reset down to zero, within a day or two, just shy of 10k MQM to make Platinum for 2013! 

Rollover hit, 10K short for Platinum for 2013 already!

Randy has a Vols orange sweater that he was excited to find. He isnt exactly a sweater person. This one was the perfect fit – key word – was.

Though wash cold was okay, and not dried, slightly smaller. The way he came down to show me how it shrink made me laugh so hard. Asking if I was trying to tell him something .

Good Tuesday humor courtesy of Randy!

Randy washed his sweater on cold, seems even without drying it.... it lasted a month! Pouting a bit, slight duck look!

With the old site gone and some photos out there to share of some cool adventures on the horizon, astriker.com will be enhanced over the upcoming weeks. A Bio and Photo Albums tab will be added to make it easier to understand who I am, and visually see some of the albums I’ve created to share to the world.

I hope you enjoy the changes, I’m pretty excited to share with you my plans for 2012.

What a year? It is hard to believe that November is hear, the chill of fall is in the air and it’s dark outside at 18:00! Life has been chaotic but good, bouncing around a few spots in the globe with my last work trip coming up in the next week.

Vacation was put off for the moment for Europe, I know…. always next year! Hopefully some good news to share with you in the near future!

The weekend was beautiful in Atlanta, when I awoke on Saturday it felt almost like fall had arrived. A cool breeze across my deck, the trees moving and the sunshine. Since moving to Atlanta, I equate the sun to living on the sun, while LA basin had higher temps , and Hawaii had warmer temps more consistently.

Been able to focus on getting some projects done, and thought, damn, I have not written a thing on here for a bit. I do have a new word I prefer now “m-eatings”, all the work meetings with way too much food.

Friday is almost here! Ran across an amusing blog this morning, will write more when I get a chance. I still need to finish off my 30 pending Yelp! reviews… Priorities my friend.

Greetings again from JFK airport in New York City! Safely back from London, with a day that I have found to be one of the best travel experiences. I’d like to think that it all was by chance but I do believe in Pay It Forward . The past 24 hours have been a day where things aligned in a way that have made me feel even more appreciative for the life I have been able to live.

Departing my London Family at the Indigo Paddington  for the Heathrow Express out of Paddington. I left slightly later then I anticipated which I was confident, knowing LHR, this would result in additional frustration towards myself for being 15 minutes behind.

The Heathrow Express departed at 08:25, which is remains still the best way to get to London Heathrow. The manager covering rotations today was assisting in ticket scanning. After a short introduction, we spent the remainder of the trip talking about trains, London etc. Philip escorted me from the train to the connector, and waited till I was on my way. I have his card to keep in touch.

Arriving in London, I had done the e-boarding pass but was afraid that it was not going to be recognized. After a failed attempt to reprint my boarding pass, I was down to an hour before departure. I was delighted to hear that they do accept the mobile and no challenges with it. Quickly went through the premium security lane, and was at the gate just as they began boarding. My connecting flight to ATL from JFK was already delayed from an update, unfortunately the non stops to ATL were both oversold in both classes in the cabin.

Simone and Florette on DL004 were friendly and efficient. They seemed to genuinely care about people and also provided for some great laughs. I slept most of the flight, still was not acquaninted with the shorter flight time to JFK. After 4 of sleep, enjoyed the lunch just before our early arrival into JFK. I shared Damn You Auto Correct with Florette who was laughing at many of them, and Simone made me laugh as she passed through the cabin looking for a person who ordered water, but could not remember who.

Delta Airlines Keep Climbing

Arriving into JFK, I expected similar to ATL, customs, security a few times…. lather rinse repeat. To my surprise, Delta implemented a greeter program for Diamond Medallion members arriving internationally. I am not sure if it is just Business Elite, but I would hope that it is across all aspects. I was met by Jacqueline before customs, just as I departed the jetway. She had a sign with my name on it, and a Delta Logo. Now that I think about it, I wish I had kept it for my office. She took me and one other passenger over to Customs, used GOES (which is excellent), and then directed me to my connecting flight. While we walked, she interacted, explained our flight was delayed to ATL, and she was very apologetic. She knew if we had luggage or not, connecting flight info, arrival, departure. Not sure how to navigate through JFK, this was a very welcomed surprise. Unfortunately she did not have a card on her, but I must commend Delta on a job well done. How about we bring this to the airport where you are the Home Town Airline?

TSA – same old, same old— Amusing was the 35 year old in A&F shorts having to do the full body scanner. His selection of sizes should have been reconsidered, as he had to stand bow legged to keep the shorts from falling down below his hips.

Sky Club at JFK at Terminal 3 by gate 2 is much better then the other one I was at when I flew out on Tuesday. The colors are bright and it feels like I am in a Delta commercial/ad campaign. The windows looking out over the active departing runway, a 767 (N171DN) parked just outside. Watching the 744 depart, to either Tel Aviv for Tokyo was an added bonus. Craig who was working the Sky Club exemplified what interaction should be. Welcoming and genuinely humble, available to ask random questions about the flights from JFK. He apologized for my flight delay and any inconvenience it may have caused and appreciated my loyalty as a Diamond Medallion. Best part is… he, like many others today, cared.

Today’s plane was N844MH, the 767-400 painted in the Sky Team color scheme.

My time in London for the past few days is coming to a close. I must admit, that I am quite fond of hotels and locations that offer free wifi. I am sitting in the Indigo’s restaurant and catching up on email, facebook, yelp, flight memory, booking flights, all on the iPad with the Logitech keyboard.

The trip was uneventful but productive. I feel a much stronger sense of alignment with the objectives and even greater support in our initiatives going forward.

The weather in London was fantastic today, in the 70′s and sunny. I left the Indigo Paddington and ventured all over the city, to many tourist traps I had not seen in 4 years. Big Ben, Westminster Abby, The Eye, Hyde Park, Kensington Gardens and Oxford St.

I love walking around the parks in London, you find one person reading in a suit, another couple asleep against each other, sports, and people enjoying the sun. One might say it is because the horrible weather they are accustomed to in London, and it’s almost a reason to celebrate. I believe that with many foreign countries, they work hard but enjoy the quiet moment. I saw this in Glasgow, Paris and London. One person was in a suit, changed down to soccer shorts, enjoyed sitting in the sun for 30 minutes, put the layers back on and returned to the office, I presume.

My flight is at 10am tomorrow out of LHR to JFK and then down to ATL. I will catch up on some sleep and look for reasons of comedy. Hopefully the extra pre planning I put into this trip will prove successful on the last legs of my journey.

Greetings from JFK, Sky Club by Gate 12. Upon arrival I realized something about JFK, it has not changed since I flew through here on the way to Munich in 1996. I flew on a 767 and L1011 that trip, 767-400 tonight.

Wanting to sleep tonight on the flight over, slightly shorter from JFK. I am typing and listening to the “Dueling Banjos”, two people traveling together to Brazil, both on their cellulars, both growing louder over the other. Focus Douglas, Focus!

Focus back, I crashed around 04:30 and was up at 07:00. I accomplished everything I had on my list today and made it out to the airport 30 minutes late. Luckily a car pool, combined with Henry (and his aggressive driver) we made it at the time I had hoped, 16:40. My flight departed ATL at 17:45.

Delta Flight 122, ATL-JFK (MD-88) had meal service. I have to ponder where Delta is getting their food selections. The increased amount of sandwiches continues to bewilder me. On a flight to LA I had an option of a hamburger. Surprisingly it was not bad. Today’s option was a cold pasta with chicken on it, or a roast beef sandwich. Row 4 had the option of roast beef OR roast beef. After a long and serious debate, I selected…. ROAST BEEF. The sandwich was ice cold, covered in onions and bell peppers, found it to be disgusting. TIP: Scrape off the top, fold the bottom over, and it’s a mini sandwich without the two giant pieces of bread. Can someone help me understand, why does Delta serve Twix this time of year? It is pointless, they are melted every time. Maybe season is better? How I miss the Garden Salsa Sunchips. Minus the screaming child the entire flight directly behind my seat, somewhat quiet.

I had high hopes for JFK, knowing they have some serious renovations going on from the old TWA days. Luckily, arriving in Terminal 3, departing here, nothing has been done here. Exit the plane, look up for your connecting flight info, don’t worry, it’s across the gate area, makes complete sense? It was nostalgic to see the old airplane chairs with the blue leather and Delta logo. I believe I sat in the same one in 1996, thanks for bringing back the memories of a great trip! The Sky Club has been renovated for the most part, I can see N832MH (767-400) awaiting to depart. (The Dueling Banjos are packing up and leaving!)

In saying ADIOS to my friends now, I look around, what an empty terminal, maybe this is the OLD terminal and I am missing out on a beautiful, new one hiding. SkyClub – When I entered, the person in front of me was complaining about passport control… I heard my favorite statement that I hear often -

I wish more people could be like you….

I am pretty mellow when I travel, go with the flow, and not much is within my control. (Looking out window and an old 757 with TW in the tail number is passing by, Nostalgic indeed). I headed to the restroom, only to notice the signs were reversed, luckily the woman’s restroom looks NOTHING like the men’s. Both are somewhat shabby, but men’s toilet did not flush, reminded me of Karen and the trough in China. Awakening my senses with an aroma this time around.

After the small mishap, I ordered a Bailey’s in coffee. A woman comes out and asks “why do you get drunk” . This left me baffled, I thought “Who are you? Are you the ATC? “, then I realized she was a Delta employee with a different opinion on drinking. I ordered a decaf coffee and a Bailey’s, far from pounding back shots, or double fisting a few beers.

Thanks Brie for teaching me southern terminology, which is applicable in NYC. Strangely, I felt compelled to answer her, that I was not drinking to get drunk, she then asked if I was doing shots. I thought, can she be serious? She was, I took my Bailey’s and Decaf, with my head held high and walked away.

“Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray I have a flat bed to sleep”

Atlanta to Shanghai on Delta, 777-200LR, my seat did not recline. Not to worry, not reclining or having a lie flat on a 15.5 hour flight, electrical outlet on the 14 hour flight on the 744 Shanghai to Detroit, lost bag for 24 hours, has a value to Delta of 19,000 miles. Though you should not equate that to “Pay with Miles” according to Delta — It’s worth $190.00 on a several thousand dollar ticket. The offer is to “make amends” for the many failures I experienced. While I roll with the hiccups, I have to ponder, where is the disconnect. No lie flat, no electricity, lost bag…I look at the ad, this is what lie flat should have looked like on the plane -

Anywho, is what it is - Time to order another Bailey’s and get dirty looks for doing it, I will do it with pride and a smile on my face. Departing in 1 hour at 23:00 – glad to get some humor out of my system before my slumber. Here is tonight’s plane to London.

I just googled JFK Delta – Congrats, they are building a new terminal, I better enjoy the moment.