Our Dumb Blog

I also have COMPLETELY FREE buddy passes available on Mesa flights only. And only Mesa flights operated as U.S. Airways. Which means flights to podunk towns from PHX and a few from CLT. You can look on the Mesa site at our route map, but it’s really old, and the only things the buddy passes are good for are the red lines. If you’re thinking about a flight to a podunk place out of CLT or PHX and want to know if Mesa does it, just punch it into U.S. Airways like you’re buying a ticket and it’ll tell you who the flight is operated by. If it says Mesa, you can ride for free if there’s an empty seat. If it says anything else (like PSA) you can’t.

The buddy passes are no longer good on United Express Mesa flights or Freedom flights.

(And, Sarah, I checked: Mesa does not go into Mobile, only PSA)

Before you get excited: don’t. I’m hesitant to even mention this for fear of a billion requests where I have to explain to each of you, individually, that this isn’t a good deal.

Here’s some sample fares:

PHX – ORD: $45.50
DEN – HNL: $115.59
IAD-KOA via LAX: $176.00
IAD – FRA (roundtrip): $370.40
*one-way unless otherwise indicated, including current applicable taxes

It’s per-mile. They’re available first-come, first-serve. They don’t fly to Mobile. Or Pensacola. They closest they get to Mobile is either New Orleans or Atlanta. They do fly to Seattle. And Denver. And Colorado Springs. And, you know, Casper, WY and Montrose, CO.

The United route map is available on the united website.

I do still have U.S. Airways buddy passes available, but I’m hesitant to give them out because they’re so stupidly overpriced, and all their planes seem packed. You could generally buy a guaranteed seat for about the same prices

A sample price:

MOB-SEA roundtrip (through CLT) is $196.40.
PHX-LGW roundtrip is $538.67

So, yeah, if you want overpriced standby travel on United or US Airways, let me know, and I’ll figure out if it’s possible. Standby means that you only get to go if there’s a seat available. So you’re probably better off buying a ticket. Or driving. Or swimming.

But if you’ve found out that U.S. Airways or United goes where you want to go, and compared the rough idea of the pricees to what a real ticket would cost and are still interested, send me an e-mail and I’ll look up the specific prices for you.

I was all excited that the Blue Angels were going to be at the Front Range airshow in a couple weeks, and I actually had the day off work.

Unfortunately, the powers that be have decided to cancel the airshow.

The extra fuel costs and delays with one closed runway would not be nearly as bad as a day with low clouds, and I think it’d be worth it, overall. I suspect there’s more to this than meets the eye.

Luck is real, and you make your own, according to various studies. I’ve always considered myself a lucky person.

I like to drink herbal tea during my work day, but didn’t think to take any with me to my new job, and . My new office (Sara’s old one) has all of Sara’s old stuff in it still–meaningless (to me) notes covering the bulletin board, crossed out reminders on the huge wall calendar (including the ominous “Getting Married, Back May 24”), a half empty carton of diet Dr Pepper. And inside one of the file drawers, tucked next to a bunch of folders, was a box of Celestial Seasonings Apple Spice tea.

My office has a big window that opens to the rest of the office. It has blinds, but it seems a little silly to pull them. If I open the office door all the way, however, the door covers most of the window. My doorway faces the butt of a wall, so you have to be walking right by my office to look in and see me. So I am at my most private with my door completely open.

The boss is apparently cold-natured and keeps the office pretty hot. Fortunately, my office comes with a fan. And my window opens. I was a little worried about all the traffic noise coming in (we’re on the busiest street in the city), but it turns out that because of the direction my door opens, you can’t really hear it in the rest of the office. Once summer comes, I think I’ll enjoy the climate controlled air.

My boss is high strung and seems to like that I’m–apparently–even keeled. She loves to laugh, though, and that keeps things lighthearted.

She had to leave early today for an appointment. After she left, the receptionist, who has an office on one side of the open center office area, and the bankruptcy girl, who has an office on the other, called each other on the intercom function on the phone system and sat in their offices gossiping with each other. If you stood in the middle, you could hear both sides of the conversation quite clearly. This amused me very much.

Have you even sent a certified letter and watched the postman carefully put the certified stickers on your envelope and thought that might be fun to do? Well, I get to do that every day. Actually, I have an assistant to do all my mailings and copies for me, but I do them if she’s busy helping someone else.

I guess this means I’ll have to go outside in the bushes.