The End of the Hall, Corner Room Curse.

I'm late by a day for this entry, and here's why.

We had two days off (Monday and Tuesday) in Minneapolis. A nice new Westin Hotel on the corner of 6th and Marquette. The building used to be a bank and the old vault has been turned into a wine cellar, which was kind of cool. I caught the elevator up to my room. Which was at the end of the hall and a corner room.

Now, the nice thing about end of the hall corner rooms is, less foot traffic and noise in front of your door, and usually more windows. The curse is, it's a long haul to the room, and if you're lugging bicycle in a bag, it's twice as long. That, and the fact that the wireless internet that the hotel so thoughtfully provides, doesn't reach the end of the hall corner room. And when it does, if someone else gets on (which happens a lot with 36 crew members, a band and blue men) the signal strength drops significantly and most times (like the last two days) disappears all together.

So, I wasn't able to blog. But there wasn't really anything to talk about...

I did do a little research yesterday to a question that I've been wondering about for quite some time. As you've probably guessed, with my job, I fly a lot. Every airline submits to the no cell phones policy while in flight. Some airlines, like American, attribute it to "interference with navigation systems" or something of that nature. So I looked it up on line to see what was fact and what was fiction.

This article (Link here) pretty much spells out the hooey and/or wool that the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) and FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) have been pulling over our eyes for years. The article was written back in 1999, but still holds true I would suspect. Another article (Link here) written last April speaks of the FCC continuing the ban, even though there's been talk of changing it since 2004.

The hooey, for those of you who don't feel like linking to the articles, is that, cells phones in no way interfere with any system on an airplane. Why? Because the bandwidth that cell phones use is restricted to, is completely different from the bandwidth that airplane systems use. So why the ban?

The first article speculates on two possibilities. One - That it's all about money and they want you to use the "airphone" that is on the plane that costs you an average of $6.00 a minute (conspiracy theorist will mention the word "kickback"). Two - because they feel the science is not conclusive either way.

I personally have mixed feelings about this one. On the one hand, I think they shouldn't be lying to us and using fear to keep us in line. That's just wrong. This all sort of touches on my theory about "prohibiting the use of portable electronic devices during take off and landing". I think it's another line of B.S. that these things also interfere with "navigational equipment". When I believe truth of the matter is, taking off and landing are the most dangerous times for flying and you shouldn't be plugged into your ear deafening music, but rather paying attention to what is happing in case of an emergency. How, do you suppose the stewardess would word it?

"Ladies and gentlemen, the cabin door is now closed, and we are preparing for take off, please turn off all portable electronic devices and pay attention to what's happening, in case we crash. Yeah, I'm talking to you punk rock kid in seat 19-C. I had to wait in line behind you at security while the metal detector kept ringing from all the metal studs in your face."

Guess it would be bad to say, "Crash".

And on the other hand, I'm glad cell phones are banned on planes. I don't think I could deal with someone who is constantly chatting on the phone 8 inches away from me. If you listen to most conversations people have on cell phones, it's really about nothing. Every now and again, you'll hear people doing business or talking someone through a difficult surgical procedure, but for the most part, people are calling friends and talking about nothing because they are bored and want to see who else is bored. Sort of like when you see someone eating alone in a restaurant. They'll pick up their cell phone, dial, and the first lines will be, "Hey, it's me. Nuthin, eating lunch."

Most flights now allow you to use your cell phone the moment you land. I will admit to being one of those people who whip out my phone out and kick it on the moment the wheels screech. But I don't call anyone, it's more to see if anyone called. I've been trying to resist getting my cell phone out until I'm in the terminal. I just don't think it's that important that I call people or see who's called. But I'm having trouble breaking the habit.

We're so plugged in, in this modern day and age. I'm sure the kids of today will have no idea what life was like before the walkman. Which is what changed the world. Hopefully I can keep my kids unplugged for a few years. Unless first grade teachers are now in the habit of emailing out the lessons.