Fly the Unfriendly Skies

Made it down to New Orleans today for the HIMSS conference, no thanks to United Airlines. I had a 6 am flight through DC, which United canceled at the last minute. The best they could offer was to rebook for Tuesday, the same day I'm returning! Capacity to New Orleans is way down post-Katrina, but tens of thousands were trying to get to HIMSS.

Luckily my travel agent was available at 5 am and we rebooked on US Airways through Charlotte to Jackson, Mississippi. I then drove the three hours to New Orleans from there. Listening to satellite radio I did hear one good doctor joke:

I went to the doctor and all he did was suck my blood. You should never go to Doctor Acula!

A couple weeks back I was traveling in Kentucky and North Carolina with my Southern colleague Mack Amaker ("American by birth, Southern by the grace of God" he tells anyone who'll listen) and he asked me how I defined the South. I didn't (and still don't) have a clean definition, but as a result of my car trip today I have refined my view a bit:

I was hungry as a result of not being fed on the flights, so stopped at Subway for my favorite, the veggie patty. But Subway's in the South don't have that. They have pork sandwiches instead. So I stopped in a Burger King, where I was happy to see the BK Veggie on the menu board. When I ordered it I found out that the guy who is in charge or ordering for the restaurant is always told to order some but doesn't.

I gave up and reluctantly went back to Subway for a Veggie Delite, which they served me with a certain reluctance.