One Roundabout Way To Get To Europe

I'm scouting flights now for September and hope to book in the next month or so. So far, I'm planning on taking Southwest to either Baltimore, Philadelphia or Boston then flying Virgin Atlantic or Aer Lingus to London - whichever is cheaper. However, I'm still looking at other airlines and keeping tabs on prices. I checked Kayak.com today during my lunch break and I have a question for United Airlines: why is it necessary, if I want to fly your airline, that I travel from Nashville to Chicago, Chicago to Los Angeles, and Los Angeles to London? Really? You realize that is the complete opposite direction I need to be going, right?

Never Gonna Happen

The contents of my closet will never, ever fit in to the luggage I already have.

I pulled out two suitcases today and packed what I plan to take with me. Well, not everything but a lot of the things that will be coming with me. After twenty minutes I realized it's definitely going to take two 29-inch suitcases to get me to London.

No Whistlin' Tonight in Dixie

While the oil spill in the Gulf has dominated news coverage, we here in middle Tennessee are being ignored by the national media. A good portion of the county I live in is underwater. We were spared any damage but some very close to us weren't so lucky. The Opryland Hotel is flooded. The Grand Ole Opry is flooded. Interstates are closed. Houses, cars, businesses are underwater and no one is paying us any attention.

I'm a big believer in helping when you can. It's our duty to our fellow man to help when others are in trouble. We  donated to the Clinton-Bush Haiti Relief Fund and so did millions of Americans. The money will help rebuild schools, repair roads, build new infrastructure, house the homeless. But where is the outpouring of money to help do those things here? The President didn't so much as mention the flooding here today. Keith Olbermann of MSNBC summed it up perfectly: Flooded and Forgotten. Indeed.