Dolby Home Theater Speaker Setup Guide.

http://www.dolby.com/consumer/setup/speaker-setup-guide/index.html

Alaska Airlines - List of Theftable Items

I thought I would add a link to Alaska Airlines' Baggage Policy. Please note it contains a list of items that the airline is not accountable for should they disappear from your baggage. In other words, a list of items that are okay for their baggage handlers to steal from you. Go to section H-3-g.

Alaska Airlines Baggage Policy

To compare, here are the baggage policies of:

American Airlines
Southwest Airlines
United Airlines

In digging around these sites, one of them also provided a link to locks that ARE allowed on your luggage and are TSA approved. Check them out.

To be fair, Northwestern had a similarly long list of items that it was not responsible for. A couple of the airlines mentioned above appear to offer roughly $3000 worth of coverage per paying ticket holder, however. Another good reason not to trust your business with Alaska Airlines if they aren't going to man up and protect your stuff better than they do.

Alaska Airlines

After returning home from my tremendous trip to California , my arrival home was extremely disappointing. Being victimized by the airline you trusted your luggage and life with is never fun.

On my trip to California, I packed two bags and took them both on the plane with me. There are plenty of stories of people who have had things stolen from them by the baggage handlers so I was determined not to become another statistic in that regard. When we returned home, however, I was forced to check one of my bags because Google generously provided an extra bag full of promotional materials for my school district. The bag I checked was a backpack and in the side pouch, the only thing of any real value, my prescription glasses.

Now I'll take responsibility for not being more aware of the missing glasses immediately upon arrival. But I did notice within a day of arriving when I actually began to unpack my bags. I notified Alaska as soon as I realized what had happened. They said they'd send out a packet so that I could file a claim about the theft of my personal property. Instead, I got a letter stating that my glasses were considered "items excluded from liability". That's crap! Help me to understand this. I'm forced to check some bag if I have too much stuff. I'm NOT allowed to lock that bag or secure it in any fashion so that any of Alaska's staff can access the contents of the bag. I'm asked to trust that those employees are reputable and upstanding while my bag is out of my sight, but THEY aren't going to be responsible for theft of my glasses?

To add insult to injury, they offer me a $50 voucher to fly with them again. Yeah right. So I'm suppose I should say "thanks" and fly on their planes again, trust them with my luggage again and give some of their sticky fingered baggage handlers another pass at my stuff? No thanks. I say steer clear of Alaska Airlines. They clearly aren't interested in doing right by the customer here.

Cat Face 13

Watch this and be as hooked as I am! A little laughter goes a long way.

My Trip to Apple.

My trip to Apple and Google was an unforgettable experience. Truly once in a lifetime. The things we saw there and the things we did were easily the best experience in years. I can't wait to get back to work so that I can implement even some of the things I learned there.

The Apple Campus is just a cool place to be. Even though the public isn't allowed inside the buildings, you can walk around outside. One should also stop by the Apple Company Store. There's stuff for sale here that you can't get anywhere else in the world.

Google is another great company that no one is typically allowed access into. I can now say that I am among the few non-Google employees who was privileged enough to be allowed INSIDE Google. All I can say is "WOW". The culture and philosophy of this company is even more intriguing than any article can possibly attest to. What a great place to work. I hope it's not my last trip there.

Virginia Tech Shooter.

Let's get one thing out of the way right up front. The morning that Cho Seung-Hui walked into Virginia Tech and killed those students, was a terrible, terrible day. But are we missing an opportunity to self-assess and correct the root cause that created a scenario like this?

It's easy to point the finger at a few rogue individuals, filled with angst, railing against the machine of our society. Thanks to the media and our current culture, we've become a very "me" oriented society. The brief sound bites I've caught of what the shooter was angry about, shouldn't be dismissed because of his ultimate goal of taking lives. Something made him angry and THAT needs to be addressed so that others don't go down the same path.

We ARE spoiled brats. We are more selfish and self centered than we've EVER been as a society. There is no end in sight to the behaviors that led to this tragedy and we stand to have them repeated again and again. Perhaps more violently than the last should we ignore the underlying issues.

A little kindness goes a long way. Treat other people the way YOU would want to be treated.

First Blog.

You guessed it. This is my first blog. Probably won't get updated that regularly but hey, them's the breaks. It's entirely possible that I may talk about geeky things like Apple Computers or games. I might also mix it up and bring up some hearty philosophical discussion about what's going on in the world or just my life. This might be a good place to vent.