Bad weather and a bad plane made a big mish-mosh of my return flight plans. But I was my chipper self to the counter agent and she appreciated it so much that she gave me all sorts of parting gifts, the best of which was a free upgrade. So I actually got to see how the other half lives, cosseted away in their curtained off world of hot towels, free wine, Godiva chocolates, and Mrs. Field’s cookies. I actually had a menu from which to make my meal selection and the food was incredibly palatable. I never thought I’d be eating cheesecake on an airplane. There was actual cloth, not strange papery pseudo-fabric on the pillows. The strangest part, however, were the glasses. I am so used to using plastic cups everywhere that the drink glasses seemed unmanageably heavy and got very cold from the ice! But they were a nice reminder of my luxury status. And coffee tastes a lot better out of a nicely weighted cup. The most desireable part, of course, is the room. Legroom, feetroom, armroom, posterior-room. I arrived feeling relaxed and sociable instead of cranky and nauseous. I wonder now if it isn’t a better deal to redeem airmiles for upgrades instead of waiting for those free cattle-class tickets. It’s so much nicer being treated like a Kobe beef cow.

I was in the Connecticut area for one week and never saw the sun. I believe it is still up there because otherwise it would be pitch dark instead of just gloomy. And I hear rumors that it is darn hot back where I’m going. So I guess I should stop withering away and just enjoy the mild temperatures for the few hours I have left.

My reading for the plane and layover tomorrow is Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping by Paco Underhill. I started it already and have discovered a reason why some stores have greeters at their entrances. Research shows that having someone say hello to a customer reduces the chance that they’ll steal something. Of course the friendliness may also make you more likely to buy something. Or it could drive the introverts away. I’ve often found, especially during the temporary employment Christmas season, that the greeter knows the least about the merchandise in the store. If I know exactly what I’m looking for, I usually ask them where it is after they say hello. Most of the time, they smile blankly, but nicely, and point me to someone else lucky enough not to have door duty.

“The world’s first museum dedicated to fermented herring will open in northern Sweden next year, daily Vasterbottens Kuriren reported” (from an Oddly Enough News item on Yahoo) Ahh yes, the Swedes and their herring. Sour herring. Very sour, pungent, odiferous herring. But, it is not the only museum dedicated to a meat product. A friend once told me about an encounter with a “Musee du Jambon”, which is, for you non-French readers, a Ham Museum. I daftly inquired what he found inside the museum, to which he replied, “well, strangely enough…ham.” I found their web site, unless there is more than one Musee du Jambon.

There’s a video store in Encino, California called Robovideo which is completely self-service. Members receive a card which they use to access the 24-hour store. Videotapes from the extensive collection pop out of slots. I wonder how many people are using it for the reduced embarrassment of renting those, uh, risque videos (or perhaps that cute movie about the pig, Babe — “It’s for the kids. Really.”) (info from NY Times Sunday Biz)

Information from my hometown’s “answer book” (which is like a big printed FAQ): Dogs are not allowed to roam on someone else’s private property when not attended by an owner. Cats, however, are allowed to roam on others’ property because Connecticut considers cats to be “nomadic by nature”. (I guess dogs have learned to settle down and farm, perhaps using the slash and burn technique of agriculture.)

I watched much of Dennis Miller‘s debut on Monday Night Football and thought he performed admirably. But then, I’ve been a fan of his for, geez, fifteen years. Everyone else in the booth was supportive and he definitely did his homework. I hope his delivery doesn’t get repetitive with the entire season ahead of him. Or perhaps he will develop catch phrases. The odd thing for me was watching the Patriots play (trounce, actually) the 49ers in Ohio while I was in New England, visiting from the Bay Area.

We have all survived the wedding festivities. My feet are still recovering, but the rest of me is in good shape. This is a Good Thing because I have just discovered a drawback to being back in range of the New York media: Hillary for Senate ads. They mostly show her talking with people in hospital beds, as if she’s campaigning to be a nurse. (I don’t dislike Hillary, but I’m glad I don’t have to watch her ads back in California. It’s already a Presidential election year and that deluge is about to commence!)

Ever wonder about the family behind the Campbell Soup Company? They declined requests for interviews, but The New York Times got a pretty good ladle of backstory anyway for a Sunday Business article. Campbell’s may lose the soup battle if they don’t get creative or seek partnerships. I was unaware that they also own Godiva and Pepperidge Farm (yum on both counts).

When someone makes a statement to me that I do not think is true and we end up in a big disagreement with no resolution, I often go away feeling horrible. Sometimes a lot of that is because I start questioning myself and whether my belief is actually true. So my icky feeling is one of self-doubt, which is never any good. Not long ago, a recruiter, panicking because I was turning down a chance at a company he had pitched me to, started telling me that I had been at a string of failed companies and that it was time for me to find a success. I had been told to trust this recruiter by people I knew, so I was completely blindsided by his change in tactics. His tone of voice put me on the defensive as he made me feel that everyone would start looking at me like a pariah.

Instead of just telling him thanks and goodbye, I went into a long tirade about how I could not understand why he felt I had been only at failures when the first startup I was at created a successful product and eventually went public and the second produced an award winning product and was purchased. And then I started spouting about how my version of success did not have to involve a company IPO-ing for millions of dollars and that what I really care about is that I was respected in my position, had fun working with excellent people, and successfully shipped quality product. Since I’ve accomplished that in most of my jobs, I have every right to feel proud of my career and I told him that. He defended his position and I told him that if he felt I was a failure, I did not want him representing me anymore. I will not be working with him in the future.

I do not know if I should feel proud of giving this guy a piece of my mind, even if I feel that he deserved it. But the self-doubt that clouded my head when I hung up reached critical proportions and it took me a long time to shake it. Some days I thought he might be right and that other people would look at my resume and wonder why I was in such a rut. Then one night I had a dream in which I was giving a speech in a crowded auditorium, perhaps at a graduation ceremony. I ended it with this statement: “What we are asking for is not the opportunity to be successful, but for the chance to define for ourselves what success means to each one of us.” After that, I felt more resolved.