JonahWeiland.com

As I write this I’m supposed to be in Las Vegas. At this very moment, 12:25 in the afternoon, my plane was scheduled to land in McCarren Airport. But I’m at home. On my computer.

So my sister and I went to Burbank Airport together to fly Southwest to Vegas. I checked-in for my flight last night online, but my sister couldn’t with her style of ticket and had to check in at the airport. No problem. We did so. She had a seating group C ticket, mine was A, but they let us board together. Then, it all went to shit.

The Captain came on to inform us that due to heavy winds right after take-off, the weight of the plan was too high for safety reasons and they had to loose some weight. So, they first asked people to volunteer to come off the plane. They’d reimburse you for your flight cost, issue you a $200 voucher to fly Southwest at any time and put you on priority stand by for a later flight. No takers.

By the way, there are no openings on any of the later flights out of Burbank, LAX or Ontario.

Then they started calling names in the order you booked. They would take the seven last people to check-in.

When they got to the seventh person they said the following words: “Sharon Weedland.”

We looked around, hopefuly that there was a Sharon Weedland on the flight. No such luck. Just another of many manglings of our family name. My sister was crushed. There was only one thing to do. I volunteered to take her place and got off the plane. It’s her birthday and she’s got friends to hook up with on the other end. I had to do it.

I went to the desk, asked about where my position is on the stand-by list for later flights. I was #7 and there was no chance of me getting on the 12:25 flight to vegas (the one I originally booked!!!). My first chance was on the 2:05 flight and those chances were slim.

So, I’m driving to Vegas! Good thing I charged up my iPod last night. It’s not the worst thing in the world. The worst part about it will be driving back on Sunday. You have to leave before 11:00 on a Sunday back to Los Angeles or you’re screwed traffic wise.

Looks like I’ll get a chance to visit the world’s tallest thermometer outside Bun Boy in Baker, California.

I’m going to Bun Boy, bitch!

Today my lil’ sister Sharon turns 30. She’s all growed up. Happy Birthday, Sharon!

So, how’s she celebrating? Well, she invited all her friends … and me … to celebrate with her in Las Vegas. That’s right, this will be my third trip to Las Vegas in two months. This time I’m staying at the MGM Grand, which I’ve never been to before. I’m going to try to have lunch with Steven Grant while I’m there if he’s got the time.

Another weekend in Vegas. I think it’ll be my last for a while. At least a month.

Need a distraction that will keep you from doing your work? This game will do the trick. It’s fun. It’s good stuff. The creatures vaguely resemble sperm.

Well, this is is a bizarre, but welcome bit of news. Apparently Newmarket films is going to rerelease their cult-hit film “Donnie Darko” this summer. I saw this movie in theater’s during its first theatrical run and couldn’t stop talking about it after I saw it. Unique idea with some very unique storytelling. Now with an extra 20 minutes attached I have my reservations concerning how they mess with the story, but let’s wait to pass judgment until its out.

For owners of the DVD you already know that there are numerous cut scenes and extras, so I’m wondering how much of that additional 20 minutes are comprised of those scenes. The article mentions new music and special effects. Hrmmmm …

So, contract negotiations for Dave Chappelle’s third season are set to begin according to Reuters. Comedy Central knows what they have to do: back a truck load of cash to Chappelle’s door step. I’ve got a feeling they will, too. Comedy Central has built quite an audience on shows like “The Daily Show” and “South Park.” They know a good thing when they see it. With the general public all jumping on board the Chappelle bandwagon with the “I’m Rich James, Bitch” episode, the ratings are higher than ever and there’s no sign of slowing down.

Thanks to Steve for the article.

Congratulations to Memphis Grizzlies coach Hubie Brown on landing NBA Coach of the Year honors. Before coaching for the G’s he was a color man for TNT Basketball broadcasts. So often with television sports it’s clear to me the color guy THINKS he knows everything, knows exactly how things SHOULD be run, but in fact has not a fucking clue. Brown was different, though. I learned more about the game from watching games he was a part of than any other commentator. He took a lot of time off from coaching and that time off clearly helped him establish the game he’s teaching the youngsters in Memphis. I’m most impressed by the fact that Brown at 70 years old is able to get 20+ year old kids to actually listen to him.

Over on the Web405 Mailing List someone asked about online typing tests that were free. One of the members mentioned Brainbench offered free typing tests so I took it. Here are my results. Out of a score of 1-5 I landed a 4.38, which apparently places me in the top 98% of all test takers. My Raw Words Per Minute was 78, while my Accuracy-Adjusted WPM was 77. They say “Overall score represents the accuracy-adjusted score placed on a scale of 1.0 - 5.0. Raw WPM represents the words per minute typed without regard to accuracy. Accuracy-adjusted WPM represents words per minute typed correctly.” There were ten short tests and it took me a total of 8 minutes to do it, with an average time of 48 seconds per test.

Frankly I thought I’d be a bit faster, up over 90 WPM, but 78 certainly isn’t too shabby. I’ll try again in 3 months and see how I’ve progressed.