JonahWeiland.com

Flying in to Chicago Friday morning and taxiing to our gate for the 892 hour layover before flying home to Los Angeles Friday I saw a North West Airlines jet sitting on the tarmac. In big, bold letters along the side of the plane can be found the initials “NWA.” I guess the airline has rebranded or uses the NWA logo for their brand now.

Clearly, the executives at the company and those who helped in the rebranding haven’t spent much time listening to urban music of the 80s. They might as well have just called themselves “HNiC Airways.”

Leaving Montreal to America you go through customs in Canada, before you even leave for the States. Guess it’s just easier that way instead of having a customs facility located at loads of different airports in the US. Although in Canada they call it “preclearance.” At any rate, when talking with the “preclearance agent” I really didn’t expect him to ask, “Sir, are you carrying any livestock in your luggage with you today?”

On my flight back from Montreal I realized that announcing I was going to be out of town for a specific period here on my blog was probably not the smartest idea. Every summer the local news will run some sort of report about how if you’re going out of town for an extended period of time you should follow some simple rules so as to avoid someone breaking in to your home and ripping you off. For example, load up your car with your boxes and luggage the night before and other precautious. Of course, this is generally a complete overreaction (as most everything is in local news media) and for the overwhelming majority never an issue. Ultimately, it’s probably not a big deal discussing on your blog your travel details (hell many people detail their travels on their own blogs as I did with my London trip back in 2003), although I guess some care should be taken. Or something.

That being said, thanks to you thieving fools out there for not stealing my home while I was out of the country. It was nice to come home and find my nasty ass turtle still in his cage and my TiVo dutifully recording television programs for me.

I’ve arrived in Montreal. It’s 20 degrees outside right now and snowing. This is the first time I’ve ever seen it snow. Don’t misunderstand, I’ve seen snow before, but I’ve never seen the physical act of snowing up close.

The flights went well, although we were delayed a while due to scheduling and weather on the layover in Toronto. Also the first time I’ve ever been on a plane that’s been deiced. That’s both equally fascinating and unsettling.

My favorite part of any flight would have to be listening to the guy directly behind me repeatedly clear his throat, snort and suck back his post nasal drip and cough his way through a cold. As someone unusually susceptible to air borne virii, this pleased me like a ten dollar whore in Thailand. I expect by Saturday to be in a full blown state of flem.

I’m going to go play in the snow now.

I’ve done a lot of traveling during my life. Been to three countries in Europe, explored the South Pacific, enjoyed many a fine day in Mexico and seen probably 40 of the 50 United States. I like traveling, but I love flying even more. There’s something great about that rush you get on take off. The engines whirl up to speed, the plane lurches forward, then suddenly you’re pushed back in your seat as you increase in speed and then there’s a moment of quiet as the rear tires pull up from the tarmac. Kind of a cool moment.

I’ve done some crazy trips before. I did the drive to Las Vegas and back in 24 hours trip. It was fun, but I won’t do it again. I’ve done the fly to Las Vegas and back again in less than 24 hours. That was actually a lot of fun.

This Wednesday afternoon I’m flying to Montreal, Canada on business. I leave LA at Noon and I’ll be back in Los Angeles almost 36 hours later. That’s 12 hours of flying, 2 hours in layovers. That leaves me with 22 hours. Eight hours of that will be spent sleeping, which brings me to a total of 14 waking hours in the city of Montreal.

This is going to be interesting.

Do you ever sit around contemplating the fine dramatic aspects of the film “Flashdance?”

…

Yeah, me neither. Yeah. I mean, yeah, I never think about that movie.

Yeah.

Didn’t “Unforgiven” just kick ass?

I love recognizing locations in TV shows. I think most Los Angelinos do. That’s ok. New Yorkers like to suck, Los Angelinos like to see familiar locations on their favorite television shows.

So, on the last “Jack & Bobby,” the one where Jack deals with his shit, there’s a scene “after” the attack (those who’ve seen the show know what I mean) that shows Jack running down a street past a number of storefronts. I kinda flipped when I saw it because I witnessed them film that exact scene over in the Tujunga Village area of Studio City a few weeks or months back. It was late at night, fucking cold out, I just wanted some fast food and was traveling towards Ventura when I had to wait for them to film this fucking shot. Oh, and I just happened to miss the last group of cars that rlloed through, meaning I’d have to wait another five minues or so. GRRRRR. At any rate, kinda funky.

Also, on “24″ this week, the one where everyone goes nuclear, when the bad Arab man (can’t remember his name) goes to visit the new bad man (is he english? is he arab? Is he arablish?), he enters in through the back of a restaurant. That just happens to be Barones in Sherman Oaks, one of the best and most unique pizza joints in all of the southland.

Remember what I said, New Yorkers like to suck, Los Angelinos like to see familiar locations on their favorite television shows.

And really, I don’t have anything against New Yorkers. It’s just, given the opportunity to slam LA they would … so, it’s pre-emptive mocking.