David J. Danto

 

Business travel thoughts in my own, personal opinion

 

             

 

eMail: ddanto@IMCCA.org      Follow Industry News: @NJDavidD

 

Distracting Myself From Delta

 

  “I was all set to pick up my personal and conference travel at the end of August with a leisure trip to Vegas followed immediately by attendance at an industry conference in Indianapolis…and now there is the COVID19 Delta variant to contend with.    I don’t yet know what its impact will be on my plans, but I’m assuming it will definitely have some sort of impact.  As of now I’m still planning to go and just wear masks indoors again (honestly I never stopped) but I’d have to be an idiot (or COVIDiot) to ignore the fact that there is an increasing risk that my travel may not happen. 

Soooooo……I’ve kept myself focused on other things to remain distracted because I didn’t want to ruminate on the potential issues with my plans.  Here is a totally unrelated, completely disjointed list of things I’m thinking about this week – some travel related, some not.

·    My blog last week that asked readers to help me suggest solutions to the current failing US airline rules resulted in a bunch of emails.  Regrettably, all of them were just commiserating with me about how miserable conditions are nowadays.  No one has any good suggestions or answers to the problems.

·    I wonder how Delta Airlines is feeling about the most contagious strain of COVID19 sharing its name.  It reminds me of a situation that happened when the AYDS diet candy had to deal with the beginning of the AIDS crisis in the 1980s, and an official of the company that owned it infamously said “…let the disease change its name…” (You can read more of that story here.)  Right now Delta airlines isn’t in any imminent danger of being confused with a deadly disease, but they’d have to be stupid not to be discussing the impact and possibilities at their senior levels right now.

·    There seem to be three types of people in the US that care about wearing masks in the COVID crisis.  There are those that are very afraid to catch the disease who are wearing N95 or KN95 masks to protect themselves, there are those that understand it is mostly a courtesy to others to wear a mask so they won’t accidentally spread the disease – and they usually wear a cloth mask, and then there are the COVIDiots that have never put masks on.  I wish we had not politicized this pure safety issue.  If people had followed the masking guidance the crisis would be over by now.  (I’m in the first category by the way – even while fully vaccinated.)  If you are not wearing a mask how can you let the world know that you’re fully vaccinated and not in the third group?  Well, there are T-shirts and wristbands available to purchase, but the best way to show people IMHO is to not act like an idiot.

·    This week we saw Amazon’s Jeff Bezos launched into space.  It prompted lots of comments and backlash.  My two favorite ones were from my good friends comedienne Maureen Langan and Joe Brancatelli himself – take a look at them:

·    This past week I had to buy a new TV for my guestroom – my family felt the TCL-Roku display in there was “too small and too slow.”  So now we have a gorgeous 50” LG unit.  Installing it reminded me of a huge pet-peeve I have with these new displays.  Why the heck don’t they provide an audio output for an external speaker that is controllable from the TV’s remote?  Why does the entire soundbar/speakerbar industry believe it is OK for each of them to require a separate remote control?  Why can’t they simply be powered speakers and controlled by the overall TV volume?  What a huge, unnecessarily complex way to handle the latest in technology.

·    The Olympics are due to start as this blog is published.  I’m mostly looking forward to the events that are new this year:

·    The 100 meter run-away dash for sponsors, distancing themselves from any association with the Olympics.  Toyota is the frontrunner.

·    The out-of-touch cruelty medal for preventing disabled Paralympians from attending with their assistants.

·    The “one person only” cardboard bed contest where athletes try to figure out how to be intimate with each other without the bed collapsing.

·    The “ban honest people but allow hidden doping” annual review.  This one isn’t new and hasn’t changed for years.  It is important for the Olympics to stand for traditions like unfair enforcement.

·    If you aren’t following the NY Mets baseball team this year you’re missing out on one of television’s best drama series.  They have more sick and injured people than General Hospital, and more guest performers than any variety series.  Make sure you check your messages every day – you may be the next starting pitcher.

 

 

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My apologies for yet another rambling blog.  Hopefully next week or the week after I’ll know the impact of the Delta variant on my plans and can get back to travel reporting. 

 

This article was written by David Danto and contains solely his own, personal opinions.

All image and links provided above as reference under prevailing fair use statutes.

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As always, feel free to write and comment, question or disagree.  Hearing from the traveling community is always a highlight for me.  Thanks!