On an American Airlines mid-afternoon flight from Miami to Newark,
Insider encountered an airplane snack not seen before in her
travels: a Jennie-O Turkey Wrap.
The snack also served as a way to pass time.
On the packaging were tidbits of turkey trivia (did you know
Americans eat 45 million turkeys on Thanksgiving and another 22
million on Christmas?) and a turkey meal scrambler.
This provided hours -- OK, minutes -- of entertainment on an
otherwise uneventful flight.
Pie in the sky
It's pretty much universally believed that Southwest Airlines is
a good company to work for and do business with. It also has a
sense of humor.
Perusing its Web site, at www.southwestairlines.com one day, Insider was drawn
to its History page under the About Us section.
The headline on the page is: We Weren't Just Airborne
Yesterday.
No spartan spa
Spas are getting more and more chic.
Gone are the spartan exercise rooms, the plain white towels, the
no-nonsense lockers and changing areas.
Today's spas boast aromatherapy Jacuzzis, juice bars with herbal
teas and softly lighted relaxation centers.
Instead of instructions on how to measure body fat, pulse and
heart rates, today's spas have original paintings, sculptures and
organically grown plantings.
And sometimes the artwork does relate to the project at
hand.
Case in point: Royal Sands Resort & Spa in Cancun.
Amenities outnumber aerobics instructors at this new
state-of-the-art-spa. However, Insider was relieved to spot some
artwork on a wall near the glass-enclosed weight room that did
relate to muscle and mass.
That's a good thing. Spagoers could get so comfortable at this
spa soaking in whirlpools or browsing in the boutique that they
might forget to do anything that produces a sweat.
No pain, no gain is the painting's subtle message -- one that's
understood in any language.
Shelter services
Rest rooms in the Birmingham, Ala., airport serve a dual
purpose.
Not only do they provide the usual "services," they also protect
visitors from Mother Nature's wrath.
It seems the rest rooms are built in the most reinforced part of
the airport and serve as hurricane shelters as well.
Insider spotted a placard sporting the words Tornado Shelter
outside the airport's rest rooms during a trip to the southern city
and half-expected to see flying cows and trucks while driving
through town, reminiscent of the movie "Twister."
Although Birmingham lies slightly outside of "tornado alley,"
the area in the U.S. most noted for tornadoes, the need for a
shelter was a little discomforting all the same.
E-mail blooper
How embarrassing is this?
An e-mail sent by a government tourist office to trade media
accidentally attached itself to a private in-office document.
The document in question was the assessment summary form used by
managers to rate job performances of underlings.
Fortunately, the accidentally e-mailed document named no names
nor contained any specifics on individuals.
Insider did note, however, that several questions on the form
dealt with employees' career development efforts in ongoing
education and training courses.
Perhaps whoever sent the e-mail should sign up for the computer
course that deals with Attachments and Deletions.