Goodbye Independence Air and Z-104

Goodbye to two dear friends, who departed the metaphysical world in the past two days.

Z-104, DC's top 40 station, and later "Modern Music" station of the past ten years signed off at Noon on January 4, 2006. WGMS, the local classical music station, which had been at 103.5 ever since I could remember, moved to 104.1 Waldorf and 103.9 Frederick. WTOP moved to 103.5. That's the only good thing that came of the move was the DC area can now get WTOP reliably, which before had spotty reception. Traffic reports are very important. However, the loss of one of DC's radio stations has led me to decide to get sattelite radio installed in my truck. Sirius is compatable with the factory head unit, so I will go that route.

Independence Air, the low cost airline, based out of Dulles International Airport, restored my faith in flying. My previous expirence with flying, on Southwest, was not pleasurable. The cabin pressure in the plane was not kept under control, and my ears were clogged for nearly a week. When I flew to Chicago to go to Kenosha back in April, my mom and I flew on Independence Air, and it was a great expirence. I had a sinus infection that week, and when I walked off the plane, I felt like I had been on the ground for the past few hours. My parents flew on Independence Air, in September 2004, when their car had issues and it was questionable if it would make it to Wisconsin. The flight was super easy for them. In July 2005, my parents used Independence Air to fly back home. Again, great flight, great service. My mom and dad have limited mobility and the airline worked with them extremely well. I enjoyed flying with them a whole lot and their prices were normally the best around. I will miss their customer first philosiphy towards flying. I will miss their (loss leading) low fares. The DC economy will miss their economic benefits. A sad day there.

My thoughts go out to the coal miners that died in West Virginia. The mine should not have been operating due to the numerous safety violations present. However, this may not have been prevented, even if the mine was opperating at 100% safety. This brings forth the question, should the US go back to strip mining, which is more enviromentally damaging, but significantly safer for people working. I'm more inclined to allow strip mining with strong enviromental protections, to hopefully prevent another tragic mine collapse or explosion.

My Christmas went pretty well. I got an iPod Video 60 GB. It needs to go back to Apple for a warranty repair. I tried to buy an interface cable to go between the stereo in my Ram and the iPod. However, it was not compatable with the RBQ stereo installed. Vince had a 2004 Dodge Ram and had the other stereo in his, and when he traded it in for a 2006, he kept the post assembly Chrysler navigation radio installed as opposed to putting the tape/CD back in. So he ended up with this extra stereo lying around doing nothing. I plan on installing it and getting an interface cable. The only thing is, it may interfer with my plan to get sattelite radio. So we will wait and see what is done exactly. I got my brother's house a 42" Plasma ED TV, a Panasonic one, with high ratings from CNet and Consumer Reports. My mom got him a new Onkyo home theater system, so now his basement is pimping out good sound and great pictures on the TV.

I guess I am going to call tonight a night.