Announcements on a Plane

I had my son visiting last week with his family and he told me a hilarious story about his daughter on the flight out. She is only 3 years old and in order to help keep her entertained, he immediately gave her some headphones and let her watch movies on the screen found on the seat in front of her. There was no need to pull out a tablet and drain the battery watching shows she had already seen 100 times. It didn't take long for the flight attendants to make an announcement, which causes all in-flight entertainment to stop so passengers could hear those important safety messages. When that happened, my granddaughter immediately ripped off her headphones and hollered because her movie stopped. In video games we call that rage quitting. She thought the movie system broke and she would have to suffer through a long plane ride without entertainment. She continued to rage quit during every announcement even though my son explained what was happening and that she could continue watching soon.

My son and I got a good chuckle out of the story because we both feel the same way. I think there are way too many announcements given on flights and wish the flight attendants would keep them to a minimum. Unfortunately their primary job is not to serve you snacks or drinks, it is to help ensure you are safe. That means they really do need to make all of those announcements even if I have heard them thousands of times already. As an adult, I can't rage quit during my movie and have to suffer through interruptions.

Another thing that makes this story so funny is what happened to a buddy of mine on a flight a few weeks earlier. It was the final minutes of the playoff football game that would determine which team headed to the recent Super Bowl. My buddy said that a conservative estimate put 70% of the screens on the plane watching the game at this critical juncture as the plane touched down on the ground. The flight attendant came over the public address system and immediately killed the key moment of the game. Everyone shouted, "No!" In the back of the plane someone yelled out, "Can't you wait for just a minute or two." Fortunately the flight attendant let go of the talk button but it was too late, everyone had missed the final play. She did stay off the intercom until the last moment to give everyone their disembarkment instructions. The passengers appreciated that.

I always use my long flights to catch up on movies I haven't seen and do dislike announcement interruptions. It is during these pauses that I envy anyone on the plane watching movies on their own device. I'm just too lazy to fill a tablet or phone before my flights. I guess this means I will suffer through those relatively short breaks in the action.

One Child, One Computer

I must confess that we are headed into the best time of the year. Football season is about to start. Ski stores have started gearing up for their preseason sales. Of course, let's not forget that school is just around the corner. Last year at this time, I mentioned that now is the time to start getting your computer ready for those kids in your house. I second my recommendations from last year and encourage you to make sure you have plenty of ink/toner for your printer and that your word processing software is up-to-date.

This year I only have one child at home using the family computer. That makes it effectively his own computer. My son knows better than to ask to put the computer in his room as we have a rule about that in the house. Good parents understand the dangers of allowing children, that is anyone under the age of 18, to keep computers in their rooms. While there is a lot of useful information on the Internet, there is also a lot that can harm your children as well. Even my college-age kids are encouraged to use their computers in the family room as opposed to their bedrooms.

My oldest daughter's laptop needs a new battery and so she wasn't able to fully comply with the laptop-in-the-family-room rule. That was not good for her this summer as she was constantly staying up late and watching Netflix into the wee hours of the morning. As she is 23, it didn't really bother me, but I use her as an example to other parents to show that pornography is not the only problem caused by computers in the bedroom. Luckily my daughter is wise and cancelled her Netflix subscription before heading off to school. She doesn't need anything else competing with her study time.