Good news everybody.

I'm back in the states. Currently at MSP airport waiting for my last flight home. Here's a little rundown of what's happened so far on the trip.

* All of my NiMH batteries got confiscated in Bangalore because I couldn't show the agent there how they'd be used. This is because Nicole took my camera back with her to the states. Jet Airways said they'd send the batteries up to Mumbai for me, but they didn't make it. They gave me 8 AA alkaline batteries. That'll have to do.
* Flew 1st class from BLR to BOM (Bangalore to Mumbai). Was nice. It's good to get a full meal on that flight because once in Mumbai, I have a 5-hour layover.
* Flight from BOM to AMS (Mumbai to Amsterdam) was uneventful.
* Was able to use my company iPass account to get online at AMS and chat with Nicole a bit.
* Got all through security at AMS at the gate, and then they did a gate change. That delayed the flight getting into MSP by about 30 minutes.
* Had 43A and 43C on AMS-MSP leg, which has no at-seat power (the first section of coach does). The aft galley in that plane has 110 outlets and the attendants back there were kind enough to let me charge my 3 dead batteries on that flight. Phew!
* NWA's A330s have multi-player trivia games in the inflight entertainment system. That was fun with 4 people. Some guy in 1A had the nickname of Booger. Now that's 1st class, baby!
* I usually get two seats when I travel and NWA apparently upgraded me to 1st class on the the MSP-SEA leg. I'm not complaining. Seat 5C here I come.
* No problems with immigration or customs.
* Had a burger for lunch. Looks like I'll be having more for dinner in Seattle. That's the first red meat I've had in a month.

How appropriate....

Update (23:50 UTC 4 March 2006): I'm at MSP airport now and my uncle has apologized for sending this out. He's a good man, and I appreciated his apology as I know he'd do anything for anybody, if he could.

So I get this "the US shouldn't be in the UN because a bunch of countries hate us" email from my uncle. I'm at Amsterdam airport right now, and seeing this email forced me to respond. First, the email, then my reply.

On 4 Mar 2006, at 3:22 AM, Bernie's uncle wrote:

President Bush wonders why everyone is against United Arab Em. taking over our ports.

Sent: Tuesday, February 21, 2006 10:26 PM
Subject: Fw: Attention Everyone

This oughta upset everybody:

How they vote in the United Nations:

Below are the actual voting records of various Arabic/Islamic States which are recorded in both the US State Department and United Nations records:

Kuwait votes against the United States 67% of the time

Qatar votes against the United States 67% of the time

Morocco votes against the United States 70% of the time

United Arab Emirates votes against the U. S. 70% of the time.

Jordan votes against the United States 71% of the time.

Tunisia votes against the United States 71% of the time.

Saudi Arabia votes against the United States 73% of the time.

Yemen votes against the United States 74% of the time.

Algeria votes against the United States 74% of the time.

Oman votes against the United States 74% of the time.

Sudan votes against the United States 75% of the time.

Pakistan votes against the United States 75% of the time.

Libya votes against the United States 76% of the time.

Egypt votes against the United States 79% of the time.

Lebanon votes against the United States 80% of the time.

India votes against the United States 81% of the time.

Syria votes against the United States 84% of the time.

Mauritania votes against the United States 87% of the time.

U S Foreign Aid to those that hate us:

Egypt, for example, after voting 79% of the time against the United States, still receives $2 billion annually in US Foreign Aid.

Jordan votes 71% against the United States and receives $192,814,000 annually in US Foreign Aid.

Pakistan votes 75% against the United States

Receives $6,721,000 annually in US Foreign Aid.

India votes 81% against the United States; receives $143,699,000 annually.

Perhaps it is time to get out of the UN and give the tax savings back to the American workers who are having to skimp and sacrifice to pay the taxes (and gasoline).

Pass this along to every taxpaying citizen you know. And send to your congressman, who should be disgraced but couldn't care less.

Disgusting, isn't it?

======

My reply:

Sitting in Amsterdam airport, waiting for my flight back to the U.S. after a month-long trip to India, I can say that we've got a lot better than they do. While our gas prices are around $2/gal, theirs are near $5/gal. And when you consider the disparity between the average income of an American and an Indian, you'll understand how much it hurts them more than it does us. We've got it good.

Americans like to talk about their "hard-earned dollars." Until we've seen someone breaking rocks with other rocks with their hands in order to lay a rockbed for a new highway, or someone breaking tiles with a small hammer in order to prepare for a new floor to be laid at the airport, we should just keep quiet.

Just go to a 3rd world country sometime. When you see old women, limbless people, and starving children begging for money, you might get why it's a good thing that our government gives this Aid.

By the way, India contributed aid after Katrina, so it's not like we're alone in this world. There are countries that DO care about us. And we should care about them, too. (http://in.rediff.com/news/2005/sep/08aid.htm)

Thanks,
Bernie