Updates for Outlook

After the problems with the Delta updates for Outlook I found that Orbitz, which I was using because I could not get Delta only flights for my upcoming trips. While I am not too keen on the format, at least they provide individual items per day, unfortunately not per segment. I also found that Avis and Marriott provide Outlook updates for reservations at their sites.

Save a lot of typing.

Philly Stake

In my new job and new project I am "blessed" to have the opportunity to fly through Philadelphia. I had my first trip this week, and was wondering how the aiport had changed compared to my experiences a number of years ago. In the past I found that PHL was pretty much the worst airport to fly through. Not just the terminal, but for some reason the support facilities, specifically car rental, also match the airport in terms of my rating.

After deplaning (USAir, which contributed to my negative demeanour) I was optimistic as we had arrived at the new terminal A. Everything looked quite good, until I stepped out to for the rental shuttle. The pickup lane was packed with parked cars, sorry, waiting cars so that the rental and parking shuttles were having to line up to collect their passengers. When building such a nice new terminal I would have expected that a better solution for private and shuttle pickups would have been incorporated into the design.

And then, not contrary to my expectations, I had to wait almost 20 minutes for my Avis rental shuttle. In that time two or three of the competitors' buses passed by. But of course, if I had booked a car with any other company, its shuttles would have been delayed. There is just something about PHL and I that do not mix.

Hopefully on my way out my bad luck will have run out. Again I am optimistic, especially since I noticed that Delta have moved from the old E terminal to the new A terminal.

My Review of Case it HIP-15 Case-it Hip-15 Neoprene Cd Player Case (Case It HIP15)

Originally submitted at Beach Audio

Accommodates Most Personal Cd Players ;stretchable Neoprene Forms A Snug Fit With Player Case That Prevents Skipping ;large Pocket Accommodates Jewel Boxes, Leads, Battery Packs, Headphones & Accessories

Case it HIP-15 Case-it Hip-15 Neoprene Cd Player Case (Case It HIP15)

Not bad for the price

By DisneyDude from Celebration, FL on 4/18/2008

 

3out of 5

Pros: Versatile, Durable, Easy to Use

Cons: Not well finished

Best Uses: Travel

Describe Yourself: Value Oriented

Primary use of this product: Business

I am using this product in a different way than intended, but it does what I need. I needed the stretchy fit, but did not need the belt part - so I cut that off. I was not too impressed by the overall finish, but as this item will spend most of its time hidden in my briefcase, it does not matter for me. If you were using this as intended, i.e. to carry a CD player around on your waist, it should look more finished off.

(legalese)

Photo Ringer

On the Palm Treo 750 which I use, there is a feature to associate pictures with a contact, so that the picture appears when a call is received from any of the numbers stored for that contact. I found out that one of the advantages of switching from Lotus Notes & mNotes (previous employer) to Exchange server (current employer) is that the pictures are also stored in my contact list on the server. In the past, if I carried out a hard reset on my phone, I had to go in and reconnect the pictures to all the relevant contacts. Now it is done automatically

Even better, my new employer has an application on their intranet site, which can be used to look up information about colleagues, and includes a picture. As a new employee, connecting faces and names can be difficult, but now I get a reminder any time the person calls me. I just download the picture from the intranet and connect it to the contact on my phone. I can do this either directly on the phone, or in the Contacts function of Outlook on my laptop. In eithercase a quick synchronization brings both sides up to date.

P.S. One other advantage - in Outlook displaying an email also shows the contact photo, if available.

Tumi case repair

A few weeks ago, I noticed one of the zippers on my 12 year old Tumi briefcase starting to 'unravel'. Taking the advantage of working at home for a couple of weeks, I took the bag into the local Bags & Baggage store, who are listed on the Tumi site as official repair agents. I have taken this and my suitcase for repairs on a number of occasions, and even with expedited processing, it takes 3-4 weeks before it is returned. This time I was very pleased to receive my bag back in just over a week, and even better, it was delivered directly to my home address. Kudos to B&B for such speedy service.

Free WiFi for AA Admirals Club members

AA has joined the ranks of United, NWA and Continental as Admirals Club members now have free WiFi access in the clubs. Although AA uses T-Mobile Hotspot service, like Delta, they have arranged for their members to have free access. Unfortunately Delta still expects us to pay for club membership and then also to pay T-mobile for internet access, not just WiFi, but also on the desktop computers or broadband access at the work areas. Hopefully Delta will think about changing this soon....

I stand corrected, as Delta has just let me know that, since 6/17/2007 complimentary day passes for T-mobile WiFi and wired access are available from the Crown Room attendants, for members only.
I must of missed the email, but will try this out on my next visit.

DAL-NWA merger on back burner?

It has been very quiet on the DL/NW merger front, so it looks as if it will not go ahead. Based on a discussion overheard at the airport, it seems that the pilots have problems with agreeing on common ground. A Delta captain was telling someone that the NW pilots, who recently negoitated a pay deal that included lower salaries but retention of pension rights, wanted to keep the pension rights in a merger but match the Delta salaries. Delta pilots has recently given up their pension rights in exchange for keeping higher salaries, so they see the NW suggestion as having the cake and eating it too. This is even without bringing in the other major issue of how to merge the seniority lists.
As long as safety or flight availability are not affected, as passenger I do not mind what goes on, and whether they are able to get together or not. Except for the selfish reasons mentioned in my other blog.

***yet again, I stand corrected as the DL-NW merger has been announced. Of course, we have to see if the pilots all accept it, and the FAA, SEC, FTC, etc. allow it to go through***

Delta Update for Outlook

Since changing employers, and having returned to using MS-Outlook as calendar tool, I needed a way to quickly enter my travel data into my calendar. In the past I have used a tool (Infotriever) provided through the company travel agent, but as my current company encourages us to book directly at the airline sites I thought I would see what Delta has to offer. I found out that there "Outlook update" does not actually work very well. NWA has a similar capability, using '.ics' files that works much better.
In Delta's case, I found that the following issues occurred:
My four segment itinerary was loaded into Outlook as three items, two outbound and only one inbound.
The two outbound items overlapped, i.e. one item was for the origination to intermediate segment, while the second one covered origination to final destination. I really expected the second one to be intermediate to final destination.
The reminder on all items was set for a day ahead. This only makes sense for the first segment (on-line check-in), I prefer to set the reminder to 30-45 minutes prior to departure - time to leave the Crown Room and head to the gate.
Hopefully Delta will read this, and take a look at the software that generates the '.ics' files. maybe they can "borrow" the NWA version, if the merger goes ahead.

Bluetooth NR headset

Over the last few months I have been using the nXZen BT headset. I chosse this headset for its very strong noise reduction capabilities. At the time the main competition was the Jawbone headset, but I had read that while the Jawbone has good noise reduction, it does rely on having the headset correctly seated on the ear so that a critical part is pressed against the head (or actually, the jawbone). The nXZen relies on two microphones to exclude background noise and I was impressed by the sample recording on their site. One feature I really like is the fact that the set has two separate operating controls, in addition to a volume control switch. This allows for a wide range of actions, without having to take the set out of the ear and look at flashing lights. I am also very happy with the battery life and the USB charger cable, supplied in addition to a normal 110v charger. In practice the set has worked well for me, but there are a couple of negatives.

1. In the beginning I lost a number of the ear buds, as well as the ear loops. The buds seemed to fall off very easily, and the loops are not too strong and break quite quickly. However, by being a little more careful I have been able to keep the current ear bud and ear loop for a couple of months now. I must add that the vendor has been very good in sending replacements of both buds and loops, when I contected their customer support group.
2. Although I would have expected wind noise to be excluded as well as other background noise, on one particularily windy day outdoors I had to mute my phone as the other parties on the call were hearing a lot of noise. Covering the headset with my hand while talking helped, but I had hoped for better wind noise reduction.

All in all I am reasonably pleased with this product, but would I buy it again if I needed a replacement? Based on the small issues mentioned above I think I might give a different set a try. Would I recommend it? If you are looking for a solid headset with very good noise reduction, except in windy conditions, it is a good product. It is not as small as some models on the market today, but the size allows for easy to use controls. battery life is good and most important the voice communication is clear, in both directions.