Text 15347, 142 rader
Skriven 2011-09-04 14:28:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: trip report 825a
========================
Next day I went downtown to see my classmate Donna; as it's
a block from her office, I suggested Yank Sing; she didn't
demur, though later it turned out she had agreed just for
the sake of politeness.

We had a fairly satisfactory meal that cost about twice
what I expected, well-executed but in no way special
versions of fried shrimp, pot stickers, steamed roast pork
bao, dry-sauteed green beans with dried shrimp, xiao long
bao, and Peking spareribs. A couple of beers. $84. Nah,
not worth it, and probably never again.
--
Dinner at Golden Era vegetarian restaurant up in the
Tenderloin with my friends Sheri, Rod, Tom, Jim, and Kathy.

I arrived quite a bit early and found Tom, our public
transportations having worked out advantageously. We stood
outside and chatted for a while but then decided to go in
as it was becoming a bit breezy and lest we begin to blend
in too well with the local creatures of the evening.

The restaurant has an alcove with a round table that seats
up to comfortably, so we took that. We ordered some
appetizers - spring rolls and fresh rolls, both pretty
decent and not suffering too much from the lack of pork
(in the first case) and shrimp.

The rest of the guests came in right around on time, and
we proceeded to have a good old time.

I seem to recall a cucumber and greens salad with corn or
something with maybe a peanut sauce (or perhaps that sauce
was saved from the fresh rolls); there may have been another
green dish as well, I forget.

A sweet-sour tomato soup was very nice, though the noodles
in the bowl were a bit non-al-dente, if you will. There
was another noodle soupy dish on the table - it was fine
but unmemorable by comparison. I think it might have been
curried noodles with fake chicken.

For mains, I was happy with the eggplant with mushrooms;
there were various other things on the table that didn't
catch my attention or fancy.

An eggless creamless flan was a little on the rubbery
side but tasty enough; the chocolate cake opposite was
said to be very decadent and delicious.

===
I'd tried to get on the historic flight out of L.A. on which
Tom Stuker was going to notch his 10000000th flown mile
(approximately over Des Moines - there's a photo out there
someplace that shows the gent posed by a sign that says
something like "you put Des Moines on the map"), but even
with contacting party central at United headquarters, it
became clear that not only was first class chockablock, I'd
have a hard time getting on the flight at all. They were
perfectly happy with me taking a detour to LAX to for that
part of the festivities, but afterward I might not get out
on the right plane or even the right day. So I stuck with
what I originally had.

UA 972 SFO ORD 1006 1619 763 9K Ch9^

Another seat that converts into a bed. But as I was in
business class, I stayed up to savor as much as I could.
A genial if tired-looking crew.

The lunch choice was "Southwest soup" and "Southwest chicken
salad," the former a rather salty though palatable tortilla
soup that I'd consider paying cash for on the ground, the
latter your usual leftover greens, dryish though brined
chicken breast with grill marks painted on, minced tomatoes,
some corn and beans, and cheese on top; I believe the
dressing offered was ranch. Wente Chardonnay isn't what it
used to be.

We came in a bunch early and taxied to a gate right near the
club, where the party was to be held. Had our preparty outside
until they opened the velvet ropes for the select few, an
assortment of Tom's friends and relations, media personnel,
a hodgepodge of super-frequent flyers, Randy Petersen
and other dignitaries, and so on. Quite a nice bar spread,
Veuve Cliquot, Stag's Leap Karia Chardonnay, and Mount
Veeder Cabernet being the stars (I drank myself silly
on the Chard).

We'd been early, and the party plane was late! by an
embarrassing hour. But finally the honoree showed up
with his family and the top brass of United in tow.
Cheers and applause.

Fancy catering: in addition to the usual cheese, crudites,
chips and dip stuff, there were very jumbo shrimp cocktail
and perfectly rare filet. Quite well executed.

Speeches. Mr. Smisek was there, as were the director and
various senior staff of Mileage Plus, assorted United
employees, and apparently the staff of the United office
in Detroit, where Tom generally shops. Tom gave one of
the speeches - one of the best and certainly the sincerest
of the lot.

He was given various tchotchkes, including his personalized
bottling of the Mount Veeder and a one of a kind titanium
Mileage Plus card, which was put on display for the
inspection and envy of all.

The greatest treat for me was watching a 747 with Tom's
name on it pull up to C18 (apparently the first 777 was
also named for him). We were gabbing away, and all of
a sudden we were instructed to direct our attention to the
adjacent window, where soon the queen of the skies made
her appearance amid oohs and ahs and finally loud applause.

There was an afterparty at the Hyatt, which I understand
was most excellent; I was too dead on my feet - very little
sleep the previous few days and very much Chardonnay - to
stay for it. All things considered, my choice of nonstop
return to the hotel seemed wise.

UA3726 ORD PHL 1045 1341 CR7 2F

I was completely conked out for the duration of this flight,
total waste of a first-class seat. The flight came in on
time if not a little early, so I had 2 hours to waste. I
went to the United Club and paid a visit to Mr. Yuengling.

US4405 PHL IPT 1530 1629 DH8 2A

This flight is one of the worst for delays and cancellations.
It cancels 18% of the time and has a 58% on-time average,
giving it a FlightStats rating of 0.0. Fooled us all, it
came in on time. (I do pick 'em - another of my regulars,
US1888, has an on-time percentage of 50, and that's only
because they block it at an hour 37 for a 280 mile flight). 


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