Sunday

First of all, best wishes to all the Mother's out there.  Hope you have a great day!

This is coming to you from another airport gate area, this one the Phoenix-Mesa Gateway airport used by Allegiant Airlines.  I walked in an hour ago and this area was totally empty.  Now, it is crammed full with people, many of whom had to de-board a flight to Oakland.  Hmm.  I hope that that is not a harbinger of my scheduled departure to MLI.  I was able to locate a chair next to one of the very few outlets in the room, and have had to put up with a Seth Rogan-ish college boy for the last 45 minutes as he charges his phone and talks with his girl friend(?).  Not a pleasant experience.

(Relatedly, modern communication devices, cell phones, iPads, etc., should come with a users manual on ettiquette.  A couple next to me is having a family Skype on their iPad with the rest of the family back in Iowa.  #annoyingtothemax.)

I've got to say that Allegiant is the Wal-Mart of airlines.  Then again, when you are the low-cost carrier, you get the Wal-Mart crowd.  My advice is to shop early and get your tickets on the regularly scheduled airlines.

This airport arrangement is one of the most curious ones that I have experienced in recent years.  The set-up is odd, and doesn't flow evenly.  You actually have to switch buildings between ticketing and securty.  The rental car return protocol doesn't exist.  No receiving personnel in the return lot.  No specific counter space for returning renters.  And the de-planing equipment is a non-mechanized, wheeled ramp with a switch-back that allows you to walk to the tarmac.  All of this is reflective of a low-cost culture.

A minor reference to yesterday's entry: I did have to search a bit for my rental car when I got back to Sky Harbor last night.  I searched on the right level, but started at the wrong end and the wrong side of the main ramp for the Southwest terminal.  And I was just plain lucky to find the parking ticket.  I had no recollection of putting it in a special place for my exit trip.  I was smart enough to look for the ticket before I left my stall, and finally found it at the bottom of my computer case.  Cost for the day in the PHX ramp?  $25.  Actually, that works out to an hourly rate measurably higher than the daily charge at the ramp in the C-town Loop last month.

Much of the space in the local sports pages of The Arizona Republic this weekend has been devoted to hockey.  There's something a little incongruous about hockey being the topic in a locale with current temperatures topping 100 degrees.  Obviously, there are lots of transplants down here, but it still doesn't compute for me.

Again, best wishes to the Mom's in the Peanut Gallery.

More here or on Twitter once I get back to the QCA.

BCOT