NEAR HITS?With the CNN

NEAR HITS?

With the CNN airline news today that Indianapolis-based ATA Airlines has filed for bankruptcy, it seems that evidence is definitely there that we are in an economic downturn. The article I read on the CNN site said that this airline had mostly contracted with Southwest Airlines, so it's not too surprising that I had never heard of it. However, it is certainly not a good thing when any company files for bankruptcy.

This event reminded me of when I was checking out at Fred Meyer yesterday with my groceries, and the cashier, who seems to be somewhat of a nervous person, kept talking about airplanes and all the near misses they were having. She kept saying they were not "near misses," they were "near hits." I didn't quite know what to say, so in one moment where she wasn't talking, I said I must have been lucky the last time I flew because I didn't experience anything like that. Rather than responding to what I had said (my perhaps-lame attempt to be conversational), she went back to her "near hits" theory. The thing that made me the most nervous was the way she was chattering and just running the items across the scanner without thinking about what she was doing. I guess she is experienced enough to be able to ring up the groceries rather automatically, but I would have felt better if she had focused on her work.

I shouldn't complain, though, as I think that being a cashier has to be a pretty thankless job, and I couldn't stand for hours like that and deal with an endless stream of customers and groceries. I guess some people want to talk a lot, too, and this lady likes to do so more than I do. People are interesting.

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I believe that Jeff is here, picking up sticks that have blown down before mowing the lawn. This will be the first mowing of it this year. I appreciate so much the way he takes care of my place for me.