Wednesday, December 29, 2004

Hair and stuff

I can't change the world but I can change my hair color!

This is what I awoke to on Yahoo News when I turned on my computer:
. Aid arrives as tsunami death toll hits 76,700
. Bush criticizes U.N. comment on 'stingy' aid
. Companies search for staff lost in disaster
. Insurgent ambush of Iraqi police kills 29
. Wis. hunter slaying suspect pleads not guilty
. US Airways asks employees to work for free
. Pod of 20 whales beached on Australia coast
. 'Law & Order' star Jerry Orbach dies at 69
Geez, can the news get any worse.
The US Airways story struck me. The company asked its workers to volunteer this New Year's weekend to avoid what happened Christmas weekend. They've got some nerve. I hope the workers don't volunteer. I know it will be a pain in the butt for some of the passengers but imagine your company asking you to work free. I don't think I've ever heard of such a thing. Wait... I suppose I have. The Christmas weekend fiasco ultimately is not the workers' fault, even if they did call for a sickout. If a business has that much trouble with its workers, then the blame can be placed squarely on the management.
The workers have already given up so much because the airlines can't figure out how to make money. I don't get that. Perhaps they should try lowering their prices and I'm sure they'd be swamped with business. For some reason, volume doesn't work for the airline industry. They also could try to spiff up the service, which pretty much stinks. I try to fly Southwest whenever possible. That airline is one of the few if not the only one that's actually profitable. I don't know how well JetBlue is doing but they are pretty good, too.

I didn't watch Jerry Orbach on Law and Order but he was great as the dad in "Dirty Dancing." Cheesy movie but always good.

Here's a few links to some of the interesting stories of the day:
Boy reunited with dad after tsunami
Time and coconuts running out
India says it has enough aid
a personal account of surviving the tusnami