Date: 2009-12-30
To: When it's your time...
Miles today: 0.0

So I just get finished booking my next business trip abroad, and the rates desk emails me back confirming that the proposed fare is, indeed, the ¢lowest available¢, and I¢m thinking ¢good, that¢s done. One less thing¢¦¢ And then the next morning I pick up the Washington Post and there on the front page is the story about the Delta flight from Amsterdam to Detroit where some poor misguided terrorist-type passenger has managed to botch his attempt to blow up the plane and send another 133 innocent victims to a fiery grave. Regardless of the ¢when¢, that is definitely not the ¢how¢ that I would propose to depart this fair life. (I won¢t bore you with the details, but MY plan includes some rather strenuous and prolonged exercises involving a number of young, naked women, but that¢s another story.) In general, I¢m pretty fatalistic about life and death. I figure, when it¢s your time, it¢s your time. That¢s pretty much all there is to it. Now, don¢t misunderstand. I¢m ANYTHING but ready to go. In fact, I¢m planning on living to the ripe old age of 100+. I¢ll need that long to get done the remaining 87 items on my original ¢bucket list¢. I just mean, ya¢ can¢t spend all your time worrying about getting blown up on an airplane, or being attacked by some bear out on the AT. At the same time, however, ya don¢t have to take unnecessary chances. Like trying to sneak into North Korea or Iran to protest against their current leaders, or keeping a stash of Reese¢s Peanut Butter Cups in your tent at night. So, did I mention the destination for my next trip? Sana¢a. That would be the capital city of, um, ah, Yemen. Exactly.   That would be the original home of al-Qaida. It would also be the alleged source of the Delta airline bomber¢s underwear bomb. (Leading one punster to label him the ¢Nad Bomber¢ ¢ which I thought was pretty funny, mostly since it didn¢t work.)The good news is that my trip will only be for about 10 days, and I won¢t be leaving the Capital city. It¢s relatively safe there, since the military has banned private weapons in Sana¢a, and keeps a pretty tight lid on people entering and leaving the city. Oh, except for those rockets that someone managed to fire in the general direction of the U.S. Embassy just before my first trip out there. And, then there was that somewhat embarrassing drive-by shoot-em-up at the same Embassy just before my second trip out. Fortunately, I have no need to visit the U.S. Embassy while I¢m there, so I should be ok. I mean, the only other likely target would be the four star hotels where most of the foreigners stay. Like me¢¦ Well, let¢s look on the bright side of things, shall we? At least I won¢t likely get eaten by a bear while sleeping in my four star hotel in Sana¢a. It¢s also not very likely that I¢ll die on the AT as a result of some suicide bomber attacking one of the shelters. I mean, come on! No hiker I know would EVER carry the extra weight of the explosives needed to blow up a shelter, no matter how pissed off he may be at U.S. policy in the Middle East. That¢s just not going to happen. So, the plan is not to take any unnecessary chances during my upcoming trip to Yemen, or during my AT hike, which is now only 73 days away!