Package shippers like FedEx Corp. or United Parcel Service Inc. or luggage shippers like Luggage Forward Inc. or Sports Express LLC may now be an attractive alternative. With FedEx, you can ship three bags — two 40-pounders and one 60-pound bag, from Dallas to Boston and back for about $250 if you use the three-business-day service, and the price might be a lot less if you have access to a corporate account with discounts at FedEx. Put the bags in shipping boxes or just use tags that shippers now have for luggage. Package shippers can track the bags, too — something airlines don’t do. On United, those same three bags would cost you $450 round trip if traveling alone.
So … when will the package shippers start putting “people boxes” on their planes? How bad could it be?
In the meantime, I’ll go read eMail Our Military, whose motto is, “Supporting Our Military, One eMail At A Time.”
I’m also planning to extend the deadline for the Final Salute giveaway to coincide with eMail Our Military, which will also be giving away an autographed copy of the book.
Unless you want all the folks who speak British English to spit their coffee because, umm, fanny doesn’t mean buttocks to them. It means :::whisper::: female genitalia.
Ahem.
So imagine non-American-English speakers reading this headline on the front page of The Wall Street Journal the other day.
Modest Proposal: A Vermont Town Bucks Nakedness, Skinny-Dipping Spurs An Outbreak of Nudity; The Fanny-Pack Man
A man with a fanny-pack, no less.
Fanny issues might not be discussed much in, oh, The Economist, but they are discussed elsewhere.
But, hey. I bet one of the new bosses (you know, theones from Australia?) might have an idea why using fanny in any context while trying to be serious might have the Brits laughing their arses off at the daft wanks, er, Yanks, who thought it was a good idea at the time.
I just finished reading Final Salute: A Story of Unfinished Lives by Jim Sheeler, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for his Veterans Day special report on Nov. 11, 2005, in the Rocky Mountain News.
Jim Sheeler’s Final Salute should be required reading for all Americans and their elected leaders. It is not pro- or anti-war but instead a gripping account of combat’s price on the families of the fallen. Final Salute is also the inspirational and often heartbreaking story of the incredible, heroic efforts of a Marine officer to help ease the pain of these families. Jim Sheeler should be saluted for providing a heartfelt view inside the returns home from Iraq that too often pass unrecognized by the American public.
He’s right. Everyone should read this book. Everyone.
Final Salute is journalism at its finest. Sheeler writes about military families with honesty, honor and respect. He writes about things most ordinary Americans never read about in the headlines or on the front page. His words are gentle and subtle, yet the stories are powerful.
I can’t write a review, but I can get at least three other people to read this book. So here’s the deal.
I will give away three autographed copies of Final Salute ($25.95, hardcover). Here are the rules.
1) Leave a comment or send me an e-mail.
2) Give me your name and a working e-mail address.
3) Tell me what Memorial Day means to you.
If you win a copy, here’s what I want you to do.
1) Read the book.
2) Write about it. If you don’t have a blog, I’ll give you space for a guest post.
3) Give it to someone else to read. Or keep your copy but give another one as a gift to someone else.
You have until midnight, Friday, May 30, 2008, to enter.
Update: You have a chance at another book at eMail Our Military. I’ve extended my deadline to coincide with theirs.
…
Special thanks to Dave Hurley at Borders. I couldn’t have done this without you!
Or maybe I don’t want to know. I just hope this one found its way to the other side of our screen. You know … the outside. Oh well. At least it wasn’t an alligator.
They must have known I’d run into these boys in my town.
MR SEXY
Umm … OK.
MR. MONEY
So I wonder … can Mr. Sexy get Mr. Money to pay Mr. Gas for me? Because Mr. Gas? He charged me $60 to fill up my tank yesterday. I could really use the help.
