So there are 2 HUGE charges on my Wilmington Trust account that I didn't recognize.  Unfortunately, Ted discovered them on Saturday after they were closed so I had to wait until this afternoon (my time) to call.  So I get the representative on the line and she puts me on hold while she looks it up.  She comes back on the line and says, "Well I cannot say the name of the company.  Can I spell it for you?  It's L-u-f-t-h-a-n-s-a."

Is it really true that your average American has never heard of the German National airline?  

More vexing is that the flight arrangements for me and the kids are still not completely resolved and I am supposed to head over a week from tomorrow.

Trying not to panic...
Breathing slowly....
Serenity now, serenity now, serenity now {beating my ears with my fists}...
Wooosha....wooosha... {rubbing my ear lobes}

French workers biggest whiners

Don't worry (or complain), the US came in fourth (it was France, Britain, Sweden, then us).  I now plan to launch a multi-million dollar international study to prove that excessive pay and benefits cause workers to be unhappy.  Do you know which workers have the lowest morale?  The Japanese (according to this study) and just a notch less depressed than them are the Germans.  Apparently, they are unhappy, but they won't express their unhappiness - still it's consistent with my hypothesis.

If my hypothesis is true, it would stand to reason that dismal pay and zero benefits would make people happy.  As it turns out, the happiest are the Dutch - and they have a pretty good deal from what I understand, but guess who is second happiest - Thai workers!  

A few years back, a group of UD students picketed the GAP on Main Street to protest the horrible plight of the company's Thai workers.  Ooops!  Turns out they should have been picketing Daimler-Chrysler.

Seriously though, I have often felt that unhappiness is amplified when people have the illusion of control.  If people have control, they make changes to be happy; if people have no control, they accept what they cannot change and work around it.  When people have the illusion of control, they constantly petition, vote, argue trying to make changes only to have their efforts repeatedly thwarted.  I can tell you from personal experience that it's pretty miserable to be in this position.

If I ever decide to get my PhD in Management, I guess this would make for a nice thesis. 
(Don't tell me it's already been done.  All I have to do is add a twist, "Illusion of Control in Higher Ed", "Illusion of Control in Higher Ed Institutions in the Mid-Atlantic", "Illusion of Control in Higher Ed Institutions in Northern Delaware", you get the idea...).

Here's another study that didn't need research to discover:
$%^#!! Miami drivers have the worst road rage

Well, duh!

Wait, more revolutionary news:
Airlines rank below the IRS in new customer satisfaction index

It's not news if you have been on a plane in the last 5 or 6 years.

...she was awakened by the sweltering heat and the stench of b.o.  Did she nod off or pass out?  She wasn't sure.  She was relieved to see that she was still clutching her purse.  Only she knew that hidden in it's depths was half a granola bar.  Although he stomach grumbled, she didn't dare sneak a bite lest one of the other captives should catch a glimpse of it.  Right now, they all seemed docile and resigned to their fate, but that could all change in a flash.

As she pondered her situation, anger welled up inside her.  Nausea started to overcome her as she realized that she had paid $1200 USD for this experience.  "That's it!", she screamed to herself, "I am never flying again"...

This story based on Wall Street Journal:  Fliers Face a Brutal Summer