Jody Halsted, an UpTake blogger created a mid-west conference for bloggers called I_Blog. If you live in Iowa or nearby and wish to attend the conference, there may be a few openings left.  This is her introduction to what we expect to be an intimate, entertaining and useful annual conference.– Patricia Jenkins, Editor

I_Blog is for Iowans

I_Blog came about as I was preparing for a blog conference on the east coast. As I spoke of my upcoming trip I realized that I had never run into another Iowa blogger while at a conference. So I decided to bring a conference to Iowa. While I’ll admit it is not a destination there are so many wonderful places within the state; many that lifelong Iowans have never visited. With that simple thought, coupled with building a community of Midwest bloggers, I_Blog was born.

The inaugural conference is being held at the incomparable Hotel Pattee is Perry, Iowa.  Its themed and sumptuous rooms reflect on the rich history that has made Iowa what it is today. In the basement are an antique two lane bowling alley and a small spa. David’s Milwaukee Diner, located in the hotel, is catering the event.

While I_Blog is not a big conference I do want it to be a gathering for Midwest bloggers to learn and have fun- with an emphasis on the fun. My goal is to host I_Blog in a different Iowa location every year to showcase just what our state has to offer.

See the schedule and speakers here: http://iblogconference.com/2009/10/19/i_blog-conference-schedule/

Registration is  closed but there are still a few vacancies. If you would like to attend please email jody at iblogconference.com.

Now that's a strike!

As far as strikes go, this one may be the most polite concept in history.

Flight attendants at American Airlines are planning a “nondisruptive, simulated strike” at undisclosed cities across the country on November 18. The idea is to keep working, but attach disks to their union pins that read “Got Guts” and “Got Union” to call attention to their negotiations to recover wages they lost in concessions back in 2003.

Any real strike — defined as employees walking off the job, we assume — wouldn’t happen before March 2010 as talks and cooling-off periods take place.

“This is only a symbolic demonstration to show management that flight attendants are willing and able to do whatever is necessary to get a fair contract,”  Laura Glading, president of the Association of Professional Flight Attendants, told the press. The point of these simulations? “”We think it’s going to very helpful for us. If we have a job action, it’s good to have a drill, a dress rehearsal.”

Color me confused, but how does wearing a pin prepare you to not show up for work next quarter? Nor do I grasp how flooding the counters and airline aisles with 18,000 union support pins will strike fear into the hearts of negotiators. They are well aware of how many folks are represented at American Airlines — and it’s doubtful they’re the ones strolling around the airports on November 16. Since it’s the week before Thanksgiving, when families start searching en mass for a place to stuff their luggage  in the overhead bins, the flight attendants are likely reaching an audience of Wednesday morning business travelers who rarely pay attention to anything beyond their iPhone screens. And a good portion of them aren’t necessarily sympathetic to union causes in principle.

Another common strike

Your comments and insight are definitely appreciated here, because in terms of strikes, this is an action the public could appreciate far more than hearing their flight was just canceled at the gate.

Photography: Betsy Schiffman, Jule Berlin

When Nic posted her My Bottle’s Up rant on October 16, allegedly detailing how TSA agents separated her from her child at Atlanta’s security checkpoint, the tale garnered plenty of sympathy and outrage, mainly from mothers who know what it’s like to travel alone.

Blogger Nic

The blogger’s story contained plenty of drama, from a crying toddler saying ‘No, no, no,” as he disappeared from sight to a woman blacking out from emotion in the bathroom. She claims to have called her husband and mother, begging them to help her because “they took Jackson.”

It’s a social media nightmare for anyone involved in the travel industry today, as bouncing prices, additional fees and last-minute changes have prepped the public to believe any horror story that comes down the pike. But what social media taketh, it also giveth back.

By Friday evening, the TSA got the last word at its blog, using less than a fourth of the space Ms. Nic took up for her side of the dust-up. It merely put up a video of the events showing that many of her claims were exaggerations, including the fact that no one carried off a young child. The Twitter-sphere was next in line, regugitating the blogger’s cyber comments after boarding the flight:

” dunno if i’m going blog about it… may pitch it to publications and go waaaay out with it. i dunno yet. “

” eh, i can put it on my blog, but get paid if someone picks up my story… MWUAHAHAHA…. pay me for my insanity!!!! ”

” i’m not posting sh*t. i’m writing a piece to be published much more widespread than my blog that get 6 hits ”

” full story can’t be posted on my blog…. publishers want it. “

“needless to say, today has been hell… but TSA will be ripped a new asshole thanks to freelance writing.”

Tylenol would have killed for this kind of defensive weapon during the tampering scare several decades ago.

Jason Chaffetz

But lest the TSA gets a swelled head, the surveillance video it released of Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) traipsing through security at Salt Lake City International Airport proves the politician’s assertion that he did not choose a whole-body-image scanner after voting against that measure in the U.S. House of Representatives. Nor did he throw his business card at TSA officials on the scene as some had suggested.

“It corroborates exactly what I’ve been saying,” Chaffetz told the Salt Lake Tribune. “It dispels the erroneous myth perpetuated by the union.” Not to mention the erroneous myths perpetuated by life in general.

Photography: My Bottle’s Up, Jason Chaffetz

This year has been in the crapper for the airlines.

Every few months, the hot story making its way around the blogs and online news media commentary tends to be about that closet bathroom in the back of airplanes. In February, the uproar centered on Ryanair’s announcement it was thinking about charging passengers to use its loos. By June Ryanair had installed the credit card readers at its bathroom doors, and at the end of July, CEO Michael O’Leary remained high about this new low.

The center of attention

He told the New York times the end game is to cut down on those who use the bathroom for entertainment, and eventually cut back to just one toilet per plane.

In August, that unfortunate Continental/Express Jet flight was stuck on the tarmac overnight in Rochester, Minnesota, and horror stories of that broken, smelly bathroom led most of the descriptions. Today, lobbying efforts for a passenger rights bill have been stepped up on Capitol Hill, no doubt causing politicians to bemoan the lack of deodorizers at the least.

But just when you thought the topic of bathrooms was finally circling the bowl, Japan breaks out the press releases on All Nippon Airways. It seems the country’s airline is asking passengers to go before they go. The idea is that a planeful of empty bladders collectively weighs less, thus using less fuel and producing a smaller carbon footprint. We’re talking 4.2 tons less per month from one airline alone.

During the October experimental stage, ANA’s request is simply that —  a polite reminder. In fact, as CNN reported, they don’t even need a potty mouth in their announcement to use the lavatory at the gate before you board: “This flight is a so-called ‘eFlight.’ The idea behind the operation is to think about the Earth in the sky above. Fuel reduction by lightening the weight of the aircraft will lead to restrain the carbon dioxide emission, which is one of the causes of global warming. Thank you for your understanding.”

Time to go?

But as one Internet poster pointed out, “What’s the next step? Taking a sh*t as well as a p*ss? Not sure how much a turd weighs in comparison to liquid.” An educated guess says this comment came from a Westerner.

Other notable toilet mentions in the sky:

• Virgin Airlines now requires guide animals in the cabin to bring along absorbent pads, prompting this announcement: “It has always been the policy of the Guide Horse Foundation never to allow a Guide Horse to relieve themselves aboard a commercial airliner.” Just in case you were wondering.

• Not to be outdone, American Airlines opened a Pet Relief Park at JFK Airport in New York this summer, a 30- by 50-foot grassy enclosure, complete with a fire hydrant to put dogs in the mood.

And just think, we have two months left of 2009. That’s still plenty of time to write the next big bathroom headline.

Photography: chadmagiera (Flickr) specialkrb (Flickr)