For those of you who exist in the clarified, rarified world of upper-
echelon corporate life, or hang out with pilots all day, it's hard to
remember the wide range of human behaviors that exist. I, too, once
existed there, and clearly remember walking the halls of the Fortune
500 company, finding it easy to believe that the whole world was
populated by intelligent, hard-driving "doers".

When you run a hotel, however, you see the entire panoply of the human
experience, often in the same day. Over time you realize that the
world is split unevenly between "doers" and "takers", and it's
sometimes hard to tell which side is winning. After a day like
yesterday it's hard to even believe that we've lumped so many
different creatures under the one title "homo sapiens".

On Saturday we:

- Hosted a gathering of Swearingen SX-300 pilots in our Jack Knight
Meeting Room. These top-notch pilots held a seminar on formation
flying, and then spent the day thrilling the city with formation over-
flights. They're doing it again as I'm typing this. (If you're not
familiar with the SX-300, I suggest doing a web search. It is about
the coolest single engine plane out there.)

- Dealt with a couple of Wayne's World look-alikes, who -- at 11 AM --
staggered into the lobby so stoned they couldn't feel their feet,
looking for a suite. Mary took one look at them, loudly pronounced
what she was smelling in their presence, and told them to hit the
bricks....

- Took a call from a former guest who -- a week ago -- claimed to have
tripped and fell entering the Mustang Suite. She has supposedly gone
to a chiropractor three times, and is threatening to sue us if we
don't compensate her in some way.

All of this happened between 11 AM and 1 PM. Call it "The Good, The
Bad, and The Ugly".

Next time you're sitting at your big desk in your corner office,
gazing over the city whilst sipping your third latte of the day and
sweating your stock options, try to remember that the real world is
just beyond the smoked glass...

;-)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"