I always check in as early as possible for just that reason. I don't pay for drinks/snacks on the plane on any airline. But I do get something to drink in the terminal since I can't bring liquids in anymore.

I bring my own food so I can afford to pay the $5 for a drink.

I haven't seen in-fight meals in a long time and I refuse to pay $5 for a bag of M&Ms or whatever 'snack' they try to sell.

Nope, not bifocals. I'm near-sighted, but not horrifically so and I see close up quite well.

I've been looking around for a new dvd player that also would let me connect to the internet to stream content. The best one I could find, for my requirements, is also 3D capable. That's a feature I will simply never use, but there is nothing out there comparable that is without 3D. It's ridiculous and wasteful.

How nice for you. I wear glasses too and the 3D glasses sit over my prescription glasses and give me a massive headache. Every single type of 3D glasses I've ever tried since having to wear prescription lenses has caused me discomfort to varying degrees.

Hah! Well punned.

and I had thought to take a cruise ship down to Mexico around then, but changed our minds after we realized how many people would be down there. We'll probably just stay home and watch end of the world movies for a week instead.

I hate writing SyFy for the channel as well. And that's unfortunate re the movie. I can enjoy a certain type of bad movie, when they have fun with it and are at least interesting.

I can't wait for the SyFy movie based on the 'true story' :)

That was my first thought. Even if he doesn't own stock/part of a firm, he may well be getting paid to promote them in some other manner.

Link to Project Gutenberg: http://www.gutenberg.org/