Delta and Northwest (NWA) announced today that it will be merging with Northwest Airlines. Delta, currently the third largest airline in the country, will become the world’s largest airline when it merges with NWA, who is currently the 5th largest. Many are worried that this will result in higher prices because there will be less competition. This notion is hightened by an anticipated merger between Continental and United Airlines. It is believed that in just a few years, there will be only three major airlines left. We’ve already said goodbye to SkyBus, ATA, and Aloha Airlines, and Frontier filed for bankruptcy protection last week as it attempts to fix its financial woes.

Hey! I just found a really cool social community network where I can hear the latest mp3 hits. The best thing is that it is free to join. There are message boards where I have found some old blogging buddies. You need to get over there and join 3gb community www.3gb.biz so I can get together with you. You can exchange photo albums in there too. It is going to be fun if more of my friends get in there. See ya!

I just got this from the Wall Street Journal:

Frontier Airlines said it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection following moves by a credit-card processor to increase a holdback of customer receipts. The airline said it will continue to operate its full flight schedule and pay employees and suppliers throughout its reorganization.

Their bankruptcy follows ATA and Aloha Airgroup. If this continues, will we be able to fly anywhere? Boeing needs to hurry up and come out with their 787 Dreamliner, which is more fuel efficient. It’s a hybrid, if you will. I’m sure it costs more up-front, but the fuel savings will probably be worth it in no time.

I forgot to mention that I was really glad that David Archuleta sang “Angels,” which is one of my favorite songs. I first heard the song when an acapella group at Butler sang it, and I just fell in love with the song. It was originally sung by Robbie Williams in the United Kingdom. I guess it was really big over there, but it never became popular over here. That’s too bad. Here’s a video of David Archuleta singing his rendition.

I watched American Idol this week. I haven’t been watching it very regularly, but I caught all of the performances this week. If you TiVo’d the results and haven’t watched them yet, stop reading now or you will be spoiled. I can’t believe that Michael Johns got kicked off! I really liked his performance. If you didn’t get the chance to catch it, here it is.

I have been keeping an eye on airline ticket prices lately. I’m flying to San Diego in November for the National Communication Association’s national convention. I’ve submitted papers to be on five panels, and I’m fairly confident that three of them will be accepted, so I’m going to have to find transportation out there. The tickets are not going to be cheap. I was thinking about getting a ticket through SkyBus because they always have cheap tickets, but I guess I won’t be going with that option. They closed up shop! I guess they’re bankrupt and are calling it quits. It’s such a hard time for the airline industry, with fuel costs rising. They also have to pay more money for security since 9/11, and so many of them are really struggling. I know ATA is having problems, which is worrying a lot of people in Indianapolis.

I do not know about you, but I am really bad about writing thank you cards. I do appreciate the things people do for me, but I have a hard time thinking of much to say in Thank you Cards. It always seems like you have a big giant space in which to write, and if I don’t write enough, it doesn’t look like I’ve put a lot of time into it. I like this card:

I know it’s really a business thank-you card, but it really doesn’t have to be. You can have them print a little saying inside the card, so it’s not just completely blank, which is nice. I really like this one because it has script font, as well as block font. It’s classy and fun, which I think fits what I want in a thank-you card. Taryn and I have our wedding coming up, and we’ll definitely be sending out a lot of thank-you cards. These might not be the best option for our wedding, but the website has a lot of other options, too. They have all sorts of colors and fonts, and they can add your logo or other artwork to the cards.

It is funny how energetic everyone is on campus when the sun shines. I think they are in better moods too. That might have to do with the end of the school year approaching quickly. I visited Taryn this weekend and we went to Spring Sing at Butler. I doesn’t seem that long ago that Taryn and I were both involved in Spring Sing. We spent a lot of time practicing and had so much fun.

This year it was exciting because Sigma Nu won for the second year in a row! Their show was awesome. They started off singing Handel’s “Messiah,” which sounded great. There was only one other group who I thought was close to them.