What's Going on in the World?

Once again today, I experienced the magic of air travel. I'm on the road quite a bit, and I still am amazed at the speed and comfort that most of us can go zipping about the country and even the world.  My first stop after departing Marinette, WI was the airport in Green Bay, WI.  Fifty miles in less than an hour.  Out on the road during the pilgrimage, that fifty miles will be almost two days or pretty tough work.

From there I took a quick forty minute hop south along the shoreline of Lake Michigan to O'Hare International Airport on the outskirts of Chicago, IL.

International Arrival Hall - O'Hare International Airport
Chicago, IL

An airport is an exciting (and expensive) milieu of a wide variety of cultures, languages, thoughts, and opinions. On one of those layovers you might have, I encourage you to get out of the gate area and take a walk just to see what there is to see. It's fantastic by any objective measure. On my stop in Chicago I heard Chinese, Russian, Spanish, German, and of course English on my ramble through the gates. I had Tex-Mex, Italian, Chinese, and American food including burgers and a good old fashioned hot dog offered to me for purchase. They were all about $8-$15, but that's not the point...the point is those things were available.  We left Chicago and crossed the southern tip of Lake Michigan again.

Leaving Chicago and the Western Shore of Lake Michigan Heading East

A friend had posted something on Facebook that I was contemplating as we made our climb out of the Windy City. She noted something along the lines of not being able to bear the weight of the bad news that was happening "out there." My thoughts turned to where I was at the time. Snugly, if not a little precariously, perched in the aluminum tube headed to twenty five thousand feet at four hundred miles an hour. I had a bag of spiced snacks, a Diet Coke, and an tolerable book. Since it was a small plane, I had both a window and an aisle seat.

First I have to acknowledge that there are horrific things happening to other human beings all the time. We should all collectively resist or more basic urges and try to knock that shit off because if we can manage that, what's going on "out there" is really very special. We, like everyone before us, are living in fantastical times. Let's face it...we're hurtling through space at thousands of miles per hour protected from the vacuum of space and searing solar radiation by about thirty miles of gas. It's mostly a nitrogen blanket, but has just the right level of oxygen and other gasses so all life on this planet thrives, competes, conflicts, and cooperates.

What a gift! What a miracle life truly is to those who take the time to turn off their horror screens and really take a moment to look.

I arrived home safely, and on the way over the Severn to grab some Chinese take-out for the roommates, an "Independence Day" style thunderstorm rolled out of the mountains, across the river, and through the Chesapeake Bay.

Ominism "Independence Day" Style Descends Over the Severn River and the United States Naval Academy

What's going on out there? I don't know, but I can't help but conclude that it's pretty spectacular. Tomorrow I'm going to tone out the concentrated horror that comes out of my television on a far too regular basis. I've got a couple of lawns to mow and some walking to do. There might even be a matinee movie in the mix later in the afternoon. I'm not sure what's going to happen, but I'm confident it will be great.

Gone Fishing

As part of my walk today, I decided to spend a couple of hours fishing. As things turned out, I spent a couple of hours mostly practicing my casting, but all in all, I'm not sure why it's taken this long to get a fishing rod back in my hand.

When I was in middle school, I spent three to five weeks with my grandparents in Oklahoma. It was a grand time. I helped grandpa farm, I worked in the thrift shop with grandma, I went to the diner for coffee with grandpa, I poked around in the garden, mowed the lawn with the riding mower (a real treat for me since all I had at home was a push mower), traded baseball cards with my cousins,  rode four wheelers, and shot fireworks on the fourth of July.  Of all those things, the activity I enjoyed most was fishing. Grandpa and I would load up the Dodge pickup and head out to the farm ponds he had access to and fish for two or three hours a day.  

We caught crappie, bass, bream, and catfish. I loved the challenge of fishing. The patience. Trying to get into the mind of the fish. We got to be pretty good at it, and cleaning a mess of bass and deep frying them on the weekend wasn't awful either.

I don't remember the last time I fished. It was a couple of years ago at least. Today after work, I had some time so I bought the Wisconsin DNR license, some inexpensive tackle from Wal-Mart, and headed down to the Menominee River to try my luck.

Fishing the Menominee - Marinette, WI

In terms of my ability to catch fish, my luck was mostly bad. It turns out that the old adage is true. A bad day fishing is better than a good day at work, and the scenery and the weather were perfect. Lest one think I left the river completely skunked, I did manage to latch onto a forty pound small mouth bass known locally as a smallie.

Forty Pound Small Mouth Bass - Marinette, WI

You may be asking yourself, "Why does this forty pound bass look so small?" I'll tell you why. Between the fishing license, the tackle, and the gas for the commute to the river I figure this little palm size fish ended up costing about forty pounds sterling (at the current exchange rate) to land on the end of my thumb.

Sunset on the Menominee - Marinette, WI

You might think that a forty pound small mouth bass is a pretty expensive fish, but I'll tell you that it was worth every penny. I'm looking forward to finding out just what tomorrow has in store for me.

There's a Reason They Call It a Trial and Not a Kegger - Round 2 (or is it 3?)

Long day at an acceptance event for a ship today.  Most of the work was put in countering rumors and innuendo, which is not really too much fun. Proof positive that there is no greater enemy of the truth than strongly held beliefs.

I am grateful that I finally got around from mucking about in the weeds and poked my head up far enough to see the elephant. It certainly happened too late, but it did get the ball rolling in the right direction.

Tomorrow is another day, and I'm optimistic that it will be a good one.

Headed Up North

Another successful use of an aluminum tube powered by kerosene fueled gas turbine engines at about 400 mph and an altitude of 30k feet. Fantastic. As predicted yesterday, it's been an adventure, and the opportunity to take a look at some new skyscapes.

Skyscape - Marinette, WI

Good travel day, and I'm looking forward to what tomorrow will bring.