Sunday Bag o’ Antipasto

The second meeting of our cooking club is tonight. This time we’re preparing Italian recipes from Mario Batali cookbooks. Donna and I drew the appetizer course, so we’re making a simple antipasto tray with meats, olives, peppers, and cheeses. The host for tonight’s dinner is in charge of the main course; other members are bringing salads, […]

Air-Minded: Moving Day at the Museum

During most of the years I flew fighters and trainers for the USAF, I never paid much thought to the disposition of aircraft on the ramp. We parked them when we were through with them; if maintenance needed to move them around on the ground afterward that was their problem. I was of course aware of […]

Air-Minded: PASM Photoblog II

In lieu of solving the nation’s problems and revealing brilliant new insights on life, I’ll share a few photos I took today while wandering around the outdoor exhibits at the Pima Air & Space Museum in Tucson, Arizona, where I work as a volunteer docent. I’d heard the restoration team would be moving several aircraft […]

What’s Wrong with the VA?

I worked for the VA from December 2005 to October 2008. During those years there was supposedly a push on to transition from paper to electronic records, but I never saw any evidence of it. Shortly before I left, I asked the guys in patient records how the transition was going. Their reaction? It was the old “You Want It When?” cartoon come to life. After they quit laughing, they told me it would never happen and not to worry my pretty little head about it.

Air-Minded: PASM Photoblog I

It’s time I posted more photos from the Pima Air & Space Museum in Tucson, Arizona. As a volunteer tour guide, I’m sometimes able to visit parts of the museum visitors don’t get to see. There’s always something interesting hidden away. These two Japanese Kamikaze planes, for example. Until recently only the fuselages have been visible, […]

Air-Minded: a Shooting Star Photoblog

The American military’s T-Birds are all long retired, but many countries around the world still fly them. They may not be glamorous or fast, but they played an important role in the early jet age, and I write this post in tribute.