"The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter." —Mark Twain
There I was at 30,000 feet
Report Uncovers Astronauts’ Heavy Alcohol Use. Oh my. Here’s what I read between the lines of the linked article: NASA, in the wake of the Lisa Nowak incident, has been busy hunting witches in the astronaut program. Astronaut pilots, astronaut mission specialists, and astronaut flight surgeons are turning on each other. It must be a horrible […]
Okay, I cede the battle. Our ground squirrels and pack rats are smarter than the traps I set out for them. For now, they have the run of the property. For now, they scoff at me. Vermin take note: I have not ceded the war. Yesterday’s news today: our first 100-degree day; regular gas finally […]
Is it time for a bad vein update? I suppose it is. The surgeries are complete and barring new vascular problems I should be fine. All told, I had three surgeries in three months: separate endovenous laser procedures on veins in my right and left thighs, and another operation to clamp off perforated ladder veins […]
Perforated veins. Yeah, I got ’em, and I don’t want ’em. This morning my friendly neighborhood vascular surgeon performed the first of four procedures, a laser endoscopy on a large vein in my right thigh. Essentially, he zapped the vein from the inside out, and now it’s closed . . . my body will adjust […]
I have to admit I’m curious as to what actually happened on American Airlines Flight 924. Here’s what CNN said: Dave Adams, a spokesman for the Federal Air Marshal Service, said Alpizar had run up and down the plane’s aisle yelling, “I have a bomb in my bag.” But according to the same article: . […]
No, not here . . . I’m talking about Metafilter. Metafilter’s a community weblog, where members post comments on various topics, including obscure news items. Occasionally, a Metafilter entry will catch my interest and I’ll blog about it here. Like this one, which I saw this morning: NewsFilter: UFO (missle) exhaust seen by pilot Have […]
What fun! Went flying with a buddy this morning, a retired USAF lieutenant colonel with a background in B-52s and C-130s. He knows people I flew with, I know people he flew with, and, like me, he was once a headquarters flight safety chief. Running out of things to talk about was never a problem. […]
This entry was posted by my co-blogger Dick, a writer and former squadron mate: For the record, I was in the pit of Stormy’s F-15 when Paul flew his flight lead check out of Soesterberg, like in 1981 or there abouts. That mission told me all I needed to know about Skid. Yeah, he had […]