M Is for Monday, Medicare, and Memories (Why I Didn’t Write a 9/11 Post)

Oh lord, is it that time already?  First the AARP membership, then the Social Security, now Medicare.  My 65th birthday is rapidly approaching, and with it the transition from Tricare (the military’s medical insurance plan for retirees) to Medicare.  Last month I applied for a Medicare card from the Social Security office.  Today I drove […]

Air-Minded: the Wright Way

When I lead visitors on walking tours at the Pima Air & Space Museum, we start underneath a replica of the 1903 Wright Flyer.  I think about Orville and Wilbur often.  They showed us the way, and the F-15 Eagle I flew in the US Air Force used the same three-axis controls the Wrights developed […]

Thursday Is a Venting Day!

Pardon the mess.  My head just exploded. Never mind his hurt fee-fees over the mean things Obama said, and the strong possibility he’s only saying this to hurt Rick Perry’s chances … this is Karl Rove himself saying it’s offensive to describe America as a Christian nation. Yes! For years now the Christian right, specifically […]

Air-Minded: Amphibian Edition

Pima Air & Space Museum is determined to keep me on my toes.  PASM is closing the normal entrance area for a month, and guests will now be entering the main hangar from the gift shop.  Before, my walking tour started underneath the replica of the Wright Flyer.  Now it’ll start smack in the middle […]

You Can’t Read That!

I started reading a thick paperback yesterday around noon … it looked to be a 400- to 500-pager … but it turned out to be written in blank verse, with just a few words per page.  Including breaks for errands, dinner, and the Rachel Maddow Show, I was done by seven.  The book was Crank […]

Air-Minded: Goin’ Commando

Tomorrow morning I’ll guide another walking tour group through the Pima Air & Space Museum. It’ll be a red-letter day: the docent team leader and volunteer supervisor will evaluate my skills; if I do well I’ll become the museum’s newest certified walking tour docent. As you might imagine, boning up is the order of the […]

Light Saturday Posting

In Pima Air & Space Museum news, I’m ready to certify as a walking tour docent, but no one’s available to bless me until the 15th.  Knowing me, given two weeks to prepare I’ll cram so hard I’ll blow my certification tour by mixing up facts & figures for different airplanes or going off on […]