OK, so I’ve been out of town (again) this week and just catching up on things at home. It’s a cold Friday morning here in our nations’ capitol. The yard is covered with leaves, meaning at some point I’m going to need to do serious yard work. I think it’s it’s time for a little morning pick-me-up.
Back in 1970 I had just landed my first job as a newspaper delivery boy for the New York Daily News. It was a big deal for me, getting a job at the ripe age of 13, as it meant I had money in my pocket. On a good week when I finished collecting and paid my manager his cut I might actually have as much as $15 profit for delivering 60-80 newspapers each morning, seven days a week.
The first thing I used my new-found wealth for was to invest in a radio cassette tape recorder. I wanted to listen to music and be able to record it. With the wonders of then-new solid-state electronics, all kinds of gadgets were becoming available. So I found a sale on a quirky portable AM/FM/Cassette recorder that was within my budget, and with Mom’s help driving me to the store I became a proud new owner.
I’ve been traveling for business on an average of one week per month for the past six years. Include personal travel, and this means a lot of time spent in airports. With airports come the TSA security checks and all the related security theater that comes with the TSA. I have never said or written anything nice about the TSA in the years I have been dealing with them; until now.
This is a story about a car breakdown, a “Big Box” retail store, and customer service.
Several weeks ago I had to make a weekend trip to mom’s house in the Hudson Valley area of upstate New York. I left on a Friday morning driving my venerable 2004 Rodeo, and arrived late afternoon. I spent Saturday performing the odd jobs which was the reason for my trip. I left for home 6:30 Sunday morning, and this is where my story starts.
I’ve written extensively about the life-changing event that was Hurricane Katrina. However, I haven’t written about another hurricane which had almost as much of an impact. That would be Ivan, which made landfall on the US Gulf Coast early on the morning of September 16, 2004, one year prior to Katrina. Although my home and the community of Gautier, Mississippi, was not directly impacted Ivan had deeply personal consequences.
As the tenth anniversary of Hurricane Ivan’s landfall approaches I’ve decided it’s time to share my story.
I was up at Mom’s house in the Hudson Valley region of New York this past weekend, and had a chance to spend a few hours kayaking. I chose to paddle the Bashakill (from the Middle Dutch kille, meaning “riverbed” or “water channel), and it turned out to be a great choice!
My brother Howard and his wife Pam dropped by for a visit this past weekend. It was a particularly special event as they live on the left coast, in the Great State of California, city of Los Angeles. As best as we can figure, it’s been five years since they were last here, although I’ve visited them several times when I was on trips to Los Angeles.
So after 18 years, 4,410,036 words printed across 10,173 pages in 14 books, the end is here. Trollocs and Darkhounds and Channelers; Myrddraals and Draghkars and Gholams; Darkfriends and to’rakens and more! All finished, the good guys won, and the survivors get to start the fourth age of man.
I am talking of course about Robert Jordan’s “The Wheel of Time” epic, a Fantasy/SciFi epic which I started reading in 1996 and finished this past Friday night.
I am sad to post that another family idol passed last week. Our Aunt Therese (fondly known as “Aunt Terry” to those of us in the family who are French-language challenged) was found dead in her apartment last Tuesday morning, July 8.
Prince William County Volunteer Fire and Rescue Breaking Bad
I had an unpleasant experience last week with a member of the Prince William County Fire and Rescue crew. While I think it might turn out all right, the experience has left me deeply unsettled. On top of several unpleasant experiences Winnie and I have had with county police and public officials these past years, I now have to wonder about firefighters and paramedic personnel.
Prince William County depends upon volunteer firefighter’s for most of the county’s emergency needs. There are twelve departments across the county managed by the Prince William County Fire and Rescue Association. Last week I was put into the position of writing a letter of complaint over the actions of one of their members.
Opinions & Commentary
Firefighter OWL Woodbridge