Say What?

It seems all of my blogging time has been devoted to our basement blog. That's about to change though as the basement project is finished and so is the blog. I told Dan I'd leave it up because I'm not at all pressed for webspace and if he wanted to he could send prospective clients there to watch one of his projects come together. I really pray he's able to continue to find projects to do and that he's able to carve out a nice living for him and his family. He's such a nice guy and so deserving of all the good which may come his way. I find myself feeling guilty at times when I look at how blessed I and my family are and I contrast that with what I see happening in Asia with the Tsunami and the tens of thousands of lives ended and ruined. There is so much death and destruction there. It's hard to comprehend from our comfortable homes as we watch and read about their horror. I pray that God comforts them and gives them the strength and determination they

I got my medical back at 1:20 this afternoon. The whole area gave me a round of applause when they told me I had my medical back. I'm very thankful to God for this happening. I'm a bit rusty in the sector but I'm hoping that after a few days I'm back to my old level of proficiency again. Tammy will be happy to hear the news. I spoke with my union rep, Rob, about the approach we'll take when and if the headaches return. We'd like to keep from having to go through the regional flight surgeon and having my medical pulled on that level. We're hoping we can manage the issue within our facility in the future. My uncle, Elvin, died yesterday morning at the age of 87. He left behind a trail of broken lives from the sexual abuse he visited upon so many young girls. He was always my favorite uncle before we discovered his problem. Of all the adults in my life while I was growing up I'd consider him to be the least threatening. How ironic. Fortunately for me, his

I've been posting daily to our basement blog so this one sort of gets forgotten about. I lost my medical certificate at work over two weeks ago after I came forward and told them of my Cluster headache condition. I'm awaiting approval from our regional flight surgeon to give me the okay and to reinstate my medical. It should have already happened. I'm hoping this next week sees me returning to life as normal. I'm not holding my breath.

I got a phone call at 8:45 this morning to inform me that my medical certificate was being pulled pending a review of my condition. I was expecting that to happen but maybe not so quickly. It's a bit odd going back into the control room and having to explain to those I work with that I can't plug in and work traffic with them. Everyone is very respectful of my privacy but I know they're curious as to why I've lost my medical. I've gone into some detail with a few and expect the word will filter down to the rest. I came into work tonight on the mid-shift. There isn't much for me to do so I put up some new nav charts which go into effect tonight. I had to laugh...as I'm putting up the charts, John is coughing so bad he can barely get his composure to give clearances to the planes on freq. And I'm the one who isn't fit to work traffic? I came home from work and finished putting up Christmas lights outside. They look nice. As I was working on them la

I had my meeting yesterday afternoon and it went about how I thought it might. Garry couldn't say much but did say that decisions would be made outside of our facility and it is most likely out of his hands. No doubt he will have some input but just how much I have no way of knowing. He did mention that I will most likely lose my medical and will be assigned other duties until I get it back. I'm relieved but I'm still concerned about my future. The tension between management and workers is at an all-time high for the nearly 23 years I've been doing my job.

Tomorrow is an important day for me and my family. It's the day I disclose at work my headache condition and leave myself totally exposed for whatever repercussions management may have for me. I'd first mentioned the headaches on my physical in the mid-'80s. They asked for specifics and I told them whatever I felt would help them to understand the headaches and how I coped with them. There wasn't any medication then that I was aware of (none of my doctors thought to prescribe prednisone for me). It's probably more the use of medication the past several cycles and my failure to disclose that than the failure to mention the headaches on subsequent physicals which will cause me problems. I met with my union president this afternoon and we discussed a bit about how we'll approach Garry with this news tomorrow. Garry is the number 2 man at our facility and we've known each other for nearly 20 years. I'm somewhat confident Garry will go to bat for me but I'

I'm afraid yesterday may have been our last warm day of the year. The temp got up into the upper 60s. I started doing some yard work and then I figured that was pretty stupid with my bike begging me to ride. I had a good ride. The wind was pretty stiff out of the west so I headed out 169 south toward Shakopee. I crossed the Minnesota River a couple miles north of where I usually do on the bike path in Bloomington. I picked up Old Shakopee Rd and followed that to where it turns into Homeward Hills Rd. There's a nice hill which was registering 7-8% and had my heart rate pegged for a time. There was a car behind me not wanting to pass and I was trying to keep the speed up. It felt so good to be working so hard and feeling fine. The feeling you get when your heart is beating so hard must be an addictive thing. I have to have it and I get anxious if I haven't experienced it in a while. That's usually not a problem for me. I picked up Flying Cloud Dr and followed that past th

I got on the road this morning at 8:30 and headed into Minneapolis to stop at a lighting store which I didn't know if it even existed anymore. I came up Lyndale and turned right on Lake Street but didn't find it. I circled back and headed west toward the other side of Lyndale. Sure enough, there it was just before Colfax—Moen Electric, just as I remembered it the last time I was there about 8 years ago. I needed to buy a canopy and some fixture parts for the lamp we're making which will go above the pool table in our basement. I got there at 9:00 but they didn't open till 10:00 so I took a drive and headed toward where Noy and I used to live together 22 years ago. It was a little sad to see the house again as it hasn't been kept up well. The wood trim needs paint and it looked like the front porch was sagging and in need of maintenance. I got out and stood at the fence looking into the back yard and shot a photo looking toward the back of the house and the garag

Tammy got us four tickets to see President Bush last Saturday at the Target Center. We began our day early as we headed out at 9:00am...trust me, that's early on a Saturday for us. We caught the light rail at the VA center and took it into Minneapolis where it dropped us off within a block of the Target Center. The train tickets were reasonable at $3 each for a round trip. I'm not sure I like the way it works though; it's on the honor system and there is absolutely nobody to check and see if you paid. By December the light rail will run all the way to the Mall of America and what's to stop anyone from jumping on the train and not paying. Maybe this would have worked 30 years ago in a different town but not today the way it's set up. We got to the Target Center around 10:00am. Large crowds don't do much for me but I was enthused to see such a large turnout so early in the morning. The lines were over 3 blocks long outside. Theresa (Tammy's sister) noticed

I’m appalled at the beheadings occurring in Iraq but I have to wonder; are we as a society really any better than the terrorists who would do such a barbaric thing to another person? Is a partial-birth abortion any less gruesome than you average everyday run of the mill beheading? It’s not. But hey, we need to get Bush out of office because he wants to make it illegal to do such a thing and for those who lean left I suppose that’s a bad thing. I hope I’m able to one day enter the Left’s stream of consciousness so I too can be enlightened and join in the fun and be able to say that I’m helping make the world a better place. Maybe in another life.

Here’s a hypothetical I wrote as I ponder the situation America finds itself in today. Feedback is welcome. You’ve been elevated to the highest office in the world and for whatever crazy reason it dawns on you that the world is sort of dependent upon oil for its very survival. You’ve seen the bumper stickers, ‘no blood for oil’ but you never really gave it much thought—I mean, it sounds good, doesn’t it? So you start to wonder—okay, let’s say that all the oil-producing countries are overthrown by some radical Islamic sects and they collectively decide they don’t need our money any longer and they turn off the spigot. What do you do? It’s not our oil after all and we really have no right to take it from them. You try to imagine an America without oil to fuel the cars which take people to their jobs. For a moment you imagine an America without jobs. You picture deserted highways void of the never-ending whine of 18-wheelers as they transport goods from manufacturers to consumers. Wow,

We're finally doing it...we're finishing our basement. We'll take this baron, cinder block lined enclave and turn it into a warm and cozy family place. I say warm because part of the plan is to build a sauna where we can melt away the cares of the world. I'd love to be able to do the work ourselves but I'm no pretender when it comes to matters such as this and I think it's best left to the pros. Keith will be doing the cabinets and bar for us while his friends, Dan and John, will do the rest of the work. Dan is a former Northwest Airlines mechanic who began his remodeling business after being laid off several years ago. John is also a laid off airplane mechanic and together they come highly recommended from Keith. We had a garage sale a few weeks ago and were able to part with all sorts of stuff we'd been storing in the basement. It actually looks pretty nice down there now without any clutter. Today was day one of the project. They mapped out some r

I worked the all-night shift last night. I took over the sector at 3:20am just in time to vector John Kerry's Lear jet (N93LE) into Sioux City, IA. He was coming in from Glendale, AZ, having just finished the last debate with President Bush. I didn't get to see the whole debate but what I did see seemed to be a repeat of the first 2 debates. It's anybody's guess as to who will win the election. I'm tired of the divisiveness but I don't blame the president for that. I think the left has been relentless in their attacks and have done nothing to further unity. I could go into a long list of what I'm bothered by but I don't have the stamina for that tonight. Tammy bought the DVD, Fahrenhype 9/11 at BestBuy a couple nights ago. It debunks Michael Moore's claims against the Bush administration. Check it out if you're at all interested in hearing the other side.

We've had a string of nice warm days but it appears they're coming to an end. I got out on my bike today and had a very good ride. There was little to no wind and I made tracks to Northfield getting down there with an average speed of just over 20mph. I headed for home and found a good rhythm until I flatted with 10 miles to go. Just as I pulled over, Keith came up behind me in his truck and stopped to see if I needed any help. We chatted while I got my tire fixed. I found my rhythm once again and pressed for homecoming in at 20.24mph over 50 miles. I spent a good part of yesterday trying to decide if I'd made the right decision in buying a TV from BestBuy. I had a coupon which saved me 12% off the price of a 50" Sony but then a couple days later I began thinking that maybe we'd be better off with a 55 or 60" set. I went back to BestBuy on Monday night and changed our order from a Sony to a 60" Panasonic. Then yesterday I searched the net and found a bu

I took today off work to go out for what may be my last long ride of the season. The temp got into the upper 70s today and for this late in October that's pretty nice. Actually, the next few days are supposed to be well above normal. I got up early and couldn't go back to sleep I decided to get a jump on my ride and made it out the door by 8:00. It was a bit cool at 52 but I rode hard for the first 30 minutes and I was comfortable. I headed out County rd 46 and rode that west then took Hwy 5 north to Hwy 13. The traffic was pretty busy along 13 but I always get a rush from it. It also helps to have some good tunes to motivate you. I remember having the New Radicals pushing me along as I caught drafts from the passing traffic. Cruising past Valley Fair now and thinking about all the fun times we had there this summer. I remember a few years ago when I couldn't pay Rachel to ride the Corkscrew. She was maybe 10 at the time and still a bit afraid of most of the larger rides

As of yesterday, my obligations to Noy are finished. I paid her off early so we could get our home loan processed. They couldn't give us a home equity loan as long as Noy still had a lean against the home. It was a bit of a hassle getting her to make it to her attorney's office to sign the Quit Claim but she finally did that for us yesterday. It's sort of odd but for the first time in over 20 years, I have no obligations to her. I know for certain that she would like to talk occasionally to see how I'm doing and what is new with my mom and siblings and I'd like to stay up with what's happening in Joe and David's life but I don't think that will happen. We need to go our own ways now and if fate has it we will meet again someday. If Dave or Joe ever do make it back into town I hope they would give me a call and we could meet for lunch but I don't even see that happening. I don't think Joe and Dave are very interested in having much to do with me

We saw Jars of Clay at Grace Church in Eden Prairie tonight. What a good show they put on. Rachel has really developed a taste for Christian rock in the past few months. I know she can't wait for The Elms to come back through town so we can go see them again. Here's a song they played tonight called, Show You Love . It's a song about stepping outside your comfort zone and reaching out to those in need around the world and giving of our overflowing abundance. Speaking of abundance...Tammy and I went to a few homes on the Parade of Homes list to get some ideas for our basement. Some of the homes were in the million-dollar price range. It was interesting to see what you get for that price. We found a townhome we both liked very much and could probably very easily be talked into something like it after we retire. I made my last payment to Noy yesterday. I dropped off all my canceled checks from the previous year's payments at her attorney's office so he could revie

I can't begin to say how much I love my daughter. She is such a good person and her heart is in the right place. Tammy has helped to give her a very good foundation upon which to build her life...oh, I suppose I have helped some too. I'm worried though that she seems to be drifting apart from her father the past few months. When he has her for the weekend he seldom engages her and when he does it's usually in a critical way. I dunno, I think maybe he's a bit insecure and becoming more so as Rachel grows and matures. I think his heavy-handedness is some sort of control that he feels he needs to maintain. Last week, Rachel put a tattoo on her arm of Jesus' name in the shape of a fish. She had it there several days and proudly displayed her devotion to Christ. She mentioned to me that she filled out a questionnaire in choir class and one of the questions had to do with what are you passionate about. She wrote down Jesus Christ. Wow...I'm so impressed at her ope

Do you ever wonder how your world would change if you lost your job? How would you react? Would you be bitter or would you strive to be better? Would you be angry at God or would you feel that everything happens for a reason and continue moving forward not knowing how you're going to manage in the weeks and months ahead. Would you crawl into a shell and withdraw from those who love and care about you? I think I'd first do a lot of thinking about what is really important to me and begin to understand that possessions take much more of a secondary role than we realize. Houses, cars, furniture, and other material trappings can be sold or they can hold you back. I've been doing some thinking along these lines lately because I'm at a bit of a crossroads at work. In a worst-case scenario, I could be without the job I've had for over 22 years. I pray that I'll be able to work through all of this and come to a realistic agreement with management about how to proceed

I don't know why but I'm feeling out of sorts tonight. I think I'm preoccupied about some issues at work. I have no idea how this is going to play out and it has me worried. I went for a long ride Thursday after I woke up. I was hoping to sort through some things and I think I did that but it still leaves a lot of questions unanswered and that is the source of my anxiety. Thursday was a hot day with the temp well into the 80s. It's been so cool the entire month of August so I really wanted to be in the hot sun. I rode out Cedar ave into a southwest wind gusting to 25 mph. I zigged and zagged until I got to Hwy 2 and took that west through New Market I continued on Hwy 2 struggling to maintain a good speed with the wind making the ride difficult. It had been years since I'd taken Hwy 2 this far and I really wasn't sure what to expect. I went through the town of Union Hill and remembered how I used to come through this area on my trips back from Huron with Noy 2

My brother-in-law, Jerry , lost his job a few months ago. It was a job he began in 1970 with Northwestern Bell as a cable splicer. It morphed over time and he spent the last few years in a supervisory position with Qwest. Qwest has been struggling for years but I don't think Jerry was overly worried about losing his job. He was always so busy with not nearly enough time in the day to do all that was expected of him. Nonetheless, he was terminated and given one year severance pay. I suppose some would say that's great but Jerry would much rather have put in another 7 years and taken his full retirement. They still have 2 kids, Kelsey and Cole , at home. Jerry didn't sit idle very long. He decided to take the leap and begin his own company wiring new construction homes. Jackie, who has always been a stay-at-home mom has also stepped out of her comfort zone and taken a job at Cub Foods as a cashier. Sometimes when I'm talking with Jackie I find it hard to know what to

I've been listening to a relatively new band from Canada named, Starfield. This song is excellent. Ordinary Life Take me and invade me Make me someone new Wake me from the dead And break me with the truth Move me and disturb me Interrupt my peace Tear open my heart And pull me to my knees There's a world outside That is burning While I'm turning blinded eyes While I stand by I won't survive To live this ordinary life I'm not alive To live this ordinary life And I will try To see this world I live in With Your eyes To love this world You've given With my life To see this world I live in With Your eyes To love this world You've given With my life

I knew Tammy had been working on a photo album of my bicycle ride to Babbitt in July but I had no idea how nice it would be. She gave it to me yesterday as a birthday gift. I think it's probably the nicest gift anyone has ever given me. She put so much time and thought into it. I had tears in my eyes as I was looking through it at the thought of her doing this for me. She used my blog entry of my ride to narrate the journey and included some photos I hadn't seen before. The little doo-dads and phrases she added to the pages gives it a very nice and thoughtful touch. I've got the best wife anyone could wish for—oh, and the best daughter, too. I love you guys so very, very much.

Happy birthday to me! Wow...where is my life going so quickly. I turned 47 today but I still think my outlook on life is about 20 years younger. I went out for a 100-mile bike ride then came home and cooked some steaks on the grill with Tammy, Rachel, and Mom. I'd invited Tim over but he couldn't make it. I'm sitting here with a glass of wine as my day unwinds. Oh, I also reached a milestone today when I went over 6000 miles on my bike for the year. I'm thinking that 8000 miles isn't out of the question before the snow flies—we'll see. Usually, I'm glad to have 4000 miles in by my birthday so I'm running quite a bit ahead of my regular pace. We had an interesting event happen last Thursday over the Minneapolis area. Tim called me to see if I'd seen the UFO in the sky. He'd heard about it on the news. I stepped outside off the front porch to have a look and spotted it right away. It wasn't as though you were looking at an obvious spacecraft

I think my weekly total of 517 miles is the most I've ever done in a seven-day stretch. I sort of thought I'd get several good days of riding in during my week off but this is probably more than I'd hoped for. I rode 60 today, 111 yesterday and 108 the day before. My right knee is a bit sore so I think I'll go easy tomorrow. I think the only riding goal left for me this season is 6000 miles by my august 25th birthday. That's a reasonable goal and about 2000 miles more than I'd initially set when the season began. I'll need to average 40 miles per day to reach the 6000-mile goal. That's only 280 miles a week and well within reach. We went to see Irobot last night. I think we all liked it even though I'm not one for sci-fi. The media has been on my mind lately. The double standard with respect to network news programs is important for the average Joe to realize. It's one thing to tune into Rush or one of the cable programs where you have a mode

I was out on my bike today and without even realizing it I had reached that surreal state where the endorphins take you where the fast-paced world is all around you but you’re really not aware of much other than some obscure thoughts and the sun on your back. I’d just finished climbing out of the Minnesota River bottom and I was coming up on the approach path for runway 29L, east of the MSP airport. Coming into view from the right I noticed a 747 with its wheels extended on final approach. At first glance it looked to be a KLM flight arriving from Amsterdam but then I noticed the American flag on the tail. As I got directly off to its side from about a quarter-mile away I could see the word ‘United’ and I thought that maybe United Airlines had a new paint scheme I wasn't aware of. I watched as it descended off in the distance and then it struck me that it was Air Force One. It did seem odd that there was very little air traffic in the area and now I understood why. President Bus

I found a wallet on my ride yesterday. It was a red, woman's wallet with all her important stuff but no money, a credit card but no cash. I put it in my saddlebag and continued on my ride. I gave it to Tammy when I got home and she tried to locate the owner—no luck. Her phone was disconnected and the only link we found was a card for a doctor's appointment. Tammy called the doctor's office this morning and gave them our number so they could relay it to the woman. I found it on Hwy3, across the road from a bar out in the country. I was thinking that someone lifted it from the woman's purse while they were in the bar and threw it out once they took the money and left the bar. As it turned out, the woman's fiancé called our home shortly after Tammy called the doctors office and said it's possible that the woman's 3-year-old son threw it out the car window. Anyway, we were glad to find the owner. When I spoke with her fiancé, Ron Collins, on the phone I ment

Okay, I've got stuff to do today and the rain is getting in the way. I shouldn't have slept in so late as I would have at least gotten my ride in. Mowing the lawn can wait till tomorrow but I'd really like to ride. I did manage a longish ride yesterday of 121 miles when I rode out to St. Peter along Hwy 169. I was intending to go to Mankato but I cut it short. Tammy is working and Rachel is with her dad. She didn't sound all that happy to be going to see him yesterday. She called me around 11:00am and said her dad was picking her up around 12:30. I told her I'd see her tonight and that we'd all do something...I think that something is going to be dinner at Hard Rock Café in Minneapolis. We'll pick her up around six and head over there on the way back. Rachel has been disappointed with her visits with her dad and step-mom for quite a while now. They speak Vietnamese around her and so she's not a part of their conversation. Her stepmom's English is

For our getaway this summer we headed for the Black Hills of South Dakota. Tammy and I have been there twice together and we thought Rachel would enjoy the trip as well. We left Toby and Allie in the loving care of Jackie and Jerry’s family. I’m always a bit concerned when I pick them up after they’ve been at Jerry and Jackie’s for several days because I think they enjoy their house more. You can’t beat having a fenced-in backyard to run free in if you’re a dog. At our home, they can only sit by the back sliding door and dream of being outside. Maybe we should consider an invisible fence. On our way out of town, we stopped by Mom’s to show her the van we rented. Her flowers are looking very beautiful this year if you haven’t had a chance to see them. We were on our way a little after 1:00pm and had a reservation at the Radisson in Sioux Falls. Rachel makes some very cool lanyards from the array of threads she has. She’ll have us pick out a few colors and in no time she’s showing