Then and Now, 1984 Revisited

Scott came into town from the east coast last week.

Back in 1984, we were both working for the FAA in Huron, South Dakota at the Flight Service Station providing pilot weather briefings, filing flight plans and meeting the needs of the local flying community.  There were 3 golf courses in the city and 2 of them would become a main outlet of ours during the warmer months as we whiled away our time in exile, serving our penance for having come up short in our training at Minneapolis Center.

Scott and I both joined the men's golf league which gathered one night each week at the main public course on the north side of town near the airport. I will never forget the first time we took the tee in front of at least a dozen others waiting their turn to do the same. Scott proceeded to hit at least 4 balls out of bounds before getting off the tee. It was an embarrassing moment that needed no words at the time. It could just as easily have been me. I made a passing mention of it when we met at Columbia Golf Course in Columbia Heights last week as I ribbed him about that cringe-worthy memory from our past. We laughed. We had some fun times together and although decades have passed since we've hung out like that it still felt like old times teeing it up with him again.

We golfed with Scott's good friend Dan and Dan's father, Jim Hebert. Jim was once a controller at Minneapolis Center as well, having been fired in the PATCO strike of August 1981. He went on to become a mathematics teacher and an accomplished sailor having sailed across the Atlantic and all throughout the Caribbean. And now he's become quite the cyclist having recently biked to Colorado and back. I would love to have had more time to talk with Jim.

All the while we were out there I was trying to live in the moment, wanting the day to never end. It was so nice being together with Scott again. I didn't fully appreciate how much I've missed that. He's a good friend.

I made the mistake of golfing again the next day with Bill from our league team. I don't think my rib injury is fully recovered enough to allow me to do that. I made sure to stretch as much as ever before beginning our round but with a temp still in the 40s it wasn't enough and when I went to golf again on Thursday for league play I had to pack it in after 3 holes with the pain in my left side having returned. It's still there but not as bad. I'm hoping to be back on the links in a couple weeks. From what I can gather online, I've got a weak core. Tammy says she'll give me some exercises to do to improve it so I don't have to keep going through this.

Joe Konietzko has retired! Joe hosted a party to celebrate his retirement last Friday at Buck Hill in Burnsville. It's always nice to see the familiar faces at these get-togethers. Enjoy, Joe. You're gonna love it!

I usually go through my phone's photo gallery to get ideas about things to touch on for my blog posts and a lot of stuff in there gets left on the cutting room floor. Last week I decided to add a few of those photos to the end of my entry and I think I'll continue doing that.

So, without further ado—photos from this past week or so...

A family of ducks along the 4th fairway at Crystal Lake.



Out to lunch with some fellow retirees, Jeff Ofstun, Ed Whitman and Mike Deml.



Sweet ride!



Storytelling with Bruce Steeples at Joe's retirement party.



Shawn, discovering the joys of fat-biking and having more fun than is allowed at his age!



Finally sitting down to catch up on some online reading and blogging. My laptop has been collecting dust lately.

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