Say What?

This week marked 40 years since I took a seat in the auditorium at the Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center in Oklahoma City, OK to begin my career as an air traffic controller with the Federal Aviation Administration. I had no way of knowing then as I sat there with several hundred others what a blessing that opportunity would be for me.  I loved the work  and can't imagine a more fulfilling career. It's sobering how quickly 40 years pass by. There's one remaining stained glass shop in the Twin Cities area after the recent closings of the two main shops that I frequented for my supplies: J Ring Studios and Glass Endeavors. When I first began working with the medium 30 years ago there were close to 15 glass shops in the area. This is not a good trend. The remaining shop, Down Home Stained Glass , is a very small studio with limited hours and limited supplies and not one that I generally use. The next best option is Sleepy Eye Stained Glass , a 3-hour roundtrip drive to ...

Tammy used to do volunteer work cleaning homes of elderly people who could no longer manage the task themselves. She became very good friends with one of the families she helped; Linda and Bob, and their chihuahua Cotton. Linda and Bob both passed away in 2020 leaving Cotton behind, and sadly, nobody in their extended family wanted Cotton (they were going to euthanize her). Tammy and I had talked about the possibility of this scenario playing out this way in the months before Linda and Bob both passed and we agreed that if nobody wanted Cotton, we would take her in. And so we did.  Cotton was a sweet girl who was most content by Tammy's side. Early on, she would show a playful side. She would wait at the top of the stairs to our upper level and she would happily dance in a playful way as we'd climb the steps toward her. She used to love to walk through the grass in our yard and sniff her way along. It was just a few months ago where she could still climb the steps to our upper ...

Due to two separate rib injuries, I've been relegated to indoor riding for the last few months with the exception of one romp along the river trails 7 weeks ago where I suffered my last injury in a fall . I've been able to stay in good riding form from the many hours I've spent on my indoor trainer but it's not the same as being outdoors with the sun on my face. With my ribs feeling as good as they've felt in months, I took to the trails yesterday. For obvious reasons, I rode more cautiously than I normally do. It was nice. (There's an embedded video of my ride below.) I've been wondering why I seem so prone to rib injuries (3 separate incidents in 8 months) so I scheduled a bone density scan for this past week as a way of ruling in or ruling out any bone-related issues. A bone density scan is typically recommended for women at age 65 but it's not something men are normally screened for unless there's a history of fractures. I got my results in an em...

I was hoping to take my fatty to the river bottoms yesterday morning and ride the trails there but I'm still not recovered enough from my most recent rib injury 4 weeks ago . The injured area isn't all that noticeable to me, I can cough and sneeze and tie my shoelaces without pain, but pressing on the area or laying with my weight on it still hurts. That tells me it's still vulnerable to being injured again even in a mild crash. I think it's best that I wait a while longer. I've been using my indoor trainer a fair amount to improve my fitness on the bike and truth be told, I tend to work harder and get a better workout riding indoors than I do outside. I focus more on my effort when I'm on my indoor trainer, so much so that I've been stressing my knees more than normal. I need to back off a little. I normally ride a program called Zwift, a computer-generated world where we indoor cyclists gather to ride the many worlds of Zwift. It's an awesome program ...

It was Martin Luther King Jr Day yesterday. His words resonate more with me as each year passes and I make note of how we're no closer to his vision of America than when he called on all of us to do our part and unite. I was 10 years old when Martin Luther King Jr was assassinated on April 4th, 1968. I have a vivid memory of being in our living room with my parents and asking them if it was okay if I updated our World Book encyclopedia with a pen to reflect his death. For all of the progress I had assumed we've made all these decades later concerning civil rights, it's become clear that we still have so far to go. It's disheartening.  I had a friend reach out to me last week via Facebook Messenger. I've known Ed for more than 20 years but we've never met in person. We got to know one another through an online forum dedicated to a musician we both admire: David Baerwald. David is half of the David & David duo from the late '80s. You may recall their song ...

We're a full two years into the pandemic and we're still trying to understand how best to manage it. It's become an ever-moving target as each new variant presents its own unique variables. Schools bounce between in-school learning and virtual learning as the virus ebbs and flows. Some restaurants are operating at reduced hours due to staffing shortages while some have closed. Airlines are canceling hundreds of flights daily due to a lack of flight crews who are out sick with the virus or are in quarantine. Hospitals lack both staff and beds to care for the overwhelming number of sick and dying patients showing up in need of help, forcing them into triage mode where they at times have to choose who to treat based on who can expect the best outcome. The vast majority of those in need of care are unvaccinated. Mask mandates are in effect again for Minneapolis and St. Paul (including sports venues) as the omicron variant is causing a surge in admissions to hospitals leaving ju...

Yes, he mentioned walking peacefully to the Capitol but that's not what they heard. "We fight like hell. And if you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country anymore." That's what they heard. Trump watched for more than 3 hours as our nation's Capitol was assaulted, and with it, the heart of our democracy. He sat in glee watching it unfold (as told by witnesses), unmoved by those pleading with him to make it stop. But he wouldn't. Is this the kind of leader you want? What am I not seeing? What am I not understanding? Or is it you that's got this all wrong? If you're still willing to stand with this man, I have to ask you to please search your soul. You've been misled. You've been propagandized. It's time to wake up. We need you. All of you. Never Forget.  That's all I've got.