Back to Dallas

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I finally made it back around lunchtime on Tuesday, a little late but intact! I took tons of pictures, but I want to find a more convenient way to display them on here, so check back later. Alaska is BEAUTIFUL in ways that pictures can’t entirely convey. The Juneau area sits along the shore and surrounded by tree-covered mountains, islands, and glaciers. On Friday Dad and I visited Mendenhall Glacier, a big river of ice that literally flows down from the nearby snow fields and terminates in the silt-tinted Mendenhall Lake. Saturday and Sunday we fished for halibut and salmon. I’m not a huge fisherman, but I did have some success and even won the Big Fish of the Day contest for Saturday with a king salmon. We actually had better luck with the halibut than with the salmon. On Monday morning Dad and I went bear-watching on Admiralty Island, seeing a few bald eagles, a lone bear fishing and a skittish mama bear and cub walking along a creek. Then we flew out to the snow fields near Juneau where glaciers are born. I’ll add some more detail when I post the pics.

The flights to Juneau and back were memorable. Although we departed late on both Alaska Airlines flights outbound, I was very impressed with the aircraft (Boeing 737-400s and 737-800s) and the inflight service (two drink services on each flight with free light snacks and a breakfast available for purchase on one leg). I got stuck in SEA coming home since my cockpit access for other airlines was temporarily broken. I had no idea that red-eye flights would be so popular at this time of year! I slept a few hours on a padded bench in the airport and rode home on American in the cockpit of a 757, which was great fun.

Tennis and Alaska

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It’s a great sport. I’ve started playing once a week with some friends of mine from the Southwest People department. We all played some in the past, so we’re neither horrible nor heirs to Federer’s throne. It’s great to be back on the court regularly. I make a few horrible shots for every great one (ask the guys about my serve that went over the fence), but fortunately I enjoy laughing at myself. Between my running and almost-weekly tennis, I’m gradually getting into better shape.

I’m set to leave for Alaska on Friday morning and have a long list of items to pack on Thursday. My new digital camera came in a couple days ago, and I love it! I’m not sure I’m smart enough to use all its different features, though. Good thing some poor tech writer put together a semi-detailed manual! The forecast for Juneau looks great – nice and cool, sunny, with little chance of rain. I’ll try to post some pictures after I get back.

People, Interrupted

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I’ve been noticing something lately: people in general, including myself at times, are really bad about interrupting each other. Sometimes it’s coincidental and unintentional – people simply start talking at the same time and continue until one or both stop out of courtesy. Sometimes a person is telling a story when a listener (such as myself on many occasions) jumps in with a question or comment that interrupts the story. It’s less annoying when the interjection is on-topic, maybe a clarifying question or an “active listening” comment that assures the storyteller that the listener is indeed listening. But some people (listen up, b/c you DON’T know who you are) jump in with completely off-topic comments that derail the discussion and attempt to move it somewhere else entirely. Some people are so bad about this, you aren’t sure they were even listening to the conversation they derailed. Your homework for the next few days is to pay attention to the conversations you hear: both what others say and what you say. Is it an actual conversation or merely a cacophony? Do the speakers seem to respect each other and value each other’s opinions, or is each person simply itching to jump in and enlighten the group with his/her own comments?

In other news, if you want to see an outstanding performance by an actor in a leading role, rent The Last King of Scotland and watch Forest Whitaker at the top of his game. The movie is about Idi Amin, the charismatic but brutal dictator of Uganda in the 1970s.

I’m set to leave for Alaska next Friday for a couple days of salmon fishing and bear watching with Dad. I finally ordered a new digital camera with a good zoom, hoping it will arrive in time for me to take it on the trip. This trip will involve many firsts: first visit to Alaska, first attempt to fly standby on another airline (Alaska Airlines), first attempt at salmon fishing, and first ride in a floatplane. Should be fun!

The Genius of Half-Price Books

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I wish I could buy stock in Half Price Books. They buy much of their inventory from the general public, suckers like me who keep bringing them used books, CDs, movies, and magazines that we don’t want anymore. The employees “appraise” them somehow and offer us money, generally a small fraction of their eventual resale price. Since we’re getting rid of the items anyway, any money in return is better than nothing, so we accept their offer. Even better, while the employees appraise our
items, we wander around the store finding new things to buy. We get a voucher for the stuff we brought in and apply that money to a new purchase. Yesterday I brought in a heavy box of old magazines and young adult books. They offered me $10, and I used it to buy a single book for $13. It’s a win-win, but they definitely got the better end of the deal: a big pile of merchandise to sell and $3 versus my single book. It might be slightly easier for them to just print Benjamins all day, but it wouldn’t be nearly as much fun.

IBC has released the details of the Water is Basic 5K: Saturday, October 13, 8:30 am. I’m already putting together a team. So far we have myself, Jenny, Mom, Dad, Lisa, both Jenny’s parents, and Jenny’s sister Katy, so we’re up to 8. I’m hoping for both brothers-in-law and some others! It’s going to be a great event, and we want to raise tons of money to drill wells in Sudan, so spread the word!

In a Pickle on a Missouri Farm

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Yesterday morning, my dad and two of his retired pilot friends were enroute to Oshkosh (a big aviation festival in Wisconsin) in one of the friend’s Cessna. Suddenly the gas cap came off (?!), and the pressure differential quickly siphoned off the fuel. The captain made an emergency landing on a farm in Missouri. My dad described the “runway” as a recently planted cucumber patch. Both aircraft and passengers were fine. Local farmers brought over cans of 100-LL to get the aircraft back in the air as a host of local law enforcement officials, reporters, and an ambulance came out to investigate. Ironically, the state police actually caused more damage to the crops with their cars than the landing did. We’re already working on jokes about cucumbers and the Age 60 rule.

Rollin’ with the 5-0

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A couple from our class at church are both police officers. I’ve never had cop friends before, not because I dislike law enforcement but because I just never had the opportunity. Cops always made me nervous. Anytime I saw one, especially while driving, I wondered if I was doing something bad. But after getting to know our cop friends, I’m more comfortable around them. I even went on a ride-along with the guy cop this weekend and had a blast! He (we?) arrested two guys and went on lots of calls – reports of guys hanging out with guns in the parking lot, a burglarized pickup, fireworks in an apartment complex, a domestic violence call, a burglar alarm at a business, a fight, a drunk driver, and a runaway, all in one night. They use an in-car computer system to get information from dispatch and update their status. We were so busy that we didn’t even have time to pull anyone over.

A strange job, law enforcement – everyone you see is a potential criminal, every call you get involves some bad thing that has happened, and you see the ugly side of society that your average person doesn’t. We went to apartment complexes that I would never visit on my own, partly out of fear, partly because the people I hang out with don’t live in “those kind” of apartments. The socioeconomic classes of our society, whose existence we don’t always like to think about or admit, were apparent as we answered the calls. Those who lack money and status seem more likely to be involved in crime than the wealthy or even the middle-class people. Why? I’ll leave that debate for another day.

In other news, we’ve been busy! We had dinner at Lisa’s Sunday night. Monday night we went to the house and worked on the rose bushes (stupid black spot!). Tuesday I had lunch with my friend Scott from high school. He’s now a PhD student in Biblical studies at Boston College, and we had an interesting discussion about the Bible and the modern church. Jenny and I got dinner from a great West African restaurant in Irving Mall of all places. The food is delicious and reasonably priced, but since it’s so different and not very visible in the food court, I’m not sure it’ll be around long, so go try it soon! Afterward we saw Live Free or Die Hard (awesome). Wednesday night I played tennis with some of Jenny’s coworkers. I’ve started tinkering with a two-handed backhand instead of my traditional one-hander. That is all.