Heroes on Veterans Day Weekend

 

It all started with a quick trip idea to go see our 2nd son and his new wife, along with my parents and our oldest daughter in Colorado Springs. We had been there for the wedding in June, of course, but you never really get to spend quality time together with the bride and groom during all of the festivities. So we booked a flight on Southwest out of New Orleans. It was a non-stop, and all of the flights out of Baton Rouge require a stop.

But then the weather became a factor. Our flight was on a Friday around noon, but by Tuesday (Election Day in the US) we were poking around to see if there was a different flight we could take. Flights were either full or got in much later (even the next day) and that just wouldn't work. We thought we were going to get a double whammy - Winter storm which would dump well over a foot in some parts of Colorado, as well as a hurricane in Louisiana. In fact the airport in Denver got 20"!!! Our nerves were a little shot. But all morning on Friday, our flight showed "On time"!!!

We got to the airport in plenty of time to grab some CFA and have a good lunch. It wouldn't be a long flight - right around 2 hours. Eventually we did have an hour and a half ground stop delay due to the storm in Denver. We had bought into the A group and got in line to board. We stowed our bags in the overhead compartment and grabbed a window and aisle seat in row 6. The flight was only about 65% full, so there were plenty of seats. Soon enough we were pushing back and taxiing. Lynette had wisely used the restroom before we left and it wasn't too many minutes into the flight and I was thinking, "Well, I definitely should have hit the head before getting on this plane". I couldn't wait for the fasten seatbelt sign to go off so I could get in that tiny little room and relieve myself.

After we crossed over 10,000' the flight attendant told us we could use our larger electronic devices, etc. But people started getting up and using the facilities. In fact, this older lady across the aisle did so, walking all the way to the back of the plane. Of course I'm sitting there wondering why they aren't being told to sit down! The seatbelt light was on and disobeying that little sign could get you banned from the airline! Ok, it won't get you banned, but it was definitely disobeying the rules! Well, just a few minutes later the light popped off, I paused the documentary I was watching on John Williams (a MUST SEE), and I (nearly) leapt from my seat to go to the restroom. I finally returned to my seat and commenced the movie once again.

A few minutes later (somewhere over Southeast Texas) I notice my wife talking to the young lady across the aisle and pulled out my earbuds. The older woman who was in the window seat opposite us, who had gone to the restroom with the seatbelt sign on, was ( I found out later) unresponsive, and the flight attendant was asked by Anna (the young lady sitting on the aisle across from Lynette) to come check on her. The flight attendant shook the woman's shoulder vigorously and asked her quite loudly if she was ok.

She was not.

The flight attendant immediately asked if there were any medical professionals onboard, and 3 came to assist. I will spare you the details, but they performed CPR on the woman for between 23 and 25 minutes, as well as using an AED! They were in constant communication with the medical professionals on the ground, as we diverted to the closest airport - Austin. Unfortunately, the woman didn't make it.

It was the first time I had been on a plane with a medical emergency, first time a plane I was on was diverted, and obviously the first time someone had died on a plane I was on.

After detectives from the Austin Police Department had interviewed the medical people onboard, as well as Anna and Lynette, they allowed us to deplane. There were many people on our flight who were changing planes in Denver and they all got in line to rebook on other flights. Just fifteen minutes later, they told everyone whose final destination was Denver to go ahead and rebook. We found out later that our flight crew had timed out and they needed to get another crew for the original plane. So after everyone had gotten rebooked we discovered we had about 3 hours until our flight. What would we do???

We whipped together a quick plan to meet our oldest son James and his wife America, along with our new grandson Sebastian, at P.Terry's next to the airport. As we were heading to the exit, Lynette looks up at the big board and it shows our original flight leaving in an hour and a half. She says, "Let's go check at the counter to see if that's for real". Sure enough it is, but the gate agents are on the phone trying to figure out why they can't rebook all of the Denver people back on that plane. After a few minutes, they get it resolved and everyone starts wandering back to the gate. Unfortunately, that meant we couldn't meet up with James, America, and Sebastian, but they were cool with that because it was simply going to be a bonus visit. Eventually, we get back on the plane and were on our way to Denver.

About 1/3 of the passengers on our original flight didn't get back on. The pilot and co-pilot of our original flight sat in the row behind us, which coincidentally were the same seats we had before in row 6. We talked to them for a few minutes after boarding, and the Captain told us this is the first time he's had a death onboard, though he had had many medical emergencies before. Though I don't remember if the first officer had experienced a flight with a medical emergency, he looked like was 30 and hadn't been flying long enough to have experienced much. But the older I get, the younger everyone else looks!

Yes, we did make it to Colorado Springs, and we had an absolutely splendid weekend with Justin, Haley, Julianna, Tracy, and my parents. And I'm truly thankful that we got there in time to do it.

But I'm also reminded of the brevity of life. The woman who died was probably around 10-12 years older than me. Alone on a plane. Never making it to Denver. Had she just left a visit with her kids or grandkids? Was she on her way to visit her kids or grandkids? Maybe a sister, or brother, or even a lifelong friend? We will never know, but there is no doubt someone, or maybe even many someones, are mourning her loss today. And I pray that she knew Jesus as her Savior, and slipped peacefully into his arms. And I pray that you too know Jesus as Savior. Because death has a 100% success rate.

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him."

John 3:16-17

Sometimes Accidents Take Planning

I started walking our dogs early in the morning this week because they're just not getting enough exercise.

Over the course of this week we have already established a pattern - a route. And today's walk was going swimmingly. There were less cars than normal blocking the sidewalk while parked in their driveways. There was some morning, lingering fogginess (much like I'd imagine you see quite often in the Smoky Mountains of the American Southeast). Our route takes us through the neighborhood to our south, out to a main road, East for a block to another main road, then North for a long block to our neighborhood's entrance. Then it's about a half mile back to our house. It's just about the right distance for me, and for the dogs.

I say our walk was going swimmingly because there was a 5 second portion of the walk that didn't. The northbound section on a busy road.

As we were walking north, at one point a small pickup was coming out of a business and was waiting for traffic to clear so they could turn right. They waited a long time. As we got close I noticed a break in traffic and I stopped with the two dogs to allow the truck to proceed. They chose not to. As traffic began to close in, and seeing that they had inched forward but decided to wait, I proceeded north in front of the truck. That's when they decided not to wait anymore!

Our dog Ziva had just cleared the bumper of the truck in front of me and Kensi had not quite made it to the bumper of the truck behind me when the truck began to accelerate. I had time to yell "Hey!" twice before I jumped up and lay on the hood with my legs hanging down in front of the grill! I started banging on the hood with my phone, yelling "Hey!" three more times. Thankfully, the driver stopped within 7-10 feet. When she stopped, I didn't. Fortunately, I landed on my feet, still holding the leashes of our dogs and my phone. I looked up at the driver and she was horrified, waving her hands in front of her face as if to fan herself, eyes as wide as could be. I told her I was fine, which I was, and immediately moved to get myself and the dogs out of the now stopped lanes of traffic (15 - 20 cars). I repeated to her that I was fine and continued my walk. She left, and the traffic started to continue on. Except a school bus that had stopped. They sat there, holding up traffic, until I had walked past the door of the school bus.

My life didn't flash before my eyes. I didn't panic. In fact, my lifetime of playing out deadly scenarios in my mind (am I the only one that does this?) may have saved my life. Why did I jump on their hood? Because I had played out this exact situation in my mind before. Many times.

What happened to the terrified driver? She actually made a u-turn and tracked me down in my neighborhood to, once again, make sure I was fine. I am. I truly am.

I'm not sure if I have been assigned a guardian angel, but I know that God has sent out angels to "serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation." (Hebrews 1:14) They ministered a lot to me today.

Accidents happen. Don't take your time with people for granted. Today could have been a much different day for my family. Praise Jesus it was not. And if you don't know Jesus, ask a friend who does or read the Bible - it's God's Word to us.

Panic! at the Disco

I'm not prone to panic. And I haven't been to too many discos. But one thing that always induces panic in me is...visiting a government office for something I need. Jury duty, renewing your license, that kind of thing. Today was one of those days. You see, we moved recently to Louisiana. And today I have to go get our vehicles registered. I poured over the website to find out the process. It was no help at all. Why don't states have tabs at the top of their websites that say "New to (insert state name here)?" Then they can give you step-by-step guides to how their state works. "Need electricity (who doesn't), click here". "Here's what you need to get your driver's license".  Doesn't seem that hard, but nobody does it. Today I couldn't find the registration for my truck and it sent me over the edge. "Why isn't it in my glove box?" I have no idea. That said, here's why we panic when dealing with the government. They hold all the power and they often make stupid little rules that try to solve one tiny problem, but create dozens of new ones. And they have long lines. Because the citizenry HAS to go to them. If we don't, they have the power to fine us and potentially jail us. It rarely goes that far, but the threat is enough to make people government-averse. We need to find a way to make the government work like, yes, Chick-Fil-A. Or even In-N-Out. Fast, efficient service with a smile. And while we're at it, let's have all the DMV heads from the 50 states get together and figure out a system that's the same across the nation. Yeah, that would be nice.

I’m not weird, you’re weird

When I talk about my Traeger grill, people laugh. I’ve always loved grilling, since watching my dad do it on his Weber grill in the 70’s.  And I’ve had several propane grills as an adult. But 2 1/2 years ago, my life changed.

My wife and I walked into our local Costco and they were doing a Traeger event. I had been researching Traeger all summer, and this was the moment of truth. And I plunked down $799. I thought it was an obscene amount of money, but I was tired of burning things on a propane grill that I had to constantly monitor.

With the Traeger app for guidance, I have turned into a BBQ and smoking fiend!

Brisket, ribs, pork chops, and burgers. Oh, the burgers! Literally put them on the grill, close the lid, and 20 minutes later take them off the gril. Perfection!

Yeah, I’m weird. But that brings up another side issue: people giving their kids traditional names but spelling them weird: JoLayne, Kaytlynn, Olivea, Heylee, Peetur, and Joseff are just a few examples. Makes it hard on the rest of us. What do you think?

My New Grad!

I've got a new graduate (she's the last) and she's going to be pursuing a career in Special Effects Makeup and Design. This is a shoutout to her as one of the countless Rona QuaraGrads! Feel free to leave her a thought in the comments. Since so many people read my blog (not) I hope I don't disappoint her.

Congrats, JoLayne! You're a joy and so much fun to be around! I hope your pursuit of your dreams is a great ride!

Wait! It’s Been 6 YEARS?

6 years ago - my youngest was 12 and my oldest had just completed his first year of college. And exactly 6 years ago was when I last posted. I must do better. Why this urgency? Because my youngest just graduated High School and her friends discovered this blog. They want me to do more posts, so this one’s for you Olivia, Caitlyn, Haley, Mathew, Peter, and Jo!

Coronavirus was one of the 7 Seals that has been broken in this apocalyptic 2020. But now there’s the Murder Hornets! Actually, the person that named this new killer blew it - they should be called Homicide Hornets!

Working from home sounds delightful, until you’re forced to do it. All of the efficiencies you’ve developed at work disappear, but you’re expected to get just as much work done. Plus, with video meetings, you can’t just skip to makeup work - you’re expected to be there.

But there are good things going on. Some Good News is a YouTube series by John Kryzinski that is awesome. And people are generally nicer. Except on Twitter - they’re still bad over there.

Broncos got a really good draft class! And it’s hard to believe that Tom Brady is a Buccaneer and Phillip Rivers is a Colt.

And That Thing You Do is still the best movie, simply based on the feels!

A Moment of Spontaneity

Have you ever made a decision and hoped to see God's hand in it, just so you'd know that it was the right decision? Yeah, me too. (For the super-condensed version of this story, scroll to the bottom)

First, let's go back a bit. Our oldest son, James, has been away at Azusa Pacific University for the last 8 months. About 5 weeks ago, Lynette and I were talking about how James would be getting home for the summer and how he would be getting his stuff home. We were trying to balance the cost of going to California, hotels, food, along with wear & tear on the car with a one-way airfare and shipping all of his stuff home. We figured if we got a good fare on Southwest, he could check 2 bags, carry on his guitar, get a fellow student from Colorado to take a few bulky items, and then ship 3 or 4 boxes home. That would probably end up being about $500 - $600 cheaper than driving out there. Additionally, because of a live radio show I engineer Monday through Thursday AND a freelance project I do every Thursday night for Family Research Council (FRC), we wouldn't be able to leave until Friday morning. That would have made for a miserable trip for Lynette and I, along with Julianna, Justin and JoLayne. We decided to have James fly home and make arrangements for the transportation of his stuff.

Fast-forward to Thursday. I'm at work at about 10:30 in the morning and I finish up the last thing I HAD to do for the week. I could spend Thursday afternoon and Friday getting ahead. Due to a vacation by one of the hosts of the live show, Thursday's program would be taped. So I text Lynette and say, "I just finished my must do work for this week and I'm leaving right now to go get Juli from school so we could've left in like half an hour to go get James from school and Richfield tonight and produce FRC from there. the things you don't know". Lynette immediately texted back, "I told Julie (once of Lynette's close friends) 30 minutes ago it is all I can do to not get on a plane and go be with him. So hard to think of him being alone and trying to do this all on his own let alone all the emotions he is feeling." In our planning 5 weeks prior, not once did I take into account James's emotions. I decided Lynette and I would talk about it further at lunch.

Sensing the direction things could likely go, I decided to have Julianna do a little investigating on the ride home at lunch. I had her look up hotel costs in Richfield, UT and Flagstaff, AZ. These were the two most likely places we would stop and spend the night on the way to California, if we decided to go.

When we arrived at home, Lynette and I started talking about what James would be facing following his last final, which he was scheduled to begin at 1:15 pm MDT. One of the details that I was unaware of was that there person that had volunteered to take a few of his bulky items home was not going to be coming home immediately after school was finished. She planned on visiting several of her friends in the Greater Los Angeles area for two weeks after school ended. That meant that James's amp, mixing components, and television would be hanging out in the back of her car for the next couple of weeks. Still, I was balking at the idea of changing our plans. James knew the plan and seemed ready to tackle it. I was concerned, however, about the number of boxes he would be shipping. That's a huge factor when considering costs. Lynette suggested I text James (he was cramming for his final and a phone call would be a big disruption) and ask him how many boxes he thought he might need to ship. His reply caught me off-guard - "8 to 10". Eight to ten??? Umm, that's a lot of boxes!

At this point my brain is trying to refigure the cost difference between the two options. Would there be a change fee on the flight? Would we need a hotel going and coming? What would we do with the dog? And the kids? What about the radio show I need to produce?

By 12:30 pm MDT we decided we would drive out. I told everyone, "You get 2 shirts, 2 underwear, 2 pairs of socks and a pair of shorts." We had to pack light to fit all of James's things in our car. All I needed to produce FRC's radio program were the ins and outs for the segments, commercials, and music. I could download those at a wifi hotspot, like at McDonald's, Burger King, or Starbucks. I just needed to pack up the essentials of my studio and throw my clothes in a bag. Lynette had the more difficult job of packing herself, the kids, the dog and getting the house ready for small group on Sunday evening. Julie Lovisone came by and picked up Ziva (Thank you, thank you, thank you). By 2:30 we were on the road.

"Lynette, can you check road conditions?" In Colorado, spring means days in the 70's, followed by snow and 20's, followed by days in the 70's. After a hard freeze on Tuesday and winter conditions in the high country, I thought it best to make sure we could get over the Continental Divide on Interstate 70 (my California peeps and I call it "the 70"). Conditions in the mountains were dry, but they were doing blasting in one of the "Twin Tunnels" and beginning at 4:00 there would be delays of thirty minutes, every hour! Lynette asks me, "What time will we get to the tunnels?" "If everything goes right, 3:45", I reply. We needed to get going!

Thankfully, there were no delays, traffic problems or overly-aggressive police officers on the road, so we made pretty good time. We got to the Twin Tunnels at 3:58! As we were driving into and out of the tunnels, we could see workers preparing for the closures. Whew! That was a close one!

Next stop: Dinner and wifi! We had a gift card for Taco Bell and there was a Starbucks nearby! Perfect! We grabbed our Taco Bell to go and headed to Starbucks. Unfortunately, the Starbucks was in a grocery store and they don't have wifi! On to the next town, I guess. We found a McDonalds a few miles down the road and were able to hook up to their wifi! I had to download about 10 files, so I started up the ftp program and got an error when trying to hook up to the appropriate server. I contacted my client and they started looking into it. They had a server issue, but were able to resolve it fairly quickly. Finally - good news. And that was followed by some relatively bad news. The download speed at the McDonald's was a mere 40 - 60 bytes per seconds. Took us about an hour and a half to download the files I needed. Only one more piece to the puzzle: I left my headphone adapter at home. Just needed to track one down. We tried a local convenience store, as well as a grocery store, but no luck. Fortunately, the store manager at the grocery store was able to direct me to a Walmart.

So 20 minutes down the road we were able to locate the Walmart and the 1/4" adapter. The only one they had came in a variety pack of adapters. So I ended up spending $10 for a $1.50 adapter. Now, to set up my "studio".

Our minivan has a 110v outlet in it, so through the use of bus-powered technology I was able to run my computer and the audio interface via the battery on the laptop. I plugged my external hard drive into the outlet and connected everything together. Voila - a studio in a car! Have you ever tried to do something requiring fine-motor skills while riding in a car? Needlepoint, removing a splinter, or soldering a circuit board? Yeah, it was tough.

I rarely looked up from my work. It's a miracle I didn't get car sick. I would semi-frequently ask Lynette if she was doing okay driving. I really needed her to stay awake. When we left Walmart we were about an hour east of Grand Junction, Colorado. By the time I was finished with the editing part of my work, we were just south of the I-70 / I-15 intersection! My wife was a trooper!  We ended up driving all the way to St. George, Utah before she decided it was time to stop. Besides, all the places with free wifi had long since closed! It was 3:00 am!

You can find out what happens next…in my next post!

Summary: An hour before James's last final Lynette and I find a way to change all of the plans of the last 5 weeks and overcame several setbacks along the way, in order to go back to California to help him pack!

iPhone Update 1

First of all, I'm a little tired of the people who are saying don't get an iPhone on Verizon because you can't surf the net and talk on the phone. Those are people who are committed to wireless companies not called Verizon. There are no phones from Verizon that you can surf and talk at the same time. It's not something I used to use that I'm losing. If my primary concern was having an iPhone I would have switched to AT&T years ago. But I'm committed to Verizon and because of that, I live with the Verizon limitations.

Second: LOVE IT! Today I found a geocache with my iPhone! I've used my apps and they are faster than on my iTouch. Reception is better than my Samsung Rogue (and I really liked that phone).


Anybody else have the iPhone on Verizon?

My Phone Arrived Today!

Today was the day, preordained by Apple and Verizon, that I received (for a (not so) small fee) the gift of the iPhone on Verizon! Only one little hiccup in the whole thing and that may have been a preference setting in iTunes that overwrote my contacts. I've corrected that with a little help from the friendly folks at my local Verizon store. They haven't had many opportunities to work with the phones yet so they were mesmerized. All in all, a good day (considering how sick I am). Tomorrow - I try to get into a doctor's office!

Is it just me?

Is it just me or is this whole "global warming" thing a bunch of whoee? I think it's just like that word I just used! In the last 8 days our "high" temperature didn't exceed 10 in half of them. With windchill the coldest has been in the -40+ range. In my opinion, we need to start a whole bunch of gas guzzlers and let 'em run with their heaters on for a few hours! That would be wasteful, but I'm sure it would cause the temps to go up a degree or two...nah! So for those of you in milder climes, please enjoy your weather for me. I'm going to find another sweatshirt!