unexpected benefit

The SCDad (my dad that is)  was born during the great depression and grew up on a farm.  Needless to say he's of the mindset that doesn't spend money on "frivolous" stuff... like personalized license plates.

A couple years ago we were struggling with what do we get Dad for Christmas?  What do you get a senior citizen that has everything he needs.  He served 20+ years in the US Army and is very proud of his active duty + Reserve service and we are too.

The SandCastle Crew proposed to purchase and annually fund a personal plate in a military theme so his money is not going to frivolous stuff.  His state does not specifically honor veterans but they do have a vaguely pro-military plate.  We put our heads together and came up with an appropriate plate recognizing his service.  It starts with O5 for Lt. Colonel and a few more letters to details his specifics.  ~6 months later he proudly installed it on his car.

Also, he's a widower.  Talking to other widower's thet tell me worst part is the empty feeling in the evenings when there is no one to talk to.  They tell me it's very important to find activities to fill these hours.  To that end he's an amateur musician and works with several local community bands.

Fast forward to about 10 days ago.  He pulled up to a 4 way stop about 9pm coming home from band practice.  Checking both ways, he entered  the intersection.... and caught a glimpse out of the corner of his eye and hit the brakes.  He was promptly hit from R to L  in the front end removing the entire front end of his car by someone speeding ~15 over the limit and never slowed for the stop.

The crash was loud and drew a 50+ crowd from the apartments on the corner.  Fortunately for Dad, one was an off duty, out of jurisdiction police officer.  He noticed the custom plate noting military service and took Dad under his wing.  Step one, escort him to his truck to sit down.  Step two, find the front plate and stash in the trunk.  Step three explain to local PD when you are ready to interview Dad, he's right over here and YOU WILL GO TO HIM! (And they did).  Step four, drive Dad home (about 3 blocks).

Thank you to the off duty PD office for taking good care of SCDad.  And amusing to hear the plate is what triggered him to treat a vet with kid gloves.

SCDad gets his car back today (Friday)

WooHoo!! A real Red Letter day!

This is what the SandCastle's driveway looks like tonight:

There is a new pilot in the SandCastle!

The SandCastle Queen painted this to celebrate the SCSon's passing his Private Pilot checkride!   He's been working on it for the better part of a year.  He completed the requirements last August but had a devil of a time to get scheduled with an examiner.  Today he had a 3 hour oral and 1.5 hr flight and walked away with a temporary pilot certificate.

This makes him a 4th generation pilot.  Great GrandFather (& Grand Uncle), Grandfather, Dad a couple cousins and now the SCSon.

Dave Hirschman wrote a very good article last year that well describes why we made this investment in him titled "Because he flies".  Let me humm a few bars.

...

Because he flies, he’s learned to plan for the worst, to prepare for aerial emergencies, and to always be ready to implement a Plan B (or C, or D) when things go awry. He’s experienced the limited value of forecasts firsthand. And he knows limitations such as how far, how fast, and how high his aircraft can fly; how much fuel it needs to reach a destination, and how much weight is safe to carry.

Because he flies, he’s learned to focus on the immediate task at hand. He can push the nagging trivialities of daily life aside and—at least during his time aloft—live entirely in the present.

Because he flies, he’ll be less tempted by the dangerous impulsivity that does such harm to every generation. Driving recklessly means nothing to those who know they can fly far faster than any highway speed limit. Excessive drinking and drug abuse can ground aviators, so hopefully he’ll steer clear of them. Flying rewards healthful moderation.

RTWT.

Congratulations to the SCSon.  Now don't get cocky
(Drive way artwork & photo credit SCQueen, copyright 2018.).

How'd you sleep last night?

How did that "spring forward" work out for you?

Me? I'm good.  See I live in the most stable time base ever, AZST (Arizona Standard Time) "We never change!"

I hope one day the rest of the world will come to it's DST senses.  Pick a timeoffset and stick to it!

Gotta love modern technology

TL;DR:  modern technology allows me to send lunch money to SCSon via his phone.

Long Form:  The SandCastle Queen called just before 5pm "The SCSon left his wallet when he left to meet his instructor".  Tried calling and texting so he can swing by the DayJob(tm) and I can give him some $$$.  Good news, this proves he doesn't use his phone while driving (this is a good thing).  He finally checked his phone at his destination while getting ready to order supper... and no dinero to pay with.

I didn't want to drive over and deliver cash because it means ~10 miles in rush hour traffic in the wrong direction.  Discover Card used to let me generate a one-time use CC# that I could use, but that's gone the way of he dodo bird,

Fortunately the internet is now a thing, and by golly, did you know you can send an eGift card over the internet!  So I was able to send him a sawbuck to his phone to buy supper with!   Maybe I should have let him suffer to learn the lesson.  But that would sacrifice the primary lesson :-(

Still 'cuz Internet, I could send him an egift card via his phone.  This saved a whole lotta driving in ugly rush hour traffic in  the rain with accidents practically on every corner.  Gotta love $TECHNOLOGY!

And the unpaid plug this was Panera Bread Co  though I suspect many other chains offer something similar.  And a hint to those that don't,  Figure it out!

Yesterday was NOT a good day

The SCSon was driving my "fun" car home from school.  Apparently traffic suddenly stopped and he didn't.  He's OK, no broken bones but probably a bruise in the shape of a the seatbelt. 

Also the airbag went off which is some what of a surprise.  The car is 26 years old and more than enough miles to drive to themoon (>255k).  Mazda runs the connections to the controls on the steering wheel through what they call a "clock spring connector".  They are notorious for failing in this model and sure enough the other functions that go through the connector had all failed.

The radiator is bent which probably means the front cross member is bent.  It's probably terminal.  And only insured for medical & liability.  No collision coverage.

Today was a good day!

I have vacation time to burn, so I took the day off.  The SCSon went to school and I slept in ;-)   Then SCSon and I first did lunch at The Monastery, then visited the Copperstate Fly In. 

The Monastery was always a fun place to visit in my younger days because you could buy a raw burger and cook it yourself and save a few $$$.  Remember your college days.  Here we are.

Apparently this is not so much a thing these days.  They had to fire up the grill for us but it worked out. 

Copperstate is but a shell of it's former self..  Past years featured an airshow, now it's ground only.

Stay tuned for pictures!

The Warrior

The Las Vegas attack evoked a bit of deja vu in me. 

Way back in the 70's there was a movie "RollerBall" starring James Caan.  The intro "Toccata and Fugue in D-minor" theme music really inspired me, not to mention James Caan and John Houseman's performance...  And the F1 style themes (Gladiators to battle)

Rollerball (the movie) was inspired by a short story by William Harrison  titled "Rollerball Murder (1973)".

Not sure of the behind the scenes moves but after Rollerball came out, a set of William Harrison's short stories were published under the Rollerball title.  The  first of which is a short story titled "The Warrior (1971)".   Harrison tells the story in an odd way - the reader is included in the story, as if you/me the reader is present with our host.  That makes it 2nd person?  Anyway.  tl;dr version our host is a hardened mercenary of many battles and feels the need to school the free spirits at the film festival on the beach that the world is a terrible place.  By shooting up the festival in a fairly graphic manor.

And he even observes at first I won't even have to worry about them running because they won't believe their eyes! IIRC some at first thought the bullet reports were just fireworks.

And includes a detailed plan to escaping the scene to live fight another day by setting off diversionary explosions.  Hmmm could that be what the 50lbs of Tannerite was slated for?

I have read stuff that falls into a category of "Dang, I wish I'd written that".  Not often but it happens. This falls into the penultimate "I never could have conceived of this in a million years".  Same same for the LV killer.

I have no idea whatsoever if any of this applies to the LV killer.  There has been no information of any military service for the LV Killer, but there are parallels.  Just relatin' stuff I've read.

$.02

Sorry for the delay, it's taken some time to find my copy and reread the story... It's been at least 30 years.  BTW, my copy was almost certainly obtained at the local SVDP for a dime.