Sometimes the spoof exceeds the original

Rarely do I find the emails forwarded from friends to be anything particularly noteworthy. Usually, I open the email, read a couple lines and then hit the delete button. However, this spoof of the current hit movie Brokeback Mountain had me howling. So without further delay, check out Bareback Mountain.

Snail Mail

Every couple of months I get an envelope in the mail originating from New York City. It's always the same. It's one of the long rectangular envelopes with my name and address written in ballpoint pen. I'm sure that the envelopes I send back East have a same kind of consistency. Since 1990, I have had the joy of having a snail mail correspondence with a friend of mine that I met on the famous "Love Boat" (ok people, once and for all, there is NO BOAT involved). Somehow early on, we began writing to each other by letter (typed not handwritten) and we've both committed to it. OK, a shout out to a certain cousin and his wife in San Diego who are readers of this blog! You know who you are! Anyway, I have kept every single letter she has written me over the past 15 years. I think she has done the same with mine. We could probably reconstruct the majority of our lives over the past decade and a half from these missives. I usually wait a month or so before I write back because letters are never just dashed off. These are usually four to five pages (single spaced with 12 font) descriptions of what is going on in our lives. Yes, on occasion we do have to contact each other on the phone, or an email, but 90% of our communication has been the good old fashioned letter. So Jennifer C. hats off to you for your willingness to hold up your end of the bargain. I'm willing to do this as long as you are. And knowing the stubborn tradition loving types we are this could last another 40 or so years!!

A person who has affected my life

Many of you ask about my mobility and my health post-accident and most of the time I reply that everything is pretty much hunky-dory. I can't point my toes, which makes running impossible and I find standing in my barefeet very uncomfortable so I simply avoid it by always wearing something on my feet. No big deal. There is one huge pain in my life and that comes to travelling by air.

Remember this guy?

Yeah, the shoe bomber from 2001. This man, has probably more than any person, affected my life. Four years since his little "stunt" travelling through America's airports requires us to take off our shoes and put them through the x-ray machine. Simple for most, but a huge undertaking for me. I now have a couple options.

The first, and one that I have to undertake if I don't plan ahead, has me approach the TSA person and hold out my x-rays. I then ask to be able to walk through the machine with my shoes and then I will sit down, take off my shoes and then have them x-rayed separately. Because of this request, I am immediately flagged and put into the high-security line. This requrires my to be wanded by one of the TSA people. If the alert level is orange or above, the sensitivity of the wand is so great that my barefeet set off the the wand, which causes further inquisition. But after showing them my x-ray and being cleared, then most TSA people are interested in the story of my feet and well, being the cheerful and giving person I am, off into the story I go. If I am lucky, this whole encounter takes less than 10 minutes.

My second option, one that I discovered works like a charm is to pack a pair of flip-flops in my carry-on. Flip-flops are not required to be removed and so I can zip through without any issues. But, the sight of my changing into flip-flops in a cold city like Seattle in December does cause people to raise and eye-brow or two.

So, hats off to you, Richard Reid, the shoebomber. Thanks for causing such a hassle in my life.