Appearances on the Plane

It had been a long, long week on the road.  I was at the end of it; on my last leg of a three-legged trip to get me home.  I was flying from Billings, Montana to Minneapolis - and I was 1:45 away from getting back to the duck camp and my buddies.

I was seated in window at an exit row, and had someone seated in aisle.  When I had checked in earlier that day, I was heartened that the flight was not completely full, and that there was nobody seated in middle of our row.  Since it basically takes status or a paid upgrade to sit in the exit row last minute, I was hopeful that I'd be able to stretch out on the flight.

Those hopes were dashed in the form of a 6'2", 250 pound Montana native, with a linebacker's build and shoulders that went on for days.

He threw his girth into the middle seat, and instantly squished me against the window.  "Hey, theses seats got room down here," he said as he lifted his legs, "but none up here," he completed by leaning his broad shoulder into mine.

Judging by how he spoke, my bet was that the man cramming me into the window was a touch mentally challenged.  And, just my luck, he was a talker.

Immediately he started, "Whoa, that's a really nice shirt!  Where did you get a shirt like that?"  "I'm not exactly sure," I replied, "My wife bought it for me."  "Your wife?" he replied, "Man, she must love you!  What a shirt.  My wife would never buy a shirt like that for me.  In fact, I don't remember her buying me anything like that.  Not even close.  But I don't buy anything for her, but still, she never has..."

And on and on.

I hate talking on planes.  I'm an introvert, and a horrible one.  I just want to sit there with my Bose noise cancelling headphones and get to where I'm going.  When someone strikes up a conversation, I tense up as I know I'll soon run out of things to ask and there will ultimately be that awkward silence.  I'd much prefer a silent seat-mate.

But not this trip.

On and on my seat partner kept talking.  About his home, family, raising kids, work, everything.  And when he did so, he did so in a loud and inappropriate voice.  So much so, that a couple of people even turned around to look at who was making so much inappropriate noise.

The stories continued, and I tried to be as polite as possible; all the while dreaming of moving my headphones from around my neck to over my ears.  And the whole time I kept wondering to myself, "I wonder what's wrong with this guy?"

Almost immediately he told me.

"See this tooth?" he said while pointing to a mouth full of dental mess.  "I'm finally gonna get it fixed.  Gonna get all of them fixed.  I got a settlement in a wrongful termination case.  My old company discriminated against me due to my combat injuries.  But I won.  And now I'm gonna get my teeth back the way they used to be."

In looking more closely at his face, scars were now obvious.  They were even more so when he removed his cap to wipe his brow.  The guy sitting next to me was a soldier that had experienced some pretty damn significant trauma to his head in battle.

I felt, and still feel like, a total jerk.

By the end of the flight, we had hit it off, and my seatmate had actually invited me to hunt with him at his family's ranch - 100,000 acres in western Montana.  We slapped backs and parted ways, with him looking for his connecting flight, and me looking to understand what the hell happened to my humanity.

The NFL : Our National Language

In my travels this past week, I've been a lot of different places and encountered a lot of different people.  All walks of life, all income brackets, all education levels, many races.  

And it struck me sitting alone at dinner one night and eavesdropping on a couple of conversations of the one thing - the one common thing - that binds us.

It's not our country, although is should be.  Unfortuantely, politics has completely poisoned that well.  No, it is far simpler than that.

It is pro football.  It is the one thing over which complete strangers can ignite a conversation that can carry on for hours.  Be it the local team, the team one followed as a kid, the crazy co-worker's game day antics, or performance of the fantasy football team, everybody has a story, and everybody has a perspective.

And this is not just applicable to men.  Not anymore.

No matter where you go, no matter who you encounter, if you're in the confines of this beautiful land, odds are good that if you ask a stranger what they thought of the Monday Night Football game last night, you'll be off and running on a conversation.

The NFL has done a fantastic job of ingraining themselves into our culture.  Let's hope they can do a better job of protecting their players so that we can continue this happy ride.

America the Beautiful

Yesterday I wrote about my crazy trip this past week.  A trip that had me in the Midwest, South, and Mountains.  A trip that had me in America's largest of cities, and in places that very few have been.  And despite this diversity, there is only one common denominator: this is a gorgeous country!

It is not just the obvious things either - yeah, it is tough to beat the majesty of the Rockies - but even in the littlest of things.  Consider the diversity of our geography, the wealth of our water and undeveloped spaces, the bounty of our agriculture, the pleasantness of our people.  Absolute wonders exist right outside our back yards, should we choose to see them.

It has been said the the urban dwellers of the coast look down on the concept of "flyover country."  I pity their ignorance.  In its own way, it is as beautiful as any other spot on the map, and far more readily available as well.

Tour de Me

I'm in the middle of a big travel period, and created a Google Map to track where I've been and where I'm going.  Here are the stops:

• Drove from Green Bay to Duck Camp
• Drove from Duck Camp to MSP
• Flew from MSP to ORD for conference
• Flew from ORD to MSP to connect
• Flew from MSP to Columbus to visit distribution facility
• Flew from Columbus to ATL to connect
• Flew from ATL to COS
• Drove from Colorado Springs to Pueblo for meeting with Call Center
• Driving from Pueblo to Raton, NM to knock New Mexico off of my "states visited" list
• Driving from Raton to Colorado Springs
• Flying from COS to SLC to connect
• Flying from SLC to BIL to connect
• Flying from BIL to MSP
• Driving from MSP back to Duck Camp
• Driving from Duck Camp to Resort Owner's meeting
• Driving back to Duck Camp
• Driving back to Green Bay

All told, it represents 9 different states in 10 days.

I don't travel for a living, but tip my hat to those that do.  There's no way I could do this on a standard basis.  Whew.

Heart Performs Stairway to Heaven

As part of last year's Kennedy Center Honors, Ann and Nancy Wilson (and a little bit of help) kicked out a version of Led Zeppelin's Stairway to Heaven.  Check this out.  Hat-tip to House

2013 Minnesota Duck Opener Recap

With the earliest opening day in history at September 21, Minnesota duck hunters finally got a shot a the sizable blue-wing teal population in the state, and by and large, the results were fantastic.  Good shooting and heavy game straps were found throughout the state.

That was no different at my duck camp, where I shared Gucci Point with a buddy and his son.  As you can see by the harvest and grins, the opener was quite the success.

Duck season 2013 is definitely off with a bang in Minnesota.

Johnnies Upset #2 St. Thomas

I remember a day where a SJU win over the Tommies was not considered an upset.  However, times have definitely changed.  UST is a program on its ascendency, and SJU is a program in free fall.  

But sometimes there's a wrinkle in the universe, and everything turns upside down.

That's what happened last Saturday, when the Johnnies went into St. Paul and ended UST's streak of 36 consecutive regular-season games.  By forcing 5 turnovers, SJU forced St. Thomas into a position where it pretty much has to run the table to end up in the post-season.

For SJU, it is the biggest win of new coach Gary Fasching's young head coaching career.  And one to grow on, that's for sure.

Congratulations, Johnnies.  Short of your National Championship win over favored Mount Union, this is the biggest win I can remember. 

Fantasy Football Tattoo League

My fantasy football team at work is terrible.  Injuries and benchings have removed four out of my top five picks.  As a result, I've finished last in the league in terms of points the past two weeks, and am projected to do the same in week three.

That really hurts, as I have side bets with most of the league on points scored.  If I don't turn things around, I could  be down some serious money.

I was thinking of that this morning and feeling sorry for myself, but I found this video, and now I don't feel so bad:



Heck, I don't feel so bad at all.