Showing posts with label MIT. Show all posts
Showing posts with label MIT. Show all posts

Wednesday, November 21, 2018

Have A Happy and Safe Thanksgiving Holiday---

but look out for Black Friday!! I hear it's likely to be more wicked than in the past. No prediction---mind you---just hear-say, of course.

SOME of you don't like airplanes, I know, but it' been a long time since the Wright Brothers left the Terra Firma at Kitty Hawk. The constant change in technology has made flying more safe than ever in the states.


I have followed a young man that I have come to admire because he flew around the world solo at 16, has come back to earth long enough  to get his education at MIT and has never owned a car---more or less, but flies a Beechcraft 36 everywhere. Last night he stopped in Bryan, Ohio to refuel on his way home to South Dakota for Thanksgiving, not landing until  01:30 this morning.  after being in Vermont and upstate New York before heading for home.

He has a foundation that he set up. He travels everywhere by his own plane; has more flight hours than some first officers that fly commercially. He writes software---for lack of a better way to describe it---and enjoys life to the fullest. 

I went out to DFW yesterday after paying my annual visit to my bank's branch in Irving. I said to the tellers that every thing has come early this year--spring;summer;fall. So, here I am in November rather than December this year! I had a little check (AARGH) people still send those, that had that little annoying statement---deposit promptly. Then why use checks....electronics work fine. Also, since I get one of those annually and it's 16 miles out to the bank and 16 miles back---unless I go to DFW from there, which I did. But I wanted the tellers to show me how to use the app to deposit the check electronically so I didn't have to heed the warning---Deposit Promptly.

One of the guys came over to the desk and I explained that I wanted to learn about the photo process of depositing checks with the app and where could I get the app since I had looked and could not fine it on the website. He paused a minute and then said," Actually, I've never used it."  I said to him, Gee. I don't even know you and I love you already!" The other teller broke out in a laugh. He said, I can tell you like being honest. Any hoot. I got the little annoyance deposited and then headed to the airport.

Founder's was packed when I got there and I didn't stay long, but long enough to see changes to the new rail line into Terminal B. It opens very soon with the TEX rail from Ft. Worth to the big airport. Terminal A has had Dart's light rail for a couple of years already and it won't be long before the Cotton belt will roll in to the mix. 

A hawk riding thermals above the 18's at DFW. Surprisingly, the planes come in under him on approach and take off below and  beyond him. It's like a soup bowl and he flies right over the center as planes come and go on the rims down into the bowl. Make sense?  Also, he scares off a lowt of the birds that could cause a problem.

Atlas at UPS with the wintering grasses being cut beyond the fence to the tarmac. The tractor driver likes to watch the planes too!!

Here, where you see the crane boom, look to the right at grade level to see the canopies for the TEX rail into Terminal B. Also, the runways at the end of the 17's are getting  a re-configuration for holding and crossings. A big improvement. One side has it already.
There was an Atlas Air 747 parked at the UPS terminal. Normally, Atlas parks father down beyond the American Airline Hangers on the west side of the field. I can only make a couple of guesses as to why: 1) UPS leased the Atlas 747 for the holidays.2) Atlas is under contract for UPS during the holidays.3) Amazon is somehow in the mix of things! (they have a plane with the A to Z arrow logo on it that flies into DFW already.

At home, I got a text from my baby brother that lives here in the Metroplex. I knew that he would be going to Houston to see his daughter over Thanksgiving and we are having lunch on Saturday. He has a way of telling me things that is funny and always tries to up one on me. He said he was taking the Von Lane to Houston (google it---he said) I said in reply, Nice Buses! I have photographed them on the road! (I just had to do that, don't ya see?) Anyway, it didn't take long to figure out that he was on the bus en route already. We had an hour and a half of texting back and forth. The buses really are nice. 22 plush recliner-type leather seats with food, refreshments, WI-FI, power plugs, even table tops for video projection in the back. That's it! 22 people-no more- direct drop-off at the hotel. I'm saying, like little brother---google it!

So, my turkey is thawed and ready for the oven tomorrow. I'm going to have a quiet Thanksgiving---I'm hoping. And I'm going to try to do some more walking with the weather being nice and getting nicer again. 70s for the weekend. Clouds are high and thin and that is an old farmers observation that a weather system is moving in. So, I got to get moving to have pictures to work on tonight. I have had a run of several straight days of sales. The hard work over the long hot summer is beginning to be realized in sales. Like the old bumper sticker from years ago---"Fly Southwest. Herb needs the Money", well, media buyers I have 8,000 images on line so " Fly dallaspaparazzo.com. I need the money like Herb did !"



It All Started in the wee hours of May 28th when 80 MPH winds was tossing everything against the side of my house.

 Those winds were substained for well over 40 minutes. The results were trees everywhere down or large branches broken off. One of my bus ro...