Category: Orphans

No, Senator John McCain, the Arizona Republican who lost the presidential race to Barack Obama, isn’t chasing a North Korean ship. Instead the USS John S. McCain — named after McCain’s admirals father and grandfather — is shadowing the Kang Nam.

The ship is suspected of carrying weapons or nuclear material, possibly to Myanmar. Even more odd or perhaps not, the guided missile destroyer, shaddowing the North Korean vessel is commanded by an officer born in South Korea.

Cdr. Jeffrey J. Kim, according to the McCain Web site, was born in Seoul and grew up in Albany, Calif., after immigrating to the U.S. with his family. He holds an aeronautics and astronautics degree from MIT, a master’s in public policy from Harvard and also studied as an Olmsted Scholar at Leiden University in the Netherlands, following Dutch language training via the Defense Language Institute.

Does that give this mission an international flair or what?

It was fortunate for me that my old J-school chum Paul is an early riser since we we working on my new blog site Saturday night via Facebook chat. That is because Paul is in Japan and I am in Southeast Texas. And I guess that technically means that Paul wasn’t working on my new blog site on Saturday night. Ohh. I’m so confused!

Anyway, I am almost to the point where I am ready to switch to WordPress even though there will still be some rough patches along the way. The contents are kind of bare for now on the new site but it is easy to find since the URL will be www.eightfeetdeep.com. This information, I pass along for those friends of mine who like to check in from time-to-time. It’s not like I am going to be giving away prizes for those who visit my site although I suppose I could give the 1,000th page viewer a box of rocks. That would happen, when, sometime next Spring maybe?

My friend and new Tokyo correspondent, Paul,  is trying to help me figure out this new WordPress means of blogging. So if what comes out looks stupid, please forgive me. It isn’t my fault. That’s a joke son!

It is Friday in the Laundromat. People seem either hyper, wistful or in the case of kids — kids. I am staying on point with my clothes getting clean but am largely contemplating the possibility of changing Web providers.

For some time I have wanted to do more with the Web. Perhaps not so much this blog because it has long been singularly a writing exercise — motivational exercise to be more precise. But the opportunity has presented itself via an old college friend who lives in Japan to change to a different platform with which improving my old Web haunts is possible. In doing so, I just might improve my product or perhaps go off on some different direction.

I am thinking about it. Change is difficult. More so when you get older. But what else do I have going right now?

What the heck is going on with Continental airlines?

Granted, I haven’t done a lot of flying in my life when compared with many other folks. I have flown more in the past 10 years than in the previous 20 and as a whole I have made more flights on Continental than with any other airline. The reason for that is geographical. The two cities from which I have made the most flights were relatively small and had either one or two airlines from which to choose. One of those were Continental “connections” as the company advertises.

I have found Continental service more good than not good. They certainly have had a decent safety record. I have lost baggage with Continental twice. The first time my bags showed up the next day. The last time, the bags went bye-bye and it took months to get reimbursed for what I had to replace.

In the last few weeks, Continental has shown up in the news more than often. Today, of course, one of their pilots died in mid-flight on an international flight from Brussels to Newark. Apparently, the passengers were none the wiser.

This comes just days after two different unaccompanied girls, one 8 years old and the other 10, were mistakenly flown by Continental to wrong destinations. Ooops!

The pilot’s demise is one of those things, the mistaken flights not so much. But one incident involving a Continental “connection” also apparently no fault of the company’s but probably more alarming than all the aforementioned incidents has received little notice except in my area of Texas.

Pilots on a Continental Express jet which just left George Bush International Airport in Houston for Greenville, S.C. reported seeing what appeared to be a rocket flying toward them around 8 p.m. on May 29. The pilot of the plane, carrying 23 passengers, reported the rocket had triangular fins. Authorities believe the rocket was of civilian type and of the kind used by hobbyists. It was thought the rocket was launched somewhere in Chambers County, which is one of the counties on the western border of the county in which I reside (Jefferson County). The near encounter was believed to have occurred between 2-to-4 miles north of Interstate 10.

A similar incident also took place on Memorial Day weekend in 2008 in the same area. Involved was another Continental jet. This one a 737 carrying 148 passengers which had just left Houston for Cleveland.

Suddenly, the skies don’t seem quite so friendly. Oh, right. That was United.