tfl: The Flatiron Life

Bombing in Africa hits home
In April, I reported that a friend from high school, Heath, was being deployed to Africa. Sunday there was a suspected friendly fire attack during an exercise in Djibouti. I am told that the unit that was attacked is the unit to which Heath is deployed. Heath was not injured but one of his direct superiors lost his leg from the knee down. Always remember to keep our service people in your thoughts and prayer. You do not have to be in the front lines or carry a gun to be working to protect the Republic. Accidents will happen, and the Marine that died did so protecting us.

Ticket to Ride Arrives
The Secretary of State of the United States of America hereby requests all whom it may concern to permit Jacob Tomaw to pass without delay or hindrance and in case of need to give all lawful aid and protection.

Lemonade Permit
A neighbor turned in a little girl for selling lemonade without a permit. This story is a little old, but still a good read. Here is what Rush had to say about the story.

Nina’s Tribute Site
Every beautiful young journalist has to have a fan site! So, a tribute has been created to the lovely woman and her growing body of work. This will be a running list of all the information with which Nina has graced the world. The newest item in the tribute is a story about Andy Rooney receiving the Ernie Pyle Lifetime Achievement Award.
Rock on Nina!

The other Football
Yesterday I want to Sportmart to buy a soccer ball. There was a whole wall of them, just like there is for footballs, basketballs, and baseballs. I imagine that if you put microphones in any sporting goods section the number one uttered phrase would be, ?I just want a ball.? They had two sizes, 4 and 5. I did not want a kiddy ball and the boxes said that 5 was the official size. That narrowed me down to half the wall. I had picked up one ball but was not sure if it was good or bad. A salesman walked up and I ask, ?If he knew anything about soccer balls?? I assumed him to be a typical American and have no idea. Instead he answered that he was a big fan of soccer, in an Irish accent. He pointed out the balls that he owned, and then ones that they did and did not have back home in Ireland. He also recommended a ball that is not sold in America. I went with a yellow Nike ball.

Tragedy on the L
This is a couple days old, but still noteworthy. The Sun-Times also follows up with a story about L platform safety.

Got Soy?
Last weekend I planted four soy beans that I had gleaned from a field near my mother??s house last fall. I planted them in the little pot that was using for my house plant. I planted them in some Miracle-Gro potting mix.. Yesterday when I came home there were huge! They are over 20cm (8in) in length today, and they have grown about 3cm (1in) in the last day. They were all pointing towards the window that is near my table, so I turned them. Every time I look at them they are bigger! These beans are easily going to be a foot high by the Forth of July. I cannot imagine what would have happen if I had planted corn! I cannot imagine what they will be like next week. (Note: The three plants are facing the other direction because they had a close encounter of the Soccer Ball kind.??)

Flying Snob Report
I returned home to Chicago, Mayor Richard M. Daley, yesterday. While I was standing in line to print my boarding pass I recognized a face in line behind me. It was a U.S. Senator, but I could not recall his name. I was sure it was Democrat because I was sure that I usually change the channel when he is on the TV. When I returned home I looked him up and he is Sen. Byron Dorgan (D- ND). He was traveling with his prototypical political family, a lovely wife and two pre-teen children, one boy and one girl. From studying the people around him and who interacted with him, I think that I may have been the only person that recognized Sen. Dorgan. It made me a little sad. I imagine that Pres. Bush may be the only person in the Federal government that could not travel unnoticed if you removed the people that travel with them. People would probably recognize Vice Pres. Cheney, Sec. Rumsfeld, or Sec. Powell but not enough to cause any trouble for them.
As we progressed through security, which took some time because Dulles was very busy on the rainy day, I continued to keep an eye on the Senator. I was pleased to see that no short cuts were taken for him. He had to travel like any other American. Sen. Dorgan did not check his bag, you know how I feel about that, and he must have had nail clippers, a fork, or some other dangerous weapon in his luggage because it was searched and something was seized.
We both boarded the same ?people mover? to go to Terminal C. They went left and I went right. Taking all this information into account I believe that they were taking United Flight 1065 to Denver International Airport and then United 6810 to Bismarck Municipal Airport.

I had the joy of traveling with a Girl Scout Troop from Charlottesville, VA on my flight. Although they did a lot of talking during the flight it was not clear where their final destination was. They talked about future flight to and from Seattle, San Antonio, and Mexico. I learned two things while traveling with them. First, this flight was a first for one of them. She nearly hyperventilated during the take off. One of the other girls comforted her that it was an unusually rough take off, but I thought the take off was very mild. What was reaffirmed for me is that the key to a pleasant flight and a whole lot of other things in life is to just embrace that there is a lot of things going on that you do not know and no matter what you do nothing will change it. Second, Sears Tower is the big black thing by the lake.

Target crashes Tupperware’s party
Target was selling to many units, and it turns out that Tupperware ripps off it’s sales people at the parties more then Target allowed itself to be ripped off.

1,2,3 Where could the 727 be?
In Angola, A Jetliner’s Vanishing Act. This is pretty interesting, but I have not heard anything about it in the media. I only happened to hear Rush mention it.