No museum would be complete without modern fighter jets including a MiG on the right side, and a Huey behind the fighter. Don't forget the Sidewinder in the foreground. 

A closer look at the Enterprise. 

Of course almost as impressive, Enterprise Space Shuttle. Part of the wing is midding as NASA took it for testing after the recent tragedy. 

How about the ever historic Enola Gay, dubious pleasure of dropping the first ever atomic bomb in hostility. In fact this plane was so heavy they stripped virtually all armaments leaving it the most dangerous unprotected plane in the war. 

First ever Boeing 707, revolutionary for the airline industry at the time. Also the basis for the KC-173 refueling plane. 

First ever plane that could take off vertically but then fly like a propeller jet. Anyone want to go for a ride? 

Communication satellite used for communication with space shuttles. Does this fragile piece of machinery actually look like it would hold up in space? 

An actual NASA control panel. The best the 60s had to offer. Can you see the tele-type printer on the right, the top of the line monitors. How did they deal with those crazy looking buttons? 

Mars Lander anyone. Yes one of the most succesful things NASA has done in years (besides buring one of their landers on other planets), the two Mars landers exceeded their design capacity in virtually every way. 

An above view of the SR-71.  

How about the SR-71, one of the fastest spy planes ever made by the US. Only one was ever shot down in Russia. This one was able to go Mach 3.  

An old WWII fighter. This would definitely cause me to pause if hurling down on my plane.  

Comes complete with a 150ft control tower. Some great views of the real Dulles airport. 

Air and Space Museum that I went to over Thanksgiving. Smithsonian branch at Dulles airport. Unbelievable.  

Do it for the children!

Today I did it for the children. What you might ask? Endure 17 gauge needles, centrifuges, tubes, and of course munching on the occasional tums. Does this sound like your normal day of donating blood? It was anything but.

Let me introduce you to Apheresis. Apheresis is the process that blood centers use to obtain specific components of blood for use in specific purposes. So how did I get involved in this whole process? As some of you might remember about three months ago I donated blood as part of a normal blood drive. I gave what is called whole blood, or straight pull blood from your body. About a month later I got a letter from the blood center marked urgent test results. This is enough to get any guys blood pressure pretty darn high. It turns out I am CMV negative (CMV= Cytomegaolvirus). CMV for those of you not pursuing your medical degree, CMV is a non-harmful disease that most Americans have but can not be given in blood transfusions to children. Now even more detailed, Apheresis is a process that separates the blood into their prime components being either platelets, pure red blood cells or one other type (yeah I was a little out of it when this was explained). Platelets, being one of the most precious types, is used for cancer patients, specifically Leukemia patients since they can not make their own. These Platelets only last for about 4 days out of the body, but are usually used in less than two days they are in such high demand. There is almost always a shortage of them!

This process involves your blood being taken out of one tube, running through an amazing Rube Goldberg like machine with blood moving through multiple small tubes, reservoirs, 4 slow spinning turnstiles, and one fast centrifuge. Out goes the yellowish platelets while the remaining blood with a little saline is returned to your vein through the same tube. This process takes from start to finish more than two hours. So you walk into this room and from start to finish you are treated like a rock star. You sit in a standard dentist chair with their typical plastic pleather seats. Immediately you are given hand warmers, blankets, and heated chair pads. A set of noise canceling headsets are placed on your head and a choice of over 400 movies is placed on your lap for you viewing pleasure.

While you are donating they tell you that you might experience some numbness in your jaw. If this happens tell them. Of course 45 minutes into my donation I had that. No problem just munch on some tums for calcium and keep going. I will be honest you will feel the vibrations from the centrifuge rippling through your body and it does sometimes cause some numbness in different parts of your body, but you think of the children (insert awwww here!). 2 hours later you are all set, ready for some OJ, cookies, and a sweet young lady to book you for your next go around in 2 weeks. Actually you can donate in the worst case in 72 hours, but 2 weeks for your own schedule limitations.

So after my first time doing Apheresis I want to encourage everyone to check with your blood center and see if you are a candidate. This truly will make the difference between life or death in some of these Leukemia patients, especially the pediatric ones that need frequent infusions. So save a life, plus it looks good when you tell women you are donating to save the life of babies! :-)

Post Thanksgiving day doldrums

Snooze. Ahh the post Turkey feeling of complacency and laziness. Nothing like spending a few hours with 13 of your closest friends or at least relatives. Yes I flew to Baltimore to spend the big Turkey day with my parents, my grandparents and a slew of cousins and other relatives. One of the highlights of the evening was one of my relatives bringing a VHS tape that was made from home movies (8mm) in the 60s. Now for all of you who grew up in the 60s, WOW, how did you survive? For those of you like me born in the 70s or 80s, remember those really bad movies we watched in school about sex-ed or history about the 60s? It is all true! The crazy outfits that parents dress their kids in, well seeing is believing. The dancing, well I guess it was in style, and I am sure ours looks crazy to them, but WOW. What is that? Suffice to say it was well worth watching.

Otherwise the evening was filled with good food (well done mom and dad!), good humor, old stories, and new stories of course. An event that ran well into the late evenings, to be repeated hopefully on an annual basis. Thanks fam.

Today driving for an hour and a half, we dropped off my grandparents at Dulles airport. So what do you do in Washington DC at 9:30 in the morning? How about going to the new Smithsonian air and space museum (yes I know nerd but it was cool). Their collection includes the Space Shuttle Enterprise, the Enola Gray, a concord, the new joint strike fighter, a couple of MiGs, and a slew of different missles. It was impressive sight to see these awesome improvements in aeronautical history before your very eyes. They even had original control panels from NASA from the 70s. Can we say teletype machines, and cathode ray tubes? Ok antiques come in multiple forms. Pictures will be uploaded later.

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving with either family or friends. Oh and the food too!

Travel on Turkey Day

It was definitely a strange feeling getting on a plane again today. I haven’t been on a plane in almost a month, and I have to tell you it has been wonderful. I have been able to have a consistent schedule going to the gym, actually able to get groceries for more than 4 days at a time, and get to spend time with friends both new and old. But this was personal travel, I flew out to see my parents for the big Turkey weekend. It will be a number of extended family members in what should prove to be both entertaining and eventful. I am sure there will be many more stories as the weekend continues.

The airports were surprisingly organized and calm. Yes they were absolutely packed for the holidays. You had your share of toddlers not really toddling around, but baby running under seats, under departure/arrival screens and almost running onto jet ways. They were followed closely by parents of varying ages all with the shared physical attributes of bags under their eyes and a tired weight on their shoulders. But also a proud and forgiving smile at all the rocus caused by their respective charges. You had business travels rushing back to be home for the holidays. Many sporting holiday attire, trying to get into the mood, while putting on a brave face after traveling for an indeterminate amount of time. Christmas music is being piped throughout the airport, trying to keep passengers calm as delays and cancellations put a strain on everyone’s patience. The music is drowned by the limitless cell phone conversations being held down to a dull roar as people try to be heard over the security announcements and boarding information.

Every flight is sold out without a single seat being available for the occasional employee desperate to get somewhere on a ride. Flight attendants pleading over the speakers trying to convince people to quickly take their seats to enable flights already delayed to leave as quickly as possible. Yet everyone seems just a little more patient, a little more forgiving no matter what the problem, after all it is the holiday season.

I wish anyone and everyone traveling in the next 48 hours the best of luck. May your flights all be on-time, your flight attendants attractive and kind, and your seats by the window away from the smelly old guy. Be a little patient with those slower than you , they might have been on duty for 20+ hours. For all of you not traveling, Live it up, someday it will be you too!

More as this T-day holiday continues.

Ahh the relaxation of Yoga, until tomorrow

As many of you know I decided a couple of months ago to take on a new endeavor. Something that would challenge but also improve me. So I decided to take a Yoga class that so many people rave about. Going into a class that is comprised almost completely of females is not as easy as you ladies might think. Just once have I attended an aerobics class and I couldn’t last more than half the class, and I would like to think I am in shape. Entering a class of nothing but women you represent the male gender, you represent every egotistical, macho, muscle bound male that has ever swaggered by a female as they are doing ball exercises and snickered. You feel the looks on your back as they see someone who has invaded their domain, and now they challenge you to see if you can keep up.

You walk into a darkened room with soft music playing in the background. Figures lay on mats scattered around the floor in no particular order except the vague direction toward the front of the room. You see bodies contorted in unnatural and seemingly painful and unimaginable positions. So as a male in an uncomfortable situation you try to blend. You don’t know how to do those crazy stretches so you rely on your normal stretches like you were about to run a race or play a game of football. The other members of the class smile to themselves as they can see a large neon sign hanging over you saying YOGA VIRGIN! Then the teacher comes in. She speaks in a ghost like voice. Swishing in and out of your hearing range as you strain to hear the directions. The rest of the students begin to fall into the yoga like trance with a sense of calm in this otherwise crazy world. Their eyes clothes as they let their bodies move to the sound of that whispery voice. You on the other hand are still as rigid as a 2x4, eyes wide open trying to grasp the subtleties of every move. What seems easy to others you are straining to achieve even a small percent of. In minutes you are perspiring with the strain of moving undiscovered muscles in directions you never thought possible. Fear of the mirth you are sure others have toward your lack of knowledge or skill provides a reverse affect tensing up those very muscles you are trying to relax.

By the end of the hour your body lays tired on the mat, a quivering puddle of skin, bone and muscle. You slowly get up, limp your way to the door and immediately retract as if burned to the bright glare of the overhead lights. You continue to walk guardedly to the locker room, pick up your clothes and move into the blissfully cool night. Only there in the stillness of the night do you feel all the anxiety, pressure and strain from your day was lifted in that hour of seeming muscle torture. A smile forms on your face as you realize how good you feel. Sure you need a good muscle massage, but such a feeling you haven’t had since your last vacation sitting on a beach.

So now I have been taking the class for a number of months, and have now been welcomed into the family that has developed in the class. No longer do I feel the need to study every move of my teacher, instead letting it flow without watching. No longer do I ache for days after, well maybe only a day now. I am moving my body in ways I never thought possible. So now all of you who know what to expect, I say try something new. Go ahead, try it. You never know you might like it.

Namaste

Finally, success?

So many of my friends in this post dot com era have graduated college and been unable to obtain their choice of career based on their school major. They are stuck at either menial jobs or jobs way outside their field of interest and study. Slowly though in the past couple of months an increasing number of my friends have moved slowly onto their chosen track. The relief and feeling of worth is so apparent it is hard to imaging how they have gotten this far without it.

My sister who has a masters degree and has been trying to save the world for years has had more doors closed on her than should be conceived by any of us. Some say she has too much experience, while so many others has said she has had not enough. This is after peace corp and a slew of NGOs (non-governmental organizations). She has spent the past year or so in Egypt working for another NGO, but really not working up to her unbelievable potential. Then the good word came down, they will probably be getting a sizeable grant that she will be in charge of. This is a serious cornerstone for her and her career and she couldn’t be happier. L, Congratulations, you may have doubted yourself, but most of us who love you never have.

My good friend CF, who has been stuck in a lousy sales job for three years instead of engineering which is what he toiled and labored on in school. Well recently he has found a job that better uses his skills and his interests including traveling (which is always fun). CF I know it has been a long road, and a frustrating one, but jolly good show!

So for all of you out there in this tough job market. Don’t give up, don’t despair (too much) there is hope, there are jobs and there is a decent future out there. As for me, well I think I have a roadmap as to where I am going to be going for the next couple of years, and that is just plain exciting.

Kids movies for adults?

This weekend purely by chance I saw the two kids/family movies of the holiday season, those of course being (for those of you living in a shoe) The Incredibles and The Polar Express. Previously I had also seen Shark Tale, also a kids movie that has come out a few weeks prior to this pair. Let me start by saying I enjoyed all of them very much, I think they were creative, funny, fast paced and original. With that I was a little surprised with the adult content in an increasing number of children’s movies. Shark Tale was liberally scattered with adult themes throughout and even the Incredibles had a possible cheating spouse and an albeit brief marital encounter. Now I am all for adults enjoying taking their children to the movie and enjoying it just as much. I still remember when my parents took me to see arguably one of Disney’s most successful plurism movie, Aladdin. I do believe my father laughed more than my sister and I (and for anyone who knows my father, that is quite a feat). All of that was done without the themes of sex and gratuitous violence. Now far be it from me to sound like a prude, in fact I love a good movie with gratuitous sex and violence (with a strong leaning for the former), but could this be a reason why children are growing up or at least acting out adult themes earlier and earlier? Is it any surprise when kids watch Power Rangers and then spend the next 2 hours hitting and kicking each other. We act out what we see on TV and in the movies. So although we think movie studios feel they need to bring in the sure ingredients of success (little skin action please, and a dash of explosion) a good movie can be successful without. The Polar Express is a perfect example. There must have been 200+ kids in the IMAX 3-D theater where I saw that movie, and they laughed and screamed and had as much fun as the same number in the Incredibles. So do you bring your children to see those movies? Absolutely! They are both outstanding movies. But be prepared on the way home to answer a question or two as to why the father was close to another woman, not mom.

Never a dull moment

So here I was minding my own business getting ready for an afternoon emergency drill but just trying to take it easy (a.k.a chillen). We get an emergency informational alert message that a power station near to us has had an acid leak. Ok, nothing for us to do but help keep people away since as a non-air born leak nothing to really panic about. Fire department shows up with their massive HazMat truck and supplies, but again this is all still routine. Come on you guessed it Until….

Well apparently the acid is 98% pure Sulfuric Acid which is of course very dangerous but what was even more dangerous was it was literally spurting within inches of a 5000 gallon tank of some very explosive noxious chemical. If this acid would spray onto the tank, it would eat through it in short order and then, well Ka-Boom! Now this would not be a small Ka-Boom, this would have been explosion with well simply bad gas (worse than most men at the completion of Superbowl Sunday). Without prompting the Fire Department asks if we still have that specialized emergency vehicle with the remote camera that we can position in to get some bird’s eye views? Of course we do. So here’s Matthew driving straight into the middle of the scene, firing up all his equipment and getting that camera in nice and close. Turn around and there is the Battalion Chief, Safety Officer, and roughly 6 other firefighters looking over my shoulder trying to figure out if we should close off a couple of city blocks or how we can stop this. I figure I am going to stay close to these guys.

Good news was as the pressure went down on the Sulfuric Acid pipe it got farther and farther from the combustible tank, so we were safe. Did I mention it was raining the whole time? You really wonder how many incidents happen like this close to us, and we never know anything about them. Wonder how many times medics, or figh fighters, or cops do something that we never know about that preventively saved lives. As the British would say, "Good show, Good show". So all was right in the world. We monitored the situation as a safety precaution for the Fire Department allowing their Batallion Chief to look over the shoulder of the HazMat crew without actually getting into the "Hot Zone".

But what a way to start the day and get your blood pumping. The cool thing was technology is just as important as bravery and manpower. I will put up a couple of pictures on my blog for those who are interested.

Then to top it off we had our Mass Casualty drill later in the day. By the end of the day I was just wiped, absolutely wiped. But today is Friday and I have a whole weekend to recover! Yea!

Full care was provided in the "Cold Zone" for those people who might have been affected or sprayed. Thankfully no one was hurt. 

This is the "Warm Zone" used for decontamination. Anyone for public showering? 

Full SCBA gear is of course required. Red tape can be seen as the border of the full "Hot Zone" 

Start by finding the leak and seeing if they can stop it at the closest flange. 

I'm back...........

I know I haven’t written in a while and for those loyal readers who wanted to know if I was still alive, I appreciate the sentiments and yes I am alive. I had an amazing time in Florida with my good friend K, who showed me the best of the night life and even some of the wonders of the Fort Lauderdale beaches (can we say thongs!, not that I would ever look at something like that). Of course leave it to me, who else would go to the warmest place in this country and come back with strep throat. Yes boys and girls the answer would be me.

Finally went to the doctor today and got some drugs, guuuuuud drugs, but I would like to spend a second on this. I went to the Drs office today at 8am without any appointment or advanced notice, and was seen by my normal doctor at 8:20. Now I know doctors and nurses kinda get a bad rap at times since they are just so overworked, but I would like to say thanks to mine for being so accommodating. Inspires a little more faith in our healthcare system.

Other than that I worked a bit over the weekend (of course I did), but also spent a good amount of time collapsed on the couch falling asleep during sappy movies. So now back at work for another week and ready for all kinds of fun things, like just this morning we had an LN2 (Liquid Nitrogen for non-FD) leak which caused all kinds of havoc for a couple of hours. A great way to get the blood moving in the body.

Just wanted to thank everyone for their concern and have a great week.

V-DAY (keep this pg rated)

It is finally D-Day or V-Day if you prefer. I am here reporting live from FL and there is an electricity in the air. I woke up to the sound of sirens outside. I look out of my suite just in time to see a large motorcade driving briskly down the main street. Was it a governor, a president, or a candidate? I have no idea, but it was stereotypical of the feeling that is being felt everywhere. A sense of urgency and in some places touching on virtual panic. On my 13 mile commute to work I was inundated with supporters standing on street corners with signs pleading with fellow supporters of their candidate to honk to show their support (if that means they will vote that way is a whole different issue). It is barely 9am and that is what everyone is talking about. More updates as the day progresses.

Darn you parents and your morals!!

So I received a question based on my posting yesterday concerning behavior and comfortability in clubs and bars. Personally I love going to a bar and just chilling over a few beers, or going to a loud crowded and smoky club and doing a little dancing and drinking. But what I can’t seem to do is perfect what many people ridicule me over and have perfected. It is a talent that people seem to either have or not and later in life challenging to learn. That being the ability to begin crunching (for those over the age of 30, crunching=~dancing) with random members of the opposite sex never having met before or many times without ever even seeing their face. Many times that leads to random public displays of affection which is the other appeal for going clubbing. As much as I love going to clubs with friends and enjoying their company I have yet to figure out the finer aspects of random crunching. It always seems like such a sleazy thing to do (damn you parents for the overly developed sense of propriety !). Perhaps it has less to do with morality and more to do with a sense of ego. The more someone thinks they are G-ds gift to men or women the more inclined they are to approach randoms assuming or knowing that it would be that person’s pleasure to dance with. For anyone who has seen me dance, you know I have no reason to have that sense of ego. For those of you who currently club and have previously clubbed and wish to share, please do (disclaimer: for those of you married and go simply to dance you are relieved from this burden and do not need to explain, we understand that aspect, sorry A.A.)


On a completely separate note I would like to draw attention that I believe has been overlooked in the hype of the weeks of late. Here I am in Southern Florida, and for those of you not aware of the laws and regulations of all counties and states of this blessed union let me fill you in on something I recently learned. Florida in an attempt to encourage and assist people in voting allows for early voting for up to 2 weeks prior to V-day. Personally I think this is great and should be encouraged in states all across the country. I think this would make voting more convenient and encourage more people to vote that might not be able to make it to the polls on a specific week day either do to personal issues or business conflicts. So here I am driving around a significantly less than affluent area in Hollywood FL looking for a Starbucks (yes I know I am a CA yuppie) when I drive across a curious site. Hundreds of people lining up around the block just standing around. Obviously curios of such random sight, I circle around and discover that the nondescript building that is probably ignored most days is none other than a voting location, and the line-up was our fellow Americans lining up to perform their obligation, nay their privilege of deciding who will lead them for the next four years. That right that has been secured by the blood of those from the darkest places in Harlem to the highest penthouses of LA, being executed by those who need it the most. One of the pivotal items in this election for me is not who will win (although I have Very strong feelings on not only the Presidential candidates but also on many of the amendments and props that are up around the country), but this election as a whole. With one of the highest turnouts ever expected in all demographic groups and all geographic locations can there be no better outcome from last term’s election? The inspiration and motivation to spur out citizens to speak up in dozens of languages to declare their choice. Gone is the apathy of past years, gone is the declaration of ‘who cares’, now the discussion is heard everywhere from airplanes, private parties, to even McDonalds. This is what our country is all about, so whomever you are voting for, go out there and perform one of the easiest and least stressful civic duties that we Americans have, go VOTE!