What a difference a city makes

As I was meandering around Michigan (Flint to Grand Rapids to Detroit back to Flint in a four day span) I did a lot of the driving.  My in-laws are not fans of driving in big cities, I can handle it just fine though.  While we were in and around Detroit, I started out driving five over the posted limit.  And in the mean time, was getting passed by blue hairs.  I did the only rational thing....sped up to the flow of traffic.  And before I knew it, I was going twenty and twenty five over.  A fact my friend Marc would be most proud of.  And I was still getting passed by some people (although I was doing more passing than being passed).  Holy shit.  

I didn't think much of it at the time because I was going with the majority of the flow of traffic.  But when I got back to Wichita, that drastically changed.  I hit about five over the limit and was passing everyone.  It is funny how things like that work.  Just recently, the city police set up a bear trap and nailed someone for going about thirty five over the posted limit.  That right there is why I don't speed too often.  I have no desire to be the person sitting on the shoulder of the road while other drivers laugh to themselves (at least that is what I do when I see speeders pulled over on the highway and/or in the city).  There is nothing wrong with setting up a bear trap.  It helps maintain.  

Big cities like Detroit have crazy drivers.  The way Marc described driving in Atlanta was the following.  'Just go.  The drivers behind you are paying attention.'  He tried to pass this mentality onto me while we were in Dallas a couple of years ago.  My brain doesn't work that way.  I need to look, I need to know what is going on around me.  I understand the thought process behind it, but can't bring myself to change lanes blindly.  

Return travels

After an excellent weekend that saw a friend get married, my Detroit Tigers beat the Brewers three games in a row for a sweep, and great great weather, I had to come back to Kansas (BOO!)

The first flight was delayed about ten minutes because it was late coming out of Chicago.  No big deal.  They refueled and went back with new passengers.  I got a little anxious when we had to take an alternate flight route for some reason.  The pilot explained it, but they always talk too closely to their microphones that is hard to understand them.  So we went over Lake Michigan and came in west of Chicago.  I started to internally panic because as we were landing was the time that my second flight was suppose to be boarding.  If anyone knows me well, I have this urge to be on time.  Or be where I am suppose to be early.  After the plane landed I had to be one of those people that rushed out of the plane.  The people that need to be the first off the plane.  I felt bad because the flight I was rushing to get to wasn't even boarding yet because it was late coming in.  DAMMIT!  And, it was loading right next to the one that I just came in on.  

I felt a little bit like an ass because I rushed past several people just to stand in line again.  

Travel rundown

It was anarchy in the Wichita airport when I arrived. There were three groups of people crammed into one gate waiting area. One flight to Chicago was delayed coming in, one flight going out to Dallas getting ready to leave, and my flight (the later flight to Chicago) had people arriving. Both the Dallas and Chicago flight started boarding at the same time. The problem was that there were not enough airport employees to organize everyone. Long lines makes many people nervous. There were people that were on my flight that thought that it was leaving early because they heard calls for a flight to Chicago. This was the first time I had been in the Wichita airport and it wasn't well organized, but I wouldn't put the blame on them. It was out of their control. The weather slowed a plane that was coming in.

The connection in Chicago was smooth. No problems at all. Well, they changed the departure gate. It moved down two gates. So far, I have not had any problems with O'Hare. I believe I am lucky that way. My brother was stuck there at Christmas time overnight because of the weather.

I watched a man today in the Chicago O'Hare airport stop and pray. Facing the west at sunset. Without a care in the world, he found large window, set down all of his bags and started. There were not many people around, and in a way, it was peaceful to watch.

On the opposite side of the 'peaceful to watch' spectrum, some guy just walked by scratching himself. Classy. Really? In the middle of the airport?

Half way there

Last Wednesday was my previous day off.  That doesn't sound that bad until you realize that I don't have another day off until the Friday.  An eight day stretch.  Sounds awful, right?  Right.  But, this eight day stretch allows me to have four days off in a row and not take any vacation time.  

One of our friends from high school is getting married in five days, and we are going to Michigan for her wedding.  I already had the weekend off, so in order to have Friday off, I have to work on Wednesday.  This allows me to not use any valuable vacation time.  A small price to pay to save that time.  

In the end, it is worth it.  Eight straight days of work sounds like a lot, and it really is draining, but I am half way through.  Working on the weekend always make the days go quickly.  The slow day is going to be that last day, Thursday.  It will also be a really long day.  I work all day, come home, and fly out three hours later.  At the end of the day, I will land in the Great Lake State at 11:00 post meridian.  Roughly a thirteen hour day.  

It will all be worth it.  I will get to see old friends, family, and go to a Tigers game!  It will be a great weekend, but it will go quickly.  

A moment of humanity

As I was driving home from dropping off someone else's packages at the post office (looking in your direction A), I witnessed a moment that made me believe in humanity once again.  

A mother duck and five ducklings were crossing four lanes (and a turning lane) of traffic.  This wasn't at five in the morning when there is hardly anyone on the road, but it was at three in the afternoon.  Very busy time.  However, all four lanes of traffic stopped.  

It made me smile.  A lot.  

History for and history against

The day that the Stanley Cup finals started, I wrote a post that stated that the Wings would win in six games.  Oops.  Game six was a game of almosts for the Wings though.  The passes were just missing, posts were hit, and the Penguins goalie and defense stood tall.  It was the best the Wings had played in Pittsburgh all series, with the exception of the first period.  Both teams were awful in the first period.  

Game seven is tomorrow night, and I cannot wait.  This series has been great.  With the exception of a five to nothing beat down shutout by the Wings in game five, all the games have been well contested.  I have seen two bits of history in regards to the Cup finals that I thought I would share.  

Bit o' history part one:  The last time two teams met in consecutive Stanley Cup finals, they split the wins.  The scary part is that the Wings won last year over the Pens.  

Bit o' history part two:  The last time the road team won a game seven in the Stanley Cup finals was in 1971.  It was the Montreal Canadiens.  There have been six game sevens since then, all of which won by the home team.  The good news is that the game is in Detroit tomorrow.  

So which past of the history will game seven be a part of Friday night?  Obviously I want it to be part of the second bit of history.  And I think it will be.  The Wings have only lost once at home this post season.  Eleven and one!  I hope it will be twelve and one at home and that they will hoist the Stanley Cup for the twelfth time.  

Michigan, the economy, and sports

For all the bad that has happened to Michigan, and Detroit specifically, since the down turn in the economy there has been one bright light for the state.  Sports.  Not all sports though.  The Lions, for example, were horrid.  But they did get a supposed savior this year in Matthew Stafford (let's hope he pans out).  

Sports won't bring jobs.  Sports won't put food on the table.  Sports won't better your life.  What sports will do, however, is raise your spirits if only for a little bit.  Sports will allow you to forget your worries and the harsh reality in the fact that the state is in trouble financially.  One thing that I thought I would never see is the auto industry get into trouble, but it happened and Detroit is just going to have to recover as best it can.  The stock market and the economy are both slowly starting to turn around.  It is time for people to make the best of a bad situation and wait.  

Sports teams in the state of Michigan have been doing well this year.  The WNBA team, the Detroit Shock, won another title last year.  They are coached by legendary Bad Boy, Bill Laimbeer.  The Wings are one win away from another Stanley Cup.  The Tigers are playing well a quarter of the way through the season (they are in first place in the Central Division).  The Pistons made it too the playoffs, although they were disposed of rather quickly by Cleveland.  The Michigan State Spartans made it all the way to the final game of the NCAA men's basketball tournament before losing to UNC.  

I know that when Detroit teams are on national television, the commentators bring up the trouble that Detroit has run into.  A lot.  What I don't know is if the players on all these teams think about the situation.  I am sure it is hard to think about other people's problems when they make millions of dollars a year, but if they do and try to win one for the city, that is great.  I listened to an interview with Jim Leyland (manager of the Detroit Tigers) recently, and a question was asked about the team and wether or not they are aware of the situation in the city.  Now I am paraphrasing here, but Leyland basically said that the players are aware of the problems the city and the state are having and they are playing this season for them (the city and state).  They want people to come to Comerica Park and forget about their situation, if only for a couple of hours.  If the Detroit Tigers are playing every game this year with the thought of helping people forget about the shit storm that is the everyday economy, I am more on board than ever.  

The night is darkest just before the dawn Michigan.  

Historical reading

For quite some time, I have been stockpiling historical books.  Two that I cannot wait to get to are the Federalist Papers and Anti-Federalist Papers.  I also have a couple of books about wars that I am not familiar with, the Franco-Prussian War and the Crimean War.  I want to start the books so much, but I also am a slow reader, so it takes a while to get through them.  I cannot sit up for hours and hours reading.  I can only read for thirty minutes before I start to really get tired.  And yes, an easy remedy is to read during the day, but I always associate it with going to bed.  Something to unwind my mind after a day.  Even novels, a chapter or two and that is it.  

And when you get into historical books, it is a ton of information to take it.  I am reading a bunch of stuff by Thomas Paine.  Common Sense, Age of Reason, the Crisis, etc.  Everything that made him relevant.  There is a bunch of stuff in these pamphlets that can be seen in modern day content and it is great.  One of the greater lines that I just recently read was the following:  'My own mind is my own church.'.  I love it. 

I try to work in a novel or two in between these history books, which is really the only time my mind really unwinds, book-wise.  Historical books are learning books.  It doesn't hurt to continue to learn, even if you have been out of school for five years (like I have been).