25 Random Things About "Moi"

As posted on my Facebook tonight ...

1: My life revolves around music. I remember religiously taping Casey Kasem's American Top 40 way back in the day (and this was before I discovered he was the voice of Shaggy in "Scooby-Doo"), and eventually I worked at the Bloomfield Hills Lahser/Andover radio station for 2 1/2 years in high school. That led to college radio, wedding DJ gigs, and having more than 1,600 CDs and vinyl albums to my name right now.

2: I'll take the open road over an airline flight in a heartbeat. I've traveled between Florida and Michigan 20 times the past 10 years (starting with the initial teaching job hunt in June/July of that year), and half have been via my 1997 RAV-4. My most recent of those trips was a 21-day, 4,000-mile drive that allowed me to sightsee and visit friends/family in South Carolina, Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Washington DC, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. Definitely worth it!

3: I have a difficult time tolerating narrow-minded people who think they are always right and that various opinions other than theirs are irrelevant. Especially when it's with a staunch "religious" or "political" (or both) agenda. Listen, having a belief system is good, and if you truly hold it to your heart and use it in a positive way, then that's cool by me. But don't try to push a dogmatic position down my throat. Give me some credit as a living, breathing adult capable of critically thinking on my own.

4: I lean slightly left of center politically, but don't mistake that for supporting every Democratic party cause that exists. All political parties and many politicians have proven very capable of forgetting who they represent and abusing our tax dollars in ways unimaginable.

5: I support Israel wholeheartedly, and while I'd like to believe "peace" can exist in the Middle East during my lifetime, I'm not about to throw money down on that in Las Vegas any time soon.

6: In the late 1970s, our family went on a vacation to Michigan's Upper Peninsula, and before we left, I bought what appeared to be an interesting book (about a secret post-WWII Nazi organization) for the drive north. That book ended up becoming one of my favorites of all time, and the author is one of my two favorites. The novel I bought at Perry's Drugs: The Odessa File by Frederick Forsyth. (My other favorite author is George Orwell ... and yes, that is quite a contrast in writing styles!)

7: I am a night owl, which probably explains why (a) I write so many of these things when I should be asleep and (b) why i am so friggin' tired in the morning when I go to work.

8: My mailbox fills with between 250-300 "spam" emails a day. Every day. About 95 percent are filtered into the spam folder automatically. I review the folder on occasion (since sometimes an email lands there that shouldn't), and am always amazed at both the NAMES these spammers come up with and the SUBJECT LINES that are types. For the life of me, I cannot fathom ever writing an email to anyone that announces in the subject line, "It's very possible to get a larger organ!" or "Be the hottest man around with a long shaft." I mean, how the hell do they know all this about me? Did I fill out some sort of survey when I first set up an email account years ago?

9: Years ago, I watched Plan 9 From Outer Space. Well, I watched about 10 minutes of it after renting it from Blockbuster. And it's as bad as everyone says. Maybe even worse. I think I had headaches for five days.

10: Most of the time I like my job, but I've said that about virtually every job or position i've ever held. As a teacher, though, I think I could get a lot more actual work done if one of the following two things were absent: either (1) political bureaucrats and their mandates (unfunded class size reduction; FCAT testing), or (2) students. Yeah, i could get more actual work done.

11: I'm holding out hope that President Obama is successful and makes positive changes in the US.

12: FARK.com is the funniest web site I go to daily. My brother Charles introduced it to me a few years ago, and instead of trying to explain it to you, I instead encourage you to check it out yourself. You won't look at news (or purported news) the same way again.

13: I'd rather have substance over style.

14: Almost every night, I go to sleep with the sounds of George Winston's December CD playing on my computer. It is guaranteed to knock me out within 45 minutes.

15: I think online dating sites suck eggs. All of them. Worthless. (Do I sound bitter?)

16: I wear my heart on my sleeve way too often, and that tends to intimidate some people.

17: Along with music, following sports is a passion of mine. I am a HUGE Detroit Tigers and Red Wings fan, and had a perfect professional football season this year when Bubbles the Lioness went 0-16.

18: I am the West Palm Beach area alumni coordinator for Central Michigan University. I am also the Vice President of Individual Events for the Palm Beach Catholic Forensic League. These two titles are not related.

19: My debate program has afforded me the opportunity to do much traveling within the continental US. In the past seven years, I have visited Washington DC, Boston, Raleigh-Durham, Atlanta, Houston, Milwaukee, Chicago, and a few other places for tournaments.

20: However, my passport has yet to be stamped. (When I lived in Detroit, in the pre-9/11 days, we didn't need a passport to cross the border into Canada.)

21: Debate students are continually devising new nicknames for me. The most recent one is "The Notorious PLG." Sounds like I'll have to put together a movie about being a white rapper from the Detroit suburbs who ... what do you mean it's been done already?

22: I have worked at a local weekly newspaper the past four years part-time (and full-time during the summers). I'm also a photographer on the side.

23: I am lactose-intolerant, yet still eat pizza.

24: Stupid people and idiot drivers need to be put out of their misery. That way, they are out of my misery, too.

25: Despite living in Florida for nearly 10 years, I still bleed Detroit.

2008 Road Trip - Entry 7

SUNDAY, AUGUST 3: The USS North Carolina is an amazing sight to behold. At the time of her commissioning on April 9, 1941, she was considered the world’s greatest sea weapon. Armed with nine 16-inch/45 caliber guns in three turrets, and twenty 5-inch/38 caliber guns in ten twin mounts, the North Carolina proved a formidable weapons platform. Her wartime complement consisted of 144 commissioned officers and 2,195 enlisted men, including about 100 Marines. During World War II, the North Carolina participated in every major naval offensive in the Pacific area of operations and earned 15 battle stars. She was was decommissioned June 27, 1947, and dedicated on April 29, 1962 as the State's memorial to its World War II veterans and the 10,000 North Carolinians who died during the war.

I'll say this much about life in the Navy: Being inside a battleship is exhausting physically (there's a lot of moving around in cramped quarters), and the heat index inside a large metal box (which is basically what a battleship is, albeit a floating one) is equally taxing.

After leaving the USS North Carolina, I decided to visit another ship the following day: The USS Yorktown, a mere 175 miles south. To do so, I ended up driving through Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, which is the midway point between the two. Having never been to Myrtle Beach, I wasn't sure what to expect. From the driver's seat, it looks pretty flashy! (No, I didn't stay in town, so I can't comment on anything else other than the initial look.)

Having decided to stay overnight in Charleston, South Carolina (minutes from the Yorktown), I had to incorporate the trusty TomTom to find a gas station (because apparently late at night, along US-17, between Myrtle Beach and Charleston, is nothing remotely close to civilization). TomTom worked wonders again, locating a gas station that was not only still open, but reachable while the RAV-4 was on fumes. Whew!

MONDAY, AUGUST 4: The USS Yorktown was built in an amazing 16-½ months at Newport News, Virginia. Yorktown was commissioned on April 15, 1943, and participated significantly in the Pacific Offensive that began in late 1943 and ended with the defeat of Japan in 1945. And like the North Carolina, it's a huge monster piece of work! Decommissioned shortly after the end of the war, the Yorktown was modernized and recommissioned in the early 1950s as an attack carrier, and then eventually became an antisubmarine carrier. Hence, the USS Clamagore (a submarine) is also on-site. The Yorktown was recommissioned too late to participate in the Korean War, but served for many years in the Pacific, including duty in the Vietnam War, in which she earned five battle stars. Late in her career, she served as a recovery ship for the Apollo 8 space mission, was used in the movie Tora! Tora! Tora!. The Yorktown was decommissioned in 1970, and in 1975 became a museum ship.

By the way, what I said yesterday about being inside a battleship being exhausting physically, and that whole "heat index" thing? Yeah, about that ... a submarine is worse. Even more cramped, and when under water (which i was not), the airflow is extremely restricted ...

While at the Yorktown, I spoke to David Traill, who suggested meeting up at NASA the next day and doing a tour together. I was all for that (hey, they have educator discounts!). Onward and upward (or, better, southward) ...

TUESDAY, AUGUST 5: Last day of the 4,000-mile-long trip! Met up with David Traill at NASA. Definitely a great way to wrap up three weeks on the road! From a guided bus tour of the facility to the Shuttle Launch Experience (a one-of-a-kind shuttle launch simulator), a tour of the US Astronaut Hall of Fame, touring the Apollo/Saturn V Center, and even having a sit-down with NASA experts to discuss potential lesson plans and ideas, it was an amazing experience all around!

This wasn't the first time David and I have been to NASA; he's been numerous times for shuttle launches, and this was my third visit. But it was definitely the most educational, and most fun, of my visits. As you can tell from the photos of both myself and David, these space vehicles are amazingly huge! I mean, battleships and destroyers are mammoth vehicles, but we sort of know that in advance; shuttles and other space vehicles are much larger than they seem on television.

After the NASA experience was done, it was time to drive back home, unpack the RAV-4, and sleep in my own bed for the first time in 20 days. Home again, home again, jiggity-jig!