Lost in Tibet

Just finished up a book today - Lost in TIBET - by Richard Starks and Miriam Murcutt. It is a non-fictional account of 5 WWII airmen who get blown off course on a return flight from supplying the Chinese from an airbase in India. The men are forced into jumping out of the plane and the ensuing story is of their travels to return to their service.
The book is pretty interesting, but i would have liked more details on the terrain and travels through it. The book is not written by one of the airmen, but seems to be well researched. I enjoyed some of the asides, and it has a brief but interesting summary of the history of Tibet. I've seen plenty of the 'Free Tibet' bumper-stickers, but never quite grasped the significance.

On other notes, i went to my first Bass Pro Shops this weekend - the one in Katy, TX. Not too shabby, but it would have been a whole lot more fun if i could have spent some money there. Kinda hard to buy fishing gear when i'd have to take it back on the plane with me (or ship it). I hear there's a Cabella's up in Conroe, so i might have to check that out next time i'm here over a wekend.
Also made it to the Houston Hard Rock Cafe. Pretty cool place, but definitely a place to go with friends. They had the song 'Beverly Hills' by Weezer on - one of many - but it was the first time i'd seen them in a video - not at all what i expected. Love the song though ...

Flying over here

I was thinking today about my flight over to Houston. I got on the plane in Portland and shuffled to row 21F and almost freaked when i saw who i was supposed to sit by for 2 and a half hours; it was a single mom with a 4 year old boy (in the middle seat) and an 18 month old little girl (on her lap). Immediately i had visions of crying and squirming. I sat down and said hi to the little boy next to me, and he very politely told me his name and informed me that he was flying back home after being in a wedding. We 'chatted' for a little bit, with his mother filling in the gaps as he went. He proceeded to ask me to read him the signs on the back of the tray table, at which his mom encouraged him to read it himself (he was learning to read). She helped him with the difficult words, but not by just giving them to him, but making him sound them out and she didn't allow him to guess at the word. The little girl was very cute and would smile really wide when you looked at her and said stuff. Through the flight i chatted with the mom (Nicole) and she gave me a bit of her background - where she was from originally, where she lived now, what her husband did, etc. She was a wonderful person, very easy to talk to - she was also quite pretty. I really have a lot of respect for her - taking two young kids on a trip like that could not have been easy. I was also very impressed with her handling of both the kids, she was kind and loving, but she also stuck to what she said and her children obeyed her. I knew just from how the kids responded to me that they were in a good home where they were loved and respected. It was a breath of fresh air ... i'll probably never see them again, but i hope they know that i noticed them and i was encouraged by them.

movie lines i find funny

Before i head to bed, i have to post a funny movie line - this is from The Three Amigos - hilarious stuff:

El Guapo is on his way.
Someday the people of this village will have to face El Guapo.
We might as well do it now.
In a way, all of us have an El Guapo to face someday.
For some, shyness might be their El Guapo.
For others, a lack of education might be their El Guapo.
For us...
El Guapo is a big dangerous guy who wants to kill us.

(this from - http://www.script-o-rama.com/movie_scripts/t/three-amigos-script-transcript-chase.html )

Start of a blog

It's 9:56 PM PST in Houston - yep, here again in H-town. I haven't done much today, just here in a class learning Linux (we're learning on Fedora Core 3.0 - although 6.0 was just released).
You ever notice how the older you get, the more you understand things you should have (or wished) you knew when you were younger; but you still don't understand the things you should understand now ... ? As i go through the class, i keep remembering things that i did when i was a HP-UX sys admin and only now understanding the importance / relevance of what i was doing. But at the same time there are so many things in my current job that i don't quite get. I guess this means i'll understand them in a few years - after i no longer need to know them.

Not sure where i'm going to go with this blog - i guess it will work itself out as i go.
Peace