We are 20 days into 2019. It seems like it’s been a lot longer. Perhaps I pay too much attention to the news and television, but mark that down into the column of “concerned citizen”.
I’m still trying to hold onto my “resolutions” for the New Year. I’m doing pretty well at the changes I wanted to introduce to my life, but I am resolving to double down on my efforts, here at the 20 day mark.
On this American flight from Chicago O’Hare to Raleigh-Durham I am sitting in the exit row. I’m actually sitting in the exit row on the way home as well, but please do me a favor and don’t tell my husband because there might have been a slight up charge to get an exit row.
Sitting in an exit row on an American Boeing 737 gives you a lot of extra leg room. I am enjoying being able to cross my legs and maneuver around in my seat like a normal person. The perk of this particular flight is there is no one sitting in the middle seat. The man on the aisle and I rejoiced about this in a masculine way when we took our seats during boarding.
Please don’t judge me for rejoicing in a masculine way.
If you’ve never sat in the exit row before, there is a bit of responsibility associated with the honor. You have to be aware of how the exit door works, you need to review the safety card so you know the intricacies of your responsibilities in the event of an emergency, you need to be able to understand and speak English and you have to follow all flight crew instructions.
Most importantly, you have to verbally respond when the flight attendant asks if you are willing and able to perform the duties associated with being seated in an exit row.
Being seated in seat 15F, the nice flight attendant asked each passenger in row 14 before moving to my row. Each of the folks in the row in front of me responded with a simple “Yes”. Some seemed agitated by the practice.
It takes every ounce of my being to conceal my excitement when the flight attendant asked me if I was willing and able to carry out the duties associated with sitting in an exit row.
“I’m a pilot!”, this is the first thing I want to blurt out.
“I LOVE AIRPLANES!”, this plays like a bright LED light across my forehead.
“I’m going cuz it’s a Boeing! w00t w00t”! The hands to the roof gesture is pre-emptied by sitting on my hands.
“Does Captain Montgomery have an extra jump seat up front?”, another thought that flies through my mind.
“Yes”. This is my adult reply.
Any seat on an airplane is awesome.
I’m waiting to board flight AA 1534 to Raleigh-Durham. Boarding begins in 15 minutes. I am seated in an exit row. I enjoy the responsibility.
The line for TSA was quite long this evening, snaking the entire length of this terminal. Luckily, TSA was moving folks through rather quickly. It’s been a while since I’ve kept my shoes on at a checkpoint.
I’ve been keeping my eye on the weather for this departure; it looks like it’ll be a smooth ride once we get up above the weather. I really wish I could be up front in the jump seat learning more about the Boeing 737 and how it flies. I’ll have to settle for a simulator until I can find someone that can legally take me for a ride while in the cockpit.
Speaking of which, Earl and I have been watching that new series “Manifest” on NBC. The storyline continues to be slow, some of the character development is tedious but anything about aviation is intriguing in my eyes. I’ve been looking for problems with the aviation details and it hasn’t been awful in that regard. I don’t know if the show will last to a season two, but for now it’s a good escape.
For tonight’s flight I’m going to just sit back, relax, and enjoy the flight. I think I’ll skip the wifi and enjoy this old school, with a magazine and gazing out the window.
Because after all, any seat on any aircraft is an awesome seat.
The trailer for the third season of Netflix’s reboot of “One Day At A Time” is available. I really like where this reboot has gone. Watching the show it still feels familiar (in a subtle way) but it works with today’s world. I’m looking forward to the new season!
One of the biggest challenges in protecting privacy is that many of the violations are invisible. For example, you might have bought a product from an online retailer—something most of us have done. But what the retailer doesn’t tell you is that it then turned around and sold or transferred information about your purchase to a “data broker”—a company that exists purely to collect your information, package it and sell it to yet another buyer.
Tim Cook Calls for US Privacy Regulations in Time Op-Ed. Link to story originally found at Macstories.net.
Apple often gets lumped in with Google, Facebook, Twitter, etc. when it comes to online presence. But Apple is not like the others. Tim Cook is looking for action on protecting users’ data privacy.
This month, Chicago Magazine published an article entitled “What CTA Workers Know.” The online interactive version is quite interesting.
I love riding the ‘L’ and the buses. The CTA is one of the reasons I am so in love with the City of Chicago. I am fascinated as to how well the infrastructure works. When departing near the front of a train I always wish the “motor-person” a good day. I always smile to the bus operator. They’re working hard and many take them for granted.
This particular quote from the article makes me smile.
Despite the bad things that you see, if you
just look at all the
people moving and
actually living, it
brings joy to your
soul. You’re seeing life.
The City of Chicago recently left some information hanging off the knob on the door into the lobby of our building. The city was excited to let us know that our streetlights were replaced by energy-efficient, self-maintaining LED “smart lights”. Because of this conversion, we would be in a 21st century, cost-efficient environment at night. We’d also be safer because of better illumination.
This is a portion of a street featuring the new “smart lights”. The new LED bulbs are fitted into existing fixtures and are definitely brighter. I’m sure they’re cost efficient and I’m thinking they have some wifi gadgetry built in so they’ll notify a central hub as to when they think they’re having some sort of problem.
The thing is, they’re so harshly bright.
On most mornings I go for a walk through the neighborhood. Since I start out at 6:00 a.m., at this time of year that means walking in the dark. Because I’m a mammal and it’s winter, my eyes take a few moments to adjust to the outside light.
The new LED lights are very startling.
I’m finding myself trying to walk in the shadows along the blocks that have the new lights installed and modifying my traditional route so I can stay on streets that have the older, sodium vapor lights.
I’m old enough to remember when municipalities switched from the old mercury vapor lights that gave off a greenish tint. It was a weird color and the contents of the bulb probably would have killed me, but the lighting wasn’t harsh, it was just weird.
In the decades of the sodium vapor lights, with their pink or orangeish hue, my eyes never really had trouble adjusting and the lights were actually helpful in snowstorms.
I’m all for energy efficiency and doing everything we can to make the planet last as long as possible while increasing safety in our neighborhoods, but with the technology to make LED lamps give off just about any color possible, shouldn’t we be looking to make these new smart lamps give off light resembling something like daylight?
This bluish, harsh, bright lighting has to be intrusive for the people for the neighborhoods it’s sharing space with.
Here’s an interesting story about the effects of this new LED lighting: American Medical Association Warns Of Health And Safety Problems From “White” LED Streetlights
Bullying. Harassment. Is this the best a man can get? It’s only by challenging ourselves to do more, that we can get closer to our best. To say the right thing, to act the right way. We are taking action at http://www.thebestmencanbe.org. Join us.
Yesterday, Gillette released a campaign called “The Best Men Can Be”. The campaign includes a short film showing the effects of bullying and other “boys will be boys” behavior and how we influence the next generation of men, and how we can help them become better.
I’m surprised, though I don’t know why I am, at some of the outrage expressed on Twitter about this campaign. There are so many people on Twitter proclaiming that they’re not going to be told how to act in public, accusations of SJW (Social Justice Warrior) activity, and declarations that they’re boycotting Gillette and buying something else.
Gillette is bringing awareness to their brand, I’ll give you that. But they’re urging us to be the best that we can be, and to help the next generation do the same.
Are guys at a construction site really at their best when they’re cat-calling women as they walk by. Are young men really being their best when they bully or beat up on a non-stereotypical classmate who may dress or act differently?
We don’t need the labels and declarations that “boys will be boys”. We need to become better as a society. And any message that encourages us to do so is a great message.
Be The Best You Can Be. Follow this link for further information.
My dad never taught me how to shave. Back then I was slightly bothered by this and considered it a missed father-son ritual moment. I just assumed that I was just too different to have such a moment. But ultimately, over the years my Dad and I had enough father-son moments to make up for it and in the long run it never bothered me (yet here I am talking about it at age 50).
When the stray blond hairs on my chin became long enough that I could actually pull on them, I asked a neighborhood friend that was a couple of years older than me to shave so I could watch him. He did so, quickly and expertly, like he had been doing it forever even though he was 16. I went back home, grabbed my Dad’s can of Barbasol, smeared it on my face and dragged his two-bladed razor across my face. I came out unscathed (save for the sting of the after shave I splashed on my face afterwards) and thinking back, it would be several years before I cut my face shaving (I think that was college when someone in the dorm shower room bumped into me).
Ever since I was a young lad I couldn’t wait for the time when I would start shaving. I found the ritual to be so intriguing. 99% of the men I knew at the time were clean shaven. Shaving like a man would signify that I had graduated to a being taken seriously, not being picked on anymore, and becoming the man that I knew I would be someday. Truth be known, there are some folks that still don’t take me seriously, I was picked on for several years after I started shaving, but overall I think I did pretty good at becoming the man I wanted to be.
The thing is, as I identified and began realizing the outcome of the gay feelings that had been stirring in me since my late single digit years, when I started shaving I identified a certain sensuality when seeing a man shaving his face. Maybe it was the sexually charged Noxzema ads that were on TV at the time, or the fact that many men that I secretly found attractive walked around the screen on television shows and movies in underwear and a t-shirt when they had shaving cream on their face, but as I discovered my sexuality, I discovered that I was fascinated with the practice of a man shaving his face. Though I really enjoy a man with a beard (and I’ve had many beards and other styles of facial hair over the years), there’s something just wicked sexy about a man standing in front of a sink, face lathered up while holding a sharp instrument, shaving.
A couple of years ago I bought a couple prints of men shaving in a sensual or fun setting. They were intended to be wall decorations for the guest washroom. One of the photos had a young man with shaving cream on his face standing behind another man with shaving cream on his face; the former armed with a razor scraping the beard off the latter. It’s a sexy, fun photo.
The other day I was messing around Google Lens and took a photo of the photo in question and lo and behold, Google revealed the photo was part of a specific photo shoot. The photo shoot appeared in a 2013 issue of magazine “Fantastic Man”.
“Prominence, virtility, and wisdom are just some of the powers a beard can lend its wearer. It’s undeniably rugged and handsome, but the bearded look has become the one-size-fits-all mask of choice for men over the age of 18. Here we join six long-term beard lovers who have decided it is time for the new! Using the forthcoming heat of summer as an excuse to cast off nature’s balaclava, they eagerly welcome the clean-shaven stranger who lies beneath.”
The rest of the photo shoot is fun, is sexy, and does reveal a different look of the men that shaved off their beards. I know there’s a certain crowd that will shriek about these men deciding to shave off decidedly gorgeous beards, but if nature had intended us to look the same for the entirety of our lives, we wouldn’t change in appearance as time marched on. I think they look hot clean-shaven.
Because of my strong interest in shaving, I’ve also always been fascinated to see how a man shaves. Is he quick, does he take his time. How methodical is he about making sure he’s hitting all the stubble? Having watched several men shave in my life, I’ve never seen two men that do the practice exactly the same. Men start in different places on their face, they put the shaving cream on in differing ways, or they opt to go the quick route and run an electric shaver hurriedly across the face.
Just as no two beards are alike, no two men shave alike.
A couple of years ago I tried to capture my fascination and this razor wielding diversity with photos of my friend Mike shaving. He agreed to the photo shoot, and I was pleased with the results of my first endeavor with this. It was interesting to me to see how he put the gel on his face, how thick the foam was, and the method he employed to maneuver around his mustache.
Today I’m wondering if I could capture my keen interest in the subject again by doing additional photo shoots. It might be something worth exploring in this New Year. In the meanwhile, don’t mind me if I ask you (if you’re a guy) how you shave.
I truly want to know.
Just a guy with a husband. We’ve been together 28 years and he still makes me see fireworks on a daily basis. Hiker. Storm Chaser. Private Pilot. Tech Guy. Hackerish.
Weird? Eccentric!
