This week I did the most difficult thing in my life: I brought my 13-year-old golden retriever, Megan, home from the intensive-care unit to die. I lay down next to her at her favorite napping spot in the house and my 14-year-old golden, Rocky, her life-long companion, lay on the other side. Despite being gravely ill, Megan knew she was home, knew who we were and even poked her favorite, plush squeak-toy with her nose.
No doubt that the general and business aviation associations were high-fiving each other last Friday when President Obama signed an appropriations bill containing language that reinstates the Block Aircraft Registration Request (Barr) program through the end of Fiscal Year 2012 (Sept. 30, 2012).
After sending reporters back and forth from canceled press conference to canceled press conference, the organizers of this month’s Dubai Air Show clearly appeared as frustrated as the press corps by the shifting messages sent by OEMs and their customers at the Middle East’s preeminent aerospace event.
After low-cost, start-up airline Flydubai placed a nearly $4 billion order for Boeing 737-800s at the 2008 Farnborough Airshow, just as the global recession reared its ugly head, I penned a column questioning whether this and other blockbuster orders would ever come to fruition.
While on my way to work a couple of weeks ago, I stopped at a gas station and filled up my car. As I headed back onto the parkway, the engine started running rough and less than two miles later it shuddered to a stop. Knowing the eight years of wear and tear I had put on the car, I sighed as I called the tow truck, believing the grasp of mechanical old age was finally putting its inevitable squeeze on my car and wallet.
On Fridays at my daughter’s preschool, the children take a designated time out to reflect on the week: what they accomplished, what they’re proud of, what they could do better and how they helped others. They set goals for the following week and then spend time discussing their families, their communities and how they can make the world a better place.
Here we go again. Three years after the bottom dropped out of the economy, and just months after a long, slow and painful climb toward recovery seemed to be producing results, the flooring is starting to feel awfully flimsy again.
I’ve been reading and thinking a lot about the late Steve Jobs. One thing that strikes me is how strange it sounds to precede his name with “the late.” Another is how few people like him are running companies today. I believe the number might be approximately…zero.
The Italian justice system has been in the news lately–nonstop on some cable stations, it seems. While most of the media attention has been focused on the fate of a Seattle college student’s junior-year-abroad gone terribly wrong, there is another case that is shocking scientific circles around the world.
During my frequent travels, I take advantage of down time at airports to catch up on my magazine pile. After finishing each magazine, I try to leave the still-fresh periodical where someone else can pick it up and possibly be inspired by what aviation has to offer.
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