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Category Archives: Adventure

Book Day

I woke up at five AM on Tuesday. This is something I would not normally do, as many of you know. As a general rule, the only time I see five AM is when I have stayed up all night. This was a happy exception, however. You see, Tuesday was Book Day.

Way back when I worked for Borders, I learned that new releases came out on Tuesdays. For whatever reason, your favorite author’s new book, that awesome band’s new CD, and that DVD you’ve been waiting for since you saw the film on opening night at the theatre all come out on Tuesdays. I would show up to my Tuesday morning shift to help with the unboxing and shelving of all of the latest titles that people had been asking for the for month prior. Despite the early hour, it was one of my most enjoyable shifts at that job. There was something wonderful about opening a box full of new books, knowing that in a few hours they would be in the hands of elated readers. Ever since then, there’s been a bit of a thrill surrounding Tuesdays for me, even though I’m not as connected to the retail world as I once was. Like I said, this was a special occasion. This Tuesday was the street date for Neil Gaiman’s The Ocean at the End of the Lane. 

I’m not entirely certain about how I first encountered Neil’s writing for the first time. At some point within the last seven years, though, I was introduced to the Sandman comics. I devoured them. Neil’s scripts and the absolutely gorgeous artwork drew me in, and within a month I’d read the entirety of his Sandman run. I wanted more, and I found it. Works like Coraline, American Gods, The Graveyard Book, and Neverwhere would be completed in days, if not hours after I started reading them. I told all of my friends that they needed to read his work. Any of it. All of it. To this day, I have not been disappointed by Neil Gaiman’s writing, whether it comes in graphic novels, children’s books, brilliant pieces of literature, or Doctor Who episodes. 

All of which brings me back to why I was awake at five AM on Tuesday. New Book Tuesday. The Ocean at the End of the Lane. There are lots of bookstores in Colorado Springs, but I didn’t want to buy my copy here in town, even though under any other circumstances I will shop locally first. I decided almost two months ago that I was going to be driving to Denver on June 18th so that I could buy a copy of Neil’s latest book from the Tattered Cover. This is because his upcoming book signing is going to be held at the Tattered Cover’s LoDo location, and purchase of the book from any one of their locations included a numbered ticket for the autograph line on the 25th. I’m number 53. I’d say that certainly merits being awake at five on my day off. There’s nothing quite like meeting other people who are willing to get up at a ridiculous hour in order to wait in line for a book. Many thanks to V for going on an adventure with me.

Libraries At Sea

In February of last year, I got the chance to spend a week aboard the USS John C. Stennis, and to my great joy I found the ship’s library in my wanderings of the corridors. This opened my eyes to the surprisingly high number of libraries that exist on ships around the world. Apparently even the Titanic had two different libraries on board. This has made me think about some of the opportunities that would be available to someone who has a Masters of Library Science degree. After all, cruise ships need librarians too… I could work on my tan AND help to educate the masses. There are similar libraries everywhere. This is twenty different kinds of motivating to continue my education. Travel the world without leaving your favorite books behind. Hell, even the Semester At Sea program has opportunities for librarians to serve on their ships.

The MLS degree is still far more relevant than a lot of people think. This article from the American Library Association discusses the outlook for the degree, in contrast to a Forbes article which listed it as one of the worst choices for grad school programs. It may not be the best job line from a purely financial perspective, but, like teaching, librarianship is something people do because they love to do it, not because they want to get rich.

I’m looking at my school options for an MLS degree. I’d like to go back to school this fall, and there are two different programs that I’m considering, both of which are 100% online. I know that it’s something that I’ve talked about for a while now, so it’s time for my words to become my actions. Who knows, maybe I’ll find myself running one of those mobile libraries in the not-so-distant future.

International Talk Like a Pirate Day

Arr! Today be Talk Like a Pirate Day, the best holiday to ever emerge in the modern age. Spend the day talking like a pirate, or dress like one like me. Better yet, if ye be of age, drink like one. Read some good pirate books, too.

Pirate Latitudes, by Michael Crichton

On Stranger Tides, by Tim Powers

Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson

Captain Blood, by Rafael Sabatini

Tourist

Have you ever been a tourist in your own town? It’s amazing what a slight shift in perception can do for you. For example, I’ve been living in Colorado Springs for the last six years. In that time, I’ve done almost none of the cool stuff that visitors do. Why? Because it’s been just me.

In the last two weeks, however, I’ve been changing that. When my sister was in town, I finally took the opportunity to visit Garden of the Gods. Ever been there? I lived down the street from there for four years and never went. Four years. There’s no price for admission, and it’s open almost all day every day. Over Labor Day, my parents were in town, and we drove up Pikes Peak. I’m a Colorado native, and I didn’t go up my first 14er (mountain with a summit altitude of over 14,000 feet) until a few days ago. I feel a little ridiculous, but simultaneously accomplished. There’s nothing to give you perspective like the view from 14,110 feet. Anyway, dizzying vistas aside, it’s quite inspiring to have made the ascent. Luckily, I have just the outlet for this. Time to write.

An Adventure, Summarized

“Let me ‘splain…No, there is too much. Let me sum up.”

I’m back in Colorado, after a week and a half of travel that proved to be everything that I needed. Here’s a brief breakdown.

My oldest sister is married to a young man who pre-enlisted in the Navy when he was 17. After years of hard work and progress through the ranks of the enlisted men, he decided that he wanted to fly jets. To that end, he enrolled in the Naval Officer Candidate School and eventually became an aviator with a prominent fighter squadron which has even been featured in a TV miniseries, “Carrier.” Back in December, I received a phone call from my father asking me if I would like the opportunity to spend a week aboard an aircraft carrier with him and my brother-in-law as he and his squadron returned from deployment overseas. They call it a Tiger Cruise.

Now I’m not the biggest geek when it comes to military stuff, but I’ve built my share of fighter jets and things out of LEGO, and I figured that aside from my tour of the USS Midway back in 2005, this would be the best chance I would ever have to see this sort of thing up close. I said yes, and I don’t regret it in the least. I didn’t want to say too much about the trip beforehand, for security purposes and whatnot, but now that I’m home, I can tell you a little more about my experience.

Dad and I flew to Honolulu on the 19th of February, and I got to see my brother-in-law at work for the first time. After spending the afternoon of Presidents’ Day wandering the Pearl Harbor memorials with him and my father, we boarded the USS John C. Stennis.

I can hear Lonely Island and T. Pain warming up in the background...

The following week’s journey across the ocean to San Diego consisted of tours of the ship, incredible demonstrations of the power of the aircraft on board and the supporting ships that sailed with us, and meeting the amazing people who make this all possible. I got to see the ship’s jet engine shop, eat an otter pop that was frozen in liquid oxygen (SCIENCE!), see a close-up of the cockpit of an F-18, and even wander around the onboard library. That’s right. I got to hang out in a library that was floating across the Pacific Ocean. Beat that.

Okay, maybe not a very BIG library, but still...

During the trip, my father and I (along with two fellow Tigers) were quartered in my brother-in-law’s eight-man stateroom. As our sponsor was an officer, we were in considerably better accommodations than most of the other Tigers on board, but on an aircraft carrier, even the nicest of rooms is small and cramped. We had the eight racks in the room, plus four cots set up for sleeping. Some of the moms on the trip referred to our room as the prisoner of war camp, but we called it the twelve-man. Most of our free time was spent there (where the nearest “head” [bathroom] was just down the hall), or in my brother-in-law’s squadron’s ready room. Meals were taken in one of the three officers’ ward rooms, and according to the other guys, we had far better food while the Tigers were on board. Surprise! We essentially had free reign of most of the ship, aside from obviously secure areas (like, you know, nuclear reactors and things like that), and we never lacked something to do, even if it was just watching Layer Cake or The Right Stuff on the projector in the ready room, or playing Scrabble or another board game with one of the other members of the squadron.

Seriously? Wouldn't that be boring after playing it in real life?

On the second day, just as we rounded the southernmost point of Hawai’i, we were treated to an air power demo. This meant close flybys of the ship by the various aircraft (including one supersonic pass: BOOM!) and examples of some of their capabilities, like the helicopter hovering and fast-roping a team of soldiers to the deck of the ship. A naval power demo followed, with some of the small boys (other ships from the carrier group) showing their maneuverability and firepower.

Too cool for words...

The day before we arrived in San Diego, we said farewell to my brother-in-law and the rest of the air wing. His squadron was the last to depart the ship, bound for their land base and a reunion with the rest of their families. After saying goodbye, we made our way to Vulture’s Row, an outdoor portion of deck on the tower of the carrier that overlooks the flight deck. From our vantage point there, and thanks to two layers of hearing protection, watching the takeoff of my brother-in-law’s plane was only incredibly loud and deck-shaking. Any closer, or without the earplugs, could have been deafening or enough of a jolt to knock you off your feet. It was a sensation unlike any other, and it was incredible to get to be that close. I will be forever grateful to him for the opportunity to see all of these things, because it will likely never happen again.

Land at last

Dad and I got in to San Diego on the early morning almost a week after we’d left Colorado. It was truly spectacular to see the families gather on the pier to greet their wayward husbands and wives and sons and daughters and fathers and mothers. After saying farewell to our new friends, we made our way to the airport where we allowed a coin flip to decide that we were going to drive home instead of flying back to Colorado. Despite my initial misgivings (I was not relishing the thought of two days in a car with dad), it turned out to be a great experience. We drove from San Diego to Blythe, CA on the first night, and then across Arizona and into Socorro, NM on the second day. Upon reaching Santa Fe, Dad and I stopped by the Loretto Chapel, home of the Miraculous Staircase.

Sorry, random stranger. I can't be bothered to crop you out of this photo.

At long last, I made it back to Colorado. Dad dropped me off, we said our goodbyes, and he went on his way to return our rental car and finish the three hour drive home. I came inside and started to work on this blog post for all of you, and here you have it. Now I can get to writing on some of the ideas I came up with on the trip. It was good to get away, but it’s great to be back!