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06/19/26 03:25 PM #17251    

 

John Maxwell

Speaking of geographic journeys...reminded me of my trip in 2001-2002 for Chevrolet. I had been doing training and consumer events around the country for the manufacturer. Hired by Campbell/Ewald, the ad agency for Chevy. After a series of successful events I had produced, the Thunder Tour, for the Monte Carlo NASCAR Racing program. The Tracker sales Training Tour, and a number of others. I was very skilled at planning and directing crews of presenters, stagehands and laborers. Because of my success they invited me to produce the Olympic Torch Relay. Mind you a "normal" tour would last a few months with as many as 10 stops per three teams on the schedule. The torch relay was by far more difficult and different. It took all the logistics traning I received in the Army, and some amazing luck.

We were one of three sponsors. Coca Cola and the Salt Lake Organizing Committee (SLOC). I ran the Chevy crew. We had 84 workers, 42 transport vehicles for them. 6 semi trucks packed with equipment, tents electronics, and three hauled show cars for display.
Starting on Thanksgiving weekend we arrived in Atlanta for the beginnig of the relay. It was because Atlanta was the last American city to host the Olympics. The first Torch Barer was Ali. I was videotaping it for posterity, and asked the champ to throw a few punches into the lens. What a guy! Ali was always a hero for me and to meet him in these environs was just too much. I have other stories of encounters with the Champ. I once drove a taxi in Detroit, and got a call to pick up someone special. It was Ali, going to breakfast with his nephew across the street the street. I walked in to the hotel lobby, he was standing there, I shouted hey champ, got your ride. He waved knowingly, holding up one finger. Told him I'd be out front in the blue ABC cab. He and his nephew got in the car and I proceeded across the street. As I was maneuvering across the intersection, I noticed he was clipping coupons out of the paper. I thought that's why he's so rich. Anyway when I dropped them off he reached into his pocket and withdrew a gorilla mask and started to put it on. As he entered the restuarant I said a small prayer that no one in there had a gun. I love it when prayers are answered.
I digress. The torch relay by far was the biggest job I ever accepted. Had it not been for several folks with whom I worked, putting things together, it never would have happened. In the end I couldn't tell you an exact figure of torch bearers, but I can tell you it took 62 days from beginning, in Atlanta to the end in Salt Lake City. Over 24,000 miles in 62 days. I drove an average 385 mile a day. I had one celebration truck I had built so it could open up to three times it's size and people could go through and play video games, scoring on a virtual goalie, or design an Ice Skating routine for Michelle Kwan, go down a Virtual Ski Jump. We also had a trailer with Olympic memorabilia including medal and training equipment.
During this epic journey I came to adopt my first two rules for life. 1. Know where you are. 2 Know where you're going. Grueling is a word I often think of when I recall that gig. But then I always heard work was supposed to be hard. So when I say I've been everywhere six times it's bs, it just been twice.
The story of the flame: How does the flame get from Mt. Olympus, Greece to wherever the games are played? Here's how. The ceremony begins in Greece, when several young maidens ascend the mountain with a parabolic mirror in the shape of a bowl. In the bowl is straw that is ignited by the Sun. The flame then ignites several gas fueled lanterns. Those lanterns are then transported to the last location the Olymics were held in the host country. In the up coming LA Olympics they will fly it to SLC and the relay will start there. Delta is the preferred flame transport. All the flaming lanterns are boarded into the passenger compartment and are placed on a seat back tray. The lanterns are a mix of propane and butane gas. I could go on but ...it's exhausting just thinking about this memory. There are so many stories, from the pre-event drives, to trying to rally dealerships to participate, holding watch parties at their shops. God, it was like pulling teeth. You'd think we'd asked for money. We did. They're logic was much better. Why give them the money? We supplied the mobile attractions, labor and souvenirs. I washed my hands of the dealer nays, and focused on the ones who were serious about the Olympics. The weather: Winter Olympics take place in the winter. In Buffalo, N.Y. the Nationl Guard plowed a thirty foot high mountain of snow around our celebration site we sd little flash torches, and combined with the fireworks made a spectacular event, and made the whole trip worthwhile. It was moments like that, that make it memorable. Like once I flew all night once to Sicily, only to drive at night up a mountain to my hotel and wake up the next morning, walk outside into a cloud that suddenly drifted off Mount Erice, revealing the Southeastern Mediteranean. As I strolled through the cobblestones streets of this exquisite resort mountain location I read the names of the five families nailed to the doors. As I looked down the mountain to the north, was Trapani, home and birthplace of la Cosa Nostra. Memorable.

06/19/26 09:00 PM #17252    

 

David Mitchell

Jim,

I feel your pain man. After my accident a few years ago, my kids made me promise to unload some of my "stuff". They even want me to move back north. I have no idea why I have accumulated so much "STUFF".

-------------

Jack,

I think I shared this a while back - so aplogies for the repetition -  but your "Ali" story reminded me of the night ar Disney hotel (about 40 years ago) when I rode the hotel elevator with Michael Jackson and this other friend - who had no idea who Micheal was at the time. We got off the elevator and he asked me "What was that all about?" (the commotion of 2 little 13 year old girls jumping on the elevator at the last moment asking for his autograph as we got on.

We have laughed about it for years and he told me his nieces have teased him about this story for years.

06/19/26 09:54 PM #17253    

 

David Mitchell

Just for fun

No. This is not THEE OHIO STATE Marching band

06/20/26 12:43 PM #17254    

 

Joseph D. McCarthy

Just received an Email of an article in the CATHOLIC TIMES.

This includes everyone who graduated BEFORE 1977.

 

 

 

06/20/26 09:08 PM #17255    

 

David Mitchell

PIZZA OVEN

At the risk of of another repeat, (forgive me if I shared this before - my memory is getting worse) I want to share my most goofy episode in my 18 month tour in the "Delta". 

After losing 2 Commanding Officers in a short span of time, I became one of the 3 AMCs (Air Mission Commanders - both in the air, and on the ground (but only in certainn duties).

One of my duties was to man the Operations Office. The "OPs" office was the nerve center of the Troop and my duty was to man the office desk , assist the Radio man at the desk next to mine, and be available for phone calls and walk in "business" of al kinds.

prior to this day.............

Our Sqaudron had a growing "issue" with the Officers club not being able to cook pizza correctly. We were told that we needed a real pizza oven to correct the problem. So one of the several dozens (maybe 200) of officers - remember lots of pilots means lots of officers - called a meting at the "O-club" and explained he had a buddy who worked in supply "channels" in Saigon and he could get us a real pizza oven. We all put in $10 or $20 and were told he would relay it to his buddy and we'd have it in a few weeks.

Back to me in the Ops office.......

I'm sitting at my desk and the phoe rings. It's somebody down at headquarters (other end of the airfield) asking if our Troop could spare an off-duty ship and crew to fly down to Can Tho ("can toe") 20 minute south - and pick up a pizza oven that has been dropped of for us to come get?

I said "Yes" Give me half an hour and I'll find a crew and get a ship (one of our Hueys). I'll call them back when we are ready.

I got 2 pilots and two door gunners - I would ride along and supervise but not fly the ship.

A short trip and we are descending on the airfiled at CAN THO. There on a helipad is a full sized 1,500 pound "Blodgett" on four long legs and no cover - at all - not wrapped - not crated - not even guarded.  

TBC

06/20/26 09:39 PM #17256    

 

David Mitchell

PIZZA OVEN.     cont.

We set the ship down near the oven and started figuring out how we were going to do this.

I should explain - we had uttely no idea what we were doing when we set ot to do this - NO CLUE

We had this sling that most of our hueys carry that is quite strong. It can be attached to a hook on thr belly of the ship and hangs down carrying all different sizes and shapes of objects - in sort of a soft flexible "basket". The "basket" is a cross woven group of 3 or 4 inch wide nylon straps that are gathered at 4 corners, and those 4 corners are hoined into one very thick single strap abuot 6 inches wide gathered around a strong metal "D-ring". 

We did notice that last section (the 6 inch wide one) had been sliced clean thru about 2 of those 6 inches. We looked at it and in our ignorance thought "Eh, it'll be okay."

We hooked up the connection sitting next to it (both ships still on the ground), then got all of us on board and began to hover - very slowy. Everything workd okay and we called the tower for take-off.

After cearance and a slow take-off we were climbing slowly out over the Mekong - which is right there of the edge of Can Tho runway.

At about 1,000 feet and part way across the very wide Mekong (with a fair amount of "Sam Pan" traffic) we all felt this sudden sense of abrubt lift. And the left door gunner yelled                  "O H H H HH H     S H H H I I I I I T T T T !"

We banked left for a moment just in time for me to see the splash.

06/21/26 07:23 PM #17257    

 

Michael McLeod

I honestly never saw the appeal of pot, Nina. Smoked it way back then, in no small part because it was illegal in a cool sort of way and I wanted to fit in with the supposedly cool crowd, when i tried it, It just made me feel like I was waking up from an especially fuzzy dream. Still don't understand all the hubbub over pot - or why anybody would want to use it for whatever reason.  I did smoke some out of curiousity and social pressure but never enjoyed it and was puzzled that the people around me did.

06/21/26 08:22 PM #17258    

 

David Mitchell

PIZZA OVEN -  cont.

In case you're curious about what happened when we got back to Vinh Long airfield - without our planned "cargo", I am still amazed at the outcome.

We had a lively disscussion in the cockpit on the 20-minute flight back. First of all we threatened the 2 door gunners with their lives if they ever opend their mouths about it.

Then we 3 pilots agreed to avoid going to the Officers Club for a long time (which was quite a sacrifice considerring the mess hall was pretty "blah" food.) And we 3 also kept our mouths shut.

But what is interesting is that noone came back on us about it. What I still beleive happened is that the guy who organized the purchase and delivery could not dare launch an inquiry, or retreive the cash from his buddy in Saigon because the whole thing was "illegal" and they couldn't risk exposing their name connected with it.

It simply went away. 

Ironically the Airfiled commander ordered the construction of a small Pizza parlor (take-out only) in a tiny new hooch right across the dirt road from our hooch - just about a month before I was done with my tour extension. They were real pizza ovens and the pizza was very good.

-------------

I would give anything to find any of the guys on that flight. I have a photo of a group of guys in our Troop, and one of the two other pilots who flew us down and back is in the photo but I can' find any of the guys I am in touch with these days who can recall his name.

06/22/26 11:57 AM #17259    

 

Joseph D. McCarthy

Dave I think you would have been better off ordering the oven from Sears.  Just a thought.

06/22/26 11:59 AM #17260    

 

Michael McLeod

again on pot just read a story about pot becoming more popular and it mentioned our age group as being somewhat inclined to indulge.

been a decade since i've done a doobie.  smoked pot in college and even grew some out back 'cause it was cool and more importantly economical or seemed so, but never really enjoyed it. 

i'll have a manhattan now and then but that's as racy as this old fart gets these days.

 

06/22/26 12:56 PM #17261    

 

David Mitchell

Joe,

Too bad Amazon wasn't available back then. I can just picture a Huey with the swoop lable on the side. 

-------------------------------

Joe, Mike, and Jack,

Is discombobulated a word?

06/22/26 07:39 PM #17262    

 

Michael McLeod

I'm lovin' the oven story, dave.

Looking back I sometime wish I'd had a chance at being a war correspondent.

Stories like that, humor in uniform, apart from the great works about the tragedy and heroics of combat, have alway been among the works I've enjoyed and quite frankly revered.

06/23/26 12:09 PM #17263    

 

Joseph D. McCarthy

Yes Dave, discombobulated (a verb) is word.  I even checked the Merriam dictionary.  I was also going to check Funk and Wagnalls (the central Ohio encyclopedia) but I thought that would be to discombobulating.

06/23/26 07:21 PM #17264    

 

Michael McLeod

I'm having trouble fixing my tv dinner tonite. it says "stir potatoes and rotate meatloaf. "

way too complicated.

 

06/24/26 12:11 AM #17265    

 

Mary Margaret Clark (Schultheis)

I received this text from Colleen Mar at Watterson today. Perhaps Janie can email any classmates who have served our country but do not follow the message forum. For those interested here is a link to Colleen:  http://mrs.mar@bwhs.org  

Hi Mary Margaret. This is Colleen Mar from Bishop Watterson. Anne Campbell shared your #.

I’m working on the 2026 Eagle Review and would like to honor veteran alumni with photos of them in uniform when they served. This was posted on social media last week. Would you be able to share this with alumni you know who served in the military? (I have a little wiggle room on the deadline.) 

m

06/24/26 12:02 PM #17266    

 

Michael McLeod

thanks mm for the note about photos as a vet. I'll see if I can find a picture of skinny me in my ill fitting fatigues from back in the day. Humor in uniform.

06/24/26 02:19 PM #17267    

 

Michael McLeod

to celebrate national poetry month, here's my favorite robert frost poem for your enjoyment. I love it so much I know it by heart. It's as much of a prayer as a poem.

What a blessed soul he was. 

 

The Onset

ALWAYS the same, when on a fated night
At last the gathered snow lets down as white
As may be in dark woods, and with a song
It shall not make again all winter long
Of hissing on the yet uncovered ground,
I almost stumble looking up and round,
As one who overtaken by the end
Gives up his errand, and lets death descend
Upon him where he is, with nothing done
To evil, no important triumph won,
More than if life had never been begun.

Yet all the precedent is on my side:
I know that winter death has never tried
The earth but it has failed: the snow may heap
In long storms an undrifted four feet deep
As measured against maple, birch and oak,
It cannot check the peeper's silver croak;
And I shall see the snow all go down hill
In water of a slender April rill
That flashes tail through last year's withered brake
And dead weeds, like a disappearing snake.
Nothing will be left white but here a birch,
And there a clump of houses with a church.
 

06/24/26 05:05 PM #17268    

 

David Mitchell

The link to Colleen Mar brings up an empty Google page that says

 

404: error 

(but is does match her email on the school website) ?????

06/24/26 05:11 PM #17269    

 

John Jackson

Latest from The Borowitz Report:

Vance Furious After ChatGPT Keeps Recommending Obama’s Nuclear Deal

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—Vice President JD Vance flew into a rage on Wednesday after ChatGPT repeatedly recommended former President Barack Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran.

Desperate to advance negotiations with the Islamic Republic, Vance asked the bot, “What is the best possible nuclear deal with Iran?,” only to have it extoll Obama’s 2015 accord.

Adding insult to injury, Chat responded to subsequent prompts by informing Vance that Obama reached this deal without a reckless military campaign that closed the Strait of Hormuz and required the US to pay Iran $300 billion.

Infuriated, Vance ordered the bot to stop praising Obama’s nuclear deal, whereupon it responded, “Fair enough! Would you like me to explore his other landmark achievements, like The Affordable Care Act?”

 

06/24/26 08:49 PM #17270    

 

Mary Margaret Clark (Schultheis)

Sorry about the bad link, Dave. Try this & let me know if you have trouble:  mrs.mar@begs.org

06/24/26 11:15 PM #17271    

 

James Hamilton, M. D.

Firey Sunset Over The Front Range

Caught this with my "ever present" cell phone camera as Janet and I were on the way home from the grocery store.

(And yes, she was driving 😄.)

Jim

Afterthought:

I think I see the top of a man's face in the lower right corner, above the two rounded peaks, formed by the darker clouds, watching the setting sun. Also,  an agonizing face in the cloud about 2 O'clock above the sun.

Jim

06/24/26 11:38 PM #17272    

 

David Mitchell

Mary Margaret,

That second email address appears to work

06/25/26 06:07 PM #17273    

 

Michael McLeod

Jack! Jocko! Good on ya, lad!

That sounds like a richly rewarding and extremely, no-bs way out of career doldrrums via strategies that bring out an individual's talents and by clarifying what engages and drives them. Dusting off the windshield. Been there, has to do that, and I had help along the way but it sure sounds like you're describing a very efficient strategem that helps people to get in touch with what they can bring to the table and why they want to bring it and that they can renew themselves in order to do it. I love it that you brought one of my lifelong heroes into the picture - I had a couple of brief but fabulous one-one-one conversations with Ali and of all the celebs and experts and professors and just amazing talented and interesting individuals I encountered as a journalist, Ali was by far the most impressive. If you asked me the one human being I met who was somehow both down to earth and larger than life - I'd say Muhammed Ali. No question. Never have I ever felt like a guy I was talking to was like, heck, my next door neighbor, he sure treated me like I was, treated everybody that way from what I couls see and sense: damn does he have a big heart - childlike in a way and just BIG BIG BIG.

I rambled a bit but you touched a nerve.

 

06/26/26 12:11 AM #17274    

 

Joseph D. McCarthy

Well Tuesday, the 24th. was day I celebrate as the second of my anniversaries.  It was on that day 20 years ago that among many things I stopped smoking cold turkey.  Hadn't planned it or focused on doing that it just snuck up on me.  When you have what they told my wife was a massive stroke life changes.  They told her NEVER to let me climb a ladder again; but someone has to clean the gutters and trim the trees, etc.  I guess I was lucky to have my wife drive me to the emergency room so that the stroke fully took place where I was under medical help.

All I can say is everyone should have a thorough check up to be sure there are no hidden problems.

Other than that party on.

06/26/26 05:55 AM #17275    

 

Donna Kelley (Velazquez)

That was quite an adventure, Jack! Thanks for sharing it with us.

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