It has come to my attention that on occasion new viewers log in and are immediately lost when they come up upon one of the running story lines/running jokes around here.
You wouldn't believe some of the things I've deleted.
One first time viewer had the good fortune/misfortune of stopping by one day, early on in the blog, when I used
Bloaty to do a send up on horoscopes.
For those of you not familiar, here's a picture of "Bloaty".
Ain't he cute?
The first time viewer thought not. She was ill prepared to see a picture of a dead dog, let alone read what he had to say about her future.
I deleted her comments. You can say some of those words here, but not all in one 400 word sentence. The poor thing must have had smoke coming off her keyboard.
Misunderstandings like that are to be expected from time to time. It takes newbies a while to catch on to the ebb and flow here.
So, in order to give the newbies a leg up on how it works around here, I'm going to create a permanent link to the "Viewers Guide".
Okay, let's start with me, Air Traffic Mike. I'm a retired FAA journeyman Air Traffic Controller. I spent 25 years plying my trade at three airports working in both the towers and the associated
TRACONS.
I got the nickname, "Air Traffic Mike" from another guy named Mike. Our group downtown had an excess of guys named "Mike", so "Mikey" gave us all versions of "Mike" to differentiate the lot of us.
At the age of 48 I called it a career. I didn't have to. There were many factors involved in my decision. My 50 year old brother was entering into his fifth year of fighting colon cancer. That above all else, made my decision easy. We lost our fourth brother in a car accident in 1987. I always wished I could have spent more time with him. I would not let the opportunity pass. I've been on the road since May helping with Bruce, but also helping my best friend who had a devastating storm tear up his farm in June.
My travels to the farm in New Jersey have been contingent upon my brother Bruce's health. Fortunately, one has not been in conflict with the other this year.
As you can see above, I have siblings. The oldest, Kevin, is a registered nurse. My second brother Bruce was an IT specialist with the DOD. He retired when the cancer/chemo treatments became too much. I'm the middle child. Our late brother Gary was killed in an automobile accident. Our youngest, John has spent his life struggling against it. He's an intelligent and funny man, but he has some issues.
I was married once, but have been divorced for some time. I have no children that I know of.
Sometimes I blog about what's going on with me in the present. Sometimes I blog about topical issues and my take on them. Other times, when I'm in a reflective mood, I tell stories of myself and family as we grew. Those stories run the gamut. Humor, aggravated, love, melancholy, you know.....life. You may come in here one day and find me on an absolute rant. Venting can be healthy in the right context and environment.
Then there's the absurd side of the blog. Whenever you see
"Air Traffic Mike Heavy Industries, LLC." (the official social think tank of Air Traffic Mike), you know that I'm sending out a parody. Sometimes I do it to make a point on current events, sometimes I do it as an exercise in creative writing. One thing is for sure, the "Gang" over at
"Air Traffic Mike Heavy Industries, LLC." (the official social think tank of Air Traffic Mike) is made up of some unique and sometimes alarming characters.
From the top:
A)
"Floaty the Gator"I thought the blog needed some more depth. Maybe another point of view. With Coach Calipari's imminent departure from the U of M Tigers basketball program, I wanted to do a comedy piece. I needed a "personality" as opposite from me as possible.
Dead alligator seemed pretty far.
Floaty became one of the family immediately.
His first piece on
Memphis new men's basketball coach actually became one of the highest ranked blogs here at Air Traffic Mike's in my brief history.
It also generated a lot of unprintable responses.
That's all it took.
"Air Traffic Mike Heavy Industries, LLC." (the official social think tank of Air Traffic Mike), would finally have some "employees".
Easter weekend was coming up soon thereafter. I really couldn't tie "Floaty" into Easter without stretching it.
What was I going say, "Remember, Floaty died for our sins."?
I needed another angle.
I got it with this guy:
B).
Pope Vinny LXIXWhere "Floaty" offended some people, "Pope Vinny" offended most of them. A Mafioso Pope? It could happen.
Just like "Floaty", "Pope Vinny" generated a lot of responses. Most of those were condemning my soul to Hell with the balance asking if I was out of my mind.
"Pope Vinny" was here to stay.
Seeing that having some alter egos(or altar egos in the case of the "Pope") made writing a lot more interesting, I expanded the "Gang" to include:
C).
"Guido the Snitch"
and:
D).
"Bloaty the Dog".
Expanding on the idea that I had too much work for one man, I bought these two in on
this blog.
To me it made sense that the "Pope" would have an Italian assistant and that "Floaty" would have a dead assistant. "Birds of a feather..." sort of thing.
The cast was set, the game was on.
I don't really plan what I'm going to write most days unless I'm using one day to set up the next.
Once I got on the road, I just let the blog roll right along. I knew that with ravelling, coming out to stay with family, going home to New Jersey for a while would all generate plenty of ideas.
My instincts proved right on that.
What I didn't expect was that I'd get my own "assistant".
I was up in Jersey helping Pat clean up the storm debris. He had a lot of large old trees down that were suitable only for firewood. I went to Delaware one day to pick up a hydraulic wood splitter. While there it occurred to me that we would probably have to do some pieces by hand.
I picked up a
splitting maul while I was waiting for the guys to bring the splitter out.
"Splitty the Maul" had joined the madness.
For those keeping score, "Splitty the Maul" works directly under my supervision, not under the auspices of
"Air Traffic Mike Heavy Industries, LLC." (the official social think tank of Air Traffic Mike).
Truth be told, he's more than that. "Splitty" has become both a running joke with my best friend and his boys, as well as a member of the family. By the time a month had gone by, whenever the boys would see him lying on the floor of the backseat, or sitting against a rail, they'd go, "Hi Splitty" as they walked by. By the time I left, the joke had become they now had two non-related "Uncles". "Uncle Mike", yours truly, and "Uncle Splitty".
"Splitty" has become a
roadtrip buddy,
a role model, and
comic relief.
When I started this blog, I had a vague idea as to what I wanted to do. I set down some ideas at the beginning but I refused to corner myself with any set rules. I'm enjoying the freedom to write as I wish. People pop in, people return, people go. I'm glad some find my words interesting enough to keep coming back. Most times I leave the comments section turned on. I reserve the right to turn it off and to remove offensive comments.
For those who argue against that, like my friend
Paul Ryburn always says, "Don't like it? Start your own blog."
For those of you that follow "Air Traffic Mike's", thanks for coming along.
For those just joining in, welcome aboard.
Air Traffic Mike, ret.
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