I've been humming the theme song to the Greatest American Hero all day.

Part of the reason is that my friend Kirk has been relentlessly putting it in my head over the course of the past few months.  He and I were big fans of the show back when it came out in the 70s, and recently re-discovered it thru the magical world of DVDs.  We watched the first episode or two together late last year.  And while my fascination with the show cooled significantly after that re-encounter, Kirk's enthusiasm has not abated.  In fact, he may need an intervention.  He is now in love with The Gillmore Girls show, largely because of a small part of one episode where they do a re-interpretation of the GAH theme song.  Kirk has many quirks.  He should be blogging his stream of consciousness poetry.  "Believe it or Not" is a darn fine theme song actually, I'm posting the lyrics below if you need a reminder.  Maybe I'll make it by background song for a week or two.

Look at what's happened to me,
I can't believe it myself.
Suddenly I'm up on top of the world,
It should've been somebody else.

Believe it or not,
I'm walking on air.
I never thought I could feel so free-.
Flying away on a wing and a prayer.
Who could it be?
Believe it or not it's just me.

It's like a light of a new day,
It came from out of the blue.
Breaking me out of the spell I was in,
Making all of my wishes come true-.

Believe it or not,
I'm walking on air.
I never thought I could feel so free-.
Flying away on a wing and a prayer.
Who could it be?
Believe it or not it's just me.

The other reason for my good mood?  The best first date of my life.

Don Knotts was another member of one of my lists.  Back on 9/27, I mentioned how I used to make top ten lists, when I tried to memorialize the passing of Don Adams.  These two men would have topped by list of favorite Dons, as well as my list of favorite comedic actors.  I don't feel qualified to properly eulogize either, so I'll let others do it.  Below are a couple of good links to info on The Incredible Mr. Limpet, and a more recent picture of Don, from the under-appreciated film Pleasantville.

http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-knotts26feb26,1,1206309.story?coll=la-news-obituaries

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Knotts

http://www.worldofcheese.org/knotts/ 

We had our monthly social for our Wednesday night study group.  I'm too tired to construct grammatically correct prose, so I'll just spill out a few highlights.

• a chili cook-off was a great idea, we had 3 types of chili, each fantastic


• we have some thoughtful members, 2 people knew ahead of time that they were going to miss the event, but pre-delivered their assignments


• I baked for the second time in my life (no one died)


• Skittles do melt in your hand


• I got to tell my favorite story, Marla and the Butterfly Effect


• Jim continues to come out of his shell more and more


• Johanna has a lovely house


• the fog that evening was perhaps the worst that I have ever driven in


• Jim's camera is defective, instead of the standard 10 pounds, it added 30 pounds to all the pictures of me (but, for archive purposes only, I have decided to post a picture of my inflated self anyway)


• we celebrated 4 birthdays

I'm back in Virginia, and back to Soul Purpose, my Tuesday night singles fellowship at MBC.  I missed Virginia, especially my friends at this group.

The lesson Tuesday was on spiritual gifts and the call of God.  The speaker, Bryan Carraway, was quite interesting.  I wasn't sure if I liked him at first, but he grew on me.  I will be looking for his book on spiritual gifts if I ever get to the bottom of my reading pile.

The key verse was 1 Thessalonians 5:24, "The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it."  This little nugget of wisdom is thrust between the usual cluster of good byes and well wishes at the end of Paul's letters.  Amazing verses are often hidden in out of the way places (like the prayer of Jabez).

God has a plan for all all us.  The work of God is not limited to pastors, nuns, and missionaries.  Each and EVERY Christian has a duty, a privilege, to fulfill God's plan for their life.  Not all of us are blessed with a road to Damascus moment like Saul/Paul, but we can discover God's calling for us.  Here are some ways.

• prayer of course


• working within our own dreams and passions for God (God will likely not make you do something that you despise doing.  Don't fear that He will call you to be a worship leader just because you are tone deaf.  And if you have a fear of heights, you probably won't be called to be a missionary in Nepal.)


• following leads and promptings from our past (Has God made you a great public speaker, and put you in lots of positions to share your faith?  Maybe you're being led to a career in evangelism.)


• studying the bible


• knowing your spiritual gift(s) and not being afraid to use them

Of course, Romans 12:2 came up in the discussion.  "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will."

In studying this lesson later, and following cross references, I found a powerful verse.  Numbers 23:19 is going to make my memory list.

"God is not a man, that he should lie,
       nor a son of man, that he should change his mind.
       Does he speak and then not act?
       Does he promise and not fulfill?"

I'm actually publishing this entry on the 26th, so forgive my spotty memory, but here is some more info on my trip to Jersey.

I'm still waiting to find a picture of our new helicopter, but until I find one, here is a picture of our Richmond ship.  It is the same aircraft model, an EC135, and has a somewhat similar paint scheme.

I ended up having a fantastic time during my 6 days in NJ.  I was a little hesitant at first, but I ended up enjoying all aspects of the trip.

CenCom is a dispatching company providing a variety of services to New Jersey.  The dispatch fire, bls, and/or als for various townships in New Jersey.  They also provide EMD (medical instructions to 911 callers), and now, they also dispatch a helicopter, AirOne.  Imagine a medium sized city/county 911 center, and you have CenCom.  They have 3-4 dispatchers on duty at all times, and the room is almost always a cacophony of phone and radio traffic. 

I have not been trained on how to train people, nor received any special training in the three software programs that I was reteaching to the dispatchers of CenCom.  But I wasn't too apprehensive in my tasks, for several reasons.  One, I have always felt that I am pretty good at showing people how to do something that I know how to do.  I may not be able to explain the technical terms, or correctly define what I am doing, and I definitely don't teach like a real instructor would teach, but I think that I get the basic message across in a friendly, accessible manner.  Two, these guys and gals had already received the formal training, so I was just refreshing their memories.  And three, these are damn good dispatchers.

I was honestly impressed with every one that I worked with.  They all had combinations of knowledge, integrity, skill, speed, and compassion that are essential for a good dispatcher.  Some were better than others in certain categories, but I am confident that all of them will quickly become extremely capable helicopter dispatchers.  I hope to come back in May (for a class) and spend more time with Gareth, Skip, Walt, Matt, Sue, Ron, CJ, Steve, Dave, Jack, the millionaire, his wife, and the rest.  I know that I have forgotten several names, please forgive me NJ, I am famously awful with names, but you are probably lucky that I remembered as many as I did.

I can give almost no information on how New Jersey was, as I did nothing besides work noon to midnight, sleep, eat, and commute.  I did enjoy my 4.5 star hotel, and caught up a little bit on my Bible-in-a-year reading plan. And while I usually ate either the free hotel breakfast, or hospital cafeteria food, I did sample some fine local Italian restaurants.  Next company paid trip, I think I'll spend a little less money in the cafeteria and more on real food.  I've had way too many years of cafeteria food, and really need to avoid it from now on.

I enjoyed the multi-dispatcher aspect of the work, and am thankful that my job is expanding to where we now have multiple dispatchers on duty in Virginia.  Working by yourself is fun for awhile, but I like the company.  CenCom has a fun group of people, and I actually miss being there a little bit.

But the most enjoyable part of my time in Jersey wasn't even in Jersey.  That may sound a bit mysterious, and I'll leave it that way for now.

So yesterday I arrived in New Jersey.

This is the first time that I have ever stopped in NJ.  I had always been warned to keep moving and never stop.

My company started a new helicopter program up here.  The dispatchers were trained a month or two ago, and the program was supposed to go live as they were being trained.  But there was a delay getting the helicopter approved by the state, and my bosses wanted someone here to sort of "refresh" the dispatchers.  The program went "live" Wednesday evening.

While honored that my bosses think me capable of such a job, I'll be honest and admit that I didn't really want to be here.  This last minute trip fell on my weekend off, and I have a huge list of things to do around the house.  Also, I have to train the night shift and day shift, so I've decided to work noon to midnight each day.  Working those hours doesn't leave any room for doing anything besides sleeping, eating, and working really.  So this trip won't have any sightseeing or similar vacation-type fun.

After being here a couple of days, my attitude has changed a bit.

Not only am I enjoying the "work", but I am really enjoying the people.  I'll continue later in the trip, but here is a shot of the hospital that the AirOne dispatchers are based out of.

The other day, I take notice of my khakis as I'm getting dressed.  I own 4 or so pair of khakis, but this particular pair has always been my least favorite.  They had two huge flaws.

1. They had only 5 belt loops as opposed to the more standard 7.  (Go ahead and count the ones on your pants.  7 is obviously better than 5, right?  The band's name is not the 55s after all.)


2. They had shallow pockets.  Every time I wear them I'm afraid that I'm going to lose my wallet and/or cell phone (always kept in my right and left front pockets respectively).

But, being, let me call it frugal to be nice to myself, I still keep these pants in my regular rotation.  I hate to throw anything useful away, and had grudgingly decided that I would have to keep these pants until they wear out or I lose my 30 pounds.

So at work that day, I get in one of my cleaning moods and reorganize one of the drawers at work.  While doing so, I apparently had leaned against the metal glide bars of the drawer.  Because later that day, I noticed huge grease stains on my pants all around one of my knees.

Rather than curse, I actually said, "Awesome!  Now I can get rid of these pants!"  I planned to wash them as best I could (it looks like the type of stain that will never really come out), and give them to the shelter.

The word "serendipitous" actually came to me as I first examined the stains.

Unfortunately for my fragile brain, later that day, a couple of friends tried to convince me that the stain would be easy to remove.  I silently cursed them for making me think that was possible.  They had ruined my perfect plan.

At small group that very same night, Connie and Tricia's chihuahua Tiny solved my dilemma.

He peed on my pants.

I work for a medevac service, and we just opened our 7th base.  Here is our newest ship, launching from Baltimore on its maiden patient flight.  I think that this was the first time that I was able to be part of the first dispatch of any of our fleet.

And here are some pics of it landing at my hospital the day before.

I know that 2 pictures could have told this story as well as 4 did, but I just wanted to bother Ric.  I do tend to post too many similar pictures, but I just find it hard to choose.

My best friend has been working for the NFL for 15 years or so.  Each year, he works the Super Bowl.  And each year, I think about going to The Game, as he gets the opportunity to purchase 2 tickets.  Knowing that he won't Tice me and charge 4K or whatever, I really should just go next year before I lose the chance.  But I would hate to spend all that money on the trip, and not see the Vikings.  I just know that they'll make it back one of these days.  In 1998 I had my travel plans set, and then those darn Falcons ruined my year.  But at least I'm not still bitter and remember things like the sure touchdown in overtime that just glanced off Moss' fingertips, or that missed field goal that would have sealed the game, or the fumble at the end of the half that gave Atlanta a free field goal.

So Gary went this year, and his job for the day was to shadow Bonnie Bernstein.  Bonnie is, without a doubt, my favorite NFL sideline reporter.  Her grasp of the game is excellent, and her interview skills are second to none.  Also, I have bridge to sell you.

Gary spends the entire day with her, following her around, answering any questions, making sure she doesn't go anywhere she's not allowed, etc.  But does Gary call me and let me talk to her, or take a picture for me?  No.

I have a job opening in my company.  Anyone want to be Friend #1?

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The deal that allowed Al Michaels to jump from ABC to NBC includes a variety of business transactions -- and one rabbit being pulled out of a hat.

A very old hat.

By granting Michaels his exit papers, The Walt Disney Co., ABC's parent company, will get back a piece of its history from NBC Universal: the first animated character created by Disney and the forerunner to Mickey Mouse.

His name was Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, and the cheeky bunny was created in 1927 by Disney and his chief creative partner, Ub Iwerks, at the request of Carl Laemmle, the founder of Universal Pictures.

Michaels had been with ABC for three decades and had been the play-by-play announcer for "Monday Night Football" for the past 20 years.

"Oswald is definitely worth more than a fourth-round draft choice," Michaels said, referring to what the Kansas City Chiefs gave the New York Jets as compensation for releasing coach Herm Edwards from his contract. "I'm going to be a trivia answer someday."

A four-time Emmy Award winner, Michaels agreed last July to stay with ABC/ESPN as the Monday game switched to the cable network next fall, but he asked to back out and instead will broadcast Sunday night NFL games on NBC with John Madden, his partner on ABC during the past four seasons.

As part of the deal, NBC sold ESPN cable rights to Friday coverage of the next four Ryder Cups through 2014, and granted ESPN increased usage of Olympic highlights through 2012 and other NBC properties through 2011. NBC, in turn, gets expanded highlight rights to ABC and ESPN events.

NBC Sports chairman Dick Ebersol said ABC Sports and ESPN president George Bodenheimer called last month to initiate talks, which culminated in an agreement Tuesday.

"He told me this incredible story that Walt's first really big production as a cartoonist for the cinema had been a character called Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, which was before Mickey," Ebersol said. "And for reasons that aren't still totally clear to me, Walt lost those rights. He didn't have the money to hold onto them."

Before Oswald, Disney and Iwerks had made a series of animated and live-action shorts based on "Alice in Wonderland." The films were distributed by Charles Mintz.

Disney cranked out 26 of the silent Oswald cartoons. The character proved popular and soon began appearing on merchandise. In 1928, Disney traveled to New York to negotiate a renewal of the contract to produce the Oswald series. Mintz balked at paying more for the series and instead suggested that Disney fold up shop and come to work for him. Disney refused. But what he didn't know was that Mintz had secretly hired away most of Disney's key animators -- except Iwerks. Universal owned the rights to Oswald and would continue to create cartoons without Disney. The result, while devastating to Disney at the time, was historical. Legend has it that on the train ride back to Los Angeles, Disney decided his next character would be a mouse named Mortimer. His wife, Lillian, suggested he change the name to Mickey.

But according to animation historians and Leslie Iwerks, Ub's granddaughter who wrote a book about him titled "The Hand Behind the Mouse," there's a different story. Iwerks said what most likely happened is that, on their return to Los Angeles, Walt and Ub huddled, considered various options, then settled on a mouse, whose name Lillian Disney indeed suggested. Iwerks created two silent films featuring Mickey, which, not surprisingly, looked a lot like Oswald with shorter ears. These films didn't make it to theaters then. The third cartoon was made with a soundtrack and marked Mickey's big-screen debut -- "Steamboat Willie." "It was not just a crucial turning point for Walt Disney, but for popular culture," film critic and historian Leonard Maltin said Thursday. "If he hadn't been forced to create a new character, who knows what we'd be seeing on all those T-shirts and wrist watches today."

Universal continued to make Oswald films from 1929 to 1938. One of the earliest voices for the character was actor Mickey Rooney. Oswald also continued to appear in comic books from 1943 to 1962.

In the deal announced Thursday, Disney will get the rights to the Oswald character plus all 26 shorts created by Disney. The deal, which also includes some sports content, does not includes the "Oswald" films and other products produced by Universal. Disney has not said what it will do with the cartoons, but a DVD release is likely.

"When Bob (Disney president and CEO Robert Iger) was named CEO, he told me he wanted to bring Oswald back to Disney, and I appreciate that he is a man of his word," Walt Disney's daughter Diane Disney Miller said in a statement Thursday. "Having Oswald around again is going to be a lot of fun."

AP Sports Writer Ronald Blum in New York contributed to this report.