Pack Ice & Pilots

On the way to work today, this really cool older man sits down a few seats away from me and says (as he saw me sit down): "And a newspaper to boot eh." So that got us talking, he mentioned the $20 million lottery coming up, and I asked him what he would do with it. He would just help people out as he's too old to use it himself. He and his father were both pilots, so he'd probably go sailing around the world for a year. Huh??

Anyway, I mentioned a program on Outdoor Life about a family who packed it all up and sailed around the world for 5 years. He said you have to be careful with that because of the weather, and ... Pirates!!?? Apparently, in the Carribean, Pirates aren't just entertainment shows reminding us of days long gone, they are the days of now!! Anyway, I then said, humanity always gets to a point where it thinks it can beat mother nature because of what it can build (thinking of that new jumbo jet that landed in Toulouse yesterday after a 4 hr test flight). He agreed, reminded of the titanic and then said, "you know you can smell ice bergs? Ya, the seals just go eat on them and then excrete all over them, so you are really smelling seal shit, then sometimes the fog up there in the North Atlantic is so thick you can eat it."

Man this guy was cool. I really hate how we have been taught to completely ignore anything that moves (with good reason - there are a lot of bad people out there who want to do bad things to a lot of good people) because that means we miss out on conversations like the one I had this morning. I wonder when this generation grows up, if we will tell our cool stories to anyone who will listen on whatever form of public transit exists. I hope I will be one of those guys. Although, if I want to be able to tell cool stories, I'd better start living a life worth telling others about. Machu Pichu, watch out, I will one day mount you and claim you as a great adventure! I'm definitely sure there is a better way to phrase that without it sounding so overwrought with sexual innuendo, but then I wouldn't have been able to get a giggle out of you.

Next blog: The secret to eliminating Gilette corporation from your life, well partially anyway.

The Cool AGE:)