Went for a short walk this morning

On this lovely fall-ish morning, I went for a walk to my favorite spot on campus, the airport. It is in a fairly secluded location in the woods, and hardly anyone ever goes there. I really like hiking there on clear, cold winter nights to see if any planes come in or leave, something I, for some reason, love watching.

Of course, the best season of the year (winter) hasn't started yet, but a recent cold front has helped dry the hot, humid August air and has made for some very cool mornings, which will probably not return until late September. I decided to take advantage of this momentary lovely weather and hike to my favorite spot on campus, the first time I'd done so since I returned here from being home for the summer.

The walk itself is quite a joy. It's a very secluded walk, and it was made better by the unusually cool weather. I could see my breath in the rising sun, my ears were actually starting to get cold, and I even saw a flock of geese that appeared to be migrating. It stirred up some winter nostalgia and exhilaration in me, emotions I hadn't felt since last winter. It put me in a very good mood, to say the least. It was like a dramatic western movie scene where the cowboy rides away in front of some dramatic vista with exciting music playing. It was just THAT epic.

I was reminded of how lazy I was during the summer, because some of the inclines on that road made me a little out of breath. The walk hadn't killed me like that before! I figured by the end of the semester I'd be in decent shape again, though. It was well worth it, though, because when I reached the end of the walk, I got to take in deep breaths of the cool morning air and enjoy the sight of the long runway, the old aircraft hangar, the seclusion, and some of the planes parked outside the hangar. Before leaving, I even got to watch a small plane come in.

Night landings are the best, really. I love those awesome blue runway lights coming on, because they let you know a plane is coming in. Just look off to either end of the runway for a faint light, just brighter than one of the stars, slowly approaching the airport. You can hear its engines idling as it makes its descent. Very awesome.

I don't know what it is about airports and aviation and things like that, but I just really like being around that stuff. I could never fly a plane myself, given my shitty perceptual ability and godawful motor skills, but I do enjoy being around them.

I suppose being an aviation mechanic would probably be my dream job, since I do enjoy working on things like that. I don't know a damn thing about aircraft engines, aside from the different kinds there are, but it would be very interesting to learn about them.

This airport I go to is geographically secluded, but the people that work there are also considered the "black sheep" of the campus. The airport used to be a workstation choice for the college before an incident happened that led to the school ending its aviation program. I heard that it was a great workstation, and the supervisors were nothing like much of the other faculty (they weren't as uptight and cussed frequently, my kind of folks). It's a shame.

But the airport still runs, and I hike there to watch the planes or simply just for the isolation. It is quite possibly one of the few things that keeps me going strong in this cruddy location in the American Bible Belt.

Attacks on Health Care Reform

These conservatives making a fuss at town hall meetings are only making asses of themselves and proving how stupid they are to the country and the world. Unfortunately, they are another black eye for liberal Americans, since they continue to demonstrate how ignorant some people in this country are, and they are promoting a broken health care system that other countries have known for some time to be a cruel violation of human rights.

Seriously, where will it end?

The most recent lie propagated by these insurance company drones is that there will be "death panels" to kill off senior citizens, and this has been a recurring theme of these feeble minded people at town hall meetings.

And the Republican propaganda machine is loving every minute of it, and exploiting these underinformed Americans. Some have hinted at having Democratic Congressmen assassinated!

Conservatives are demonstrating their desperation. They're running out of lies.

Birther conspiracy theories
Socialist takeover!
Rationed health care!
Death panels

Kieth Olbermann exposes forged town hall protests
Media Matters shows who is behind the lies
Glenn Beck again shows how much of an ass he is
Get Lou Dobbs fired!
More proof that town hall meetings are intentionally sabotaged