Month: August 2008

Looking for another quick “photo = post” again and again it needs enough explanation to make me write a post anyway. This was my workbench at AIMD at NAS Meridian (MS) around 1980. I can picture it’s location in the overall shop, but can’t for the life of me remember what piece of equipment I worked on at it. Notice the model of the Starship Enterprise NCC 1701A from the recently released Star Trek The Movie hanging from the ceiling. You can also see a black spider hanging down, so it must have been coming up on Halloween.

Less apparent are two small egg shaped airplanes hanging there as well. I haven’t thought of those in ages and now searching the internet looking for them I realize I should have held on to them because they seem impossible to find now. Called Eggocentrics, they were made by a company called IPT and they produced a whole series of them based on commercial airliners in the 70’s. I of course couldn’t leave well enough alone and modified them into military aircraft, one of which was of the EA-3B I flew in while at VQ-1. I can’t remember what the second one was, but I think it was of an A-7 from one of the attack squadrons off the Midway.

For breakfast on Sunday we ended up at our old favorite place, the New Moon Cafe. This was our planned destination, in spite of the last couple of negative experiences, so Donna had brought 4 quarters so we could read the local paper while enjoying our Cranberry Pecan Muffins. Luck was with us and we hit the place at just the right time, after the initial opening rush and before the pre-church crowd. We dined alfresco and enjoyed the people watching people. Along with the people we also got to watch a high strung Golden Retriever match power & wits with it’s owner and the dog was winning. As we usually do, to avoid carrying it back we leave the Sunday paper behind after Donna has culled out the usable coupons, including this week, one from McDonald’s for a free chicken sandwich.

Before we left I went inside to make a potty stop. When I came out of the Men’s room Donna was inside the restaurant too so she could use the facilities as well. She had obviously vacated our outside table as on the table by the door to the outside were our plastic baskets filled with the empty OJ bottle and crumpled napkins. As I waited for her to come out I glanced through the USA Weekend and noticed another McDonald’s free sandwich coupon. I tore it out and put it in my jersey pocket with the other one. About that time, Donna returned from the bathroom and simultaneously a woman came over from the main part of the caf? and started to sit down at the table. We apologized for having our “trash” on her table, grabbed the plastic baskets and went back the way the woman had come to dispose of them on a different empty table.

When we got to our bikes I told Donna that she had missed another free sandwich coupon in the paper, but not to worry because I had snagged it before leaving our paper behind for that woman. It was then that she informed me that she had left our paper outside with the people who took over our original table, so the paper I had gotten the coupon from must have belonged to that woman inside, I had stolen that second coupon. Donna asked if I thought I should go back and give her the coupon, but I declined, rationalizing that she didn’t look like the McDonald’s type, but knowing that it would be really awkward to try and explain the mix up. Especially with her in her Sunday going to church finery and me in my sweaty, skin tight lycra cycling attire.