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03-13-2022, 04:57 PM - 1 Like   #16
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QuoteOriginally posted by steamloco76 Quote
I did, however, get to do something I never would have experienced in my 400lb state; fly in a genuine WWII North American Aviation Corp. B-25G medium bomber. Wow, what an experience.
Even at my reduced size, my height and wide shoulders made maneuvering into and through the slim bomber a challenge. I even made it back to the tailgunner blister. I made some very good images too.

Years ago I got to tour a B-17G at a fly-in air show.
Amazingly cramped inside, even for a person of average size.
I would have been to scared to death to fly in that tin can.

Chris

05-31-2022, 03:53 AM   #17
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QuoteOriginally posted by steamloco76 Quote
Almost my entire life I have been a tall, very fat man. Six feet three inches and over 400lbs. During a six year period in my thirties, I went diet and exercise crazy, along with working 50 -60 hours per week as a photojournalist. I had no life other than work and exercise, but by darned I got down to an extremely fit 240 lbs. I loved riding a mountain bike on the former rail lines converted to trails in my home state of Pennsylvania. I put well over 1,000 miles a year on my bike. (The bike riding would later catch up to me causing lymphedema due to lymph passage damage from the bicycle seat)

My father was ill during my time of fitness, and I was the only child and caretaker, so travel, something I used to motivate myself to become fit, never happened. I did, however, get to do something I never would have experienced in my 400lb state; fly in a genuine WWII North American Aviation Corp. B-25G medium bomber. Wow, what an experience. Even at my reduced size, my height and wide shoulders made maneuvering into and through the slim bomber a challenge. I even made it back to the tailgunner blister. I made some very good images too.
Man, you were born in the wrong country: should'a been Japan, not Pennsylvania! You'd have been great in the Sumo ring!!!
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06-02-2022, 06:36 AM   #18
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Wiggo in Yellow, Cav in Rainbow - can it get any better ? Not in my lifetime.
06-02-2022, 07:44 AM   #19
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I always have mixed feelings going back to my high school "glory days". There were some great times and some very bad ones as well and they intermix. In sports, I was a swimmer and did very well. I swam AAU as an age group swimmer in the early 60's and by the time high school rolled around, I was one of the better swimmers in central Fla. and went undefeated in HS meets in my junior year. But things turned ugly at home around the same time and a year later, I was more of a stoner than a swimmer. Both parents were alcoholics and ended up unemployed (again) and we were basically homeless, living in a studio motel room. I stopped swimming, quit school and hit the road so my glory days were short. I was very surprised when my old school friends invited me to our 50th class reunion in 2018. I burned a lot of bridges back then and I had left Fla. for good in early 1969 and had not returned since. I never graduated there but these were the people I grew up with and were pretty much glad to get reacquainted, as I was.

I really consider my real "glory days" as the early 70's when God got a hold of me and turned my life around. Living clean and sober, meeting my wife, the birth of my 3 daughters...the glory days really continue. I will reminicse about the past only as part of the path that lead to the new road I have traveled. To look back on a couple of great years in high school as the best of your life is pretty sad. That's pretty much the theme of the song and I see a lot of people like that.

As for my days of swimming, that is something I have taken up again. It started as physical therapy after a couple of motorcycle crashes and arthritis issues and at the age of 68, I began competing with with Masters swimming. It's kind of fun to race again and the benefits of the training keep me fit and mobile as I'm now win my 70's. I'm only about half as fast as my "glory days" and that's ok but I'm having a blast.

06-02-2022, 09:18 AM - 3 Likes   #20
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Oh my. Glory days?

Well, I was a pretty good football player in high school and played Division III college ball. But in college I was just another good lineman. And I was also an ass and didn't "hit the books" and became ineligible.

I married a bright, talented beautiful woman and together we produced a brilliant young woman with a world-class mind. But those accomplishments belong to the women. I was just lucky to be along for the ride.

My real glory days didn't come along until my second career. In 1990 I became a mathematics teacher. After 25 years working in industry, I found my true calling. I was able to get kids excited about math – they didn't just want to find the value of x, but every letter of the alphabet.

We formed a math club and began going to competitions. We were successful. We won lots of trophies, both team and individual. Our trophy case included a number of state championships and some online national competition wins. But the success was not due to my coaching. All I did was show them the excitement of math, and then they just grabbed it and ran.

We did lots of neat things in our classroom. My geometry classes built toothpick bridges. Built only with toothpicks and glue and weighing no more than 50 grams (about 1-3/4 ounces), winning bridges would support in excess of 50 kilograms (111 pounds). All my classes did the "3 sheets of paper" challenge, trying to support as many textbooks as possible 4 inches above the desktop with just 3 sheets of copy paper (nothing else, no staples or paperclips, etc.). How much fun it was to watch kids standing on chairs carefully placing book number 18 or 20 on their stack.

But the really special part of my being a teacher was connecting with my students on a personal level. I was invited to Eagle Scout inductions, Guru Vandana ceremonies, and graduation celebrations. I have received e-mails from kids in college. Since I taught in middle school (6th through 8th grades), being remembered by teens in high school and later is a huge recognition. Teens tend to shed off teachers like old teeshirts.

As I finish writing this, I am reflecting and thinking that these were not my glory days, but rather my days of good fortune. There is no way I could have been more favored than to spend the second half of my working life in the classroom.

Last edited by AggieDad; 06-02-2022 at 05:40 PM.
06-02-2022, 10:04 AM   #21
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QuoteOriginally posted by AggieDad Quote
being remembered teens in high school and later is a huge recognition.
QuoteOriginally posted by AggieDad Quote
There is no way I could have been more favored than to spend the second half of my working life in the classroom.
Thank you for your reflections. Your students were blessed.

I often think back on some of my teachers. My Grade 12 math teacher -- who was really intent on educating his students and preparing them for their futures -- suggested that I should ignore the silly career recommendations of my Career Guidance print-out and just follow Electrical Engineering. I did. My Grade 8 English teacher played contemporary music records often and we analyzed each line of the lyrics. I learned a lot that year (and still enjoy listening to CCR today). A history teacher brought history to life through our recreations of important events. A Grade 9 science teacher let me have the keys to the lab so I could do extra stuff after hours. It's amazing that our small town of 7,000 in north-eastern New Brunswick attracted so many great teachers.


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06-04-2022, 02:01 PM - 2 Likes   #22
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@c.a.m. – Yes Craig, you had some great teachers. You and your town were truly fortunate. But I am willing to bet that those teachers also had some great students, of which you were one. And I would win that bet, because that is how it works.

The staff of life for any good teacher is what I call the "what if" kid. When a student starts to ask what if-type questions they are extending their thinking and they are extending what they are learning. And when that happens, the teacher can take the material and go all sorts of interesting places and do all sorts of interesting things. Good students become creative thinkers. Good teachers become great ones. They feed on each other in a marvelous upward spiral and the teaching and learning just get better and better.

Don


Last edited by AggieDad; 06-04-2022 at 08:10 PM.
06-04-2022, 05:26 PM - 1 Like   #23
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My glory days? From 1974 until 1988 I served in the USAF. The first 6 years I was in law enforcement/security. The last 8 I was a medic. The years after that were successful but not in any way that was a particular benefit to society; just jobs. I worked armored car, I was a printer, I owned and operated a bicycle shop for just under 20 years. Successful?; Yes. Satisfying? Meh....
My "glory days" were in the mid 70s 25 miles South of Fairbanks, Alaska. That's where my mind goes when I need to escape.
06-05-2022, 07:36 PM - 2 Likes   #24
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We'll there was playing on the state champion lacrosse team in high school, and scoring a 65-yard touchdown (as a defensive tackle) in college but the real golden moments were on the water: a couple of nice brown trout in the Catskills, a braggin'-sized striper from the rocks at Montauk Point, a steelhead in Oregon and a 22" flyrod smallmouth bass on the Shenandoah.
06-08-2022, 09:29 AM - 1 Like   #25
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QuoteOriginally posted by dadipentak Quote
We'll there was playing on the state champion lacrosse team in high school, and scoring a 65-yard touchdown (as a defensive tackle) in college but the real golden moments were on the water: a couple of nice brown trout in the Catskills, a braggin'-sized striper from the rocks at Montauk Point, a steelhead in Oregon and a 22" flyrod smallmouth bass on the Shenandoah.
I'm with you on the fish....
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