Waiting for Godot UPS...

Mike Fay, one of my absolute favorite milbloggers, gets world-wide recognition from the Beeb. Frequent and occasional readers of “Fire and Ice” know that Mr. Fay has been branching out of late, what with finishing his first sculpture and working to make the National Museum of the Marine Corps a reality. And what does a slide-show on Auntie’s site do to your traffic? Take a glance at the illustration on the right!

BZ, Mr. Fay. You more than deserve it!

(h/t: Lex)

You may have missed the successful resolution of “the other” British Navy hostage crisis, what with all the riveting and supremely important stuff going on these days. But IowaHawk will bring you up to speed:

The former captives' ordeal began Tuesday, when the British destroyer HMS Chamberlain was conducting joint training exercises with the US Navy at Great Lakes Naval Training Station on Lake Michigan, just north of Chicago. According to insurgent naval commander Chuck Sorenson, the vessel strayed into Lutheran territorial waters.

"Oh yah, dey were totally on the Wisconsin side," said Sorenson. "I was tossin' some empty driveway patch cans out dere in my storage shed and I could see 'em out dere on da lake, big as day."

Sorenson's account was disputed by British Minister of Defence John Reid, who pointed to GPS records locating the destroyer 20 miles southeast of Kenosha. Whether or not the ship was in technical violation of Wisconsin territorial waters, Cambridge University Midwesternologist Geoffrey Pickering said the Navy was ultimately at fault for failure to recognize local culture and customs.

"Straying anywhere near their waters would be seen as a provocative act," said Pickering, writing in London's Daily Mail. "These are a proud and fierce people, who jealously guard their walleye spots."

What is not in dispute is that the Chamberlain was quickly surrounded by a flotilla of up to a dozen blown Hemi bass boats and party pontoons. Captain Colin Puddeley radioed several frantic distress calls to the MoD Mobile Command Centre in Waukegan, but the staff was away at a mandatory diversity training seminar. Surrounded, the crew surrendered. The Chamberlain was scuttled, but not before insurgents ransacked its stores of weapons and porn DVDs.

"Fighting back was not an option," Puddeley explained after this morning's release. "These men were brandishing Leinenkugel and deer scent. Resistance would have ultimately led to anger, misunderstanding, and potential unpleasant confrontation."

Read the whole thing…

A Hostage to UPS…that would be me. I’m stuck in El Casa Móvil De Pennington whilst waiting for deliveries of the various and sundry motorcycle-related items I ordered off the ‘net that (hopefully) will require my signature to complete delivery. It doesn’t help that today’s weather is a lot better than it’s been over the course of the last few days. Speaking of which…

My ride yesterday was a semi-white-knuckled affair. I took off yesterday afternoon for parts unknown in spite of the wind. Bad decision. It’s no fun to ride in gusty wind conditions, especially when that wind is directly abeam your (intended) path. I encountered several gusts yesterday that seemed to lift the wheels right off the pavement, although the truth is somewhere short of that...but only by the tiniest of degrees. I had to keep my speed down to 65 mph or lower; any higher than that and the wind made things just a lil bit too “uncomfortable.” So…I cut the ride short. All told I put about 125 miles on the bike this weekend. It needs more…much more…than that. The weather will change, UPS will come and go, and I’ll be free to get with the program. But, Dang!! I’m SO impatient!

Today’s Pic: Both of you Frequent Readers may have noticed the appearance of a new commenter here at EIP going by the rather cryptic handle of “hickmanma.” That’s my Bud and Partner-In-Crime Michele, from Former Happy Days back when I was with Ed’s Famous Data Company in Ra-cha-cha. The pic on the right is the Lovely Michele (on the right), along with the equally lovely Leslie, another EDS’er who shared Michele’s (and mine, of course) fondness for Rochester’s better watering holes. And dives. One of Michele’s lasting claims-to-fame (and she has many!) was running the famous legendary “Thursday Nite Distribution List,” an e-mail list that at one time had hundreds of members. The sole purpose of the Thursday Nite list was to announce the gathering place for our weekly “off-sites,” which were attended by anywhere from three to 50 thirsty EDS’ers looking to socialize and just generally have a good time. You simply cannot imagine how much I miss those occasions. It’s a gaping hole in my so-called-life.

Just thought I’d put a face with a name…

(Photo credit: Michele.)