From the Birthplace of the Republican Party

Howdy. Guess it’s time for an update. I flew from Rochester, MN to Jackson, MI about a week and a half ago. Took the route south of Chicago and Lake Michigan to avoid the fish food fate. My first impression is that Jackson is an undead zombie of the city it used to be. You can still almost feel the hard times this town has seen at various times due to auto industry woes. Oh well. At least the strippers are nice here.

I bought an airline ticket to Kansas City from Detroit to go home for my brother, Andrew’s graduation from Kansas State University. The trouble was in getting from Jackson to Detroit, which is about a 45-minute drive. The rental car places wanted to charge me a boatload to drop off at a different location, so my options became Greyhound or Amtrak. Amtrak ended up a couple bucks cheaper and dropped off closer to my hotel in Detroit, so I went with them. The line guy here in Jackson was nice enough to drop me off at the train station, but I had a couple hours to kill before my train left. I had some paperwork to do and packages to send so I asked if he could recommend someplace to hang out and have a frosty beverage. He pointed across the street to Cooper’s Pub. “Perfect,” I thought.

I dragged my rolling duffle bag, laptop bag, and guitar through the alley door and down a long dark hallway. At the end of the hallway, I was greeted by four young ladies, and let’s just say I felt overdressed. What the hell. I bellied up to a table sufficiently removed from the stage and close to an electrical outlet (for the laptop) and started on my paperwork. It wasn’t long before a couple of nubile employees pulled up seats next to me to inquire as to the nature of my work and my choice of venue.

“We thought maybe you had some porn on there that was better that what was up on the stage…”

I explained that my ride had failed to mention that this was a strip club and that I was just finishing up some paperwork while waiting for my train. One of them stuck around and chatted while I finished up my work. When I asked how long she’d been in the business, she proudly proclaimed,

“Since two weeks after my 18th birthday. I was actually still in high school and living with my parents.”

“Really?! When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?”

“Famous!”

“And you thought this would get you there?”

“I don’t know. I used to watch a lot of Jerry Springer, and I think it sort of glamorized it some.”

“Huh.”

Eventually, I left and caught my train and my flight and ended up in good ole Kansas City. I think everyone had a good time at graduation and the ensuing revelry. Mom made no bones about the day being as much a celebration for her as for Andrew, since all three of her children have now graduated from college. Go us.

She may have a couple of unemployed college graduates before long though. Andrew is waiting to hear about teaching jobs in the KC area and I’m still not sure exactly what I’m doing when I leave this job at the end of the month. There are a couple jobs in regional airlines or cargo that I’m qualified to apply for. I really need to hit the books before I’ll feel comfortable going into an interview and answering questions about multi-engine systems and procedures, though. My little Skyhawk hasn’t done much to keep me current on all that. I started today by reviewing some of the interview cheat sheets posted on the internet by previous pilot job candidates. That only reminded me of how much reviewing I have to do. So the current plan is to put out some resumes and head to a peaceful, exotic, locale (KC, St Louis, DFW???) to bring myself back up to speed while waiting for responses. I hope I get some. I’m not a very good dancer.