Podcasts, a thing that have soared in popularity. Not with me personally. They are something I never thought I would be on either. I’ve been trying to not say that word, never, though. As just when I typically use it – a thing happens.
A dear friend of mine started a podcast up after his long tenure in local government ended. His podcast is about local government, and how citizens work with it to get things done.
It just happens to be the case that I’ve been involved with a little statue you may have heard about? He wanted to speak with me and the first president of our group.
Peter did a lot of the heavy lifting when it came to working with government to make things happen in the beginning, and I will always state that. I was a part of a separate group, formed on Reddit who were trying to accomplish the same task at the same time. It was the host of the podcast who introduced Peter and I. The rest they say is history I suppose.
My largest role in our group? It was I who officially organized The Janeway Collective to be a 501(c)3 non-profit, and got a lot of that business nobody really wants to do handled.
It was a good experience, and I had fun. I really do not enjoy the sound of my voice, but Peter and Steve’s voices are smooth as butter it seems. Perhaps it’s a confidence thing? IDK.
Not literally, but in a way. In actuality, an alligator did. But I’ll get to that later.
After our day at the museum, we got organized and made some plans we both couldn’t cancel and had hard timelines on. We were to have a day split with time in the French Quarter and on a Swamp Tour, something a friend of mine had told me many times to do.
Since I had been to the French Quarter before, and we had some tight timelines, I decided it would be best to drive and park in the French Quarter. I found us a parking garage we could park in that was just a block away from Jackson Square, and pre-paid. We had this block of time, there was no going back. We decided that we were going to split up, each parent with their child. Go do things we wanted to do. But there was a slight hiccup, Lyndsey left her phone at the house, something we didn’t realize until we got there. To go back we would lose about an hour of time, so to hell with it.
Amelia and I instantly went to our place, Stanley. I didn’t get the picturesque photo that I got last time, but it’ll do.
We had our breakfast, and were on our way. When we came in 2019, we really didn’t do much. So we explored the French Quarter as much as we could. Stopping at many of the gift shops along the way. Google maps wasn’t of much help, as it kept changing orientation on me. So we made some disorganized criss cross motions around the southern end of the place.
We stopped at the Museum of Death, which was cool but nothing awe inspiring in my opinion. They do have David Koresh’s band shirt, which is pretty cool.
We then made our way to The Art of Dr. Seuss, part of the Angela King Gallery. It was a small space, but my eyes were in heaven. They had lots of pieces that I found highly interesting, but one stood above the rest. I found it curious as it had no price tag on it. It was from my favorite Seuss book, “Green Eggs & Ham.” I had to ask, I had to prod.
“Would you? Could You? In a Car?” Arabian Edition
It was apparently the only copy remaining for sale. I was told that any works where duplicates were made are all done in limited copies. The price they gave was something I could handle, and so I bought it. I had it shipped to my home, just receiving it a few days ago.
By this time, we were both getting hot and we needed some hydration. Trying to find a place where you and your underage daughter can sit down and drink something non-alcoholic in the French Quarter isn’t an easy task, but I found a Oyster Bar on Royal street that let me do just that. Amelia had water and Sprite while I had water and a Hurricane, because why not?
I then started getting messages from Lyndsey, via her watch. She kept telling me where she was, but I was not getting cross streets to get a proper location. It appeared that her and Kira had went the polar opposite direction as Amelia and I did. After some back and forth, I settled up and we made our way to find them. When I reached them, they were both hot, thirsty and hungry. I wanted to go to the Hard Rock Cafe earlier, but knew they were closed. So I thought we’d stop by there, grab some grub and then head to our next destination. By the time we made it there, we discovered that they didn’t serve food until 4pm.
So I decided we would cut our losses and get out of dodge, with the traffic in the quarter – we were pushing making it to our swamp tour. We drove to the nearest place everyone could agree on and/or eat at. I just drank copious amounts of fluids to re-hydrate myself.
We made it to the location of our swamp tour just in time. After getting our wristbands, we sat and waited until the boats were ready. Something had happened to the boat we were originally scheduled to use, which bothered Lyndsey, as the boat we were on was a little larger than the one we were to be on.
Our Boat
There were many warnings about either locking things in your car, or making sure they are zippered, as items have been known to get lost on these tours. We were going along, having a blast. We would stop in locations and our guide would throw out marshmallows and hotdogs. The alligators faces would soften up, and act like puppies that were trying to steal food from the table. It was adorable.
He then popped out a little stowaway, a baby alligator. Lyndsey felt like she was in heaven, and Amelia smiled – which is rare anymore. I refrained, but relished in their happiness.
Recall what I mentioned about things being lost? I had put everything but my wallet inside a zippered pocket of my shorts. Through all of the bumps and hits that you get on an airboat, my wallet slowly but surely slipped out of my back pocket. While we were sitting still, there was a noise on my side of the boat. Someone stated they thought it was a fish jumping out of the water, then someone else said, “no it’s that guys wallet.” I happened to be “that” guy. Just then, a large alligator came to the boat, coming right up to me.
Everyone thinks that gator ate my wallet. Our guide told me that the wallet was in about 5 feet of water, and that if he felt like there was a chance to retrieve it, he would have. He kept apologizing to me, but there wasn’t much that could be done. Sure, it dampened my spirits but there was nothing I could do about it. I just had to proceed forward and enjoy things as best I could.
I had fun on the swamp tour, but spent the rest of the time trying to figure out how I would get my credit cards, ID and other items I keep in my wallet back. This created a real situation for us the next day as I had booked us a hotel room in Panama City Beach so I could see a friend who had moved away.
For almost two years, I have been on a journey with other Bloomingtonians to complete something others had tried, but never completed. Over the weekend, we did the thing, and completed it.
The Herald-Times Front Page, 10/16/2020
Three disconnected groups of Bloomington area residents joined forces, doing what they say couldn’t be done. I take no credit for anything major here, but I was involved as much as I could be.
For those reading this who aren’t familiar with the Star Trek universe, Kathryn Janeway was the first Captain of a Star Trek series, Voyager. Her character was born in Bloomington, Indiana. This immediately became a source of pride for trekkies in the area.
The monument and event took place on the B-Line trail, with an immense crowd of fans. So many that it made social distancing almost impossible. I played my typical role of jack of all trades, giving a hand to make sure what needed to be done, was. I’m not fond of the limelight, and prefer to stay out of it as much as possible.
The monument is a bronze bust on a limestone base with an inset stainless steel plate. Beside it is a informational table, that has my name on it twice.
The unveiling setup
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we had to lean on live streaming harder than we originally planned for the event. We had some difficulties with the microphones causing echo on the videos we played but otherwise it went well. Later on that day I had checked the stats for the live video, and 16.1k people had viewed it!
Kate Mulgrew has such an infectious smile
We were fortunate that Kate Mulgrew agreed to join us virtually. The event was at 11am but she was in California, where it was 8am. I was so happy to be behind the scenes, where I got these excellent photos of her reactions to this monument of a character she played and is reprising in the new series Prodigy.
If you look closely, you will see my name – twice!
The informational table tells the story of Janeway, and her creator Jeri Taylor who spent her childhood in Bloomington and graduated from Indiana University. The papers in which the Janeway character was created are housed at the Lilly Library. A display of these papers was in the original plan for the unveiling event.
I’m not a fan of pictures of myself, but here I am.
I began the day at 7am, and it was full go until everything ended roughly at 2pm. I was tired, I was exhausted but I was also immensely humbled and fulfilled by the days events. My youngest daughter was there with me to be witness to the event. My eldest joined the live stream, as did one of my aunts in Oklahoma. The next day was my 40th birthday, and this is the best present a guy could have.
My blurb in the booklet
We produced a booklet for the unveiling. I’m unsure of how many were produced exactly, but we ran out of them before the unveiling actually happened. I grabbed four of them because I knew they would go quickly. One of them I gave to Jeremy Hogan, who runs The Bloomingtonian, I gave my girlfriend another. One of them I saved for Steve Volan, who without his connection I would have never been involved in this. I made sure he would be added to the special thanks portion. Leaving one for myself.
We haven’t discussed our long term goals or plans as of yet, I am currently working on a Wikipedia page for the monument, which is currently just a section on the main Janeway page.
It was an amazing trip. Rachel and I have both came to the conclusions that the stigmas regarding New York from the “old days” are still around, at least where we live. We felt safe at all times, and only saw a handful of homeless. I saw many people out trying to help the homeless. They seem to have people on every block asking for donations.
The first day we arrived late in the day due to plane delays, so we just walked around a little bit and ate dinner. Our hotel, the Marriott Marquis is located right in the heart of Times Square. We could see a sliver of the new years ball from our hotel room.
Enjoy the slideshow containing all of our pictures from the trip!
It’s been an extremely long time since I’ve posted, and there’s a very good reason why. I haven’t had much free time at all lately.
I took on a paper route, then after getting the kinks out and finally getting it down pat I started a new job as a Handyman for Morgenstern Home Services.
Between the two, I barely had time to sleep, let alone all the other responsibilities I have.
I’m currently in Chicago, IL. Rachel has a conference tomorrow, and we used it as a reason to get away for a few days.
We’re staying at the Club Quarters Hotel located in the Mather Tower. It’s the first time I’ve ever stayed in Chicago, and I must say I am enjoying it!
This break has given me an opportunity to find a replacement for the paper route. She called me tonight asking about inserts for the Sunday paper. I no longer have to worry about that 7 day a week commitment.
Now I have time to concentrate on various projects, such as our upcoming trip to Oklahoma to see my aunts.
There are many creative minds at work at the CSR. Many of us enjoy the video production/editing fields. There are 2 ladies with Ph.D.’s, a jewelry maker, and the list goes on from there.
For most of us, the CSR is just a stepping stone. I hope it is for me, as I’m tired of assembling NSSE survey packets. It’s mind numbing work, and when you’re scolded for speaking, it’s just that much worse.
A fellow co-worker makes his own music. It’s electronic and kind of a mix between new age and techno. It’s the best thing I’ve heard or seen in a while, so I thought I’d share. I think with the right exposure, this kid and his music could really go places.
He’s a little leery of allowing it to be downloaded so I have a selection of his songs setup for streaming, but I have been made aware of some issues. This will only work with IE, as it’s setup with Windows Media to stream. I’ve personally tried Safari and Firefox with no luck. So you are warned! I am currently working on a way for all platforms to play, but I don’t have it in place yet.
If anyone out there has any better ideas, please let me know! I tried last.fm, but to add one of their “playlists” you have to have a minimum of 15 songs.
If anyone out there has any better ideas, please let me know! I tried , but to add one of their “playlists” you have to have a minimum of 15 songs.
Or, if there’s enough support, he just might let the nice people who read my blog download it. If he does, I will add links.
UPDATE: I somewhat solved the problem. If you cannot view or play the media player, click on the link directly below the song title, it will play the song on your systems native player.
Yesterday we spent a wonderful evening with my brother and sister in-law. She works at the IRT (Indianapolis Repertory Theatre). One of her benefits is free tickets to each show. Last night it was Our Town. I have to say it was quite moving. The play revolves around life and death in a little town named Grover’s Corners. The cast was great, I really enjoyed the performance by the “Stage Manager.” If you haven’t seen the show professionally done, please do so. It’s one of the best shows I think I’ve seen.
We then capped the evening off with dinner and drinkx at the Oaken Barrel. A nice microbrew pub/restaraunt. It makes me think of Btown’s own Upland in a way.
Rachel and her sister got to do a lot of talking, as sisters often do. I believe a lot of issues on their minds were finally resolved.
We haven’t had a night out with them in around 2 years. I hope we can do it more often.
It’s my new desktop. It took a lot of time and patience to make it this way, but I enjoy it very much. My favorite artist Van Gogh is featured here with his painting “A Night on the Rhone.”
Changing the taskbar was interesting to say the least. I used a brazillian “theme.” It changed EVERYTHING to spanish. So I had to change it back without knowing anything about that language except for “si.”
I previously wrote about how I am trying to get my hands on a piece of John Mellencamp artwork, and how I adore Cherokee indian art.
I purchased my first piece of Indian art way back in 1996. I had it framed a few years ago. It’s a beautiful print from Cherokee artist Ben Adair Shoemaker.
Someone very special read that post, Shoemaker’s grandaughter. The strange part is that she is applying to come to the IU school of law! I just might end up with some more interesting pieces from this fine artist.
Still no luck on the Mellencamp front, but I’ll keep plugging away.
