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#1
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Goodbye, My Good Friend.
And so we must part again. Economic obsolescence brings despair once again.
The joy, the inner peace, the relaxing comfort that comes with a familiar trusted colleague slips away once more. The anxiety of starting over with a new partner is facing me, again. The future is daunting. My first partner was the Cadillac of beauties. Her shape was designed in the age of the slide-rule. Slide-rules must have some majic in them. She could run faster than most any of the young ones running around these days. We took to each other right quick. She would do anything that I asked of her and submitted graciously to every nuance of my hands. She made me look good every day. I've heard it said that she could be cantankerous, but that just isn't true. She was the gentlest love I could ever hope for. The honeymoon never ended, but eventually my first partner slipped away, courtesy of Big Corporation seducing Big Government. In an instant, I was on the street, never to be with the 3-holed princess again. I still miss her. She was my first and she is still my truest love, but with three mouths to feed, she was getting too expensive to feed. With age working it's evil, she required ever more maintenance. She just couldn't compete with the young ones anymore. I hated to leave her, but I had no choice. I had to move on. We didn't even get to say good-bye. My next love was a Chevrolet when compared to the Caddilac. She wasn't as elegant, and she wasn't as fast, but she fulfilled her duties without complaint. She would embarrass me on occassion, but she never failed me. She had some unpleasant habits. She kept me warm in the summer but not in the winter. She could emit some rather unpleasant odors if she wasn't serviced properly. Some of her accessories were out of fashion. However these short-comings were overlooked because she was dependable, reliable, and trustworthy. We always accomplished what we set out to do. She brought me many compliments, but she was getting expensive. A power much higher than myself decided we had to seperate. She was getting too expensive. The younger ones may cost more, but they don't eat as much. We had one last fling together. We woke up on a Caribbean island to beautiful sunrise. The flight to Florida was smooth. During the entire flight, she never complained once. She simply did as she was asked, as she has for many years. Then I said good-bye, managed to keep from letting a tear show, and walked away. Good-bye, my good friend. So now I face the future. My next partner has been selected. She is born to a younger generation. I face her with scepticism. She may turn out to be a good partner, but I doubt she will have the romance of my past loves. I'm told that she will do what she is asked, as long as I keep my hands off her. Just make the mortgage payments on her and she will fufill her obligations, but forget about carressing her. My heart aches. D. (B-727, MD-80, and now a f**king computer with wings) |
#2
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"Capt.Doug" wrote in message
... Beautiful prose Capt... Worth keeping. Jay B |
#3
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Nicely said Capt. Doug, the note I saw on a super connie bulkhead that
crashed in Stockton CA, a long time ago, from the last Western Captain to fly her, indicates you are not alone. "Capt.Doug" wrote in message ... And so we must part again. Economic obsolescence brings despair once again. The joy, the inner peace, the relaxing comfort that comes with a familiar trusted colleague slips away once more. The anxiety of starting over with a new partner is facing me, again. The future is daunting. My first partner was the Cadillac of beauties. Her shape was designed in the age of the slide-rule. Slide-rules must have some majic in them. She could run faster than most any of the young ones running around these days. We took to each other right quick. She would do anything that I asked of her and submitted graciously to every nuance of my hands. She made me look good every day. I've heard it said that she could be cantankerous, but that just isn't true. She was the gentlest love I could ever hope for. The honeymoon never ended, but eventually my first partner slipped away, courtesy of Big Corporation seducing Big Government. In an instant, I was on the street, never to be with the 3-holed princess again. I still miss her. She was my first and she is still my truest love, but with three mouths to feed, she was getting too expensive to feed. With age working it's evil, she required ever more maintenance. She just couldn't compete with the young ones anymore. I hated to leave her, but I had no choice. I had to move on. We didn't even get to say good-bye. My next love was a Chevrolet when compared to the Caddilac. She wasn't as elegant, and she wasn't as fast, but she fulfilled her duties without complaint. She would embarrass me on occassion, but she never failed me. She had some unpleasant habits. She kept me warm in the summer but not in the winter. She could emit some rather unpleasant odors if she wasn't serviced properly. Some of her accessories were out of fashion. However these short-comings were overlooked because she was dependable, reliable, and trustworthy. We always accomplished what we set out to do. She brought me many compliments, but she was getting expensive. A power much higher than myself decided we had to seperate. She was getting too expensive. The younger ones may cost more, but they don't eat as much. We had one last fling together. We woke up on a Caribbean island to beautiful sunrise. The flight to Florida was smooth. During the entire flight, she never complained once. She simply did as she was asked, as she has for many years. Then I said good-bye, managed to keep from letting a tear show, and walked away. Good-bye, my good friend. So now I face the future. My next partner has been selected. She is born to a younger generation. I face her with scepticism. She may turn out to be a good partner, but I doubt she will have the romance of my past loves. I'm told that she will do what she is asked, as long as I keep my hands off her. Just make the mortgage payments on her and she will fufill her obligations, but forget about carressing her. My heart aches. D. (B-727, MD-80, and now a f**king computer with wings) |
#4
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"Capt.Doug" wrote in message ... And so we must part again. Economic obsolescence brings despair once again. The joy, the inner peace, the relaxing comfort that comes with a familiar trusted colleague slips away once more. The anxiety of starting over with a new partner is facing me, again. The future is daunting. [snipped] So now I face the future. My next partner has been selected. She is born to a younger generation. I face her with scepticism. She may turn out to be a good partner, but I doubt she will have the romance of my past loves. I'm told that she will do what she is asked, as long as I keep my hands off her. Just make the mortgage payments on her and she will fufill her obligations, but forget about carressing her. My heart aches. D. (B-727, MD-80, and now a f**king computer with wings) Hey Doug, look on the bright side. At least she's French. I hear they make good lovers. Well, that is, I hear they know how to f**k you, one way or the other. :-) I'll talk to you next time you're flying by, Chip, ZTL |
#5
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Nice story, Doug. I had a friend who upgraded to one of those French
machines after years in DC-9s. I worried that somehow Bill Gates was responsible for some of the software in them. He said the most frequent communication with the FO was .. "crap .. why the f*&k is it doing that?". "Capt.Doug" wrote in message ... And so we must part again. Economic obsolescence brings despair once again. The joy, the inner peace, the relaxing comfort that comes with a familiar trusted colleague slips away once more. The anxiety of starting over with a new partner is facing me, again. The future is daunting. My first partner was the Cadillac of beauties. Her shape was designed in the age of the slide-rule. Slide-rules must have some majic in them. She could run faster than most any of the young ones running around these days. We took to each other right quick. She would do anything that I asked of her and submitted graciously to every nuance of my hands. She made me look good every day. I've heard it said that she could be cantankerous, but that just isn't true. She was the gentlest love I could ever hope for. The honeymoon never ended, but eventually my first partner slipped away, courtesy of Big Corporation seducing Big Government. In an instant, I was on the street, never to be with the 3-holed princess again. I still miss her. She was my first and she is still my truest love, but with three mouths to feed, she was getting too expensive to feed. With age working it's evil, she required ever more maintenance. She just couldn't compete with the young ones anymore. I hated to leave her, but I had no choice. I had to move on. We didn't even get to say good-bye. My next love was a Chevrolet when compared to the Caddilac. She wasn't as elegant, and she wasn't as fast, but she fulfilled her duties without complaint. She would embarrass me on occassion, but she never failed me. She had some unpleasant habits. She kept me warm in the summer but not in the winter. She could emit some rather unpleasant odors if she wasn't serviced properly. Some of her accessories were out of fashion. However these short-comings were overlooked because she was dependable, reliable, and trustworthy. We always accomplished what we set out to do. She brought me many compliments, but she was getting expensive. A power much higher than myself decided we had to seperate. She was getting too expensive. The younger ones may cost more, but they don't eat as much. We had one last fling together. We woke up on a Caribbean island to beautiful sunrise. The flight to Florida was smooth. During the entire flight, she never complained once. She simply did as she was asked, as she has for many years. Then I said good-bye, managed to keep from letting a tear show, and walked away. Good-bye, my good friend. So now I face the future. My next partner has been selected. She is born to a younger generation. I face her with scepticism. She may turn out to be a good partner, but I doubt she will have the romance of my past loves. I'm told that she will do what she is asked, as long as I keep my hands off her. Just make the mortgage payments on her and she will fufill her obligations, but forget about carressing her. My heart aches. D. (B-727, MD-80, and now a f**king computer with wings) |
#6
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Doug,
I never flew either one and the way things look . . . I probably never will. Thank you for affirming that such things are worth a tear (or more), even if to most, we can't explain why. Blue skies . . . John |
#7
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"OtisWinslow" wrote in message He said the most frequent
communication with the FO was .. "crap .. why the f*&k is it doing that?". An experienced computer driver says "crap .. why the f*&k is it doing that AGAIN?" D. |
#8
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"Warren Jones" wrote in message I'll talk to you next time you're flying
by, Heh, heh... It's a different ballgame for sure. When I was coming up, any flight engineer or first officer worth his salt could draw a full hydraulic diagram or electrical schematic from memory. We could diagnose problems and deduce remedies effectively. That's changed now. With over 100 computers all talking to each other in one manner or another, I can't even memorize the acronyms. The mecnanics can fly the sim just as well as the pilots. I'll be talking to you soon, if I make it through training :-) D. |
#9
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On Wed, 10 Aug 2005 21:51:10 -0700, "Jay Beckman"
wrote: "Capt.Doug" wrote in message ... Beautiful prose Capt... Worth keeping. Likewise, that one went into the keeper file. Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member) (N833R, S# CD-2 Worlds oldest Debonair) www.rogerhalstead.com Jay B |
#10
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Capt.Doug wrote:
An experienced computer driver says "crap .. why the f*&k is it doing that AGAIN?" Actually, the way I usually say it is "crap .. NOW why the f*&k is it doing that?" George Patterson Give a person a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a person to use the Internet and he won't bother you for weeks. |
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