The Emissions Guy

Atlanta to Rochester - I'm the lucky one here - the guy 2 rows back and on the other side is next to a "chatty kathy" - she was loud and non-stop! After a bit my seatmate - Garrett - looks and me and we both roll our eyes. Isn't it facinating what can spark conversation??? Garrett's on his way home after being gone for the week on business. As you may guess from the title here - he works with emissions - you know all the exhausts and wasts from manufacturing (and other stuff). He said that he does from time to time have to climb to the top of those tall stacks to check out the equipment - but most of his work is on the ground - being sure all the monitoring pieces are working correctly. While the job on the road can be long days and he's away from his family - he's happy to have a job - having lost his previous job during the "recession" - good attitude! :-) And in his spare time? He turkey hunts. I never had heard much about this sport - but it fits Garrett well. I learned all about the fun toys that you use to lure the turkeys to your area - small box-like drums and other whistles. He even had some great videos on his phone - wow are those turkeys BIG! He's looking forward to his next trip where one of his clients is going to take him out hunting. Good Luck Garrett!

My Fitness Pal

What a great time to find myself seated next to Thomey. We had both been out in New Mexico for work for the week. He was flying to meet up with his family in Gulfport for his son's lacrosse game. Conversation topics included work, education, flying, and more. The two that stand out the most. Talking about the devastation that still exists in New Orleans 6 years now after Hurricane Katrina hit. The French Quarter and many areas are back in shape - but there are some areas that are like deserted ghost towns. People that had lived there had passed down homes from generation to generation and many were low income. Now the homes are vacant - and it's near impossible to develop since the process of generations passing the homes down without a sale means there may be many "owners" entitled to the property - the little things I never would have considered. Thomey's house had recently been hit with storms. He showed me pictures of a huge uprooted tree in the front yard and buckets catching the water as it came through the roof. While inconvenient (?) - Thomey had a good attitude since there's nothing he could have done to prevent it. But he also knows he's lucky to have everyone safe and will deal with the clean-up. Another topic we touched on inspired the title for this chapter. With my new Smartphone we started talking "apps". Thomey has lost (23 or 43?) pounds - and he was contributing a lot of it to having my fitness pal on his phone. He monitors everything he eats - and it has really raised his level of awareness and making good choices. He explained that at the Atlanta airport he can look around - see all the places to eat - starts to punch in some things that sound good - and most times makes a smart choice using his head and fitness pal instead of his stomach. When I got home that night I downloaded the app - let's see if it helps me too! Thanks Thomey for sharing and being a delightful seatmate.