A Baby Named Meryl
I’ll get to the meaning of the title shortly, but
I’d like to cover a few other items first.
first, we have partnered
with a company which produces beautiful
hand-carved model airplanes. www.Warplanes.com You can also find their
link in the right-hand margin at
www.fromthecockpit.com as well as in our Gift
Ideas area.
Also, I wanted to mention a friend of ours, Don
Foster in Phoenix, who owns an autoresponder
program called ARPros. We use Don’s program to
distribute both this Update and our Flying
Fearless messages, which some of my Update
readers receive as well. Don’s always there for
us when Al The Web Guy needs assistance. He even
mentioned us on his new site at:
http://www.arpros.com/new/index.php We didn’t
know Don before but he’s become such a valuable
asset to our projects we consider him a friend.
If any of you have the need for such a program,
we highly recommend his services.
This is the week Al The Web Guy and I were
supposed to hit the road and drive from Denver to
San Diego with Coco the Pomeranian.
Last Saturday, I was out all day. I came home in
the evening to find Al sitting with his hand over
his kneecap. “Come have a look at this,” he
said, concern in his voice. “I think I have
water on the knee.”
Now, I’ve never had water on the knee but I
remember a kid or two in high school who had it
and said it was excruciating. Al The Web Guy was
concerned and certainly mystified but not in a
great deal of pain.
I went online and did a search about water on the
knee, discovering it’s almost always the result
of a previous injury. Al hadn’t had any knee
injuries and I confirmed that with him.
He wouldn’t go to the Emergency Room, but agreed
to see a doctor first thing Monday morning. That
doctor said it looked like gout, did a blood
test, and sent Al The Web Guy home with some
anti-inflammatory medicine.
The next day the doctor’s office called, said the
blood test was negative, and told Al The Web Guy
to make an appointment with an orthopedist,
thinking it might be an arthritic condition. So
Al The Web Guy saw the orthopedist the next day,
Wednesday, and that doctor sent him right to the
Infectious Diseases area of a different hospital.
They took one look, told Al The Web Guy he could
be in serious trouble, and started him on
intravenous antibiotics immediately. He was told
to report every morning at 9:00 AM to the
hospital for intravenous medication until further
notice. So bye-bye road trip for now and please
take this lesson to heart next time you have an
unexplained malady.
The new plan is for me to fly out on Friday,
attend my parents’ 64th wedding anniversary
dinner that night, celebrate Mother’s Day there
and come on home again. As soon as Al The Web
Guy is fully recovered and we can arrange it,
we’ll have our road trip.
In the meantime, Boeing has been nice enough to
invite me to a media event regarding their new
B-787 Dreamliner, so off to Seattle I go May 22nd
and 23rd. What a privilege to be their guest.
I’m sure I’ll be able to think of something to
write about with regard to that experience.
Now, about this Update’s title. So who had a
baby named Meryl? I’m very glad you asked
because the answer is somewhat intriguing, or at
least I think so.
Out of the wild blue yonder, so to speak, I
received an email message from a pilot at another
major airline, one I’d never met before. His
name is Kent Wien. For those of you who’ve read
“The World At My Feet,” you may recall I flew for
an airline called “Wien Air Alaska.”
Wien, pronounced “ween,” is a family name. My
favorite captain to fly with there was Merrill
Wien, and I made contact with him several months
ago after having last spoken with him in 1984,
the year Wien went out of business. It turns out
his neighbor is Richard Bach, author of the very
famous book, “Jonathan Livingston Seagull.” Mr.
Bach and his wife bought my book at Denver
Airport and apparently mentioned it to Merrill
Wien, who asked to be put in touch with me.
I knew Kent’s sister, Kim, a flight attendant for
Wien back then and for another carrier now, and I
had met Kurt Wien, but not Kent. All three are
Merrill Wien’s children. Kent and Kurt are now
pilots for the same major airline. I’ve never
met a nicer family than the Wiens. I loved
flying with Captain Merrill because he treated me
as a professional and did not make a big deal out
of my being a woman. Remember, in the early
eighties there were very few females flying for
the airlines and I was one of only two at Wien.
Later they hired two or three more, but we were
still the exception.
In any case, when Kent Wien had a daughter in
February, she was named Meryl. After me? Well,
no, of course not. She was named after Kent’s
father Merrill. But still, I was strangely
tickled by it and Kent commented to me in his
note, “Oh, and I'm sure that your name was in my
mind when we chose it for my daughter, but yes,
you're right, it is paying homage to my dad.”
I’m not sure why this is so pleasing to me, but
it is. If anyone ever names their child after me
for real I’ll probably go right to pieces. Be
sure to check out Kent’s site at
www.kentwien.com. He’s done some really exciting
videos about flying and there’s other content
worth checking out as well.
I’d like to cover a few other items first.
first, we have partnered
with a company which produces beautiful
hand-carved model airplanes. www.Warplanes.com You can also find their
link in the right-hand margin at
www.fromthecockpit.com as well as in our Gift
Ideas area.
Also, I wanted to mention a friend of ours, Don
Foster in Phoenix, who owns an autoresponder
program called ARPros. We use Don’s program to
distribute both this Update and our Flying
Fearless messages, which some of my Update
readers receive as well. Don’s always there for
us when Al The Web Guy needs assistance. He even
mentioned us on his new site at:
http://www.arpros.com/new/index.php We didn’t
know Don before but he’s become such a valuable
asset to our projects we consider him a friend.
If any of you have the need for such a program,
we highly recommend his services.
This is the week Al The Web Guy and I were
supposed to hit the road and drive from Denver to
San Diego with Coco the Pomeranian.
Last Saturday, I was out all day. I came home in
the evening to find Al sitting with his hand over
his kneecap. “Come have a look at this,” he
said, concern in his voice. “I think I have
water on the knee.”
Now, I’ve never had water on the knee but I
remember a kid or two in high school who had it
and said it was excruciating. Al The Web Guy was
concerned and certainly mystified but not in a
great deal of pain.
I went online and did a search about water on the
knee, discovering it’s almost always the result
of a previous injury. Al hadn’t had any knee
injuries and I confirmed that with him.
He wouldn’t go to the Emergency Room, but agreed
to see a doctor first thing Monday morning. That
doctor said it looked like gout, did a blood
test, and sent Al The Web Guy home with some
anti-inflammatory medicine.
The next day the doctor’s office called, said the
blood test was negative, and told Al The Web Guy
to make an appointment with an orthopedist,
thinking it might be an arthritic condition. So
Al The Web Guy saw the orthopedist the next day,
Wednesday, and that doctor sent him right to the
Infectious Diseases area of a different hospital.
They took one look, told Al The Web Guy he could
be in serious trouble, and started him on
intravenous antibiotics immediately. He was told
to report every morning at 9:00 AM to the
hospital for intravenous medication until further
notice. So bye-bye road trip for now and please
take this lesson to heart next time you have an
unexplained malady.
The new plan is for me to fly out on Friday,
attend my parents’ 64th wedding anniversary
dinner that night, celebrate Mother’s Day there
and come on home again. As soon as Al The Web
Guy is fully recovered and we can arrange it,
we’ll have our road trip.
In the meantime, Boeing has been nice enough to
invite me to a media event regarding their new
B-787 Dreamliner, so off to Seattle I go May 22nd
and 23rd. What a privilege to be their guest.
I’m sure I’ll be able to think of something to
write about with regard to that experience.
Now, about this Update’s title. So who had a
baby named Meryl? I’m very glad you asked
because the answer is somewhat intriguing, or at
least I think so.
Out of the wild blue yonder, so to speak, I
received an email message from a pilot at another
major airline, one I’d never met before. His
name is Kent Wien. For those of you who’ve read
“The World At My Feet,” you may recall I flew for
an airline called “Wien Air Alaska.”
Wien, pronounced “ween,” is a family name. My
favorite captain to fly with there was Merrill
Wien, and I made contact with him several months
ago after having last spoken with him in 1984,
the year Wien went out of business. It turns out
his neighbor is Richard Bach, author of the very
famous book, “Jonathan Livingston Seagull.” Mr.
Bach and his wife bought my book at Denver
Airport and apparently mentioned it to Merrill
Wien, who asked to be put in touch with me.
I knew Kent’s sister, Kim, a flight attendant for
Wien back then and for another carrier now, and I
had met Kurt Wien, but not Kent. All three are
Merrill Wien’s children. Kent and Kurt are now
pilots for the same major airline. I’ve never
met a nicer family than the Wiens. I loved
flying with Captain Merrill because he treated me
as a professional and did not make a big deal out
of my being a woman. Remember, in the early
eighties there were very few females flying for
the airlines and I was one of only two at Wien.
Later they hired two or three more, but we were
still the exception.
In any case, when Kent Wien had a daughter in
February, she was named Meryl. After me? Well,
no, of course not. She was named after Kent’s
father Merrill. But still, I was strangely
tickled by it and Kent commented to me in his
note, “Oh, and I'm sure that your name was in my
mind when we chose it for my daughter, but yes,
you're right, it is paying homage to my dad.”
I’m not sure why this is so pleasing to me, but
it is. If anyone ever names their child after me
for real I’ll probably go right to pieces. Be
sure to check out Kent’s site at
www.kentwien.com. He’s done some really exciting
videos about flying and there’s other content
worth checking out as well.
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