Thursday, July 20, 2017

'Shaving Down My Bucket List'

   Bucket List items shouldn't necessarily consist of such feats as climbing El Capitan at Yosemite or milking cobra's venom in Thailand. No. They can be less risky and more accessible, like enjoying evening cocktails at the 107 Sky Lounge in Las Vegas, or renting an exotic car for an afternoon drive while vacationing in Miami.

For the past two years, my wife, Stacey, and I have manned a water station for the Price Hill Pacer's Charity Run, in neighboring Cincinnati. It was located on West Eight Street, in front of Grote's Barber Shop. There I noticed a window sign promoting 'Hot Towel Shaves.' Childhood memories of waiting for my turn in the barber's chair while watching men get those shaves came back to mind.
Hot towel shaves have become a relic of the past. Today, men tend to look at shaving as a necessary evil. Get it done-fast! Fine, but that's not what hot towel shaves are about. They're about relaxing and disengaging from your typical world for thirty minutes. Don't even think about checking your smart phone, or even talking, while a licensed expert glides a straight-razor against your face and throat--unless an ambulance ride is on your bucket list. For me a hot towel shave is the guy's version of a lady's spa visit.
Terry Grote has been giving hot towel shaves for over 40yrs.
By the way, ladies, perhaps you should consider pampering your guy to a hot towel shave for his birthday. It's the least we deserve after all those years of spa gift certificates.

Tuesday, July 4, 2017

A 4th of July Surprise

Good Morning Ladies and Gentlemen, Welcome to 
Ohio State University where the local time.....

  Not what you'd expect to hear when you book a flight from Chicago to Columbus, Ohio.

   Today, July 4th, marks the 50th anniversary of the landing of a TWA Boeing 707 at Ohio State University's Don Scott Field--Instead of Port Columbus!
   It was approaching midnight as Captain Chittenden, commanding TW30 from Chicago O'Hare to (supposedly) Port Columbus, descended the four-engine jet below the overcast, then announced he had the runway in sight. Yes. The runway for the WRONG airport. Land the plane, he did, on OSU's short 4400-foot runway, with 1000 feet to spare
   The east-west runway at Don Scott has roughly the same heading as the one at Port Columbus located some 10 miles southeast.

CMH Citizens Journal Front Page July 5th, 1967
   After the passengers were bussed to Port Columbus, another 707 was ferried from Kansas City to Port Columbus overnight, in order to be flown on a scheduled flight to JFK in the early morning. The strayed 707 was flown from Don Scott to Port Columbus later that morning by TWA's Superintendent of Flying.
   A week after the 'Don Scott episode.' I and two other TWA sales reps from Cincinnati attended a regional sales meeting at our Pittsburgh office. When the sales reps from Columbus walked in, my colleague Phil Pateneaude yelled out, "Did you guys fly in from Port Columbus or Ohio State?" We all had a good laugh--including the Columbus reps.

   Actually, airliner landings at the wrong airport are not that uncommon.