Making headway with headwear

Maybe tomorrow.
My inner cowboy is dying to express himself. As you can see by my column mug, I have a cowboy hat that I like to wear. This particular one is about 18 years old. I got it at the height of the Garth Brooks craze in the early ’90s.
I like to wear it, but I don’t wear hats very often anymore. I keep thinking to myself that I’m just going to get in the habit of wearing it again. But there it sits on the dresser next to my computer desk. Each morning I walk by it and think about wearing it to work.
Maybe tomorrow.
Whenever I see someone wearing a cowboy hat, I think of how cool that looks and it makes me wish I had mine on. Of all the places I’ve lived, you’d think it would be socially acceptable to wear a cowboy hat in Texas. I wore it a lot in Colorado and took a lot of ribbing from the baseball hat crowd.
When I moved to Amarillo, I thought I was in cowboy heaven. Lots of people wore cowboy hats. And there were lots of real cowboys there. But I have a big head (literally and figuratively) and the Panhandle winds kept blowing my hat off. I don’t know how those cowpokes kept theirs on, but mine wouldn’t stay worth a darn. So, I got out of the habit of wearing my cowboy hat, even though there was no place on the planet where it was more socially acceptable and customary.
You don’t see as many cowboys or cowboy wannabes down in these parts. Oh sure, you still see a few folks who wear their hats, but nothing like you did in the Panhandle. While there is hardly a breeze to contend with down here, there is a lot of rain. I don’t particularly want to risk wrecking it or have to deal with a wet hat.
Maybe tomorrow.
Of course, if I do start wearing it again, I still have the issue of proper hat etiquette to figure out. I can never keep straight when you should remove your hat. I know you take it off for certain things like going indoors, the playing of the National Anthem and formal occasions like weddings and funerals. But a lot of people who regularly wear ballcaps will violate those rules and get away with it. Are the rules different for cowboy hats and baseball caps?
What about colors? Do you wear white in summer and dark in the winter or does it matter? Are there some unspoken rules of cowboy hat etiquette that I’m missing here?
When I was in my early teens, I had a wide-brimmed, brown leather hat that I wore all the time. I got it at a garage sale. It looked pretty homely, but I liked it. My mom called it my “Joe hat.” I still have it, but haven’t worn it in about 20 years. It’s a little small now.
Of course, I also have my Lone Ranger hat. It was a gift from a friend and I do not plan to wear it on a regular basis. It’s about a $500 hat and is custom made with my name engraved inside it and everything. It fits great and feels good, but it’s too expensive to wear all the time. That and I would look silly wearing a Lone Ranger hat without the rest of my costume.
I wasn’t into the Lone Ranger when I got the black hat. I was big into Garth Brooks at the time. I was also living in North Carolina, where nobody wears cowboy hats. I really stuck out like a sore thumb there. People noticed it and commented on it.
Of course, whether or not I wear my hat has nothing to do with the price of rice in China. But then I don’t really care about the price of rice in China, so that’s a bad comparison. Besides, I don’t think people wear cowboy hats in China, do they?
I digress. I guess what I’m saying is in the general scheme of things, it’s not really important if I wear a cowboy hat or not. Still, the topic of my headwear must be of interest to you or you wouldn’t have read this far.
I have to wonder if I’m the only one who grapples with this quandary. Does anyone else out there have this internal battle about wearing a hat? Maybe I’m just weird that way. Who knows?
Anyway, if you see me about town with my cowboy hat on, you’ll know that I’ve thrown caution (and fashion) to the wind. You’ll also know that it’s not a new look for me, but a return to the way things used to be. And believe me, the grayer my hair gets, the better my hat looks.
Or maybe I’ll just keep opting to go on without it, looking at it each day and thinking “maybe tomorrow.”

Rethinking our space objectives

I don’t know why I have such a fascination with outer space.
Maybe it’s because I grew up watching and loving “Star Trek.” Maybe it’s the pioneering spirit or the desire to see and do things that are not natural. Floating weightless in the vacuum of space is not natural. Neither is plunging miles under the ocean to view shipwrecks. I haven’t done either of those things, but they still fill my daydreams and I love watching movies and documentaries about them.
I’ve been a Titanic buff most of my life – long before Robert Ballard discovered her shattered remains on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean. I also treasure my memories of watching Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong take mankind’s first steps on the moon.
Last week I wrote about my visit to Johnson Space Center to watch the launch of space shuttle Endeavour from the VIP viewing area at Mission Control. While that was a thrill, it didn’t come close to the experience of watching Columbia launch into space from the VIP viewing area at Kennedy Space Center. That was in 1995 and is one of my most treasured life experiences.
I have had the honor of meeting and interviewing several astronauts over the years, among them Buzz Aldrin, Jim Lovell, Vance Brand, Guion Bluford, Winston Scott, Charles Bolden, Jeff Ashby, Susan Helms, Ellen Baker, and, via phone, Alan Bean, Scott Parazynski and Kent Rominger.
They’re all remarkable people but I have a deep admiration for Aldrin. If there is anyone in the space industry who really gets what it’s all about, it’s him. I’ve spoken with him a couple of times and he even granted me an hour-long interview once – and went out of his way to do it. Most recently, I just finished listening to the audio book version of his autobiography “Magnificent Desolation: The Long Journey Home From the Moon.”
His book was written before President Obama’s election but published afterward. I have to suspect that Obama or his advisers must have read the book or consulted with Aldrin before Obama proposed a budget that effectively kills NASA’s Constellation program to take people to the moon, Mars and beyond.
At first I was outraged at Obama for daring to kill a sacred cow. With the shuttle fleet retiring this year and the space station given a retirement date in 2020, this leaves NASA without any clear direction for the first time in its history. After listening to Aldrin and reading comments from Bolden – who is now the NASA administrator – I have to backpedal and say that this plan might be in the best interest for America’s space program. I just don’t agree with the way it’s being done.
NASA might be better off shifting from a space exploration agency to one of space support. We might be able to do things in space, like going to Mars, faster and cheaper if it is directed by private enterprise rather than a government bureaucracy. But private industry has not yet caught up to the government and the funding needed to make it happen.
Aldrin understands that the future of space exploration is linked directly to sharing the space adventure with the masses. Space tourism dollars will fuel the industry. NASA can help that fledgling industry with funding and technical support. But entrepreneurs with plenty of moxie and capital are the ones who will be the next generation of space pioneers. They just need government to change its roll.
That’s not to say that NASA has outlived its usefulness. It hasn’t. NASA just needs a repurposing and a new role in space exploration. Space travel needs to be opened up to the average tourist. NASA needs to be to space travel what the government is to the airline industry. It operates airports and regulates the industry, but it does not run the airlines.
When early European explorers “discovered” the New World, they were funded by government. But settlement happened when people learned they could afford a new life on the frontier. Today, people travel across the oceans at their own time and expense. They no longer depend on government to do it. The same thing needs to happen in space. Orbital and even sub-orbital flights can lead to funding and technology for developing hotels in space and even rides to lunar orbit.
Space tourism has the potential of being a multibillion-dollar a year industry. It would be dependent on the economy and not the whims of Congress for funding.
It would make sense for NASA to auction off its Constellation programs and allow private industry to develop it for commercial/tourist uses. I think the Obama Administration is making a huge mistake by simply killing it. NASA should continue to develop the program with the intent of someone else operating it.
NASA should be open to allowing tourists to visit the space station on commercially-developed spacecraft rather than paying for rides from the Russians. I was stunned to learn that Aldrin was already hard at work on this concept nearly two decades ago.
The man is visionary and is one of the few people on the planet who truly understands space travel and man’s innate need to explore. He has not only been to the moon, he has been to the Titanic on the ocean floor and set foot on the North Pole.
Aldrin’s ideas for a cycler to transport people to the moon and/or Mars is revolutionary and makes a lot of sense. He is America’s ambassador to space and has done more to encourage space development and space tourism than any other person alive. I think we should take his advice and follow in his footsteps. After all, they’ve been in some incredible places.

Shuttle launches mark end of era

The mission was to space, but I couldn’t help but think of a line out of an old Western movie.
“I want to see the frontier before it’s gone.”
The line was spoken by John Dunbar, the character played by Kevin Costner in the movie “Dances With Wolves.” In that movie, Dunbar is a wounded Civil War hero who is given his choice of assignments. He chooses to leave the war to explore what’s left of the quickly fading Western frontier.
That’s how I felt this past weekend as I made two nighttime treks to Johnson Space Center’s Mission Control Center to observe the launch of space shuttle Endeavour on its voyage to the International Space Station.
I wanted to get all the shuttle launch experience I could before it’s gone. I wanted to know what it was like to witness a launch from the perspective of flight controllers in Houston. I had already experienced a launch of the shuttle from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
While nothing compares to seeing a launch in person, being at Mission Control was as close as I could get before the day comes later this year when the great birds thunder no more beyond the bounds of gravity. After Monday morning’s launch – the last scheduled nighttime launch of the shuttle – only four more shuttle flights remain.
After President Obama essentially scrapped the future of American spaceflight by eliminating funding for Constellation – the successor to the shuttle program – I can’t help but feel I may have seen one of the last launchings of humans into space by this country in my lifetime. I hope I’m wrong, but the possibility added urgency to my desire to witness this small part of space history.
I got the OK from NASA last week to view the launch from the VIP seating area above and behind Mission Control. The scheduled called for Endeavour to go up Sunday morning at 3:34 a.m. VIP guests were to arrive at the gate between 2:15 and 2:45 a.m. to catch a shuttle (bus) to Mission Control.
On my way there, I was listening to Buzz Aldrin’s memoir “Magnificent Desolation” on CD. I guess you could say that listening to the former astronaut’s story added a little more buzz to my enthusiasm.
I was one of the first to arrive and boarded the bus while waiting for others to show. We were given special passes that we pinned on and were then taken to the building that houses the control centers for both the space shuttle and the space station.
We exited the elevator and took our seats in the stadium-style seating area behind the huge glass windows. We were treated to coffee and a packet of papers that included information about Mission Control, the space station, the current mission and photos of the crew and autographed photos of Ellen Baker, the astronaut assigned to brief us as the launch unfolded.
Various NASA officials greeted us and explained their part in the mission while we waited at the scheduled hold at the nine minute mark. The countdown never resumed as low clouds in Florida forced NASA to scrub the launch. Ironically, a small break in the clouds passed over the launch pad during the scheduled hold in the countdown.
It was disappointing to head home that early morning not knowing if I’d get another chance as this again. The launch was rescheduled for 3:14 a.m. Monday, almost 24-hours later. Already feeling the affects of sleep depravation, I had to decide if going back was worth messing up my day at work.
I went home, slept a couple hours, went to church and returned home again for a few more hours of shuteye. I got up in time to go to a friend’s house to watch the Super Bowl. After the game, we went home and put the kids to bed. I napped for about an hour before heading back to JSC. This time the viewing gallery was sparsely populated compared to being nearly packed the night before.
When we arrived, the launch was a no-go due to low clouds at Cape Canaveral and rain at the abort runway in Spain. But as the launch window grew closer, the weather in both places cleared. NASA ignited the booster rockets and sent Endeavour on her way to the ISS with a crew of six people and the Node 3 and cupola that will give astronauts a great view out the window on the station.
It was a spectacular launch, but nothing compared to being there where you can feel the vibration and heat and smell the exhaust from the spacecraft. Still, I feel privileged for having been able to experience shuttle launches from both Kennedy and Johnson space centers. I just hope I’m not among the last to do that.
There is a lot of uncertainty at NASA about the future of American spaceflight. Hopefully private industry will pick up where the public sector leaves off. That’s the plan anyway. I’m trying to keep a positive attitude about it, but you could feel it weighing heavily on those who depend on NASA for their livelihood.
I hope that there will be more opportunities for America in space. I’d hate to think that I’ve seen the last of the final frontier in my lifetime.

Boy Scouting is a grand adventure

The Boy Scouts of America is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year.
I first got involved as a Cub Scout in 1970-something, which means I’ve been a part of Scouting for about a third of its existence. Scouting, on the other hand, has been part of my life for more than three-fourths of my existence.
It has changed my life and given me many adventures of a lifetime. Scouting is a huge part of my family. I was a Cubmaster before we moved to Texas and now I am part of a troop committee. My wife is a Den Leader and our three sons are all Scouts. Wesley is about to earn the rank of Life Scout, which is the one just below Eagle. Luke is a Bear Cub and Colton is a first-year Tiger Cub. Only my daughter, who lives with her mother in Virginia, is missing out on our Scouting adventure.
Scouting is an adventure. We’re not just a bunch of nerds in funny outfits who like to whittle, going camping, weaving baskets and helping little old ladies cross the street. My Scouting background includes rock climbing, whitewater rafting, backpacking, canoeing, fishing, snow caving, skiing and much, much more.
I always pitied the kids who were too cool for Scouts because they never got to do half the fun stuff we did. It seems like we were always on the go. Weekly meetings, monthly campouts, summer camps, high adventure treks and various other activities kept life very exciting. Scouting opened doors and created opportunities for me that most kids will never get to experience.
The biggest adventures for me would have to be the two 50-mile canoe trips we took at the Flaming Gorge Reservoir in Wyoming and Utah. Of course, working on camp staff for four summers at the Ben Delatour Scout Ranch in Red Feather Lakes, Colo., was an adventure in itself.
I got to spend three of those summers as the camp mountain man, dressed in buckskins and teaching wilderness survival. (My first summer was spent on the kitchen staff.) I slept in a teepee, hiked a quarter-mile up the side of a mountain each morning for a shower and played a lot with fire and knives. I also got to shoot black powder rifles, create stuff in the blacksmith shop and go for long hikes in some of the most beautiful land in this country.
Of course, when you take a couple dozen teenage boys and put them together on a staff for two months away from home, all kinds of creative shenanigans are bound to happen. For example, I was the winner of the “bobbing for oranges in flour” contest. I also held my own in the flour fight that broke out afterward.
Winter camping was always a blast. Twice my friend Kevin and I made igloos (one was more like a snow cave). It was nice to stay sheltered at 32 degrees while it dipped below zero at night and everyone else shivered away in those thin, nylon tents.
The biggest honor I received in Scouting came in 1981 when I was awarded my Eagle Scout badge. Not many of us make it that far. My oldest son is getting close. If I’m lucky, all three boys will make it.
Being involved in Scouts with my boys not only lets me relive my childhood, but it helps us bond as a family and stay active outside the home. It seems like we’re always making something, doing something, going someplace and having a lot of fun doing it.
Scouting, however, isn’t all about fun and games. It also teaches us good, solid moral values. You learn citizenship, build family values and build on the principles of faith. You learn leadership and other skills that help you throughout your life. I like knowing that my boys will grow up learning the value of service to others, to country and to their friends and family.
I’m also enjoying being active with my boys. It’s fun making pinewood derby cars, going camping, playing games and doing a lot of other fun stuff together as a family.
Being in Scouts has had its advantages for millions of boys. Former Scouts have gone on to be President of the United States, walk on the moon, and be captains of industry, and so on. You don’t see too many former Scouts rotting away in a jail cell or recovering in drug addiction clinics.
If you have boys between the ages of six and 18, I would strongly encourage you to give Scouting a try. To learn more, go online to www.scouting.org or www.samhoustonbsa.org. It’s not too late to become part of the second century of Scouting.