Athletic activity has served me well as a favored pastime throughout my life. For me, athletics is an enjoyable method of reversing physical withering resulting from long periods of primarily motionless sitting when working at a desk. Athletics provides an applied setting in which to employ scientific and engineering knowledge and evaluate specific measurable personal … Continue reading FORUM: Sports
Category: Paul “Plan-it” Yarnold
FORUM: Falling
Seven months ago, an endodontic dentist performed a root canal upon me to “cure” a parulis condition. When I arrived for the procedure an office worker called my insurance company and learned that only $200 of the $1,000 total cost of the procedure was covered. I paid the $800 difference and was told that the … Continue reading FORUM: Falling
FORUM: Macho Fireworks
Presently I live in Chicago in a fifth-floor apartment facing Lake Michigan—about half a block away. On the 4th of July—ten days ago, after darkness set in a bit past nine o’clock, a hoard of inebriated amateur pyromaniacs began flaunting their arsenals of consumer-class fireworks. As usual, their displays demonstrated a dearth of individuality: impotent … Continue reading FORUM: Macho Fireworks
FORUM: My Big Yellowtail
I was one of 24 anglers aboard the American Angler on a 10-day long-range fishing trip to Alijos (“Ah-lay-Os”) Rocks, a group of tiny, steep, barren volcanic islands in the Pacific Ocean located 190 miles west of the Mexican mainland, and 550 miles south of San Diego. Charted on Spanish maps since 1598, Alijos Rocks … Continue reading FORUM: My Big Yellowtail
FORUM: Fishing Seal Beach Jetty
In my lifetime thus far, my favorite place to "shore" fish was the Seal Beach Jetty in the early 1970’s. Emptying into the Pacific, the San Gabriel River ran beneath and perpendicular to Marina Drive. The southern side of the jetty was composed of large rocks, which extended westward into foreboding deeper water. I fished … Continue reading FORUM: Fishing Seal Beach Jetty
FORUM: Birds of Prey
Thus far, I’ve lived in eastern seaboard, southern border, west coast, and Midwestern states in the US. I’ve explored prairies, woods, forests, deserts, wetlands, rivers, and beaches everywhere that I’ve lived. In this activity a few vertebrates I’ve encountered in the wild triggered my consternation. One species was venomous snakes, particularly Sidewinders in Arizona (https://odajournal.com/2021/01/27/forum-sonoran-desert/) … Continue reading FORUM: Birds of Prey
FORUM: Daytime Pier Fishing
I took my first-ever college courses at George Washington University (GWU) in the summer session after my seventh year in elementary school. During this time my family was moving to California, but they stayed with Mom’s family in Chicago most of the summer. I stayed with the family of my best friend and neighbor in … Continue reading FORUM: Daytime Pier Fishing
FORUM: Dogs and Cats
My parent’s family, and my family, supported numerous types of domestic and working animals over the course of our lives. Some creatures were hardly memorable because they had limited personality or intelligence, lacked affinity for family members, or lived a short time. However, some of our animal companions were unforgettable because of their uniqueness. Useless … Continue reading FORUM: Dogs and Cats
FORUM: Siberia
I owe my existence to the onset of World War II. When Germany attacked Poland from the west, Russia attacked Poland from the east to keep the German army away from the Russian border. My grandfather was an estate owner and Cavalry officer, so he and his family were sent by train in cattle cars … Continue reading FORUM: Siberia
FORUM: Casting Overhand
Emigrating from Virginia, I was an eighth-grade student in Huntington Beach (HB), California—home of the US Open of Surfing. Whenever the opportunity arose I fished for Bonito at HB pier in the morning bite. When I arrived at the pier I saw surfers most mornings—wearing wetsuits, sitting on their boards in water not far from … Continue reading FORUM: Casting Overhand
FORUM: Making a Planet
As an aide in developing ideas for Blog Posts I examined photos taken across my life (thus far) to help me recall my past. In this process it occurred to me that I never worried about “getting older” because I was too busy searching for interesting ways to fill time—increasing my aptitude in an area … Continue reading FORUM: Making a Planet
FORUM: Surface Iron
I was heading home from my morning walk to see friends working at the sport-fishing docks and stores in America’s Cup Harbor. As I approached the local nautical map and gift specialty store the renowned Captain Brian and his Crew (all now Captains) emerged from its front door. He’d purchased a map of the waters … Continue reading FORUM: Surface Iron
FORUM: Electric Wahoo
Ross and I were going tile fishing in Atlantic canyons off New York. It was my first time. Reaching these fish requires sending bait 800 to 1,000 feet deep using between two and five pounds of lead weight, depending on the current. We arrived at the canyon and I made my first drop using three … Continue reading FORUM: Electric Wahoo
FORUM: My Big Wahoo
The first pelagic fish which I ever caught was a 49-pound wahoo—one pound shy of a trophy for this species. I caught it by casting a sardine pinned in the nose using a circle hook tied directly to a fluorocarbon (monofilament) leader. The fish was landed in a few seconds after ramming the side of … Continue reading FORUM: My Big Wahoo
FORUM: Heaven on Earth
Dad was a PhD candidate and instructor in Mathematical Statistics at the University of Chicago: Kruskal and Wallis were his advisors. Mom was a PhD candidate in the Department of Psychology at the University of Chicago: she worked with Bettelheim. Always impatient—even before birth, I was born a month prematurely at the University of Chicago … Continue reading FORUM: Heaven on Earth
FORUM: Cardiac Arrest
I was a Research Professor at Northwestern University Medical School in the Department of Emergency Medicine, with multiple affiliations in the Department of Medicine, and an Adjunct Professor of Academic Psychology at the University of Illinois at Chicago. One of my primary areas of expertise (including the focus of my PhD) was antecedents of heart … Continue reading FORUM: Cardiac Arrest
FORUM: Level-1
I first flew model rockets when I was in elementary school, but didn’t have opportunity to advance to more powerful machines until much later in life. When I joined the Tripoli Rocketry Association (TRA) thirty years later I was surprised and excited to learn how hobby rocketry had advanced during my hiatus. I began building … Continue reading FORUM: Level-1
FORUM: My First Wahoo
I was living my dream to be an angler aboard a long-range, stand-up, ten-day, deep-sea fishing trip departing in October from America’s Cup Harbor in San Diego. I’d been preparing for two years for this trip while recuperating from a cardiac arrest, reading everything I could find and mail-ordering equipment I’d need on the trip. … Continue reading FORUM: My First Wahoo
FORUM: Friends and Enemies
A second-year graduate student at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), I was working on completing most of my remaining mandatory coursework, and compiling the literature needed to write my proposal for a Master of Arts degree in academic health psychology. At that time literature reviews were conducted manually in the library—there was no … Continue reading FORUM: Friends and Enemies
FORUM: Joyful Surprise
I was born in the dawn of the space race, 15 months before the USSR launched the first artificial Earth satellite, Sputnik 1, into an elliptical low Earth orbit. The excitement of the ensuing space race—what it required of and discovered for humanity, influenced the course of my life until today. My parents said, though … Continue reading FORUM: Joyful Surprise
