WILL CHAPMAN
PUBLISHER / THE DAILY IBERIAN

There’s been much in the news of late about Acadiana Regional Airport and the squabble about the landfill to its west, threats of birds and plenty of arguments about the same.

I was out at ARA last Thursday and was amazed at the number of planes parked out near Pelican Aviation. I don’t know the different types of planes, but there were a number of private jets apparently parked for the day, and several military planes including some from the U.S. Air Force and Navy. And there was one with NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) markings.

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The pilot of that NASA plane had on a blue NASA flight suit and I made an effort to look for his name on his suit as I wondered if he might be an astronaut. The name on the suit was Dominic Gorie, not one I recognized, but I did a quick check on the Internet and found out he indeed is an astronaut.

Gorie is a native of Lake Charles, according to the NASA source I found. He was a Naval Aviator, before being selected as an astronaut candidate in 1994.

He’s since made four space flights and has logged more than 47 days in space.

His most recent mission was in March 2008 on the Endeavour, which interestingly, according to the Web site, traveled more than 6 million miles in 15 days, 18 hours, 10 minutes and 54 seconds.

Not sure what he was doing in town, but clearly he thought ARA had the right stuff for him Thursday.

I met Californian Marc Hershon a couple of years ago. He’s a friend of a friend of mine who is the publisher of the newspaper in beautiful Half Moon Bay, Calif., on the coast just south of San Francisco.

I found it particularly interesting that Marc is a “branding” expert, who has been involved with projects to come up with names for companies and products and such, like BlackBerry and Swiffer. He also does comedy, and has worked with names like Dana Carvey, Bill Maher and Robin Williams.

Marc and Jonathan Littman have teamed up to write what appears an interesting book titled, “I Hate People!” with a subtitle, “Kick Loose from the Overbearing and Underhanded Jerks at Work and Get What You Want Out of Your Job.”

I haven’t read my copy yet, but the material with it promises it will help you conduct a successful job search, survive a job you can’t afford to leave, help you deal with coworkers including “cubemates from hell” and learn about productive hating. The authors promise to help you deal with workplace frustrations and deal with coworkers you just can’t stand.

Knowing Marc, I know it’s going to be interesting, entertaining and edgy. Little, Brown and Co. publishes the book. You can also get more information at www.ihatepeople.biz.

A Sweet Talk reader says you know you’re from Louisiana ...

... when you need to reinforce your attic to store all the Mardi Gras beads and such you’ve collected.

... you were in high school before you realized that Mardi Gras isn’t a national holiday.

WILL CHAPMAN is publisher of The Daily Iberian.