Salmon and Tacos (sprinkled with faith)

I’ve been traveling quite a bit here lately and each trip seems to have been eventful.  More recently, my oldest and I drove to Alabama via Houston, and learned some lessons along the way.  For starters, do not purchase baseball tickets through unregulated third party sites because you may get burned not once, not twice, but thrice!  I am not sure what knucklehead would allow that to occur but I have been told it happens…

Prior to us setting out, I had to put new tires on my son’s car and then upon arrival his side mirror fell off and the battery died.  An auspicious start to the first time we leave our first born to his own devices for an extended period.

So on the eve of our first night together before I flew back, I stumbled upon a movie about a decade old called Salmon Fishing In The Yemen.  For those not familiar, no spoiler alerts here other than a west Asian Sheikh wanted to make fishing available in thought to be impossible desert country.  Here’s a great line from the movie:

Faith is the cure that heals all troubles. Without faith there is no hope and no love. Faith comes before hope, and before love. (Sheikh Muhammad ibn Zaidi bani Tihama)

And an even more poignant speech later in the movie:

How many hours do you fish before you catch something?  Is that a good use of your time for a facts and figures man?  But you persist, in the wind and the rain and the cold.  With such poor odds of success, why?  Because you are a man of faith and, in the end, you are rewarded for your faith and constancy with a fish.

And then I read this article which chronicles the first legit crispy taco and how a young opportunist changes course and built Taco Bell.  Read the article – not for Glen Bell – read it for Salvador and Lucia Rodriguez.  I am presenting at a conference in San Diego in September and have already started planning for an early arrival so I can get to San Bernardino.  I am going to Milta Café.

Goodbye 2020-21 school year.  On behalf of me and my colleagues, we need to put this year permanently behind us.  For me, I’m on my way to the gulf coast and I just might fish some before swinging wide left for some tacos.  For those who give directions based on landmarks like some members of my family, I plan to cast a line just past Piggly Wiggly and then grab a taco next to In-N-Out Burger.  Feel free to join me!