• Welcome, Guest! We hope you enjoy the excellent technical knowledge, event information and discussions that the BMW MOA forum provides. Some forum content will be hidden from you if you remain logged out. If you want to view all content, please click the 'Log in' button above and enter your BMW MOA username and password.

    If you are not an MOA member, why not take the time to join the club, so you can enjoy posting on the forum, the BMW Owners News magazine, and all of the discounts and benefits the BMW MOA offers?

  • Beginning April 1st, and running through April 30th, there is a new 2024 BMW MOA Election discussion area within The Club section of the forum. Within this forum area is also a sticky post that provides the ground rules for participating in the Election forum area. Also, the candidates statements are provided. Please read before joining the conversation, because the rules are very specific to maintain civility.

    The Election forum is here: Election Forum

Have you got a nice story?

I received a text last night from MOA Member "Brian" inquiring about my ability to balance a front tire/wheel for him.
I texted back and Brian showed up right on time at 0800,
Nice guy, he and his wife are traveling via motorhome and riding as they desire.
Tire/Wheel balanced and Brian on his way at 0830.

MOA Rules!

That’s what I’m talking about!
 
From CNN VIA Channel 7 news Boston

(CNN) — A Massachusetts high school student made an unexpected announcement during her graduation ceremony last week when she asked that a $40,000 scholarship awarded to her be given to a student attending community college instead.

“I am so very grateful for this. But I also know that I am not the one who needs this the most,” Verda Tetteh, 17, said during the Fitchburg High School graduation ceremony on Friday.

The crowd, made up of her fellow classmates, their families, teachers and school administrators, applauded and cheered Tetteh after she made her announcement.

“When she started speaking on the microphone, I was overwhelmed. I think a lot of people in the stadium were, honestly,” Principal Jeremy Roche said. “I was so moved by her generosity.”


210608-fitchburg-teen.jpg


Tetteh, 17, told CNN she plans to study biochemistry at Harvard College in the fall. During the impromptu speech, Tetteh told the crowd that she was inspired by her mother, who had attended community college.

The school has awarded its General Excellence Award to a graduating boy and girl since 1914. The prize was augmented in 2004 with a substantial financial scholarship of $10,000 a year, which can be renewed for up to four years’ worth of undergraduate education, Assistant Principal Tom DiGeronimo said.

Tetteh had applied for the award, “but for some reason, I thought it would automatically go to someone who needed it more, so I had ruled myself out.”

She said she was initially happy.

“Then I sat down, and it hit me. This is $40,000. That’s a lot of money. Obviously I could use that,” Tetteh said. “But there’s definitely someone sitting in this crowd who needs it more.”

Rosemary Annan, Tetteh’s mother, had immigrated from Ghana, before having Tetteh in the United Kingdom. She currently works two jobs, including an overnight shift at a group home, she told CNN.

Annan was “in shock” as she watched her daughter take the stage again, but was proud when her daughter spoke about her hopes for the scholarship money.

“I just knew she’s ready for me to let her be on her own,” Annan said. “I’m not afraid, and I’m not sad about it that someone’s going to get some good help. If I had gotten that help, I would have been thrilled.”

Tetteh has received additional scholarships, in addition to financial aid from Harvard College, she said.

The school is now in the process of contacting the family that had initially set up the scholarship to see if they would be open to reallocating the money, administrators told CNN.

“We’re blessed to be a blessing,” Tetteh said. “I thought that I was in the position where God has blessed me so much, and I thought it was the right thing to do to bless somebody else.”



OM
 
I'm not much for meetings......especially those that just seem to schedule the next meeting.

Perhaps if there were more Goats?

From CBS Sunday Morning-


OM
 
Everyone needs an AL

Everyone needs an AL...


From the comments.....which many seem to skip-

"He's right. You learn twice as much from listening than you do from talking".

"Imagine if more news was this positive, what a world".

"The world really could use a lot more Al Nixons, thank you for your kindness. Steve Hartman thank you for sharing stories like these, keep up the good work".

OM
 
Two sisters

About 20 years ago when I joined the local MOA chapter the first club ride I went on was a charity ride for Children's Hospital. Our club president at the time, who organized the ride, was working at St Francis Hospital. I showed up at the meeting point early, just after arriving two other riders rode in on late 70s or early 80s Japanese bikes, in beautiful condition. Both riders were women, wearing helmets, leather jackets, jeans, and boots. When they removed their helmets I noticed that both women had short haircuts. When I asked them about their bikes, the first one said she had gotten hers from one of her sisters, and pointing at the other lady, told me that she got her bike from another of their sisters. I thought wow , a family that has four sisters that all ride. At one of the rest stops we had two push start one of their bikes, as the starter wasn't engaging. About a week later I received two thank you notes in the mail on stationary from Sisters of The Third Order of St. Francis, thanking me for my donation. The note also said that it was nice to meet me on the ride and thanks for helping push start her bike. Signed, sister _________ , (I don't remember the name now). That's when it it made sense, they both got their bikes from their sisters. It gave me a mew perspective on nuns.
 
Reunion between two best friends:

<iframe src="https://abcnews.go.com/video/embed?id=79342866" width="640" height="360" scrolling="no" style="border:none;" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 
Delta Flight 15

DAY BRIGHTENER



Delta Flight 15



Jerry Brown Delta Flight 15... (true story)



This is an amazing story from a flight attendant on Delta Flight 15, written following 9 /11



On the morning of Tuesday, September 11, we were about 5 hours out of Frankfurt, flying over the North Atlantic.



All of a sudden the curtains parted and I was told to go to the cockpit, immediately, to see the captain. As soon as I got there I noticed that the crew had that "All Business" look on their faces. The captain handed me a printed message. It was from Delta's main office in Atlanta and simply read, "All airways over the Continental United States are closed to commercial air traffic. Land ASAP at the nearest airport. Advise your destination."

No one said a word about what this could mean. We knew it was a serious situation and we needed to find terra firma quickly. The captain determined that the nearest airport was 400 miles behind us in Gander, Newfoundland.



He requested approval for a route change from the Canadian traffic controller and approval was granted immediately -- no questions asked.



We found out later, of course, why there was no hesitation in approving our request.



While the flight crew prepared the airplane for landing, another message arrived from Atlanta telling us about some terrorist activity in the New York area. A few minutes later word came in about the hijackings.



We decided to LIE to the passengers while we were still in the air. We told them the plane had a simple instrument problem and that we needed to land at the nearest airport in Gander, Newfoundland, to have it checked out.



We promised to give more information after landing in Gander. There was much grumbling among the passengers, but that's nothing new! Forty minutes later, we landed in Gander. Local time at Gander was 12:30 PM, that's 11:00 AM EST.



There were already about 20 other airplanes on the ground from all over the world that had taken this detour on their way to the U.S.



After we parked on the ramp, the captain made the following announcement:

"Ladies and gentlemen, you must be wondering if all these airplanes around us have the same instrument problem as we have. The reality is that we are here for another reason." Then he went on to explain the little bit we knew about the situation in the U.S. There were loud gasps and stares of disbelief. The captain informed passengers that Ground Control in Gander told us to stay put.



The Canadian Government was in charge of our situation and no one was allowed to get off the aircraft. No one on the ground was allowed to come near any of the air crafts. Only airport police would come around periodically, look us over and go on to the next airplane.

In the next hour or so more planes landed and Gander ended up with 53 airplanes from all over the world, 27 of which were U.S. commercial jets.



Meanwhile, bits of news started to come in over the aircraft radio and for the first time we learned that airplanes were flown into the World Trade Center in New York and into the Pentagon in D.C. People were trying to use their cell phones, but were unable to connect due to a different cell system in Canada.

Some did get through, but were only able to get to the Canadian operator who would tell them that the lines to the U.S. were either blocked or jammed.



Sometime in the evening the news filtered to us that the World Trade Center buildings had collapsed and that a fourth hijacking had resulted in a crash. By now the passengers were emotionally and physically exhausted, not to mention frightened, but everyone stayed amazingly calm. We had only to look out the

window at the 52 other stranded aircraft to realize that we were not the only ones in this predicament.



We had been told earlier that they would be allowing people off the planes one plane at a time. At 6 P.M., Gander airport told us that our turn to deplane would be 11 am the next morning. Passengers were not happy, but they simply resigned themselves to this news without much noise and started to prepare themselves to spend the night on the airplane.



Gander had promised us medical attention, if needed, water, and lavatory servicing. And they were true to their word. Fortunately, we had no medical situations to worry about. We did have a young lady who was 33 weeks into her pregnancy. We took REALLY good care of her. The night passed without incident

despite the uncomfortable sleeping arrangements.



About 10:30 on the morning of the 12th, a convoy of school buses showed up. We got off the plane and were taken to the terminal where we went through Immigration and Customs and then had to register with the Red Cross.



After that, we (the crew) were separated from the passengers and were taken in vans to a small hotel. We had no idea where our passengers were going. We learned from the Red Cross that the town of Gander has a population of 10,400 people and they had about 10,500 passengers to take care of from all the airplanes that were forced into Gander! We were told to just relax at the hotel and we would be contacted when the U.S. airports opened again, but not to expect that call for a while.



We found out the total scope of the terror back home only after getting to our hotel and turning on the TV, 24 hours after it all started.



Meanwhile, we had lots of time on our hands and found that the people of Gander were extremely friendly. They started calling us the "plane people." We enjoyed their hospitality, explored the town of Gander and ended up having a pretty good time.



Two days later, we got that call and were taken back to the Gander airport. Back on the plane, we were reunited with the passengers and found out what they had been doing for the past two days. What we found out was incredible.



Gander and all the surrounding communities (within about a 75 Kilometer radius) had closed all high schools, meeting halls, lodges, and any other large gathering places. They converted all these facilities to mass lodging areas for all the stranded travelers. Some had cots set up, some had mats with sleeping bags and pillows set up.



ALL the high school students were required to volunteer their time to take care of the "guests." Our 218 passengers ended up in a town called Lewisporte, about 45 kilometers from Gander where they were put

up in a high school. If any women wanted to be in a women-only facility, that was arranged. Families were kept together. All the elderly passengers were taken to private homes.



Remember that young pregnant lady? She was put up in a private home right across the street from a 24-hour Urgent Care facility. There was a dentist on call and both male and female nurses remained with the crowd for the duration.



Phone calls and e-mails to the U.S. and around the world were available to everyone once a day. During the day, passengers were offered "Excursion" trips. Some people went on boat cruises of the lakes and harbors. Some went for hikes in the local forests. Local bakeries stayed open to make fresh bread for the guests.



Food was prepared by all the residents and brought to the schools. People were driven to restaurants of their choice and offered wonderful meals. Everyone was given tokens for local laundry mats to wash their clothes, since luggage was still on the aircraft. In other words, every single need was met for those stranded travelers.



Passengers were crying while telling us these stories. Finally, when they were told that U.S. airports had reopened, they were delivered to the airport right on time and without a single passenger missing or late. The local Red Cross had all the information about the whereabouts of each and every passenger and knew which plane they needed to be on and when all the planes were leaving. They coordinated everything beautifully. It was absolutely incredible.



When passengers came on board, it was like they had been on a cruise. Everyone knew each other by name. They were swapping stories of their stay, impressing each other with who had the better time . Our flight back to Atlanta looked like a chartered party flight. The crew just stayed out of their way. It was

mind-boggling.



Passengers had totally bonded and were calling each other by their first names, exchanging phone numbers, addresses, and email addresses.



And then a very unusual thing happened.



One of our passengers approached me and asked if he could make an announcement over the PA system. We never, ever allow that. But this time was different. I said "of course" and handed him the mike. He picked up the PA and reminded everyone about what they had just gone through in the last few days. He reminded them of the hospitality they had received at the hands of total strangers. He

continued by saying that he would like to do something in return for the good folks of Lewisporte.



"He said he was going to set up a Trust Fund under the name of DELTA 15 (our flight number). The purpose of the trust fund is to provide college scholarships for the high school students of Lewisporte. He asked for donations of any amount from his fellow travelers. When the paper with donations got back to us with the amounts, names, phone numbers and addresses, the total was for more than $14,000!



"The gentleman, a MD from Virginia, promised to match the donations and to start the administrative work on the scholarship. He also said that he would forward this proposal to Delta Corporate and ask them to donate as well.



As I write this account, the trust fund is at more than $1.5 million and has assisted 134 students in their college education.



"I just wanted to share this story because we need good stories right now. It gives me a little bit of hope to know that some people in a faraway place were kind to some strangers who literally dropped in on them. It reminds me how much good there is in the world."



"In spite of all the rotten things we see going on in today's world this story confirms that there are still a lot of good people in the world and when things get bad, they will come forward.
 
Wenham Street Cinema, A Jamaica Plain Garage, Home To Community Movie Nights & Concerts


Jamaica Plain (Boston MA) is a neighborhood that can really benefit from more of this :thumb

OM
 
From CBS Evening News-

Residents in Louisiana, including a woman named Angel Flood, are showing kindness to linemen who have traveled from all over the country to help restore power after Hurricane Ida. Steve Hartman shares more in "On the Road."


:usa

:clap

om
 
;)

Photographer Josh Rossi and his wife, Roxanna, have been turning pint-sized people battling huge challenges into true-life superheroes. Correspondent Lee Cowan finds out how young people are being transformed into larger-than-life characters – and how the transformations are changing how they see themselves.


:clap

om
 
Pretty cool!

Mike Mason, of Midlothian, Virginia, had served his country for decades, first as a captain in the Marines, and later as the No. 4 man at the FBI. After leaving the Bureau and working at a Fortune 500 company, Mason found retirement didn't sit well with him. So, he started a new chapter in his life, as a school bus driver. Correspondent Steve Hartman reports.


Anyone with a "P" rating on their drivers license has probably seen a request from their DMV to sign up for driving a school bus. Mike Mason answered the call.

om
 
Back
Top