Count Von Wunderschipen der Floatenschtien

Anyone who knows me is well aware of my pursuit to land that dream job, and I have finally boiled it down to two possibilities. The first being Chicago Mounted Police officer. After living in Chicago for less than a year, its obvious the great job these guys have. They ride around on horses with a with a couple of friends, aka a posse, and just wave at people who aren't on horses. Basically they wake up everyday to be in an 8 hour parade, except they also get a gun. Horses+gun=American Dream.
Then there is job number 2: Blimp pilot. The allure of blimp pilot is that it looks like the most impossible job to fuck up. You float around a couple thousand feet in the air, looking down womens' shirts, watching sports games, etc. And since they replaced Hydrogen with Helium, the worst thing that could happen is you slowly crash and everyone gets a funny voice and a hearty laugh. However, with the the exception of the Goodyear Blimp, I was under the belief that zeppelins are pretty much non-existent. Well thank you New York Times for showing me the error of my ways, with an article describing the new eco-friendly resurgence in blimping.

Thanks to their low fuel consumption, airships are enjoying renewed attention as an alternative in an era of high fuel prices. But while zeppelins inspire enormous loyalty among those who work on them and a sense of wonder among all who watch them soar, the financial returns have barely gotten off the ground. “Our philosophy is to preserve the businesses in the long run, to keep them at the top,” insulated from the common pressure from shareholders, Mr. Büchelmeier said. The latter-day Zeppelin empire includes ZF Friedrichshafen, an automobile supplier that employs some 60,000 people worldwide and reported total revenues of roughly $20 billion for 2007. The holding company Zeppelin GmbH includes the exclusive dealer for the heavy equipment maker Caterpillar in Germany and much of Central and Eastern Europe. There is even a private Zeppelin University

Awesome So I can finally be a blimp pilot AND get a "Zeppelin Uni" sweatshirt. Sounds like it couldn't get any sweeter. Wait, what's that?

Perhaps the unlikeliest mission for the new generation of zeppelins was treasure hunter. The prototype ended up in Botswana, where the company DeBeers used it in diamond exploration.

Well, Looks like that its for me. Good-Bye Everybody!

Forever yours,

Tom Shoe B.P.A.D.H (Blimp Pilot/African Diamond Hunter)

SOURCE: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/04/world/europe/04zeppelin.html?hp