Close brushes with fame . . .

Gotta love NYC. How neat to grab a slice of pizza and walk across the street to watch David Duchovny direct Robin Williams ("House of D").

However, my brother Nathan, serving as an x-ray technician in the Navy, reports:

"Yesterday, at work, I got a chance to see Master Chief Carl Brushear. He came in for an appointment. I got to shake his hand and meet him. For those of you who don't know, He is the man the movie Men of Honor is about. Pretty cool huh?"

Pretty cool, indeed! Men of Honor (starring Cuba Gooding Jr. and Robert DeNiro) is a good movie about an incredible person: in 1970, Carl Brashear struggled against the prejudices of his age to become the the first African American Deep Sea Diver in the history of the U.S. Navy.

Even after losing a leg during the recovery of a nuclear warhead in the Mediterranean in 1966, he refused to retire. He remained on active duty, proving his skills and earning the rank of Master Diver in 1970 -- the highest level one can attain in the diving community.

Now that is even cooler than watching Robin Williams film a movie across the street.