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| 8 Days of Happy, day three: |
[Dec. 16th, 2008|11:10 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  aggravated | ] |
Day three, Tuesday.
Hmm, nothing that makes me particularly happy happened today, couldn't fly because of the weather and didn't get the windows in, although they're almost done.
Lolcats make me happy though!
see more crazy cat pics |
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| 8 days of happy day two |
[Dec. 15th, 2008|10:03 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  amused | ] |
Day two, Monday:
The work week started out slow, but I am very HAPPY to report that the windshield for the Aztec is cut, shaved, drilled and ready to install tomorrow! I'll be very HAPPY when this project is done, these are the worst fitting windows I've ever had to install. It's like the airplane was larger when it was new.
Sean called me today and asked if I'd like to get some Bonanza time tomorrow! Free flight time makes me HAPPY! |
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| Eight days of Happy, day one. |
[Dec. 14th, 2008|09:59 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  relaxed | ] |
So I've been looking at this journal here. It's been over a year since I posted anything so I guess I'll start with something that a friend tagged me on that I liked.
This is 8 days of happy, every day for 8 days post something that makes you happy.
Day 1, Sunday:
Well I woke up around 9:00 this morning and loafed ALL DAY. It's nice to have a day off once in a while to just do nothing, and I know that the desire to slack wont last forever, and just a few minutes ago I decided that the kitchen was in dire need of cleaning. It's spotless now!
I got back in touch with a couple really old friends recently and today had a nice conversation with one of them, and sent an email to the other. Talked to my mother today also about plans for Christmas. Really looking forward to going down there. I don't get to see my parents enough.
Now I'm kicking back and watching a DVD, and typing this. I haven't thought about work in hours ;) |
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| On checkrides, cancer, healing, and Half Dome. |
[Aug. 28th, 2007|12:11 am] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | accomplished | ] |
Stories from the sometimes random series of events that is my life.
( On Checkrides. )
( On Cancer. )
( On healing. )
( On Half Dome. )
Well if you made it all the way through that you should have a good idea of what the last few months have been like.
Stay tuned, I leave for 7 days in New York on Sept. 8th, I'll post some photos of that when I get back, including September 11th in NYC. |
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| trials and tribulations |
[Apr. 19th, 2007|08:02 pm] |
In case some of you have been wondering where I've been lately. I spent the last month or so moving into a new apartment. It's muh nicer than the last and comes equipped with the roommate that actually pays rent... and a washer and dryer. ;)
To reward myself for completing my moving chores early I went with some friends to Pismo Beach to ride my ATV on the dunes... well, on Saturday around noon I rode directly off of a 10 foot drop and in the process of bracing myself I broke my left distal radius at the wrist joint. It required surgery to affix a plate and screws to mend the damage. I got out of the hospital yesterday still in considerable pain. The doctor says the surgery went well and I should be fine in 4 to 6 weeks. I will have an initial loss in strength and range of motion but that with physical therapy I should be just fine. The plate and screws will be mine forever.
before you begin to think that I'm some sort of live fast die young daredevil, I've been riding off road for 22 years now and this is the first time I've had a very bad injury. The time of day and conditions were just right to hide the drop, and I couldn't stop in time.
In the meantime the pain medication makes me unable to sleep and causes hallucinations... but at least I have cable. ;)
I should have my internet back on in the next few days. |
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| September 17th 2006 |
[Sep. 24th, 2006|08:17 pm] |
What weighs 10000 pounds, makes over 5000 horsepower, and does nearly 500 miles per hour at less than 100 feet?
The Reno Air Races are held at Stead Field in Reno Nevada during mid september. This year was my first year going and I'll be going every year until the gummint shuts it down for being too damn much fun.
They have an airshow too:
I took over 700 photos but unfortunately neither my skills or my equipment seems up to the task of shooting something that's moving that fast. I'm adding an image stabilized lens to my wish list for next year. Most of the photos ended up like this:
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| Five years ago today. |
[Sep. 11th, 2006|01:11 am] |
I was sleeping when the alarm clock went off. My local morning DJ who is usually funny says ".... this will be like asking 'Where were you when Kennedy was assassinated?'"
Odd... I hit the alarm shutoff, roll out of bed and head to the computer, my normal source of news.
CNN website, down. Google, down. Yahoo, down....
very VERY odd.
www.fark.com, of all places, is up...
As it loads my blood runs cold, as I slept the world has fallen apart around me. Four airplanes? The world trade center? The Pentagon? All aircraft grounded? What the hell is going on here?
I look at the clock, 9:30am pacific time.
I wake my roommate because we have class together at 10:00 and I wake my fiancee and tell her what's going on... she doesn't say much.
What do we do? stay home? go to class? We decide we can't do much by staying at home except watch the horror over and over again so we head for class. We need contact, confirmation that we aren't dreaming. Once we get there the instructor gives a short speech which I can't remember, and sends us home. The campus is being evacuated.
I drive to the airport, I sit, I watch.
Nothing happens. No one moves. It's like a moment frozen in time.
I call my mom and dad and tell them I love them. |
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| I Follow Roads |
[Aug. 30th, 2006|11:12 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | wingspans | ] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | The left seat. | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  exhausted | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Iron Maiden - Aces High | ] |
The mood struck and I did a little writing this evening... A warning to my non-pilot friends though, you may not understand much of what is behind the cut, there's a lot of pilot jargon, but I hope I have conveyed the rest in such a manner as to be entertaining. If you do want to ask what something means just ask and I'll explain it.
( The ups and downs of IFR Training. ) |
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| (no subject) |
[May. 31st, 2006|08:47 am] |
What will you do now?
The comedy answer I come up with is "Go to Europe and find myself."
Being a college graduate, like turning 18, 21, or 40 is not really the huge life changing event that you expect before it happens. I've been preparing for it for a couple of years now, as one does with any expected event. Do I feel any different? sort of... Freedom is the word of the day, but there's no longer any excuse for not being successful either. The "different" I feel is not the one that comes from a sudden shift, those are unexpected. The "different" I feel is one that comes from 7 years of work, three with no clear direction, two with a general idea of where I was going but no end in sight, and two years, perhaps the best of my life, with a laser focus.
What will I do now?
I will have weekends to myself now.
I will have time to draw, learn to paint, and finish some of those model airplanes gathering dust in my closet.
I will read, and I don't even have to write about it later.
I will write.
I will take up music again and learn theory and scales, finally. Maybe I'll even find a band to play in... after lots of practice.
I will work as much as possible but also remember that time off is as important as money.
I will get back out to the desert.
I will fly, for Grandpa, for Nick, for Vern, and for Myself as often as possible.
I will coach the flight team for as long as I can because it's worth it.
I will hang out with friends as often as they'll have me because they're worth it.
I will get a tailwheel endorsement and learn to fly upside down.
And maybe... just maybe... if I have time left...
I'll finally GET SOME SLEEP.
but don't bet on it.
;) |
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| (no subject) |
[Mar. 26th, 2006|12:18 am] |
I attended the memorial service for Nick Nilmeyer today.
I didn't know Nick that well, we only shared the maintenance hangar on occaision, but he always had such an energy that you couldn't help but be sucked in by it. I feel as though I was only starting to get to know him by some of the conversations we had over his airplane and flying. All he ever wanted to be was an airshow pilot and he was living his dream and you could easily tell.
There had to have been at least 500 people there. Nick was an incredibly down to earth and positive person and it really showed in the number of people who showed up.
The last time I talked to Nick he had just gotten back from his first practice after his airplane was down for maintenance all winter. I asked him how it flew and with a huge smile on his face he said "Just like I remember it."
I'm going to miss seeing him around.
I've been asked whether I'm afraid of dying... No, Death is absolute. I am afraid of never living.
Nick, I am certain, knew no such fear. |
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| (no subject) |
[Mar. 18th, 2006|09:46 pm] |
There are times when airplanes remind me that they are more than the sum of the materials that go into them...
Yesterday as I drove around the airport I happened to notice Vess' car parked in front of a hangar and the door open so I stopped in to say hello. Inside, to my delight, was a 1929 Fairchild KR-34. She instantly reminds you that there was a time when the things we didn't know about aviation outnumbered the things we did know by orders of magnitude. Somehow we still managed to defy our creator and spend time with the birds. Some would even say, and often I would be inclined to agree, that it was better then.
Underneath it was Vess, cursing up a storm. Airplanes get that old by being stubborn and Vess has been tasked with helping to get her airworthy again after a slight mishap a while back and so I hung around for a while and helped out. Today I went back to the airport when I really should have been doing other things to help out some more. I'm a sucker for that sort of thing. Today while flat on my back I began to examine carefully the collection of wood, tube, fabric, leather and simplicity that 77 years ago was born into this world as the state of the art. As Vess almost lovingly pointed out, old airplanes are like snowflakes, no two parts are exactly the same. There are no books to guide you other than generalized acceptable practices, but then, what more do you need? We were disassembling some rudder cable turnbuckles that refused to turn, cleaning and oiling them and that's when the feeling I had building inside me came into clear focus in my mind. I could almost feel the faint echoes of history. I was connected with the long line of hands beginning with the ones that built the machine, following through to those who kept her safe throughout the years.
Our hands are the most recent in a long line of caretakers who merely borrow some time with history. If we do our jobs correctly we return it in better condition than we found it and hopefully the next pair of hands will do the same and 77 years from now I will connect with the next person who needs to disassemble the turnbuckles and oil them because they refuse to turn. And I can only hope that they feel my presence and smile. History will repeat itself and like those before us, we will live on.
All this from a turnbuckle... yep, more than the sum of their parts. |
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| I have returned! |
[Feb. 21st, 2006|07:36 am] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | accomplished | ] |
4.2 on the hobbs back from Gillespie Field via Camarillo yesterday with one semi scary weather encounter. More on that later.
The rankings this year overall
1. ERAU
2. SJSU
3. Mt. SAC
We're going to nationals baby!
( PCIFA Regionals, next year, and weather. )
For those of you who gave me birthday wishes, I'm sorry I wasn't around to receive them but thanks a lot :) |
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| (no subject) |
[Feb. 14th, 2006|08:40 pm] |
Well we've been here since Saturday but I haven't been able to get on the internet since then.
We've been doing Navs and landing practice daily at Borrego Springs. The other schools began arriving today.
My own flying is pissing me off, I know I can fly better than I have been and the only thing I can think is that the new place is throwing me off, I've been focusing a lot on navigating and terrain and stuff like that that my basic skills are kind of lacking. To top that off the different controllers here have been hard to get used to.
Gillespie is a much much much busier airport than Reid Hillview and as a result I don't think things run as smoothly, but all in all it's been a great time.
The flight down was fun, we came down over the desert as a 5 ship, and I got some great photos, once I get home I'll post them.
Cheers! |
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| The once in a while news update with your host... |
[Feb. 4th, 2006|11:46 pm] |
Well sports fans it's PCIFA Regionals time again. This year we're at Gillespie Field in Santee California just a stones throw from where I went to high school. We got our club status back this year so San Jose State is back!
Do I expect us to do well this year? I don't know, the team is much smaller and we haven't had a lot of practice time and we are pretty much self coached. But it's good to be back and we are working hard and can focus on improving even more for next year.
Look for me in Nav, ACID, power on and power off landings, taxi, SCAN, and sims and I'll be taking my laptop so look for day to day updates. We're leaving on February 11th with four aircraft, two 152's one 172, and One "Swick."
What's a Swick you might ask? It's a clipped wing 160hp fuel injected aerobatic Taylorcraft BC-12D. In short, it's T-craft for "Badass." |
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| (no subject) |
[Nov. 13th, 2005|01:01 pm] |
yesterday was not a good day...
can't decide on wether to polish up my resume now or wait to see what happens. |
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| (no subject) |
[Nov. 4th, 2005|09:34 pm] |
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I passed! I am an appropriately rated mechanic ;) |
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| (no subject) |
[Oct. 26th, 2005|11:04 pm] |
I have a midterm next Tuesday, a paper due next Thursday, and my A&P Oral/Practical is next Friday.
Next week is going to be pretty intense. |
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| (no subject) |
[Oct. 19th, 2005|12:58 am] |
So back from moving hell. "3 to 5 days" said the phone company and the internet provider. 3 weeks later I'm connected again.
can the world change in only 3 weeks? We shall see. |
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| (no subject) |
[Jul. 25th, 2005|04:58 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | Industrious | ] |
The flight time breakdown (sometimesistolen from Sometimesirun)
----This month-----
Total flight time logged: 8.7
Total solo time: 8.7
Total with instructor: 0
Total day: 8.7
Total night: 0
Total cross-country: 8.7
Total landings: 5
-----Overall (as of July 25th, 2005)-----
Total Elapsed flight time: 130.4
Total cross-country: 56.7 total 49.3 PIC
Total at night: 15.2
Total PIC: 89.0
Total with instructor: 43.9
Total Landings: 308
Total number of different planes flown: 12
N1992E C172N
N3151E C172N
N9668Q C172M
N6525D C172N
N24460 C152
N46473 C152
N49120 C152
N4927B C152
N6427Q C152
N2147G PA-28-161
N164DP PA-28-161
N33807 PA-28R-200
Total Airports landed at: 25
RHV Reid Hillview Airport - San Jose, CA
Q99/E16 South County Airport - San Martin, CA
SJC Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport - San Jose, CA
SAC Sacramento Executive Airport - Sacramento, CA
APC Napa County Airport - Napa, CA
UKI Ukiah Municipal Airport - Ukiah, CA
KIC Mesa Del Rey Airport - King City, CA
O27 Oakdale Airport - Oakdale, CA
SQL San Carlos Airport - San Carlos, CA
FCH Fresno Chandler Executive Airport - Fresno, CA
MER Castle Airport - Atwater, CA
WVI Watsonville Airport - Watsonville, CA
3O8 Harris Ranch Airport - Coalinga, CA
HWD Hayward Executive Airport - Hayward, CA
WJF General William J. Fox Field - Lancaster, CA
1Q4 New Jerusalem Airport - Tracy, CA
SNS Salinas Municipal Airport - Salinas, CA
LSN Los Banos Municipal Airport - Los Banos, CA
3O7 Hollister Municipal Airport - Hollister, CA
OAR Marina Municipal Airport - Marina, CA
LVK Livermore Municipal Airport - Livermore, CA
MCC McClellan Airfield - Sacramento, CA
L18 Fallbrook Community Airpark - Fallbrook, CA
TCY Tracy Municipal Airport - Tracy, CA
4SD Reno/Stead Airport - Reno, NV |
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