Spending my Tax Dollars

Here's a thought, what if we could spend a set percentage of our tax dollars in ways we see fit?

Let's say, hypothetically, the feds take $100 from a paycheck on week. What if 50% of that $100 was set up to be spent as the person who earned the money saw fit. I just now listened to a speech given by President Bush on American giving to the fight against AIDS. In this speech President Bush noted that the American people just completed a 5-year 15 Billion dollar giving plan successfully, and now he is proposing to congress that we as American's double our giving for the next 5-years and give 30 Billion dollars. That is a lot of money, seriously. I am no expert on the fight against AIDS, I personally have little knowledge about AIDS in itself, but I do know that it is a serious epidemic, especially on third-world nations in Africa. The money goes to funding medicine/doctors/research and I am sure it is being put to good use.

But what if I want my tax dollars, the money I earn while sitting in my little cube, saving the grocery world... to go something different?

At first I was thinking why can't we decide how all our taxes are spent? But then I realized the problem, people wouldn't ever think about/want to set aside money for such things as street maintenance or paying city workers (Yes I'm aware federal taxes don't go to city workers and I have no clue who funds street maintenance, but you catch my drift). So why don't we figure out how much of each person's taxes are going to outside funds, like fighting AIDS. Let's just say for sake of argument 50%.

So your initial argument against my spending plan is probably going to be, well can't we already do that? We donate money to charity and write it off our taxes. But the difference there is the government will still spend the same amount of money regardless of people writing charity donations off their taxes. Bush wants to fight AIDS with 30 Billion dollars. Let's say over the next 5-years, all Americans write off 1-Billion dollars in taxes with donations to fight AIDS. Well that just increases the American giving to 31 Billion dollars, which means 1-Billion dollars in the red for our government. See the issue?

Another problem you might say is that lots of people will donate to a 'stupid' charity giving them an overwhelming income. Let's just take for example The Cable Center Charity. All the folks of the cable industry will want to donate to something that is relative to their field, so they all donate to The Cable Center. This currently far in the red charity would have an overwhelming increase in finances taking away from what some people would consider more important, fighting AIDS. My response is, well we live in a democracy don't we? The people's choice? If we as American's see fit to spend our tax dollars in funding The Cable Center, then shouldn't we be allowed to?

Next issue everyone will have is the lazy folks who don't want to spend the time to decide what charity is worth their money. What happens to their 50%? Simple, the government will use your $100 to give $200 to charity.... what they do already, no?

The final issue I'm going to post for now that you might have is, well aren't there like millions of federally funded charities? (the real count I have no idea) Won't some get left out? I propose that someone on capital hill create categories. Maybe you can't donate directly to The Cable Center, but you can donate your share to Professional Advancements... or something of the sort. Or you could donate your money to Low-Income Scholarships.... or even, Fighting Wars that aren't going anywhere (this would help the American folk's feel like they have a choice with the War in Iraq)

My plan would make everyone much happier with a feeling that they are actually making a difference in the world, that they are deciding how their money is spent, that they are able to support something they have a passion for.

One last issue you'll have (maybe the first one on your list) is that you think we're already doing this by living in a democracy and electing officials to spend our money for us.... and my answer to you is... you're right. What I'm proposing in its simplicity would be so full of loopholes that people could jump through. I'm just venting on my views that my tax dollars are not being spent in a way that I think best.

Come November of 2008, whether the man (or woman for that matter) in office is better or worse, it won't matter, they will be different, and that is all the American People want right now.

Technology of War

I'm not much for writing a post right now, but I did come across a very cool site with a new helmet for fighter pilots on display. Check out these pics:



Check out the site for more pictures

A few comments on the picture were talking of possible photoshop modifications (which I doubt). Others discussed the similarities between these pictures and Master Chief from Halo. Another made comment of how our pilot's are starting to look like the 'bad guys' in all the sci-fi movies, which does make you wonder... Then I came across the following comment from macbigot which made me nearly fall off my chair from chuckling like somebody farted in the middle of a funeral...

Do NOT 'turn your head and cough'! (You may accidentally blow up a small country...)

Hah... you may not find that as funny as I did, but hey... you're you, I'm me... this is my blog, so you can just fake chuckle to amuse me :-)

Thanks for stopping by!

Billy Currington is my conscience

So Saturday night at Taste we I was standing around, waiting for Sean to get some food at a booth. I wasn't paying attention to much of anything, just looking around, watching the people pass. If you don't know what the crowd at Taste is at let me try an paint a picture. Take a street of your local downtown (this one is 5th street, so pretty far downtown) crowd booths on both sides of the road and then crowd thousands of people on the street in between the booths, all trying to get to their next beer booth without much concern of those around them... but anyway... So I was standing there, watching the crowd and I looked into the wave heading my way and caught the look of this very cute girl walking past, just looking at me. My first reaction was huh? do I know her? But I didn't. I followed her look for two seconds before she seemed to realize I was returning her gaze. She smiled a very cute smile. My brain at that point was very confused... why is this girl looking at me? wait she smiled, what am I suppose to do? hah, so you get the drift of my confusion. I think I might have tried to return a smile... but I'm not quite sure how that turned out. And then as quick as MC Hammer's career was over, so was she gone. I was just excited that 'cute taste of cincinnati girl' smiled at me... hah. And as we walked away in the other direction, Billy Currington's voice popped in my head... "you fool, that coulda been love"...

Haha, thought I would amuse you with my little romance this weekend ;-)

Weekend of Taste

This weekend was a very nice extended weekend. Saturday and Sunday were mostly spent downtown on 5th street with friends at Taste of Cincinnati. For those that don't know what Taste of Cincinnati is, it is where many of the Cincinnati Restaurants get judged for 'best dishes' and all the such, and then they take up a street downtown for a weekend and sell their most famous dishes from their tents. All in All its a great time to get some food, hang with friends, and hear some good concerts.

Me being rather poor at the moment, I didn't buy any food but a 2 dollar ear of corn which was probably the best ear of corn I have ever tasted in my life. I also spent a dozen dollars or so on some fine beer for the weekend. I tried a dark Worsteiner, which I enjoyed extremely, and I'll have to see how their prices are in the stores.

Today, Monday, Memorial Day, I went home to Mason to celebrate my Grandma's birthday. 39 and still holding (as she says). It was a good time. Time with the family is always enjoyable.

The long extended weekend turned out to be as relaxing and fun as expected. I got to hang out with a few people I have really met before and also with good friends. While at Taste on Sunday night it pored down rain. We stood over a sewer grate playing the thumbs game while the rain was blown up past us and our close dried from the (I'm sure so clean) sewer warm air.

I hope your long weekend was as enjoyable as mine. A short 4-day work week ahead... unfortunately a work week at all...

Later!

Kicks for Kids - River Run 5K

This morning I ran my second race. I ran the Kicks for Kids River Run 5K. I think I did rather well. I ran a 27:10. My goal going in was to get under 30 minutes. I did have a hidden wish of hitting 25 minutes... but I didn't really train at all for this race... actually this morning was the first time I have run since the 10K... hah, whoops. It was fine though. I could definitely feel the difference between training for one and not. It was also 75 degrees outside with 50% humidity... a sweaty mess definitely.

The race started out by the Freedom Bell (I think it's called) in Newport. We ran and crossed the licking river, turned and ran almost down to the Ohio river than turned around going back to the start line. The turnaround point was the mile marker and I was at 7:35 when I crossed mile one... way over my pace (I need to get a watch to wear when I'm not running with Dan). I slowed down the pace because I was already well into my 3-breathing-pattern. I start with in-4-out-4 then as the race progresses I get ride of a breath... so about three-quarters of the way through I should be switching to 2-in-2-out and somewhere in between 1/4 and 1/2 going to 3-in-3-out. But anyway, we got back near the start line hung a left and crossed the Taylor Southgate Bridge over the Ohio. A quick street on the Ohio side of the river brought us to the Purple People Bridge where we crossed back into Kentucky.

On the Purple People Bridge they had someone telling you your time.. and I almost stopped thinking that he was giving the end of the 5K... but then I looked ahead and people were still running... he must've been giving the 3 miles when the 5K is 3.1 miles. (But in my defense, their map on the website has the course ending there on the bridge, so I also had that mindset) The race ended though, and I was exhausted.

Finishing a race is one of the most self-satisfying moments possible I think. 3.1 miles isn't short. My Dad gave us some of his old Coast Guard Flags to use as wall decor, I have one hanging above my bed. I've decided I want to fill in all the squares with bibs. I'll attach a picture of it.... 2 down, many more (14) to go!

Off to Taste of Cincinnati in a bit, Later!

Flight Lesson 10 - Short Cross Country

So at first I was just going to solo today, but then I decided I didn't feel quite comfortable with leaving the Lunken airspace by myself, so canceled the lesson. Sharon called me back a little later with news that they just hired a guy on and that he could do my lesson this afternoon if I still wanted to go up. Well of course I did!

This lesson was a surprise actually, it was my first cross-country flight. We took off from Lunken 21R and went north to past the Blue Ash airport and over Kings Island. I saw the building where I work, but I wasn't able to see my house up in Mason without getting a little closer, all the trees are really big. So we continued from Kings Island up to the Lebanon/Warren County Airport where we flew a little bit past, saw Wright Field and turned around to land at Warren County. We taxied off and around the runway before taking off again (not another plane in sight). We headed back to Lunken while Gary (Porter) explained VOR to me and how to navigate with it. It makes logical sense in my head, but completely doing it while flying is another story... I'll have to get used to it.

We made it back to Lunken where I was told to continue south of the field and radio at mid-field for entrance to downwind of 21R. So at mid-field I start turning to cross at mid-field because we are on 21L side and radio the tower... "Crossing mid-field wasn't the initial instructions, but that's ok, enter on the 21L downwind." What!? You said 21L... well apparently we were both wrong, he did say 21L when he meant 21R but at the same time he never did say cross mid-field which I had done. Whoops... he was very friendly about it. The ATC folks at Lunken are extremely nice, I'd like to go up and meet them sometime.

After the lesson I sat around with Gary for quite some time and we talked about a whole lot of different things... I was there until 8:30, when we had landed just before 7:30.

Overall, it was a great lesson. Gary is a character, I will enjoy his company for the remainder of my dual flights (hopefully he's my third and final instructor). I enjoyed seeing some places outside of the boring Clermont County airspace as well... turns out Ohio isn't all just farm land... hah, we followed I71 pretty much up from exit 5ish up to exit 25ish (Kings Island).

Tomorrow I have another lesson, wish me the best.

Later!

Flight Lesson 9 - First Solo!

WOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!

hah... yeah, my first solo went extremely well :-)

Brian and I took off about 11:30 this morning and did one touch-and-go and one full stop landing. He hopped out and I called ground to get taxi instructions. I taxied to runway 21R, called tower, and waited for takeoff permissions.

The first thing I noticed when I was in the plane by myself was the weight difference. I had heard from many other articles that you notice the plane is much easier to hand and everything, but feeling it is completely different. The plane while taxiing was so light and moved very well.

I took off and was in the air, by myself... I made a right turn to the crosswind following the Ohio River and then made a right turn to downwind. I leveled off at 1500 feet and set flaps to 10 degrees when at mid-runway. When abeam to the numbers I incremented the flaps. Turning on base I called tower and reported... was cleared for landing on 21R. I turned onto approach and descended to touchdown.... FIRST SOLO LANDING... haha... I was excited... It's a good thing I have to push the button to call tower and they couldn't hear me cause I was sure cheering myself on :-D

I did the pattern about 6 times and finally brought it in for to park.

At Lunken today they were having a air race... so there were lots of other airplanes around that were from all over the country. As I landed they were all taxiing to their respective runways. The race is something where you estimate your time and whoever is closest to their estimated time wins... or something like that, I wasn't completely sure how it was working. So when taxiing back to the terminal I slowed to let all the super fast looking props planes taxi by... it was pretty exciting.

Once back, Brian met me out at the airplane and congratulated me with a handshake. We got a few pictures taken in front of the plane, which I will post once they are sent my way. The office folks, Sharon and Captain Dave were also there to congratulate me. I got a certificate which I will have to get a nice frame for.

So Brian is leaving, off to the airlines, I am very glad I got to do my first solo while he was around... very exciting. I'll meet a new instructor probably sometime next week and continue with lessons.

Yay for me! Time to go celebrate!

Later!!

Flight Lesson 8

Post 40... going on 400... wow, thanks to all who read

This lesson was quite stressful indeed. The thoughts of flying solo looming in all areas reminding me to be thoughtful of how I would do the current procedure if I were there alone... are there any more questions I need to ask? What if this happens? Did I just do that wrong?

We did a lot of touch-and-go's while also practicing soft field landing/approach and short approach. Short approach gave me the biggest scare yet. We were coming in for landing and I was going slower than usual with thoughts that I needed to slow down quicker. I wasn't completely sure what this exercise was and that was my big mistake.

There was quite the wind blowing, and it was tossing my little skipper around quite a bit. It was also a beautiful day out, which in turn brought lots of traffic around our continuous pattern. These elements along with the repetitive action of take off, pattern, land, take off, pattern, land, got to me and I made a few mistakes.

As stated before my biggest mistake was not questioning further our current exercise. My brain was telling me, well if you ask more about it, he won't think you know what you're doing and get upset with you... but in hindsight that is exactly what needed to be thought about me. We were coming in slow, nose pointed about 10 to 15 degrees above the horizon and descending at 500 feet/minute and 65 knots. That last note was the issue, we were about 15 feet above the ground when Brian jumps to life, grabbing the wheel and telling me to go full throttle, we were going to belly flop the ground, and not softly either. The full throttle helped a little but not enough to keep us off the ground. Our wheels touched and the entire plane jolted under the shock. With full throttle still we accelerated working the flaps up, and me trying to not let my face get too red.

I was completely humiliated. I should have asked for further instructions on our procedure... never again will I make a mistake like that. The feeling of that landing, and the embarrassment that followed didn't leave me for the rest of the night. I finished with a picture perfect landing, but that isn't the feeling I left with.

------------

So this morning I went to get my FAA Third Class Medical Examination Certificate, which doubles as my student pilot certificate. Over in Western Hills I went and completed everything just fine except for a past medical history field of my Physical Therapy a year ago. The Doctor wanted a fax from the PT saying I was fine and discharged properly. I leave without my certificate and head to the PT office... unfortunately, sometime in the past year they have closed their Clifton office. With my phone being dead and no pen to write the number on, i started scraping numbers with my stylus into a paper until a nice old lady came by and let me borrow her pen. Once back to the house I gave the PT a call only to hear that my file, since old, is in storage, but she should be able to fax it to them by tomorrow.

So much for flying solo this afternoon...

I am starting to think it is a good thing though. I've been getting extremely stressed out with the thoughts of going solo, and the events of this morning didn't help in the least. I need some breathing time. I have my whole life ahead of me to fly, no need to rush into something I'm not completely mentally prepared for. So I talked to Brian on the phone, and we rescheduled for tomorrow afternoon. Dan will drop me off, and Brian said he could drive me back home after the lesson. He's a nice guy, it is a shame he is leaving and tomorrow will be my last lesson with him.

So my hopes are that I am able to get my medical certificate tomorrow and maybe fly solo tomorrow evening. However, I don't know if the right doctor is in tomorrow, so I might be putting solo on hold until I meet and fly with my new instructor... instructor number 3 that is. I'm averaging 5 hours of flight per instructor, kind of annoying, but they do what they gotta do.


I'm not 100% sure when this solo flight is going to happen, but keep your fingers crossed and maybe say a little prayer tomorrow around 530 to 800 pm.

Remember to breath... I've been forgetting to do that a lot lately... Later!

I Call Him George W

So this past weekend (Sunday to be exact) was the 400th anniversary of the Jamestown Settlement. President Bush was there to commemorate the event. While sifting through my blogs this morning I came across part of his speech at the event and was kind of left silent. In just a few sentences I think our President said some of his smartest words to date. Let me share:

"America is proud to promote the expansion of democracy, and we must continue to stand with all those struggling to claim their freedom. The advance of freedom is the great story of our time, and new chapters are being written every day, from Georgia and Ukraine, to Kyrgyzstan and Lebanon, to Afghanistan and Iraq. From our own history, we know the path to democracy is long, and it's hard. There are many challenges, and there are setbacks along the way. Yet we can have confidence in the outcome, because we've seen freedom's power to transform societies before."

I know, there's nothing really special about how it is said, and there isn't any real unique qualities about the topic being stated, but there is something, a mindset that grabs my attention. Much of the press who emphasize our war in Middle East with negative tone leave a taste in our mouths of big bad America, trying to make the rest of the world just like them... America does it right, and if anyone doesn't do it like America they are just wrong... black and white. This short excerpt from President Bush's speech takes a different mindset. Think of our early days... we fought for our freedom. Our world is rather different now than it was then, but so much the same as well. Countries in the Middle East are fighting a war, a different war nonetheless, but still a war for their freedom. I've utterly confused my emotions on this war completely now, President Bush succeeded.

As for the whole of his speech, which was just over 12 minutes, I found myself chuckling, smiling, and even admiring the voice of our President, something that I haven't done for a long time. I have always respected him; you must respect your elected officials. But let me share a little about his speech. Probably about a dozen times, little interjections about the current day fight for democracy were stated, which got to be annoying, but we know what this administration is all about. Other than the silly 2 minutes of thank you's (Does anyone care about hearing thank you's other than the persons name being said?), the President's speech was informative, funny, and had personality... it was good.

"Six of the leading colonists held the first presidential election in American history, and you might be surprised to hear that the winner wasn't name George. As matter of fact his name was Edward Wingfield... I call him Eddie W."

President Bush concentrated on two rightful points for this event. Where have we been and where are we now. Below I will post a link to the speech for those interested. Kudos President Bush for doing your job.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/05/20070513.pod.a.mp3

Later!

Flight Lesson 6 and 7

Two days of flying in a row, crazy fun!

On Wednesday, we flew for 1.1 hours practicing slow flight, stalls, steep turns, the hood and a few touch-and-go's. I wasn't very happy at all with my touch-and-go's. The first two Brian had to grab the controls to help me onto the ground, but the third and final landing, I did completely on my own. I think that was the first one that was completely on my own without any hands on any controls from the instructor side of the plane. It was a rough one though, and then I could get enough right rudder down to keep us on the center line and we were veering quite badly onto the far left of the runway. Must have been quite the sight from the tower... but hey, they know I'm a student. Leaving my lesson on Wednesday I was feeling kind of disappointed with the way my flight ended with the bad landing... Thursday would quickly change that.

Neither Wednesday or Thursday were the clearest of days. The air was nice and smooth and the sun was sure out full in all its glory shining brightly right into my eyes (I really need to find my sunglasses). Yesterday, Thursday, we were just going to repeat our maneuvers from the lesson on Wednesday. We took off 21L and went up to 4000 feet to do our maneuvers out a little east of East Fork Lake. Nothing too exciting, more stalls and other fun things. The stalls aren't nearly as scary as I expected. Flying on the computer, the nose of the animated plane violently flings itself towards the ground, but in the real plane, the plane starts to shake with the stall and loses altitude, nothing to take your breath away. The lesson was going well, we were up at 4500 feet and further east than we've ever been. I tell you south-east Ohio... not much there. It was great for our emergency landing practice. Brian reached over and said, "Guess what... you just lost your engine..." then he pulled the throttle all the way back and I picked a field to land in. About 500 feet AGL we went full throttle back up to 3500 for a nice trip back to Lunken.

Back at Lunken after an expert conversation over the radio, I brought us into the Left base of 21L and soon after turned into Approach. "Full Throttle, go around..." Huh? Ok, Brian says to do it so I do it. We get past the field and I ask "Did they tell us to do that or did you decide?" "I decided... you were going to land on the wrong runway..." Whoops! haha... I felt pretty stupid, especially when we radioed in to tell them we were going around, the ATC responded with "Skipper 2-9-Delta Proceed to right patter for 2-1-Right, that's Right, 2-1-Right..." Yeah, I think she got her point across :-) We went around the right pattern for 21R and came in for a touch-and-go. I was a little high above the glide slope and set the throttle to idle and descended at 1000 ft/min to find the red over white. Once proper, pushed the throttle and aimed for the beginning of the runway at a descent of 500 ft/min. About five feet above the ground, I pitched the airplane up for its flair bringing its tires to a light screech on the runway... "Perfect! Very well done!" were the words from Brian. He flipped up the flaps, I throttle full and we raced down the runway rotating at 65 knots gliding up over the trees, and turning right over the Ohio River to follow the pattern. The following touch-and-go and the final landing were just as good, if not better. I was feeling very good about my success for the day and couldn't keep the smile off my face.

While in the office after our flight, Brian surprised me with saying "So one or two more lessons and you'll be ready to solo..." WHAT!? I thought I had to do 20 hours with an instructor first. Apparently not... 20 hours eventually, but you can solo whenever your instructor feels you are ready and you can pass a small open book test. I am crazy excited about this now. I have a lesson next Tuesday and then on Thursday hopefully I'll solo. I want to invite my family and a few friends over to witness my first solo flight, maybe get some pictures and video :-) So next lesson we are just going to do touch-and-go after touch-and-go... I'm looking forward to it! I also have to get a FAA third class physical done before I can solo, so I have a few doctors I need to call today.

Wow, long winded post... if you made it this far, congrats! I'm very excited about soloing if you can't tell. I'll keep you posted as always... Cheers everyone, my hopes are that next Thursday calls for a drink!

Later!

Our President, the Warrior!

Think back to the days of Knights, Kings, Castles, and fair maidens that needed prince charming to come and rescue them from the ominous and evil dragon... Ok, well at least think back to the days of Knights and Kings. In those days people fought for their freedom (just as we do today) however there is a difference. In those days the King fought right with the armies, no? Or has modern film battle replication led me astray with my dark ages history? So why doesn't our leader fight any more? When did it change?

I'm not saying sending our boy W' out to the bomb infested roads of Iraq would really be the best plan of action for the population of our country (although I know a good many who thinks that is exactly what we should do) but really, is our leader, the 'commander and chief' of our military just the guy who goes and gives pep talks makes decisions about making today National Military Spouse day??? Come on... sorry to those who fall under today's holiday, but how retarded of a holiday is that. What about National I drink coffee with 2 scoops of sugar day... or National Janitor day? Maybe those days already exist... we would be in a world of hurt if it weren't for janitors... they have my respect.

Maybe I've read too much of Scott Adams 'Dilbert Blog' or something, but my mind is racing with the possibilities of sending our leaders to war... how would their opinions change of our present day scenario then? I've been a fan of W' for quite some time, well... until recently. For a while I kind of stopped paying attention to politics... the last election was over, we're fighting a war that will probably never end, and no big news is coming from DC it seems. In the past few weeks though, I have been catching up, reading articles and blog entries on our current status with the world, and I have a new level of concern. There are two areas that I have a strong desire to see something change.

1.) Iraq. Do something, what we're doing now isn't doing much of anything... we lose people every day, and I hear little to no news of progress, only so and so has died... if we're killing their leaders, doesn't that mean we should be closer to bring them to the supposed 'good side'. I don't have any ideas... my job is to sit in a cube and make sure Kroger has groceries to sell... not command troops, but really, try something new... let's get a report that a change is being made... standing water only brings stinkiness

2.) Gas prices. Those two words should bring enough anger to surface that I don't even have to write a paragraph, but I still will. What is going on??? Really!!! Barrel prices are going down, and gas prices are going up... and oil companies are making RECORD HIGH PROFITS... why? I heard on the radio this morning on the way to work that the government in Kentucky is finally looking into this issue to see if the gas companies are just sticking it to us, or what the deal really is. We as the consumer need to do something. Unfortunately we don't live in a society that can just stop using gas to show the oil companies who are in charge... we would all get fired and then the economy would be fried. I'll have to look into that press conference that was being held across the river today and get back to you about their findings.

For now I sit here... not understanding much of anything that's going on in the world around me. The best I can do is make sure my own situation is as best as it can be, and do the same the best I can for those around me.

Later folks, keep your stick on the ice... we're all in this together!

PS. Look at me finish the 10K!

I would let Google acquire me

Doesn't that just sound awkward? But think about it, what has Google done that has not turned out well? This company is a huge turning point for those of us in the technology field. This company does everything... over the years it has acquired so many different companies, put each company to use in its field of expertise not only helping the taken over business, but Google themselves, and all the people involved in both parties. The company that gets taken over in most cases has a new found job security (Google is known for their acquisitions being streamlined, simple and painless)

Just look at some of the companies Google has acquired over the past few years:

- Pyra Labs: Blogger
- Picasa
- Time Warner AOL (5% stake)
- @Last Software: SketchUp, 3D Modeling
- YouTube


If Google acquired me, they can take all the ideas they want from me as long as they still give me my weekly paycheck. While turning the knobs on my thinkbox I could be playing pool, having a massage, or exercising at the Googleplex.

So are there any Google HR reps out there reading? Come find me! I might even show you my resume if you ask nicely ;-)

Later Folks, have a good one!

From the phone (and throgh gmail)

That's right, this post is coming from the browser on my phone. It
really is quite neat all the fun things this little device is capable
of.

So do you want to hear my newest personal revelation? Well I guess
not really a revelation but more of a discovery I guess. Of course
you want to know... ve decided that I can't stay content. I get bored
too easily. Anyone that knows me well could have told you this a long
time ago, but I'm seeing it in more areas of my life now and it kind
of bugs me.

I'll be really into something, like a video game or going to a
specific place, and I'll want to go there or do whatever it is all the
time... but very quickly I'll get burnt out. Do you find this
happening to you too?

Much of the time I just start to feel restless nd need to do something
else. I guess moderation really is the key. If you are wondering if
this has anything to do with flying... no, actually I think I will
love flying forever. I have wanted to do this for so long 8 think it
is really with me.

I'm getting tired of typing on this little keyboard and I have to get
up early tomorrow, we're going to Shelbyville, Indiana for work
tomorrow to visit a Distribution Center. Have a good day tomorrow!

--
Jason Pawlak
jason@blarged.com
pawlakja@email.uc.edu
[ http://www.blarged.com
[ http://www.blarged.com/blog
[ http://homepages.uc.edu/~pawlakja

Spring is in the air...

I love spring... it is truly my absolute season of the year (note that I had previously written, favorite time of the year... but then decided on different wording for those that would naturally have Christmas songs stuck in your head for the rest of the day... you can thank me later) Spring is good though.

Today we threw the frisbee in the backyard, went to the driving range to hit golf balls, had a nice sit on our newly built deck, had a bonfire on our back lot... what more could you want, seriously.

I also played Wii today... I almost got a perfect game on bowling. See the picture below for my documented proof. I enjoy the Wii sports, however, the rest of the Wii system just doesn't seem to appease my tastes.

Busy week, going to sleep, I'm hoping to watch the sunrise at the airport tomorrow morning... maybe.


PS... don't forget to wrap peeps up after you open them

Toyota Flying Pig 10K

I finished my first race! My time for the 'Toyota Flying Pig 10K' was 1 hour and 1 minute (unnofficially) I'm not sure when the official times are posted on the internet, but I'll let you know then. It was a fun race. You can see the site at http://www.flyingpigmarathon.com. I'm looking forward to running more races like this one in the near future. Dan and I are thinking about running the Kicks for Kids 5K Riverwalk/run on the 26th. It's a fun thing to do, gives a sense of accomplishment, AND is kinda healthy I guess.

That's really all I have for now... my newest greatest find is http://www.skybus.com. Cheap flights. I'm going to be able to go out and visit Dan and Katie in Boston for 40 dollars round trip (plus a few taxes).

Have a good weekend, I think I'm headed home for the weekend to spend some time with the family. Later!

Is it Autumn already?

So this morning I registered for classes... I can't believe that it we're already thinking about Autumn when it feels like Spring has just begun. It's sad really. Here's my schedule... enjoy!

Flight Lesson 5

Not much of note today really. I was kinda tired throughout the lesson, which may not have been a good thing, but still I got compliments, so I think I was alright. The winds were at 15 knots from South West, with a few gusts here and there getting up to around 20 to 25 knots. Week took off from 21L and Lunken with wind slightly coming from our right. I over compensated with the ailerons and made us turn sideways a bit after rotation. I wore the 'hood' as they call it for a lot of the flight today. It is a pair of shop glasses that are frosted over all the lenses except for a small portion on the bottom which allows you to see your instruments. No outside visuals, only Instruments. I didn't like the glasses very much, I could fly fine without them since I have spent so much time on my computer on the simulator, but between me wearing my own glasses instead of contacts today along with the added glasses, I got a headache. We practiced S-Turns, Steep Turns, Turns around a point, and the flight pattern with a landing on 21R. We spiced up the flight pattern today when we were asked to do a fly over the airport and enter the 21R pattern, which I have never done before, and I will say the right pattern is a little more difficult than the left pattern. Something to get used to. And we went through emergency procedures again of engine being cut out, this time I took the controls and went for a field to land in. Brian didn't say anything, but I don't think I really picked all that good of a field... better work on that for next time.

I have flown for 6 full hours now. I asked Brian whether he thinks I'll be soloing after my first 20, and he was very confident and quick to say definitely!

Dan and I went back to Lunken after I came home, changed and ate a quick dinner for a run. We did the 5-mile track around the airport. It's the furthest I have ever run... it felt good. I have a little more knowledge of what to expect this Saturday now as well. I am excited, it will be a lot of fun.

I register for Fall classes tomorrow morning at 6AM... can't believe we're already looking that far ahead... eh, good night... sweet dreams.