Monday, July 30, 2012



I took last week off work, and really enjoyed spending time with Nolan. He's 9 months old already!

This was him on Friday, as we were trekking down a trail in his baby buggy. If you click on the pic and look closely, you can see his single tooth. We went for long walks every day and were frequently stopped by people who wanted to tell me how cute he is. "He looks just like his old man" was my stock response, yet for some reason I was usually greeted with a blank stare. Go figure :p

 He's a really easy kid, very smart and in good spirits all the time. I credit Lisa for those particular qualities. For real though - he cries maybe a couple of minutes a day, maybe, and that's only during the interval between when he realizes he's hungry to when he gets fed. He crawls now, and is working on pulling himself up to a standing position. I imagine he'll be driving soon.

 Oh, the bracelet is Baltic amber or so the people at the baby store would have us believe - according to them, it's been used for hundreds of years to help kids through the teething process. I don't believe that wearing a bracelet will do jack for his teeth, but I am totally okay with the hedging of bets when it comes to sleeping through the night ;) I don't have a fancy camera btw - that pic is from my iPhone. The kid just naturally looks Photoshopped :)

 Love

Sunday, July 15, 2012

*Update* Original video was removed from public viewing, here's another youtube of it. This fellow handles an off-airport landing pretty well. I really wasn't sure how this was going to end up. Watch til the end for the extra-clenched bum. Here's what the pilot said about it: "Complacency has no place in soaring. I was trained better than to have lingered on the lee-side of a ridge over rough terrain. The dramatic outlanding was due to my actions exclusively. While tight turns over roofs, brushing treetops and dodging street signs are not desired flight maneuvers, they do make for interesting viewing. An almost perfect (for a power pilot and plane but not a sailplane) landing until an unnoticed mailbox catches the right wing of the sailplane about 8 inches from the tip. The original is 16 minutes of Full High Definition Video and shows every second of the events leading to this out-landing/ crash. It has been closely reviewed and much learning has taken place. My instructor, safety officer, FAA and NTSB were all outstanding professionals in helping grow skills from this experience. More videos on this are coming. See if you can spot how the differences between a power pilot's training and a glider pilot's training could have contributed to this outcome."