Light?

Got this from Richmond. I'm not sure I would charcterize myself as "light" :).

L	Light
U	Unforgettable
C	Careful
K	Kinky
Y	Young

Name / Username:

Name Acronym Generator
From Go-Quiz.com


random

Winds of Change

On my daily perusal of the blogosphere, I came across WDKY's post about "keeping it real." It was very enlightening.

This blog started out six months ago as simply a way to keep in touch with the family while I was deployed to Qatar. It quickly became a military/political blog, and then just a place for me to ramble as the audience grew....
I've spent many hours tinkering with this page as a thing to do, like tinkering with a car engine. Each day I added or subtracted, tweaked here and there. I caved and spent money on a haloscan account today. I added blogpages and then deleted them when I realized that I had my hands full enough with Desert Odyssey.

My original intent was to knock this off when I got home. That date was then pushed back to when Odie finally decides to show up. To be honest, I'm pretty sure that I won't be able to knock this off then, either.

This – my – blog was started with the sole purpose of putting some thoughts down on “paper”… something to mark my passage through an interesting phase of my life, a phase of change and adjustment. And perhaps something to look back on when I need to put my life into some kind of perspective. Somewhere along the way, it’s possible that I forgot this purpose, and began to write with an audience in mind. Is this a bad thing? Does it make what I say any less authentic? I suspect the answer to both questions is no… well, it’s a definite no to the second, I assure you. I want what I write to be a true account of who I am; I think it has been and my intention is that it always will be. And I suspect that those who happen to have stumbled across me in “real life” would be quick to point out any inconsistency between the person they know me to be and the persona who presents himself to the world through this particular medium. It’s a useful control measure, isn’t it?

I've had to, more than once, stop and ask myself if what I was writing was what I really thought, or if I was trying to appeal to, or gain, readers.

That's bad.

The good is that the answer has always been "yes," in that they are really my thoughts.

The bad is that, like many other blogs I've seen, I have gotten all wrapped up in what I manage to garner for results on my sitemeter homepage, or what I had grown or regressed into in the TTLB Ecosystem.

The post on WDKY's site was a celebration of hitting 30,000 hits. He started his blog the month after I started mine.

30,000 hits. I was stoked when I hit 5,000 last month. Granted, he takes part in HNT pretty regularly.

Maybe I should start stripping down.

Either way, I'm pretty sure that I'd like to keep doing this--but it's time for a change around here. I'm definitely going to keep the name, but I'd certainly like a new look. I'm even strongly considering a move to Wordpress or Typepad, if just to see what they have to offer--the better sites seem to use them. Or maybe just getting my own domain name.

I am soliciting looking for any suggestions the blogosphere might have. Feel free to offer.


writing blogging

Jack Be Nimble, Jack Be Quick, Jack Be My New Nephew

Born last evening--weighing in at 7.9 pounds. Blond hair, just like his Dad.

And sis was a month early--I can't imagine how big he would have been in a month...

SW and I are taking long walks now, trying to motivate Odie to join the party. He's incredibly active, but apparently content to stay right where he is.

baby family

Jack's Ahead of Schedule

For those of you that have been following Desert Odyssey (Richmond, other than family I think that's just you), you may recall that in addition to Odie, my sister (Fuji) is due to have her and my brother-in-law's son Jack at about the same time. Well, he apparently has other plans.

Fuji's blood pressure has been steadily rising over the past months, and spiking in the past few weeks. Although she had already been directed to bedrest, her BP spiked super-high yesterday. As a result, the doctors are inducing her--almost five weeks early.

My Mom is already on a plane heading that way, and the ball should really be rolling around noon eastern if her water hasn't broke already by then. Everybody's pretty scared right now, both for Fuji and Jack.

I alluded to my family's belief in guardian angels a while ago--I imagine that they're massing by Fuj's bedside right now to bring my first blood-nephew into the world.

baby family

Homeowner's Association Asskicking

When we bought our house here in Arizona, there was a stipulation in our contract that we would buy into the community Homeowner's Association. It was $54 a quarter, and since I had no idea what an HOA did, I assumed that its purpose was to look out for the tenants that lived there.

Boy, did I miss the mark on this one...

I'm going to assume that HOA's across the country are better than mine, since the $216 a year that I pay goes to, well, absolutely nothing besides paying the salaries of the employees that work in the HOA. We got a newsletter a while back that spelled out that it was just nicer to park in your driveway rather than the street, how to remove ugly oil stains from driveways, and that it was just neighborly to pick up your dog's poo when taking him for a walk. All as if they were addressing Princess's 1st-grade class rather than talking to grown adults.

I had to jump through hoops to get "permission" to build the monster playset in the backyard. If I wanted to put a new door on the front of my house (key word there--MY house) I need to get permission.

Mind you, if an HOA did what I thought it was doing (looking out for ME) I wouldn't mind doing that. But I honestly don't see it. That newsletter spelled out what our money was going towards (clearly someone else has asked this question) and one of the pieces of the pie chart was "electricity." Funny, I thought that I already paid an electric bill.

The latest wonder that I have had in regards to HOA's is this one from Florida. I think it's time that some legal groups stepped in because I think this is getting slightly out of hand.

HT to Kath at In Training for this one.

rant military

God's Servant

It's 0330 and Emily's snoring (that tends to happen when you can't breath due to having a human in your stomach) so I can't sleep.

Captoe from inedibleink posted about an incredible story that I'm surprised hasn't been all over the news--a father in Indianappolis whose car was stolen from his driveway with his 7 and 4 year old sons in the back.

From God Was Watching Over My Family:

My worst possible nightmare was happening before my eyes. Looking at the car, some stranger was behind the wheel racing down my driveway with my children in the back seat. My wife and I run down the driveway screaming at the top of our lungs to 'let the kids out',' stop', 'wait', 'please, oh dear God stop'.....

The guy then does what I imagine anyone would do, given the opportunity. He goes after them.

For those of you not familiar with Acura TL's, they are fast. Much faster than a Chevy Trailblazer, a fact that does not escape me rocking down the road. I am screaming at the phone about the stolen car with my kids, where I am, I am not all together sure what but it was desperate.

This happened, I think, last weekend. He's retelling this to show how God protected him and his kids that day. It's another "read the whole thing" blog. Check it out.

random blogs

Doctor of Misery

Princess has a monster cavity. Two, actually...

Apparently her teeth are too close together in spots, and food got stuck there--even though we fanatically brush and floss her like a nazi with obsessive-compulsive disorder. A cavity formed, which we didn't notice, and then formed on the adjoining tooth, which we also didn't notice. Since it missed her nerve altogether it didn't hurt, and she didn't say anything. It wasn't until we saw the double-barrel caves going into her teeth that we took her to the dentist.

When a dentist looks at your child's teeth and says, "Wow! That's gotta hurt!" it's generally a bad thing.

So he's going to perform a something-something-blah-blah-ectomy on her today. He compared it to a baby-tooth version of a root canal. Two of them.

Princess knows she's going to the dentist, but this is her first visit that won't be pleasant. She hasn't yet had the experience to drastically and dramatically alter her perception of going to the pain doctor who sticks needles in your mouth. I had my first experiences when I was about her age. I'm still recovering and cower in fear to have my teeth even cleaned.

They're going to give her nirtous-oxide before the needle. I wonder if I can have some.

family

On Training

Towards the end of my tour in Del Rio I started to compile a list of what I thought was important to know or do as a flight instructor.

I think the notes I took would apply to any type of instruction, but the intent was so that I would remember the lessons I had learned when I someday went back to teach. Someday I would like to write a book about instructing. A real book--not a reference tome that knocks you out in five minutes or a black and white FAA publication. A book not about the mechanics and technical aspects of instrcuting, but about the human part--something from the heart that the majority of teachers are sorely lacking in today.

I think a lot of bloggers have a thing for writing. I always have, starting with my "Spy Book." It was a journal that I kept all of my secrets in--a practice passed on from my Aunt Mary, who got it from reading Louis Fitzhugh's Harriet the Spy (which I subsequently read many times over as a kid). The thought of writing a book has always been there, though I could never come up with a subject to write about.

Following is the list of my brainstorming notes, quotes, and thoughts. I am posting this more for myself to come back to and expound upon later rather than a daily read, since it's pretty long. In the event that this turns into a book someday, I think that the list of chapters would come from some of these...

• Don't ever write a student off--or at least let them know that you are.
• Celebrate victory--no matter how small.
• It's not about physical appearance, but it helps.
• Care.
• Know your stuff.
• Be willing to devote as much to the student learning as he is, if not more.
• "I only ask that you keep up with me."
• "The reason I'm failing you is because I don't want you to die."
• Know their personalities.
• Go to bat for them when needed--but only when needed.
• "Do what works--which may not be what I do."
• "In flying, the evaluator is looking more for the result than the way you get there."
• "Do whatever you need to do well."
• Listen.
• Watch.
• Watch students' interaction with each other.
• Realize that although it may be important to you, it is most likely infinitely more important to them.
• Be professional but relaxed--a scared student will never learn.
• Don't, under any circumstances, get pissed off in the aircraft.
• If required, get pissed off on the ground.
• Hold the group responsible.
• "E Pluribus Unum"--if a student viloates this law, hammer him.
• Students don't like arrogance. They already know you're better than they are at what you do.
• Never, ever, underestimate the effect you have on a student when you say "you're good." Having someone that has wings already acknowledge talent is extremely empowering.
• You are not so much an IP as you are a guide. IP's focus too much on the "P." Meaning--"I am what you want to be--be like me." This is the base problem of why ost IP's that fail, do. It's not a matter of "be like me." There is a list of things a student needs to do--you need to allow them to do these things in his own way.
• You will have students that are smarter than you. Many will be much smarter than you. But don't ever forget--you have wings, and they do not. No matter how smart, they need you to get to their goal.
• Encourage creativity.
• Make their goals yours.
• Make sure that they realize the sacrifices that you are making in order to teach them. Don't dwell on it, but ensure (particularly at points when they elect not to give 100%) that they do know how much you are sacrificing. An example--I would remind students that I had another life outside work, that I had kids and a wife that I was not with in order to teach them how to fly. Thus the burden of student X, who was not trying 100%, was that it was not just I who was sacrificing, but my family as well.
• Disappointment tends to be more effective than anger.
• One of the greatest fears a student has is to be alone in his training.
• Give students more credit than they are due.
• A student, even a below-average one, will probably catch your mistakes. Admit them.
• Students will be more receptive to you if they realize that you are human.
• When something does not go as planned in the aircraft, figure out why instead of just reacting. The same goes for a student in training. Don't just react to their mistakes, try to discover the root cause. The window of opportunity to do this may be relatively small, so analyze quickly.
• As a leader, surround yourself with people better than you are.
• Though not infallible, the instructors you work with, in your eyes, are the finest in the world.
• If a student is taught something wrong, tell them that they were and correct it along with an apology.
• Have a "hammer." And then use it only if absolutely necessary. If you smack them with it at every opportunity it not only loses its effectiveness, but "surviving the sortie" becomes the only objective the student has.
• Give responsibility to your IP's. Lots of it. The younger guys are chomping at the bit for it. If they fall on their face, run top-cover for them and become the one that they have to answer to--not your boss.
• Encourage mistakes--and make it reasonably easy for them to admit them to you. If you crush the first guy to make a bad callthen you'll never hear of a bad call again--even though they happen every day.
• As the boss fall on your sword for your guys every day. The return for this is loyalty.
• Professionalism is important. Professionalism without expertise is destructive.
• Know what the goal is, and then get the resources required to get the job done. Too many time we get so focused on "the right way" that we fail to see alternate methods.
• Get there first. Leave last.
• Damn near fanatical devotion to an ideal, organization, or image works wonders. I put enormous effort into focusing on the team rather than the individual. Do this and the team will mold the individual for you.

More detailed explanations to follow over the next two years.

Filed under: flying, military

Google

Great.

I'm the number one hit for "staff weenie" on Google.

Dreams really do come true.

random staffweenie

Monster Truck

We've never tried to guide the Princess or the Cowboy in one direction or the other as far as interests go.

Funny how nature works, though. Princess is all about girly stuff--pink, barbie dolls, dancing and tea parties. Cowboy is in love with trains, star wars, and monster trucks...

Last year when Cowboy's birthday rolled around, it was perfect timing that the Monster Truck rally came to town. Or, more specifically, Grave Digger came to town. Superwife and I had never been to a Monster Truck rally, and barely knew who Grave Digger was. Cowboy certainly knew. And he wanted to see him in action. So we went. And Cowboy was sold. So when Grave Digger came to town again this year, we had no choice. We had become Monster Truck groupies.

So we mounted up last weekend to go see the big one. Even though Cowboy was beaten down with a bad bout of bronchitis, skipping the show never crossed his little mind. It amazed me, not because of the sheer size and sound (though, God knows I loooove that sound)--but because we knew exactly where to go in the building to get Grave Digger himself to sign Cowboy's poster and Princess's pink hat. We were officially experts in Monster Truck rally etiquette. Just like the other parents who gave their kids mullets and mohawks.

The rest of the weekend went well, albeit with SW's fatigue and swelling driving her insane. We started throwing the monkies massive birthday parties when they were younger and have essentially committed ourselves to doing that for the next 18 years. Even though it's just the family, we get helium balloons, streamers, party hats--the works. The kids love it.

I thought about that as I had to navigate my way through the maze of renegade balloons that has migrated upstairs and now float from the ceiling outside my bedroom, like they are waiting for their moment to pounce.

I guess it's convenient that Odie's birthday will be dangerously close to Cowboy's--kill two birds with one balloon in the future.

I just hope he likes monster trucks.

birthday, family