Ferd likie......a lot!!

I don't think I'm going to find anything like that in Amsterdam for the next SEVERAL months

 

Seems like a log of angst lately about the negative attitude we read here.
Folks just post a 2-min snapshot of stuff on here though, about a wee small slice of their life called Delta. It's not who they are at all, most likely... attempts to extrapolate a 3-sentence blurb into who someone is and if you'd like them are doomed to inaccuracy and likely wrong. Hell, most of us don't come on here for anything but to fill that 0.1% of a days interest of "What is happening at Delta, rumor wise?"
For example: I had a great day. Loved it. Thought about how important what I did today was and that being gone from home sucked, but days like today made up for it. I'm sure if I posted normally you wouldn't know it, but...
- Put up more Christmas lights. Let kids decide the design... tackiest house in neighborhood but they loved mixing it up with the lights.
- Showed my boys how to repair a bike tire, and convinced them every man should own an air compressor.
- Took boys to a "BMX Birthday Party", their first bike jumping. They caught air off an 8" ramp and were super excited, it was funny and I laughed a ton with other Dads. No serious crashes.
- Caught two lizards with boys. Sat on jungle-gym in sun talking about stuff they've caught until successfully feeding lizards some crickets.
- Baked cookies with my 5 yo daughter.
- Did a full-on Delta-style-flash-mob dance routine with daughter while baking cookies that involved spatulas and a chorus of "Daddy is the King!" and her eating a good bit of the cookie dough. I laughed and laughed.
- installed a ceiling fan with one son, some time spent teaching electricity... maybe he got part of it, and he sure liked using the drill-driver and a ladder.
- Did homework with kids, read Treasure Island with one, me doing the pirate voices, and an Xmas book with the daughter.
- cut a finger, worked some cub-scouts First-Aid merit-badge stuff with boys while showing them how to do wilderness emergency finger stitches with superglue. Led to 30 min discussion on SuperTinyBugs with daughter and burning through a LOT of bandaids and Neosporin. Good fun.
- Played some PS3 with kids on some game called Skylanders, got destroyed.
- Helped wife put up some more holiday cheer stuff, hung pictures and garlands. Got to use the ladder some more and a hammer. No one hammered a hole thru wall, success.
- And I still have a good beer waiting for me in the fridge to be enjoyed with most recent Walking Dead I recorded!
....
Came on L&G to get a laugh and post some tongue-in-cheek attempt at humor like "Dat FLY Button is teh SUXXOR!" or "Dance Video Weak!".

Sometimes what we see in other people is more about what WE choose to extrapolate from grossly insufficient data, that what they really are.

Ok, but sometimes they really are Azzclowns though! lol... best self-amused laugh of the day there, will leave on that note and go test some Jagermeister in eggnog.

 

Too funny!

Coming into shore with the wind directly behind you, surfing down waves, is about the hardest thing to do...without crashing! It's ruined many a good mast and better men have destroyed $20,000 racing cats doing it!

You were very lucky it didn't go over (Pitch Pole is what we call it) because the mast certainly would have snapped when it hit bottom as the boat would have rolled in the waves. I don't know if they would have made you pay for it, but it's not cheap, and then there's the wife to deal with! Watch what happens about 2:47

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNhcy4WAvyM

That's exactly why my wife won't sail with me! She's seen me in action on the lake out back, with the kids.

The Hobie Wave in the picture is a good rental boat, it's pretty indestructble...usually!

I was up at AU all weekend at one of my kid's graduation.

Hey, Jungle Bus, want to know what you have to look forward to when you get to Mainline?

I -had- a BMW R100S, and I -had- J24, and I -had- a 1946 Cub too! All those toys are gone now, thanks to marriage, buying a house, having 4 kids, 42% pay cut in bankruptcy, and now 3 kids in college...with one more to go! My Guard buddies named my twins, "No Boat" and "No Motorcycle"!

But I do live right up the street from Phil Lockwood, so I get to fly his Air Cam once in a while, it is a hoot! It's got two engines but it will take off, from the water, with two people on board, on one engine. He made a video of him doing a single engine takeoff, with his daughter in the back, right off the lake out back of my house. Here is Phil talking about the Air Cam on floats: http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=...ture=endscreen

He originally designed the airplane for a photo-shoot of the Amazon for National Geographic, about 20 years ago, and he wanted two engines for safety, as there's not a whole lot of 'help' available in the Amazon Jungle! But it will take off, on floats, with only one engine running! (it's got two Rotax 914's, about 110hp each)

 

I have a feeling that Coach Wiz and most of his boys will be lion food here shortly. Come to think of it......they play the Lions next week. Coincidence? I think not.....

Ferd

At least Arizona State beat U of Arizona....life is good. No pity for the kitty

 

I know a little about AFSOC. My father was a gunship guy and was the first AFSOC commander when they created the organization at Hurlburt in the '80s.

Secondly, at Delta you're not shooting Howitzers and blowing **** up...you're in the safe flying and customer service biz. If our company wants you to talk, you probably outta talk.

 

I agree completely Kingbird. I'm extremely proud to have a career at Delta. I love what I do. Is this career what I thought it would be in terms of pay and benefits? Absolutely not. Plus, I was furloughed immediately after retiring from the military. That certainly moved my cheese. Yet, I'm very blessed and happy to be a Delta pilot. I love flying. I like the people I work with. I like chatting up the customers, showing the flight deck to children, thanking the rampers, fuelers, gate agents and turd hearse guys. I've done the white collar gig too. We have a pretty great profession and I'm happy. I'm not a DALPA guy or a Virginia Ave koolaide drinker....I'm a Delta pilot. I carefully weigh all of my union votes and decide what I believe to be in the best interests of myself and my peers. If our company wants me to wear my hat, make PAs, fly a great aircraft, I'm in. I'm not going to dance in a Christmas video but I get the idea. I don't care. Let the marketing guys market.

 

I don't think we got the rudders quite this far out of the water when the nose took the dive but they were high and dry, that's for sure.
And I probably would have had to pay for the mast. The sailing, wind surfing and ocean kayaks and all the "non-motorized" watersports are free with the all-inclusive but they do offer to sell you insurance when you sign for the boat. Like an idiot I waived it. Next time I'll pay the 5 bucks.

 

See, that's why I love sailing, it's just like flying, but with beer, and it hurts a lot less when..."You're doing it wrong!"

Hitting the water at 5 kts is alot nicer than hitting the ground at 150+!

Just ask the guy in the bouncing jet video.

 

Bourbon & Branch in the Tenderloin is worth a stop for a drink. Old speakeasy turned high-end whiskey bar. Pricey but impressive. The Slanted Door on the Embarcadero is good high end Asian food. Do Alcatraz. Touristy, yes, but totally worth the trip. Walk Lombard St., ride an actual cable car, hit Coit Tower for an impressive view of the city and an even better walk down, then go get some overpriced seafood at the Wharf (silly indulgence but you gotta do it.)

 

Oof.. Too soon... 11 and 2soon to be precise...