White Christmas....Hope Not

Normally I would be pretty enthusiastic about a pending snow storm or the possibility of having a White Christmas but not this year. For the last week, most of Northwestern Oregon has been crippled by snow. At first it was a bit of a joke. There was hardly any snow on the roads, no ice and people were being overly cautious. But, Saturday rolled in and the real storm came in. Since that moment, it has not stopped snowing. As I look out the window, it's still snowing. I'm tired of it to be honest. We have had nearly two feet of snow fall in most places around the Portland area and there are drifts that are literally burying cars. It is just a white lump on the road.

It may not be a big deal for people who are use to snowy winter weather, but for Oregon, we don't expect this and we are never prepared for it. I like about two inches of snow. Enough to just cover the ground and make everything look nice. What we have now is a bit much. It is wildly inconvenient. You have to schedule everything around the weather. Who knows when it will be over with. Starting last Wednesday, the weather reports have all been wrong so it's pretty hard to tell if things will get better any time soon.

It's cool for about a day or two, but then it becomes a burden and cabin fever begins to set in.

I Believe in Father Christmas

Anytime...

Today I went up flying by myself, like I do all the time. Today was different though. I was a little hesitant to go because I just felt weird. You know how sometimes you get a weird vibe something is going to go wrong? Well it did.

So I did my whole routine in Troutdale, everything seemed O.K. I headed south to Mulino Airport south of Portland to practice landings. As I was circling the airport for another landing, there was another small airplane taking off. As I was watching him he was sluggish on his take-off roll and he appeared to be struggling on the climb. I took about five seconds to look at my own situation and make sure everything was fine and as I turned my head back to look at the other airplane, it looked like it had crashed in a field north of the airport. Sometimes when you fly, your eyes play tricks on you and illusions are created but as I turned for my final approach to land, I noticed this was not a trick.

The airplane had gone nose first into the ground and crashed. I landed and got off the runway. I wanted to jump out of the plane and go help but I couldn't just leave the airplane on the taxi-way. I felt so incredibly helpless not being able to assist this person. Thankfully, there were others who were able to help and when I took off back to Troutdale, emergency crews had arrived.

To my relief, I read the news report and the pilot only suffered a broken ankle and a cut up face. On my way back, I was ever vigilant though. It was such a surreal thing to witness and the worse part was not being able to do anything about it.

I was a little on edge the rest of the time and Neil Finn's lyric that says, "I could go at anytime..." was on repeat mode in my brain. Sometimes I think I'm invincible up there but today proved that you just never know.

Really?

I apologize for my lack in blogging as of late. Brady, his friend Spence, and myself moved into an apartment and I finally was able to steal the internet yesterday from somebody in the complex; which saves me some coin.

Last week in school, we were discussing executive orders that the president can make and the example that was given was when the U.S. dropped the bombs on Japan. That apparently was an executive order. After about five minutes, a girl raised her hand and said, "Could you please clarify this for me. Do you mean the bombs that Clinton dropped on Japan, or the bombs that Bush dropped?"

Really?

The majority of class sat there stunned. As the teacher calmly explained to her that it was Harry S. Truman that dropped them in 1945 at the end of World War II, I thought to myself, "I didn't know it was possible not to know that historical information."

That's not all. In another class, we were discussing the electoral college. One girl commented that South Carolina was considered a swing state in the recent election. She attempted to point out on a map South Carolina but ended up pointing to North Carolina. We all respectfully pointed out her mistake, and then she stepped back and said, "Oh, well then where is South Carolina?"

Really?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but knowing where states are and knowing that neither President Clinton nor President Bush dropped bombs on Japan is common knowledge. Right?

It's almost sad to see our exchange student who is 16 years old, from Spain, know more about the United States of America than people in their 20's.

I suppose it all makes school a little more entertaining.

An Update

I haven't had much to write about which is why I've posted only videos lately which I find quite enjoyable.

Anyway, on the 11th I had an interview at FedEx at the airport (of course) and I'm still waiting to hear back about that. I'm getting a little anxious to know whether I have gotten the job or not. It would be such a great job. The benefits alone would be more than worth. They offer a 401k, medical/dental/vision insurance, tuition reimbursement, etc. If any company wants to pay for my school, they are more than welcome to.

Today I started classes at liberal Mt. Hood Community College to work on my general courses then once I'm done with those I'll transfer to a four year University to get a Bachelor's Degree in Journalism; as a back up if the whole pilot thing doesn't work.

Speaking of which, flying has been sparse lately as I am still trying to get a loan. It's been quite an annoying process as they request one thing at a time instead of asking for all the information they need all at once which just prolongs the process. Very frustrating. I just keep telling myself it'll happen sooner or later.

My Sunday's have become busier since I was made the Executive Secretary of the ward which means early mornings and 6 to 7 hours of church. It's a pretty great calling though which enables me to meet and know everyone in the ward so in that aspect I enjoy it.

That's about it for now, pretty dang exciting huh?

Seven Years Ago Today...

As many of us reflect upon the horrific events that took place on September 11th, 2001, I hope we take at least a little bit of time to remember how lucky we are to live in the United States of America and be thankful for those who represent this country defending us and sometimes paying the ultimate price for freedom.

I saw this video the afternoon of September 11th, 2001 on Vh1. It's "Overcome" by the band Live.

Enjoy.

America and Basketball

Got to love America and the game of basketball!

New York Doll

Recently, I was told to watch the movie "New York Doll." I had heard about this movie, seen it around, knew sort of what it was about, but never took the time. The other day I was browsing through the channels and saw that it was on so I decided to watch it.

A quick synopsis of the movie is that in the 1970's, there was a rock and roll group called the "New York Dolls" and the bass guitarist was Arthur 'Killer' Kane. He is the subject of the movie. After the group broke up in the mid-70's, Arthur's life went south. He was deep into drugs and alcohol. He was abusive mentally, physically and emotionally to himself and others. At one point, once his wife left him, he jumped out of a 3rd story window injuring himself severely. Here, a broke, drug and alcohol addicted rock star's life was falling apart. During recovery from his suicide attempt, and his attempt to change his life, he picked up a Bible and started to read it, and then saw in some magazine an ad for the 'Book of Mormon.' He called the number to request the book and of course, the church doesn't just send it in the mail, they send the missionaries. So here these "two beautiful blond missionaries" as he described it, show up. He begins to take the discussions and to pray about it. He said the feeling he got when he prayed to know if it was true or not was like being on drugs; except there were no drugs. In 1989, Arthur 'Killer' Kane, joined the LDS church. For the remainder of his life, he worked in Los Angeles at the genealogy library. In 2004, Morrissey of the group 'The Smiths' had a show in London where the New York Dolls were invited They re-united, rekindled broken bonds of friendship and performed a wonderful show. Arthur was thrilled to be back on stage doing what he loved with his friends in front of thousands of his "friends." Twenty-two days after he returned from London, Arthur checked himself into the hospital complaining of fatigue. Two hours later, he passed away of leukemia which he had no idea of having.

I'm not one to normally be moved by things, especially a movie, and this may be a strange one to be moved by, but it made me realize somethings. Here was a guy; a rock star, a drug addict, an alcoholic. Just a human being completely lost in the evils of life. Then after a re-evaluation of his own life, he turned things around. I thought to myself "how many times do I see someone and think there is nearly no hope for that person?" I suspect a lot of us think that way. However, I'm now convinced that this sort of notion is irrational. I was deeply touched in a personal way by this documentary film about a rock star. I suppose sometimes that happens; and I'm pretty sure that's perfectly acceptable.

The Mountain Man

As I reflect on the evening's events at the 2008 NBA Summer League in Las Vegas and as most of the Trailblazer fans seemed to progressively get drunk, the most prominent memory is of a seven-foot center from the University of Arkansas: Steven Hill. The fans embraced Hill and his beard so much they rallied behind him enough that the coaching staff took notice and after a few laughs, kept him in the game. To our delight, he got a few boards, some good blocks, and some points...oh yeah, and the Blazers got a 'W'.

This, That, and the Other

Today is July 15th, 2008 and it's been 23-months since I last got up on a water ski. Not because I can't, but because of my lack of boat. In October 2005, I bought a Connelly F1 water ski for $175.00 up in Seattle from a lady who's husband hurt his back and couldn't ski anymore. This was when I worked for the airline in Portland, so I got to the airport early in the morning to get on the first flight to Seattle. I was so excited to see it. I met this lady curbside at Sea-Tac handed her the $175, looked at my ski and I just smiled. I loved it. I said thank you, rushed inside so that I could get on the next flight back to Portland. I checked the ski, got my boarding pass, rushed to the gate, and it was full. Of course. So there, separated from my ski, I sat alone in the terminal. Two hours later, I was on my way back. I was filled with great concern that my ski had been lost, damaged, or heaven forbid, stolen. I hurried down to the baggage claim area, and there is was. Perfectly safe. What a relief. Since that day, I have never skied on it. Two and a half years later, this coming Thursday, I will be able to....finally.

This past Saturday was a full one. Brian Harris, Dave Nuffer, and myself once again headed over to the beautiful Hagg Lake in Forest Grove to compete in the tri-athlon. It was a beautiful morning, sun was shining, it was warming up quickly. All in all, shaping up to be a perfect day for a race. Brian did his swimming portion and had a PR of 12:51 then it was my turn. He tagged me, ran to the starting line, mounted my bike and took off. I had an excellent pace going. I wasn't getting tired or anything and I felt great. I was sprinting on the flat stages of the circuit, going up the hills quickly, conserving my energy on the down hill, everything was great. A mile and a half from the finish I was feeling my best. Then, some dude on a bike, not really knowing what he was doing is swerving all over the place. I thought I'd be fine to pass him but of course he decided to swerve at the perfect time right in front of me. To avoid crashing, I chose not to slam on the brakes, but to shift down rapidly and apply the brakes lightly. This caused too much stress on the gear system causing my derailleur to explode off my bike. I couldn't even roll my bike. It was broken. So I took my shoes off, picked my bike up and ran/walked to the mile and a half to the finish line coming in at 52:51. It was both disappointing and frustrating.

That evening, one of my good friends, Andy Davenport got married down on the Columbia River. It was a beautiful venue, with good food, good friends and good music. Aside from being dressed in a wool tuxedo and being 97 degrees outside, it was a really nice wedding.It was at the bride's parents home that live at one of the moorages off of Marine Drive and they built a dock for the wedding ceremony and then dancing later in the evening. It was a lot of fun. Made for a memorable evening.

And finally, it wouldn't be my blog if I didn't
mention something about airplanes. So since fire season is in full swing, and with a fire raging near Mt. Adams up in Washington, we get the tanker planes in at the Troutdale Airport to fill up with the fire retardant. That's one of them.