Category

Life

Things I do, things I think, etc...
Anything that doesn't fit the other categories usually gets thrown in here.

Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Merry Christmas

I will be in California until the 28th.  Call cell if you really miss me that bad.  Otherwise see you then!

Merry Christmas!

Saturday, December 16, 2006

Graduation!

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Geminids and Felines

Late last night my mom and I decided to go watch the Geminid meteor shower since it was clear, dark, and semi-warm for this time of year.  We always used to watch the Perseids before school started in August, but with weather and internships and lots of other stuff, we haven’t done it in years.  The geminids aren’t as numerous as the Perseids, but they are slower, bigger, and burn up nice and slow so they are easier to see.  We went to Tinkers Creek on Old Mill road to escape the city light and though there were some clouds, it was an okay show.  We saw two really good ones and a bunch others before it got too cold.  It’s been a long time since I got to see some good meteors.

Also there was a stray kitten that came up to us and was even sitting on my lap before we got up to leave.  It’s fur was pretty rough and there weren’t any houses around so I dont think it belongs to anyone.  We felt bad to leave it alone in the winter so we brought it home and it’s in the garage.  I’ll take it to a shelter today.  Pretty nice cat for a stray.  It should get a nice home.

Wednesday, November 01, 2006

Flight Instruction First Thoughts

I think that to be a teacher, one of your inherent motivations should be the desire to teach. To search for the means and methods to instill new knowledge onto your students. I know everyone’s heard the start of this rant before. But here’s the twist. I am complaining about myself. I call myself a teacher in the strictest sense because I interact one on one with my students to teach them how to fly. I spent a few thousand for the knowledge and skill needed to become a flight instructor. But now that I am one, I find that any desire I had to teach people to fly has been eaten by the demoralizing bureaucracy and endless paperwork of a government institution. Disastrous Ohio weather also has its part to play. My students don’t make any progress. They are pretty lazy, especially when I remember the effort I put in to flying when I was in their place. They don’t study, they don’t make an effort to fly when they can, and it comes down on me as the instructor when they do not do well. It’s my reputation that they are risking as well as their own, and for that I have to find extra ways to supplement their learning. This equals more work for me, which as a general rule I am opposed to. Through all the pain and suffering I find myself asking where is the desire and devotion as a teacher that I am supposed to have? I think it disappeared when I went to Dallas and felt closer to my career then I do now. I feel that flight instruction is a step backwards although I was not even flying in Dallas. It’s something that I do only to return to that which impressed me so. I hope that in the days to come I will find something that will return the joy of flight instruction to me. Or maybe it’s just been a bad couple of days.

Monday, October 23, 2006

Nikki..

I am writing this later than I should have.

Yesterday, at 11:11am my friend Nikki Kukwa passed away from leukemia. She was getting better for a while, but it eventually overtook her. She was a good person, and a great member of the flight team. She was the best at the Safety interview and won the award for us twice.

One of the things I remember most is during the 2004 flight team regionals at KSU she sang the national anthem and messed it up! She stopped and I know she was embarrased, but she started again and did it perfectly. I’m not going to say it wasn’t funny, but now that you think about it, she could have run away right there.

If you get the chance to do something extraordinary today, maybe something you wouldn’t normally do, please do it for her and remember that you can always start again.

Thanks