Wednesday, August 31, 2011


WHO Peed in My Cheerios?!!

president Zero, in all his petulant glory, tried to upstage the long scheduled Republican debates at the Ronaldus Maximus Library on September 7th by issuing an edict from on high today. The magnificence that is Zero summoned a Joint Session of Congress to hear his latest musings as to how not to fix the economy. Fortunately, House Speaker John Boehner found his cojones and said "No thank you" to the anointed one.

A chagrined Zero, agreed late today that Thursday would be just fine.



The Magical Misery Tour

Remember president Zero, Our Hero, touring the "Heartland" in the two magical black & red multi million dollar Canadian buses? Well, kids, like most things with this administration, it was not what it seems.

Apparently President O
bama only rode the buses for a couple of miles at a time, spending the rest of the time flying from community to community in Air Force One. What’s more, the buses were flown from stop to stop as well. It’s normal practice for the President’s entire motorcade to be loaded up on cargo planes and flown from destination to destination. The buses were just a new part of that motorcade.

More from LiveLeak:

"Greyhound 1".... Secret Serv
ice Buys Two New $1.1 Million Buses For Three-Day Trip… President Barack Obama (C) walks to his bus as he arrives in Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, Minnesota, August 15, 2011, where he is to begin his three-day bus tour in the Midwest centering on ways to grow the economy. He FLYS into an airport somewhere in the midwest, hops into a brand new 1.1 Million $ bus, paid for by you and me, for a “bus tour” ‘around the midwest’, and after an hour or so, gets driven back to the airport for ANOTHER FLIGHT, lands at another airport where another 1.1 Million $ brand new black bus is waiting for him… and repeats all that until his midwest bus‘tour’ is done?? Oh yes......and THEN he leaves on a 12 day vacation to Martha's Vineyard.......to REST UP from this campaign bus tour! (Their emphasis, not mine)







Selling Airplanes.

What's a Boeing Test Pilot to do when trying to impress the bureaucrats on the capabilities of his aircraft? Hows about a barrel roll over Lake Washington? Sure, no worries.


Tuesday, August 30, 2011



Shaun Lunt, Cubdriver.

I do not do hype. Sell that crap somewhere else. Flying demands, maybe not perfection, but an attention to detail. If you have neither, you will get bit. I am drawn back again to the website of young Mr. Lunt. He sought adventure and found it. Ultimately, he became a part of it. Nevertheless, I admire his willingness to "Go". Yes indeed, sometimes one just needs to....Go.

Enjoy the adventure....

Due Up

Blog Smog








What, Me Worry?!





Cubdriver



Seems About Right...


Night Time Airshow

(Hat Tip to Gator)

Monday, August 29, 2011


The Candidate?

Who will the Democrats run in 2012??

Just asking.......

Romney's Stragery

Romney is the steady, clean-cut guy who waits patiently while you flirt with other candidates — hoping you’ll realize they’re not right for you. He’s the guy you settle for.

The question is: Are Republicans willing to settle in 2012?

As John Blutarski asked "Did we surrender when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor...HELL NO!"





Stock Up!




Al Gore is a Racist

I just love writing that. Drives the GOOGLEbots crazy. Watch the video. If you disagree with this Libtard your a racist. Does that work both ways?

Sheesh......This buffoon was almost President. Thank Gawd some Judges in Florida went clean and sober at the right time.


UPDATE: Victor David Hanson, of course. Hammering the point home on the steaming pile of, er, hypocrisy that is... AlGore.

Al Gore has employed a lot of widely reported expletives in damning opponents who he suggests are not just wrong, but immoral and dangerous. In that vein, he recently compared those with growing doubts about man-made global warming — doubts arising from serial exposés about questionable scientific ethics in a few global-warming studies — with racists.

But perhaps a better way of making the comparison between racism and heating the planet would be to invoke the metaphor of the career of his distinguished father, the late Sen. Al Gore Sr., who voted against the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and, once out of office, was a well-compensated chairman of a coal company.



Monday's Pun(s) !!!

A pyrotechnician should know how fireworks.

Dissatisfied with the lack of thoroughness in the demolition of the old tavern, he got into the bulldozer himself and razed the bar to a new level.

Two astronauts who were dating put an end to it because they both needed their space.



Hey!

Sunday, August 28, 2011


president Zero, Our Hero.

So we learned that Zero cut short his most recent vacation apparently due to "Hurricane" Irene waddling up the east coast. The back story seems to be that on the faint winds preceding the tropical storm ole Zero and his finely tuned senses wafted the hint of ...an opportunity. Yes, a photo opportunity!!

Notwithstanding the fact that his mere presence in the Vineyard limits residents in their hurricane prep.
Indeed, the fact that his locale posits a NOTAM over the airspace and limits air travel, along with his lengthy motorcade(s) to sip sarsaparilla on the beach impacts those that, you know, actually live there and have something to protect. So Zero hopped on a helicopter and a jet and flew to wherever...safety, was. Interestingly, Moochelle, elected to stay and take a separate jet sometime later. (You can do that when it ain't your money being spent on travel).

When next we see Zero he is at the "Hurricane Center" apparently lending his Occidental College expertise to the other Wizards of Smart at the Center. There he is right there, in the photo, with a name placard and everything. president Zero, shortened vacation and working hard for YOU! Click.

Here's another take from Roger Kimball at Pajmas Media:

A friend with a sense of humor sent me this reassuring story: “Obama Takes Charge at Hurricane Center.” “Now you can sleep well tonight,” he said. Hardly that. I mean really: does he look like a man who has a clue about what to do? Ponder the official NOAA name plate emblazoned with “Barack Obama President of the United States.” Why does that seem ridiculous? After all, he isthe President of the United States. Maybe it’s because it put me in mind of that iconic image of Mike Dukakis in his tank. Anyway, if it failed to be reassuring, it did introduce a welcome moment of levity.

Dukakis? Ouch! Sleep well my East Coast friends.........

Saturday, August 27, 2011




The Southeast Coast Editor...
Comes to the Left Coast.


I have not had the pleasure of sharing time & space with Gator for far to many days, weeks, and/or years. While I was at Pepperdine, School of Law, attending a seminar, he flew out for some flying frivolity. As luck would have it he finished on Saturday and so did I. By a stroke of luck we gathered at Rumbear Manor and headed out for dinner and, uh, ummm, several adult beverages. A good time was had and I thoroughly enjoyed hearing of his adventures aloft. On this point I will defer to his report on the time spent in the cockpit.

After much careful thought about how to spend some precious and valuable time off, I decided to do some new types of flying (what a surprise)....I was looking for something that satisfied my desire to have a meaningful and productive vacation and by turning the days into formal flight instruction, was able to achieve my goals. The experiences were liberating, game changers and mentally stimulating, not to mention the most fun I have had after several months of hard work. I have to say that poets have described activities with action verbs and graceful prose better than me but that last three days have been exciting, gut wrenching, awesome, spectacular, ....what can I say, I have just had this huge smile thinking about the experiences.

The flight training in the Schweitzer 2-32 at Skysailing started with ground school instruction from Polly, the Chief Instructor and all around wonderful person who asked me what I wanted to do...did I want the formal, by the book classes and technical charts, graphs, mathematical theory or would I like to just get the feel of the sport and go flying...I said lets go have some fun and that is what we did. The tow plane took us up to 7200 feet above sea level and we dropped off looking for some thermals...the forecast was not promising so we tried to make the best of it and when Polly saw a golden eagle she said we may be in luck. Sure enough we followed the eagle and found a thermal and up we went like an elevator. I was in sensory overload with the long wings and high lift to drag ratio. Eventually it started coming together and we topped out at 9200 feet. The eagles and hawks are far more skilled at using the same thermals....huge smile for me but it was a little sweaty getting th hang of it. I flew over to Mt. Palomar where we found zero lift and then did some mental gymnastics with sink rates, time and distance and winds aloft to set up an approach which is so much different than in a powered airplane. On my first landing I flared too much and hit the tail wheel...a rather big no-no....

After lunch we went up again and this time dropped off the tow plane at 6000 feet and immediately climbed to 10,300 in some beautiful California summer thermals, chasing the eagles and hawks again. We had some other gliders in the same airspace and let me tell you, it gets pretty busy when you are flying around and around and the other guys are trying to use the same columns of rising air. What a blast! This time we stayed aloft for over two hours, did cross country, a stall series and some ridge flying. Back to the airport for my second landing and this time I flew it right to the ground like I was supposed to and got out thoroughly stoked!

After a great evening with Mike B and Ray Y in Del Mar, I got up Saturday morning and drove to Montgomery Field in San Diego, home of Barnstorming and the Air Combat flight experience. This event is highly structured one vs. one air combat engagements where the two aircraft fly a mock battle and try to shoot the other airplane down. Of course there are no bullets or guns but the aerial dog fight is real in that the first pilot to get on his opponents' tail wins. Both aircraft start the event at the same altitude and flying directly at one another with about 300 feet of separation. Once you pass each other going in opposite directions, the dog fight is on. The most aggressive pilot usually wins because he out turns the other, less aggressive pilot.

The day starts with a 30 minute briefing done by our instructor pilot "Lex" a former U.S. Naval Aviator and F-18 fighter pilot. He is technical to a point but simplifies the briefing enough so that the non-pilot customers can get the gist of the flying. Warning, this is not for the weak of stomach. After we were introduced to the Varga Kachina aircraft, "1100 pounds of twisted steel and sex appeal," we boarded and our instructors used hand signals to communicate with each other during warm up, taxi out, pre-departure checklists, and then we did a formation take-off, a first for me. ((-: Climbing out of Montgomery airspace, we crossed Miramar Marine Corps airbase and then did some air work to get me familiar with how the airplane handled. Let me tell you, applying dogfight theory to real stick and rudder movements is harder than it looks if you’ve never done it before so Lex, my instructor did a couple of examples and then talked me through the maneuvers. I immediately noticed that my opponent busted the pitch and roll limits previously stated in the pre-flight briefing. The first dogfight was flown at the limits of the airplane and I was slightly more aggressive than my opponent and after about 5-6 times around in extremely tight turns to the left, I gained an advantage and won the fight. The next time I had a penalty and was only allowed to use q reduced power setting ( my opponent was not a rated pilot) so the intent was to let him win round two. He did and I flew at the ragged edge of a stall for most of the flight. Still sweaty and lots of G forces although not anything like the 7 G's F-18 fighter pilots feel. I can say without any reservations, the G's I felt were the most I have ever flown in an airplane and the most exciting. It is quite an eye opener when you see that guy on you tail knowing he is gunning for you. No points for second place in this flight. After round three which I flew too aggressively and lost my advantage by entering high speed stalls and a wimpy yo-yo maneuver that my opponent countered, we knocked it off and the two instructors flew a 1 v 1 and the difference between a novice like me and the professional air warriors is dramatic. I was in awe and realized just how far I had to go to be anywhere near their level.

On the way back to Montgomery, I was allowed to fly formation and picked up some valuable tips on how to do that. Never having done it, I was all smiles. Let's just say I was grinning from ear to ear, was a sweating mess and thoroughly impressed as I started to review the experience. I cannot tell you how much I enjoyed 1 v. 1 dog fighting, mostly because it was something I ( and probably most every other non-military pilot ) had wanted to try and see if I was worthy enough or had what it took to do this without losing my cool or my lunch.

I then had the privilege of having dinner and a great evening with my old time aviation buddy and successful lawyer, you know as Rumbear. This may have been my greatest three days in aviation and that is saying a lot for a guy who started by riding my bike to Berz airport in Troy when I was 13-14 spending my hard earned lawn mowing, leave raking and snow shoveling money on flying lessons.






The Toilet Blew Up

Yeah, it blew up. Pressure assisted flushing BA Whoosh! every time you hit the handle. That sucker would bring a tear to Al Bundy's eye. Well Saturday night, the system failed, the head in the ladies room exploded. Literally, shrapnel in the wall. 2-3 inches of water through the building. Carpet, flooring, furniture, files on the floor, destroyed. Five days to dry the place out. Floors are being ripped on Monday. Then the reconstruction begins. What a mess.









Big Storm on East Coast


Blah, blah, blah..evacuate, Blah blah. Blah, blah. Much adieu aboot nothing. You know it's bad when the MSN starts reporting the wind speed in kilometers...140 KM Winds!! That's around 85 mph and barely a hurricane..

I think I'll take a nap....




Friday, August 26, 2011


Okay.....................

I am back. Jeebus on a pogo stick what a month. SNO wandered off to college to gain a little knowledge. Frankly, me thinks he's trying to learn how to score. I headed off to Pepperdine to broaden my horizons......awesome class/course. (a dry campus..how quaint). My 20th wedding anniversary came to pass. yeah I was in Malibu. The course ended and after 7 days I drove like a bat out of Malibu to make it to dinner with SNO in Irvine....he blew me off. Undaunted, I rocketed southbound towards the Rumbear Manor to catch the South East Coast Editor on the latter part of his flying safari. (Patience...I'll get there). Much reminiscing ...suffice it to say Rum was involved. The wife? She was in Yuma rafting the river. Gator left the next morn and yours truly promptly fell ill for the week. Hazy recall at this point. Tried to work....Nah. Hey, good news.... the jet ski is no longer a submarine. Health condition deteriorated as the weekend approached and Sunday morning..... Oh, a toilet exploded and your office is flooded...get yur crap out NOW! Monday....

Wait, I said ill....bedridden, Amoxicillin, Erythromycin, DayQuil, NyQuil, Musenex, Aspirin, coughing, hacking, sneezing, sore throat, upset stomach, bucket by the bed for at least two weeks running, Jeebus take me now ...Ill.

Yet, I live. Ergo, I blog.

I'm back. Much to catch up on....

(to be continued)

Friday, August 05, 2011



It's Aloha Friday....

...no work till Monday!!!


Doo de doo, de doo, de doo ....

Whew....been pretty darn busy. Heading out to Malibu this week. Blogging will be light.
Y'all have a GREAT Weekend!!

Doo de doo, de doo, de doo ....

"Get your island fix on the Internet with KPOA!"
Listen live to the island sounds from Maui!

Monday, August 01, 2011


Monday's Pun(s) !!!

Calves take well to bottle feeding because one nipple is as good as an udder.

Never hire a depressed exorcist - they're not very good at lifting spirits.

I bought me some of those new paper shirts. I don't like them - they're tearable.