Fun in the Big 12

Well…OU is in it for the Big 12 Championship. They are #2 in the BCS rankings under Alamaba. As far as the Big 12 championship, they are playing Missouri.

What? Missouri? They are 20th in the BCS rankings, and Texas is 3rd. Missouri is 4th in the Big 12 and Texas is 2nd (under OU). Why isn’t Texas playing OU for the championship? Just like the Civil War…it’s a North vs. South issue.

In the Big 12 south, which includes, OU, OSU, Texas, A&M, Texas Tech and Baylor, OU and Texas are 1st and 2nd. They can’t play one another. The north has Missouri, Iowa, Colorado, Nebraska, Kansas and Kansas State. Missouri won that division of the Big 12, so they play the leader of the south…Oklahoma.

Personally, I don’t agree with the north vs south. Its the Big 12…let it be a free for all. Let #1 and #2 play it out, or just let #1 be the Champion.

So…now that OU is playing Missouri for the Big 12…A win would put them in the BCS championship game…the Rose Bowl in Pasadena California. But against who is the question. It’s looking to be Alabama at the moment.

Mmmmm…sounds like a good game around the corner, but we’ll see…

ʇxǝʇ dıןɟ oʇ ʍoɥ

¡ʇno ʇı ʞɔǝɥɔ ǝʇıs sıɥʇ uǝǝs ʇ,uǝʌɐɥ noʎ ɟı

dɥd˙xǝpuı/ɯoɔ˙ʇxǝʇɐdıןɟ˙ʍʍʍ//:dʇʇɥ

ǝɥǝɥǝɥ ˙pɐǝɹ oʇ pɹɐɥ ǝq ʎɐɯ ʇɹod ʇxǝu ʎɯ˙˙˙pǝuɹɐʍ ǝq

The move

Well, I finished getting all the moving junk done. I actually left Abilene just shy of a week ago, and I’m already missing the place.

I’m not sure if I miss the house, the job, the area, or the friends. The only problem I’m having is finding a job. I’ve got my resume in at several places, and I’m looking at www.usajobs.gov daily, and yesterday I found a listing for SEVERAL open aircraft electricians at Tinker. One application later and now I’m waiting on the call. I also found out that the VA has their disability application online now, so I went ahead and got it in. Hopefully they will have more luck in getting my medical records than I did. I went to pick them up/make copies, but they already put it into storage…or so they say.

Living with the in-laws isn’t so bad. Plenty of room, time and space to ourselves, and all they ask is helping around the house. Easy enough. With a little luck, I should have a job and new home by the new year.

Nuff said!

Necessity

Every once in a while, a new idea rears its head; a new product comes about that has the potential to change the way things are seen or used.

I came across a story on the CNET news about a new tire developed for the military HumVees.

Here is a link to the full story: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13639_3-10098240-42.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20

Supposedly these tires run and feel just like standard pneumatic tires, and cost the same. Where can I get them for MY truck?

Last flight

Well, today was the date of my last flight. More precisely, the last flight at my home airfield.

I learned how to fly at this airfield. Starting with helis, I really only brought it to the field on the weekends, but flew everyday behind my house so I never really got to meet most folks. Only when I got the trainer from Jason did I really start learning the names of everyone.

After learning to fly with the help of Jason and Dale, I eventually pushed the trainer to its limits. Jason offered to take the trainer back and give me his soon-to-be-retired Big Stik. I took him up on it and now I’m flying like everyone else.

I learned to fly at this field. It’s my home field. It will always be my home field.

Good thing it’s only 5 hours away. 3-day weekends and IMAC will be fun next year.

Word of the day…

Plutoed

Definition: to pluto, as in to demote or devalue someone or something

In other words, Pluto was demoted from a planet to a Kuiper Belt Object (KBO). Instead of actually announcing new planets, such as 2003 UB313 “Eris” as planet 10 (it’s larger than Pluto), they decided to remove Pluto from the list.

I grew up knowing the 9 planets. From Mercury to Pluto, we had 9 planets. Every Solar System chart had Pluto on it. All of my books had Pluto in them. Television had history on Pluto. Why demote it?

For that, we have to look at the new 2006 definition of planet.

1.) The object must orbit the Sun. Check!
2.) The object must have enough gravity to have formed into a sphere…hydrostatic equilibrium. Check!
3.) The object must have cleared foreign objects from around its orbit. Here’s the problem.

With Pluto being in the Kuiper Belt, there are comets, asteroids and other “minor planets.” There is interstellar debris, and its orbit even goes inside of Neptune’s orbit for decades. It acts more like a KBO rather than a planet, but do these changes warrant a demotion? Did Pluto really need to be plutoed? No. It may be a minor planet, but as far as history is concerned, it’s still a planet.

It’s still a planet to me, my family, my friends…and it will be a planet to my son when he learns the Solar System.

A bigger stick

Yes, I have a new airplane. I never got around to taking pictures of the trainer, but it was a fun plane to fly. It seems, though, that I learn fun things a bit quicker than others.

I was able to solo fly on my second day, and was starting to fly inverted on my second weekend. This weekend, I was doing inverted flight, knife-edge flight, and small hovers…something most folks don’t think a trainer can do. It wasn’t easy, but it was possible.

During my last Saturday flight, Jason (the guy from whom I bought my trainer) was talking to the guys about my fast learning. He hinted at the possibility of swapping his BigStik for the trainer. He would be getting his trainer back (for the kids) and I would be taking the next logical step up…the BigStik. After I landed, he brought up the idea to me, and we agreed. As of last night, I was a beginner/intermediate pilot!

This morning I took it out at 730 before the winds picked up, and flew it around. A small bit of trim here and there, then hands-off flying. Perfect trim. More rolls, loops, inverted, knife-edge, and even some high-speed low-altitude passes. Such a FUN airplane.

Now it was time for landing. I wasn’t sure how it was going to react. I started to bring it in. It slowed down MUCH easier than the Nexstar, and flew just a slowly. Right on the runway. First landing with the Stik and it was right on. Same for the next 3 flights. I love this plane!

On another note, as a WoW player, I found this:

I thought it was funny. Kind of nerdy, but funny.

As of right now, I have 10 days, 21 hours, 25 minutes, and 32 seconds until I leave for Oklahoma. Give me another 5 hours and I’ll be with my family. Lisa and Anthony left on the 30th of October to get a head start up there, but it seems like they just left and we still have forever to go. less than two weeks is the reality…2 years is what it feels like.