Dinner with Bro and Gerard

Nothing like good times with family

Road Runner vs. Turtle

Back in my day, it was the Road Runner vs. the Coyote. Rabbit vs Turtle.

In Arizona in my parents back yard, things are a little different:

Found: Names for the grandchild...

Sandy and I had to pose with the names of our future grandchildren.



We need a Homer or Betty in the family.

Dead Sea Scrolls

A group of us traveled to San Diego today to see the Dead Sea Scrolls. It’s pretty amazing seeing documents over 2000 years old which confirm that translation errors over the centuries of the Bible were miniscule. The story of their discovery is quite interesting as well.

Our excursion in Balboa Park was fun as well. It brought back memories of taking baby Paul and Alicia to the museums in San Diego every Tuesday (the free day)--starting their progress of becoming geniuses.

Good times: (no cameras allowed in the exhibit.....)



Picture taken from 2 miles high....
John & Janie Street; Jess & Melissa Arnds; Wayne de Villiars with new baby; Pile kids, Sandy making face.

Lyle Shelton and Rare Bear

Many who know the Air Race circuit know that the Rare Bear won at the Reno Air Races this year. Paul and I went to the race in Sept 2005 (see pics). The picture below was taken by me of the Rare Bear after winning then as well.

Lyle Shelton was the owner (and earlier pilot) of Rare Bear till 2006. He, along with a few other area pilots, came to the tower this morning, and I was able to give them a VIP tour of the facility. It didn’t hit me till just before they left that he was THEE Lyle Shelton of Rare Bear fame. When the light went on in my brain, I stopped him, asked for a picture and autograph, and he complied graciously. Unfortunately the picture came out blurry, but, nevertheless, I got to meet legendary Lyle Shelton. To some of us aviation geeks, this is cool.

Interesting Landing

Here is a B747 doing a typical landing to a now closed airport in Hong Kong... (double click)



The web site I got this from has very interesting clips

UPDATE:

You can add these links as well for landing and low flying entertainment

Crazy landings and Low Level Flying (amazing video)

Dinner talk

This is how we communicate at dinner.

GRANDPARENTS!

Alicia and Casey are having a baby! We have a first look below and are ecstatically looking forward to spoiling him/her starting in March or April. This is another reason to live in their parking lot. Alicia hasn’t been posting much at their blog, Alicia and Casey, due to that “sickness” that comes with such blessings. So I’ll post the news and the picture!!! Way to go guys!!!!

LAPD, Mission Community Police Station

Ted Matthews, a lieutenant with the LAPD, gave us a tour of the Mission Community Police Station. The tour included the training room where scenarios are simulated for fire response testing--whether to shoot or not in different situations. It was very realistic once projected on the wall. Here are a few shots of the time in simulation.

Biblical Counseling

A good friend of mine, Jim Pile, is a pastor at Grace Community Church. He’s a counselor whom I help when called. Lately he’s been teaching me new motivational techniques that promote change (although the means seem extra-biblical).

Pala with family!

Life is good when hangin with good friends and family! We’re eating at Mama’s Restaurant with sophistication and class.

Terrorist Hunting Permit

Came out of the restaurant this afternoon and saw this on the back window of a pick-up truck:



Which takes me to a very good essay by Peggy Noonan in the Wall Street Journal Friday:

“To Old Times”, worth the read.

LAX, No Mas

Good times, bad times--that is/was my LAX experience in a nutshell. The powers that be have decided that my stay at LAX be terminated and I start anew at Burbank Air Traffic Control Tower Monday. I cannot say enough of the quality of air traffic controllers in the tower, they are amazing. They are being pushed to the maximum due to the lack of controllers , many experienced controllers are retiring and breaks/days off are becoming scarce (remember August, 1981?). Working there was amazing, but in retrospect, not working there will allow me to get my life back. Each day of motorcycling the 405 freeway, non-stop talking to airplanes, dealing with “interesting” people, (like running a marathon everyday)--NO MAS. So it’s back to BUR airport--let the good times roll!

4.5 Earthquake!

We just experienced a real shaker here in beautiful Stevenson Ranch. The epicenter was actuall exactly 5.0 miles from our house (See Google Earth map below).

I had several books fly off my bookshelf in the office. We heard the rumble before it hit, then BAM, it hit.

A light earthquake occurred at 12:58:49 AM (PDT) on Thursday, August 9, 2007.
The magnitude 4.5 event occurred 7 km (4 miles) NNW of Chatsworth, CA.
The hypocentral depth is 6 km ( 3 miles).

Magnitude         4.5 - local magnitude (ML)
Time         Thursday, August 9, 2007 at 12:58:49 AM (PDT)
Thursday, August 9, 2007 at 7:58:49 (UTC)
Distance from         Chatsworth, CA - 7 km (4 miles) NNW (346 degrees)
Valencia, CA - 10 km (6 miles) SSW (210 degrees)
Newhall, CA - 11 km (7 miles) SW (231 degrees)
Simi Valley, CA - 12 km (7 miles) ENE (66 degrees)
Los Angeles Civic Center, CA - 45 km (28 miles) NW (310 degrees)

Dog, the Bounty Hunter

Sandy had a chance to see The Dog in person, Saturday, at Walmart in Stevenson Ranch of all places. He’s promoting a book and hundreds came to see him. She said he seems like a shy person in crowds but was enjoying himself with all the fans. Paparazzi Sandy took a picture.: