I like this guy

I was browsing some of the blogs I follow and today came across two posts that I enjoyed from a Disciples of Christ pastor in St. Joseph, MO. The first one was an interesting look at Lent from someone who didn't observe it growing up, and only discovered it in seminary. As a UCC PK, I've known what Lent was for as long as I can remember, but that doesn't mean that I always take it all that seriously (hey, I'm human), but this did get me to stop and think for a moment. This year, I'll try to be more serious about my observance of it. The second one was about the movie Juno which I haven't seen yet, but probably will. By most accounts it seems to be a good movie, though in the last day or two, all of the sudden I'm seeing arguments on whether the movie is "pro-life" or "pro-choice" or whether Hollywood is selling out to the "Religious Right" (as if they'd have each other), give me a break. I couldn't help but chuckle at this passage on abortion though (as it largely describes my feelings, though obvious the particulars are his -- and in case you're counting there are at least 5 hands there).

I feel more than a bit conflicted about it. On the one hand, I'm a card-carrying liberal with a lot of white male guilt, so the last thing I want to do is tell a woman what to do with her body. On the other hand, I'm a father, because two women felt very strongly that abortion was wrong for them and made an adoption plan instead. On the other hand, that was their choice and who am I to say what is the right choice for someone else when it comes to such a personal and painful issue? On the other hand, even if I remain unconvinced that life begins at conception or even the first trimester or even beyond that--I'm not sure when it begins, I still believe the potential for life is there. I've counseled couples who grieved over a miscarriage and that grief was real--we did not have a funeral but we did grieve together. On the other hand, so many anti-abortion people are just so arrogant and mean and ridiculous--you want to stop abortion but you're against sex education and birth control! What's up with that? I could go on.

Oh, and finally, I was also amused by a story in today's Columbus Dispatch about the problems being caused by the fact that St. Patrick's Day falls during Holy Week this year (drinking your green beer to excess doesn't exactly seem appropriate during Holy Week).

I'm alive again, and the blizzard (not) of '08

Well, at 23:00 last night the temperature was 54°F, at midnight it was 44°F, and at 07:00 this morning, it was 14°F. That drop reminds me so much of the blizzard of '78 (wow, was that really 30 years ago last week?). Alas, this time, we got the rain to start, but didn't get the snow. We did have wind gusts of about 60 mph this morning. Meanwhile, it could be worse, Matt is dealing with -26°F and a broken windshield this morning, Shane is still in Iraq, and, at least, I'm on solid food again (you don't really want to know what I've been through since Sunday morning, trust me on this one). On the other hand, if you're looking for a way to lose 8 pounds in 2 days, this one works, but I'd just as soon pass.

Dealing with Grief

My wife's uncle died last week. She flew down to North Carolina to attend the funeral and visit with several of her cousins. When I was traveling to NC on business a lot a few years ago, I always arranged to have dinner with him and the other 2 siblings (only 1 of the 3 is now living) that were still alive. I enjoyed the visits, but I hadn't seen him in several years. I've always had a hard time with how to respond to death. There are no words, I know that, but I want to say something. This week I came across a blog post that reminded me, we already had some instruction in how to deal with it. It was there in the book of Job all along. What is required of us is silence. Just to be there and be silent. I think I can handle that.

Shalom,
Jim

Cincinnati Reds Winter Caravan 2008

Well, it is 9°F/-13°C outside and I just got back from treating myself to an early birthday present. I didn't decide for sure until last night that I was going to go, but since I had never been to a Winter Caravan and they were right here (well, in Dublin up by my old apartment) the night before my birthday... Marty Brennaman, Wayne Krivsky, Brandon Phillips (he got the biggest applause when they finally walked in), Lee May, and Matt Maloney were present, Tom Browning joins this group tomorrow. They were 10 minutes late arriving and the whole thing didn't start until about 19:30 (it was scheduled from 19:00-21:00). When they did the Q&A, the very first question for Krivsky was "When are you going to lock up Brandon to a long-term contract?" Which, of course, caused the crowd to go nuts. His answer was, "Soon, I hope." The next biggest applause were when Marty introduced BP saying he "got screwed out of the Gold Glove." The team hasn't exactly decided how they will honor Joe Nuxhall this year beyond having his name on the jersey sleeve, but Junior had a great idea that I hope they will follow through on. It would be black jersey's with the players names and Joe's number for opening day, then auction them off on reds.com after the game with all the money going to Joe's foundation. That would be pretty cool. Once the autograph session got started, I actually got a few minutes to talk to Marty because Krivsky was being interviewed by some TV guys. We talked about Joe and the Big Red Machine. I didn't say much to Krivsky and I had to wait for Brandon to finish his TV interview and the line was long so I didn't get to talk to him much either. It was kind of cool meeting Lee May, but he was gone before I started following the Reds. I talked to Maloney for a while since he was getting ignored at the end of the line. He's looking forward to the opportunity to compete for a spot in the rotation next month. Only 23 days until pitchers and catchers have to report. I apologize for the quality of the pictures, but I forgot my camera, so these were taken with my cell phone.

Marty

Brandon Phillips

Matt Maloney

Martin Luther King, Jr Day

I was only 6 when Dr. King was assassinated, I remember the TV coverage very well. I knew of him, but I didn't really understand what he was all about at the time. It was in the mid-70s that I finally read about him and Gandhi and really came to appreciate what he stood for. Today is the holiday celebrating his birth/life/legacy and to remember that there is still work to be done. Pastor Bob Cornwall has two excellent stories up on his blog today. The first talks about a sermon Dr. King gave a month before his death entitled Unfulfilled Dreams. The second one discusses remarks that Barak Obama made yesterday at Ebeneezer Baptist Church in Atlanta (Dr. King's former church). I especially appreciate the second quoted passage. I am so sick of all the negativity and mud-slinging in politics today. All these politicians who claim to be Christian/religious don't seem to remember the Golden Rule, do they? I sometimes yearn for a parliamentary system where the legislature can be dissolved and new elections called in a matter of weeks rather than the current system here in the US where Congrescritters essentially have to start running for reelection before they are even sworn in and the Presidential race lasts 2 years. If more folks running for office felt the way Sen. Obama speaks here, perhaps so many of our young people wouldn't be disillusioned by the process. Ah, well. I hope you all had a good holiday.

Football

Sigh... Well, the Buckeyes didn't do it in the National Championship game (though they were really there a year early anyway) and the Browns couldn't pull it together against the Bengals to get into the playoffs. Then the Colts had a letdown last week and the Packers couldn't do it last night (I thoroughly enjoyed watching last week's game in the snow from the comfort of my nice warm, dry living room). I guess I'll have to root for the Giants in the Super Bowl, since the first team I really followed and rooted for was the 1972 Dolphins. Until a few years ago, I could have told you the entire starting lineup on both sides of the ball (that won't make a new friend of mine very happy, since she is a huge Patriots fan, but...). Go Giants, ruin New England's dreams of a perfect season!!!

Homelessnes

I came across this item today. A study in Dallas that determined that for less than the cost of 1 year's services to the homeless you could actually end the problem. I'm sure there are other issues that would need to be addressed (see the comments in the original post), but it does make one wonder.

The Middle East

I hesitated a long time before even starting to type this because I really don't plan for this blog to become too political, but with Shane still in Iraq, these things are on my mind. While I have some theological disagreements with Pastor Nathan, I find myself mostly in agreement with this sermon of his and I appreciated Deanna Mershed's response. It was also heartening to hear the Israeli Prime Minister last week admit that continuing to expand the "settlements" and otherwise not keeping their agreements wasn't helping the situation. I fear that it will take generations to rebuild the good will we, as a nation, enjoyed around the world as recently as the immediate aftermath of 2001-09-11. Sigh...

Search committee

As you may or not be aware, since last April I have chaired the Pastoral Search Committee for Grace UCC. I'm happy to report that it looks like the end is in sight. At last evening's meeting of the Church Council, we set the date of 10 Feb for a trial sermon and congregational meeting. The entire committee is quite excited about our candidate although I'll withhold details about her until the letter has gone out to the congregation other than to say that she is a 28-year-old single woman and, like me, also a PK. It has been a long and very busy year since we began the process in earnest, and I think the entire congregation will be happy to see the new pastor called (and installed).

Bumper sticker

On the way home from church today, I saw a bumper sticker that made me chuckle. It read "A WOMAN'S PLACE IS IN THE HOUSE...AND THE SENATE"

Religious discrimination in the political process

I also came across this item today. With ~80,000 citizens of Nevada identifying themselves as Jewish, you'd think they might have thought this one out a little better. It is particularly disturbing to me that the Republican party official wasn't even aware of the problem. Have the Republicans completely written off the Jewish community? Do you think they would ever even consider holding the caucuses on Sunday morning at those times? And, of course, no coverage of this in the mainstream media that I can tell.

Burnout remedy?

I saw this post by Tony Campolo today and I will be putting this book on my Amazon religion wish list (one of 5 wish lists I have at Amazon, I think I'll add links to them in the side bar), for anyone who wants to get it for me for my birthday. :) I have not been as successful as I'd like recently in working on my own spiritual practices, but this sounds like something I can/should try.

Buckeye Sadness

Well, congrats to LSU, I guess. They played well and we didn't, at least, not for the whole game. Everyone will talk about the blocked FG and that was big, but I think the biggest one was the roughing the kicker call. If we actually block the punt or don't run into the punter, this is a completely different game, we may still not win it, but if we stop them on their first 3 possessions of the 2nd half it is a much more interesting game in the 4th quarter. Still, a great season for the Buckeyes, especially since we were picked preseason to finish 3rd in the Big Ten. Unfortunately, we probably lose Laurinitis, Gholsten, and Freeman to the NFL now which will hurt next year. The basketball Bucks try to remain undefeated in the Big Ten (okay, it is only their 3rd conference game of the season, but Matta's teams haven't managed to start the Big Ten season 3-0 yet even though they went 15-1 in the conference last season) on Wednesday.

Cool clock

If someone wants to get me a geeky birthday present check out http://www.cafepress.com/triplenine.2445706

Signs of the Apocalypse?

I actually found myself rooting for the Michigan Wolverines earlier this week. Okay, so it was a bowl game and they were playing Florida, so it was for the honor of the Big Ten. An interesting fact I saw someplace earlier this week. The Buckeyes are 1-9-1 against SEC times all-time. Guess who the win and they tie were against? LSU. So, here's to making it 2-9-1 on Monday night.

So, I'm reading the 2008 FAR/AIM tonight...

Okay, how geeky is that? Don't answer that. How silly is it that the new requirements for charity flights require 500 hours, but a commercial certificate only 250 hours? So, I started looking at the aeronautical experience requirements for a commercial ticket (airplane), beyond the total 250 hours (I currently have 185.4, so I need 64.6 more).

• 100 hours in powered aircraft - okay, I have 165.1 in ASEL as of today, so I've got that covered
• 100 hours PIC time
  
• 50 in airplanes - I have 129.3
• 50 cross country - I have 86.2
• 20 hours training in commercial areas of operation - okay, I need to do some of that
• 10 hours of instrument training - I already have an instrument rating (total of 32.1 hours sim & actual)
• 10 hours complex time - I have 0.0
• 2 hour/100 mile straight-line day VFR cross-country - VTA-CKB-VTA qualifies, so I have one, but does it count if I wasn't officially a commercial student at the time and it wasn't dual, probably not. I'm not sure if any of my dual cross-countries were 100 mile straight-line, I have plenty of solo VFR cross-countries that would qualify
  
• 2 hour/100 mile straight-line night VFR cross-country - either the VFR or the 100 mile straight-line would be an issue here, so I need one of these
• 3 hours in practical test prep in 60 days preceeding checkride - obviously this will come later
• 10 hours solo in commercial areas of operation
• 300 mile cross-country/250 mile straight-line - nope, don't have this one yet
• 5 hours night/10 take-offs & landings at controlled airfield - I have 25.3 hours of night and I'll have to see if I have 10 t/o and landings at controlled fields at night, I think I do, but I could easily get those if I don't have them or if they need to be done while "officially" a commercial student.

So what does that prove? I dunno. I obviously need to get instruction in the commercial maneuvers, etc. I also don't need to do all that much "hour building". If I assume that the 20 hours dual and the 10 hours solo need to happen after I've "officially declared myself" as a commercial student, it is probably time for me to talk to Harold (or Clint or some other instructor) soon. BTW, they have a 182RG at LHQ now, so even if I didn't go for the commercial yet, I could look into getting the complex and high-performance endorsements.

Peace.

In the beginning...this isn't really the FAR/AIM either

After resisting as long as I was able, I've decided it is time join the 21st century and create a blog. I chose faraim for both the FAR/AIM tie in and the idea of aiming for something in the distance and striving to achieve it. Okay, enough of that crap. I am an instrument-rated private pilot so some of what I write about will undoubtedly be flying-related. The day job and my volunteer position with the Internet Storm Center are both related to computer and network security, so there may be some of that here, too. There may also be posts related to politics or religion or music or science fiction or the Reds, Browns, or Buckeyes or any of dozens of other things that interest me. You are welcome to read along, converse with me, even disagree with me, but I won't tolerate flame wars and reserve the right to disallow comments or even discontinue the blog entirely at any time. So, welcome.