Barack, RC Flying and Car Talk
I watched some highlights from Barack Obama's speech today as he tried to distance himself from the words of his minister, Jeremiah Wright. His speech was good but in the end, I'm left thinking that this was nothing more than a politician trying to save his candidacy. I'm still troubled that he would associate himself all these years with a church whose lead minister was prone to saying some of the disturbing things he has. As I mentioned in my last post; if any of our pastors said anything remotely similar to what Wright has we'd be done with the church so fast that there wouldn't be time to give us an explanation. There couldn't be one. Certainly not in a place where people come to hear you speak about Christ's love.
I don't want to see Obama defined by this incident but I'm struggling to disassociate the character of the man from how he was apparently comfortable in that environment. Maybe I'm reading too much into it.
A couple months ago I was blogging about RC airplanes and my desire to get involved in the hobby after watching some videos online. I haven't lost that desire. I got a call at work today from a co-worker, Steve. Steve has been flying RC planes for more than 20 years and he was wondering if I'd be interested in meeting him this afternoon to watch him fly. Absolutely!
I have a small trainer Tammy got me for Christmas but it's a bit underpowered and unless there is about zero wind I have a difficult time controlling it. I'm not sure it's possible to put a larger motor in it as the current motor fits very snug. No doubt it's operator error and anybody with just a little skill could show me that it actually works just fine. I'm guessing Steve could.
I met Steve in the parking lot of a school out in the cornfields between Farmington and Lakeville. My guess was that we wouldn't attract much of a crowd where we were but watch the video and you'll see how wrong that thinking was. I was impressed with Steve's flying skills and hope that he'll be able to give me a few lessons along the way. We'll be getting together at an RC flying club meeting tomorrow night in Rosemount.
Rachel and I had a bunch of running around to do last night so I had her do the driving. She did really well and I couldn't have been more pleased. I think that failing her road test last week got her attention. The most difficult part of teaching her to drive is that she doesn't know what she doesn't know and up until failing her test, she was very confident in her abilities and not all that interested in listening to what Tammy and I had to tell her. I just want her to be safe.
Anyway, part of running around last night was a surprise stop at Ultimate Electronics to buy her a CD player for her car. We found a nice Pioneer with a plug-in for her iPod. It will be a couple weeks before they can do the install as they're waiting on some parts for the dash.
After we were home a while I had my hands in my back pockets when I noticed a dollar bill in one of them. I pulled it out and saw that it was a $100 bill. I was trying to figure out where it might have come from when Rachel asked me if I'd checked my pockets. She had snuck it in there without me noticing. She wanted to help pay for the CD player. I couldn't let her do that. Whatever money she earns teaching dance goes toward her studio dance lessons. She usually doesn't have much money to throw around so this was a lot for her to offer up. It's the thought that counts.
Rachel is off school for the week so she and Tammy left for Babbitt this morning and will be back tomorrow. Rachel drove the first 100 miles from home to Hinkley and did well getting them out of the cities. It was nice to talk and text with them along the way to see how they were doing. They've both been too busy lately so it's good that they're able to spend some time together. Sometimes those road trips can be a great thing in that regard.
I don't want to see Obama defined by this incident but I'm struggling to disassociate the character of the man from how he was apparently comfortable in that environment. Maybe I'm reading too much into it.
A couple months ago I was blogging about RC airplanes and my desire to get involved in the hobby after watching some videos online. I haven't lost that desire. I got a call at work today from a co-worker, Steve. Steve has been flying RC planes for more than 20 years and he was wondering if I'd be interested in meeting him this afternoon to watch him fly. Absolutely!I have a small trainer Tammy got me for Christmas but it's a bit underpowered and unless there is about zero wind I have a difficult time controlling it. I'm not sure it's possible to put a larger motor in it as the current motor fits very snug. No doubt it's operator error and anybody with just a little skill could show me that it actually works just fine. I'm guessing Steve could.
I met Steve in the parking lot of a school out in the cornfields between Farmington and Lakeville. My guess was that we wouldn't attract much of a crowd where we were but watch the video and you'll see how wrong that thinking was. I was impressed with Steve's flying skills and hope that he'll be able to give me a few lessons along the way. We'll be getting together at an RC flying club meeting tomorrow night in Rosemount.
Rachel and I had a bunch of running around to do last night so I had her do the driving. She did really well and I couldn't have been more pleased. I think that failing her road test last week got her attention. The most difficult part of teaching her to drive is that she doesn't know what she doesn't know and up until failing her test, she was very confident in her abilities and not all that interested in listening to what Tammy and I had to tell her. I just want her to be safe.
Anyway, part of running around last night was a surprise stop at Ultimate Electronics to buy her a CD player for her car. We found a nice Pioneer with a plug-in for her iPod. It will be a couple weeks before they can do the install as they're waiting on some parts for the dash.
After we were home a while I had my hands in my back pockets when I noticed a dollar bill in one of them. I pulled it out and saw that it was a $100 bill. I was trying to figure out where it might have come from when Rachel asked me if I'd checked my pockets. She had snuck it in there without me noticing. She wanted to help pay for the CD player. I couldn't let her do that. Whatever money she earns teaching dance goes toward her studio dance lessons. She usually doesn't have much money to throw around so this was a lot for her to offer up. It's the thought that counts.
Rachel is off school for the week so she and Tammy left for Babbitt this morning and will be back tomorrow. Rachel drove the first 100 miles from home to Hinkley and did well getting them out of the cities. It was nice to talk and text with them along the way to see how they were doing. They've both been too busy lately so it's good that they're able to spend some time together. Sometimes those road trips can be a great thing in that regard.
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