An interactive post...

Just this morning, Mom and I were discussing pop-tarts. Mainly, we were discussing disgusting ideas for pop-tarts. Such as tuna, or banana and mayonnaise. Anyone else have any ideas for what would make a horrible pop-tart? Leave your ideas in a comment... :D

I am sometimes greatly impressed with what people will do for fame...

I'm not always favorably impressed. Check out this video, for example.



Well, the campout went quite well. The food was scrumptious (thanks, Sean!), the weather was perfect, and the company was excellent. I enjoy being in a Christian scout troop so much. Compared to what it could be, it's great. There was only one problem. The wood for the great campfire we made was... green. We didn't notice. Unfortunately, we also didn't quite have enough of little stuff in there, so that combination means the main campfire we made for the program with the entire camporee there... well, it flamed up spectacularly (partly thanks to the cordite we used :D) for a few minutes, then dyed back to smoking like crazy. It was particularly well-suited for sending smoke signals, had we so desired. We didn't desire. Oh well.

The checkride, as I mentioned in my previous post, went well. Thankfully, the oral exam was much easier than I had expected. I had been cramming like crazy for it. However, most of the stuff she (the examiner) asked me was a lot easier than the questions I had been covering. So, that was a blessing. Since she was satisfied with the knowledge I had, we went to the flying portion. That went well, other than two things. One was that she was having me do some rather complicated maneuvering with some of my main instruments failed, and I didn't level off at the correct altitude. The other was that Toledo Approach cleared us for the wrong instrument approach into the wrong airport, confusing us with another plane. Other than those two things, the flying portion went really well. I even greased the landing back at Bluffton. :D She was pretty happy with it, and so was I.

Well, that's about all of significance that happened lately, other than drowning a lot last night. :P My scout troop had a meeting at the local YMCA's swimming pool, where, among other things, some of the younger guys got some basic water rescue requirements done. They had to have someone for a "victim." The older guys volunteered. The younger guys started up a chant when I was being dragged back in: "Save the helpless Eagle Scout!" After that, I pretended to be in a slightly bad mood. :D They didn't buy it. Oh well.

Since I'm about to leave on a campout...

I'll make this quick. Did want to let everyone know I'm happy because I'm now an FAA licensed Private Pilot with an Instrument Rating. :D

It did go really well. I'll update more tomorrow evening or the next day, depending on how tired I am. Thanks to all for praying and one for commenting. :)

Just a quick one.

Having completed the planning for a cross-country trip to Rockford, IL, I've been taking a small break. The flight plan is not going to be flown tomorrow, since its main purpose is to simply verify that I know how to properly plan a flight. I have to study a little more tonight, maybe pack a little for a campout tomorrow, get a shower, finish getting ready for tomorrow... I think I'm going to stop this post now and get back to work. I'm getting up pretty early to get to the airport in time to be up at Bluffton, OH, by 9 AM for my checkride and oral exam. Please, if you see this, be praying that things will go well!

I'll keep my Bible, my money, and my guns. You keep the change.

Having gone to the TEA Party in Columbus this evening, I managed to get a bunch of pictures of good signs. So, without further ado, here are some pictures.

This wasn't actually my sign. There was a woman going around with lots of signs, handing them out to anyone that wanted one. This was the best. :D

This is all four of us. The one that you might not recognize is my Aunt Sarah, Dad's next youngest sibling. That's about it for this post!

I really need to find a program that writes witty blog post titles.

So, since I'm attempting to create a new trend for this blog and post more than 3 times per year... I'm going to post again. *gasp* :D

Not a ton has been going on since Friday. I've gone to a friend's house for a few hours, watching Flywheel (See this if you can. The acting isn't the best... but the movie itself is great), had a fairly routine day at church, gone to a Cub Scout meeting, a Venture Crew meeting, a Scout Troop meeting, and, finally, written a huge run-on sentence.

One thing of note did occur at church. Since I'm the one that normally handles the main recording stuff at church (sitting at the sound booth, running the sound system, running my laptop recording, etc.) I don't get to sit with anyone but the sound booth. However, the problem is that I'm going to college in around 4 months (!!!!!) and when I'm gone, I won't be coming back every week to handle the sound. However, thankfully, a couple young men have volunteered to assist, so I'll be instructing/teaching/assisting for a little while, and, then, hopefully turning it over to them.

Since there really isn't anything else going on, I'm going to sign out for now. I'm going to be taking my Instrument Rating checkride on Friday, and that includes both the flight portion and an oral exam from the lady doing the checkride. So, I have plenty of studying still to do for that. However, the study shouldn't have to be quite so intense as that for the written. Thanks to all who prayed for the written test, and please be praying for the oral/practical test. :D

Update

I passed. I am exhausted, however. :D

I took something like 1 hour and 20 minutes on the test itself. Before the test I spent a while doing some review with my instructor. Then, he said I was ready, so I started. There were a few questions I knew I missed, and a couple that I'm not sure about. The end result was an 83%. I was expecting better, but, on the other hand, Steve (my instructor) was pretty happy with the result. So, I'm not too upset. :)

We ended up flying as well. We an approach into Dayton International, one into Dayton-Wright Brothers (south of town), and then back into Bellefontaine. During that time, we had some flight in IMC- Instrument Meteorological Conditions. In other words, more time flying in clouds. Was plenty of fun.

Right now, I only have to fly for 1.7 more hours. My checkride's scheduled for next Friday.

Since I've now updated all of you, I'm going to go get a couple hot dogs for supper. :)

A quick update

Went in to the airport for a 4-hour ground session with my instructor today. Also found out I'm going to be having a very full day tomorrow. The plan is to go in at 8, ground work with Steve (my instructor) until 11. Then, at 11, I'm going to be taking the written test for the Instrument rating. Basically, this is a 60-question test that I have 2.5 hours for. However, I'm only planning on taking a maximum of 2 hours, since I'm flying at 1 until 3. So, a very full day. If anyone sees this before tomorrow, I would really appreciate prayer that everything would go well. :)

Well, I should put up a non-test post...

So I will. There won't be a ton of time for an update, but I will be doing some.

Aviation has been taking up most of my life recently. I'm working on finishing up my Instrument Rating, which effectively allows me to fly in clouds/reduced visibility. Since having this rating would really make my flying a lot more useful for transportation, I'm looking forward to getting it. I'm also looking forward to getting done simply because the large amounts of study can be over. :D

Since I'm hopefully going to be taking the written test this week, I've been studying a ton for it. I recently bought a book that has approximately 400 pages of FAA test questions. It's interesting to go through it. Hopefully, it's also useful.

In the last month, I've learned a ton about flying. Working with an experienced pilot as my instructor is great, simply because he has so much time working in the system. I'm able to learn so much from him. About two weeks ago, for example, I got my first experience flying in IMC, instrument meteorological conditions. Otherwise, in this case, known as clouds. It was so much fun! Unfortunately, we were only able to stay in them about a half hour, since we started picking up a light amount of ice. When that starts happening, you really need to skedaddle outa there. Ice buildup can increase your drag and decrease your lift faster than you might think possible. The amount of ice we were picking up would have taken quite a while to do that, but, still, discretion is the better part of valor.

So, since that's it for the aviation, lemme bring you up to speed with Scouts. Not sure if I've mentioned this on my blog or not, but, since I turned 18 in January, I've been continuing to be active, right now with three different units. I'm officially an Assistant Cubmaster with Cub Scout Pack 51 here in Belle Center. Really enjoying it, too. I'm unofficially functioning like an Assistant Scoutmaster for my troop, but not officially. I am a registered Merit Badge counselor for a few things, though.

The new big thing with Scouts is that I've signed up with a new unit here in Logan County. I've joined what's called a Venture Crew. Basically, Venturing is a program for a little bit older youth, put on by BSA, designed to give teens a safe and fun environment to make new friends while trying out new outdoor adventures. It's for young men and young women ages 14-20. Since I'm leaving for college in August, I'm not going to be able to be active for long. However, since I have a lot of experience with Scouts in general, I joined up to be able to help get the crew started. So far, it's been plenty of fun, especially our first trip. It consisted of a 12-mile bike trip along a designated bike trail. Other than others being a little bit slower than I normally ride (14-16 MPH) it was great fun. The slowness didn't really bother me, but I teased a few people about it anyway. They teased back about something else, so we were even. :D

About the only other big exciting thing that happened recently is that I've been accepted to go this summer to a program called TFY. It stands for Theological Foundations for Youth. Basically, it's a 19-day program put on by our denomination at our seminary in Pittsburgh. During this program, everyone who goes will learn massive amounts about systematic theology, apologetics, evangelism, church history, etc. Effectively, it's a mini crash course in seminary. :D I'm looking forward to it a ton.

I believe that's about it for now. I'll do my best to remember to update more often. Instead of letting that be an empty promise/threat (however you want to take it), I'll attempt to fulfill it this time.