Fargo Air Museum Edit

I recently had an over night in Fargo N.D. The hotel we stay at is directly across from the airport and the Fargo Air Museum. Historic Aircraft at the Fargo Air Museum. I brought my Canon XHA1 along to practice my videography. As I have said before I am an amateur photographer, videographer and blogger in every sense of the word and this little edit highlights many of my mistakes. First off I need to be more careful and clean my camera lens before I shoot. I find it very annoying that the lens looks like I sneezed all over it. (I did not) During my first attempt at editing this video I made a cardinal mistake, I did not save my project. Consequently after hours and hours of work in Final Cut Pro and at about 2 am, one little mouse click sent my project into digital nonexistence. Yeah that was not so good! I recovered from my digital disaster and put together a better edit. This video is really only my second edit  and clearly I have a lot to learn. For me this is a fun and challenging hobby.  Enjoy!

You can also check this videos on Fargo Air Muesum on Vimeo on Vimeo

Canon XHA!

Final Cut Pro 6

Historic Aircraft at the Fargo Air Museum.

Fall Yard Work

I just happened to have my camera with me when I stopped by my friend Chad Eckerts house to help him rake leaves. The pictures are nothing special just sper of the moment shots with some minor color and saturation corrections in photoshop.

Camera Nikon D90

Red Tails And Random Pictures From The Road

Just a few images that caught my eye. As I kid I grew up wanting nothing more than to fly the Red Tail. The Iconic Red Tails of Northwest Airlines are fading fast with in a few months NWA will only exist in the history books. Click on the Image to make them larger

Delta, The Tail of the Future.

One of the few remaining Red Tail CRJ900’s

Fading Red Tails. Looking down the C Concourse at Minneapolis (MSP)

My daily diet, peanuts and Starbucks. Personally I can’t stand the Delta coffee, I think I will stick with my VIA. Thank You Starbucks!

TSA security lines Boise ID (BOI)

Approaching the Grand Tetons

The down side of being a Delta wholly owned regional airline; you never know when you will be Deactivated!

Deadhead. One of the Perks of being owned by Delta First Class upgrade (space available) My First Officer catching some much needed ZZZZZ’s after a long day of flying.

The Crew Reflecting after a long Day

A Fall Sunset From FL380

A Change of Seasons

Last week Minneapolis saw its first snow fall of the season. I truly enjoy a the change of seasons and fall, early winter are my favorite. I would rather deal with the cool temperatures, persistent fog and the swirl of snow over fast moving cold fronts and thunderstorms any day.

Things Don’t Always Go As Planned

It seems no matter how well one might try there are those days where things don’t go according to plan. For example, last week I was in my grove, working out daily and keeping up with my commitment to burn 1000+ calories a day through exercise. I was ending the week on a high note and feeling good. I was looking forward to a good weekend. I had identified all the obstacles I had to overcome and I was feeling mighty confident I was going to accomplish my goals.

I was to start a three day trip on what was supposed to be a sunny Friday. We only had one leg to fly than fifteen hours in Boise ID. Perfect I thought, plenty of time to get to Golds Gym get my swell on and get back to the hotel for a good nights sleep.

I get to the airport and it is pouring down rain. To make things worse the previous crew hands over the little jet with a flat tire. Sweet my day just became complicated. Needless to say I never got my Swell on, in fact I will not be able to get to the gym for another five days. So much for my well laid plans.

Goal Setting

So yesterday I completed my third day of workouts. I have my December goal clearly in my sights but there is a need to focus on some shorter and intermediate term goals. I am afraid if I don’t focus on the shorter term goals I will get frustrated and lose sight of my overall objective. I have to keep in mind that in goal setting, which I’m better at giving advice than putting in practice, it is important to set achievable goals. So this week  I will focus on my workouts and my food intake with an achievable goal of dropping down to 162 pounds.

Now this is not going to be as easy as it seems. I will be flying and out of town for four of the next seven days. Any road warrior can tell you that finding healthy food and a decent place to workout while traveling is in of its self a challenge. Tomorrow is going to be troublesome; do I get up crazy early, 5 am,  so I can get in a two hour workout or do I try to find an affordable gym in Salt Lake City. Personally I am leaning for the early workout. Tuesday presents another challenge. I pull a 12 hour duty day with 7 hours and 30 minutes in an airplane. When I get home I will be tired and not really motivated to hit up Lifetime. However I will keep both my daily goal and weekly goal in mind and drag my tired ass to Lifetime.

Current: 164 LBS

Daily Goal: Burn no less than 1000 calories per day through fitness training

Weekly Goal: On September 28 weigh in at 162 or less.

Long Term Goal: December 1st weigh in at 140 LBS.

I’m off to Lifetime I’ll catch you tomorrow

Cheers!

Accountability and Personal Fitness

A few weeks ago I tweeted about my quest to lose 20 pounds and become physically fit. For some, this does not seem to be much of a challenge, for others, like me, physical fitness is a monumental challenge.  Personal demons, lack of motivation and personal accountability seem to be the range of mountains to overcome. A few days ago I was bemoaning my plight to my good friend Chad Eckert. (If you are into sports check out his blog: www.CHEspn.com) Chad suggested that I blog about my experience, stating my goals and sharing my progress with friends and interested readers. Chad pointed out that by blogging about my experiences I should develop a sense of personal accountability. He said my motivation will come from writing down and tracking my progress.  So here it goes my fitness goals and aspirations.

Currently I am 5′5″ and weight 164 pounds

Long Term Goals:

December 1st 140 pounds

Burn no less that 1000 calories per day through fitness training.

Current Training Routine:

Aerobics: 80 minutes on the elliptical heart rate between 140 and 150 beats per minutes.

Weight Training:

1. Leg Extension
2. Seated Leg Curl
3. Dumbbell Bench Press
4. One Arm Dumbbell Curl
5. Triceps Pushdown
6. Back Extension
7. Abdominal Crunch
8. Bosa Ball Ab Crunch

I’m off to lifetime I’ll catch you tomorrow

Cheers!

Footie Sesh Aug 2009

Finally I am trying to flex my creative muscles. To be honest with you there is not much muscle to flex. A few weeks ago a group of friends got together for some 4 v 4 soccer before they headed off to school. Since I was, and still am, recovering from an ankle injury I thought I would break my camera’s out and see what I could come up with. Ok it is a start and I have a lot to learn about video production but it was fun.

I used a Canon XHA1 set on Auto for the video and a Nikon D90 (again set on auto) for the still shots. My battery on the canon with pretty much drained when I started so I was unable to shoot for very long.  It did not dawn on me to use the HD video on the Nikon, next time I will remember all the cool toys the Nikon has to offer.

Hope you enjoy the video: Footie Sech Aug 2009 First Ever Edit. on Vimeo

Is Meaningful Change Coming To The Regional Airline Industry?

I came across the below article from the Denver Post. Since the mid 1990’s there has been a chorus of experts calling for a modernization of  the current FAA  rules governing flight and duty regulations. As a career Regional Airline Pilot I welcome the proposed FAA changes on rest and duty time regulations. I just hope on some perverted level this does not circle back to some how justify the airlines to impose a new round of pay cuts on us.

What are your thoughts and fears on the subject. please feel free to leave a comment below. 

FAA retools rules to keep pilots trained, refreshed – The Denver Post .

I’m In Love With Dubbs

I have a friend who for some reason started to annoy me. I never felt like I could just walk away from my friend. Several years back we lived in separate states only seeing each other occasionally.  It is fair to say my friend and I just drifted apart. I found a new friend, a bigger friend who made an average guy like me feel, well powerful. While I could never hurt my friend, I unfortunately smacked my friend; leaving my friend with a nasty little scare. Nothing to serious mind you and for the most part the average person would never notice but look closely and you will find it.

My 1997 VW MK3

 It was this past weekend when I really started to re-connect with my friend. Maybe it was the long Minnesota winter. Maybe it was just the yearning for something a little different. What ever it was this past weekend I fell back into love with dubbs. My love for dubbs is as strong as ever. I enjoy taking my dubbs out and parading  him around the neighborhood. I love it when people see me with my dubbs, especially when they give me the sneer of disapproval. I pay them no attention as I step on the gas and shift into third gear.

In love with Dubbs than check out this video: New Film on Vimeo on Vimeo

wagenwerks on Vimeo