New Family Member!

Our new little short-haired cutie, Milo!

Meg and I went to The Oregon Humane Society today and adopted a new furry kitty. The papers we got said he was called Milo. We liked that, so he's keeping it. Milo was found as a very young stray with his mother in Mulino, a very small farming community a bit Southeast of Portland. He was too young to adopt at the time, so he stayed with a foster family for seven weeks. The report from the foster family said he was energetic, playful, and loves people. He is all that and more. It took him less than thirty seconds to venture from the kitty carrier and start exploring. He was up the stairs in less than two minutes. As I write this at the end of our first day with him, he is curled up on Meg's tummy as she reads in bed. He will be a very cute, troublemaker part of our family!

Pictures here.

UPDATE: Meg waxes poetic about the little scamp here.

Another Flying Update

Reser Stadium (home of Oregon State) in Corvallis on my first solo cross country flight

It has been a long time since my last flying update, so lets just run down good old § 61.109 Aeronautical Experience (The FAA rule that says what a student pilot has to do before becoming a private pilot). The regular type is what is required, and the italics are what I have done as of right now:

Flight Time: 40 Hours (45.3 hours)

• 20 hours dual (36.3 hours)
  
• 10 hours solo (9.0 hours)

Dual X-Country: 3 hours (3.9 hours)

Dual Night: 3 hours (1.6 hours)

• 10 T/O and Landings (full stop) (9 night landings)
  
• 1 X-Country over 100nm (To Do)

Instrument Flying (real or simulated): 3 hours (1.9 hours)

Practical test prep: 3 hours (within 60 days) (This will be the last thing)

Solo: 10 Hours (9.0 hours)

• 5 Hours X-Country (2.4 hours)
  
• 1 Solo X-Country over 150nm with 3 stops (this weekend!)
  
• 3 T/O and Landings at a Controlled airport (full stop) (Technically only two with full stop)

Back East

What's a couple without a picture in front of the White House?

The big vacation this year was to the East coast. There were basically two parts to the trip, and they were both family related. First stop was the D.C. area for a few days to hang out with my cousin Andrea and her husband Rob while playing tourist around the capital. Then, it was off to the Outer Banks of North Carolina for a reunion with Meg's mother's family.

In both locations, we took things pretty easy. No real itineraries or big plans. In D.C., we saw a few things that we both wanted, but didn't try to cram it all in. We did the Natural History Museum, the White House and looked around the Mall. Went out for an evening with old family friends of the Upshaw's. Did some Karaoke with Andrea and Dave (Meg sang solo!) and had an "End of Summer" party at their place when my other cousin, Andrea's sister, Amber showed up for Labor Day.

In North Carolina, we had a house right on the beach. It was a week of sleeping in, putting on sun screen, and laying on the beach. The weather was perfect the entire time. The tropical storm was good enough to wait to make landfall until the day after we left. We did get out a couple times by going to Jockeys Ridge, the Wright Brother's Memorial, and even going hang gliding. It was great to meet a lot of Meggie's family. As they live in Wisconsin, it is not often that they all get together. A lot of fun and I came back with quite the tan!

UPDATE: Meg blogged about the trip here.

All My Pictures
Meg's D.C. Pictures
Meg's N.C. Pictures

UPDATE 2: Liz uploaded her photos here.

Hood to Coast 2007

The team photo on "The Rock"

Another year, another Hood to Coast. Chris and I tried to get the old Pixelworks team reformed, but we didn't make the lottery. I wasn't really planning on running, when Chris called and said the team he got picked up with needed one more.

This year, I ran the infamous Leg #1. Two thousand feet of drop in about seven miles. I had dreams of using that descent for some seriously low mileage times. What happened was seriously sore legs. I have never had that sore of legs after any race. They next two legs I had to run, while short and flat, where horrible. I don't want to do that leg ever again!

The team was great. Strong runners across the board, and fun to be with. Once again, I'm looking forward to next year.

My pictures here.

Related:

2006 Race
2005 Race
2004: I was traveling overseas...
2003 Race
2002 Race