I love to take pictures of airplanes. This dovetailed nicely with volunteering at the Carolinas Aviation Museum when I was in Charlotte, because it was often possible to work and shoot photos at the same time. The museum, in its original location was perfectly sited between two of the runways, and I got lots of nifty shots. I also got a lot of duds. Handheld point-and-shoot digital cameras aren't really made for shooting fast-moving objects. In the older models there's a sizable gap between when you press the button and when the camera actually takes the picture. Taking the kind of pictures I like to take was a learning experience, but I got pretty good at it. That said, I still take lousy pictures from time to time.
I don't remember exactly when or how I discovered Totally Jacked Up Aircraft Photos. Suffice to say that it provides a little spot of humor in the midst of all the serious blogs I read. At first, I had no intention of submitting anything to the blog. After all, I aspire to taking good pictures. Why would I want to share my failures?
Errare est humanum.
Never Surrender
Showing posts with label aviation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label aviation. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Monday, October 19, 2009
Up to Nothing
Saturday morning saw the end of my nine-night stretch and the beginning of my mini-vacation. I had a standing invite to come visit some friends, but I elected to stay here, because I had plans. I went home, did my nails (Rimmel 60 Seconds in Torrid) and went to bed for a bit. I got up late and spent an hour doing my best headless chicken impression trying to get ready to go to Ericka and Linda's to watch a movie. I wore my new sweater dress with black tights and ankle boots.
Sunday morning I rose early and drove out to NAS Oceana for the air show. I don't remember if I said anything before, but the weather this past weekend was nasty, cold and rainy. The Sunday forecast was only cloudy, with a40% chance of rain, but it was pouring by the time I reached the base. Turnout was poor, and a lot of the flying didn't happen, but what I did see was thrilling, and I got a few good photos. Because of the low attendance, a lot of the tee shirt vendors were selling their products cheap, so I got one for myself and one for my roommate. I went straight home and crashed. I didn't rise again until about 0300 this morning.
It was sunny today, but still not very warm, so I stayed in and camped out with Netflix over XBox Live. I watched Underword: Rise of the Lycans, Vanishing Point(1971) and a couple of episodes of Ghost in the Shell: Standalone Complex. I got a carry-out pizza from the Hut, and am about to turn in for the night.
Somewhere in the middle, Nate called to tell me that he won't be back until Wednesday. That means I get one more whole day to myself. I'm trying to work out an outing for myself that won't cost me much, but nothing's forthcoming. Part of me is eating up the solitude, but I'd set that aside for someone to hold. Mr. Sock is cool, but he's not much of a sub for a warm body.
Sunday morning I rose early and drove out to NAS Oceana for the air show. I don't remember if I said anything before, but the weather this past weekend was nasty, cold and rainy. The Sunday forecast was only cloudy, with a40% chance of rain, but it was pouring by the time I reached the base. Turnout was poor, and a lot of the flying didn't happen, but what I did see was thrilling, and I got a few good photos. Because of the low attendance, a lot of the tee shirt vendors were selling their products cheap, so I got one for myself and one for my roommate. I went straight home and crashed. I didn't rise again until about 0300 this morning.
It was sunny today, but still not very warm, so I stayed in and camped out with Netflix over XBox Live. I watched Underword: Rise of the Lycans, Vanishing Point(1971) and a couple of episodes of Ghost in the Shell: Standalone Complex. I got a carry-out pizza from the Hut, and am about to turn in for the night.
Somewhere in the middle, Nate called to tell me that he won't be back until Wednesday. That means I get one more whole day to myself. I'm trying to work out an outing for myself that won't cost me much, but nothing's forthcoming. Part of me is eating up the solitude, but I'd set that aside for someone to hold. Mr. Sock is cool, but he's not much of a sub for a warm body.
Friday, October 16, 2009
A Long Weekend
I mentioned a couple of days ago that I was going to be off this weekend, Saturday and Sunday. Well, I discovered last night that this has been extended. Due to scheduling difficulties with my relief, I've been given Monday and Tuesday as well. That's a four-day weekend! If I had known of it a little sooner, I could've made plans for something more involved than what I was already looking towards, like a road trip or something.
Did I mention I'm going to be all alone this weekend? Yeah. Nate's getting on a train in a couple of hours and running down to Florida for Nick's seventh birthday. He's going with Eddie, our nice neighbor who watched the boys over the summer when Nate was working and I was sleeping. They won't be back until sometime Tuesday evening. What am I going to do with myself?
I'm going to try to get in a little shopping this morning after I pay a couple of bills, then off to bed. My "vacation" doesn't start till tomorrow. After work tomorrow, I'll crash for a bit, then off to Movie Night in Virginia Beach. No idea what the movie will be, but it'll be nice to hang out with friends.
Sunday's the air show. The weather is predicted to be crappy again, but both the Blue Angels and Snowbirds say they can work with ceilings as low as 1000 feet, and most of the rest of the performers won't notice the lack of altitude. Sunday night, if I'm not completely wiped, I might check out the Hershee. They have karaoke on Sundays. What? Don't look at me like that.
Monday and Tuesday, though. What am I gonna do? On the one hand, I've got two extra days to be myself 24/7, so no running about in drab unless I want to. I can even paint my nails if I want! Take that, Boss!
Did I mention I'm going to be all alone this weekend? Yeah. Nate's getting on a train in a couple of hours and running down to Florida for Nick's seventh birthday. He's going with Eddie, our nice neighbor who watched the boys over the summer when Nate was working and I was sleeping. They won't be back until sometime Tuesday evening. What am I going to do with myself?
I'm going to try to get in a little shopping this morning after I pay a couple of bills, then off to bed. My "vacation" doesn't start till tomorrow. After work tomorrow, I'll crash for a bit, then off to Movie Night in Virginia Beach. No idea what the movie will be, but it'll be nice to hang out with friends.
Sunday's the air show. The weather is predicted to be crappy again, but both the Blue Angels and Snowbirds say they can work with ceilings as low as 1000 feet, and most of the rest of the performers won't notice the lack of altitude. Sunday night, if I'm not completely wiped, I might check out the Hershee. They have karaoke on Sundays. What? Don't look at me like that.
Monday and Tuesday, though. What am I gonna do? On the one hand, I've got two extra days to be myself 24/7, so no running about in drab unless I want to. I can even paint my nails if I want! Take that, Boss!
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Fleet Week
We now return to our regularly scheduled blog, already in progress.
Today marked the beginning of Norfolk's Fleet Week. Norfolk is a big Navy town, and I've always felt like it's Fleet Week all the time, but this is the first time I've noted the actual event. I suppose they've had it before; I just never noticed.
As part of the festivities, there's a guided missile destroyer tied up at the Nauticus Pier, the USS Nitze (DDG-94), and they're offering free tours. I have a lot of friends who are interested in naval subjects, but live far away from major bodies of water, so I took it upon myself to catch the ferry over and take pictures for their benefit. I'm a military hardware geek myself, so it wasn't any hardship. For anyone here who's interested, I'll have the best shots up in a gallery tomorrow, and I'll put up a link.
The event concludes next weekend with the Air Show at NAS Oceana. By some miracle of scheduling, I managed to get next weekend off, so I'll be able to go. The Blue Angels will be there, as well as Canada's Snowbirds and a number of other performers and static displays. I will most likely attend in my male guise, because it's safer that way.
Today marked the beginning of Norfolk's Fleet Week. Norfolk is a big Navy town, and I've always felt like it's Fleet Week all the time, but this is the first time I've noted the actual event. I suppose they've had it before; I just never noticed.
As part of the festivities, there's a guided missile destroyer tied up at the Nauticus Pier, the USS Nitze (DDG-94), and they're offering free tours. I have a lot of friends who are interested in naval subjects, but live far away from major bodies of water, so I took it upon myself to catch the ferry over and take pictures for their benefit. I'm a military hardware geek myself, so it wasn't any hardship. For anyone here who's interested, I'll have the best shots up in a gallery tomorrow, and I'll put up a link.
The event concludes next weekend with the Air Show at NAS Oceana. By some miracle of scheduling, I managed to get next weekend off, so I'll be able to go. The Blue Angels will be there, as well as Canada's Snowbirds and a number of other performers and static displays. I will most likely attend in my male guise, because it's safer that way.
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Writing Assignment #2
Speaking of things up in the air, I've been meaning to put up the second of my "writing assignments", furnished by the participants in my first "contest". If and when I get 'round to having another one, I promise to make the questions a little less obscure. I'll try to, anyway.
Chrissie gave me this:
Dreams of Flight
For as long as I can remember, I've been obsessed with flight. I've spent a goodly chunk of my life gazing into the sky, at whatever was cruising above my head. It started with birds, but grew into flying machines. One of my oldest vivid memories is from when I was 7. My parents had just gotten involved with the local Little League machine, and I found my uncoordinated self on a tee-ball team. I wasn't really interested in sports then, no more than I am now, and I found myself consigned to the distant outfield, where no one ever hit a ball.
I was at a practice, way way out in right field, and I remember that the world filled with sound. There was an ominous roar, and four F-14 Tomcats (in a diamond formation) cruised low over the ball field and disappeared over the horizon. Looked sort of like this:
Except that they were lower. Almost tree-top height. I'm almost sorry to say that I lost all interest in baseball at that moment. I've been obsessed with flying things ever since.
For all my interest, I didn't ever get an opportunity to fly until I was 33. Neither of my parents liked to fly. Dad would do it for work, but Mom wouldn't get into an airplane for money. None of the numerous long-distance trips we took when I was a child were by air. We always drove, even if the destination was New York or Ohio.
I've only been up three times. Two of those were commercial flights, up to Dulles, VA from Charlotte, NC and back. Taking off was the best part, feeling the tug of gravity as the plane climbed, followed by the gentle release as the plane clawed its way into the sky. The flying itself was almost exactly like riding a bus, down to the bumps of turbulence as we passed through a thunderstorm on the way back to CLT.
The third and so far last flight was a recreational hop in a vintage warbird. I think I've mentioned here before that I volunteered at the Carolinas Aviation Museum in Charlotte. Four years ago, a friend loaned me the money to pay for a 45-minute ride in an OV-1 Mohawk, a Vietnam War-era Army observation plane. It looks like a big grey bug. THAT was flying. The Mohawk is no bus. Plus, we got to formate with a restored B-17 Flying Fortress, and I got my first ever air-to-air photos. It was a lot of fun for an airplane geek like me.
Anyway, how all this ties into my being transgendered is the feeling of being trapped in my own skin. Who wouldn't want to fly away from all this?
I did have an actual dream involving flight this week. I very rarely remember my dreams anymore, so this was noteworthy. I dreamed I was riding in the back of a little pickup truck. I say it was little, because my feet were dangling out over the open tailgate. I was riding along a road, when suddenly the truck flew up into the air. Next we're flying over a winding river, with sparse woods on either side, dotted with what looked like junk or repair yards on either side. Every so often, I would see the tail of an airplane poking up out of the trees. After a few minutes of this, I woke up.
Don't ask me what it means.
Chrissie gave me this:
Dreams of Flight
For as long as I can remember, I've been obsessed with flight. I've spent a goodly chunk of my life gazing into the sky, at whatever was cruising above my head. It started with birds, but grew into flying machines. One of my oldest vivid memories is from when I was 7. My parents had just gotten involved with the local Little League machine, and I found my uncoordinated self on a tee-ball team. I wasn't really interested in sports then, no more than I am now, and I found myself consigned to the distant outfield, where no one ever hit a ball.
I was at a practice, way way out in right field, and I remember that the world filled with sound. There was an ominous roar, and four F-14 Tomcats (in a diamond formation) cruised low over the ball field and disappeared over the horizon. Looked sort of like this:
Except that they were lower. Almost tree-top height. I'm almost sorry to say that I lost all interest in baseball at that moment. I've been obsessed with flying things ever since.
For all my interest, I didn't ever get an opportunity to fly until I was 33. Neither of my parents liked to fly. Dad would do it for work, but Mom wouldn't get into an airplane for money. None of the numerous long-distance trips we took when I was a child were by air. We always drove, even if the destination was New York or Ohio.
I've only been up three times. Two of those were commercial flights, up to Dulles, VA from Charlotte, NC and back. Taking off was the best part, feeling the tug of gravity as the plane climbed, followed by the gentle release as the plane clawed its way into the sky. The flying itself was almost exactly like riding a bus, down to the bumps of turbulence as we passed through a thunderstorm on the way back to CLT.
The third and so far last flight was a recreational hop in a vintage warbird. I think I've mentioned here before that I volunteered at the Carolinas Aviation Museum in Charlotte. Four years ago, a friend loaned me the money to pay for a 45-minute ride in an OV-1 Mohawk, a Vietnam War-era Army observation plane. It looks like a big grey bug. THAT was flying. The Mohawk is no bus. Plus, we got to formate with a restored B-17 Flying Fortress, and I got my first ever air-to-air photos. It was a lot of fun for an airplane geek like me.
Anyway, how all this ties into my being transgendered is the feeling of being trapped in my own skin. Who wouldn't want to fly away from all this?
I did have an actual dream involving flight this week. I very rarely remember my dreams anymore, so this was noteworthy. I dreamed I was riding in the back of a little pickup truck. I say it was little, because my feet were dangling out over the open tailgate. I was riding along a road, when suddenly the truck flew up into the air. Next we're flying over a winding river, with sparse woods on either side, dotted with what looked like junk or repair yards on either side. Every so often, I would see the tail of an airplane poking up out of the trees. After a few minutes of this, I woke up.
Don't ask me what it means.
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Matthew Shepard Act Passes the Senate
As an amendment to a defense spending bill, no less.
It's been reported all over the webs, and especially in the trans blogosphere, so I'm sure you've read it already. I posted a message when the bill passed in the House of Representatives, so I felt obligated to say something when it was passed in the Senate as well. Now, on to the desk of the President.
I just read on Wikipedia that the bill may be struck down, because the main portion of the bill (the defense part) includes spending on F-22 jet fighters that the military doesn't want.
If it means getting hate crimes protection for gay and transgendered persons, I think we should take the extra F-22s. The military always buys extra airplanes, for attrition if nothing else. Maybe they should lift the tech embargo on the jets and sell them to Japan, or Israel, or anyone who has expressed an interest in them. I know a couple of museums who would LOVE to have a de-milled F-22. C'mon, Barack! I want my hate crimes protection.
It's been reported all over the webs, and especially in the trans blogosphere, so I'm sure you've read it already. I posted a message when the bill passed in the House of Representatives, so I felt obligated to say something when it was passed in the Senate as well. Now, on to the desk of the President.
I just read on Wikipedia that the bill may be struck down, because the main portion of the bill (the defense part) includes spending on F-22 jet fighters that the military doesn't want.
If it means getting hate crimes protection for gay and transgendered persons, I think we should take the extra F-22s. The military always buys extra airplanes, for attrition if nothing else. Maybe they should lift the tech embargo on the jets and sell them to Japan, or Israel, or anyone who has expressed an interest in them. I know a couple of museums who would LOVE to have a de-milled F-22. C'mon, Barack! I want my hate crimes protection.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Because I Said Something
In my last post I bitched and moaned about not getting off to see the airshow at Langley next weekend. We've been petsitting for my dad the last week, and Saturday afternoon I was out walking the dog, when I heard the unmistakable roar of piston aircraft engines, approaching fast from the southeast. I looked up just in time to see a B-25 Mitchell
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B-25_Mitchell
flying wingtip to wingtip with a P-51 Mustang
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P-51_Mustang
They were flying really low, and when they were directly overhead, I could feel the rumble of the engines deep in my chest. I watched them from the moment they appeared over the roof of my building until they disappeared over the horizon. I see and hear jets all the time, but there's something primal about the sounds of the old machines. It also warms my heart when I think about the love and pride of the people who keep them in the air.
I'm still going to be miffed if I can't go next weekend, but I've been partially mollified.
Addendum: I completely forgot to mention that I talked to my supervisor on Monday, and we reworked the schedule so I'll be able to go. I've also managed to secure a camera for the weekend, so I'll be able to take (and share) pictures! I guess a girl can get a break.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B-25_Mitchell
flying wingtip to wingtip with a P-51 Mustang
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P-51_Mustang
They were flying really low, and when they were directly overhead, I could feel the rumble of the engines deep in my chest. I watched them from the moment they appeared over the roof of my building until they disappeared over the horizon. I see and hear jets all the time, but there's something primal about the sounds of the old machines. It also warms my heart when I think about the love and pride of the people who keep them in the air.
I'm still going to be miffed if I can't go next weekend, but I've been partially mollified.
Addendum: I completely forgot to mention that I talked to my supervisor on Monday, and we reworked the schedule so I'll be able to go. I've also managed to secure a camera for the weekend, so I'll be able to take (and share) pictures! I guess a girl can get a break.
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