Deans List - May 31, 2012

May 22, 2012

Dear James:

Congratulations!  The Dean of Students and Academic/Career Advising are pleased to announce that your outstanding academic performance in Spring Semester 2012 has earned you a place on the Dean's List.  The effort you put forth to earn the grades necessary for this recognition is commendable.

This selection is based on the completion of at least 15 graded credits, while earning a grade point average between 3.5 and 3.79.  This accomplishment is a source of shared satisfaction--the pleasure we feel in your outstanding scholarship in our college and the pleasure you must feel in your own success.

We hope the certificate below will have meaning to you and that you will continue your hard work.  We are proud of your achievement and wish you continued success.

Sincerely,
Sonia Parker
Diretor of Academic/Career Advising

James said, "Not as cool as the President's List."  Ha!  I'm still proud of him.

 

Presidents List! - February 2, 2012

February 2, 2012
Dear James:
     Congratulations!  President Cynthia Bioteau and Academic/Career Advising are pleased to announce that your outstanding performance in Fall Semester 2011 has earned you a place on the President's List.  The effort you put forth to earn the grades necessary for this recognition is commendable.
     This selection is based on the completion of at least 15 graded credits, while earning a grade point average of 3.8 or above.  This accomplishment is a source of shared pride - the pride we feel in your outstanding scholarship in our college and the pride you must feel in your own success.
     We hope the certificiate below will have meaning to you and that you will continue your hard work.  We are proud of your achievement and wish you continued success.
     Sincerely, Sonia Parker, Director of Academic/Career Advising

IMPRESSIVE!

Fall Semester - DONE!! - December 9, 2011

YAY JAMES!

8 credits - Aircraft Regulations - A
8 credits - Aircraft Electrical / Hardware - A

4.0 this semester!  YAY!!!

Miscellaneous Updates About James - December 29, 2010

James got straight A's this semester.  Well, straight A-minus' to be exact.  But still!!!! Yay James! 
3 credits - Computer Essentials
1 credit - Aviation Orientation
4 credits - Private Pilot Ground School

Now we're trying to figure out his schedule for next semester.  We'd love for him to get his instrument rating in the airplane, but we might have to do it outside of the SLCC loop.  They're not offering an instrument class that fits his schedule.

James is no longer my co-teacher for the 4-5 year olds in Primary.  So sad.  He got called to be the Elder's Quorum 2nd Counsellor.  More meetings for him and I'm teaching solo, for now.  I also get to keep my same class next year.  I'll have the 5-6 year olds. I should get to know them pretty well!

James did not get the supervisor position with Backcountry.com.  They hired another guy from 'outside' with more distribution center experience.  Their loss.

He sold last year's skis - the Volkl Gotamas.  And bought a new pair -the 4Front (somethings - sheesh, I can't remember).  He just picked them up today and is going to get the bindings mounted.  Stay tuned for a "New Skis!" photo. 

Hooray for Fall! October 10, 2010

We've been doing some exploring...

Saturday, September 25, 2010 - Oktoberfest - Snowbird, Little Cottonwood Canyon.  This was a beautiful day.  So warm and sunny!

I didn't get a picture of the moose (plural) we saw.  There was a bull moose and a momma with her two babies in a pond near the parking lot.  There were mountain security people shooing all the people away from the moose and into the parking lot traffic. As we were walking along the parked cars, the momma and her babies splashed out of the pond and headed into the parking lot in our general direction.  We turned and walked between parked cars and before I could make up my mind to climb underneath the closest SUV, they headed away again.  James told me he would have protected me with his body, attempting to redirect her by shoulder-to-shoulder contact - can you imagine James v. Momma Moose!?  Glad it didn't come to that!

Besides a nice drive up the canyon with my sweetheart, we explored the Oktoberfest shopping (Kuhl had an outlet tent with some fantastic deals - James got 2 pr pants for his winter wardrobe.  Hoping they'll have another sale before summer - would love a pair of their capris for me!). We stopped in the food tent, briefly, to listen to the Polkatronics... But the prices were too high for any sampling - $5.75 for a piece of German Chocolate cake! $9.50 for a bratwurst!

And we finished our drive by wandering up to Alta to check on the last of the snow.

Sunday, October 3, 2010 - Big Cottonwood Canyon.  During the Sunday morning session of General Conference we decided to drive up our favorite canyon to check on the progress of the fall colors.  Beautiful!

A really lovely background to listen to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and the messages from the Lord.

Friday, October 8, 2010 - Big Cottonwood Canyon.  As James and I contemplated his school schedule, we both felt strongly about the need for recreational study breaks.  So while we scrounged up tuition money, we also scrounged up money for a 10-pack at Solitude Ski Resort.  They usually put all 10 passes onto one card, but for $25 more you can have two cards with 5 passes on each.  With school and flying and everything else, I would have been surprised if James could have found 10 ski days this winter.  Between the two of us, no problem!  We drove up the canyon to check on the fall colors and to pick up our ski passes. This is Solitude's village and a children's fishing pond near the Disc Golf course.

It was the first really cool weather that included rain in the valley.  So we weren't surprised to find SNOW at the higher levels.  This old cabin is in the Brighton "circle"

We stopped on our drive down the canyon to check out Hidden Falls.  This is one of the locations where I took Kurt & Carlee's engagement photos - ages & ages & three kids ago.

We also stopped there last spring with my cousin Michael (March 21, 2009) after a good ski day.  As we explored, the guys found a GEOCACHE and wrote their names in the log book.  Guess what?  The cache and the log book with their entry was still there.   

Saturday, October 9, 2010 - took a break from exploring to do homework.  Love it!  Hand-me-down floral couch from a family James helped move.  Cooler/coffee table with hospital pillow for cushioning.  Soccer jersey from Kathleen's trip to Ireland, camo-pajama pants from Christmas in Idaho (thanks Mom!), and hospital non-slip socks.  (He's probably doing homework in this picture (with such a serious expression) - but maybe he was updating his fantasy football team or watching You-Tube videos of small airplanes landing on non-existant landing strips in Alaska.)

Sunday, October 10, 2010 - Mirror Lake Scenic Byway (Uinta Mountains) We took a study break and wandered our way along this pretty drive.  Enough snow for snowballs on top of these mountains.  We made a long loop of it and drove past Snow Basin (no snow there) and stopped to visit GandG Price for a half-hour-or-so. 

Happy Adventuring!

He can hover! - September 16, 2010

Let it be known on the 4th flight lesson in a helicopter, James is able to hover. 

It just clicked and now he is working on the 'practice makes perfect' part of things. 

He gets to do lift-off and landing without help, practice runway approaches and traffic pattern stuff.

WAY TO GO!

Flight School - first helicopter flight - September 9, 2010

There was a mandatory Open House at the helicopter flight school, Upper Limit Aviation, on Saturday, August 21st.  They needed the students to do paperwork, get paired with their instructors, get their passwords for the online scheduler and other helicoptery stuff.  They also provided burgers and dogs for lunch and there were some chips, but lots of hummus and vegetable finger foods.  Trying to keep the pilots skinny!

Salt Lake Community College doesn't own the aircraft or employ the instructors, but they do keep the money.  All the money required for training goes onto James' SLCC OneCard and then as he flies, Upper Limit debits his account.  This makes the lenders happier because if Upper Limit were to go out of business suddenly (like some private flight schools have done), then the flight school won't disappear with all the money.  Another good thing, James will be getting his ratings AND working on his associates degree at SLCC.

Upper Limit Aviation is just down the street from Life Flight.  After I got off work today, I hopped on the bicycle and pedalled over to Upper Limit.  They let me hang out in the lounge with a window onto the tarmac and watch for James and Jason to land at the end of the first lesson. 

Here are the helicopters in the hangar - James was the only student flying at the time, so the rest of the tiny little choppers were hangared.  The two beginning training helicopters are the R22 and the R44.  The R22 is cheaper, smaller and lighter.  The R44 is a little more expensive, a little bigger and can carry a little more weight.  Lucky for us, James and his instructor are light-weights and James can train in the R22 and save us some money.  He'll have to transition into the R44 for his instrument training, but that's not for a couple more semesters.

This is on the ground just outside of the hangar door.  (Bottom right corner is tarmac asphalt, upper left corner is the hangar wall and hangar floor and the door track)

This is the very first helicopter James got to fly.  It is tiny!  That is the fuel truck behind it.

James and Jason - Jason is from Alaska too!  Kodiak and Anchorage.

According to James, "Hovering is hard." 

It seems a lot of flying in a helicopter is similar to flying in an airplane.  He's able to keep it level and fly in a straight line and make turns and do radio traffic.  But hovering is tricky.  You have to use your feet and each of your hands independent of each other to do different things.  One hand controls the forward and backward movement.  The other hand controls the elevation.  The feet control the spin of the helicopter (keeping it facing in one direction).  So far, when the instructor keeps control of one thing, James is able to do the other two just fine.  But if James has all three parts, then the hover gets a bit rowdy.

One instructor told him, "A helicopter is inherently unstable and wants to fall out of the sky."

James thinks, "GREAT, the helicopter is trying to kill me."

James has now flown with three different instructors (due to scheduling conflicts) and each of them are encouraging - James has good instincts and just needs to practice the new stuff.  Each time, it is getting easier and more automatic.

P.S. Happy Birthday Nick (Sept 8)!  Happy Birthday Carter (Sept 9)!

Back to School - August 25, 2010

(James is not really a morning person - me either.  We barely talk while we're getting ready for the day.  That is one reason why he looks a bit grumpy in the photo.  Another reason, he was running a little late.  He's got his breakfast wrapped in a paper towel in his hand and his lunch cooler - hopefully enough food to to last until he gets home for dinner.  On flight days, he also has his flight bag with his headset and flight planning tools.  On classroom days he has another backpack with books and school supplies.)

Mon-Fri 5:40 a.m. leave the house for work
Mon-Fri 6:00 a.m. - 2:30ish p.m. Backcountry.com

Mon 4:00-4:50 p.m. Aviation Orientation Class
Mon 5:00-6:50 p.m. Private Pilot Ground School Class

Tues 3:00-5:00 p.m. Fly
Tues 5:30-8:15 p.m. Computer Essentials Class

Wed 5:00-6:50 p.m. Private Pilot Ground School Class

Thur 3:00-5:00 p.m. Fly

Fri 5:00-7:00 p.m. Fly

Sat time varies - Fly

Sun 8:00 a.m. help set up chairs
Sun 9:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. church

Squeeze in homework, EQ calling stuff and Home Teaching.

Proud of you James!