First Ride in a Helicopter

Good evening! This afternoon I was lucky enough to go on my first helicopter ride!


Usually, I get a little nervous when I fly, and at first I was super-nervous: I had never been in a helicopter and I had never let a friend fly me around before. But it was worth it!

It was really fun getting to see Thomasville from up top. It's always felt like a small town to me, having grown up in cities most of my life... but I never knew just HOW small it was until I was up high and could literally see one end of town to the other in one view.

(People burn to clear feilds for farming around here. I could see 9 smoke areas where people were burning.)
I didn't bring a camera with me, but my friend has an iPhone and let me snap some pics with it. I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the photos it took!


a cool old barn we flew over


Baseball fields looked really neat from above.


Even on my days off I can't get away...

Once I got the feel of the lift and wind shifts in the helicopter, it was great. I was a happy flyer. I wouldn't necessarily recommend eating sushi immediately before-hand like i did though...



:)

Book Review

The Fair Tax Book by Neal Boortz and John Linder



Ever since being assaulted in 2009 by an angry teapartier at a tea party event in Athens, GA, I have been interested in the Fair Tax, and the stuff that makes these partiers so angry! I'm embarrassed to say that I have neglected trying to learn more about it until now, but when I came across this book in my local bookstore, I couldn't resist giving it a try. I even started to feel excited about reading it when the owner of the bookstore gave it rave reviews at the checkout.

Well, I should have known by the authors that this book would slant. And I should have realized that the woman who loved the book was a conservative small business owner in a conservative small town. But I didn't think about all that...

...until I began reading.

Reading The Fair Tax Book is like signing up for a personal yell and shout session with Neal & John. Maybe to some people, it feels like they're yelling with you. But to me, I felt like they were shouting AT me. And that gets old really fast. I can only stand to read this book in 10-15 page spurts. Usually, that means a book is going over my head: not the case with this one. Boortz and Linder do a really good job keeping the words small and the ideas simple. But it's just exhausting to read a book that is written with such anger.

If you can handle the rage, I do recommend the book. There's some really great info in here, and I don't regret buying it. But beware! These men are pissed and they do nothing to hide it.

Learn more: on Wikipedia
Buy the book: on Amazon

Vacation Part 2

For our week away from home, our gracious host was Terry's wonderful aunt, Chris. She was super fun and took us to the Everglades for a day! We saw a bunch of wildlife: turtles... and gators... and more gators...

even a little gator movie!




a little gecko friend...



AND BEST OF ALL:

DOLPHINS!

It is super hard to take pictures of dolphins. According to our boat's Captain, they were mating.

Me and Terry on the Boat:


An accidental butt on the boat:



While on vaycay, we also indulged in a relaxing game of mini-golf:


I think Terry won.



All-in-all, it was a great vaycay. Our wonderful hostess Chris made everything so fun and relaxing:



But my favorite part was getting to be with a great friend for the week!


In a few days, I will write a little about the OTHER embarrassing camera I brought with me. Bye!

Vacation, Part 1

A Vacation in scenic Naples...

Err, wrong Naples.

Last Saturday, Best friend Terry and I set out for a Spring Break adventure to Naples, Florida.

Before leaving, I was determined to be an embarrassing tourist. Unfortunately, Mom wouldn't let me borrow her vintage black leather fannypack with the brass trimmings. Luckily, I brought along two embarrassing cameras to capture those sweet vaycay moments.

For the past few years I've really loved taking pictures with disposable 35mm cameras. My love results from equal parts clumsiness, forgetfulness, and nostalgia. The images they produce are never sharp and the colors are always a little duller than real-life, but they are fun because you can take them on a boat, in the water, in a kayak, on a hike, in the sand, in the mud...and you never have to worry about messing them up. It was a no-brainer to pack not one, but TWO(!) disposable cameras for this trip. Here's a photo-log of our vacation, in disposable-cam pictures.

1. We stopped 20 minutes from my parent's house at the Georgia-Florida Welcome center to indulge in some free fresh-squeezed OJ, pick up maps, and have a fellowtourist take our pic at the Florida sign.

This was the first time we handed someone the disposable and they didn't know how to use it.

2. Our first day there, we headed straight to the beach. The beaches there are terrific: pretty, wide and the sand is bright white. There are even some pristine seashells to be found.


The beaches, with little dot Terry in the water.


Fellowtourist friend took our picture.


I wanted to hold the yacht! One of the very obvious pitfalls of a disposable cam is the difficulty creating believable yacht-in-hand photos.


Terry looking cute in her polka-spotted suit. I really like the colors in the photo.

3. We of course ate and drank some yummy and not so yummy stuff.

A terrible idea: Sunset Margarita. It tasted like soap. (But I drank it anyways)


Also a bad idea: 2 for 1 drinks.

Eating at the Naples Pub. This was the second time our photographer friend did not know how to work a disposable cam.

And lastly, simultaneously the best and worst decision of vacation: Eating at Skyline Chili. I can't help it, it's the Cincinnatian in me! I hadn't had it in years... and probably wont dare for a few to come.

More vacation fun later!