Are these the qualities of a true friend?

Sometimes I wonder what a true friend is. Maybe this is just rambling but these points are some things I have been trying to answer about what a true friend really is.

Do they?
Believe honesty above all is the best way to be.
Will always be there when they are needed.
Show up when asked and mutually agreed to do so.
Call you when they can not make an appointment.
Fulfill obligations to their “friends”
Blow you off when you need to talk with them.
Welcome you into their life as much as you invite them.

These are some of the things I have been pondering for some time. I find that some people tell you they are your friend but, when you need a friend they are not there. I have found in the past treating people as a friend and have been there if and when they needed things. Only to discover that I had been taken advantage of. I do hope that they are happy with their actions. I wonder if I should evaluate these people in my life and take actions accordingly.But I will say this, if my opinions of what a friend is wrong, then I am wrong. I am not above admitting when I error.I guess I am sitting here looking for others input. (If anyone ever does read this and gives a rat’s ass) I hate it when I let someone into my friendship and finding out I get …………on. (got to keep it clean here)

When is being a part of something really being a part?

Over the past few months I have been reflecting on an issue that is a recurrence of something from years ago. I have yet figured out how I feel about it.

Several years ago I got involved with an organization that I connected with and truely felt a part of. As time went by, I really felt like I belonged and would have a place within that organization. I had some personal issues come up and had to step away from what I was doing there. It was a great disapointment. As the years went by I missed being involved. After much discussion with friends I decided to get back involved.
Once again I jump in with both feet and do all I can. I have experienced some of the events that ocurred years ago all over again. Do not get me wrong I like the people that I am involved with and do not want hard feelings. However, I do get bothered when I am told how I am valued and when special events come up I am not included in them or asked if I care to participate. (even though I may not be able to do so) I would like to have the chance to say no thank you. It is amazing that you put out for an organization and when you ask for something you are shot down more often that not.
I am still trying to figure out what I should do. I do not want to up set anyone that I consider as a friend even though they may feel the same way about me. I am not that way.


Still trying to sort this all out.............BTW, MERRY.................. CHRISTMAS TO ME

Laura M. Brooks, R.I.P.

Pilot Instructor Killed in Collision Called Experienced.

This was the headline in the paper here when Laura died in 1996. The accident was a terrible tradgey.

My friends know how this affected me. Her and I were very much in love with one another and even though we loved each other we ended up divorced 4 months before her death. Had she not died, I am sure we would have ended up back together cause of our love.

I am writing this today cause, today would have been our 15th Anniversary had I not been so damn hard headed and gave our marriage another try. Now, 12 years later I still have troubles coping with her loss. While I was not there to intervene in what happened in that cockpit I am sure as I am here today that I would have been with them or she would have not been there that day. I get so frustrated at this time of the year cause I go through memories of getting the call that she had died, going and telling her mother what happened and assisting with the funeral. Even though I know better, I still get mad at myself for letting it happen. I loved her so much and still do to this day.

As the days after her passing went, I realized how much our lived were intertwined. I had always had the dream to fly airplanes and helicopters and her dream was to be a pilot as well. I have never met anyone else that ever had the same desire that I did. Her memories are with me every day. My work and my interest are aviation. So, I remember her every day. At times I just want to give up on my dreams and interests so I can put these feelings aside and do something else with my life. However I find myself drawn back to aviation. I do not know if it is her influence on me or her spirit not letting me give up on it. So I just go on about my life and continue. I do not know If I will ever get to where I would like to be.

The one thing I am thankfull for is that several years later I was blessed enough to have a daughter. I hope that I am able to pass on to her the love of aviation that I have been blessed with and she can share the passion of it and achieve what Laura did not.

Tonight, I sat down and watched the videos of our wedding and broke down and cried like when I spent the night in Quincy after taking her mother to the airport where the accident happened. That night is when all my mistakes with our relationship hit me and hit me hard.

I will finish up with saying, I believe I will be alright another year as in all the years since her passing. All I have to do is make it past thanksgiving and it will be ok.

A special note to Laura I know she knows what I am going through, I have always loved you since the first day i saw you in the flying club and you avoided me. If god never allows me another word out of my mouth, the last ones I will say is " I love you Laura"

Man dies after Moberly cops fire Taser at him

I read this article in the St Louis paper today. Please read it too. I will leave my input on it at the end.


ASSOCIATED PRESS
08/28/2008

Police say a 23-year-old suspected drunken driver is dead after an officer fired a Taser at him during a traffic stop in Moberly.

Moberly police say Stanley James Harlan was pronounced dead at a hospital after the incident at 12:30 a.m. Thursday.


Police Commander Kevin Palmatory said the officer who made the stop suspected Harlan was driving drunk and placed him under arrest. He said when Harlan resisted, the officer deployed his Taser twice in an effort to subdue him.

Palmatory said moments later Harlan became unresponsive and officers started CPR until paramedics arrived and tried to revive him.

Moberly police have asked the Missouri State Highway Patrol's Division of Drug and Crime Control to investigate.

An autopsy is scheduled for Thursday afternoon.

Here is my input. The people that know me are aware that I have a degree in Law Enforcement and have done some work in it. My opinion is this, I believe that the use of the taser has become excessive. a lot of the deaths that have occurred (from my readings)after the subject had been handcuffed and or drunk. The use has been justified my saying that the subject is resisting. How many times have you seen someone handcuffed ever able to inflict serious harm on someone? I feel that the taser should be used like the sidearm only when there is no other choice. What do all of you think?

A video I found.

Hello all,

I found this video on youtube today and thought, wow, I can not believe this s*it. I do not know if I would attempt this. I just wonder if Greybeard would do it?

Do we outsource our Military equiptment??

Do we outsource our weapons for the Military? Well, McCain believes in it. Check out the new Blog I listed under what I read.

Hello??

Hello all,


I am currious........is anyone reading this blog?

What some people will do for a buck

Ex-Lee's Summit helicopter dealer pleads guilty to fraud

Kansas City Star

March 04, 2008

* Original Kansas City Star article: Ex-Lee's Summit helicopter dealer pleads guilty to fraud Read the original story

A former Lee's Summit helicopter dealer pleaded guilty in federal court Tuesday to wire fraud and money laundering for misrepresenting the source of an engine part.

Robert A. Schlotzhauer, 68, admitted that in 2005 he sold a used engine compressor to a Nebraska man, telling him that the part came from a helicopter that had been in a hard landing after running out of gas.

In fact, Schlotzhauer acknowledged Tuesday, the compressor came from a helicopter that had crashed into the Pacific Ocean near Australia and had been submerged in saltwater for several hours.

Since his indictment in March 2006, Schlotzhauer has closed his business, Falcon Helicopter Inc.

As part of the plea agreement, Schlotzhauer agreed to pay a $550,000 fine and $63,854 in restitution to a Niagara Falls, N.Y., firm that had purchased a damaged helicopter from him.

In return, prosecutors agreed to a sentence of 12 months of home confinement.

Copyright © 2008 Kansas City Star, All Rights Reserved.

Grad student points out 2nd security flaw on TSA Web site

WASHINGTON (CNN) — For those keeping score, it’s Chris Soghoian 2; TSA 0. For the second time, the Indiana University graduate student has succeeded in embarrassing the Transportation Security Administration by exposing potential vulnerabilities to its security systems.

Soghoian first caught the government’s attention when he put an airline “boarding pass generator” on his Web site. Visitors to the site generated some 36,000 fake boarding passes before the FBI took it down, Soghoian said. Though the fake passes could not be used to board planes, people on government “watch lists” conceivably could use them to get past airport screening checkpoints, said Soghoian, who said he wanted to shame the TSA into taking action to close the security loophole.

His latest tussle with the TSA is outlined in a report by Rep. Henry Waxman’s House Oversight Committee, which credits the graduate student with discovering a loophole in a TSA Web site last year that potentially jeopardized private information from scores of people.

–From CNN Producer Mike M. Ahlers

People with a lot of money

Maybe I am cynical.

I seem to expose myself to events that I do not think are "right" and I am trying to decide the course of action I should take.
I had two encounters with an individual that has more money than I will ever have. The first one he came over to me over an issue and was just totally being an ass, yelling and ranting and raving to no end over some minor B.S. And the best part, is that he was not addressing the person that caused the situation in the first place.
What amazes me is that I was not my typical self. I normally would have said more back. Since he has the financial power he has I realized that if I had done something I should not it would cost me more in the end. Then today he started more issues with me today that adults should be able to resolve between each other and not drag others into it like he did. I wish there was a way that I would not have to interact with this individual but, right now there is not. Unless I stop putting myself in the same location that he is in. I am highly considering that.
I wish there was a law that prevented Assholes from being financially set for life. Bit is is amazing to me that people can be that way.

Why can we not all get along?? Life is too short and should be enjoyed.


Sorry if this is just a useless rant

Obama Vs. the GOP?

First of all, I want to say I am not a Dem. I find it amazing that he beat out Hillary at the Iowa Caucus. I think it would be a great day when he would be the Dem's nomination for President. I am not fully decided on who in my party that I am behind. Sometimes I think they are all full of B.S. and we should just vote for "none of the above". I will say this, I have been known to say that when my primary comes up I will change parties just to vote against Hillary. She has had her turn at president. What does everyone else think? Is anyone really reading what I have written??

Helicopter Makes Hard Landing At Hospital Helipad

CLIFTON -- A medical helicopter made a hard landing at University Hospital early Tuesday morning.UH's director of aircraft Dudley Smith said the helicopter, owned by Patroleum Helicopters Inc., had dropped off a patient just after 5:30 a.m."As they were leaving, the pilot had a little bit of operational control problem with the aircraft and ended up doing a hard landing on our helipad," Smith said.
But the helicopter didn't make a clean landing on the pad, instead landing to the side, damaging its landing skids and tangling itself in a safety fence.The result left much of the helicopter dangling off the edge of the building.Firefighters were able to secure the helicopter and keep it from falling, then helped to pull it away from the ledge."The helicopter is obviously going to have to go off of our helipad. I don't think its going to be able to fly off so we have to look at operational issues as far as cranes or another helicopter and we'll do that over the next several days," Smith said.The flight crew was not hurt in the incident.