SIMSudan video

Here is the new RSS (Rebuilding southern Sudan) video by our friend/teammate/media guru, Taylor. It would probably be worth your while to bookmark his Vimeo page as he will be uploading the most SIMSudan related stuff. (Our Vimeo page will eventually have Africa-related stuff, but for now it is just where I put the HD videos of Liam.)

[vimeo width="525" height="300"]http://www.vimeo.com/2088285[/vimeo]

new liam video.

(Note: you can turn off HD if it is too jumpy on your internet connection/computer.)

[vimeo width="525" height="300"]http://www.vimeo.com/2098992[/vimeo]

finally fall.

We hit the 30’s last night here in Texas. The feeling of fall is a good one. Time to cut up a pumpkin, put on some warm clothes and enjoy the outdoors…finally.

impulsivity & strawmen

As you prepare to be a flight instructor you learn the 5 hazardous mindsets that a person can have that will cause them to respond to an emergency incorrectly. One of these attitudes is impulsivity. A person who has this mindset recognizes a problem and then reacts quickly, but without adequate thought. Their thinking is “I better do something fast.” The antidote for this mindset is for them to remind themselves, “I need to slow down and make sure I make the correct response to this emergency.” I am afraid that we as a nation may be demonstrating this attitude in the situation we find ourselves.

In this election season, there are far too many quick fixes being offered and far too little debate about the fundamental issues that have caused these situations. This is true as it relates to the economy, health care, poverty, education and moral issues. This tendency away from worthwhile debate is exacerbated by the way many media outlets generate strawmen by the way they mischaracterize certain things.

Let me illustrate what I mean… read more

20,000 visitors!

Crazy, but true. Our little site has logged 20,000 hits since its makeover 1 year, 9 months ago. (I didn’t save the counter from the previous site, so I can’t be sure what the total is.) At present, ng*k boasts 25 pages, 243 posts, 145 comments, 20+ videos and hundreds of photos. Our most visited pages are the ‘about’ section and young Liam’s section (not surprisingly). The blog has also been busy…

Blogging is certainly an odd thing. My mindset when I post is to try and provide either: 1) info about our progress to getting to Africa, 2) photos and video of the places we’ve seen along the way and/or 3) a journal of my thoughts for myself and the core group of family, friends and supporter who check in once in a while. Posts included things that caught my attention, changed my perspective, made me laugh, made me upset, inspired me and/or reminded me what is most important.

I hope you get something out of all this. I am always open to comments, suggestions, guest entries…whatever. Once we get to Africa (hopefully within a month or so) the content will likely change to more Afro-centric stuff, as you might imagine and expect.

So thanks for swingin’ by. We thank God for the huge support network we have behind us. Thanks for being a part of it.

liam’s 1st flight lesson

Click pic to see them all.