I am second

I am second is a website that tells the stories of famous people who give credit to God for their success. It's really neat to see people like Colt McCoy, Jason Witten, and Tony Dungy talk about how God is first, and they are second.

It's hard to be happy in this world without God. Many can be successful without Him, but even with all the success in the world, people without Christ in their life will always be trying to fill a void in their heart. With a void, people will always be looking for more happiness, success, money, and fame to make their life complete. The trouble is, without God, there will never be a complete life and that hole will always linger, gnaw, and grind away like a rock in one's shoe.

Personally, I don't know how anyone can get through the troubles this life brings without God in their lives. When life really gets tough is when people usually wonder whether there really is a God and why He'd let their life get so low. Ultimately, He wants us to worship Him, through the good and the bad, and until Heaven, we can't know what God spared us from, even when our life is at it's lowest point.

In a culture that worships the almighty "ME" out of selfishness, it is nice to see people say that they are second, not first. They acknowledge that their success comes from God, and that the accolades from men last but only a moment. How about you -- are you first . . . or second?

TobyLaura.com

What am I missing?

I don't normally pass along information I receive from forwarded e-mails, but this one really caught my attention. Our human nature is interesting, isn't it? We blindly walk through life with our comfortable routines, happy to compartmentalize things that fit neatly into boxes that we can understand, but yet can miss so much . . .


In a Washington DC Metro Station on a cold January morning in 2007. A man with a violin played six Bach pieces for about an hour. During that time approximately two thousand people went through the station, most of them on their way to work. After 3 minutes a middle aged man noticed there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried to meet his schedule.


4 minutes later: the violinist received his first dollar: a woman threw the money in the hat and, without stopping, continued to walk..


6 minutes later: A young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and started to walk again.


10 minutes later: A 3-year old boy stopped but his mother tugged him along hurriedly. The kid stopped to look at the violinist again, but the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk, turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. Every parent, without exception, forced their children to move on quickly.


At 45 minutes: the musician played continuously. Only 6 people stopped and listened for a short while. About 20 gave money but continued to walk at their normal pace. The man collected a total of $32.


By 1 hour: he finished playing and silence took over. No one noticed. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.


No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the greatest musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, with a violin worth $3.5 million dollars. Two days before Joshua Bell sold out a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100.


This is a true story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and people's priorities. The questions raised: in a common place environment at an inappropriate hour, do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context?


One possible conclusion reached from this experiment could be this: If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world, playing some of the finest music ever written, with one of the most beautiful instruments ever made, then how many other things are we missing?

TobyLaura.com

Gaylord Texan Ice Show

For the second time in three years, my family visited the Gaylord Texan Hotel to see the Ice Show they put on there every year. This is not just a tour of some ice sculptures in a hotel lobby, it's a full blown exhibit in a 10,000 square foot building chilled to zero degrees Fahrenheit (or -18 degrees Celsius). Black curtains create a pathway to wind visitors through a maze of bigger than life-size sculptures that takes about twenty minutes to walk through. Click on the photo at the top of this post to see more photos of the time we had. In a recent post of mine, I talked about the amazing ice sculptures and ice sculpting contests in Harbin, China. Reading about how the Ice Show at the Gaylord Texan was accomplished, it turns out the artisans were from Harbin. Pretty cool. They form over 2 million pounds of ice to make it all possible.


Two years ago when we went last time, the theme was penguins and this year the theme was the Grinch and Whoville, so it's nice to see something different each time we go. When seeing all these sculptures, it's easy to appreciate all the time that goes into forming all that we see. Colored water is used to make things look more lifelike, and blocks of ice are smoothed so seams don't appear. After a while, it's hard to remember that one is looking at ice and not just wandering through a cartoon world. However, if someone does forget for too long that it is all ice, the bite on the ears and nose from the cold will quickly bring one back to the fact that this tour is literally through a huge walk-in freezer. For the price of admission, you are given a large coat to help you enjoy your tour.

I had charged my camera battery just prior to leaving the house for the tour, but others hadn't, and the extreme cold ensured their cameras quit functioning about half way through. That's a bummer, because after the ice show, there is a lot more to see. The Gaylord Texan is an amazing hotel that would be way out of the price range Laura and I could afford. The Dallas Cowboys stay there the night before a home game at Cowboy's Stadium (presumably to make sure everyone shows up on time the next morning. I've heard that most NFL teams do this -- no wives, no alcohol, no monkey business.) The hotel has several restaurants inside its central atrium, and shops all along the sides. At Christmas, the glass ceilinged atrium is lit with all kinds of lights, Christmas trees, decorations, several train sets that take up thousands of square feet, and even several life size cottages that are real "ginger bread houses" made of edible candy.


If you can make it, or are in the Metroplex between Thanksgiving and Christmas, make sure to plan some time at the Gaylord Texan for an absolute blast. Nearby are more affordable hotels, huge malls, and tons of eating places. We didn't want to pay for the fancy dining digs at the Texan, so we ate at the Love and War in Texas and enjoyed some really fine food. It was great to spend some time in Texas prior to the holidays. Because I work on Christmas this year, Laura and I headed down a few weeks before the holidays and it was great to see all my family: my sister and her hubby, my parents, grandparents, Aunt, Uncle and cousin. The Christmas holiday really is all about being with those you love the most so the time spent in Texas was precious to me. I hope you get to spend time with your loved ones as well this holiday. Merry Christmas.

TobyLaura.com

Best Christmas gift. Ever.

I wanted to give a shout out to my sister and brother-in-law because they gave me the best Christmas gift I've ever received. A little history as to how this gift became the best ever is in order.

Years ago as a kid, I wanted a real Dallas Cowboys helmet. I've always thought that having one in a display case or under a light on a pedestal would be a neat thing to have, since I'm such a die hard fan. I never really thought about how much they cost or that it would have been hard to afford or get for my parents. One Christmas in about 1991, my family was at my grandparent's house and my mom handed me a gift that was in a plastic bag. I could barely see through the bag to notice that it looked like a helmet. My heart skipped a beat or two. I said, "Oh no" out loud. I couldn't believe it, I was going to get a helmet! When I opened the bag, I tried to hide my disappointment when I saw that it was just an inflatable vinyl helmet to go on your head while at a game. I was actually embarrassed that I had thought it would be the real thing.

Flash forward to the Christmas season of 2009. Laura and I, along with my sister and her husband went on a tour of the new Dallas Cowboys stadium in Arlington. Click on the photo of the helmet at the top of this blog to see more photos from that tour. We were in the ProShop and my sister and I mused about what I might do if I had one . . .

The next day, we celebrated Christmas with my family early because I get to work on Christmas this year. The gift from my sis and her hubby was anticipated by everyone but me. She said it would be the greatest gift ever and I just tried to ignore the hype, in case it wasn't something I was interested in. Well, lo and behold, when I opened the "greatest gift ever" the name of the gift rang true. I read the words: Official NFL Helmet. A 20 year old dream has finally come true and I couldn't be more excited or more grateful.

Thanks sis and Merry Christmas!

TobyLaura.com

Buying the Tree

I haven't had much time to blog because the holidays are approaching and I've either been working or visiting family on time off. We spent some time in Texas before the Thanksgiving weekend because I was working over that holiday. My extended family in Texas was gracious enough to put on a full Thanksgiving meal for Laura and me. We provided a smoked turkey from Greenberg Turkey (highly recommended to anyone who reads this blog in the U.S.) and the family provided the rest of the fixin's.

Even though I worked over the Thanksgiving holiday again this year, I was glad to be home right afterward so Laura and I could get a Christmas tree together. Last year, Laura had to buy a tree, decorate it, and put the house Christmas decorations up by herself, because I was still in Hong Kong for training. That was tough on her, so I'm glad I was able to be home for that this year. Click on our picture at the top of this post to see more of our tree decorating.


We always cut our Christmas trees down at Saum Farm. They are affordable, have a huge selection, and stay looking fresher, longer, because they are cut by us. We like to go for the Canaan fir, because of the way they look, and the needles aren't prickly for adding lights and decorations. We were going to go cut one down with the rest of Laura's extended family, but I got sick the day we were supposed to go, so we went by ourselves later. It was a blast for me, because I love Christmas, Autumn, and the whole holidays, plus I missed it all last year. I must say that we got a great tree this year and it sure is nice to be home for the holidays. We bought some more house decorations and had a fun time preparing our living room for the holidays.


Speaking of the holidays, I'm sure you've heard the saying that "Jesus is the reason for the season." Well, as Pastor David Dykes points out here, that actually may not be the case. In reality, WE are the reason for the season. Sacrilege? Not hardly. See, as the pastor points out, Jesus came into the world, not for himself, but for us. We all sin and need a Savior from that sin. Christ came to Earth to provide us a way out of our sin, and a chance to spend eternity with Him. If we weren't sinners, He wouldn't have needed to come to Earth and die on a cross for us. But He loved us so much, that He came to die for us, to take our place for the judgement of sin. How cool is that? It's for this reason that we celebrate every 25th of December: the birth of the Christ. Sure, it's nice to give and get gifts from family and friends, but as the commercialism of Christmas screams ever louder and louder in our ears as the years pass, take time out of your holiday to remember the real reason for the season -- our need of a Savior.

TobyLaura.com

Anchorage to Hong Kong: the Western Way

Khabarovsk (UHHH) was cold and quiet. At five in the morning, there still wasn't a lot of activity on it's streets. As the sun was still beyond the horizon, the deep blue sky in it's predawn light made things look even colder in this Russian town. Snow blanketed the entire landscape, and at this early hour, it was hard to tell where the deep blue of the sky ended and the cold blue ice on the ground began. A few amber sodium-vapor lights shown out from the cold darkness to reveal that life does indeed exist out here on the western plain. Life during the winter months has to be tough in a city like this, at least it would be for a Texas boy like me. On this cold, hard day north of the Chinese border, I'll have to resign to simply imagining what lies ahead this work day for the inhabitants of Khabarovsk.

As our 747-400ERF pressed on at 38,100 feet, (or 11,600 meters due to being in Russian airspace) I'm sure we looked like a silent glint, slowly passing high overhead. As so often is the case, I wonder what is going on down there in the cities and towns we pass by so quickly, at nearly 9 miles a minute. Can they hear us or see us? Are they getting ready to head out to work? What kind of jobs exist in a city like this? Have they ever ventured as far as Moscow or even Europe? Have they heard of God's grace? How do they deal with the bitter cold? Will I ever get to visit this city and see it from the ground, where I can connect with locals and truly take in the culture?


I was excited about this most recent trip across the Pacific, traveling from Anchorage to Hong Kong, because we were taking a more Western route, one that I had never been on before. As this route plot will show, (click on it to see it larger) instead of staying off the Eastern coast of Japan like I typically have in the past, we headed inland over Eastern Russia and China. The perfectly straight line on the map is the great circle route, and the zigzag line is the route we actually planned on flying. We try to stay as close to the great circle route as possible, because it is the most direct path. However, airspace restrictions, air traffic control restrictions, restrictions that force us to stay somewhat close to alternate airfields, and depending on the upper level winds, we often have to deviate from the "perfect path." Because of this, we crossed over Vladivostok, Khabarovsk, Harbin, Beijing, and actually approached Hong Kong from the West. It seems odd to approach Hong Kong from the West, like flights do from Europe, but that is the way things often happen with the high winter winds.

This trip included a great crew, but also a chance to look down and see things I have never seen before. We could clearly see the border between Russia and China -- a river, that to the south supplies water to thousands of small Chinese farm plots. Odd rectangle after odd rectangle littered the ground like an uneven checkerboard that extended hundreds of miles. North of Harbin, (pronounced Har-been) China, I wondered how these farmers lived, especially in the cold winter months. Do they have cars and drive to Harbin? Do they only live with cattle and donkeys? How can there be so many individual family plots so close together? I'll have to visit someday to find out. To the North of the river was mother Russia. The landscape there was stark and bleak. There weren't any farm plots and there wasn't much of an organized look to the landscape. The soil may not have been conducive to farming, or people found work in the cities instead.


As the miles ticked off further South, we crossed over Harbin. It is renowned for the winter ice show that is put on there every year. Click this link to see more photos of this amazing event. This isn't anything like what is seen in other parts of the world, but a huge production that takes months to plan and put together. Blocks of ice are cut out of a river and hauled to a central local where huge ice sculptures are made, like castles and such, and then lights are placed inside of the ice. At night, it's a sight to be seen. Farther south was the huge city of Beijing and the Great Wall. Clouds came in, so I wasn't able to see the wall, but I've heard it's quite the sight as well. Also unseen, but flown over, is this tower in Guangzhou, where engineers are building the second tallest metal tower on Earth.

Approaching Hong Kong from the West, heading Southeast, means the Sierra arrival. It can be a bit tricky to fly because it leaves you high as you fly over Macau's airport and then controllers can give you a quick descent clearance and point us toward the airport. As my Australian friends like to say, you can get "caught out" by being too high to get down in time. It's a lot like arrivals into JFK, where sometimes you get slam-dunked down, and other times you go way out and then way back in to the airport with a gradual descent. Murphy's law says that if you plan on a quick descent, you'll get the slow one, and if you hope to get the slow descent, that is when controllers point you at the runway and clear you to descend 15,000 feet, and do it quickly. The 747 is a beautiful machine, but when we are heavy, it takes a lot of work to get it to slow and descend at the same time. As soon as we plan ahead, ATC has a different idea.

This was a good trip because I got to see a lot of new things. Aviation is all about routine and getting things to be as mundane as possible, so that we are ready if anything should happen. However, sometimes, breaking things up a bit and seeing new things is good for the soul and the aviator in all of us. People often ask me how I don't get bored on these long flights. Honestly, there is too much to do to get bored, however, boring can be a good thing, because it means emergencies aren't happening! On this trip, breaking through the routine proved to make for quite a fun trip.

TobyLaura.com

New fun photo gear

Over the weekend, I was excited to receive a few fun photo goodies from Adorama. I like to carry a Nikon 17-35 f/2.8, a 50 f/1.4, and an 80-200 f/2.8 and my Nikon D700. If you are a regular reader, you'll remember my post about getting a Lowepro Slingshot to carry all that and more. The Slingshot is great because it can carry a lot and not hurt your shoulder. A shoulder/messenger bag can start to hurt a shoulder and neck if it gets filled too much and weighs a lot and carried a long way.

I needed something where I could carry just the bare essentials but also not look like I was carrying a lot money on my side. I wanted quick access to my camera but wanted something stylish too. It couldn't be too big, but shouldn't if I was going to carry it for a while. I finally found a Domke F-5CX shoulder bag. It doesn't scream "I'm holding expensive camera equipment," fits on my shoulder nicely, holds what I need, but isn't so big that it can weigh enough to hurt my shoulders. It easily holds my holy trinity of lenses, my camera, plus lots of little things like memory cards. It was in Europe that I realized (while Laura was carrying all my stuff) that I needed a light bag to hold the essentials and I think I've found it.

The other really fun thing I bought (with left over birthday money I had) was a Blackrapid camera strap. It's pretty unique and I'm surprised others haven't thought of the idea first, but it's a slick way of carrying a camera. Most people you see with a camera on a strap put it over their neck, which screams: Geeky tourist. Slightly more savvy individuals put the camera and strap over one shoulder so at least the camera is out of the way and not bouncing on your chest. The Blackrapid is a strap that holds the camera over one shoulder and lets it rest on the hip. It carries the camera via a connection in the tripod socket and allows the camera to swing up to the eye and then back down again in a quick motion. It's best described by this short video:



I want to keep the camera safe, comfy, and out of the way, but I also want to keep it ready at a moments notice. Does this fancy thing make me less geeky than the guy or gal that carries their camera on a cheap strap on their neck in front of them? Probably not!

Get all your goodies at Adorama.com -- you won't pay taxes, shipping, or as high a price as a regular retail store!

TobyLaura.com