Well, That Was Difficult

Went to Jitsu last night.

First it was a lesson on escapes form inverted heel hooks, which are rather nasty things to be subject to in grappling. In short a properly set heel hook is going to tear your knee up, and fast. So learning about preventing it and knowing how to escape it is pretty important.

Next it was a fight sim session - meaning protecting yourself from punches (with gloves worn) with sparring simulating being attacked and then defending yourself from an attack.

Good practice, but when you're up against a late-20s aged opponent at the same skill level, while you're in the low 50s, it gets ugly pretty fast.

On the upside, once on the ground I was able to protect myself and have a position that made punches ineffective, and I was basically able to hold him off and prevent him from doing any damage whether by punching or other techniques.  Took a lot of work, but I managed it. But, what I could not do was escape from him and get to a dominant position. Physical strength has a quality all its own in a fight, even a simulated one, and I sure ain't as strong as I once was, even as my technique is likely better than ever. But I "survived" the encounter and that counts for something.

After that workout, it was then time for freestyle rolling.  I did decently at it.  I actually got some decent submissions on some opponents and got nailed myself as well, so I was both the fly and the windshield during the rolls.

Lots of fun with a great group of people and it was one heckuva workout, and some new techniques were learned.

A challenging class, and I'm a tad sore now, but it was still a great time.

Democrat Bloomfield Township Trustee Makes Public AntiSemitic Statements

The Oakland Press: Township Trustee Criticized For Calling Zionists scum

Of course, she's set her account to private. But, there's a screenshot, as can be seen in the article where she attacks Israeli and American "Zionists" (for Zionist just read Jews - as people like her do).  Stephanie Fakih is, to no one's surprise, a Democrat.

Now, she happens to be a Bloomfield Township Trustee and due to the outrage is apparently going to make a statement about her post tonight: C&G News Bloomfield Township trustee to address report of calling Zionists ‘scum’ in social media post.

She has the right to her opinion as she may wish, but there are consequences to racist opinions, and making her account private seems to be an acknowledgment that she got caught.

While she's not running for reelection, she should do the right thing and resign, but I suspect that will be not the most likely outcome. 

She instead seems to be calling on Muslims from outside of Bloomfield Township to appear at the meeting to support her, so the meeting could get interesting and it'll be fun to see how she tries to handle her mess.

I expect Rashida Tlaib will have a position waiting for her when she's done as trustee.

Quite The Impression There Gretchen

The Detroit News: Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer feeds podcaster Dorito in 'weird' viral video

The video has the governor feeding the podcaster a Dorito chip (What Kamala has claimed is her favorite) while wearing a Kamala Harris / Walz cap, and a rather bizarre expression, to the kneeling podcaster in a rather bizarre tik tok video.

She's now walked back this rather weird stunt and apologized as to how it was perceived, after being called out on it especially as it appears to come across as either some weird dom/sub thing, or a bit of mockery towards communion celebrated by Catholics:

Mediate: Gretchen Whitmer Apologizes For Bizarre Doritos TikTok Stunt After Catholic Outrage

Not exactly a stunt a governor of a state should be participating in, really.

But that's our governor for you, when she's not killing the elderly with bad Covid decisions, she's all class (not) and ever eager to take a poke at those who don't get behind the Democrat party line.

Yom Kippur

Yesterday, I went to services for Yom Kippur.  The services were meaningful, as was the fast which I made through without issue or complaint.

After services at the mid-day I took a break and did a hike at Haven Hill in Highland Recreational Area.

The weather was absolutely perfect for a hike.

 Saw a swan on the pond there:

And then by the parking lot some Sandhill Cranes were wandering around the field.

Rather ungainly looking birds, and they seemed to be clowning around for the people watching them.

It was a nice couple mile hike under gorgeous conditions and rather meditative to be out in nature in between services.

Then had a very pleasant light break the fast meal.  It was a meaningful Yom Kippur.

Flying: Staying Frosty

I got up at a very unhealthy hour and made it to the airport by 7am today.

Joel and I were going to pickup the Dakota from the avionics shop as it was ready to be returned to service. Apparently a wire had chafed and it was sending bad signals to the pitch/trim servo.  

So we preflighted the Archer and Joel would fly me out then he was going to fly to Saginaw to pickup an item for his work and head back to Pontiac. So, Joel would fly, I'd handle the radios and then jump out, get the Dakota and fly back. easy and should be back before 9.

A gorgeous day and we got to see the sunrise.

 There were patches of fog over each of the lakes in the area tha tlloked like little baby clouds:

The air was very calm and cold so we had great performance

We arrived and Joel did a darn nice landing.

After landing we taxi'd over to the Dakota and we could see there was an issue.

Frost!  A thick layer of frost covered the wings, tail, windows, everywhere.

Frost is very much not a good thing to have on your airplane.  It badly affects the airflow over the wing and can easily cause a loss of lift and a loss of control.  

In short, if your plane is covered in frost, you're not taking off.

So, I borrowed some brooms from Huron Avionics and tried to get it off that way,

No dice, it just scraped the ice and made some snow, but a layer of frost still clung underneath it to the wings. The plane was not in a safe condition to fly.

So we did what any aviator would do.  We went to breakfast and waited for the sun to burn it off.

The small restaurant on the field in Owosso, Crosswinds Cafe, is amazing.

 We certainly didn't go away hungry.

By the end of breakfast the frost was all burned off and I was ready to go.

After a preflight, I started the engine and let the engine warm up for a bit as it was rather cold.

The day was absolutely beautiful, winds still totally calm, sunny, and not a cloud in the sky.

Pontiac was busy enough that they went to dual towers and two frequencies.   I contacted the tower position in charge of the north runway and let them know I had the ATIS.  They had me do a downwind entry for Runway 27R, which I did, followed by a very nice landing.

Sadly, the delay waiting for the frost to go away messed up my morning, so I'm scrambling a bit now trying to catch up, but that's fine.

That's 0.6 and a great landing worth of free flying.

If You Like Your Healthcare Plan - Well, You Can't Keep Your Healthcare Plan

Got a letter from my health insurance provider.

Due to Obamacare regulations, the grandfathered status of my health insurance plan expires in 2025, and I can longer keep my plan.

The plan that I had, while a high deductible one, had a $4,000 individual out of pocket deductible after which practically everything was covered moving forward.  I only hit that cap in two of the years I've had the plan.  Very simple - hit the cap and no copays for in-network care moving forward. As plans go, it did what it needed to do at a relatively (for definitions of relatively) reasonable cost, would cover what I needed, has a good network, and does provide some useful discounts.

But, as a result of this ending of the grandfather period I need to switch to an Obamacare-approved plan.

All of the approved plans have higher individual deductibles, around $7,200-$8,000 rather than the $4,000, and all now have copays or coinsurance after the deductible is met. And some have much higher coinsurance, up to 100% to be covered by me for certain tiers (whatever the heck a tier is) compared to 0 now. So I have a out-of-pocket cost that is pretty much 100% more than I had before add in the new copays and it's over 100% easily.

The new plans offer more costs and less coverage. But hey, they offer maternity coverage - which I really don't need.

On top of that, these compliant plans are at a minimum 20% (with  potential out-of-pocket costs that are staggering) to 60% more per month (with  potential out-of-pocket costs that are less staggering but much more than I need to pay now) to again get less coverage and have to pay more out of pocket than my current plan.

So under the new Obamacare plans, I will pay more per month for the insurance, and more out of pocket when health care is actually delivered.  

I will be paying way more than double my current costs for health care to get less, whichever plan that I choose.

What a really wonderful deal.

Monday Morning Ferry Flight

Got up rather early yesterday to go to the airport.

We were going to take the Dakota to the avionics shop in Owosso to get the autopilot looked at to figure out why we keep getting the Pitch/Trim servo message and the autopilot keeps disconnecting.

Got to the airport and met up with Brian.

I pre-flighted the Archer and he did the same with the Dakota.

I took off first and headed northwest to Owosso.

I didn't go direct to avoid Flint's Class C airspace but stayed clear and skirted around it.

Gorgeous day to fly, wind only 7-8 knots and the air was pretty calm.

After the annual inspection and the tune up our new mechanic did the Archer flew like a top. It flew so much smoother, and it took off and landed smoother too after he got the landing gear in tip-top shape.

He also worked on the engine and cleaned the plugs, and tightened everything up. I was getting 120 knots indicated at a power setting I used to get 100 at pre-annual.  Darn nice job on his part.

Clouds were at about 4,500 feet by Pontiac and disappeared north of Flint leaving a completely open sky.

I landed on Runway 29 at Owosso. First time ever going there.  Owosso has kind of a weird runway setup with two grass runways intersecting the paved runway.

Would be kinda bumpy landing on the grass and then hitting the paved taxiway and runway while rolling out or when taking off,  I would think.  It also makes for a weird taxi where you cross two runways on the way to the apron and back to the runway to depart.

I found where Huron Avionics was without much difficulty and waited for Brian and the Dakota to arrive, which he did very shortly thereafter, and he taxi'd in.

We met with Huron Avionics, good folks, and dropped off the plane.

I then flew us back to Pontiac, and had another good landing.

After putting the plane away I drove to work and was in my chair by 10:30, and I then had a really busy day, but it was well worth it.  An absolutely great day to get out and fly.

That's 1.2 with 2 good landings. 

Best of all, since it was a flight for the club, it was free, and there's no flying like free flying.

Saturday Flyday

Got in a quick flight in the Dakota to Jackson on Saturday to meet up with Mr. B and his friend Mark.

I hand flew it all the way as the Dakota is still having the Pitch/Trim servo issue with the autopilot.

 I was making good time at 132 knots ground speed.

Wind was blowing from 120 degrees at Jackson so I got to land on Runway 14 for the first time.  I've now landed on all of Jackson's runways.  It was interesting as I was coming in from about 250 degrees and Jackson tower first was going to have me enter the downwind and then changed it to a leg base entry which was quite helpful.

The landing was excellent.

Mr. B and Mark arrived in the pattern as I was shutting down on the ramp.

As Mr. B's plane is having it's annual inspection done, they took Mark's Archer.

Mark has quite a nice plane.

We were soon seated at the restaurant and we all ordered  the Pilot's Omelette, as one does.

Had a great time chatting with them both and enjoying a nice meal, and it was good meeting Mark.

After breakfast, we got set to go, and I was soon holding short of Runway 14, waiting to take off.

Got clearance and Jackson Tower was excellent and friendly as usual, and even knew I liked flight following and they got that set for me without my even having to request it.  Great service indeed.

Great Lakes approach was kinda busy so they dumped me off flight following had me squawk VFR and said I could contact Detroit Approach if I wanted to do so.  I did and Detroit Approach, while they never gave me a new squawk or confirmed my request for flight following did give me traffic info as I was flying which was helpful on quite a busy day. How they kept track of me among all the other VFR targets with the standard VFR transponder code is a fun question.

Pontiac was landing on the 9 side, and I soon had it in sight. I let Detroit Approach know I had it in sight and they had me squawk VFR, which I was already doing, and call the Tower, which I did.

I then got assigned a straight-in approach following another couple aircraft, and did another darn nice landing on 9L.

A great time for breakfast with a great friend, and a new friend.

That's 1.4 (0.7 each way) and two great landings.

October 7, A Year Later

On the one-year anniversary of the terrorist attack by Hamas in which over 1,200 Israelis were killed and 250 kidnapped, Hamas' local anti-semitic supporters were rather active here in Michigan:

The Detroit News:  Vandals deface Jewish Federation offices on attack anniversary. Others report incidents

The Detroit News: Two UM leaders' homes vandalized on anniversary of Hamas attacks

In addition to the vandalism, hundreds of antisemitic flyers were distributed in Farmington Hills.

Meanwhile in New York,  on the anniversary of the attack by Hamas, Hamas supporters marched in Manhattan to celebrate it:

CBS News:  Pro-Palestinian protest marches through Manhattan, as world marks 1 year since Oct. 7 attack on Israel

These leftist Islamic supporting scum really are lovely people, eh?

Somebody Better Get Ahold Of John Wick

The Detroit News: Genesee County Jail inmate accused of assaulting support dog

Yes an inmate without provocation attacked a 13-month-old 15 pound puppy that was in the jail to act as a support animal, hitting her hard enough to cause a concussion and sending her flying.

 

The scumbag is facing a 4-10 year felony for the assault on the dog, which was caught on video. He was already in jail on an assault charge, and pretty clearly is right where he belongs. With luck, he'll get to rot in prison a while longer.

Happy Rosh Hashanah

Welcome to the year 5785.

This is the second day of celebration of the Jewish New Year.

Yesterday, I went to services and they were quite meaningful, especially with all that has gone on this year both locally and in the world.

To my readers, I wish that you have a sweet and good year and may you be inscribed in the Book of Life.