As you can see below I have many hobbies. I have summarized them in the table and then discussed them a little after the table.
Summary of my hobbies
|
Hobby |
Club |
Dues |
Meeting |
|
Scuba |
CADC |
$20 year for club dues |
Oyster Bar 7:00 PM second Tuesday of every month |
|
Flying |
CAP, AOPA |
AOPA membership, $39/year CAP Wing Dues CAP Squadron Dues $20/year |
CAP HQ, 7:00 PM 1st and 3rd Monday every month |
|
Ham Radio |
CAREN |
|
Red Cross, 6:30 PM, 2nd Thursday every month |
|
EMT |
Red Cross |
none |
Disaster Action Team , Red Cross LR, 6:30 PM second Thursday every month |
|
War Memorial |
none |
Work at War Memorial games as needed |
|
|
RCA |
NLR Sky Tigers |
$48 a year for the club $48 a year for AMA membership |
Razorback Pizza 7:00 PM in NLR, second Thursday of every month |
|
Toastmasters |
Baptist HealthToastmasters |
$78 a year for club dues |
|
|
Websites |
|
none |
none |
1. Scuba
I learned to Dive at Ricks Dive
Shop where I have found the instructors to be very well qualified. I go on
their summer night dives which are awesome due to the fact you see a lot of
fish that during the day you may not. I look forward in the future to being
able to go to various dive locations around the world (Cozumel,
Open Water
- this is the basic course you need; no frills just the start. I did it
over a weekend. It was really easy, and I enjoyed it. I did my open water at
Advanced Open Water - You need this class to take several advanced courses, like Rescue Diver and Wreck Diver. My two instructors were nice as well. I will never forget my dive to 70 feet (it was a requirement), because it was cold as hell and it got dark. You have to do a simple math problem at that depth so the instructors can prove how at that depth your thinking skills (due to nitrogen narcosis) can be affected. Well after they gave me the math problem at 70 feet, I wrote my answer down, and on three occasions they asked me to redo my calculations, which I did and came up with the same number. When I got to the surface I realized how the answer that I had adamantly insisted was correct was completely wrong. Lesson learned. It was also a good reminder of why you may want to have a buddy.
Nitrox - In this class you learn how nitrox can affect you. Nitrox is an nitrogen/oxygen mixture (hence the name Nitrox) that will allow you to spend more time underwater, to put it simply. The more complicated reason is it allows you to move up a letter (from D-C) on your dive table (which is based on oxygen in your tank, not your nitrox mixture).
Here is a Link to Ricks: http://www.ricksdivecenter.com/
2. Flying
This is my
favorite hobby. I am a single engine VFR pilot. I was trained at Barrett
Aviation by Tony Darby and got my license on April 17, 2005. I rent planes from
Barrett Aviation: http://www.controller.com/dealers/detail.asp?guid=&CID=1247420&mode=fbo
Central Flying Service: http://www.central.aero/
Weight and Balance for Barrett C-172: C-172M W & B by RRB - 6.htm
Tabs are 17.5 gals in each 24 useable gallon tank
POH for C-172 M (zip file) Cessna C-172M POH.zip
Weight and Balance for Barrett Cherokee: Cherokee W & B by RRB - 2.htm
Tabs are 17 gals in each 25 useable gallon tank
POH for Piper PA-28-180E (PDF) PA28-180E Manual.pdf
Right now I cannot afford a plane of my own, so I rent one at any of the places above. You want to see what I fly. Well go ahead and look!
Flight Radio Icom A24 Manual Icom IC-A24 Operating Manual.pdf
Barrett Aviation Planes Click here
Central Flying Service Planes Click
here
CAP planes Click here
3. Ham Radio
CAREN is the main group on this one. I have been a part of some of the activities but not as much as I would like due to my busy schedule. CAREN stands for Central Arkansas Radio Emergency Network. I find this group is an excellent way to practice ham radio at events with people around me who know all about ham and are happy to show you how to use your equipment! My call sign is KD5YRB!
Here is the CAREN website: http://www.carenclub.com/
My Radios consist of
1) Alinco DJ596T Alinco DJ596TE Operating Manual.pdf, Alinco DJ596TE Service Manual.pdf
2) Alinco DR635 Alinco DR635FM Operating Manual.pdf, Alinco DR635FM Service Manual.pdf
4. EMT
I got my EMT certification through a class taught by Chris Krablin and Toby Aikers. Man it was a lot of work and not for the faint hearted, but I do enjoy that now when I act as a volunteer in a medical capacity; I can be of more use. I got my EMT in June of 2005.
Here are some useful links:
National Registry of EMTs: http://www.nremt.org/about/nremt_news.asp
EMT Association's e-mail message board.: http://groups.msn.com/AEMTA
Arkansas Department of Health: http://www.healthyarkansas.com/ems/
UAMS: http://www.uams.edu/chrp/default.asp
Red Cross
I am on the Disaster Action Team (DAT) team and enjoy it greatly. To be on it you have to be trained in several courses (Shelter Operations, Intro to Disaster, Mass Care, etc.). The reason I put this under the EMT is because when the DAT team is called out, it is to help someone who may have just lost their house and need some help (food, clothing, a place to stay, etc). The cool part about being an EMT is that if we need to call up and order some medications for a person I can ask for them and give my EMT number so a pharmacist may feel better giving me confidential information. The courses are free and held fairly often. I also donate blood.
Red Cross website: http://www.redcrosslittlerock.org/
War Memorial
The scoop on this is simple. I volunteer as a medical person at War Memorial games and events. Any game or event they host I can be in the stands with a radio looking out for people and being there if a person gets sick. It is pretty easy and rarely does anything serious happen, but if it does me and the rest of the group are there. We have two first aid stations and MEMS is there if we need someone transported. We also help with Boo at the Zoo, Riverfest, and the Little Rock Marathon to name some others events. The group is run primarily by Chris Krablin.
Here is the stadium website: http://www.state.ar.us/wms/
5. RCA
I have been doing this for years
and already wrecked a few planes, but I enjoy it. I get a lot of my supplies
and equipment from Marks Hobby Shop, and below is the link to his website. My
main limitation is that I do not have a place to build/repair my planes, so I
usually get some help. Mark Humphries is also an officer in the RCA club. I
belong to the North Little Rock Sky Tigers, so I have a place to fly. We used
to be in
Marks Hobby Shop 296-9956: http://markshobbyshop.com/
Here is a link to my club: http://www.nlrskytigers.org/
6. Toastmasters
This has been a great source of fun that lately I have not been too involved it. The point of toastmasters is to learn to be an effective public speaker. I took a break when I got my pilot's license and have not been back. I keep saying I will start, but I am just rotten about actually doing that. I am a CTM and must say the people in the club are excellent. I encourage anyone to get at least a CTM and even have some of the comments they gave me in case I need some pointers. The people make fun of each other (two members, Ken and Paige, trade barbs every time I was there), but it is all good fun. And I cannot find their website; maybe I should offer to build them one!
7. Crystal Fire
Department
Me and a friend (the guy who is hosting this site) help them with their website by hosting it, editing it, and keeping it up to date; kind of their tech support. I am most familiar with Andrew Lachowsky, a good friend who routinely DESTROYS me in raquetball. But this is worth it, and being a former volunteer firefighter, I know both the technical side of a webpage (I mean I am writing all my pages at my website) and what a fire department does and what it can put on a website (read HIPPA here for those of you who know what HIPPA is). Here is their website!
8. Sailing
Yep, I have added another. I learned to sail at Jolly Rogers Marina (868-5558). I took a class the weekend of April 29th and 30th. I also am going to get into the Grande Maumelle Sailing Club crew pool. Wish me luck! Here is an arial photo of Jolly Rogers Marina.
Here is a google map to Jolly Rogers Marina.
Grande Maumelle Sailing Club link. Click here
Other places to rent boats: Click here
9. Arial Photos
I love to go flying, and I also have taken pictures of various things, so feel free to look at some below. I will post the pictures later when I have a chance. Want to get a photo of something? Well maybe you can e-mail me. I can put them in hotlinks in Arcveiw and geo-reference them in any datum and projection you want! I am not selling pictures. I do this for fun, but I would want a person separate from me to be in the plane taking pictures. It is a safety issue since it is not in my opinion safe for me to fly the plane and take pictures.
1) Landing at
2)
3) The Spillway at
4) The Water intakes at
So where are 2, 3, and 4? Well look below.
|
|
I have also made a PDF of the above map, so please look at it here.
5) The bridge on the Lock and Dam near I-430 (6 pics): Here
6) A lock and dam (6 pics): Here