Todd's Little 600

  A few weeks ago, me and my friend Todd went to a near by field to test out his new Align Trex 600 Nitro. At that point he had had it for about a month, and was still getting used to all the ups and downs of the little helicopter.

  The Trex 600 is a very high tech R/C. This isn't one of those remote control vehicles you just put some batteries in it and go. You definitely need some practice time with this little machine. In fact, it is so complex they even make flight simulator software for the Trex 600. This way you can keep crashing it and doesn't cost anything to fix.

  The day we went out Todd was feeling quite comfortable with normal flight, so he decided to switch a few settings around and try flying the helicopter  inverted. Let's just say, it didn't go quite as planned. A few seconds into the flight, and the next thing I know I was hiding behind a large pile of gravel, taking cover from flying debris. Some how Todd had lost complete control over the 4'  long carbon fiber blades that control the Trex 600. It instantly flew straight into the ground and proceeded to run uncontrollably. The blades where breaking apart and flying all over the place. Luckily it soon ran out of gas, and we didn't die. As I said before, not your typical R/C vehicle.

  Needless to say, Todd wasn't too happy about his new broken toy. You can see his new found excitement in the last picture above.

  If you are interested in seeing what these little helicopters can really do, watch this video.

Taking in the Local Wildlife

  A few weeks ago Megan and I, and our family took a trip down to the North Carolina Zoo. It had probably been about 5 years since my last visit. I was super excited about testing out my nature photography skills, and by no means am I a nature photographer. But going to your local zoo is an excellent way to see amazing wildlife that would normal be impossible. We had a great day.

   Next time you have some spare time on your hands, and you're trying to figure out something fun and creative to do, take a camera and your photo skills down to your local zoo, and have fun capturing mother nature and its beauty. 

  I have posted a few images from my recent excursion above. 

Happy Birthday

For those of you who didn't know, Monday was my birthday. I'm an old man now at the age of 25. My loving wife had several surprises in store for me over the previous weekend. 

    Surprise #1: Classic case of showing up at your own house, and a lot of your friends jumping out from behind stuff, that I didn't even know people could hide behind yelling "SURPRISE!"

    Surprise #2: After being totally shocked, we all hopped in a couple of cars and headed down to our local laser tag arena. Once again I was very shocked, seeing as how I haven't played laser tag in about 15 years. Everyone was so nice to let me win in both rounds of laser tag, except my wife. She had to make sure I wasn't getting to big of a head. 

    Surprise #3: When I arrived back at my house from shooting everyone with lasers, there were even more of my friends hanging out and grilling up all kinds of foods. Its pretty cool to know that you have people out there that really care about you.

    Surprise #4: Finally, after digesting some delicious grilled food, and killing off some excellent cup cakes, I got to open up some presents. Normally this isn't a surprise, but what was a surprise is what I received from my wife. I opened up this tinny little box where I pull out a match box car that resembled an Indy car.  I was attached to it as a paper Indy car driver cutout. Instantly I thought," you have got to be kidding me." Not because I was disappointed, but because I was so excited. She had gotten me a gift certificate to drive a real life Indy car; a dream I've had since I was a little kid. Check out the school by clicking here.

   I just wanted to say a quick, "THANK YOU" to everyone who showed up to wish me a happy birthday, and a "sorry you couldn't make it," to all of those who couldn't come.