There are many elements to my daily life, but closest to me are my family. Each day I am thankful for them, and I thought it might be nice to share some recent pics (of varying quality – *sorry*) of Sarah and the kids.

First, my wife, Sarah. I am so blessed to wake up and see her smile. She makes my days. She has for almost a decade now.

Evelyn, who always has to have some sort of figurine or stuffed animal nearby, is 1/2 way through her first year of preschool (which she loves) and 1/2 way through being 4 years old (which is amazing to us…where does time go?)

Oliver is going to turn 3 in just a couple weeks…again, where did the last three years go? Similar to his big sister, he is usually accompanied by some sort of miniature vehicle. Lightning McQueeen, tractors, skid steers, airplanes, trains. Definitely takes after someone in this family. Below, he is flying “Siddley the Spy Jet” around the kitchen as “Rescue Mater” watches from the floor.

He imagines himself in many different “hero” roles these days – which is cool. Also great entertainment (for him as well as Sarah and me)!

Both kids love to do art projects, and have their parent’s creative genes:

They play hard and work hard too…in the picture above, Evie was working on her “Star of the Week” poster for school. Below she shows it off:

The evidence of playing hard is hard to miss at the end of my days…evidence that proves how blessed I am!

As we continue to plunge headlong into the election season, you can hear the term “evangelical” roll off the tounge of newsmen and pundits. Newt Gingrich, running for the Republican nomination to Presidency, was said to have pulled off his victory in South Carolina’s primary election last week thanks to a groundswell of “evangelical voters.”

Evangelical. What does that mean? It has become quite the buzz word. Lots of people think it means protestant (i.e., Christian, but not Catholic). Others identify “evangelicals” with the “Christian Right” – a political base that addresses platform issues through the application of Christian faith. Springboarding from that definition, it is clear that being “evangelical” means you are pro-life, anti-same sex marriage, and all about school prayer.

But what if you aren’t any of those things? Maybe you believe in some of those ideas, but not all? Can you still be confident that you are truly evangelical in your faith walk? Some would say yes, many would say no.

To be evangelical is to have (1) recognized Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior over you. (2) To uphold the Bible as the #1 authority on all matters in life. (3) To share and exemplify the gospel. There are other derivatives and variations of this basic formula, but these three points summarize the roots of evangelicalism.

So, how do all the social issues muddy the water? Biblical authority. Plain and simple. Because we all know and understand that the canon of books assembled into the Bible have been interpreted and re-interpreted hundreds of times. The original scriptures were written in greek, aramaic, hebrew, and in ancient forms and dialects. Now we have the “New American Standard Version,” the “New King James Version,” the “New Life,” “New Living,” and “The Message” translations…just to name a few. How are Christians to be sure that we really know what God’s word says?

Valley Christian Church, where our family has been attending church, has a very realistic approach on the matter: “In areas where the New Testament does not give us a direct command or clear precedent, we believe individual believers are called to search the Scriptures, pray for direction, and follow their own consciences before God (Romans 14).”

Is this an evangelical approach? I say yes. Many denominations however, by a matter of their own polity (or,  governance, if you will), would disagree. You see, under denominational faith, scripture is pre-designated in intent, definition, and interpretation by denominational doctrine. Members of denominational churches (and some non-denominational) are expected to uphold the doctrine they are taught and told.

The denominational approach is inherently flawed. Lutherans, Catholics, Presbyterians, Methodists, Baptists…they all have their own specialization of the Christian faith. The lines of distinction are clear. Have you ever felt you were judged   by what denomination you were a member of? Does your denominational doctrine imply judgement over others?

What ever happened to just doing what Jesus wanted us to do? Follow Him. Obey God’s commands. Love your neighbor.

God taught us to “love your neighbor as yourself.” (Leviticus 19:18) When a religious scholar asked Jesus how to define “neighbor” in this command, Jesus answered with the parable of the “Good Samaritan” (Luke 10:25-37). In that parable, Jesus teaches that one who shows mercy upon another – unconditional mercy and love – can be called “neighbor.” Hand-in-hand with the “Golden Rule” of Luke 6:31, Jesus taught us that there are no boundaries to the command. So why do we draw denominational lines between believers?

Enter the Restoration Movement. Since the early 1800′s, believers who no longer desired to be distracted from true faith by denominational differences have created “Christian” churches. Non-denominational, unaffiliated, and completely focused on “restoring” the original Christian church (as described by the first couple chapters of Acts), the movement lives on today. Valley Christian Church is simply what it’s name says: a Christian church. Denominationally independent and theologically committed to Biblical teaching and practice. Merely Christian.

Now, back to evangelicalism. Much like the divisiveness that denominational differences have caused for so many Christians, I feel what is being heralded as “evangelism” is doing the same thing. Pick your topic – abortion, homosexuality, marriage, guns, school prayer. Where do you stand? Does it mean you love Jesus less? More importantly does it mean that He loves you less? Some “evangelicals” want you to think that, so that you will repent.

I want to know what Jesus wants. I want to seek His will. My socio-political stance doesn’t define me as much as my commitment to Christ does. If I am fully committed to Christ, just as the early church was back around 30 AD, then I know the right decisions will be made. I know my conscience will be clear. I know how I will be defined.

This is my confession – my post-evangelical admission.

O God, you are holy! You occupy every place, every space, and your presence has no boundary. Thank you, God, for giving men free will – for allowing us to seek you, as you would have us do! I pray that you will help me remember that the Church is YOUR Church. Inspire me, Lord, to walk in my faith, with you, in a way that cannot be defined or named, but rather exemplified and honored by the actions of Your will. Thank you for your everlasting Love. Through Christ I pray, Amen! 

All Mesaba aircraft have been placarded with "Operated By Pinnacle Airlines" but will carry the "XJ" placard as well until they are transferred out of the operational fence.

For the last 12 years, I have worked for Mesaba Aviation, Inc., also known as Mesaba Airlines. In July of 2010 , Mesaba was acquired by Pinnacle Airlines Corp. and during the months since, great preparations were made, and scrapped, and then made again and then acted upon to merge Mesaba’s jet operations with Pinnacle’s. As of January 4th, I officially became an employee of Pinnacle Airlines, Inc.

Though, by all generally observed evidence available to the general public’s eye, nobody is the wiser. I still fly “Delta” flights. (Well, “Delta Connection”, but only the side of the airplane seems to say that. Nobody else really does.) When you board a flight I operate, you are carrying a Delta boarding pass. Not a “Pinnacle” boarding pass. 99.9% of our passengers don’t have a clue that the airplane they are riding on is being operated by crewmembers that work for Pinnacle, but utilize Mesaba procedures, under what the FAA calls a “fenced environment.” Close to the same number have never heard the names “Mesaba” and “Pinnacle.” And even if you told them all about the truth of the matter, they wouldn’t care. “When will we arrive?” is really about  the only thing they care about.

For the crews, however, it is pretty blatant that things have changed and that they will continue to. We all have been re-badged. The airplanes have new logos indicating that we are being operated by Pinnacle (such as in the photo above). There have been small tweaks here and there to procedures, but a trip to the schoolhouse will be required to fully transition ex-Mesaba crew to work with native Pinnacle crew. The Mesaba general offices, or “GO” in Eagan has been vacated. All operations are now coordinated from Pinnacle HQ in Memphis. The callsign we use now is “Flagship.” And the list goes on and on.

For many non-crew employees, the merge with Pinnacle has meant either the loss of their jobs, or having to pick up and move to Memphis if they wanted to keep them. Former Mesaba co-worker Paulajean had this reaction in her own blog, and I think it sums it up nicely:

…it was announced that Mesaba had been sold to Pinnacle Airlines. This was an airline that was our competitor and whom we had often watched struggle to perform. With this purchase, all of us were told that within the next couple years, we would be expected to move to Memphis if we wanted to keep our jobs. Most of us were shocked and heartbroken. We had been through many ups and downs as a company, but this was far worse than anything thrown at us in the past. We were a Minnesota company, full of people that had grown up with this company and put so much of ourselves into it. To be told we all had to move and to look around the room that day and realize that so many of us would not, that it would never be the same again, was just too sad.

The whole “Mesaba-sold-to-Pinnacle” concept has been confusing to everyone. Like Paulajean said, Mesaba had the stronger performance history, and Pinnacle had struggled to perform. Mesaba had been made into the largest CRJ-900 operator in the industry, and was producing record revenue for Delta. Pinnacle was struggling with the acquisition of Colgan Air (who operates for United and US Airways) and the fallout from the Flight 3407 crash in 2009. Pinnacle had also been struggling with performance issues on the Delta Connection side. Both airlines shared a long history (and rivalry) as Northwest Airlines Airlink and now Delta Connection, but Mesaba always seemed to have the more secure and respected operation. So why didn’t we buy Pinnacle? Why was it the other way around?

First off, Mesaba was a wholly-owned subsidiary of Delta. Pinnacle was a publicly traded independent organization. It just wasn’t going to happen the “other way around” from a corporate-mechanics point of view. But it very well may be that Delta set up the transaction purposefully so Mesaba’s people, operating culture, and success would bolster Pinnacle. In actuality of the matter, even though Mesaba was purchased by Pinnacle, it is now long-time Mesaba people who have taken top leadership positions post-acquisition. The COO is none other than John Spanjers, who has led Mesaba since 1999, through growth, labor struggles, bankruptcy, and regrowth, divestiture, and now merger. John is a numbers guy – and he is good at pushing his team to get results in operational performance and safety. He has had a good, respectable relationship with Richard Anderson, former Northwest chief, now at the helm of Delta. Several of his time-trusted upper management partners have also migrated south (to Memphis) to help lead the “new” Pinnacle — people who are now either VPs or EVPs of Flight Ops (pilots), Tech Ops (aircraft maintenance), Inflight (flight attendants), and Safety.

It is clear to me that this is all by Delta’s hand. They financed the acquisition, and they clearly provide the revenue stream that makes Pinnacle tick. The departure of long-time CEO Phil Trenary and COO Doug Shockey was overdue. The choice of their replacements (former Frontier Airlines CEO and airline restructuring expert Sean Menke, and Spanjers, respectively) indicate that a big player needed the acquisition and merger to work a certain way, in a certain amount of time. I think former Mesaba employees can take solace in the knowledge that they will be working for the same people…by design.

Nonetheless, this year will be trying for many employees as they become “Pinnaclized.” It is somewhat like losing your identity when you have to learn all new procedures, new names, new phone numbers…and you were just happy the way things were. But the upside is a good one – now that we are part of a very large airline, we have good inertia for our career longevity. The long-term plan is to change Colgan Air’s name to “Mesaba,” so that our former company legacy can live on in name at the very least. There are a lot of Mesaba people already working in high places at the Colgan operation to ensure that the Mesaba operational culture is integrated there. The “new Mesaba” will run only turboprops (on the Q400 for United, and the Saab SF340 for United and US Airways). The ability for pilots to bid system-wide between the Mesaba-Colgan and Pinnacle operations for positions under a unified, single seniority list and single contract has already provided job security for many legacy Mesaba pilots.

All of the upside considered, there will be some rough patches to navigate through. The company desperately needs to restructure and complete the transition of the legacy-Mesaba jet operation over to Pinnacle. The Colgan operation needs to become more reliable and lean – if only to prepare for future opportunities. If everything is successful in these regards, the company will be very well positioned for growth as their primary partners – Delta and United – continue in their epic battle to dominate domestic flying in a quest to feed their international hubs. We already are a big player in NYC and Delta has big plans to expand LaGuardia this year. Meanwhile, as the Continental-United merger continues to roll through its challenges, there has been indications that more Q400 flying may be at hand soon as the new United network takes shape. With American Airlines in restructuring mode, and US Airways, United, and Delta all looking to capitalize on opportunities, Pinnacle can really have a bright future.

In the end, the culture needs to reinvent itself across all company lines, and it will. I am confident that, over time, as we blend and work with the legacy Pinnacle and Colgan employees, legacy Mesaba employees will stand out as leaders. Like I said earlier, Mesaba has always been respected. I know we will carry ourselves across that “fence line” in such a way that proves why. In our hearts, we will carry that “Gordy Newstrom” spirit (Gordy founded Mesaba in Colaraine, MN in 1944). But on our black-and-gold sleeves, we will show new feelings of pride.

I just captured this picture from our weather webcam (at lakevilleweather.com) that points out into the backyard. 9 days ago, when I posted this entry, the view from the webcam looked like this:

So, what happened to all the snow? 40 degree weather and about a 1/3 inch of rainfall yesterday decimated it. Oh, and it became so warm before the rain that the topsoil thawed (hence the nice green grass as opposed to dormant brown).

Local weather wonks are saying less than a 30% chance now of a white Christmas this year. But lets remember, this is Minnesota. Anything is possible!

This season of fantasy football has been one of the most challenging and fun for me. Unfortunately, thanks to Matt Forte’s knee injury last week, and some abysmal stats from the rest of my roster, I was knocked out of post-season contention by having the least points-for in a three-way tie in my division (go ahead, click on the picture for a closer look):

So close, yet so far. My only solace is that the points leader of the league also got bumped from postseason berth due to injuries. He had Chris Johnson. The guy at the top of Division 1 (Cowpie) lost his last game, and is on bye this week. But he is 8-5 due to Adrian Peterson. Team Karate is at 9-4, and also on bye for the first playoff round, and has been sailing through the season with Greg Jennings, Rashard Mendenhall, and some rookie QB named Newton…

Winter.

As I have warned several times before, my posts as infrequent as they are may cause readers of my blog to lose track of long stretches of time. Actually, it is this author who tends to lose track of long stretches of time, especially when the seasons either drag on and on or blend together. Either phenomenon occurs with regularity where the deer and the antelope play.

Such has been for the fall of 2011, and will be to come for the winter of ’11-’12. The last time  I posted was at the beginning of October, where I put up a picture gallery of the “last of summer” and “beginning of fall.” Fortunately for Minnesotans everywhere…actually for Americans everywhere…winter was tentative at best for the two-plus months. We typically flinch at the possibility of a snowy Halloween (many of us carry scars from the Halloween Blizzard of 1991), and we understand fully the treacherousness of travelling “over the river and through the woods” for Thanksgiving. But this year, Mother Nature gave us a pass. For example, no more than a week ago, it looked like this:

That’s right. Not a flake of snow on the ground on November 29 as we headed out to find our Christmas tree. Granted, it was 37 degrees, so we still bundled up, but something about pulling a 7 foot evergreen on a sled…over grass…doesn’t quite seem the same.

But now, we have winter. It is in the teens right now, and the lows tonight will get back down into single-digit territory. We have 5″ of the white-quality-of-life on the tundra, and have been seeing shower after shower of flurries for the last two days.

The last picture shows our now empty and dormant garden. Hard to believe that only 3 months ago it looked like this:

So now we have winter and all that comes with it. Better late then never! The holiday season is upon us as well, and we are enjoying all that comes with it. In fact, I will raise a cup of egg nog and say “Merry Christmas” to you right now!

As I enjoy the balmy and un-seasonal 80 degrees outside today (its October 2nd) I am compelled to catch up on some photos. There are lots though, so I baked up an album for your scrolling pleasure. In chronological order, they are from the kids’ first real campout during the first week of September, a trip to the apple orchard mid-September, and finally a trip to a hands-on farm and orchard this last week. Good times!

For a full-window view, click here.

You are going to spend a ton of time reading about, praying about, and talking about 9/11 today. It will really wash over your whole day. You are going to try to have a “normal Sunday”…but it won’t be. I myself will be trying to enjoy the first Sunday of regular season football…but it will be wrought with ceremony and memorialization.

There will be lots of talk about impact and who had to endure what. In my opinion, there were only a certain set of people who were most immediately and dramatically effected by the terrorist attacks of 9/11:

- The people who died at the WTC, The Pentagon, and UAL93 and their families
- The first responders  who were dispatched to the above locations
- The employees of the United States airline industry (particularly pilots and flight attendants)
- The people of NYC, particularly Manhattan
- Members of the US Military

These five groups ended up being forced into sacrifice they never imagined. Many people will argue that all US citizens have sacrificed and suffered since 9/11, and I agree with them – I am not trying to diminish that. All I am saying is that 10 years of retrospective leads me to the opinion that these five groups of people had greater, more immediate levels of sacrifice due to the direct effect of the terrorists. Here is the rationale:

It should go without saying that the people who were onboard the hijacked flights and died, and the people at ground zero who died – including at The Pentagon – were innocents who died needlessly. But their families – equally innocent –  live on in perpetual sacrifice through the memories of their loved ones who they miss. My prayers go out to them the most.

The first responders – police, fire, EMTs, sheriffs, guardsmen, etc…the list goes on – who were sent to rescue people from the attacks saw their mission change before their eyes to a recovery mission. It was long and exhausting both mentally and physically. I cannot begin to fathom their level of sacrifice.

As a member of the airline industry it is hard for me not to include myself and my colleagues in this list. Every time a passenger boards an airplane they look to their flight crew for reassurances that we have everything under control – that their lives are safe. But such was the case pre-9/11 as it is today. The change we endured was not a change in our job overall. It was a change in how we did our job. We have pilots who are trained and deputized by the DHS to fly while armed as the last line of defense to a hijacking. We were all trained how to better defend the flight deck, how to respond if someone  gives us even the slightest twinge of uncertainty from a security standpoint. But moreover, the impact of the 3-day shutdown on US airspace and the resultant tightening of airline security measures crippled the airline industry economically. Tens of thousands of airline employees lost their jobs and their livelihood. Our sacrifice has been great.

New Yorkers are wonderful people. They have the trademark, patent, and all royalties on what it means to be American. The WTC was the symbol of their city. It was destroyed to purposefully destroy the pride, faith, and confidence of every New Yorker, and thus, every red-blooded American. What the terrorists didn’t count, however, was that New Yorkers (and thus, Americans) are not weak submissives. They are fighters. Toby Keith said it best in his post-9/11 tribute song Red, White, and Blue, “You’ll be sorry you messed with the U S of A.” And while we all can share in the feeling of national pride, I really think it pales in comparison to the emotions of the people of NYC. Think about it…if someone burned down your neighbors house, you would certainly come to their aid and be empathetic. But if someone burned down your house the feeling would be much different. New Yorkers have sacrificed more than any other citizenry in this country due to 9/11.

Finally, our military. Whether you agree or you disagree with the decisions to make war in Iraq and Afganistan in response to the events of 9/11, you cannot deny the sacrifice of our military and their families. They serve selflessly. They give their lives to their country – literally – whether they live or die in service, a person serving in the armed forces no longer lives for himself or his family. He or she lives for the USA. They sacrifice their own personal freedom so you and I can have ours. Some may argue that if 9/11 had never occurred, we would still have found a way to war anyway due to the number of conflicts worldwide. But even those people cannot deny that the level of military sacrifice has been far greater due to the events  of 9/11.

In closing, I want to make sure I tell my 9/11 story (the “where were you when”):

That week my parents, my brother and I planned a trip to Orlando to see Universal Studios and perhaps hit Daytona Beach. My folks got a two-bedroom condo down there for us all to share and they, along with my brother, arrived a day before me. I ended a trip on the 9th and flew down to Orlando joining them the afternoon of the 10th. We relaxed poolside that evening, headed out and had supper and retired for the evening with plans to head to the theme park in the morning. The only damper to our plans, we thought, would have been tropical storm Gabrielle, picking up strength in the Gulf of Mexico and forecast to impact most of FL on the 12th.

The morning of 9/11, just before 9am, I woke to the smell of fresh coffee and the sounds of my mom starting some breakfast out in the kitchen. I got up, went out, said good morning, and my mom pointed out the TV…on which there was that video feed looking at the smoldering north tower. I asked her what was going on, and she said, “Someone flew a plane into the World Trade Center.” We were puzzled and I remember asking, “Like, a small plane?” Within minutes, while watching the live coverage, along with hundreds of thousands of other viewers, I watched UAL175 fly into the south tower…on live TV.

My heart almost stopped.

From that point on it was a blur. I remember thinking it wasn’t possible. I remember feeling scared. I remember feeling like there had to be some other explanation. Then as we were finishing breakfast and starting to get ready to head out we watched the towers come crashing down. By now the news had already broke about the other planes, the Pentagon crash, and preliminary reports of Flight 93′s end in PA. We thought about staying in, but made the decision to try and act as normal as possible. I mean, it was vacation, right?!

When we arrived at Universal we were turned away. The theme parks all closed as a result of the attacks, so we spent the day shopping and listening to the radio. Remember the radio stations? All programming was halted. It was live news on every station. Later in the day, I started getting calls from friends and co-workers…many of whom were stranded due to the grounding of every flight. I participated in a couple of phone conferences with the union as we tried to prepare assistance to pilots stuck in outstations. I wasn’t much help as I was stuck myself and wouldn’t get a chance to get back to Minneapolis for two more days with the rest of the world.

Gabrielle did hit, and I remember thinking that the rain and the wind was a good accompaniment to the mood. We eventually did make it to Universal. Everyone was down, and I don’t mean just my family, I mean everyone. The look on people’s faces said it all; everyone felt the sucker-punch. Everyone was grieving. But it was hard to enjoy it became very clear over the days that  life as we all knew it  was all going to change.

Never forget.

Since my last post (my “birthday” post) I went into radio blog silence. Having realized that summer was half over, I recommitted to the remainder of what summer 2011 had to offer. We didn’t have a summer vacation in the traditional sense – in fact my vacation week officially started today. We tried to escape to a state park for camping in early July, but like thousands of others were stymied by the MN legislature and the needless shutdown. (We will recoup by camping at a regional – not state – park this week.) Still, our summer was filled with lots of great stuff to do at home and close to home…and especially outside!

Sprinklers

Geocache finding

Geocache hunting

Playgrounds

Veggie garden harvesting

Clever photo-trickery

I hope you all had a great summer too! ~ KP

Ice cream, of course

This week was awesome. I mean, it really was.

It started out with my birthday. Sarah took me out. That was pretty cool. Experienced the new and all-the-rage 3D tech at the movie theater. Gave me a slight headache, but still pretty cool.

The day after my birthday, my kids took me out. We went to Pizzeria Lola, which was (1) fantasic, and (2) nostalgic as it is blocks from the house I was born in. After the fab pizza, we went to Sebastian Joe’s (the one in Linden Hills). Maybe some of you have also bonded with their tortoise, as Evie and Ollie did in the pic.

The day after that was a kick-ass day at the office. You know, one of those days where you just feel good about what you were accomplishing? Even simple shit like making coffee…I just felt good about it.

Yesterday, I witnessed something historic. No detail needed for this blog post, but all I have to say is (1) when good people want to ensure that good things will happen, they show up…in unexpected numbers, and (2) man was I proud to be among such good people!

Today I counted blessings…which is kinda what this post is about. Blessings in the form of little things that are actually the foundation for the bigger picture of a good life.