About

Dressed to ImpressCall me Shoup. I have a first name, but for some reason most people are drawn to the last name like moths to a flame. So you can call me Shoup or any derived nickname from said last name.

And then stop right here.

Do not think you’re funny or the first one to come up with Shoup Dawg, Soup, Snoop, Shope, Sloop, Scop, Slappy, or even Little Deuce Shoup. I’ve heard them ALL before. Although I have to admit, I laughed at Little Deuce.

Born at the foot of the Rockies in Colorado, I have spent the majority of my life living in Southern California, specifically the “OC.” And yes, all of us live life just like the tv show! I suppose I should warn you now, I tend to run things a bit on the sarcastic side.

After living the back-breaking SoCal life, I decided to pull up roots and see where my wings took me. First stop, North Dakota. Seriously.

Great college up in Grand Forks. Excellent aviation program, despite the weather, and an even better hockey team. Yes, it was cold. No, I didn’t mind. Much. Stop asking stupid questions.

While in college, I built a web page and christened it Shoup Airlines. A thinly based facade to look like an airline, the site basically entertained family and friends as they read of my exploits on the Great Plains. Yet I still got requests for schedules and ticket prices. My favorite was an aircraft mechanic looking for a job.

As much as I loved the people and small town atmosphere of the Midwest, after putting in four years it was time to move on. Next stop, Northern Virginia. Just outside of Washington, D.C. actually.

I started working as a pilot for a commuter airline dubbed Atlantic Coast Airlines. That was the first and, most likely, last airline I will ever work for. Four years into that gig and I became a member of a rapidly growing group – furloughed airline pilots. That’s aviation jargon for laid off.

So, dusting off the wings and letting the prevailing winds carry me, I ended up back in SoCal. In all honesty, I wasn’t too disappointed to see that job go. I enjoyed the experiences and all the friends I made, but I hated NoVA. The place cost the same if not more than SoCal, but didn’t have any of the amenities SoCal offers. Plus, the airline industry just isn’t one of those baskets you put all of your eggs into.

Back in SoCal and looking for more of a corporate pilot yob, I found myself bored and needing something to do. I had forgotten about the old web site and went in search. Unfortunately, I discovered the old site had been lost when a few of UND’s servers were destroyed in a fire. So I set about revamping Shoup Airlines and re-introducing her to the world. Now with more blog and an extra scoop of sarcasm!

Still looking for a job, I literally bumped into the California Army National Guard, who just happened to be looking for Blackhawk pilots. Wooing me with their magical words of getting to see the world and being all I could be (really, who could resist that?), I bit. And that is where you currently find me, awaiting flight school for the Blackhawk.

Please, make yourselves at home, relax, put your feet up on the coffee table and enjoy. Read, laugh, cry at my badness, complain, say hi, leave a comment, or just lurk. Remember though, I have tracking software and know who you are if you leave ring stains on my coffee table.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot, we’re still not hiring any mechanics. Yet.

 

I figured it was time to update the 100 Things a bit since it has been two years since I visited it last. But I also thought it would be kind of cool to leave the old one below the update just to see how much things have changed. Not much, really.

100 Things – 2007 Edition

  1. I still bleed southpaw
  2. I do at least one crossword puzzle a day
  3. I hate Will Shortz as a result
  4. I am now a Warrant Officer Candidate in the CA National Guard
  5. That’s a rank that specializes in the “hurry up and wait” doctrine
  6. I am hurrying up and waiting for flight school in the Blackhawk
  7. I can’t find a job to save my life because everyone thinks I’ll get a school date tomorrow
  8. Yes, this includes jobs within the National Guard
  9. However, they do let me get to wrench on the birds from time to time
  10. I have learned to embrace my alter ego, Shafty
  11. Not so much the other one
  12. I notice I left out music last time
  13. My tastes are quite eclectic
  14. I enjoy most everything
  15. I can tolerate rap
  16. But I abhor Country and Western (modern)
  17. I put the modern caveat in there because I do enjoy the Man in Black and Hank Williams
  18. Will always be my jersey number
  19. Classic Rock sits atop all the styles as #1
  20. A few of my favorite bands are Queen, Led Zeppelin, The Who and The Clash
  21. I’ve noticed that every single one of those bands lost a member tragically too soon.
  22. I hope this doesn’t mean anything for Muse, which is quickly joining the ranks of #20
  23. Oingo Boingo fits in there somewhere too, I’ve just never known how to label them
  24. I also gravitate towards anything with a piano in it
  25. Betting is still open
  26. But it should probably be closed soon
  27. The next year (and possibly more) of military activity is going to put a serious kibosh on any kind of social life
  28. I write reviews for movies
  29. No, not in a professional manner
  30. I am never timely in my reviews
  31. This has never stopped people from reading them
  32. I hardly watch any television
  33. And in the next breath, I like Heroes
  34. Mythbusters
  35. Dirty Jobs
  36. and Jeopardy
  37. My head is a bottomless pit of useless trivia to YOU
  38. My head is a shallow puddle of useless trivia to Buzz
  39. I still hate running
  40. But I do it anyway
  41. Want to run with me?
  42. Still the ultimate answer
  43. My pinky toes are sideways (the nail faces left or right, instead of the standard up, make sense?)
  44. My mother is grossed out by that fact
  45. I sent her a photo of my bare feet at the beach as a joke
  46. That beach happened to be Key West and I struck upon a better idea
  47. I started taking photos of my feet in interesting places
  48. I also stumbled upon reflective photography by accident
  49. I like taking photos
  50. I currently (used loosely) shoot with a Canon AE-1 SLR
  51. I haven’t used the camera in over two years
  52. I got tired of shooting film and then scanning everything
  53. I am lusting over the Nikon D80 DSLR
  54. I’m not really sure why I haven’t purchased one yet
  55. Maybe I’ll have gotten one by the next time I update this list
  56. Or not
  57. I drive a 1994 VW Jetta
  58. It’s red
  59. I’ve been told it’s a chick car
  60. I still get 35 mpg, so suck it!
  61. I was an Eagle scout
  62. That and about $3 will get you a cup of coffee on today’s market
  63. I have never seen Schindler’s List
  64. Nor The Sound of Music
  65. Raise your hand if you just rolled your eyes in disgust
  66. There is no reason for not having seen either of them, I just haven’t gotten around to them yet
  67. My Netflix queue is at 244 movies…and growing
  68. The Sound of Music is still not on that list
  69. I’ve rated 931 movies on Netflix
  70. I thought I had seen a lot of movies
  71. Until I saw a friend’s rating count…2,758!
  72. My ass hurts just thinking of that many movies
  73. I have apparently become a web site designer
  74. To keep flying (it’s expensive) I volunteer as a tow pilot for gliders
  75. It can be extremely exhaustive, physically
  76. But I wouldn’t trade it in for anything, except maybe a Blackhawk
  77. This was a good year
  78. Can you tell I’m running out of things to say?
  79. Another good year
  80. The year one of my all time top ten movies came out
  81. I have always believed I will see the world end in my lifetime
  82. I’ve thought this since a very early age
  83. I have no clue why
  84. But I have an intuition that scares even me sometimes
  85. I don’t have any tonsils
  86. Or adenoids for that matter
  87. But I still have my appendix
  88. I’ve been told I mumble
  89. I’m of the belief that my brain just works faster and therefore it appears I mumble
  90. I prefer dogs to cats
  91. I prefer large dogs to small dogs
  92. I have been on tv
  93. Next to William Shatner
  94. Yes, he can be a prick
  95. But then wouldn’t you if you were stuck hosting Rescue 911?
  96. I played a dispatcher in the background during one of his monologues
  97. I earned more money in that 3 hours than I did in two weeks at my normal job of the time
  98. Technically, I was on tv a second time
  99. But I don’t really count it
  100. You can see Connelly, Beni and myself in the crowd during a taping of Late Night with Conan O’Brien

 

Since these seem to be the trend with blogs, and we all know just how trendy I am, here are 100 things you most likely already knew about me. Had I known how much of a pain this thing would have been when I started it, you woudln’t be reading this! So sit down. Shut up. And enjoy!

100 Things – 2005 Edition

  1. I am a southpaw
  2. I enjoy watching right handers try to use a left handed mouse
  3. I cannot believe how much right handers complain about said left handed mouse
  4. I prefer the pen to the pencil, less left handed smearage
  5. I am convinced no one else is real in this world.
  6. it’s all a fabrication for my interaction,
  7. and I am being observed.
  8. I have a very active imagination
  9. I don’t drink coffee
  10. However, I need breakfast like most people need coffee
  11. Cereal is usually what’s for breakfast
  12. To the chagrin of many, which I will never understand, I mix cereals!
  13. My knees hate me because of #58
  14. I prefer Star Wars to Star Trek
  15. The Empire Strikes Back is my favorite
  16. I was very disappointed with Lucas’ latest trilogy
  17. Hockey is my first sport
  18. This is my jersey number
  19. Hockey is the only thing (so far) that I do right handed
  20. I love the sport for it’s speed and skill
  21. I believe the “scrappiness” of the game is necessary, but not to the extent that some do
  22. I am a fan of the Los Angeles Kings
  23. There will always be a special place in my heart for the Buffalo Sabres
  24. Don’t ask me why, I don’t know either.
  25. I ABHOR the Detroit Red Wings
  26. Baseball is my second sport
  27. I am a fan of the Los Angeles Dodgers
  28. I hate the New York Spankees with a passion
  29. But not as much as I hate Spankees Fans
  30. I will always root for the little guy, the underdog. ALWAYS
  31. I will always hate the giant corporate teams that buy championships. ALWAYS (Red Wings, Spankees)
  32. I have an odd fascination with the darker side of life
  33. This does not IN ANY WAY affirm Mr. Moral Declivity
  34. I often root for the villains in films. The more sinister the better.
  35. Vader, Hal 9000 and Agent Smith. Pure, unadulterated EVIL
  36. Probably explains my love for #15
  37. I believe Gary Oldman and Kevin Spacey play some of the best villains
  38. I have an unhealthy addiction for crosswords
  39. I blame it on the boredom of sitting in an airline cockpit
  40. I do them in pen
  41. I’m not that good at them, I just use a pen because of #4
  42. The ultimate answer
  43. I really hate when crossword authors bend the spelling of a word to make it fit
  44. I consider that cheating
  45. I am a pilot
  46. I have flown all sorts of airplanes from canvas skinned tail wheels to 50 seat jets
  47. I prefer the tail wheels
  48. I have been hit by lightning
  49. Thrice
  50. In a jet
  51. All three times
  52. I plan to start flying helicopters soon
  53. I affectionately call them weed-whackers
  54. I am a Specialist in the California Army National Guard as a Blackhawk mechanic
  55. I plan to be a Warrant Officer flying said Blackhawk
  56. I hate running
  57. But I appreciate its results
  58. I have run a marathon
  59. I plan to run another…someday
  60. I am a jack of MANY trades
  61. Some, and I will never understand this, think I’ve done too much
  62. I am a master of none
  63. I am an avid reader of all things written
  64. I prefer science fiction
  65. But I seem to be reading a lot of bios these days
  66. I am also a fan of the silver screen
  67. I prefer the mind benders
  68. I am a fan all things unique and different
  69. With a name of Michael, can you blame me?
  70. I have visited every state in the United States except Oregon and Alaska
  71. I am the same age as Star Wars
  72. I enjoy trying to comprehend infinity
  73. I also enjoy watching my mind fail monumentally in the attempt of that comprehension
  74. I tend to be on the verbose side of things
  75. Anyone who disagrees will drown in my verbosity!
  76. It IS the little things in life that count
  77. I tend to be a wee bit sarcastic
  78. Which really compliments my dry sense of humor
  79. I am quite often misunderstood as a result of both
  80. I hate being misunderstood
  81. I hate stereotypes more
  82. I really hate people who misunderstand because of pre-judged stereotypes
  83. Otherwise, I’m a pretty laid back guy
  84. If you don’t understand #42, hitch a ride
  85. I am a believer of God, a.k.a. a Christian
  86. I have seen more than enough ‘coincidences’ and events to convince me otherwise
  87. I have a lead foot
  88. I am running out of things to say here
  89. Who came up with this stupid 100 Things anyway?!
  90. I hate having directions or anything for that matter read out loud to me, I can read them myself, thank you very much
  91. I am finding I have an addiction for speed
  92. This most likely explains #17, #45 and #87
  93. But this most definitely does not explain #26
  94. Children are everything
  95. I am and will always very much be a child at heart
  96. I feel sorry for my future wife, if I ever find her
  97. For thousands of reasons
  98. But mostly because it won’t be the parents against the children
  99. It will be one parent against all the children
  100. But that cannot happen for at least another four and a half years!