I wanna fly

December 25th 2011

2012-01-30T13:38:00.002-05:00

That was the day my mother died. I was not as upset as I was when my dad died, as his was unexpected. Mom lasted several years longer than I thought she would. I still feel guilty for not spending more time with her or talking on the phone, but she was in California, and I ame here in South Carolina. I did see her and talk to her before she went to the nursing home, but the last 8 months or so, she didn't know who I was.
I still feel guilty, however.

I remember

2011-09-09T08:28:00.003-04:00

These two images are of the Tear-Drop monument donated to the United States by Russia after the attacks on 9-11. The names of the victims are inscribed on the base. For some reason, it did not seem to be publicized readily. It was not until I was looking for images of the twin towers that I found it.

I still have trouble seeing videos and images of that day. RIP Everyone, especially Lisa Anne Frost, one of my Cousin's daughters.

Oshkosh 2011!!!!!

2011-07-18T09:53:00.002-04:00

This Friday I will depart at daybreak (weather permitting) and flying to Oshkosh Wisconsin for Airventure. This is the largest fly-in in the world! There will be 12,000 - 15,000 airplanes show up for this event.

My little Green Hornet will be one of them. It is almost ready to go and looks AWESOME!!

I will leave Spartanburg, SC and fly to Frankfort KY for a fuel stop and potty break, then on to Joliet, IL for same and then on to Wittman Field at Oshkosh, WI. It is about 750 miles and will take a touch over 5 hours flying time.

There will be 100,000-150,000 people there each day and although I'm not a fan of big crowds, I think my Sonex is just about perfect. I am going to have it judged and hopefully they will think it is about perfect too! If not, then at least I will have the disappointment over with. I will be in the Experimental Amateur Built - Plans category. Any homebuilt airplane is an Experimental and since I am not a manufacturer of airplanes (such as Cessna, Piper, Champion, etc.) it is considered Amateur Built and I didn't build it from a kit, therefore it is plans built. I got to make all the pieces myself. We shall see how it compares. I have to cut the trip short as a new work committment requires me to be at a conference in Greensboro, NC on the following Wednesday.

So if the weather is decent, I'll head back home on Tuesday.

2011-06-09T15:05:00.002-04:00

There is no smell sweeter than that of diesel exhaust of the school busses going up the hill on the last day of school!

513 lunches down, 0 to go

2011-06-09T14:38:00.002-04:00

At the beginning of the year, we serve approximately 650 kids over 3 lunches. We do that over the school year with 3 lunches per day. Not counting the 3 half days or lunches during exams (only one per day) that comes up to 513 lunch periods. All in all, we serve about 300,000 lunches per year.
That blows my mind.

Today is the last exam, and tomorrow is graduation where we will give a diploma to about 176 students. I am relieved this year is over.

Now we can get the teacher evaluation crap together and send it off as well as fixing the student handbooks for next year, scheduling 750 kids and the list goes on.
Still, it is nice to have some time where you aren't dealing with some jerk who is ruining it for the rest of the kids in the class.

Plus, I will get to fly my plane more.

The Sun-N-Fun Fly-in was not.

2011-04-21T12:11:00.002-04:00

Working at a school where Spring break never coincides with Sun-N-Fun in Lakeland, FL, I have only been able to attend once.

In this country it is the second largest gathering of homebuilt airplanes, certified airplanes and a fabulous airshow that goes on for days.

This year was tragic for many people. A tornado, microburst or something with incredible winds tore through the airport one afternoon, destroying planes, displays, buildings but hopefully not dreams.

My good friend lost his airplane when it pulled the tie downs out of the ground and flipped it over on top of another plane. My girlfriend said that if that ever happened to me, I would probably never recover emotionally. She is probably right. Another friend agreed and said anyone who can tell you how many rivets are in their airplane has more than a casual bond with it. ( I honestly don't know exactly how many rivets are in my plane, but there are over 9,000, and 278 hand driven rivets in each wing spar).

Blue skies Tony. I know the replacement plane you said you were going to buy is not the same quality as the one you just lost. I also know that it will be up to par soon.

Bad Weather

2011-01-18T14:19:00.002-05:00

Here it is after the first of the year, and we can't seem to be able to finish this semester.
Bad weather has knocked exams back a week. So far, we have been able to keep Spring Break intact, but we would be in great shape if the stat legislature of North Carolina did not have their collective heads up their collective asses.
They changed the school calendar in order to appease some of the businesses on the coast to have cheap labor for restaurants and hotels towards the end of summer.
Don't know about you, but having gone to the beach at different times over the last few years, I have not seen many high school students working at restaurants and motels.
So, we go to school and have Christmas (I'm sorry, holiday) break for 2 weeks, then come back to school for a week and then start final exams. We used to finish the semester before Christmas.
So here we are in exams, and it looks like more snow Thursday and Friday. Since we are graded by how the students do on these exams, it is frustrating to have our test scores sabotaged by the legislature.
They say it's up to us to motivate the students. I say what about accepting responsibilty by the parents and students as well?
I should have been a pharmacist, but I have too much time in education and feel I am too old to start over again.
Stupid me.

Merry Christmas Everyone!!

2010-12-21T13:33:00.003-05:00

To show my spirit, I put up some lights. Both at the front of my house and at the rear.

I met death again

2010-11-10T16:35:00.003-05:00

I met death last Monday and managed to put him off. This was not the first time I have had a visit from him, but the fourth. Each time, he gets closer and this time, he was standing beside me.
The panic I felt was the most intense and scary thing I have ever been through in my life, because this time I thought it was actually the end. The other times were quick and I didn’t have time to realize what was happening. So far I’ve managed to survive.

Monday morning on the First of November, I was running late for work. I didn’t take time to eat breakfast, but would stop for a McMuffin and eat it on the way. I put my vitamins in my shirt pocket as I didn’t want to get sick by taking them on an empty stomach.

I finished my muffin and pulled into my parking spot. I unscrewed the cap on my water bottle and it shot out of my fingers, never to be found again. I drank a big swallow of water and then reached into my shirt pocket and grabbed the vitamins. Tossing them all into my mouth I took another big drink of water and swallowed. One of the vitamins got stuck sideways into my throat, and I was having difficulty breathing. I opened the door to the car and started heaving and choking. I was alone in the dark and felt I was about to die. The panic was completely indescribable. I actually thought I was going to die out in the parking lot before school started.

It subsided somewhat when I realized I could still breathe, although with difficulty. I was very scared up to this point when I figured I would not die, but still in a state of panic.
I went to the restroom and stuck my finger down my throat, and started heaving some blood with the bile. I could feel the vitamin with my finger but could not budge it.

I then decided I had better go to the emergency room at the hospital about 4 miles away. Some people had started arriving by this time and one of the teachers at the school asked if I needed a ride. Not being able to clearly think at this point, I felt it was important for him to be at class on time so I said I could drive myself. That was a mistake as about halfway there, I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to make it as I started choking again.

I made it to the hospital, but could not find the emergency entrance as it was not very clearly marked as which way to go. I walked in and wandered around until I could find a nurse who took me to the E.R. I was able to explain to the ER nurse my predicament and he got me situated. My blood pressure was 190 over 120 and I was asked, “Do you have a blood pressure problem?” I could say I about choked, but that goes without saying.
After a couple of hours of choking and heaving in the E.R., I told the doctor to get me a pair of needle nose pliers and I would get it out myself. They had given me a shot to relax my esophagus so the pill would go down, but it seemed that it was moving upward and a lot more painful than before. They decided to put me out and take me to the outpatient operating room where they would go in with an endoscope.

When I woke up, they showed me it wasn’t a vitamin, but the bottle cap! The water bottles you get at Walmart or the grocery store do not have the regular sized caps, but very thin ones.

My mate Fingers was figuring odds recently and I might need his help in calculating the odds that this cap shot out of my fingers and into my shirt pocket.

One thing has changed. I take my vitamins one at a time now.

ASA Fly-In Was AWESOME!!

2010-10-15T17:45:00.004-04:00

I went to the American Sonex Association Fly-in October 7-9, 2010 in Crossville, Tennessee. Although it's not a big place it's about an hour from Nashville, which is a big place. We had 29 Sonex airplanes. This also includes the Y-X version which deviates from the standard airplane tail to one that is shaped like a Y. They are cool, but I'll take my Sonex. The green paint, the nose art and the stripes on my wings were a hit.

I did some formation flying, high speed passes and took a bunch of people for rides. It is an awesome time every year, but this year, we almost had 10% of the entire Sonex fleet at the fly-in. It was the largest showing of Sonex aircraft anywhere at any time to date. That was cool!

Here I am flying in relatively close formation with my buddy Peter and his wife Shayne. She took the picture and it's my favorite one.

There is also one with all the planes in it.

I have been warned!

2010-10-05T16:11:00.003-04:00

Well, the FAA decided against me, but in their infinite wisdom, I now have an official warning in my file. What that means, is that this letter states I flew into Class C airspace without permission and will be in my file for two years. OK, I didn't know I had a file. Since it's not like a driver's license, I don't get points, but if I should happen to get another warning, then they may take action of making me get some specific instruction.
I've been flying since I was 13 years old and this is the first warning I've gotten. Granted most pilots don't get them, but as I stated to the FAA guy, I'm not completely at fault here. The specific phrase from the air traffic controller should have been, "I'm not receiving a proper transponder signal, do not enter class C airspace until the situation is resolved."
What I got was I'm not seeing a proper transponder signal, cycle your transponder." After a couple more back and forth radio transmissions, I was told that they had radar contact.... but still no, "Cleared into Class C Airspace".
Anyway, I'm not a threat, and was well away from JFK airport, but the pissy NY rent-a- controller needed to extert his authority and make a point.
So, my insurance won't go up and since I am not a professional pilot, the warning means nothing. That is as long as I stay out of any more trouble.
I'm sure I will.

The FAA motto: We're not happy until you're not happy.

BUSTED!!!

2010-08-06T11:44:00.004-04:00

Well, so much for trying to do things right. I have my new panel, which is AWESOME!

Installing the new panel was no easy or fun task. I had an extender cable for my transponder antenna (the thingy that tells Air Traffic Control your altitude and position) made so I could attach it without replacing the whole thing.

So everything was perfect. Charlotte ATC could see my transponder signal and altitude, so when I flew to New York for a reunion, I landed in New Jersey to file a flight plan, get flight following and be directed to Republic field on Long Island.

That's where everything went to shit.

I filed the flight plan online. when I was leaving the airport in New Jersey, the Flight Service guy couldn't find a record of it. So I filed another one with him over the radio.

Contacting NY ATC, didn't go so well either. They couldn't see my transponder signal and I was circling and gave the guy a position off my gps.

He couldn't find that position, so I was trying to get another one off the gps so he would know where I was. While doing that, I wasn't circling anymore and went into NYC airspace.

When I landed in Farmingdale, I was told to call the FAA guy at some number, which I did, and now I'm in trouble.

After talking with the first FAA guy, I called Flight Service to cancel my flight plan, they couldn't find it either! That just inspires me with great confidence.

I should have just lied about my altitude and everything would have been OK.

So now I might get a "ticket" which stays on my license for 2 years, might have to get some additional training, might be fined or might even have my license suspended for a period of time.

I was never a threat to any aircraft navigation, was never close to JFK airport (unless 12 miles is close) and was in contact with ATC like I was supposed to.

YAY!

On the other hand the rest of the time was good flying. 1800 mile trip from home to Long Island New York, on to Maine to see a buddy and a 900 mile trip home, which was fun. Visibility was poor on the way home, but weather was pretty good the whole way.

Pilgrimage

2010-07-20T13:06:00.002-04:00

I finally made one of the things on my bucket list. I flew my plane to the Atlantic Ocean. I was hoping to be able to see both oceans (Atlantic and Pacific) in my plane this summer, but funds and job prohibited that. So, my plan is to make the West coast trip next summer.

I went to Kitty Hawk, where the Wright Brothers made their first powered flight. I paid my respects and headed back inland. Next summer the plan is to fly to Catalina Island off the coast of Los Angeles.

New Instrument Panel

2010-07-13T14:25:00.005-04:00

I've been very busy re-doing the instrument panel in my airplane. The old Electronic Flight Instument System (EFIS) quit last summer. I sent it in for repair and it took a couple of months, but I finally got it back. It lasted less than 5 weeks and quit again. The company went out of business soon after.

I've been saving for a new one and Dynon offered a $1,000 rebate to the customers of that company if you send them your old unit (doesn't have to be operational). So for a few hundred more than I wanted to spend, I got the bestest, coolest one you could get.

Removing the old panel and redoing the wiring was a whole lot more work than I really wanted to do.

Pretty slick huh?

Now I just have to learn to use it.

4 more days of school left.

2010-06-08T08:46:00.003-04:00

It has been a long grind these last few weeks of school. It is scary to think that these kids have no focus or direction. I am at a rural high school now and all too many of them don't realize that knowledge is power. Most of what we learn in life is not really used, but definitely keeps us from being screwed having our car fixed, or which item is a better buy and certainly getting us an edge over the next person in finding a job.
We have a new charter school opening up in a nearby county. The legislation in funding charter schools is WRONG!!! There is certain data that suggests that charter schools might test a bit better than a regular public school, some data that suggests they are worse and some data that says there is little difference.
A major part of the education of a student is learning how to get along with others. Public school is by far the best place to do that.
If this school opens in August, then our school district will have to give them about $850,000!!!! This is for a school not even in our county! Their (The state's) reasoning is that they will serve some of our students. They have a choice in who they serve. They do not have to take anyone they do not want. A public high school has no choice in that matter, but we are judged by our test scores. The exceptional children we serve are judged in the same way as our valedictorian on test scores. Granted, a few of our students who are physically or mentally not capable of taking a test are exempt from the tests, but the rest are not.
If this is allowed to continue, then these types of schools will bankrupt our public schools. Then what happens to the teachers?
Public schools have more resources, and we should not have to give them up for a school who does not offer the same types of courses or the same populations of students. A nearby school system is fighting the legislation that requires them to provide some of the pre-school funding when the charter school does not even offer pre-school. We also are required to provide Career and Technology (Federal) funds to that school which does not offer any Career and Technical Education Courses. How fair is that?

5 weeks of school left!!

2010-05-06T16:33:00.003-04:00

Pretty cool huh??

Usually it is the last 2-3 weeks where the kids act completely stupid. They just act a little stupid after spring break, but they are 3-4 weeks early.

I'm tired, and not sure why. Maybe it's the allergy medicine. I've been going to bed early enough, but I'm exhausted.

I guess the 80 or so hours during spring break to paint my airplane got it started, and I just can't quite catch up.

Big baseball game tomorrow night, and then up early Saturday to be chase plane for a friend who will be making his maiden flight in his airplane.

I'm not complaining about the 80 or so hours as the plane looks awesome!!! I'm still tired though.

The Green Hornet!

2010-04-19T11:22:00.004-04:00

Well, now that Spring Break is over and I've had another weekend to put the plane back together...HERE IT IS!!! It is the same color as my Honda Insight although the Insight has faded over the years. I apologize, but the pictures do not do it justice!

I have some stripes to put on and the reg. numbers, but it looks better than I could have hoped.

Oh Boy! Free Health Care!!

2010-03-22T16:04:00.004-04:00

For any of you who aren't from the good ol' USA, we have just passed our first major health care reform. Now we get to spend 600 Billion dollars more than the trillions we've already committed to.

Don't get me wrong. I think that we have an obligation to fix a broken system. The problem I have is with our government and the way they get things done. The system and insurance we currently have is, for lack of better words, corrupt. If you have insurance and have a procedure done, the insurance company makes deals with the doctors and hospitals and after you pay your deductible, they pay a percentage of what the hospital bills you for.

If you have no insurance and are not on medicaid or medicare, then you get billed the full amount (unless you are an illegal alien then you are not expected to pay anything) and there is no negotiation of the amount.

This, coupled with the exorbitant rates that are charged for medical procedures and supplies are nowhere near fair.

Our politicians will not vote for anything unless a "deal" is made. One Congressman changed his vote as there will now be a new hospital built in his district. There are other deals made as well.

My issue with the politicians is why can't they do what is right, not what benefit they can gain for their constituents which will help them get re-elected. The other issue I have is that from what I know, the politicians will not subscribe to this new health care system.

That just majorly pisses me off.

My plan for the next several elections is to do what I can to vote out EVERY incumbant. I don't care who they are or to what political party they susbcribe.
I have never voted a straight party ticket and I will know who ALL the incumbents are. I also feel that to get to that level of politics, you have to be somewhat corrupt.

FIRE ALL THOSE PINCHE PENDEJOS!!!! (fucking assholes!)

A Touch of Grey

2010-02-15T15:59:00.007-05:00

I am a fan of the Grateful Dead. I was a bit late to listen to them originally on the radio, but a former boss of mine was a read "Deadhead". I picked it up from him. Although I didn't get to go to many concerts, the ones I did go to were great fun.

I have a collection of Grateful Dead / Jerry Garcia ties. I have about 109 of them. The reason I say "about", is my dog Betty got hold of one and chewed the side of my very favorite one, so even though I still have it, it's not wearable.

I have been on ebay several times a week trying to find a replacement, with no results.

Jerry designed all but one of them that I have, and lately there are a lot more coming on the scene. Although he did the artwork, his estate is taking other artwork and making them into ties. There are hundreds of them now.

He was a graduate of the San Francisco School of the Arts and was very talented. He turned to painting as therapy when trying to get off the drugs.

He was unsuccessful in the long run, but produced some nice artwork. Not all of it was "Dead" related or abstract, but I like my "Dead" ties the best. A lot of them have "Easter Eggs" (Skulls or Roses) hidden in the fabric or in the design.

RIP Jerry, A lot of us still miss you.

The "Steal Your Face" Logo above is on the watch I got off ebay recently for $1.

MacGyver and I could be cousins

2009-12-15T15:41:00.007-05:00

Today started out absolutely like shit. Fortunately, it got better although not a whole lot.
I was about a block from my house at about 6:30AM when I heard something under the car go clunk under a wheel well. The school where I work is about 30 miles away. I didn't see anything coming up to it, but something did not sound right. As I accelerated onto the highway, it sounded normal so I didn't think much more about it. I just passed the next to the last exit and the car starts feeling funny so I pull over, get out and see the left rear tire is very low. I'm in a horrible place to change a tire, so I roll back to where the end of the guardrail is and turn back onto the grass. This gives me about 3-3.5 feet to the edge of the slow lane.
I digress slightly. I have a first generation Honda Insight, and with a few minor modifications and slowing to 55mph, I typically get about 80mpg. In town it is much worse, only about 60-65mpg. Since it is a hybrid, the 12V battery is used to run the computer to control the 144V battery and the 12V is the size a Harley Davidson motorcycle uses. It is a very lightweight battery that should be changed every 4-5 years, but it hasn't given me any trouble.
I leave the flashers on, but shut the car off. I didn't even think about the headlights until after I moved all the junk in the back out of the way to access the trunk. The trunk is a misnomer as it is the size of a medium sized cooler. You have to remove the trunk which has a few items in it, then the plate beneath it to where you find the dinky spare. At this time I shut off the headlights and leave the flashers on. I change the tire, get everything into the hatch area and try to start the car. $#!%#!!!!!!!!!! it doesn't have enough juice to run the computer. Not 2 feet away from me is 144 volts and I have no way to access it. My car can be jumped, and I don't need big jumper cables to do it, just enough wire to get 12V to the computer.
A teacher from my school saw me and went up to the exit to turn around to help me. There is not enough room for him to get close enough to jump start my car without turning the wrong way on the Interstate Highway. I sent him on, but borrowed his set of dinky jumper cables. Our School Resource Officer was already on the way and while I was waiting, I thought, "How could I get 12V from his car to mine?"
I remembered that I had an extension power cord in the back of the car, but how could I hook a set of jumper cables to each end? I could cut the ends off and strip the wires back, and then it hit me. I could bend the plug terminals sideways and if I could find a paperclip, I could cut it in half and put the pieces into the receptacle side to hook the other set of cables to. Lo and behold, there is a paperclip in my console! The SRO stopped and was backing up and appeared to be waiting for an opening to turn around. I ran to his car and said, "I think I have a solution so you don't have to turn around." I just backed him up to a few feet from my car. I hooked everything up and the computer came up and car started. It doesn't sound or start like a regular car, and he said he didn't know if it was running until he saw the engine vibrate.
I unhooked everything and still made it to school before it started, although I was about 40 min late than my usual time.
Usually when a tire gets too low at speed, the sidewall is too damaged to use again, so I went online to see if I could get another tire. Of course MY car has to have special tires that are ONLY made for that kind of car. The last time I ordered them about a year and a half ago, I had to wait almost 6 months for them to come from Japan. I went to the website I got them from, and they showed 1 tire in stock. If that is correct, It will be here on Thursday.
I'll see if my buddy will let me borrow his classic Camaro with over 400 horsepower and then some.
Of course I won't get much fuel economy, but our hot secretary says it was her favorite car of all time....then she asked what color? Red. I wanna ride!!!

Fun!!

2009-10-28T16:58:00.004-04:00

The first picture was taken by a buddy as we were flying over Asheville, NC at about 8500' and 180MPH heading home.
The second one is me showing out at a Fly-In in Tennessee. (I'm quite a ways from the camera.)

Cops, Robbers and Betty

2009-10-06T16:48:00.006-04:00

I live in the South Eastern part of the USA. Where I live, crime is much lower, or I would expect it to be much lower than most other parts of the USA. Still, I am paranoid of being ripped off. I have an alarm on my house, religiously double lock my doors and make sure I lock the car. Except for last night.

Let me digress for a minute. Quite a few years ago, after a crooked business partner and a couple of poor business decisions, I ended up a homeless person in New York from October to March. If you are homeless in the winter, you definitely want to be in Southern California or Southern Florida, not New York. Of course me being me, warm weather was nowhere to be found. Sometimes life sucks, but I never robbed anyone of anything and I was able to work a few odd jobs and got to drive a limo for a while until I had enough money to get back somewhere where I could start over.

It was about 5:35 AM Tuesday morning and I was putting my clothes on to exercise a bit before getting ready to go to work. I had my short pants, T shirt and one shoe on, but not tied. Betty, my little dog who sleeps in a "crate" at night because she will pee and poop all over the place when she is unsupervised was growling. My roommate, Desiree, was on her way back from the bathroom to her room said that she thought I had been out there as she heard something.

I turned on the light and saw that things weren't quite right. I opened the car door and saw that it had been rifled through. We ran out to the street and saw two people running down the street. We started out after them. It took two blocks to catch them, but we did, and I got all my stuff back. My left foot was bloody and my ankle was swelling, but I was glad I got the stuff.

I don't run....it's not that I just don't, I can't. I had a head on collision 10 years ago when I was living in the Bahamas and broke both ankles, a knee, my pelvis, my hip socket was in 7 pieces and my sternum was split. Other than the bump on the head, I was ok. I was pretty happy that I was able to run down the perps. Until I realized they couldn't run very fast because of all the crap they were trying to carry. They were a homeless couple...and drunk. I was still pissed, but they took off after I got the stuff, but I would not have been able to go after them anyway with my ankle and hip starting to ache.

The police came, 3 cars worth, and rode around the neighborhood, but didn't see any one. One of them took a report and basically said they couldn't do anythign about it. All they had were descriptions and I didn't lose anything so findiing a judge who would take out a warrant without names, addresses or not missing anything.
Whatever happened to breaking and entering was a crime??

They also chastised us for going after them. What if they had been armed? I said how do you know I wasn't? She looked at my feet and said it looks like you've used up half your ammo, noting that I only had one shoe on. I then said my aim is impeccable, and that's how I got my stuff back.

While this was going on, the police car overheated and wouldn't start. It was in my driveway behind my car. So I got to wait for the wrecker. Still, I was only 15 minutes late for work.

I'll be gimping around for a few days, but I locked my car last night.

I love my plane and my car!

2009-09-14T16:37:00.002-04:00

I'm going to paint the plane the same color as my car.
I'm not looking forward to the amount of work to paint it, but it's too nice not to.

As time goes by, the memories fade...

2009-09-11T07:11:00.002-04:00

I won't forget that day 8 years ago. It used to be that I would get tears in my eyes when I saw movies or images from the 9-11 attacks. Now, it seems I only get tears when I see videos. Still images don't have the same effect. It does not diminish how I feel, but I'm still very sad as we all lost something that day.
I was going to write more, but I think this says it all.

School's are nice places when nobody is here.

2009-08-31T16:54:00.002-04:00

We have just finished our 5th full day of High School. You would think that by the time the kids get here to 9th grade, they would have just a minuscule amount of common sense. Not so. For the most part, I have been dealing with bus issues..."What bus do I ride?". Then I have to ask, "Where do you live?". I have talked to several 9th graders who do not know their own address.
I've talked to parents who want their kid dropped off at work (the kid's job, not the parents) and it happens to be out of the county.

I'm old, and I can get to any classroom from any classroom in less than 5 minutes. Parents call and want the time extended so their little darling can get to class on time. I explain that the class change time is for getting to class on-time and there isn't much time for talking to their friends. "My son goes from class to his locker and on to the next one and simply cannot get there on time. So I walk from the kid's class, to his locker, pretend I'm opening it with a couple mistakes and change out what I need and walk to the next class. The next day the kid makes it on time. It's a freaking miracle!!

I've taken bets (figuratively speaking) from teachers and other administrators to see which kid is most likely to get suspended first. It's amazing that almost everyone picked the same guy. I would hate for every student to be just "another brick in the wall", but it certainly would simplify some of the things I have to do.

Pictures of the trip

2009-08-04T09:23:00.007-04:00

Little puffy clouds over Illinois

White Knight II flying demonstration. I was amazed at how quiet it was.

Long EZ planes look like they are grazing when the nose gear is retracted for tie down.

Very nice and very expensive paint job. It probably cost almost as much as my whole airplane.

As far as you can see in most directions are airplanes.

On the way home flying between some of the clouds we aren't allowed to fly over.

Airventure 2009

2009-08-03T10:36:00.002-04:00

In April of 2000, my friend Eric and I attended a workshop for hints and skills to build my plane, a Sonex. It was there we decided to fly to Airventure when I finally finished my plane. Airventure is the largest fly-in in the United States and might even be the largest in the world. Having taken the long road to finish my Sonex via a master's degree, a move and trying to save money to buy the things I needed, I finally finished my plane last October. "Finished" is a loose term, as it is unpainted/unpolished and still needs some detail work.
Eric flew out to South Carolina from California a couple of days before we were to leave to meet up with a couple of buddies and fly as a group of 3 planes. My Electronic Flight Instrument System (EFIS)had taken a dump 2 months earlier and I finally got it back the same day that Eric arrived.
We installed it that night and test flew it after I got off work the next day (Thursday). Everything seemed to be OK.
We left on Friday to fly to Clarksville, Tennessee to meet up with Robert and Frank, but stopped in Crossville to have lunch with another friend John.
The weather was not looking too good on Saturday, so Robert and Frank decided to drive. Eric and I felt that with the speed of the 3300, we could make the narrow window between two weather systems before they closed so we took off at 6am. Weather was not bad, although we did have to fly over some clouds. The ceiling was not too good at Rantoul, IL, but it was scattered enough to be able to land without difficulty. I called another friend Dan, who was planning on meeting us along the way, and he was still stuck in Columbus, Indiana with rain, so we left to face the traffic at Oshkosh alone.
The clouds were all gone as we got about 70 miles North of Rantoul. It was smooth flying to Juneau, WI for fuel in case we needed to hold over one of the lakes. Fortunately there was little traffic and we had become pretty familiar with the arrival procedures over the last few days.
Following a much slower plane, we were told to speed up on final and the plane behind us (a WWII fighter) was asked to slow down if possible. I landed on the dot after getting beat up on a bumpy windy final and got the hell out of the way. In Oshkosh, you can't really tell what the wind is doing as all the wind socks get blown away on a normal day as a blustery day is considered calm there.

We taxiied all over the place and finally arrived at Sonex where Jeremy said we should go over to Sonex Homebuilt parking and we would all taxi over together in the morning for the open house. He was able to lead us in his car which saved about a quarter million miles of taxiing.

We had an absolute blast. Neither of us had been to Airventure before, and we saw less than 1/10 of what was there. We might have seen as much as 1/8 of what was there, but I spent too much time talking about my little rat-rod airplane.

After 4 days there, looking at the weather, we decided to leave a day early. I didn't want to go home yet as there was too much to see and do, but to be able to get home in time to get Eric back on the plane to California was necessary.
We were number 3 to depart Wednesday morning at 6AM and it was absolutely beautiful flying until a bit South of Chicago.

Not too far from Chicago, we ran into more clouds, but the wind was behind us and we were making pretty good time.
Looking for holes in the clouds, made the arrival at Grissom, Indiana a little edgy, but once we got down through the hole, it was business as usual.

I called John to see how things looked at Crossville and in Spartanburg, and of course there was some rain, but it looked like it would be gone by the time we got there.
It had just finished raining when we got to Crossville and had lunch again with John to kill some time while we waited for weather to clear at home.
Heading South over the Blue Ridge mountains, we had to go to about 10,500ft (3200 meters for those of you who don't do feet) to clear the clouds, and when we turned East, and going slightly down hill with a tailwind groundspeed was between 180 and 200mph for the last 90 miles. That was way COOL!
Total time for the trip was 13.1 hours (including taxi time) and I'm still smiling.
It was nice to see old friends and meet some new ones who are all there for the same reason. We like airplanes!

We had the best time on this trip, and I hope we can do it again.

1500 miles round trip to the homebuilt airplane capitol of the world and home!

2009-07-30T11:11:00.005-04:00

Well, we made it to Oshkosh and back. It was an absolute blast! With the economy being slow, there weren't as many airplanes as expected, but there were still about 8,000 of them and they were still coming. I got to see some friends, show off my airplane and not have to worry about work.
We came back a day early because the weather in Oshkosh was supposed to be deteriorating over the next couple of days, and it worked out well as far as traveling on the way back. There were a couple of places that required some maneuvering around the clouds to get in to, but 3 stops for fuel and wait out some weather and got home about 5PM.
The trip was too cool for words.
Next summer: Kitty Hawk to California...

24hrs to go

2009-07-23T10:39:00.002-04:00

The Electronic Flight Instrument System (EFIS) came yesterday and I installed it last night. I sent it off 7 weeks ago for repair. It sat at the Post Office for 13 days before they picked it up. It then sat at the company for a couple of weeks before I was notified that it should be able to be sent back in the middle of the following week. 2 weeks later, they said that it was fixed and I needed to pay $280.
I paid it immediately. I kept trying to get them to send it and I finally got an email saying they were out of the office, but would be back in the following Tuesday. I said I was planning on the trip to Oshkosh and needed it as soon as possible.
They sent it Monday, a whole day earlier than they said they would! Does that make me happy? Not really as they have lied about everything up to that point.
Since I'm leaving tomorrow, it would be nice to have more than 1 day to test it, but I'll do that this afternoon.
No wonder they are going out of business.
At Oshkosh I'll be able to talk to the other EFIS manufacturers. I just hope I don't have to get a new one any time soon.

Countdown Has Commenced!

2009-07-21T11:59:00.003-04:00

In about 32 hours we will depart the earth for Crossville, Tennessee. Flight time should be about an hour and tem minutes. A friend of mine is not doing very well healthwise, so we will stop by there to say hello and go to lunch. We will top off with gas and head towards Clarksville, TN. Flight time will be approximately 50 minutes.
We will meet up with a couple of friends who have planes similar to mine and depart the next morning (Saturday) at 6:00AM.

The first leg will be to Rantoul, Illinois about 1:50 later for gas, leg stretch and bathroom break. Next stop is Juno, Wisconsin about 1:25 duration for more gas. We could make the trip from Clarksville to Oshkosh on one stop, but we are stopping about 40 miles away for fuel in case we need to be in a holding pattern for landing for an extended period of time (remember 10,000-12,000 airplanes will be showing up for the week).
The last leg will be from Juno to Oshkosh. Flight time is about 20 minutes. We should be there before noon.

This will be exciting! My Electronic Flight Instrument System has been repaired and should be delivered Wednesday. I'll install it and do a test flight. Other than a few minor details, the plane is ready. Calculations of weight with both Eric and I including fuel and luggage (minimal) will allow us 18 lbs shy of the gross weight of the airplane.

2-1/2 Weeks before we fly to Oshkosh

2009-07-07T14:53:00.003-04:00

Yep it will be Oshkosh by Gosh!!! The Airventure website says 600,000 people and 12,000 airplanes! Although I'm not a fan of large crowds, when I started building my airplane a buddy and I made a pact to fly it to Oshkosh when it was finished.
This is the year!
The plan is to fly from Spartanburg, SC to Crossville, TN and stop for gas and visit another friend for an hour or so. Then we will make a short hop to Clarksville, TN to meet up with two other buddies who have similar airplanes.
We'll stay overnight and depart Crossville at 6:00 AM. That won't be too bad as they are an hour behind us.
From there it will only take about 4 hours flying time (or so as their airplanes aren't quite as fast as mine. YAY!!) But they can fly longer on a tank of gas....Oh well! (My plane gets about 30mpg)

We will need to make one stop for fuel, but will stop about halfway and then again just before we get there as we may have to fly a holding pattern for a while to get in line to land...remember, 12,000 airplanes?

We won't stay the whole week, but I am looking forward to it. And, I'm dreading it at the same time.
No matter what, it'll be one more lifetime experience I can add to the list.

Summer's are great at school

2009-07-01T11:50:00.003-04:00

Schools are great places when teachers and students aren't here. It's quiet, the phone rarely rings and I don't have to deal with discipline problems.
I have enough to do, but I am waiting until the end of July to fly to Oshkosh Wisconsin for the largest homebuilt airplane fly-in in the world.
Airventure!!!
www.airventure.org

What a day

2009-06-02T15:50:00.003-04:00

It has been quite a day here today. Started from yesterday with a couple of bus issues, a mad parent and getting cussed out from that parent.
Then I had an altercation between a boy and a girl, but the boy took off. The School Resource Officer finally found him in the woods laying down and realized he was drunk off his a$$.
We got him outside before he started puking, however.
His dad finally showed up and apologized. Even though his exams start tomorrow, I doubt he will feel well enough for an advanced algebra exam.
We had some money stolen out of a couple purses during the theater performance, and I ended up talking with 23 kids about it. Of course nobody knew or saw anything.
We had a senior food fight at lunch.
And a kid who hit another kid who has a broken collarbone and then laughed about it.
I finally got the little heathens on the busses and gone.
I'm ready for school to be out even more than the kids.

Meet Betty

2009-05-04T15:21:00.003-04:00

After my dog got killed at Christmas, I felt devastated.
A blogger friend said I should have a grieve and get another one at the shelter as there are millions of them who need somebody.
I did just that. Betty is as sweet a dog as anyone could want, but I think I have incorrectly named her. I should call her Spud.
She is a couch potato.

Buddy would do everything with me. Even go for an airplane ride! I know I can't replace Buddy, but I would hope that Betty can be a "man's best friend".

I certainly hope Betty comes around some. I don't expect her to ride in the plane, but I do expect her to be a companion.

It's funny as she lies on the couch because she does watch TV.

16 Lunches to go

2009-02-23T15:21:00.002-05:00

At 4 lunch doodies per day, I have 16 more of them. I certainly won't miss all the little bastards that throw their trash under the tables or leave it as a mess. It's mostly the rich kids, not the poor kids.
I draw a map each day who leaves their table as a mess. Then the next day I go to them and shame them into cleaning up. Funny thing, it's never the kids there, it was someone else.
They have been getting away with that kind of crap for 10 years, and it's better now than ever, but only because I go around and deal with it.
It's unbelievable!
I'll have lunch doody at my new school, but it's a lot more reasonable there...

I quit my job

2009-01-28T08:52:00.002-05:00

I am an Assistant Principal at a high school in North Carolina and I turned in my notice today. In 30 days I won't have to come to this job where I dread coming to each morning.
In 32 days, I get to go to a new high school in a different area which will be a much nicer place to work.
I am lucky to be able to do that. I was getting myself physically sick coming to work.

I still miss my dog unbearably sometimes.

Rest in Peace Buddy, you were my best friend.

2008-12-29T23:15:00.004-05:00

Buddy was the best little dog I ever knew. He was rescued from the animal shelter a little over 2 years ago. He was a rat terrier / Labrador Retriever mix. He looked like a long legged Lab puppy although he was full grown. He was polite and a great companion.
On Saturday after Christmas, we put him in the back seat of the van and he jumped out to chase after a truck which ran over him. The piece of shit driver didn't even slow down, much less stop.
Buddy was never let outside without a leash on. When walking him at a large field near the house or over at the hangar, he was let loose to run all he wanted.
We are devasted and I can't quit crying over him. He should have had at least 10-12 more years with us.
Mark Twain said the dog is the only creature that will love you more than himself. This was so true with Buddy.
Why he jumped out and why he didn't have his leash on, I can't answer. It was all over in one second, but the pain will linger on for a long time.
I hope I can get to heaven to see him again.
Buddy, I am so very sorry. I love and miss you very much. I feel lost without you.

Back in the Air!!

2008-12-08T09:00:00.002-05:00

Jabiru Australia is going to warranty my starter. I don't know if I will get on old style like I had, or the newest Nippon Denso starter, but at this point, I don't care. I get a new one. That will give me a chance to engineer a new style starter myself.

Even though I don't have my new starter, a friend from the American Sonex Association, John Davis has lent me the starter off his engine to use until mine comes. He put a different engine on his plane and his Jabiru was waiting to be installed on another plane. So, I'm back in the air. YAY!!

When it is really cold on the ground outside, it is much colder up in the air. Especially when the plane is somewhat drafty. My new heater just doesn't quite cut the mustard when it is really cold. Above freezing, however, it doesn't do too bad a job.
29 hours and counting.

Grounded!

2008-11-28T19:11:00.002-05:00

My beautiful airplane will not start. The starter is toast after 40-50 starts. It is a nightmare to remove, but I finally got it out. Upon disassembling it, I realized there was a spacer that was left out and the front bearing slid back allowing the armature to wobble into the magnets on the case destroying the armature and magnets.
New starter? Close to $500. Which I find ridiculous for a starter that goes on a Toyota.
Of course this happens on a long holiday weekend so I can't get hold of anyone to find out if they will warranty it or even just ship me a new one.

Yesterday and today were perfect flying days. I have 13 hours to go on the test program, and I could have knocked out about 5 or 6 of that.

I am going stir crazy. It'll be raining tomorrow and Sunday. Joy.

15 hours to go

2008-11-24T08:31:00.002-05:00

My testing phase has been going very well. I have about 25 hours on the plane completed out of the 40 hours of testing. Not bad for only 5 weeks.

I have a stupid little oil leak that is driving me crazy. It doesn't leak much, but you can spread 1/2 teaspoon of oil a long way....

I have done spins, loops and rolls for my aerobatic tests. Loops and rolls are non-events. Spins on the other hand are quite scary. They are slow to start, but spin like crazy once they get started. It is easy to overspeed (over 200mph) on exit if you aren't careful.

I need to finish making the heater. I had longjohns, wool socks, sweater, sweatshirt, jacket and ski gloves on the other day and I was still cold.

I'm a test pilot!!!

2008-10-23T20:33:00.008-04:00

35 years ago in high school, I saw an article in Popular Mechanics . The cover said "Build this airplane for $750". I have been dreaming of that day ever since. To build that plane now, would cost at least $15,000 now, and it is made of plywood and fiberglass and has a VW engine.
I wanted an all metal airplane with an aircraft engine in it. I started on the project almost 8 years ago and put it on hold for 3 years while I got my masters degree, and quit working on it a couple of times because I was disgusted with myself for not making it perfect. It's pretty perfect though. I also needed to save money to buy more stuff. My Sonex is plans built and I should have saved my money and bought a kit. I would have been done years ago.

Saturday October 18th, I was ready!! The wind wasn't.
So at the crack of dawn Sunday I cranked up my plane and headed out to the runway…. I was not as nervous as I thought I'd be.

With the engine warm, I taxied into position on the runway and lowered the flaps to 10 degrees. I pushed the throttle forward and the plane wanted to turn left (It is supposed to, but I was not prepared for how much) I pushed right rudder, and more right rudder and then I was in the air.

It climbs like a rocket! Now I was a bit nervous. There are a lot of things that could go wrong the first time. Even though I have been over every nut, bolt, rivet, washer and cotter pin many times, I thought “What if I forgot something?”
I didn't.

When I got to the point of being able to turn around and land if the engine quit, I relaxed a bit. I turned out from the airport and climbed to 3000' and slowed the plane down. I needed to get the feel of it in slow flight to prepare for landing. I did some turns, accelerated, decelerated and did a stall (you slow the airplane to the point it won't fly anymore) it buffeted and ducked down just a bit. That was it! I could not ask for a better flying airplane.
I only stayed up about 20 minutes and the oil pressure and oil temperature were too high, so I throttled back and headed back down.
I gave it just a touch of throttle before touching down, and greased it on. Probably the best landing I ever made.
All the sweat, tears, cussing and blood are now worth it!
I have flown it nearly 4 hours now with few problems. I put an automotive oil pressure ga and oil temp ga in and taped them to the floor to check the engine monitor values. With my engine monitor, they were reading high, but the other gauges show the temp and pressure is what it should be. I'll get those bugs worked out, but I'm having a blast

Waiting for good weather and time

2008-10-15T08:24:00.002-04:00

The FAA representative came and went last Saturday. I would have flown last weekend, but the wind was horrible....not anything you would want to do a first flight in anyway.

So I took the wings off the plane and trailered it to a nearby airport with a 5500 ft paved runway. This will be a much better location for a first flight.

I had a friend help me put the wings on last night, and when I finish hooking up the controls and wires, I'll put in a few more gallons of gas so I can go early Saturday morning providing the weather is good. It has been perfect weather all week so far.

Waiting on the FAA

2008-09-29T09:54:00.002-04:00

I need to hook up my ELT (Emergency Locator Transmitter) and put the numbers on and wait on the inspector guy. Then it's test pilot time.

It is finally flyable!

2008-09-25T16:50:00.004-04:00

I'm finished with the plane! I still have to go through a condition inspection before the FAA inspector comes to look at it, but other than fitting one switch and sticking the numbers on, the plane is essentially finished.

The plane is not painted, and I will have some things to do, such as add the gear leg fairings and wheel fairings, but those are pretty much cosmetic.

I have 1.2 hrs taxi and test time on the ground, and next weekend I'm going back to Crossville, TN for the Sonex fly-in so I can get a bit of flying time in a plane like mine.

After the inspection, I will be a test pilot.

I've been dreaming of this for decades. Sometimes I can't sleep because I'm too exited.

We will not forget!

2008-09-11T13:34:00.002-04:00

I pray for all of us who lost a lot that day.

My Bucket List

2008-07-15T12:32:00.002-04:00

1. Finish building my airplane.
1a. Fly the airplane I built.
1b. Fly the airplane I built coast to coast (USA).
2. See Stonehenge.
3. See Ayers Rock.

I can probably add more as I see fit, but I've been wanting to do the above since I was in high school.

I've been able to go places and do things that most people never get to do, so my list is small, but if I make it to 1a, that'll be pretty good.

I have a new job

2008-07-01T08:42:00.004-04:00

A buddy of mine in Australia says I'm too late to party with him and his mates. "We're all grown up and sensible these days".
So? My new job is a High School Assistant Principal at the end of July!!!

WTF?

I used to run sound for Rock and Roll bands in the 70's. I worked on racing teams from late 70's for almost 10 yrs. I worked in the Bahamas for the Naval Undersea Weapons Center. (Best job in the world I might add. Until I had a head on collision with a drunk driver who died in the crash and almost killed me.) I built a Hot Rod out of a 1937 Chevrolet coupe for Dave Hope, the former bass player of Kansas. There are a number of things I can't post at this time, but when I tell people stories of my life, most people think I make them up. Some are so bizarre that I shake my head and laugh. Sometimes I can't believe I'm still alive.

I have a job that requires me to be sensible and I'm grown up now, but I can still hold my own with the best of 'em.

I'm scrambling to get the plane off the ground in a few weeks because as soon as school starts, I'll have to get up at 5:15 - 5:30 AM to be at work at 7:15... (I live 60 miles from my new job). I've certainly seen 5:15 more times from the night before than I have from getting up that early.

This is all part of my plan to boost my retirement. I hope to retire in 10 yrs and hope that my retirement is enough to live on since I didn't plan too well for it.

The plane will be going to the hangar this weekend I hope. Then it's installing the wings and tail and hooking up the controls and wait for the inspection.

Of all the things I've done, places I've seen, and what I've survived, I just hope I survive this new job. I've been at my old one for almost 9 yrs and am pretty comfortable here. The unknown can be scary.

Fedoras and Tommy guns

2008-05-25T18:00:00.005-04:00

Last weekend I left work at 2 and drove to Lowe's Motor Speedway to meet up with some friends and watch the NASCAR Truck race. It was exciting there at the end and I left for home around 10:30. Got up Saturday and first thing a friend is having trouble with the hatch on her van. Spent most of the morning rounding up a part and a special tool to remove the broken one, then left for the track again for the All Star race.

Left the track at 11PM and spent over an hour and 20 minutes completely stopped without moving. I was steamed. Finally arrived home at 2AM, took a shower and changed clothes. Went to my buddies house and crawled in the back seat of his truck. Left at 3AM and drove to upstate New York (900 miles away) to pick up his new 1930 Model A Ford Town Car. We arrive there around 7PM, drove the car around, did the transaction, loaded up and headed back. At about midnight we stopped for the night. Got up the next morning and headed back on the final leg and arrived home about 8PM Monday.

Reminds me of the time many years ago when a bunch of us kids were at Santa Cruz beach and someone said "lets go get a coke" so we drove to LA and got one. LA was about 400 miles away.

Can anyone Say Road trip? I'm in, even though it takes a bit longer to recuperate.

Warning Labels

2008-05-05T13:57:00.002-04:00

If you are a contact lens wearer and suffer from seasonal allergies, you have probably been tempted to try some allergy eye drops to alleviate some of the irritation to your eyes.
A couple of days ago I was looking for some drops that would be ok for contact lenses. I have used some regular eye drops in the past but was still reading the warnings.
Most, but not all, of the allergy eye drops tell you to remove contact lenses before use. Fortunately, I found a brand that did not have this warning on it.

Soon after I got home I tried it. It stung just a bit, but it didn't take too long to realize my lenses were really dry. It was at this time I decided to remove them. Right eye...no problem. Left eye...lens didn't want to come out. I put a couple drops of regular solution and took it out.

Well, most of it came out. About 1/3 of it was still stuck to my eyeball! After about 40 minutes of rinsing, touching, blinking and finally scraping with my fingernail. I got what was left of it out.

That's the last time I will do that. The redness is gone, but I'm not happy about the whole ordeal. I thought I'd have to go to the emergency room.

Sunday was "Ripper" and I'm very "Chuffed"!!

2008-04-21T09:09:00.004-04:00

For those of you who don't speak Australian or South African, ripper is another term for GREAT!! and chuffed is I'M EXTREMELY HAPPY!! I started the plane for the first time. It cranked up with only 2 prop turns and surprised me that it started so easily. It is going to take some carburetor tuning, which will be a pain as it is difficult to get to, but it sounds so good! I'll fit the cowling, then make the cooling baffles, then bolt the tail on. I'll have to take it over to my friends hangar as it won't fit very well in my garage with the tail on. Then it's just putting everything back together. Yesterday was an exciting day, even though I didn't tighten one of the fuel fittings and ran gas all over the carpet. We'll see if contact cement is fuel proof. It dried out pretty quickly, but it'll be a while before the smell is gone. Oh well.

Chuffed, I am!!

Mexico Conquers California, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah and Texas

2008-04-08T09:50:00.004-04:00

I haven't had much to say these days as I have been working on the plane pretty feverishly. I think I'll be able to start it up next weekend!! I'm really looking forward to that! Then I have to fit the cowling and make the engine baffles. From there I'll make the wing tips and rig the controls. Then it's off to the airport for final assembly and waiting for the FAA inspection....YAY!

So that all being said....
I'd like to know what is up with Absolut, but I'm not going to buy their products any more.
This is pretty disgusting with all the illegal immigration and border issues going on here now.

Hey Absolut SUCK THIS and CRAM IT!!! _!_

Early to Rise

2008-03-13T09:57:00.006-04:00

I finally remembered to bring the camera for my flight to work. It is going to be a perfect day. Sorry they are so grainy, but in low light the camera doesn't work too well. It was so nice that I don't mind getting up 20 minutes early to be able to fly.

This is shortly after takeoff and everyone is just starting their day.

The next picture shows that you can see where the river goes. When it's cool, the fog stays near the water. As you can see, the sun is just starting to come up.

It's great to be able to look down on the cars and trucks that usually pass me on the way to work. I drive slow so I can keep my highway mileage around 80 mpg...that's right 80mpg! I have a Honda Insight and by driving 55 mph, I can get that kind of mileage. It's necessary as I drive 50 miles each way to work.

Well, the sun is coming up and I'm ready to land. Gotta put the camera away and pay attention to what I'm doing.

Hope your day is as good as mine started.

Wiring Woes

2008-02-29T09:48:00.003-05:00

I've been up to my neck in wiring the plane way too long. It's been weeks of a lot of staring and getting not much done.
I finally made enough progress to have the intercom and radio working. This has been way too much trouble, and I let myself get away with the KISS principle. Keep It Simple Stupid!
Well, it's not simple, it's too fucking complicated for my simple mind, but it's too late to simplify it. I wanted a cool looking panel to go with my cool looking leather interior, and I will have to admit, It is very cool! To make it simpler, it would cost another $3000-4000, which I don't have, but I'm spending money like it's going out of style anyway on it....
This is the last plane I plan to build and I'll keep it until I can't fly anymore, so what's the big deal? I'm getting cheap on myself.
If I can just get the intercom to work right, and I think it's an internal problem, I can make some headway. I'll order another one (this one was used and sounds good for a few seconds, then sounds like shit) and keep on wiring.
Imagine a plate of spaghetti without sauce on it. Each end of a noodle is like the end of a wire that has to be hooked to something. Hook them all up and then make it look nice and tidy. Yeah right.
Oh well, if I get it done soon, then I can install the fuel system (Much more my kind of task) and then I'll be able to crank 'er up! Maybe next week. Then the first flight will only be a month or two away!

The reflections on the panel make it look funny, but it's real carbon fiber (well veneer anyway). this pic is missing a couple of switches, but sexy, no?

Nothing New

2008-02-18T15:44:00.004-05:00

I wish I had something funny or profound to say, but it's just the drudgery of normalcy. Saturday was as perfect a day as you could ever want. High 60's, which for February, is almost unheard of. Clear skies, no wind.... Makes for a perfect flying day. Did I partake? Hell no! I was to involved with the wiring of the plane to take a chance of blowing off the whole day. Ran the errands I needed as the stores I went to close at noon on Saturday. Did I fly then? Nope.

Did I get enough done to justify the day? No. I don't know what's wrong with me, but I could have flown, and then stayed up later doing the wiring. I'm just intimidated by it all. So I scratch my head, and/or my ass and wonder what to do next. I'm slowly getting it, but days like Saturday just don't come very often. I thought I'd fly Sunday, but you couldn't see across the street for most of the day because of low flying clouds, fog and rain.

Summertime will bring crappy visibility. The picture was taken last summer coming home from work, and was a couple of miles away and you can barely see where I am going to land. Cooler weather makes for better visibility. I should have gone Saturday. Next time.

Drug Runner?

2008-02-11T09:43:00.000-05:00

I sent a letter to the lawyer, and he emailed me back with more info on my dad's plane. He put an ad in Trade A Plane, and within a week, he got a call from someone in Mexico who was interested in buying the plane.
When it was learned that it had long range fuel tanks, he said he would take it (sight unseen). The lawyer went on a business trip and when he got back, his secretary said there were two Mexican gentlemen waiting in a motel and had been there for 3 days. (The secretary couldn't get hold of the lawyer for 3 days? WTF?)
The one gentleman was a pilot and the other was buying the plane for his son who was a traveling physician. The plane they had now need $50,000 worth of updates, so they were looking for another one.
After looking at the plane, they paid the lawyer $52,000 cash in 20 dollar bills. It took the lawyer, his partner and accountant several hours to open the duct tape cylinders with rolls of 20s and count them.
I guess doctors in Mexico are paid in cash with American 20 dollar bills. That's the way it is here isn't it?
The plane was never registered in Mexico, and not re-registered here.

I got the registration for my plane Saturday. It's official 806MB. Now if I can just get the wiring finished (what a pain), fuel system in and the cowling finished, I'll be ready to fly the dang thing.

I looked at paint chips to see the colors to paint it, and I found some really cool paint. It's called Kameleon Kolors by House of Kolor. They actually change colors! I thought that would be perfect until I found out it costs $2250 per gallon (retail)!! I can get it for $1900 a gallon, but that is definitely 10 times more than I planned to spend. I guess I'll go for more traditional paints and colors.

N222EE

2008-02-05T11:45:00.000-05:00

The fate of my fathers plane will be unknown, and probably forever. It was owned by a moron lawyer in Salem Oregon for 6 years, and sold in 1999 to a "John Doe" in Arizona somewhere, or as the official documentation states, Nogales Mexico.
I will never be in a position to be able to afford even an older Cessna 182 like that, but it was the nicest specimen of a 1967 C182K in the country.
There isn't much you can do with an airplane to customize it, but dad had all the legal speed modifications available and a special FAA approved Camshaft in the engine. I rebuilt it for him one summer when I was off from school, and it would cruise at 172 mph and burn 9 gallons per hour. That's almost 20 mpg! I know it doesn't sound like much, but it would hold 4 people plus luggage, and better mpg than most SUVs get.
Although I couldn't have afforded it, a buddy of mine would have bought it and I could have flown it whenever and wherever I wanted.
Now I'm on hold with the FAA waiting to be able to reserve that number. I just registered my Sonex with 806MB. 806 kind of looks like Bob although I would have rather had 808, but it is taken, and MB (Mike Bravo in international alphabet) stands for Margarita Bob, since I make the best Margaritas ever. It took me years to perfect my recipe. Mike Bravo would have been a good name for the main character in a couple of detective novels my dad wrote but never published, so it fits. I might change someday to 222EE if I can, but maybe I'll get another plane someday.
I didn't sleep much last night.

Getting healthy

2008-01-24T15:49:00.000-05:00

Since I can't come up with something clever, I thought this post might be appropriate. It was sent as a forwarded email, so I can't give credit to who wrote it.

Answer Doctor

Q: I've heard that cardiovascular exercise can prolong life; is this true?

A: Your heart is only good for so many beats, and that's it... Don't waste them on exercise. Everything wears out eventually. Speeding up your heart will not make you live longer; that's like saying you can extend the life of your car by driving it faster. Want to live longer? Take a nap.

Q: Should I cut down on meat and eat more fruits and vegetables?

A: You must grasp logistical efficiencies. What does a cow eat? Hay and corn. And what are these? Vegetables. So a steak is nothing more than an efficient mechanism of delivering vegetables to your system. Need grain? Eat chicken. Beef is also a good source of field grass (green leafy vegetable). And a pork chop can give you 100% of your recommended daily allowance of vegetable products.

Q: Should I reduce my alcohol intake?

A: No, not at all. Wine is made from fruit. Brandy is distilled wine, that means they take the water out of the fruity bit so you get even more of the goodness that way. Beer is also made out of grain. Bottoms up!

Q: How can I calculate my body/fat ratio?

A: Well, if you have a body and you have fat your ratio is one to one. If you have two bodies, your ratio is two to one, etc.

Q: What are some of the advantages of participating in a regular exercise program?

A: Can't think of a single one, sorry. My philosophy is: No Pain...Good!

Q: Aren't fried foods bad for you?

A: YOU'RE NOT LISTENING!!! .... Foods are fried these days in vegetable oil. In fact, they're permeated in it. How could getting more vegetables be bad for you?

Q: Will sit-ups help prevent me from getting a little soft around the middle?

A: Definitely not! When you exercise a muscle, it gets bigger. You should only be doing sit-ups if you want a bigger stomach.

Q: Is chocolate bad for me?

A: Are you crazy? HELLO Cocoa beans! Another vegetable!!! It's the best feel-good food around!

Q: Is swimming good for your figure?

A: If swimming is good for your figure, explain whales to me.

Q: Is getting in-shape important for my lifestyle?

A: Hey! 'Round' is a shape!

Well, I hope this has cleared up any misconceptions you may have had about food and diets.

And remember:
"Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways - Chardonnay in one hand - chocolate in the other - body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming "WOO HOO, What a Ride"

AND......

For those of you who watch what you eat, here's the final word on nutrition and health. It's a relief to know the truth after all those conflicting nutritional studies.

1. The Japanese eat very little fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

2. The Mexicans eat a lot of fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

3. The Chinese drink very little red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

4. The Italians drink a lot of red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

5. The Germans drink a lot of beers and eat lots of sausages and fats and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

CONCLUSION

Eat and drink what you like. Speaking English is apparently what kills you.

I'm back at work

2008-01-18T09:38:00.000-05:00

I have been negligent in blogging, but it is increasingly difficult to be funny. I now know why comedians end up having to go through rehab....
When I was on the pain killers, my imagination was going crazy, and it was pretty easy to formulate a funny story out of reality.

Needless to say, I'm back at work, and I could be retired in a minute if I could afford it. I'm on my mission to finish my plane in the next few months, and I spend several hours a day on it when I get home.

When I had all the trouble with the "after surgery recuperation", the rash was some of the worst times. I'd get in the shower and turn the water on full hot with the shower massager and try to burn the itch away. There was one spot halfway between the top of my crack and where my belt rides that as soon as I would hit it, it would make me pee. It didn't matter if I had to go or not, I'd go even if it was just a little bit.
WHERE WAS THIS WHEN I HAD TO HAVE THE CATHETERS??!?!?!?!!!????

I just thought it was funny, and didn't give it much thought until one night in my sleep I must have scratched that same spot. OMG!!! Scratching it has the same effect. Fortunately I didn't wet the bed, but I did have to change my underwear (yes I took a bath first). Mental note: Don't even touch back there!

I'm glad that's all over, but sometimes I still get itchy. I hope that all goes away forever soon.

I guess my next update will be on the plane. It's getting exciting!

Ring of Fire

2007-12-18T00:09:00.000-05:00

Yes, I know it's been over 2 weeks since my last post, but it is difficult for me to try to be funny. Friends at work say I'm pretty entertaining, but that's in person.

Well, I thought I would have to go to N.A. meetings to get off the Lidocaine. You know..."Hi, I'm Bob and I have a drug problem." "Hello Bob!" (I don't know why there is a big gap in the text here, but it won't go away)
As it turns out, the problem took care of itself. I developed a reaction to using it. When I was in itching hell, I'd put on some more lidocaine. It would take about 15-20 minutes for the itching to subside, and I'd be good for a couple of hours. Well, I got this rash, and it itched like hell too, so I thought, "I'll just put some on it too." Within a couple of days, I had the worst case of rash on my ass that I could imagine, and the itching was worse than ever. On my side, I'll bet my ass looks like a hippo mouth with chapped lips! I'm still only getting about 3-4 hours of sleep a night because of the itching. Not only that, but I have rash starting where I've never used lidocaine. I have an itchy ring around my belly button! WTF is up with that?!

Went to the doc today, and I now have a cream for the itch part of where the sugery was..., one for my cheeks, and another one for the other independent rashes. He says it looks like I've developed a mild infection. Great, just fucking great! The good part of all this?
In between hot baths (3-4 a day), and itchy spells (more than 3 or 4 a day), I can't sit long because it irritates the itch, so I go out to the garage and work on my airplane. I'm hoping to be able to crank it up sometime next month and fly soon after that!

There's a ton of work to do on it, but I'm on a mission.

Star of Bethlehem

2007-12-04T20:14:00.000-05:00

I'm realizing that my recovery is taking as long as the doctor said. I figured I would be back to normal in a few weeks. Although I have periods of normalcy, this itching is about to take me down. I've become a lidocaine junky. It says on the tube to use every 6 hours. HA! After 2 hours it was itching so bad, I was almost wishing for the intense pain I woke up to. So I was using the lidocaine as needed.

Well, the swelling hasn't gone down like it should, and the redness is getting worse. After one of my tub episodes, I was bent over looking in the mirror and thought, "My ass looks like a Christmas ornament, it could almost be the star on top of the tree". Upon furthur inspection, the way the swelling is and how the redness is making a halo around it, I decided instead it looks like the Star of Bethlehem.

Mind now going into overdrive... how could this be marketed on ebay? Not many guys can say their ass looks like a heavenly object. I do know quite a few women that have those, however. It would be easy if it looked like the Virgin Mary, or Jesus himself, I'd even take Willie Nelson or George Bush, but this isn't a piece of toast or pancake that I can sell. Pictures probably wouldn't sell very well as most people would think they were photoshopped. Being in the true Christmas spirit, I thought about standing on top of the house with a nativity scene below, and a spotlight on my ass hoping that it would inspire some wise men to lavish my humble abode with Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh.

Alas, one of the neighbors would probably call the cops and although it probably wouldn't be proven to be indecent exposure in a court of law it could, however, be considered at that point a career limiting move. Besides it's cold out there.

No matter what, it's not a pretty picture.

"Are you suffering from that painful, rectal itch?"

2007-11-30T00:27:00.000-05:00

That was an actual line from a Preparation H commercial some years ago. I have a new definition of rectal itch. It will wake you from a dead sleep, and you jerk the covers off and get to the bathtub as fast as you can. The doctor prescribes water as hot as you can stand, which lights the itch into afterburner. It seems to me that when you have swelling, you should have cold on it, but what do I know.
So, I have this little step stool I perch an elbow on, put my feet on the sides of the tub (one side is almost non-existent, however) hold my nutsack up and feel the painful rectal itch go into overdrive as the hot water rises. After 15 or so minutes of this, the itch subsides, and you use your foot to hit the drain.
If you accidently slip with the nutsack, the commotion is similar to a quarterback fumbling the ball on the snap. It's all assholes and elbows and sounds like you are trying to land that 400 pound tuna into your little boat and there is a shark feeding frenzy going on.
This itch can be worse than the pain, and the demerol does nothing for it.
My new daily routine:
Bath, try to get really dry as I'm afraid I'll get athlete's foot, jock itch and the equivalent of diaper rash. Don't sit too much as it'll get the itch going sooner. about 2 hours later repeat the process. Day and night. Sometimes I just want to run a curling iron up my crack. I've been thinking about trying to find a drug dealer for some coke suppository. Somehow I don't think my prescription plan is going to cover that one. I'd go to the witch doctor if I thought it would help.
I hope you all are having a better time than me.
Dr. appt. tomorrow. For once I can hardly wait.

Piss Bag Hell

2007-11-12T18:53:00.000-05:00

I'm alive 1 week after surgery. That's the good part (subject to change).

I was more than a little apprehensive about this whole thing to begin with. I go in for surgery and wake up an hour and a half later in the most incredible pain imaginable. They ask you how much pain you have rated 1-10. With 10 being you feel like you'll pass out. I'm no stranger to pain, but this was the most intense pain...I think most of the other times I was in shock, which helps.
Being a fan of the movie, "This is Spinal Tap" , I say 11, but you'd think the tears running from my eyes might be a little hint.

Big shot of morphine...20 minutes later, no change in pain. Another big shot of morphine and still no change. The Dr.s and nurses are looking at me and can't believe I'm not floating. Now a big shot of Dilaudid. Finally the tears stop.

If a doctor says we have to operate near your tailbone, rectum, colon, or anything like it down there, say thanks, but no thanks. Goto the nearest costume store and rent a dog costume. Put it on and see if you can find a vet that will put you to sleep. That is the only humane way to do this.

I don't know what they are called, but they go on the hand mixers to mix cake batter etc. Those metal 4 bladed twirly things. They have a small version of one of those and that's how they do the surgery...just run it up until they get what they want.

After I get home, I have to sit in a hot tub of water. That works out pretty well as the demerol is wearing off, but the hot water makes it not so bad waiting for another dose.

I'm home, and can't pee. I try everything cold water hot water straining until my whole insides were going to fall out my ass and NOTHING! Not even one dribble.
I go to the ER and get a catheter. Normally I don't mind pretty nurses fondling my crotch, but I was in pretty bad shape Since none of them wrote their phone number on my hand, I guess they weren't very impressed. Mild depression starts in after that little episode.

2 days go by. Awake for an hour asleep for 3. Everything is going to schedule, except for the catheter thing, until I forget to close the drain valve. Get out to the garage and drag the shop vac in to try and get all of it out of the carpet. Finally get it all cleaned up, like I really needed to do all that. 'Bout 15 minutes later a buddy comes by to check on me, feed the cats and dog . PERFECT! Why couldn't he have been here in time to at least bring me the shop vac. He did get me more water and carpet cleaner and put the vac away for me.

Day 3. I have become an enemagician. There ain't no way in hell your body will let you take a dump. The put sponges, tools, rivets, scotch tape, and a large briar in there, and no stool softener in the world will touch that. Doc says fill the bag up with warm tap water, then fill you up and wait 30 minutes. 30MINUTES?!?! I couldn't wait 30 seconds. Every thing came out but the briar. Back in the tub to get over the trauma.

Day 4. The Briar has got to go, but after some more enemagic I find out it's not really a briar, but a large orange traffic cone, and it's coming out square end first.

Day 5 I get the catheter out! YAY! I'm not tethered anymore! 10 hrs later I'm back in the ER for another catheter.

Now I have a low grade infection, and feel I have to pee all the time, but it's a direct line out. Doc says that'll go away soon. Not soon enough.

A normal adult bladder holds about 750ml before it'd pretty painful. They got 1930ml out of me. You know there is something up when the nurses tell their cohorts to come by and see this. It was about 2 shot glasses short of a 2 liter bottle.

Catheter comes out this Thursday. The Doc wants ME TO DO IT!!! I have to do it early so if there is a problem, I can get there withour another trip to the ER..... I just might have to find that dog costume.

This is probably way too much info, but I'm thinking about doing this every vacation.

Well, gotta go deal with another traffic cone.

UPDATE: The traffic cone is about the size of a candy corn.... I don't know what they did down there, but from now on I'm on a smoothie diet.

TIP: Hamburger smoothies just don't cut it.

I have a chromosomal translocation

2007-10-30T15:35:00.000-04:00

In other words, an abnormal growth near my tailbone. It's been there for a long time, but after a misstep on a ladder, I fell backwards on it and it got bigger and very sore. From the size of my pinky fingernail to bigger than my thumb.

Having surgery on Monday the 5th, and they tell me I'll be out of work for 6-8 weeks!!!!

I have plenty of sick time built up, but I'm not excited about it.

A buddy told me "People have been telling you they were going to ream you a new asshole, and finally someone is going to do it."

yay

The hospital is going to ream me one, the doctor is going to ream me one and I'm sure the anesthesiologist will ream one too.

Not that I'm a prolific blogger, but I'll probably be down and out for a while. I do hope I'll be able to keep up on reading my favs.

Kansas isn't in Kansas anymore

2007-10-23T11:17:00.002-04:00

Here goes for the second try on this post....

A buddy I work with is the penultimate Kansas fan...you know, Kansas the band. Yup, they are still around and are as good or possibly better than ever. Back in the Late 70's-Early 80's I lived in Atlanta, and worked with a guy who built street rods, etc. He hired me to help him with a 1937 Chevrolet coupe. We were building a hot rod for Dave Hope, bass player of Kansas. Those were the days. Dave would come by and we'd hang out, and I'd get to go to parties and hang out with the band.

Marty said we were going to the Kansas concert in Greenville, SC, and although I'm not a fan of crowds, I went. Had a great time. I mentioned to him that the band just wasn't the same to me (of course I hadn't seen them since probably '82), and I miss the original guys.

Dave was very proud of the fact that "Kansas is the only big name band that has all the original members!"....Dave left about a year and a half later. I understand why he left, and if I had stayed around Atlanta (had to go racing), I'd have needed to leave too. Way too much partying. It's amazing to me that any band can stay together for the long haul anyway. Too close, too long, too much.

The musicianship is, as always, amazing. Although I still miss the original band, this group is very "tight", especially considering how difficult their music is to play.

I sure would like to talk to Dave again. He is an ordained minister now. I'm glad he has his life together and I wonder what happened to the coupe. I never took a picture of it, but it sure was fun driving around in it.

Billy's (the guy I was working with) girlfriend, one time called me "Mr. Coupe", and Billy corrected her, saying it's "DOCTOR COUPE". The name stuck for quite some time, and The Monolith album (before public releasse) was signed; To Bob, "Dr. Coupe", thanks for your help on the car. Best Wishes from Dave Hope. It was also signed by Ehart and Walsh. That album was stolen along with several hundred others along with my stereo and car.
I'm still bummed about that.

I looked at a picture of Dave on the internet, and damn if he didn't get old. I guess I had better go look in the mirror. Fortunately, I'm not as old as him and look much much younger...no, really!

I just try to regain some of my youth sometimes, and that concert was one of those times. It brought back memories of the band getting ready for a tour, and Dave would come by and say, "We sound like a garage band trying to do Kansas songs." It would only be a couple of days later that he would say they were starting to sound like Kansas again. It was only after that, the practice sessions would be open for viewing (unless you were special, like me).

Blue Skies

2007-10-08T11:51:00.000-04:00

Looking out the window today reminds me of the sky when Ferris Bueller looks out and says "How could you possibly go to school on a day like today." Today's sky doesn't even have that one cloud yet.

It is much better than Friday when I went to the Sonex Fly-In in Crossville, TN. I had a blast. Although my Sonex isn't ready to fly yet (still a long way off), I flew in the Cessna 152 Texas Taildragger. The sky looked ominous although Crossville was clear and about 15 miles west of me was reporting better ceilings. I took off and found a hole in the clouds to go through. There were a total of 5 different layers of clouds. It was pretty amazing, well amazing after the scary moments. I was going to fly direct, but there were build ups of clouds that went through the layers. I was at 4500 feet and had to go around a few of them. One, near Asheville, was particularly large and I ended up in a white out situation. Thinking I'll break through in a second, ok maybe any time now, OK maybe now, Ummm maybe I should turn around, one more second...Ok turning around. I came out where I went in and headed around the other way, and they were everywhere.....so I headed Southwest towards Georgia. It would add a little time, but the mountains I'll have to fly over are lower and they are reporting better weather there too. I found another hole in the coulds and went up to 6500 feet and when it got bad, I went up through another layer to 8500 feet. It was not really bumpy at all, and the little rain I hit washed the bugs off the windshield.

The lower layers stopped at the mountains and I could finally see the ground sometimes. It was a little more relaxing so I could get a picture or two. Coming out of all the weather, I wasn't far from my destination. It was a fun and exciting 2 hours.

I had a blast, and one of my friends had painted part of his plane with Kandy Tangerine. I have a new favorite color now. I think painting the whole plane this color would be too heavy, but it sure looks nice.

It was nice renewing old friendships, having cocktails at the motel with my buddies, and I was a camera plane for the Saturday morning Dawn Patrol. I hope all the pictures of the other planes flying by turned out.

Now back to work on my plane full speed ahead. I'll have to fly less so I can buy some more of the things I need to finish my plane. Might even have to save up for a Kandy Tangerine paint job.

Crappy Weather

2007-10-04T14:42:00.000-04:00

Well here I am at work, working...no...really. I looked outside and we are under an ominous cloud cover. What's that? Blue sky! There is a hole in the clouds!
Maybe, just maybe, I'll get to fly to Tennessee tomorrow to the fly-in there. The weather doesn't have to be perfect, but where I'm going is reporting 6000 foot ceiling. As long as I can get a couple thousand feet over the ground without being in the clouds, I'm good to go.

This year there are some workshops that I hope will be very informative for me. Canopy and cowling fitting as well as an electrical workshop are offered. I'm just at the point where I will be fitting my cowling, then the canopy and of course the instrument panel (electrical).

So I hope I don't have to drive there. It's so much more fun to fly and less than half the time.

I just hope when I retire, I have good enough health and enough money to fly.
I need to make a coast to coast trip in an airplane I built with my own hands to honor my father. In high school, we would go from coast to coast in his airplane over the summer just before school started, and I always wanted to fly alongside him in my plane. I couldn't muster up enough money or drive to do that while he was alive so I'll go it alone. I'm sure there will be tears along the way as I fly to and over some of the same places I remember as a kid. All in all we made 7 trips across the USA (no not all of them were when I was in high school).

I have to make at least one more trip.

Triple Tree Aerodrome Fly-In

2007-10-01T13:46:00.000-04:00

I flew to the First Annual Triple Tree Aerodrome fly-in last weekend. It was great. I took off Thursday to go, and would have taken off Friday, but had to work. This is an unbelievable place just South of Woodruff, SC. There is a 7,000 ft grass runway that is lighted, a huge hangar with some really nice big model airplanes as well as a couple of antique airplanes. It's a nice facility with a patio and outdoor fireplace, showers for those camping and even has a control tower for the fly-in. Way cool! There were 150-200 planes there on Saturday, and a pretty big crowd.

Next weekend I'm flying to Crossville, TN for the Sonex Fly-In. I went last year and although I'm not flying my Sonex (since it's not finished yet), I will fly there. An hour and 45 minutes in the air is a whole lot better than 5 hours driving.

It'll be nice to see the friends I made last year and catch up on all the new technologies and tips from the other builders. Plus, I only will work 4 days this week too!

Flying above a carpet of cotton

2007-09-25T11:20:00.000-04:00

This morning I checked the weather because it was supposed to be clear, and it said few clouds at 1 thousand three hundred (above the ground).

I looked out the window and it looked relatively clear (even though it was still dark). So I decided to fly. On the way to my friends house to get the plane, I noticed some thin fog in the valleys. Not really a problem, so I called a bud to get a ride from the airport to work and got the plane ready to fly.

It was just getting light and the sky was just gray. Again, not really a problem. About 500 feet above ground, I was in the clouds (the plane is equipped for visual flight, not Instruments only flight). Snap decision...do I continue or turn around and land? I'll be out of them in just a second and the destination is pretty clear. I focused on the instruments and kept climbing. Sure enough a minute or two later I was above the clouds. Still can't see much as the sun hasn't officially risen. I climbed higher than normal and followed the GPS track towards work. 20 minutes into the flight, I still haven't seen the ground. I was beginning to think I'll be flying around a while... Once again, not a problem as I have 4 hrs of fuel before I run out.

I see a little bump in this beautiful but boring layer of a cotton 'carpet' which must be the mountain about 10 miles from where I'm going. On the other side, there is a big hole in the clouds so I know I can at least come back there and go under the clouds if I need to. I know where the airport is, but still can't see it. I can eventually see parts of the ground and find another hole and circle down through it. I'm running late and haul ass towards the airport. Dump all the flaps and get slowed down for a nice touchdown and turn off.

A little excitement to start the day.

That was FUN!!!!

CAVU

2007-09-17T11:00:00.000-04:00

This is the kind of day we are having here. It's not my picture, but I didn't have a camera with me this morning.

I got the new starter installed in the plane on Saturday. It was a royal pain. Of course it just didn't bolt in like the old one. It's finally in and it ROCKS!! I also installed the new igntion switch and door lock so all the keys match now. Out of all of it, the door lock was the worst, but it's done.

I flew to work today and it was CAVU. Ceiling And Visibility Unlimited. When I took off, the sun was just starting to rise, and you could see that the cars still had their lights on, a little fog in the valleys, and I could see the tall buildings in Charlotte as the sun rose. That's over 60 miles away!

There was a little wind, but not too bad. Not a cloud in the sky, and I had to turn off all the vents as it was a little cool. It is a perfect day to fly, and a perfect description of why I fly.

Friday

2007-09-14T14:27:00.000-04:00

It's Friday! The best news, is that the airplane starter should be here today! I wasn't expecting it to be shipped until next Thursday at the earliest. Soooo I can put it in tonight and go flying tomorrow cause it's supposed to be nice all weekend.

I've made some friends on Blogger, and I read them every day, so it has inspired me to post some more. I'm not very expressive, and am not a very good writer, but I made this blog so I could post a response to a couple of others. Sometimes it's good to vent though.

Since I started posting comments on other sites, I've had over 130 views of my profile in the last few weeks (up from 5 for the last year)

I would link to other blogs, but I don't know how, and I would like to get a counter, but don't know how to do that either. I looked, but I haven't spent much time or figured it out. If it's simple, please let me know. If it's complicated, never mind. ;-)

October 4-6 is the Sonex gathering in Crossville, TN. I'll be flying the Cessna to this one since I have not finished my Sonex yet. Maybe next year.

I like the paint job (second one), but I've been struggling with ideas for my paint. I want something colorful, and I was going to primarily be yellow, but all the factory planes are now being painted yellow and I think there are too many. So I'll probably go with white, but I want some stripes and such, but am not artistic enough to come up with something cool. Since Dad was in the Flying Tigers (not as a pilot though), I thought about having shark teeth on the front, but don't want it too lame. The one at the top is not toooo lame, but borderline.

I Remember

2007-09-11T13:43:00.000-04:00

I still have trouble seeing images of the World Trade Center without getting tears in my eyes.

A relative of mine was on Flight 175 and my heart goes out to her family and the rest of the families who have to deal with this on a daily basis, not just once a year like most of us.

I borrowed (stole) the image from Indian Chris at Right Wing & right Minded

Starters are out of stock!

2007-09-10T09:57:00.000-04:00

It'll be at least the 18th before the new airplane starter comes. I'm pained about that. Still, I flew to work today in the Cessna 150 Taildragger. It's older, and doesn't fly quite as nice, but it has a whole lot more horsepower and moves right along. The disadvantage is that it uses a whole lot more gas. Oh well, that's the price you pay for commuting via the air.

What? Not everyone has 2 planes to fly? You probably have a spare car. Why not an airplane? It really isn't mine, my partner in the 152 owns this one and it doesn't get flown a whole lot. So I can fly it just about any time I want. Besides it was low on gas and somebody had to fill it up.

Bad Day

2007-09-07T13:31:00.000-04:00

Well, as both of you know (those that might stumble upon this blog every so often), I've been flying to work most of the summer. I've flown every day this week, except for today. On Wednesday I thought I'd put on a show for the guys that are there drinking coffee every morning. I was going to land on the very end of the runway and turn off at the first turn off (which is not impossible, but almost). I was coming in very slow and sinking pretty fast, but hit my mark exactly where I wanted to. That's where the problem came in. My main wheels touched down where I wanted them to, but the tailwheel was still in the grass. When it hit the edge of the pavement, it launched the nose of the plane and it looked like I was playing hopscotch with the plane.... I'm sure it didn't look as bad to them as it did me as I was dancing all over the rudder pedals to get 'er calmed down.

They rated the landing at a 6, but they were way too kind, I rated it as a 4. Murphy must have a law that the quality of the landing is inversely proportional to the number of people watching!

So yesterday I hit right at the spot where I wanted to turn off yesterday and turned off at the second spot (same distance, but not as cool). Landing was an 8.8.
Got to the airport at about 5 to go home and the starter took a big dump. NOW WHAT!!??
I got someone to hold the brakes while I tried to hand prop it. I couldn't believe that what I see in the movies is NOT TRUE!!! I struggled for a while and got someone to help me push it to the maintenace hangar. Fortunately the guy who works there was still there. We did some troubleshooting and I decided to get a new starter relay and that would fix it. Went and got one, but it didn't work.

Tried a few more things and decided to try propping it again. After about a half hour of straining in 95 degree heat, it actually started. I'm ordering a new high power starter today. ($450, ouch!!) Still, it was an adventure!! At least I know it'll prop start now, and with some of the info I learned, it won't take as long if I ever need to do it again.

I fly to work

2007-08-16T10:35:00.000-04:00

Don't read that as I fly for work... I just commute to work in an airplane. Not all the time, but so far this summer about 2-3 times a week.
I live 50 miles away by car, and it takes 55 minutes. When I fly, it takes about an hour and 10 minutes. WTF? That's from door to door.
10 minutes to Gene's, 10 minutes to preflight the plane, 35 min to warm it up, taxi, take off and land (depending on the wind), 5 minutes to tie it down and 10 minutes to work.
Do I mind? How can you mind, no traffic, speeding by the little cars down there, the freedom of flight and of course the "Cool Factor"! The cool factor is slightly diminished by having to bum a ride to work and back, but is somehow also raised by who picks me up and drops me off.

Besides the plane started life as a Cessna 152 Commuter, so even though it is now a Texas Taildragger, it's my commuter. As the days get shorter, my commuting ability will change.

So, since tomorrow is a teacher work day, I might take it off too. The question now becomes, "Where should I fly?"

Texas Taildragger

2007-08-14T13:29:00.001-04:00

I'm flying all over the place this summer. I will be getting back to work on the Sonex pretty soon as the 152 will move to another place for a while. Ervin will be using it to finish his training for his private pilot's license.

It's been fun, but expensive at $4.60 + a gallon for avgas. Oh well. I have about 400 hours and over 25% of them are tailwheel hours now. The Sonex will run on car gas and about the same number of gallons per hour although it runs 170 instead of 105 or so.

I feel special even though at work I feel like a big fuckin loser! It seems our district doesn't want old men as school administrators.

"L"

2007-06-12T13:20:00.000-04:00

I haven't posted in a while...3 months to be a little more exact. Like many other people, I just enjoy reading other's blogs, and don't feel like trying to be silly or witty or whatever.
Besides. Nobody reads this crap anyway. I just started it so I could post a comment or two on some other blogs.

I feel like a loser. I interviewed for the best job in the whole world (at least my world...and the best job for me) and I didn't get it. I made the final 3, which should make me feel good about it since I didn't even make the second round in the school district where I work now.
Sooooo, I'm bummed. Really bummed.

I should be thankful I have a job, and I am, but it is time for me to move on.

Oil Companies are Crooks!

2007-03-14T10:29:00.000-04:00

7 weeks ago, gas was $1.78 a gallon in Spartanburg. Today it is $2.35 a gallon.
The gas is not the winter blend anymore, which should make it cheaper AAAANNNNDDDD the price of crude has gone down! So gas at the pump should be cheaper. IT'S NOT!

When I'm King, things will be different. I'm going to find out why the crooks running the oil companies think they have a license to screw the American public.

They will have to be executed. They are crooks, which make them criminals and criminals have to die.

I'm pissed. I'd be even more pissed if my car didn't get 80 mpg.

I didn't win the 240 Million

2007-01-25T14:37:00.000-05:00

I'm somewhat bummed about not winning the lottery. I'm here at work, and I'd much rather be retired. Guess I won't be able to give away any money now.

I took my School Leaders License Assessment a week and a half ago. Guess that means 2-1/2 weeks until I find out how I did.

Not much to blog about, but I thought I should write something....Oh yeah! Some scumbag on ebay suckered me for $400 for Daytona 500 tickets. I spoke with the detective today, and I hope he (the guy, not the detective) gets ass raped in prison. There are about 25-28 of us scam-ees...one guy for $2800.

This shirt is fitting...

The detective said he didn't think the guy was too bright scamming a bunch of NASCAR fans out of race tickets. I wouldn't be surprised if the guy was taken care of before they could arrest him.

I'm not Scrooge anymore!

2006-11-30T09:39:00.000-05:00

I used to despise the Cristmas season, because of all the commercialization involved with it. This year, I decided to try to be in the Christmas spirit. I even went to the art store on Black Friday to buy a picture frame. That is something I've never done before...no, not buying a picture frame, but going out of the house on the day after Thanksgiving. My usual Christmas tree is tiny, but has lights and goes up in about 2 seconds. This year I got a white 4' tree to help with the spirit thingy. It even has a couple of presents under it.
This is my usual tree.

I was off work for 5 days in a row. That is a first except when I would go to Tahoe for Christmas or the Reno Air Races. I guess I'm just tired of working. Only 11-1/2 years to go for retirement. Oh Boy!!

I know I haven't posted and I hate it when the blogs I regularly read don't post often enough, but there is a difference... nobody reads mine. This is for my benefit. The other reason I haven't posted, is that a couple of dogs killed Midnight, my cat. She was the nicest cat I've ever had. I feel responsible because I saw the dogs running around across the street and she was peeking out from the door that goes under the house. I coaxed her out so she could have breakfast and I went on to work. I got a call a couple hours later that the two dogs wer tossing her around and she was dead. I'm crying as I type this.
Dogs killed Einstein, the coolest cat ever, and now Midnight. I realize that pets may not have souls, and sometimes I think I may not either, but I seriously hope that they will be in heaven, and I can get there too.

I guess you'd call me a Libertarian

2006-10-25T09:21:00.000-04:00

This Story pisses me off!
I'm so glad that Kerry is not our president. Not that I think that George is doing a great job either.
I think anyone in politics has to be somewhat corrupt to be there anyway, but that Frankestein looking S.O.B. and his anti-American wife irritate me all to hell.

Many of my friends went to Vietnam, and a few didn't come back. I was in the last lottery and even had a low number, but wasn't picked. I felt fortunate in that. It was a scary time, just like now, but we are in Iraq, and need to do the best we can and what is right. We need to finish what we started, and I hate it every day when we lose soldiers anywhere, but that is one of the risks taken when signing up.

I'm glad I live here, but I'm afraid that when people like John Kerry do get elected it makes us more vulnerable to terrorist and non-terrorist attacks.

I have never voted "for" anyone for president. Always against. This year for Governor of South Carolina, I will be voting against Mark Sanford He is just a spoiled rich kid who wants to send his kids to private school at the expense of public education. I don't care what you say you've done to improve South Carolina. You are doing your best to destroy public education in the name of "competition". Do your homework, moron, and you'll find that vouchers aren't working.

Mike Bravo

2006-10-11T15:15:00.000-04:00

My father wrote a couple of novels, which were never published. One of them probably would be likely now, but he was too conservative to make it steamy. It would be very plausible for a terrorist attack, and at one time I thought about trying to update it and see if it sells. I don't want to be responsible for something like that to actually happen, so it'll probably stay in my attic.
Anyway, like the idiot I am, I forgot to renew my airplane N-Number registration which I reserved in my fathers memory. It was the closest thing I could get to his plane number. So I checked last Monday, and on the Friday before, someone else got it. I've been kicking myself ever since.
I suppose it's time to get my own number, and all the ones I like are taken. I was thinking about different ones, and my friend said it should be something with MB, for Margarita Bob. I thought about it and the Phonetic Alphabet saying of MB is Mike Bravo. It sounded like a name that would be good for the main character in dad's book.
The only number that came up halfway decent is 806, which almost looks like Bob.
The number is going to be...
N806MB
"Experimental Eight Zero Six Mike Bravo. "
I can live with it.

De Plane, De Plane!!

2006-10-03T11:14:00.000-04:00

A couple of weekends ago, I cleaned out the garage and cut my 4' x 12' bench down to 4' x 4'. This gave me enough room to put the plane diagonally in the garage to give me a lot more room to work. I have some rugs that came out of the house when I put down the laminate floor in there, so it is a nice comfotable place to be. Over the weekend, I installed the rudder pedals and am now fitting the engine mount. Once that's in place, I'll be installing the landing gear, and then I can push it around. It's actually getting closer to being finished.
I haven't worked on it much since I started my master's degree, and now that I'm getting close to being finished, it is easier to make time to work on the plane.
This weekend, I'm going to the American Sonex Association Fly-In in Crossville, TN to hook up with some other builders and get some ideas, inspiration and hopefully some tips for installing the canopy and drilling the titanium for the landing gear. I suppose the canopy will be the next "expensive" thing I'll need to buy. That completion list is getting shorter, and I'm getting excited about it. If I took a couple of weeks off work, I could probably make a serious dent in the amount of work left in completing the plane. I'll still need money though, and of course, the old "tail wheel" endorsement in the log book.
I feel good about it because I know that this is the plane I will be able to finish. The Kitfox was out of my reach, and my heart just wasn't in it.
Gus Schlegel took a trip from Kansas City to the West Coast and back in his Sonex a couple of years ago, and I love reading it. It is great inspiration. You can see it here.

I Passed My Comprehensive Exam!

2006-09-22T16:19:00.000-04:00

That was a painful experience! Hours upon hours of study for a 6 hour exam, and I KICKED ASS!!!
3.73 out of a possible 4.0. I don't know if it's the highest grade ever, but I sure feel that way!
One more exam in January for my license...another 6 hours, only this time you have to write it by hand. Oh joy! At least it only costs $465. It'll all be over in May. I just applied for graduation for this Master of School Administration degree, and it scares me that in a few years, I'll be a principal of a school. That is a scary thought!
I've never done so well in college. I guess I finally figured out how to bullshit more effectively.

John McErlean Jr.

2006-09-06T13:56:00.000-04:00

This is a tribute to John McErlean who lost his life at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.

Five years later, I still have trouble seeing images of that day without getting tears in my eyes.
It is amazing to me that anyone in the name of any god could, with clear conscience, do such a horrific deed.

I did not know John McErlean, but from what I read about him, makes me very sad for his family. You may read the profile that was printed in the New York Times on December 21, 2001 here.

From these few paragraphs, I am able to discern that he lived his life how we should all strive to live.

To your family, I cannot imagine the loss you feel, although I can feel some of your pain.
Rest in peace John McErlean, God has his hand on your family.
Sincerely,
Robert

Here is a list of all the names and locations of the tributes to the fallen victims.

Katrina Komplaints

2006-08-28T09:35:00.000-04:00

I'm kind of bugged that the mayor of New Orleans is whining that they can't get the government to fix everything for them. It's been a year, and it's not all fixed yet? Other places and states that were hit equally hard have been doing the cleanup and rebuilding on their own.

According to CBS 60 Minutes, "Nagin had criticized efforts to redevelop the World Trade Center site following the Sept. 11 attacks when confronted about delays in rebuilding his city after Hurricane Katrina.
During a "60 minutes" interview, a CBS correspondent pointed out flood-damaged cars still on the streets of New Orleans' devastated Ninth Ward. Nagin replied, "You guys in New York can't get a hole in the ground fixed, and it's five years later. So let's be fair," according to CBS."

I wonder how long it took to initially build all of the storm ravaged area? It certainly would have taken longer than it will take to rebuild. It doesn't make sense to me that they are whining about trash and abandoned cars there. New York City removed all the wreckage from the WTC in short order.
It's going to take time, and I think they should have moved the entire city to higher ground.

Toosdy

2006-06-13T12:50:00.000-04:00

I just took the color test. Now I know what's wrong with me.
colorquiz.com

Existing Situation
Is seeking a solution to existing problems or anxieties, but is liable to find it difficult to decide on a right course to follow.

Stress Source
Has an unsatisfied need to ally himself with others whose standards are as high as his own, and to stand out from the herd. This desire for preeminence isolates him and inhibits his readiness to give himself freely. While he wants to surrender and let himself go, he regards this as a weakness which must be resisted. This self-restraint, he feels, will lift him above the rank and file and ensure recognition as a unique and distinctive personality.

Restrained Characteristics
Feels that he is receiving less than his share and that there is no one on who he can rely for sympathy and understanding. Pent-up emotions make him quick to take offense, but he realizes that he has to make the best of things as they are.
Feels that things stand in his way, that circumstances are forcing him to compromise and forgo some pleasures for the time being.

Desired Objective
Seeks affectionate, satisfying and harmonious relationships. Desires an intimate union, in which there is a love, self-sacrifice and mutual trust.

Actual Problem
Wants to be valued and respected, and seeks this from a close and peaceful association of mutual esteem. (I think the actual problem is that I need to get laid)

Monday without the students

2006-06-12T09:57:00.000-04:00

Graduation was Saturday. School is a nice place to be when the students aren't around. It's even better when the teachers aren't here....
I thought it was very appropriate that within 5 minutes of announcing to turn off all cell phones and pagers, a cell phone rang. Typical.

I saw this on a blog I read pretty regularly and I thought it was worth sharing.

Dictator Vows To Bring Down U.S. Government
Published by ron l beck.

Venezuela Dictator Hugo Chavez has vowed to bring down the U.S. government. Chavez, president of Venezuela, told a TV audience : "Enough of imperialist aggression; we must tell the world: down with the U.S. empire. We have to bury imperialism this century."
The guest on his television program, beamed across Venezuela, was Cindy Sheehan, the antiwar activist. Chavez recently had as his guest Harry Belafonte, who called President Bush "the greatest terrorist in the world."Chavez is pushing a socialist revolution and has a close alliance with Cuban dictator Fidel Castro.Regardless of your feelings about the war in Iraq, the issue here is that we have a socialist dictator vowing to bring down the government of the U.S. and he is using our money to achieve his goal!
The Venezuela government, run by dictator Chavez, is the sole owner of Citgo gas company. Sales of products at Citgo stations send money back to Chavez to help him in his vow to bring down our government.
Take Action!
Please decide that you will not be shopping at a Citgo station. Why should U.S. citizens who love freedom be financing a dictator who has vowed to take down our government?
Very important. Please forward this to your friends and family. Most of them don't know that Citgo is owned by the Venezuela government.
Being Ron B. June 1, 2006 http://beingronb.blogspot.com/

T.O.A.D.

2006-06-06T14:52:00.000-04:00

Tuesday Once Again...Drat!
I guess I could be posting more often, but since nobody reads this crap anyway, I don't feel too compelled to do it. I just do it when I want to rant about something. Graduation for students is this Saturday. Needless to say, it is hectic around here.
Comprehensive exams for my masters degree are in 3 weeks, and I'm getting stressed about it.
Many of my classmates are getting assistant principal positions and I've elected to stay where I'm at for another year. That puts me behind in getting a principal's job, but I need to finish up some stuff here and I need to get my assistant tuned up so he isn't stuck.

Class tonight...Oh Boy!

Hump Day

2006-05-31T12:06:00.000-04:00

I guess we could call it camel day since they have a hump. No humping around my place that's for sure.

I guess Tony Stewart will try to race at Dover. That is going to be painful no matter what. At least they have a talented relief driver who is capable of doing well there...Ricky Rudd. I was a fan of his when he was driving for Bud Moore (who had a summer house on the lake right down the street from me). I just hope that Zippy can get the car to fit Rudd's likes for qualifying. I think it would be cool if Tony couldn't finish the race and Ricky could win it.

I'll be taking part of the day off tomorrow to wait for the washing machine repair guy. It's only 2 weeks old, but the timer thingy doesn't work right. It'll wash forever, but won't drain, rinse or spin on anything but normal. At least it does that.

My friend and co-worker is having a colonoscopy today. That's just a primer in case the IRS crawls up his butt with a big flashlight. I wonder what type of person in medical school one day wakes up and decides, "I want to be a proctologist"? You couldn't tell anyone about it or you'd be the butt of all the jokes.

Deductive Reasoning...
The sport of choice for the urban poor is BASKETBALL
The sport of choice for maintenance-level employees is BOWLING
The sport of choice for front-line workers is FOOTBALL
The sport of choice for supervisors is BASEBALL
The sport of choice for middle management is TENNIS
The sport of choice for corporate officers is GOLF

CONCLUSION: The higher you are in the corporate structure, the smaller your balls.

Big Race Weekend

2006-05-26T13:18:00.000-04:00

Saturday is the Busch race at Charlotte and the Truck race at Mansfield, Ohio.
Sunday is the best day for racing for me. I haven't missed the start of the Indy 500 in many many years, and although I may not watch the whole thing, I will watch the end as well. Then the Coca Cola 600.

I heard Carlos Mencia (Mind of Mencia on the Comedy Channel) this morning on the John Boy and Billy Big Show. He can only get away with saying the things he does because he is a minority, but he makes me laugh. He said California was talking about sending the illegals back to Mexico and building a wall. "Who's gonna build it after that?" His plan would be to have them build the wall and then say, "It looks really good on this side...How does it look on the other side?". When they go over to see the other side, close the door. You probably had to hear him say it, because it probably loses something in print.

The other thing he said I thought was funny was the reason so many illegals are here is that they don't want to be around a bunch of Mexicans. Sooooo....we should let as many as want to come over here come and in about a year they will feel that there are too many Mexicans here and move to Canada. Then it'll be their problem.

Sure Happy It's Thursday

2006-05-25T12:24:00.000-04:00

It has been a hectic week. A lot going on with work. It'll be nice in a couple of weeks when the little *&%$!#+$ (Darlings) are out of school.

This is one verrrry cool video (it's clean). Even better if you are a Beatles fan. It's Chris Bliss doing a juggling finale to his show.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4776181634656145640

Since my friends may be getting a pool, I'm now having to lose a bunch of weight and get a new swimming suit. I don't know who Borat is, but he has much bigger cajones than me to wear this in public. Beth said I couldn't wear this to her pool. I really can't blame her for that. If you think this is bad, don't even think about me in it.

Sure Happy It's Thursday

2006-05-18T16:05:00.000-04:00

I read this from another blog and I find it extremely funny...

If you ever testify in court, you might wish you could have been as sharp as this policeman.He was being cross-examined by a defense attorney during a felony trial. The lawyer was trying to undermine the policeman's credibility....
Q: "Officer -- did you see my client fleeing the scene?"
A: "No sir. But I subsequently observed a person matching the description of the offender, running several blocks away."

Q: "Officer -- who provided this description?"
A: "The officer who responded to the scene."

Q: "A fellow officer provided the description of this so-called offender. Do you trust your fellow officers?"
A: "Yes, sir. With my life."

Q: "With your life? Let me ask you this then officer. Do you have a room where you change your clothes in preparation for your daily duties?"
A: "Yes sir, we do!"

Q: "And do you have a locker in the room?"
A: "Yes sir, I do."

Q: "And do you have a lock on your locker?"
A: "Yes sir."

Q: "Now why is it, officer, if you trust your fellow officers with your life, you find it necessary to lock your locker in a room you share with these same officers?"
A: "You see, sir -- we share the building with the court complex, and sometimes lawyers have been known to walk through that room."

The courtroom erupted in laughter, and a prompt recess was called.

No Acronym Wednesday

2006-05-17T16:59:00.000-04:00

Indy Qualifying will be this weekend May 20th.

It will be insane speeds once again. I once had a dream to drive in the Indy 500, but that was a long time ago. About 10 yrs ago a friend of mine who wheels and deals with a lot of different vehicles had an Indy car for a short period of time. I was doing some work on the header and tailpipe for one of his race cars (exhausting work I might add), and sat in the Indy car when nobody was around.
I was skinny then, but my shoulders were too wide to really fit in the car, and my shoes were way too wide. When I pressed the clutch pedal, my foot would interfere with the brake and using my left foot for the brake, it would hit both the clutch and accelerator pedal. I guess the only way I'll get to drive at Indy, is maybe a tour bus when I retire.

T.U.R.D

2006-05-09T17:43:00.000-04:00

Tuesdays Usually Really Drag.
Pretty good acronym for Tuesday huh? Thanks to my buddy Bill for coming up with that one.
Now all I need is one for Wednesdays and I'm set!

Well, I got my grades for this semester. Two more A's. YAY!!! I can hardly wait until it's over though.

I've never done very well in school and I'm very happy that I've been able to get straight A's. Part of it is only taking 2 classes a semester. When I went to school before, I was working 30-35hrs a week and taking a full load of classes.

I feel much better today than yesterday. I went to the doctor last week because of a bad spider bite and the medicine he gave me (had me buy) made me feel horrible.

I think that Alan Shore is my new hero. I really like his matter of fact dry wit, way with words, and how he can stare down anyone. I do smile more than he does, but he is the man!

No Acronym Tuesday

2006-05-02T12:30:00.000-04:00

Well, I still don't have a Tuesday acronym, but I've been wondering about the boycott yesterday.

It wasn't all the illegal immigrants, it's the legal ones I don't understand. Why should we grant amnesty to illegal aliens when they are lowering the wages of americans or legal immigrants.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - Tyson Foods Inc. said Friday it would close a number of its meat processing plants Monday in response to a planned nationwide protest by immigrant workers.The meat processor said nine of its more than 100 plants would suspend operations for the day because of an expected lack of workers.A nationwide series of boycotts and marches are planned for May 1 by pro-immigrant activists as part of an effort to urge Congress to grant amnesty to the estimated 11.5 to 12 million unauthorized immigrants living in the United States.

"The meat packers are confirming what we know," says University of Maryland economics professor Peter Morici, "and that is that this large group of illegal aliens in the United States is lowering the wage rate of semiskilled workers, people who are high school dropouts or high school graduates with minimal training."In fact, a meat-packing job paid $19 an hour in 1980, but today that same job pays closer to $9 an hour, according to the Labor Department. That's entirely consistent with what we've been reporting -- that illegal aliens depress wages for U.S. workers by as much as $200 billion a year in addition to placing a tremendous burden on hospitals, schools and other social services.

There is a need for people who want to work, and I don't have a problem with immigrants coming here. I just want them to do it LEGALLY!!!!

Some of the signs I saw "This is OUR continent, not YOURS! bothers me too. This is the United States of America. Marching around yelling Chicano Power and holding a Mexican flag does not make me want to endorse amnesty for illegals. If you don't like it here, GO BACK TO MEXICO!

I ripped this off "Whose Paranoid are You?" blog. It's Theodore Roosevelt on being an American from 1907...
"In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person's becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American. There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag. We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language. And we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people."

This is from Yahoo this afternoon...
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Hundreds of thousands of mostly Hispanic immigrants walked off the job and rallied in cities across the United States on Monday, wielding their economic clout to demand rights for illegal immigrants.

It appears to me that they have more rights than the homeless or low-income people here already. If they are illegal, then they are criminals, and should be deported. We are the only country in the world that allows this kind of behavior. I'll bet we look like France to the rest of the world.

A buddy of mine said he was going to tape a taco to his hood and keep driving North until someone asks what it is. Sounds like he, at least, has some kind of plan.

POETS day

2006-04-28T10:22:00.000-04:00

Today is POETS day. Every Friday is POETS day.

Piss On Everything, Tomorrow's Saturday!

At the University of South Carolina, Budweiser, many years ago used to sponsor a POETS day in the student center. Somebody probably got drunk one time and well, they haven't done it for years.

Oh well, all good things come to an end.

yesterday was S.H.I.T. Sure happy it's Thursday. I like that better than T.G.I.F.

If anyone happens to know of acronyms for other days, I'd like to see them.

That is, if anyone reads this lamest of lame blogs. I suppose I would have to let people know that it exists first.

Time and Money

2006-04-26T12:52:00.000-04:00

I got this in an email. The logic is good, and it seems just about right.

I just finished my electronic portfolio for my class and only have about one more page on my assignment for the program evaluation class due tomorrow. Except for the comp apps final, I'm almost done!