Oshkosh 2011!!!!!

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.

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

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.

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

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!!

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

I met death again

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!!

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!

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!!!

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

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

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.

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!!

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!

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!!

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

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

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!!

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

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.