Walking on the Moon

I’ve been meaning to post this picture of me helping put up a fence on National Public Lands Day earlier this year.  I’m the one bent over.

A couple weeks ago my venerable 1990 Miata announced it wanted to be traded by flinging a spark plug out of the engine block, stripping the threads as it went. Now there are things one can do to repair such a thing, but it sort of makes you ask what’s next on the 18 year old car. I figured rather than waiting to see, it seemed like a good time to try a new car.

I picked the Scion xB and was able to pick up a used one for a reasonable price. It’s pretty much the anti-Miata. It’s got the boxy appearance of a mini-UPS van, though it actually gets better gas mileage than the Miata. I’ve been happy with it so far and look forward to a few more years of service.

WordPress cropped the thumbnails somewhat oddly.

A few weeks ago I finished an unusual penance.  If you know what I’m talking about, this may be of interest.  But, it’s probably not.  Thanks to Craig Rogers for the video.

I’ve been playing with a new instant messaging client, Empathy. If you’ve been having trouble getting my attention, that may be why.  Mail me if you see problems.

Just so you all know, I did get into a real-world, out-loud discussion today about who would win a fight between R2D2 and Dr. Zaius.  (I was an Artoo supporter.)

Sad to see George go.  Via the AV Club, here are some of his words on death.

“Ted, what’s your house number?”

“What?”

“It’s your Uncle John.  I’m on your street looking for your house and I don’t know the number.”

That’s my Uncle, all right.

He showed up Friday night looking for a place to catch a few z’s between San Luis Obispo and his home outside Phoenix.  My family isn’t the best long term planners.  I haven’t seen him in several years and we spent a day or so catching up and taking a flight before he was off again.  He’s a good guy and it was fun to see him. Brenda snapped a picture to document the history.

I’ve been dragging ass most of the week because I’ve been sick, but here are some links you may care about:

• Clash of the titans
• I just love the idea that one could anonymously dump a 727 at a major airport.  Makes the TSA look downright competent.
• The underhanded C contest is a remarkable demonstration of coding legerdemain.  I mention this because the 2008 contest just started.  If you’re a believer in human code review, you may want to have a look.

I spent some time this weekend keeping IFR current with Mark Zorn on Saturday and then having lunch Sunday with our respective sweet babies.

Saturday was a good day for IFR procedures. We shot the ILS into Chino and then did the hold on the missed in VFR conditions. The place was fairly packed with people up doing the same sort of thing, but we were able to get our stuff done. The only real downside for the day was that I managed to wind up way high on the ILS and chasing the glideslope from above. Not good procedures, but an interesting control challenge for training.

We broke for lunch at Maniac Mike’s Cafe at Upland’s Cable Airport. The cafe is a fun place to hang out, with good inexpensive food. Mark and I talked airplanes and flying all lunch and then stopped off to see 8-10 Ford Model A’s that were parked off the ramp. Apparently the local Model A club was having a get-together. I’ve seen these guys before at Camarillo, but it’s always neat to see the beautiful restorations. We also ran into this plane on the ramp. Just what the world needs: a flying boat produced by an Italian motorcycle company.

After lunch at Mike’s we shot the VOR-A back into SMO, and Mark got to see some of the excitement that is daily operations at my home field. A 360 on final to squeeze a departure out is surprising to some people, but I like the fact that there’s never a dull moment.

Sunday morning we were hoping to go up to Santa Maria for lunch with our SO’s, but the weather was somewhat uncooperative. Low ceilings in the morning and forecast high winds in the afternoon kept us closer to home. Off to Chino again for food at Flo’s Airport Cafe.

Flo’s has good food and Chino’s airport ambiance is tough to beat. I finally got to see Mark’s new Bonanza – which is gorgeous – and the pilots at Chino kept me entertained. While we were there we saw a flight of Texans, an old bomber (I think it was a B-25), and a couple one- or two-seat jets go out. Another fun day. Brenda took some pictures and I’ll put some up here when I see them.

If you’ve been trying to call us and not getting an answer or answering machine, try again.  Our phones were down for a few days.