Broadcast TV has been weak lately, given prime time college basketball and a slew of reruns on the other networks. We also had a blockbuster gift card that was about to expire, so we decided to check out some flicks.

Our first selection was "Finding Neverland" with Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet. Jeanie and I both absolutely loved it. We both believe that Johnny Depp is truly great actor, and he once again rose to the occasion. The rest of the acting was wonderful as well - especially the children's performances.

Our next selection was "Alfie", with Jude Law and Marisa Tomei. Rotten Tomatoes gives it a rating of "rotten" which pretty much aligns with our impression. It wasn't so bad that we stopped it mid-way, but given a mulligan, I'd skip it.

Our next selection was "The Incredibles." We had been trying for over a week to rent it, but it was always sold out. Jeanie and I enjoyed it, but were not blown away. We definitely weren't as impressed as most reviewers have been. It was creative, and had a sophisticated level of humor, we were just expecting something more akin to "Shrek" or "Shark's Tale."

On Sunday, we decided to go out to a movie. I selected "Hitch," seeking a nice light romantic comedy. We couldn't have asked for a better fit. Will Smith and Kevin James were both wonderful, as was the rest of the cast, the plot, and the score. The movie was very sweet, and there were a quite a few laugh out loud scenes. A perfect date flick.

The final movie of the set was "Being Julia." Jeanie indicated that she enjoyed it. Jeanie listed to it with the headphones, and I found the first few minutes the last few minutes to be tolerable, and the intervening nap to be wonderful.

I've had trouble syncing up with my blood buddies - Bill is in the middle of tax season and won't surface again until after April 15, and David can only donate in the evenings. Jeanie had errands to run this morning, and the Red Cross was only open this morning, so I went alone. I was a little concerned that it might be crowded given the holiday, but I was able to walk right in and get processed.

The Red Cross has once again changed their questionnaire, and one question threw a wrench in the works: "Have you ever been to Africa?" Well, yes, as a matter of fact, I have. And, I visited a bunch of countries the summer that I was there. But, that was in 1970. Seems like any nasties that I might have picked up over thirty years ago would have killed me, or at least showed their nasty little heads, by now. There were a number of factors that made things really challenging. First off, I could hardly remember exactly which countries I had visited. To add to the complexity, many of the countries had different names back then. Finally, this new form has only been in use for five days, so figuring out how to process the "yes" answer took a bunch of research on the part of the person performing the pre-donation evaluation. I believe it took a little longer than it should have because even though they had a fairly straight forward flow chart to guide the evaluation, I don't know how familiar or comfortable the person was with following a flow chart. As far as I could tell looking over her shoulder, as soon as she realized that my visit was prior to 1977, she should have arrived at the conclusion that I was okay to donate - but, maybe I only saw the flow chart for part of the process. If in fact I interpreted the flow chart correctly, I would suggest that the question be reworded to ask "Have you been to Africa since 1977?" Anyway, without following that particular branch in the flow chart, we had to investigate the particular risks associated with each country and evaluate if I posed a threat to the blood supply. As far as I could tell, there were two primary concerns that the ARC was trying to assess - what was the risk that at some point in the past, I had contracted malaria or HIV/AIDS, both of which are obviously epidemic in at least parts of Africa. Don't get me wrong - I was more than happy to have to spend a few extra minutes being assessed to help increase the safety of our blood supply.

Once it was determined that my blood was acceptable to the ARC, I was able to go right to a donation station and take a seat. Linda was the technician, and she did a great job. The needle stick did not hurt at all - either in or out, and I was done almost literally before I knew it - definitely in record time for me.

After spending the mandatory ten minutes sitting in the canteen, I drove across the street to Regency Park and took my daily walk there - both for a change in scenery from my normal route, and because the weatherpersons are calling for rain this afternoon.

As if it wasn't a nice enough morning, since I decided to go early to donate, I also decided to treat myself to a breakfast combo #1 at Burger King. The potatoes were hot and crispy, and the sandwich was hot and fresh - yumm! And, to top it all off, as if that wasn't enough, it turned out that today was t-shirt day at the blood center, so I got a new American Red Cross t-shirt. I couldn't ask for anything more.

Although for what we ended up having to sell it for, it kinda felt like we "bought the farm."

But, even though we ended up taking a bath financially, it is one monkey off of our back.

In hindsight, I really feel like the previous seller / realtor took advantage of us. I guess we should have taken heed to the old "caveat emptor." Unfortunately, back when we bought the house, there was no legal disclosure form like there is now to help protect buyers in a real estate transaction.

Because the house had a working septic tank, we never thought to have the land "perc'd." Mistake #1. Turns out the land doesn't perc, and the county will not recertify the existing septic system for a new house. Therefore, no one can put a new house on the land without spending a small fortune for a special type of septic system or having the county extend the sewer and water lines.

The house was in poor condition when we bought it, and the last nine plus years have not been kind to it. We knew that the house leaned a bit, but we didn't realize that it would continue to settle and lean even more. We were to the point where we truly were concerned it might just fall over. Leaving it empty for the last couple of years left the house vulnerable to vandalism, so what time didn't further damage, hooligans did. Mistake #2. We should have sold it when we moved out. We might not have made any money, but we could have sold it as land plus house - such as it was - and probably not lost our shirt... the house was in better condition when we moved out than when we had moved in.

Had we stayed in Oxford, we might have been able to overcome mistake #1 - local politics being what they are. Unfortunately, mistake #2 was worse than nothing. It turned a positive into an absolute negative. The fact that there is a decrepit house on the property is worse than if nothing were there, since as it is, it creates a potential liability for the owner should someone wander in (albeit unlawfully) and get injured. Therefore, the smart thing to do at this point would be to tear the house down - which of course will cost time and money. I am fairly certain that the house is "too far gone" to salvage - at least, profitably.

So, we ended up selling the property to the folks who own the surrounding land. They want the land, and are in no hurry to do anything with it. At least this way, we can have a clear conscience about the transaction, and we did get enough to pay off our loan. So, even though from a profit / net worth perspective, we got hammered, from a cash flow perspective, not having a monthly loan payment, or homeowners insurance, or property taxes, or a monthly electric bill for a useless outside security light, will be "money in the bank." And we get the added benefit of removing the risk and worry associated with owning a former dream turned nightmare.

We enjoyed them both.

Taxi was a mostly silly hour and a half diversion that had a few fairly funny scenes and some good transparent special effects.

Collateral was quite gripping and suspenseful, with some clever twists and more characterization than you might expect from a movie of this genre.

For most of my life, I remember feeling so "different." I was the shy, awkward kid who never fit in. I was always the last one picked for playground games. I was the wall flower at dances. I was short. I was husky. I was the one the kids teased and picked on.

All I wanted was to be normal. To blend in with the crowd.

Yet, at the same time... I was the bright, cute, teacher's pet. I was the precocious sensitive child that the adults all loved. I was special. I loved the attention, craved the attention, sought the attention.

As a young adult, I still sought to fit in, to be "one of the guys." Yet, I aspired to be something special. I wanted to be a chief, not just another indian. I wanted to be great at something, renowned, "the best."

Strange, huh? I wanted to be average, and exceptional, all at the same time.

I went to a small high school at which I was an exceptional student. Had a good circle of friends, was given some leadership / responsibility roles. I was a relatively big fish in a small pond. Somewhat normal - and exceptional - all at the same time. And, reasonably happy.

Strangely enough, I think the closest I ever came to achieving both of these came during my college years. No, not while at college - that was about as far from either as I've ever been - a lower-middle class kid at a rich kid's school, an outsider loner living in the independent dorms on the fringe of a campus where the cool people lived in fraternities in "the quad" at the center of the campus, a student whose grades helped "lower the curve" because they hovered at the fringe of passing. Definitely a very small fish in a pretty big pond. And, pretty miserable.

But, for those almost two years during which I dropped out - of school - and airplanes - I came close. Skydiving made me feel like I was special, and I felt part of a special group. Not totally at first, and not ever fully, but close. At first, I still didn't quite fit in. Now, I was the spoiled middle-of-the-road rich kid who still didn't fit in with the renegades, the skydiver whose skills were okay - not "shit hot." But, over time, my skills improved, and the complexion of our little core group changed as the "old guard" drifted off, and new folks came in to replace them. I found myself where my skills were pretty good - not the best, but not bad. Where I was liked and respected by many, but not all. And where now, when I visited friends still in school, rather than being viewed as boring and dull, I was viewed as somewhat exciting and dangerous. Again, relatively larger fish in a relatively smaller pond - and relatively happy.

Then I returned to school and "the real world." The return wasn't as bad as the first experience, and was probably the best choice in the long run. Even though I now lived alone, off campus, I didn't feel quite so alone. And even though I shot for "C's" rather than "A's or F's" I felt better about my academics. I still jumped some on the weekends, had my circle of friends.

After I graduated, I got a job at a small company. I made friends, I advanced in my career. I got married, I had kids and a dog. Had my middle class house, in my middle class neighborhood, supported by my middle management job which I performed to above average standards. Even though I had stopped jumping, I guess because of work, I felt somewhat special. Once again, relatively bigger fish in a relatively smaller pond, and relatively happy. Over the course of fifteen years, I climbed my way towards the top of the company. I never made it all the way to the top, or even to the most inner circle, but I came close. Not quite the brass ring, but not too shabby.

Then, the company got sold to a very large corporation. The pot of gold that I had always thought I would share in turned out to be not much more than a tin cup with a few coins. All of a sudden, I was once again a small fish in a very large pond. Strange how one can feel "like a fish out of water" when one is a small fish in a large pond.

My next couple of career changes were to progressively larger companies. Even though each change yielded a "promotion" in absolute terms, in relative (to the company) terms, I drifted down in the pecking order. Now the ponds were oceans with lots of much bigger, much smarter, much more aggressive fish. And work seemed to become more and more the only defining element for me. There wasn't anything else - no hobbies, no sports, nothing "special."

So, here I find myself. Middle aged, statistically average (for America) weight and height (which to my view is short and fat). Average job providing a middle class (i.e. average) income supporting a middle class lifestyle. Making no discernible impact on the cosmos. A pebble cast upon the water that yields no ripples.

I've achieved all that I had initially wanted - to be normal. I guess I never quite understood back then that "normal" also meant "just average" and "mediocre."

So kids, be careful what you wish for, you just might get it...

The following review does such a good job, that I couldn't resist providing it verbatim: Jonathan Kellerman's newest Alex Delaware novel doesn't disappoint. John Rubenstein, who has read many of the Delaware stories, eases the listener back into the world of murder and suspense through his character differentiation. Experienced Kellerman listeners will easily recognize the main characters and appreciate the consistency and depth of Rubenstein's delivery. As usual, things are not as they first appear as Delaware and Milo Sturgis team up again to solve the murder of a young couple. Characters abound in this story, but, through the combined expertise of Kellerman and Rubenstein, keeping them straight is not difficult. S.K.P. © AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine--This text refers to the Audio CD edition. While I didn't enjoy it quite as much as the last two, it was still a good listen, and I'll be adding Kellerman to the approved authors list.

Yes, I have to admit... many days, when I am working at home, I don't actually get dressed - at least not in street clothes. Most of the time (as in at the moment, for example) I just throw on a pair of sweats. I mean, why bother messing up pants and shirts that take a lot of effort to wash and iron and fold, when I can just throw on sweats that are easy to care for. I usually wear a pair of gym shorts and a T-shirt, and then sweat pants and a long sleeve sweat shirt. Warm, comfy, and appropriate for my daily walk.

Anyway, yesterday, my friend Andrew pinged me to see if I wanted to meet him for lunch, so, in an effort to not embarrass him by being seen having lunch with a slug, I actually shaved and dressed.

So, after lunch, there I was, all dressed up, with no place to go on an absolutely glorious day which happened to coincide with a slow day at work.

Fortunately, my friends at Empire Aviation were able to work me into the schedule, and I got to spend an hour flying with Brandt at the end of the day. Conditions couldn't have been more perfect - clear sky, not a hint of turbulence, light variable winds.

In case you are wondering why I had to fly with an instructor after having received my BFR last week, there are two reasons. First, I still don't have my medical certificate. My friends at the FAA assure me that they have received the latest batch of documentation, and will review it as soon as they can - which I am guessing will be 2-3 weeks. Second, even if I did have my medical, I still feel like I need to polish my skills a little more before I feel comfortable flying solo. Even after I get to the point where I am comfortable flying solo, I still plan on taking some more instruction to bone up on some of the important, but less frequently used skills like hood work, flying into controlled airspace, and night flying. I also want - hopefully within the next year - to get checked out in a low wing airplane and get my tail-dragger endorsement. That will then set me up to work on getting comfortable in a complex aircraft and starting some aerobatics training.

Anyway, I told Brandt that I wanted to practice some more turning stalls, as I had not been really happy with my recoveries last time I had flown. As with (I would guess) most low time pilots, I tend to "fly with my hands." It is just so hard to remember to use your feet. At cruise speed, you can get away with being slack on the footwork, as even though the plane will skid some when you turn, the plane tends to cover for you. At slow speeds however, good rudder work becomes much more important, as the ailerons tend to lose effectiveness. In a stall, trying to use ailerons to lift the low wing can actually be worse than ineffective - it can actually aggravate the stall and accelerate the development of a spin.

So, Brandt suggested that I do some Dutch Rolls. I can't ever remember having been taught Dutch Rolls during my original flight training, but that was over twenty years ago, so I don't know if it was an omission of training or is an omission of remembering. At first glance, it would seem to be such an easy maneuver to perform - all you do if pick a reference point off the nose, and rock the wings back and forth, keeping the nose glued to the reference point. But, sometimes appearances can be deceiving...

When you initially bank the airplane by applying some aileron, the plane initially tends to yaw in the opposite direction of the bank due to adverse yaw - moving the nose away from the the reference point. Once the bank angle is established, the adverse yaw abates as the plane starts to turn - which of course pulls the nose away from the reference point in the other direction. Then, as you move to bank the wings in the opposite direction, the process reverses itself. Keeping the nose centered on the reference point requires subtle coordination of the rudder and ailerons - great practice for hand-foot coordination. Needless to say, my hand-foot coordination left much to be desired as the nose danced all over the place.

After a while, we both decided it was time to work on something else - I think Dutch Rolls are one of those skills best practiced alone, as the uncoordinated motion tends to play havoc with the pit of one's stomach.

We then did some slow flight, so I could concentrate on my foot work, and a number of power-off stalls and power-on stalls. I did much better using my feet to pick up the dropped wing after the stall, but Brandt coached that I still am not being aggressive enough on the rudder, since ideally, neither wing should drop on a straight-ahead stall - which is difficult to prevent in a power-on departure stall due to the P-factor.

After the stall work, we did a couple of forward slips, which were not nearly as smooth as the slips I had performed last week. I guess some days are just better than others...

I did have two highlights as far as my flying skills were concerned...

I was able to find the airport without help - solely by visual reference - which is a major accomplishment for me, and I absolutely greased my landing.

Last week, Paul had suggested that rather than going from descent directly into flare, than I transition from descent, rounding out into level flight for a moment, and then transition into the flare. I think even Brandt was genuinely impressed with the smoothness of the landing. That's not to say that my entire approach was something of beauty - I wasn't nearly as smooth as I would have liked, and ended up a little low on final necessitating adding some power at about 700 feet, but, I did remember to only add a bit of power for a moment and then pull back, so I didn't end up going from too low to too high as I did on one approach last week.

Nonetheless, it was a beautiful day to fly, and my landing was a perfect ending to the day.

We spent most of Saturday and Sunday just lazing about the house.

We did take a nice walk through Park West with the doggies on Saturday. It was a beautiful day, and we really enjoyed the large naturalized plantings of daffodils that are at peak bloom. Every time I see a large planting of daffodils, I am reminded of the spring scene in Dr. Zhivago - which is one of Jeanie's all time favorites - and that makes me happy.

I also got started mending a number of drywall cracks that have re-surfaced. I believe that most, if not all, of them existed before we had the house painted last summer. I think the painters just did a shoddy job of repairing them. Rather than just slap a little more spackle into the cracks, I used a utility knife to cut a "v" out of the wall around the crack, then filled the void with Durham's Rock Hard Water Putty - one of my all-time favorites.

In the evening, we watched the movie "Cellular," which was an entertaining suspense / family in peril / unlikely hero formula movie. We also watched "Shark Tale," but I fell asleep in the middle (due to tiredness, not boredom) and ended up finishing it on Sunday. The animation and music in Shark Tale were fantastic, and its underlying theme of tolerance and acceptance is one which we all would do well to embrace.

On Sunday, I applied a finish coat of spackle to each of the repairs first thing in the morning, and then sanded them in the late afternoon.

We spent the middle of the day mostly reading and napping.

Sunday night, we watched "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow," which we both enjoyed. The movie was cool in its Flash Gordon retro style. I think I enjoyed the DVD bonus materials even more than the movie. I still can't quite get my head around just how much of the movie is CG effects, but the bonus materials definitely helped to illustrate just how little of the final product was "real." It is amazing to ponder how hard it must have been for the actors to create believable characters and situations when they had almost nothing real around them - just a giant blue screen stage. I also found the story of the Conran brothers to be extremely compelling. It is amazing to see the dedication some people have to achieve their dream, and I found myself somewhat envious of the passion that each member of the cast and crew had about their project.

which I thoroughly enjoyed.

The writing and pacing were excellent. Just the right mix of action and description, with enough plot twists and surprises to keep me engaged. In one particular scene, I actually found my heart pounding just like I sometimes find it doing when watching a particularly exciting scene in a movie. The character development was very good, and I quickly found myself caring what happened to the main characters.

The abridgement seemed to be of very high quality. There were no discontinuities that I could discern.

The narration by Ron McLarty was exceptional. If they give Grammys for narration of audio books, he should get one. Not only did he do a great job using different voices and accents for the different characters, but he also really injected emotion into his story telling.

Once again, the reviews indicate that this is not the author's best work, if that is the case, I can't imagine how good his best work must be.

Looks like I now have another author to add to "the list."

The molded plugs manufacturers place on electronics items drive me crazy. It seems they always fail. Yesterday, I was walking along, minding my own business when all of a sudden, the audio started cutting out sporadically on my Koss Plugs.

by adjusting the angle at which the cord left the molded plug, I was able to make it through my walk, but I knew it was just a matter of time and frustration before one or both channels failed completely.

Being the cheapskate that I am, I didn't want to just go purchase a new set, so I decided to try to effect a repair.

After a fair amount of Googling, I found a great little site - Headwize - that had a wonderful fact filled FAQ with a critical tidbit related to repairing headphone cords:

Why can't I splice/solder/repair headphone cords from Sony (and some other brands)?

The wires in Sony headphone cords are insulated with a lacquer coating, which must be removed to make an electrical connection. Most low-wattage soldering irons are NOT hot enough to vaporize the coating. Here are some options:

Dip the wires in alcohol and ignite with a match. The ignited alcohol should burn off the insulation. (Note: I have received email that merely heating the wires with a match or cigarette lighter (without any alcohol) works equally well.)
Put the wires on an aspirin tablet and apply a soldering iron to the wire and aspirin until the aspirin melts. Aspirin is an acid that should dissolve the insulation.
Try a high voltage soldering iron if available which will burn off the insulation while soldering
Use a pocket knife to gently scrape off the insulation
Dip the wires with a lacquer solvent until the coating dissolves
With any method involving a solvent, make sure there is adequate ventilation and avoid inhaling any vapors released by the process. After burning or dissolving the insulation, wipe the wires clean of any residue before soldering.

Well, the match trick, sans alcohol, worked like a charm.

Soldering those tiny little wires proved to be a bit of a challenge, but I finally got them to hold tight. Getting the lengths of those tiny little wires such that I could minimize the possibility of shorting the wires (I wasn't sure how much of the lacquer insulation remained on the exposed portions) was also challenging.

I guess I might have overdone it a little bit with the heat shrink tubing - I used four layers - but hopefully, the connection will remain secure for a while - I wanted to provide enough mechanical support to minimize the strain on the solder joints as I connected and disconnected the plug from the jack, give me something I could "grip," and provide some measure of strain relief.

Actually, the fourth layer of heat shrink, and the reuse of the original strain relief tailing was prompted by a thermal discontinuity in the insulation covering the wires (in other words, I melted the insulation with the heat gun while I was shrinking the tubing). I had planned for the first two layers, and so had placed them on the wire, upstream of the plug, prior to soldering the wires. Unfortunately, I had not planned for an additional layer to cover to boo-boo. In order to get the heat shrink over the plug, I had to use a larger gauge than would shrink down to the size of the wire. The solution was to reuse the strain relief portion of the original molding to fill the void.

Hopefully, the repair won't fail on today's walk - otherwise it might prompt me to transform the plugs into airborne individual aural audio reproduction devices...

I always thought that the amount of commission a real estate agent made approached obscene.

Well, after struggling to sell "the farm" and our house, I now realize that it isn't as easy as it appeared, and maybe those commissions aren't so unreasonable after all.

We thought that we had a buyer for the farm a month or so ago. The person made an offer which we accepted, and we scheduled a time to execute the transaction. We engaged an attorney to draw up the contracts, and Jeanie made an appointment with the buyer to sign the contract and get the escrow check. Long story short... the buyer never showed up, didn't return Jeanie's calls. Amazing!

We thought we had a buyer for the house last week. The couple had seen the house while in the neighborhood looking at other homes, and had called from the driveway to ask if we could show it right then. Jeanie was not home, so I took a break from work and showed the house. The couple came back a day or two later with their son to look at the house again. In another day or so, they called to make an offer. The offer was for less than we were asking, but was within the boundaries that Jeanie and I had set, so we accepted the offer. We then engaged the real estate attorney we had been working with to draft the contract. Jeanie did a lot of work to try to educate the buyers, who had only purchased one other house - many years ago. She spent a lot of time sending proposed contracts, then working with the attorney to make changes that the buyers requested, faxing the updates to the buyer, talking with them on the phone, etc. Jeanie arranged to meet with the couple last Sunday to do a final review of the contract prior to signing it and getting an earnest money check. We offered to go to the couple's house, or meet them somewhere, but they wanted to come here. The meeting seemed to go fine. The one request they made was that we provide them with a written statement regarding the size of the house (number of square feet). We had used the size listed on the county real estate site, since that is what is used when "comps" are calculated. They wanted something other than this number. We were able to find an old appraisal, which listed the total square feet - heated/finished and the semi-finished walk-out attic. This number matched (within a few feet) the number on the county tax site. Jeanie also included the pricing/competitive analysis she had performed in determining our asking price, to demonstrate that our home was reasonably priced. Of course, the contract also had a provision that required that our home appraise for at least the contracted price.

Well, out of the blue on Monday, we got a call from the buyers informing us that they were no longer interested. No explanation - just, "thanks, but no thanks."

So, here we are, back to square one on both properties.

One was (and still is) getting my medical back.

The other was taking and passing my Biennial Flight Review (BFR).

I am (hopefully) making progress on the medical. I was able to find a doctor who performed the required testing last week, and I got confirmation that he mailed the test results to the FAA today. Hopefully, these results will allow the FAA to feel comfortable that I can operate an airplane safely. If not, then all of my efforts (studying, instruction, studying, medical fiery hoop jumping, studying, bureaucratic fiery hoop jumping, studying) will have been in vain, as I do not know if there will be any further recourse, and even if there were, I'm not sure I would be willing to invest more time, money and energy in pursing my medical. But, hope still flickers...

In the mean while, I was able to leap the other hurdle - I passed my BFR today!

Prior to going for my BFR, I read Ron Machado's wonderful Private Pilot Handbook cover-to-cover, and spent alot of quality time in Microsoft Flight Simulator and Comm1 Radio Simulator. While obviously not a substitute for actual flying, I continue to be amazed at how helpful the simulators are in teaching and honing flying skills.

Today, I got to fly with the owner of Empire Aviation, Paul Hesse. Paul was 2002 North Carolina Flight Instructor of the Year, and now I know why. He is an absolutely fantastic instructor. We spent a little over two hours in the air, and a little over another hour on the ground. He thoroughly ran me through my paces, having me perform six takeoffs and landings at two different airports using a number of different techniques, forward slips, power-off and power-on turning stalls, VOR navigation, emergency procedures, radio procedures and turns in the air, and reviewing various topics and regulations on the ground. Were anyone to have had any doubt about the level of effort it takes to fly a plane, they would only to have seen my sweat soaked shirt to have gotten an idea. Interestingly (at least to me) I don't believe that the perspiration was from fear, but rather simply from the intensity of my concentration and focus in order to perform the various maneuvers within the prescribed parameters. Well, maybe there was some emotional element to the moistness of my shirt given that I do tend to get anxious any time I feel that my performance is being evaluated.

Even though I now have my BFR behind me, I am still planning on doing some more flying with an instructor. I still want to do some more stall and emergency practice, do some hood work, have someone with me the first time I fly into Class C airspace, and get re-acquainted with night flying. But, once I get my medical, at least I will be able to do some of my practicing without having to pay for an instructor, and I will have the opportunity to take Jeanie for one of those $100 hamburgers I have been promising her.

This morning was a beautiful day to fly. I couldn't have asked for better conditions. I can't wait to get to the point where I am comfortable enough with the basics of flying that I can take some time to really savor "High Flight."

High Flight

Pilot Officer Gillespie Magee
No 412 squadron, RCAF

which I absolutely thoroughly enjoyed.

For those of you not familiar with Robert B. Parker, this was #31 in his Spencer (as in the same Spencer as in the "Spencer for Hire" TV show) series of detective novels. I enjoyed the TV series, and I enjoyed the book more. This was my first Spencer book, but it definitely won't be my last. The mystery part was interesting enough, but what I really enjoyed was, as one reviewer on Amazon so eloquently put it "The dialogue cracks with wit, wisdom and humor. The banter and the quips that shoot back and forth are great!! The wonderful characters [including his tough sidekick Hawk and his psychologist girlfriend Susan] are all back, taking on another investigative job where things are not what they are portrayed to be."

Joe Mantegna read the unabridged version of the book and did a great job. I really enjoy him on "Joan of Arcadia" and it was cool listening to his smooth voice breeze through this audio book.

Based on a number of the Amazon reviews saying this only an average effort for Parker, I can't wait to read some of his "best" efforts.