Overall, I enjoyed the book.

The quality of the version I downloaded from Audible.com was excellent, although there appeared to be a problem during the transfer to my Nomad which caused some garbling at the end of the first part and dropped the last ten minutes of the second part; fortunately, the original files on the hard drive were intact and I was able to listen to the end on the PC.

As expected, Scott Brick did a wonderful job performing the narration. I actually ended up selecting this book by first performing a search of all of the Scott Brick narrated books on Audible.com, and then making the selection based on the description of the story.

I did not find this book quite as engaging as some of the others I have listened to. I'm not sure though if this was because of the writer, or because I did not listen to this book as quickly as I usually do. On days when Jeanie and I walk on the beach, I do not listen to my audio books. There was also a number of days between when I started the book and when I finished it when we either had company, work interfered, or weather interfered with my normal exercise routine. As such, there tended to be longer than usual gaps between listens. This might have deadened how much I "got into" the story.

The story was interesting, but not quite as "edge of the seat" as I would have liked. I did find the historical references interesting, and aspects of the underlying theology found resonance with my beliefs (or at least contemplations).

The best description of the book is probably the first review shown on Amazon.com by LadyNaava which starts out "Raising Atlantis is like reading a weird hybrid between DaVinci Code and Stargate." Hmm, lets see... I really liked The DaVinci Code and I thoroughly enjoy Stargate - no wonder I liked the book.

I couldn't help but feel at the very end of the book like it was set up for a sequel. Guess what? Greanias will be releasing it (The Atlantis Prophecy) on July 18!

This is an absolute hoot, and great advertising for careerbuilder.com: Monk-e-mail.

One of today's focuses is on emails I have sent to myself with various flying related web sites.

The first one I opened revealed an absolute gem: http://www.av8n.com/how/, the home of the online book "See How It Flies, A new spin on the perceptions, procedures, and principles of flight" by John S. Denker. This is an absolutely fantastic resource on the "how" of flying an airplane, and has information that is pertinent to experienced pilots as well as student pilots.

The second "find" was http://adds.aviationweather.gov/, NOAA's National Weather Service - Aviation Weather Center - Aviation Digital Data Service (ADDS) which offers a wealth of avaiation related weather information.

The third email had yet another really good site focused on pilot training - this one more student oriented, but still full of good review topics for the experienced pilot: http://www.ufly.com/lessons/. One of my favorite sections is the one of Dutch Rolls.

The forth site is http://www.airbum.com/, which seems to have a bit of everything for the aviation enthusiast.

Another interesting couple of sites in a later covey of messages were http://www.aeroplanner.com/compare/index.cfm which offers basic online flight planning as well as fee based advanced tools and options and http://www.noticetoairmen.com/links.htm which offers a number of links to other online pilot resources.

The final pick for today is a compendium of pilot related material brought to us by our friends at the FAA:

http://www.faa.gov/pilots/

1. Ratio of an igloo's circumference to its diameter = Eskimo Pi

2. 2000 pounds of Chinese soup = Won ton

3. 1 millionth of a mouthwash = 1 microscope

4. Time between slipping on a peel and smacking the pavement = 1bananosecond

5. Weight an evangelist carries with God = 1 billigram

6. Time it takes to sail 220 yards at 1 nautical mile per hour = Knotfurlong

7. 16.5 feet in the Twilight Zone = 1 Rod Serling

8. Half of a large intestine = 1 semicolon

9. 1,000,000 aches = 1 megahurtz

10. Basic unit of laryngitis = 1 hoarsepower

11. Shortest distance between two jokes = A straight line

12. 453.6 graham crackers = 1 pound cake

13. 1 million-million microphones = 1 megaphone

14. 1 million bicycles = 2 megacycles

15. 365.25 days = 1 unicycle

16. 2000 mockingbirds = 2 kilomockingbirds

17. 52 cards = 1 decacards

18. 1 kilogram of falling figs = 1 Fig Newton

19. 1000 milliliters of wet socks = 1 literhosen

20. 1 millionth of a fish = 1 microfiche

21. 1 trillion pins = 1 terrapin

22. 10 rations = 1 decoration

23. 100 rations = 1 C-ration

24. 2 monograms = 1 diagram

25. 4 nickels = 2 paradigms

26. 2.4 statute miles of intravenous surgical tubing at Cornell University Hospital = 1 IV League

27. 100 Senators = Not 1 decent decision

It's really quite a simple theory...

Unit for unit, evil is inherently vastly more powerful than good.

The only thing that keeps evil in check (ultimately) is that there are vastly more good people on earth than evil people and therefore, the sum total of good outweighs the evil.

Unfortunately, one evil person person can negatively impact the lives of many good people. Also unfortunately, sometimes it takes the good people a while to recognize and act on the evil.

Fortunately, eventually good always seems to triumph - although at times it seems that the balance is precarious at best.

I realized today, as I was trying to catch up my inbox, that it had been quite a while since I had received a new request to join the ring, so I logged on to see what was going on.

Long story short, after doing some digging, I realized that "my" ring had been put up for adoption because I had not been responding to new requests. I had not been responding to new requests because, I realized after more digging, that I had not been receiving notifications in my inbox. After more digging, I realized that the reason that I had not been receiving notifications was that because a number of months ago, when I was getting deluged with spam for my blogdom.org domain, I had severely restricted the number of valid email addresses for that domain, and had forgotten to include the email address for managing the webring.

So, thanks to $@!&$@! spammers, not only do I have to spend at least an hour a week removing comment and trackback spam from the blog, but I lost the ability to manage the ring that I created when I first started blogging.

SPAMMERS SUCK!

I pride myself on being tolerant and loving, but as far as I am concerned, it would be fine with me if all spammers just dropped dead, after a prolonged period of intense suffering.

This particular entry is over a year past due.

The start of this thought thread occurred late one night as I was sitting working back in August of 2004.

I don't remember what triggered it, but as with many of these flights of fancy, the thought led to a Google search: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&q=collective+nouns which led to the discovery of various interesting pages. For interesting alternatives, try typing "collective nouns" (without the quote marks) into Answers.com. You get a list of "hits" without even having to press enter - very cool! Ask.com also offers an interesting presentation of hits.

One of the more complete collection of terms can be found in the Wikipedia, while one of the more amusing (although mostly proposed as opposed to accepted) can be found on OjoHaven.com's Collective Noun page.

I continue to be impressed with Wikipedia as a general source of information and also continue to marvel at the vast amount of people who invest their time and energy creating and posting pages on just about anything you could imagine.

PS. in case you are wondering how I could remember this thought from so long ago, this is an example of one of those strange things that I email to myself as fodder for future entries. This also provides some insight into how far behind I am on clearing my personal inbox.

For the second time this year (amazing, isn't it?) I got my priorities straight and put "life" before "work" and returned home from a business trip a day early on Thursday evening.

This allowed me to help the local Civil Air Patrol (CAP) squadron set up traffic cones and tents for the Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance parking lot Friday morning. The CAP has gained a really good reputation for effectively managing off-site parking operations for local area events, and while much of the logistics are handled by the event organizers and the city, there is always a bit of setup that the CAP has to do.

Being home on Friday morning also allowed me to ride to JAX with Jeanie to pick up the Murphys at the airport. Since we were already half-way to Jacksonville, we took the opportunity to continue south to Jacksonville proper and do a little sight seeing. We drove downtown and had a nice lunch at The American Cafe at The Jacksonville Landing.

Since Bob and Wendy had been up since 4:00 AM, we decided to return home after lunch and chill out for a bit.

After getting our second wind, we drove over to the island for a walk on the beach. I intentionally chose Peters Point Park (S. Fletcher Avenue, about five miles south of Main Beach) as the park has a large paved parking lot, covered pavilions, rest rooms , indoor/outdoor showers and happens to be right next to the Ritz Carlton which was the location for the Concours and in particular, the classic car auction for which cars were on display on Friday. The bad news was that the parking lot at Peters Point was closed because it was being used for parking the automobile transporters carrying the cars for the show. The good news was that driving is permitted on the portion of the beach near Peters Point, and there is an access road onto the beach right there, and we were in the Durango which just so happens to be a 4x4. So, we drove out onto the beach, parked, and strolled south along the beach, in the direction of the Ritz. Upon arriving at the Ritz, and not seeing any signs telling us that we could not enter, we walked onto the grounds and had a great time looking at all of the beautiful cars under and around the auction tent. There were a few models that Jeanie and I both were fond of, but unfortunately we were a little shy of the quarter to half million dollar expected selling prices, so we contented ourselves with just window shopping.

After our foray into the world of the rich and famous, we headed back home and had a yummy dinner of grilled steak, mashed potatoes, asparagus and salad.

Saturday morning was not quite the perfectly clear Florida day I had hoped for. The visibility was mediocre, and the ceilings were solid, but high. Since the forecast didn't bode any better for Sunday and since we were planning to spend the majority of the day on Sunday wandering around the Concours and I had been told that the pattern would be a zoo on Sunday morning, Bob and I headed off to the airport for an aerial tour of the island. Although the conditions were not ideal, the ride was extremely smooth, and we got to do the full tour, heading over to the house after departure, then proceeding to the north end of the island for a view of Fort Clinch, then flying south along the beach to the the southern tip of the island then flying north along the river back to the airport. As an added bonus, we even experienced an unexpected courtesy when a business jet planning to depart actually waited for us to land before taking the runway rather than jumping out in front of us while we were on downwind. The only other slight disappointment in the tour was a poor landing on my part. It wasn't horrible - no bounce or porpoise, but I let myself drift off to the left of the center line, and there was a jostle due to the lateral movement at touchdown. But, Bob seemed to thoroughly enjoy the entire experience, so that more than compensated for my irritation at my landing.

We met the girls at Sandy Bottoms for breakfast, then headed downtown for a walking tour of the historic district. True to my brother-in-law's first rule of vacations, Bob and I found ourselves tagging along from store to store as the girls shopped.

At some point, Bob and I reached our shopping saturation, so we split off and headed home. After the girls returned, we decided naps were in order, and after resting, we headed back to the beach for another walk, this time heading down to the American Beach area. On the way to the beach, we swung by the Ritz to pick up the Concours tickets, both to save the $5 per ticket as well as to avoid the wait on Sunday.

Dinner on Saturday was another at-home affair, this time featuring a low country boil. For our version of this southeastern classic, we had baby red potatoes, low fat kielbasa sausage, corn on the cob, shrimp, and king crab legs. Our old cooking guidelines were, in the order above, throw something in, wait ten minutes, throw the next thing in, wait ten minutes, etc. I modified this to be: boil the water, throw the potatoes in, wait then minutes, throw the sausage in, wait then minutes, throw the corn in, wait seven minutes, throw the shrimp (uncooked) and the crab legs (cooked) in, wait three minutes. This worked out much better, resulting in crisp corn, tender shrimp, and crab that didn't stick to the shell. Next time, the only modification I'll make is to wait ten minutes before throwing in the shrimp and crab legs, as the corn was just a tad under-done.

On Sunday, we decided to eat a light breakfast of cereal and fruit in. The weather was picture perfect. We loaded up the car and headed off to the parking lot near the airport. The idea had been that having helped set up for the parking, and being a CAP member, that I would have the $10 parking fee excused - at least if the person taking the money happened to be a member that recognized me. Well, sure enough, the person taking the money recognized me, and gladly took my Hamilton! Oh well, I guess I'll have to give Don some grief next time I see him. The good news was that the parking was very organized, as were the shuttle buses ferrying folks to the show.

The show had some of the most beautiful cars I've ever seen, as well as some of the most interesting. In the interesting category were the collection of Stanley Steamers and a big collection of microcars. The collection of race cars was interesting, but my favorite cars in the show were the classics from late twenties to the early thirties, including the Packards, Duesenbergs, Cords, and Studebakers. I just love the cars with the great big headlights and the hoods that seem to stretch for miles. Bob tended more toward the slightly newer cars (50's and 60's) and in particular the Cadillacs, and the girls thoroughly enjoyed the period car and fashion parade. We spent the bulk of the day at the show, and I believe a good time was had by all.

For dinner, we went to the Down Under restaurant, beneath the overpass of the A1A bridge. It was too windy to sit outside which was a bit of a disappointment, as we had been looking forward to watching the sunset over the river/marsh, but the food more than compensated. Bob, Wendy and I all had the seafood gumbo to start which was a little spicy for their taste, but I thought was fantastic. Jeanie had the crab soup which I thought was a little bland, but which she enjoyed (as a side note, I think Barbara Jean's crab soup is a little better and Spanky's crab soup takes the blue ribbon). Bob and Wendy split a fried lobster dinner. Jeanie had the fried lobster appetizer as her entrée, and I had the fried calamari appetizer as my entrée. For years, I have drooled at the memory of the fried calamari I had many moons ago at the Buckhead Diner in Atlanta. Now I no longer have to figure out how to get back to Atlanta to savor that bliss of hot tender calamari, lightly breaded and fried "just right," with just the right mix of seasoning in the breading complemented by an exquisite asian dipping sauce - I need only wander over "down under." And lest you think... fried lobster? Yuck! Think again! Oh my goodness... we're talking the pleasure of sin, without the eternal downside. The lobster was presented in bite (maybe two bite) size morsels, delicately battered and lightly fried, with the result being tender, moist, rich and almost too good for words.

After dinner, we headed home and spent a while chatting before heading off to bed.

I was able to schedule a slightly later (than usual) flight out on Monday, so we were all able to drive to the airport together and hang out for a few minutes before having to part company.

It was a great weekend, and I am already eagerly anticipating the 2007 show so we can do it all again.

I started off the day heading out to the airport to get another few laps around the patch in before our friends come to visit next week and I play aerial tour guide. The day was absolutely beautiful - severe clear, no wind. My takeoffs and landings were good, as was my slow flight. I even made a pretty good simulated engine-out landing.

After flying, I returned home and picked Jeanie up and we went to Sandy Bottoms for a yummy breakfast. The meal could not have been more idyllic. We sat outside looking out over the beach to the gently lapping waves of the ocean, soothing smooth jazz playing in the background, with the outside temperature "just right." As we sat there, we both felt like we were on a wonderful vacation.

After breakfast, we took a walk on the beach. The walk was highlighted by the appearance of a pod of porpoises which seemed to keep pace with us as we strolled, and by our being able to help out a single mom and her two kids get their kites up and flying. The kids were really cute, and the kites were really cool. One of the kites looked like a toucan, and the other looked like an F-15. We probably helped some - letting the kids know where they should stand relative to their mom and the wind, and explaining when they should run a bit to help launch the kite, and how to play out the kite string. The fact that the wind seemed to pick up just about the time we stopped to help didn't hurt either.

It's days like today that make all the rest worthwhile.

The power supply for our Visioneer 8100 Scanner died a while ago.

I finally got around to cracking it open to see if I could fix it earlier this week.

After a quick examination, I surmised that the problem was that one of the capacitors had blown. The fix seemed simple enough - purchase a replacement capacitor, remove the failed component, install the replacement, and I'd be back in business.

Sometimes, things aren't quite so simple.

The capacitor in question turns out to be a 16 volt, 1200 uF electrolytic capacitor. No biggie, right? Sure enough, there are plenty of options for purchasing said capacitor, including my favorite supplier of electronic components, Mouser Electronics. Problem is, the capacitor in question is an 8x25. As I learned a while back, in addition to the type of capacitor (film, electrolytic, etc.), the type of leads (axial, radial, snap, etc.), the voltage, the temperature rating, and the capacitance (measured in Farads), one must also consider the size (width/length) of the component. This is important for two reasons. The first is that the spacing of the holes for the leads on the circuit board is related to the size of the package. The second is that sometimes (this being one of them) there physically is no room in the case or on the board for a larger component. Well, search as I might, I could not find a 16v, 1200uF, 8x25 electrolytic radial lead capacitor.

As I was looking at the components on the board, I noticed that there was also a blown fuse. Mouser also had a fuse that while not an exact replacement, would fit the bill. I had decided that I would go with a 10x25 cap, and perform some creative engineering with heat shrink tubing to allow me to reposition the capacitor to "fit." Unfortunately, while the total cost of the two components was $0.75, the cost of the shipping was around $6.00. For around $14.00 shipped, I can get a brand new power supply off of eBay, and not have to worry about making an oversize component fit, just to discover that there was another damaged component I had missed.

Oh well, in the process, I did learn some interesting facts about capacitors. The Wikipedia had a good entry on capacitors in general as did howstuffworks, and I found a few good references on using multiple capacitors to yield the desired capacitance when you can't find one capacitor that meets your needs: 1 2 3. I also learned that you can always use a higher voltage or higher temperature capacitor as a replacement.

The good news is that it turns out that the external hard drive (which I only turn on when making a backup) that sits right next to the scanner also uses a 12v DC center positive 1.25 amp power adapter, so, until I get around to purchasing a new one, I can just use that one to power the scanner when I need it.

It had been almost a month since I had last gotten to fly, so I was eager to get back up.

Work had been grueling over the last month, but I finally got a break, and after taking a couple of days to catch up on my sleep (literally) I was ready to take advantage of a beautiful Florida day and go flying.

My preflight was normal, the plane started normally, and everything seemed fine during taxi. However, when I went to perform the mag check, the drop on the right mag was horrible. My first reaction was " I've seen this before, it's just some plug fouling." I revved the engine a little higher, and leaned it out to clear the plugs. I brought the RPMs back down to 2000 and performed the mag check again. No change, just as bad. I tried once more to clear the plugs - no luck. I tried one more time, as I really wanted to fly. The engine ran so well on both, and so well on just the left, but the right was really bad. After a moment of temptation, good judgement ruled the day, and much as I hated to do so, assuming that the problem was simply that I was doing something wrong, I taxied the plane back to the ramp. Fortunately, the local A&P was at the airport, so I asked him to take a look. He was very agreeable, even though he was in the middle of something else, and walked over to check things out. As I had done, he performed the ground check and got the same result. He ran the engine RPM up, leaned it out, let it run, ran the check again, and got the same result.

He then taught me a cool little mechanic's trick. He ran the engine for a few minutes at around 1000 RPM only on the "bad" mag. He then shut the engine down, and removed the cowling. He explained that by running the engine only on the bad mag, the cylinder with the bad plug would run cooler, and by feeling each of the heads, he could tell which cylinder had the bad plug. It turned out that all of the cylinders were hot, so that trick didn't work, but then he showed me another trick. He took a spray bottle with water in it, and squirted each of the exhaust pipes leading from the cylinder. Sure enough, one of the pipes "sizzled" much less than the others when squirted. He figured that cylinder must have the fouled plug, and removed the top plug. When he looked at the plug however, it was clean. He reinstalled the top plug, and, when he went to remove the lead from the bottom plug, he noticed that it had come loose. Turns out that all of the leads on that side of the engine were loose. After getting them all tightened properly and reinstalling the cowl, he started the engine back up and it checked out fine.

The plane ran well for my hour of flying, and I had a nice time knocking off some rust (mine, not the plane's) performing a few touch-and-go's, and doing some Dutch rolls and steep turns as well as a little sight seeing.

So, lessons learned...

The engine really will run fine on only one magneto.

Follow the checklist religiously.

Do the right thing and take the plane back to the ramp if everything doesn't check out as it should - because it's much better to find out that there's a problem while you're still sitting on the ground safely at the airport...