George Hall was an amazing photographer, who had a real love of aviation. Some of his images can be seen at http://www.check-6.com/.

Another site that has great images, which can be viewed online, purchased as prints, or used in free e-Cards is http://www.planepix.com

Finally, another useful NOAA weather site is NOAA's Storm Prediction Center at http://spc.noaa.gov/

Seems like they were referenced in some article I was reading, but I don't really remember. Anyway, here's the list:

http://abc.go.com/primetime/greysanatomy/blogs.html

http://abc.go.com/primetime/bostonlegal/about_cps.html (click on the flashing “submit” button)

http://cbs.com/primetime/the_unit/blog

http://www.cbs.com/primetime/ncis/blog.php

http://www.nigelblog.com

http://www.cbs.com/primetime/how_i_met_your_mother/barneys_blog/

http://www.cbs.com/primetime/ghost_whisperer/blog.php

http://www.nbc.com/nbc/Medium/dreamjournal/

Kinda gives a little mini-view of some of what we were watching last season - and still are for that matter. For the most part, the new season is still a little too new to say what we will be adding to the long term DVR record list. Seems like there are a few that look promising - at least enough for a second episode. There were a few that got cut from the list part way through the first show, but I can't remember which.

Oh well, I guess I've stalled as long as I can - time to change and go exercise.

Yesterday, I spent the majority of the day doing CAP stuff. Since we didn't have a meeting at the beginning of the month due to the holiday, we had our meeting last Saturday. Afterwards, we did some SAR - well really, just S(earch) training. The first sortie of the day, I did a scanner flight. I only have a few items left on my SQTR before I can get signed off. On the second sortie, I went on the ground team and played with our new L-PER. It is really cool, and much easier to use than the old one. I even was the one to actually find the target. For the third sortie, I acted as the Mission Radio Operator, which was an interesting new experience. After the training flights were all done, I got to go up for a few laps around the pattern, and a brief trip around the island with one of the other members. I did three touch and goes. I was quite pleased with two of the landings, and wasn't ashamed of the other, which was really nice, especially since I had company.

Today, Jeanie and I went to the zoo. We only spent a few hours there, as it was hot, and we were both a bit tired, but we bought an annual Member + Friend membership (Jeanie is the member, I - among others - will be the friend). We felt this was a good investment, since Jeanie is planning to go back to the zoo a number of times with various friends and family, and this way, we didn't feel like we had to do it all in one day, just so we got our full admission's worth. We only got to see a few of the exhibits, but for the most part, the exhibits we did get to see were good. I was a bit disappointed with some of the bird exhibits, as the enclosures were made with fairly thick wire, which made seeing the birds difficult. I'll look forward to going back when it is a little cooler, and we both have a bit more energy.

After the zoo, we went to the beach for a walk. Jeanie was quite tired, as she is still not fully recovered from her ear infection, so she only walked for part of the outing and then returned back to the truck, while I finished my hike.

Speaking of walking, I started back walking fairly regularly a couple of weeks ago. Now that I am back in gear, I plan on walking at least three times a week. There is a new development which abuts ours and uses some common roads. With the new addition, I can now do one full loop through the expanded "neighborhood" and one loop across the street in about an hour, which is more interesting than my previous route which required two circuits through our neighborhood.

And as if we didn't already watch too much TV, now we have TWO DVR's - one in the living room, and one in the bedroom.

The good news is that now we can retire to the bedroom when we start getting tired and watch TV from the comfort of the bed. Also, we can now record four shows at the same time - so we won't miss recording anything we wish to watch. Of course, that's the bad news too.

In our efforts to figure out what we wanted to record where, we discovered a few good Internet resources.

Good program grids are available at Laurel's TV Picks and EPGuides.

Two good general resources are EPGuides and my ever favorite Wikipedia. The amount of topics covered, and the detail of the coverage of the topics at Wikipedia continues to amaze me.

Our efforts at getting the two broken TVs in our house repaired were fruitless. The local TV repair guy wasn't even interested in trying to repair the old bedroom TV. The other TV was a newer off-brand set that would have cost more to repair than we had initially paid for it. So, much to our dismay - financial and ecological - we took both of the sets to the dump. What a waste!

Jeanie and I checked out a number of stores looking for a new set for the bedroom, but so far, we have been unsuccessful at finding a replacement. The problem is that the opening in which the TV sits is 28 1/2 inches wide which would accommodate a 27" flat screen TV - IF the speakers were underneath the picture tube. Unfortunately, every 27" flat screen set we have looked at has the speakers on the sides, making the unit too wide. So, it appears our choices are: a 27" standard (curved) screen set (some of these have the speakers underneath), or a 24" flat screen set, or a 26" flat panel set. I don't want to spend new money on old (curved screen) technology nor do I want to spend money on a smaller screen, but I also don't want to spend 2-3 times the price of a tube set on a flat panel - although not getting a rupture lifting a flat panel vs. a 27" tube set is appealing. On the other hand, I don't want to have to continue to squint at the 19" set we are currently using as a temporary solution.

Oh, the drama...

Both the Koss "The Plug"s earbuds and my AT&T telephone headset had been acting up. The symptom in both was the same: when the cord "jiggled," I would get a burst of static. My guess was that the cause was a tenuous connection between the wire(s) and the mini-plug.

I had already operated on the earbuds once, and had just about decided to toss them and purchase another set, but, my, um, frugality won out, and I decided to attempt to effect one more repair. I am quite fond of the headset - it has a nice boom microphone, a comfortable head band, and a mute switch that works quite well, so I was reluctant to toss them - both because I thought it would be difficult to find a replacement, and that, er, thriftyness thing.

For the headset, I had to cut away the molded cover over the plug / wire junction. Since I had already worked on the earbuds, all I had to do was remove the shrink wrap I had previously applied.

Fortunately, I remembered the trick from the previous repair of the Koss' to remove the lacquer coating before attempting to solder the wires to the plug.

I also dipped the wire ends into a tin of non-corrosive flux before attempting to solder them to the plug, which made the soldering process much easier than my previous attempt. It amazes me how much more easily the solder melts and adheres when there is a bit of flux applied to the parts to be soldered.

I am happy to report that both the earbud and headset repairs were successful, leading to happiness of both my ears and my wallet.

Why?

Most commercial banks are still paying less than one percent interest on regular checking or savings balances. In comparison, Internet banks are paying well over four, and in some cases over five percent interest. Doing business with Internet banks is easy. Many of them tie directly to your checking account, and allow simple online transfers of funds between your checking and savings.

Here are a few to consider:

ING Direct - Open an account with at least $250, they will also deposit a $25 bonus in your new account (and put $10 in my account) - leave a comment or send me an email if you'd like me to email you a link - Currently pays 4.40%
Emigrant Direct - Emigrant Bank was founded by Irish emigrants as a mutual savings bank in 1850 - Currently pays 5.15%
OneUnited - The First Black-Owned Internet Bank - Currently pays 5.25%

For lots more suggestions, do a Google search along the lines of this

Yes, flying ended up taking about as much time as driving, and yes, it was more expensive, but, the point of flying vs. driving was not solely to get there faster or cheaper - it was not merely a method of transportation. In fact, it wasn't primarily about transportation.

The point was - to get there, and to get home. But those were end points, or maybe not even that, just milestones.

The bigger point was to have an enjoyable weekend, with enjoyable experiences embedded into that overall purpose.

From that perspective, flying was not simply a means to an end, but an experience in and of itself. And one which had the added benefit of furthering our overall purpose by getting us from point A to point B and back.

I tend to be so goal oriented that I often miss the enjoyment of the journey. Not only that, but when I find myself at my goal, I sometimes feel somewhat empty, feeling "okay, I've done it, now (and so) what?" I often saw this pattern with my skydiving students. They would be really focused and motivated during student status, but as soon as they completed their student progression, they would lose interest and drift away from the sport. This is pretty much what happened to me with my flying initially. I worked hard to get my license, but then drifted away only a few months after achieving my goal. Granted, there were other factors - the shift from working back to school with the consequent impacts on finances and free time, then a new job which paid little and consumed lots of time, then getting married and having an instant family - even less discretionary money and time. But, maybe most importantly... because I had no new goal to continue to motivate me to fly.

And that was the real issue, wasn't it?

I didn't realize that the real point of flying wasn't to reach to goal I had set - the real point of flying was the flying!

Yes, the goals are nice - they help keep me motivated to expended resources - time, money, energy.

But, it's important to not miss the trees, as I strive to get to the edge of the forest.

And, it's important to think - while I am still in the forest - about what I want the next journey to be when I get to that next destination, and to remember that what really matters is the journey, not the destination.

Plan for tomorrow, but live in today.

Darren Smith's site Alternate Link. This site has some great training resources, and a really interesting and complete weather section.

CSC DUATS Golden Eagle FlightPrep. Great free flight planning software for your PC.

Whittsflying. What it lacks in format, it more than makes up for in content.

pad39a, good list of aviation related links.

NOAA's National Weather Service Aviation Weather Center Aviation Digital Data Service (ADDS). Weather, straight from the source.

AirNav - all the information you need on airports, navaids and more.

David Megginson's Land and Hold Short.

flyagogo.net. flyagogo.net provides the aviation community with the most easy-to-use, interactive and graphical online flight planning tools, aeronautical charts, live weather, and aviation database available anywhere on the web. No registration, no proprietary plugins required, works with any modern web-browser on any platform.

Aviation Acronyms and Mnemonics (Check out his other cool aviation stuff at http://www.scottsasha.com/aviation/)

Tim's Air Navigation Simulator www.visi.com/~mim/nav/

Listen to live Air Traffic Control on your PC at www.liveatc.net/

My first trip was on Saturday. Somehow, after receiving its hundred hour, the CAP airplane got flown to Vandenberg Airport near Tampa. One of the other newly minted Form 5 pilots and I were given the opportunity to go retrieve it. Our day started off at 0800, with us being picked up by the 182 stationed at Craig, flown by the Craig Composite Squadron commander. Nick volunteered to sit in the back seat so I could ride up front. I was really excited about this trip, as I knew that it would be my first opportunity (at least in the last twenty-six years) to be able to listen in and observe a flight into controlled airspace - Class B no less! It turned out that I got even more than I had anticipated, since both legs were flown IFR.

The trip to KVDF took around two hours - maybe just a bit less. It is so much fun getting to ride, as I got to see so much more than I do when I am at the controls. One of the highlights was flying within easy viewing distance of John Travolta's house just outside of Tampa. That man knows how to live! A 6,400 sq ft home, with covered parking for planeS - his 707 on one side of the house and his G5 on the other - centered just off a 7000 foot runway.

The ride home was equally pleasant. Nick was PIC - due in part of his vast experience as a pilot, and partly to his ability to file IFR - a big advantage given the Class B we had to fly out of and all of the "special" airspace between there and here - not to mention the ability for him to get the airplane back even if conditions were below the VFR minimums I would be limited to. We took a different route, so I got to watch different scenery, and got to talk with someone who spent the last 6000 or so hours of his career as the captain of a Boeing 777!

After spending four hours listening to these two seasoned pilots work within the air traffic control system, I arrived at two conclusions: 1. The ATC system isn't quite as scary as I thought it was, and 2. I really do want to get my IFR rating. While I know that single pilot IFR landings are among the most demanding and nerve wracking endeavors one can undertake, flying on an IFR flight plan on a nice day makes getting from point A to point B about as painless as it could get unless someone else was actually doing the flying. And, having the option of IFR sure makes the idea of a small plane as transportation more viable.

The second trip started yesterday morning. Jeanie and I had made plans to visit her brother and sister-in-law at their lake house on Lake Marion. Our initial plan called for wheels up at 8:30 AM, with an ETA of 10:30 AM. Not only would this be the first overnight flying trip for us, but the first trip taking both of the dogs in a small plane. Jeanie pared down our luggage to the bare necessities, and had everything ready for us to leave the house at 7:30 AM. Unfortunately, mother nature was not fully cooperative. While the weather here was beautiful, the weather near our destination was below VFR minimums. Fortunately, by 9:00 AM, things had cleared, and we were off shortly thereafter.

In addition to having the dogs with us, there were a number of other firsts for me on the way up: first time using VFR flight following, first time using a GPS for navigation, and first time really flying with an auto pilot. The auto pilot in the club plane is only single axis - it only controls heading, not altitude, but it still has a great labor saver. My decision to engage in all three of these firsts was definitely inspired by my experience the previous day.

The trip up was pretty smooth and uneventful. We flew about 1/2 the trip at 7500 feet, and the remainder at 9500 - the additional altitude needed to clear cloud tops. Right as we got near Santee Cooper Regional, the clouds started thickening up, so we had to descend a bit faster than I would have preferred to get through a hole. Jeanie and both dogs arrived appearing none the worse for wear.

I thought my landing could have been a bit better, but Jimmy and Kim said they thought it looked great. They were able to say this because they were waiting for us at the airport when we arrived at around 11:40 AM - forty minutes behind our initial target.

The KMNI airport was really nice. The runway and taxi ways were in great shape, and there were quite a few available tiedowns, all with good ropes in place. The only challenge with the airport was that their fuel pump was not operational.

We loaded the dogs and bags into J&K's vehicle, and headed off to their house, where Kim's sister and nephews were waiting for us to go to lunch.

We had a nice boat ride to Goat Island, where we enjoyed a pleasant meal and good company.

After we returned to J&K's, Robin and the boys packed up and headed off to visit Robin and Kim's parents.

We had a nice afternoon and evening, including a yummy dinner. We then settled in to watch "Momma's House II," but we only made it part way through before tiredness got the better of us.

The weather did not look promising for a VFR return home today, but we decided that worrying about the weather wasn't going to change it, so we took another ride on the boat after breakfast. We returned home around 2:00 PM, and I called in for a weather briefing which implied that conditions were better than they looked. Jeanie and I decided to pack everything up and drive to the airport, and then check on the weather again. Although there was some weather both to the east and west of our route, right along our route appeared to be well within VFR, and more importantly, within what I felt I was capable of flying safely, so, we decided to launch, and were wheels up around 4:20 PM.

I had calculated that at the burn rate published in the POH, we should have had just enough fuel to make it back home while maintaining the minimum legal reserves. But, that assumed that our performance would match the POH, and chances were that neither the airplane would perform as well as the brand-new perfectly tuned planes which are used to generate the POH performance numbers, nor would this pilot perform as well as the incredibly talented professional pilots who flew those tests... two big "If's," not to mention that the weather injected yet another variable.

There is an old saying that goes: "there are old pilots, and there are bold pilots, but there are no old bold pilots." I guess I have gotten old enough that I have some small amount of sense, because I decided that it would be a good idea to fill up rather than pushing our luck.

So, we made a quick stop in Walterboro. It was right along the way, and they had fuel - self serve no less! It was also a bit of a kick for me to fly into Walterboro, as it had been the destination of my first cross country over twenty six years ago.

I can't say that I remembered the airport from that one other visit, but it seemed to be a nice place with friendly folks.

After topping back off, and extending our flight plan by a 1/2 hour, we headed back on our way, picking up flight following just south of Walterboro.

The flight home was surprisingly smooth. I had also been concerned that the ceilings would be low enough that I would have to transit the Savannah Class C airspace, or have to circumnavigate it. Much to my delight, the ceilings were high enough to allow us to fly at 4500 feet, which was just high enough for us to be able to fly right over the top of the Savannah Airport. Not that transiting Savannah would have been that big a deal considering we were talking with Savannah Approach, but this way we didn't run the risk of getting vectored all over the place. And, I must admit, it is pretty cool putting along in a little single engine plane and looking down and seeing large commercial jets sitting on the taxi ways waiting to take the active runway and depart.

We arrived home right around seven, and I had my final first for the trip - I closed our flight plan by radio rather than my usual telephone call to FSS after landing. The radio stuff worked out really smoothly - I informed JAX Approach as I started my descent. They requested that I inform them when I had the airport in sight. When I did, I let them know, and they terminated the flight following. I then switched to the local CTAF to alert local traffic that I was inbound for landing. I then switched over to 122.2 and contacted Gainesville FSS and as soon as I gave them my tail number, they correctly surmised that I was contacting them to close the flight plan (which I of course confirmed to them). I then switched back to local CTAF for the remainder of my pattern radio calls.

It turns out that stopping for fuel was a wise decision. While we would have made it home, chances are we would not have had the minimum legal reserves when we landed, plus we would have had very little margin for error, and we would have been worried the whole way. The stop added about thirty minutes (by the time we had fueled, called J&K, went to the bathroom, etc.) and $21 (for the extra .3 hours of tach time for the approach, landing, taxi, take-off and climb) to our trip home, but I think it was well worth it.

I was amazed at how much less stressful flying cross country was with a GPS and an auto pilot. While there was still plenty to keep me busy, it was a much more pleasant experience than having to fly the whole trip manually and with fifty year old (VOR) technology.

The trip did reinforce that flying to some place relatively close is not a time saver. Even though the actual transit time in the plane was about 1/2 of the time it would have taken to drive (2 hours vs. four hours), the actual door to door time flying was almost exactly what it would have been had we driven. This was due to the additional time it took to drive to the airport, transfer the stuff from the car to the plane, preflight the plane, get the plane out of the hangar, taxi to the runway, and then on the destination side taxi to the ramp, tie the plane down, transfer the stuff from the plane to the vehicle, and then drive to our final destination.

And it was definitely not a money saver. Flying was about $200 more than driving would have been - and that's based on assuming we had driven the Durango with it's abysmal gas mileage.

And it was not less tiring. Not only was the door to door time the same, but I find two hours of flying much more tiring than four hours of driving.

But, the flying was WAY cooler!