I am still not happy about my mis-calculation, but...

First and foremost, I am looking at it as a relatively damage free learning experience, as well as somewhat of a wakeup call. I guess the only way you can really judge the edge of the envelope is to exceed it. I now have a better idea of just how far I can, and how far I am willing to, push the envelope; both as far as as it relates to travel planning, as well as to work/stress and my judgement / mental acuity.

In addition, I did get a bunch of work done, and while not fully caught up, I am much less behind.

And, I ended up with another first: my first upgrade on Northwest - which, according to the gate agent, is rarer than hen's teeth. Of course, since I am not much of a drinker, a first class upgrade is somewhat wasted on me, nonetheless, it was nice to have the extra room, especially on an Embraer 175, which is a regional jet, whose seats are relatively hard and cramped for a two hour flight. Plus, getting an upgrade made me feel a little bit special, which was especially nice given my emotional state.

I am now looking forward to taking Jeanie out for a nice dinner, and then going home to vegetate for the rest of the evening.

For the first time in my life, I missed a flight due to my own fault...

I am so upset with myself. I feel so stupid.

Sure, I have missed lots of flights due to weather, delays, whatever, but those were all due to circumstances outside of my control.

Today's miss was totally my fault. The bottom line was my poor planning / laziness / cutting things too close. As with most accidents, there was a chain of bad decisions that I made that ultimately led to the failure. Had any one of those links been different, I would have made the flight.

My scheduled departure time was 6:25 AM. I was flying out of South Bend, IN, which is a relatively small airport that has never been busy any time I've previously been there, so I figured arriving an hour prior to departure would be adequate - rather than the 90 minutes I usually give myself. I awoke at 4:30. I had showered, shaved and packed the night before, so I figured it would take 15 minutes to get from bed to the car. Instead, it took 30 minutes. Part of the reason I was slow getting out of the room is that I took time to check e-mail, but I didn't check in online because I didn't have a printer and I had a bag to check (neither of which would have prevented me from checking in). I should have driven straight to the airport knowing I was already 15 minutes behind schedule, but instead I decided to drive through McDonald's for breakfast, which took 10 minutes. Rather than double checking the drive time on Google Maps the night before, I assumed it would take 30 minutes. It was actually more like 45-50 minutes including actually walking to the terminal. I thought about trying to check in online on my BlackBerry while driving but decided not to. The reason this is significant is that had I checked in on-line, I could have showed up as late as only 15 minutes prior to the flight and still got on - although my luggage might now have. My flight showed as a Continental flight, so I went to the Continental counter and waited in line for 5 minutes before learning that it was actually a Northwest code share. By the time I got to the Northwest kiosk, it was 6:00 AM, and the flight had been closed five minutes earlier.

Had I changed any one of these decisions I would be boarding my flight for JAX right now rather than still being in transit to Detroit, where I will end up sitting for six hours.

I started really stressing out while driving to South Bend thinking I would miss my flight. I eventually calmed myself by telling myself that the worst that would happen is that I would miss my flight, and that wouldn't be the end of the world.

Well, obviously I was right - the world is still here, and at worst, this is an inconvenience and a disappointment that I lose 6 hours with my sweetie. To put a positive spin on things, it will give me some time (force me) to get caught up on the huge backlog of work I have.

I guess the months of 70 hour weeks are starting to take a toll. Last time I was this tired I was 15 years younger and ended up wrecking my car. I guess I had better make some adjustments before something worse happens than missing a flight and getting home 6 hours later than planned.

I know in the bigger scheme of things, missing the flight today is trivial, but oh, how I hate to screw up! I mean, I am supposed to be perfect, right? And even if not, I am never supposed to do something so dumb / slack as this.

No, I am not talking about the realization that I can enter the blog entry into the memo application while sitting in a coach seat at 30,000 feet (something I can't do with the laptop due to a lack of space) on my BB with the intent of simply pasting it into the web entry form while taxiing to the gate - although that is pretty cool...

No, I am talking about a real defining moment in my life - my first time tagged as a "senior citizen."

And no, I'm not talking about receiving an invitation to join AARP. I've been a proud card carrying member since long before I was technically eligible thanks to my dear wife being somewhat more chronologically advanced than I am.

Last week I was traveling on business in the Chattanooga, TN area. I was by myself, and decided to go to a Golden Corral for dinner. Long story short -
After reviewing my bill, I realized that I had just received my first unsolicited senior citizen discount. Did I go and protest? Heck no! Vain - not especially - I earned every grey hair on my head; cheap - absolutely - and proud of it.

Cool! Maybe I'll be a bit better about posting now that I have the BB posting option.

So, here I sit in the airport...

When it occurs to me that I could be blogging...

The BB has a browser and MT does have the ability to post direct via the browser.

Actually, now I'm on the plane and still blogging.

I'm keeping this short to see if it works...

Dramatic title, isn't it?   Sounds like something gory, no?  Fortunately, not.

After doing some work work and some personal paper work, I went to install the resistor (part number 279872) that Robby had hypothesized was causing our Kenmore 70 Series clothes dryer not to work.  The symptom was that nothing would happen when you pressed the "push to start" button.  Per the enclosed instructions, I cut the wires on both sides of the old resistor - which was blackened and nasty looking - and installed the new resistor.  Unfortunately, that didn't solve the problem.

After doing a few Google searches, I found a few pages that suggested that the problem might be with the "push to start" switch, or the thermal fuse (part number 3392519).  I used an ohm meter to check the switch, and even though it didn't ohm out exactly as I would have expected, that didn't seem to me to be the problem.  When I checked the thermal fuse with the ohm meter, it showed infinite resistance, which led me to believe the fuse was in fact blown.  I shorted the leads from each side of the fuse together, pressed the start button and behold, the dryer started! This led me to believe that the thermal fuse was in fact blown, and that installing a new one would fix the dryer.  Jeanie called the local Sears store and as expected they didn't have the part, but they referred us to the parts center in Jacksonville which did have the part and was willing to put one on hold for us.

Even though getting the dryer operational was a high priority, getting my hair cut was a higher priority given that I have a client meeting next week, and I was looking shaggy.

So, I headed off to the island to get my hair cut.  I went to the same place I've gotten my hair cut at since we moved here, but the guy who cuts my hair has cut back to only working Tuesday through Friday.  I didn't want to take the chance of having to head off again without getting a trim, so Michelle cut my hair.  She did an okay job - not as good as Kevin, but I've pretty much got the drill down, so I was able to guide her... clipper the sides with a number three guard, then blend up and onto the top, be careful not to get too short at the crown so my thinning spot doesn't get too obvious, then use a thinning shear right down the middle of the top to knock down that Klingon ridge.

Next, I went to donate blood.  The Blood Alliance had been nice enough to call yesterday to inform us that they would be in town today.  Unfortunately, the first tech who stuck me gave me the worst stick I have ever had.  It hurt quite a bit, and the bag wouldn't fill - even after another tech tried to adjust the needle - and hurt me more in the process.  I agreed to let them try the other arm, which worked out fine.  Good stick, quick fill of the bag.

I stopped by home to pick up Jeanie and we headed off to our friends at the Sears Home Central Parts and Repair Center, 3555-1 St. Johns Bluff, Jacksonville, FL 32246 (904) 998-6597.  The part was waiting for us as promised.

Since we were in the general area, and I hadn't seen Mom in a while, we stopped by to visit for an hour or so.  Mom was quite sweet and was doing okay physically, so it was a pleasant visit.

We then headed home and I replaced the thermal fuse.  I found the following web sites particularly helpful in diagnosing and resolving the issue: http://applianceguru.com/forum2/1505.html and http://www.applianceblog.com/mainforums/showthread.php?t=5517 and http://www.applianceblog.com/mainforums/showthread.php?t=2527 which led to http://www.applianceaid.com/dryers.html

Jeanie was probably right in her observation that when you add the cost of the resistor, the shipping cost for it, the cost of the thermal fuse, gas to drive to/from Jacksonville and the money that she had to spend over three or four weeks to drive to the laundry mat and to pay for the use of their dryers, it probably would have been cheaper just to have called Sears and had them send over a technician to diagnose and fix the problem.  Oh well.  There was great value in giving me the opportunity to actually be able to feel like I was able to be given a challenge, identify the issue, and successfully effect resolution.  Something severely lacking at work lately...

Speaking of work, as an interesting aside, as of today,  I have had only one full day off in the last 56 days and have worked an average of 75 hours each week.  And that includes the week that I traveled to the Mayo clinic for evaluation of my schwannoma.

While on the one hand, I am quite grateful that I have a job, and one that pays well at that, and that doesn't involve extreme physical danger, discomfort or having to do something really disgusting.  One the other, it seems like there has to be a better way...

I am so tired...

The reason I haven't posted in over a month is that I have been working like a dog.

The last full day off I had was April 27.  That was 37 days ago.  I have been working an average of 70 hours a week, with last week clocking in at 95 hours.  Oh, and that 70 hours a week average... that includes being at the Mayo Clinic for two days.  Prior to last Saturday, I had been away from home for 20 days straight.

There must be a better way...

Jeanie and I spent a day and a half at Sun 'n Fun last week...

We loaded up the dogs and left around noon on Thursday.  Because we had the dogs and made the reservations relatively late, there were no hotels available in Lakeland, so our options were to stay either near Tampa or Orlando.  I elected to stay near Orlando, since it was on the way, rather than having to drive past Lakeland to Tampa and then double back to go to the show on Thursday.

The drive down was nice and uneventful.   It took about three and a half hours.

We ended up staying at a Hampton Inn in Clermont, which is on the west side of Orlando, about half an hour from Lakeland.  I like Hampton Inns.  We have stayed at quite a few, and in all but one situation a number of years ago, have been quite pleased.  In that one situation, the Hampton Inn had been "rebadged" from some other property and so it was not a typical Hampton configuration.  The thing I like about the Hampton Inns is that each one is the same - so you know exactly what to expect: decent sized inside rooms, complimentary wireless Internet access and hot breakfast, and moderate rates.

After taking our bags upstairs and getting the dogs settled, we headed off to Lakeland.

My plan had been to get to Sun 'n Fun right at 5:00 PM so we could get the "$5 after 5:00" tickets (as opposed to the $35 all day ones) and maximize our time before it got dark.  We ended up not getting there until almost 6:00 PM, but we still able to accomplish the primary objective which was to get a feel for the general layout so we could maximize our time on Friday.

We started out just walking around to get a general sense of where things were.  We ended up in the ultra-light area, and spent a fair amount of time watching a series of powered paragliders, trikes and powered parachutes fly circuits around the ultra-light runway.  Of the three types, I liked the powered parachutes the best.  They seemed to offer the best balance of comfort, safety and fun.  But, why would someone spend $15,000 - $20,000 for a powered parachute when for the same money, they could buy a used Cessna 150 or similar?

By the time we headed back to the car, it was well after dark, and I was extremely grateful that I had my Blackberry and Nav-4-All and that I had remembered to mark our parking spot before heading into the show.

We ended up stopping at a Hardees for dinner and by the time we got back to the hotel, it was almost 10:00 PM.  Upon entering the room, we noticed the message light was flashing, and were horrified to learn that there had been complaints about the dogs barking while we were gone.

The rest of the night was pretty miserable.  Between being upset about the complaints, and the dogs starting to bark every time they heard someone in the room next door or in the halls, we didn't sleep very well.

Next year, we will leave the dogs at home.

We arose at 6:00 AM on Friday so we could get to the show by 8:00 AM when the gates opened.  We fed and walked the dogs, then grabbed breakfast at the Hampton before heading off to Lakeland.  Jeanie had the bright idea to put the dogs in the bathroom and place pillows against the bottom of the bathroom door.  The thought was that in the bathroom, the dogs wouldn't hear quite as much room/hall noise which would hopefully prompt less barking, and if they did bark, it wouldn't be as easily heard - at least in the halls.

There are a number of routes to choose from between Clermont and Lakeland.  On Thursday, we had stayed on I-4 until exit 27 to avoid the toll road.  I decided to try the toll road thinking it might be faster; it was not.  For the relatively short distance we had to travel, we had to pay three $1 tolls, and for part of the way, the road was only two lane.

Next year, we will stay on I-4.

Once again, we didn't quite arrive as early as I had hoped, but it was still before 9:00 AM, when the vendors "opened."

We spent a fair amount of time walking through the LSA mall, which was situated right after the main entry gate.  It is amazing how many LSAs are now available.  Most seemed to have one of two designs - mini standard airplane (with high wing and low wing variants) or flying egg.  Most have almost no room for bags - definitely not enough room for dogs.  The one exception we found to that was the Jabiru.  We were amazed at the size of the luggage area in it.  There were a few sea plane LSAs; the SeaMax LSA amphibian was quite cool.

I can see the appeal of an LSA if you don't think you can pass your FAA physical, but  spending $80,000 - $140,000 for an LSA when one could buy a pretty nice Cessna or Piper for that much money is an interesting thought experiment.  Of course, with an LSA, you get a brand new airplane with all sorts of cool stuff in the panel, that you can work on yourself, that cruises faster, on 5-6 gallons per hour.

After getting our fill of LSAs, we went to browse the booths in the 4 hangars.  I spent a fair amount of time looking at ANR headsets.   I felt the David Clark X-11's  were the most comfortable although the ear seals could have been a bit thicker.  I also looked at flight bags - the Sporty's bags were too big.  I did like either the ASA AirClassics Flight Bag or the AirClassics Flight Bag Pro (couldn't tell because there was only one and I can't remember whether it was the standard or pro model).  We also looked at handheld radios.  The Icom A-6 seemed to have the best balance of size, features and price.  Ultimately, I didn't actually purchase anything, as I don't really have a compelling need for any new flying stuff.  One of these days, maybe I'll break down and treat myself to something I just want, rather than really need.

We did to rush a bit through the booths because there was so much to see and do and only one day to do it.  I would have liked more time to really compare the products I looked at.  I would also have liked to have spent some time at the Lowrance booth talking to someone about the Airmap family compared to the Garmin x96 family.  Not that I need (or plan to buy) a portable GPS - it just interests me.  Maybe next year...

After leaving the hangars, we walked around and looked at the production aircraft.

In the lustful dreams category, the Lopresti Fury was a strong contender.  The idea of a fast comfortable airplane that is just as happy being upside down as right side up is quite appealing to me.

We made time to visit the AOPA tent, where I voted for my two top issues facing general aviation.  My picks: the cost of flying and protecting our GA airports (from closure).  We picked up a few nice AOPA freebies - a couple of water bottle coozies and a couple of small ponchos.  Other than those, the only other freebies we picked up were a couple of XM Satellite Radio cloth bags and a 2008 Florida aeronautical chart and airport directory.  Jeanie complimented me on my restraint.

After picking up a couple of sandwiches and a soda, we walked to the airshow area and got a good spot for the airshow.  Jeanie had brought a picnic basket and an umbrella,  thankfully, so we had some shade from the burning sun and our bottoms stayed dry.  Thankfully, I had remembered to bring ear plugs as the piston planes were uncomfortably loud, and the jets were even louder.

Next year, we will bring chairs.

The airshow was great.  My favorites were the USAF Thunderbirds,  Matt Younkin's Beech 18 and Patty Wagstaff.

After the show, we walked over to the Warbirds area and marveled at the amazing aircraft.

For dinner - we both had pork butt on a stick.  It was quite good.

After dinner, we headed back over to the show area for the night airshow.  It was amazing -  especially the glider.  As if aerobatics isn't challenging enough, imagine doing them just feet above the ground.  Now imagine doing them at night.  Now imagine doing them with pyrotechnics shooting out of the wing tips!

To cap off an amazing day, we were treated to a truly spectacular fireworks display.   It was probably the best I've even seen live and in person.

We got back to the hotel well after 10:00 PM.  We didn't even bother listening to the messages.  Fortunately, the dogs were somewhat better behaved than the previous night.  I got some sleep - more than Jeanie.

Our original plan had been to stay in the hotel Saturday night also, but we decided to cut the trip short due to the stress I was feeling because of the dogs.

Hilton was very accommodating in changing the HHonors award from three nights to two.

I got up, and went down for breakfast and brought coffee and a danish up for Jeanie.

After getting quick showers, we packed up and headed back home.

On the way home, we went by Daytona Beach.  We drove past the race track and the airport and then drove to the beach.  We didn't actually go to the beach at Daytona, but instead decided to drive up A1A.  The drive was nice in that the road hugged the beach - no houses between the road and the ocean all the way to Ormond Beach.

We continued along A1A and went into St. Augustine to get some more of the glass flowers we had found last time we were there (with Andrew and Laura) and some more air plants (which hadn't been available last visit).

We arrived back home around 5:00 PM, already looking forward to next year's Sun 'n Fun, April 21-26, 2009.

The good news is that the system has been rock stable...

The bad news is that I haven't really seen any significant performance improvement.

I guess the system is processor, video or disk bound, with my bet being the processor.

As I said in an earlier post, I guess if I want more zoom, I'll just have to spring for a new system.

Given the cost and effort associated with a new system, I think I'll just keep muddling along with what I have for the time being.

When we moved here three years ago, it really did seem like Mayberry...

You know... a quiet, friendly, safe town.  The kind where you don't have to worry if you forget to lock your car door or house.  The kind were common sense tells you not to leave your GPS in the windshield mount, but where you don't think you have to remove the mount itself every night and clean the little suction cup circle off of the glass.

Well, it is still relatively quiet and friendly, but we definitely don't feel quite as safe.

Last Monday morning, Cali awakened us some time after 3:00 AM barking.  We heard what sounded like a large truck - something that will often cause Cali to bark.  Although it seemed a bit strange to have a large truck in the neighborhood at that hour, we thought nothing more of it and went back to sleep.  Cali awakened us again barking around 4:00 AM - this time because the doorbell rang.

When I opened the front door, I was greeted by a Sheriff's deputy apologizing for awakening us and also apologizing for having to inform us that the RAV4 had been broken into.

Apparently, there had been a series of burglaries of vehicles in the area, one of which had already been reported.  As the deputy was patrolling the neighborhood, he noticed our break-in.

The thief smashed the front passenger window and stole Jeanie's new GPS, along with some money she kept in the center console.  Interestingly, the car alarm didn't go off.  I later learned that the reason it didn't go off is that there isn't one!  While the vehicle is equipped with an engine immobilizer, there is no vehicle alarm.

Fortunately, Jeanie was able to find a company that had the window in stock and would even come to the house to perform the repair.  The insurance company was very nice and coordinated paying for the window repair, as well as arranging for Jeanie to meet with an adjuster to determine a settlement amount for the damage to the weather molding and to the leather on the passenger seat.  Unfortunately, insurance won't cover the loss of the GPS or the cash.

A pair of detectives came by the next day to follow up, but they told us that even though we had given them the serial number of the unit, they had no leads and thought it unlikely that we would ever see our GPS again.

Moral of the story?  Don't ever leave the mount affixed to the windshield, even if you are parked in your own driveway in Mayberry By The Sea...

I just added another gig of memory to my primary PC...

I purchased another 1GB stick of A-DATA DDR 400 from NewEgg.  This stick was $5 less expensive than the first one and was shipped free.  When everything else seems to be getting more expensive by the day, that was a nice surprise.

With the addition of the second stick (the maximum that the system can accommodate) that makes a matched pair for a total of 2GB.  While I was at it, I reconfigured the system to allow auto determination of memory frequency (it had been fixed at 100MHz) and configured 4-Way interleaving (it had been set to no interleaving).

The system seems a bit zippier, but I won't go so far as to say the change is startling.  I am also holding my breath a bit to see if it will be stable with the memory configuration changes.

I guess time will tell, but so far, it seems the investment was worth it.  I will say that I believe this is the limit of my investments in this particular system in seeking additional performance for my primary PC.  Next time I feel the need for (more) speed, I'm afraid I'll have to invest in a whole new system.

There I was innocently sitting in our monthly squadron meeting...

When the commander announced that our squadron's assigned airplane would be gone next week, having been volunteered to sit at Sun 'n Fun as one of two CAP aircraft on static display.  The plan was that the squadron would wash and wax the plane tomorrow, and then someone from the squadron would fly it down to Lakeland on Monday.  Because another squadron would be providing a lift back to the pilot, and the "lift" aircraft would already have two occupants, the pilot flying our aircraft down would have to fly into Sun 'n Fun alone.  From what I had read about flying into Sun 'n Fun, this was not a mission for the faint of heart, nor one who hadn't flown in before.  So, I resigned myself to not flying for the next week or so - at least not in the CAP aircraft.

Well, for better or worse, I ended up hanging around for a few minutes after the meeting ended.  During this time, the commander got a call requesting that the aircraft be delivered to KLAL today.  Guess who got nominated to fly the mission?  Far be it from me to turn down some free flying...  I checked the weather, and while it wasn't CAVU, it was VFR, as long as I didn't tarry, and didn't wander too far west too soon after take-off.  The forecast called for broken clouds, so I figured I would be able to get on top.  As usual, I requested, and received, VFR traffic advisories (flight following) from ATC - thank goodness I did!

Long story short, the entire trip was flown at 2,200 feet, bumpity bump, with prodigious amounts of vectoring by ATC to keep me away from thunderstorms and heavy precipitation.  Even though Lakeland is in central Florida, I ended up flying almost to the west coast of Florida before being able to head back to the southeast to get to KLAL.

The flight included a number of firsts for me - the aforementioned vectoring around weather, my first glimpse of lightning while piloting an aircraft, my first flight through rain (very brief and in case you are wondering, it is legal for a VFR pilot to fly through rain - as long as visibility and cloud clearance minimums are maintained), transit through Class Bravo airspace, and seeing people under canopy while flying an airplane.  The controller was nice enough to point these out to me at my 9 o'clock - I don't think he realized what a kick it was for me.  Nor did he probably realize what a kick it was for me to see Zephyrhills again from the air - even if it was while sitting in an airplane rather than in freefall or under canopy.

My landing at Lakeland wasn't bad - especially considering the brisk crosswind.

Even though the airplane that was supposed to ferry me home was supposed to be waiting on me, it didn't arrive until almost 5:00 pm.  Unfortunately, by the time it arrived, a solid line of thunderstorms had formed between us and home.  We ended up only being able to make it as far as Ormond Beach - the home of the two other CAP members.  The aircraft was one of CAP's new G1000 Cessna 182's.  It was so cool to watch the XM WX Satellite Weather™ high resolution weather in real time.

Since I wasn't keen on the idea of spending the night in a hotel, I ended up renting a car and driving the two and a half hours home.  One of the members was nice enough to drive me to Daytona to rent the car.  I must admit, given the brutal rain that I had to drive through for part of the trip home, I sure was glad that I was in a car rather than in a small aircraft.

I can't end the post without noting how great Flight Service and Air Traffic Control were today.  I know the FAA is taking a lot of heat lately, but I couldn't have asked for a more thorough weather briefing, nor better service from ATC.

Boy we did a lot of flying a couple of weeks ago...

The original plan was for Jeanie and I to fly the squadron airplane down to Daytona (KDAB) on March 25 and drop it off for its 100 hour, then rent a car and drive back home.  Our plan had been to explore Daytona Beach a bit, and then swing by St. Augustine on the way back.

The flight down was good.  The skies were clear and the ride was smooth - at least until we got close to Daytona.  We flew down at 5,500 feet.  As we neared Daytona, we encountered a few scattered clouds at around 4,500 feet that ended up not being a factor as just before I was about to request an altitude change to get below them, ATC directed me lower.  Once under the cloud layer, things got a bit bumpy.  Not horrible, but enough to be sometimes a bit uncomfortable.  I also had a few new experiences.  I got to play with the Squadron Commander's Garmin 296.  In many ways, it is nicer than the KLN 94 installed in the aircraft.  This was my first time flying into a Class Charlie airport without a seasoned pilot in the right seat.  It was also the first time that I had ATC vector me all the way to final, and the first time that I was asked to do a LAHSO (Land And Hold Short Operations) landing.  The LAHSO landing was no problem as I was landing on a 10,000 foot runway and the LAHSO length was 7,000 feet - 2,000 feet longer than the longest runway at 55J, and at least 5,000 feet longer than I needed.

Well, after I called in to close the mission with the flight release officer, he mentioned that there was a loaner aircraft that we could take back to 55J.  I didn't really want to, as I was looking forward to the drive with Jeanie, but, being the good squadron members that we are, we decided to yield to the greater good and fly the loaner back.

Before heading back, we walked over to the terminal to cancel the Hertz reservation, and also to get something to eat, as neither of us had eaten all day.  We split a Subway prime rib sub that was pretty good.

Once we got back to the maintenance facility, it took a while to actually leave, as I found a couple of issues with the floater during pre-flight that had to be addressed.  I also experienced a problem with the audio panel that turned out to be pilot error.  The problem was that I could receive and transmit on Com1, but could not switch to Com2, nor would the intercom work.  Apparently, as a safety factor, the radios are wired such that if the audio panel fails, the system automatically fails over to a direct connection between the pilot's headset and Com1.  In my case, the "failure" was that the audio panel had been turned off, and I didn't realize that I had to push the volume knob in to turn the panel on.  Fortunately, one of the mechanics was very nice when I asked him to take a look, and didn't call me a dumb-ass, but simply turned the panel on and wished us a good flight back.

The flight back was nice as well.  Although I didn't get to linger, I did get a glimpse of the St. Augustine Light Station and the fort at St. Augustine.

My landings were decent both at KDAB and at 55J.

I did come to gain a much greater appreciation of both the squadron's assigned aircraft and the club plane.  While safe, the floater definitely felt like it had been rode hard and put up wet many times in its life.  Not only did it tend to drop a wing while in flight, but the controls just felt "sloppy."

I also, not that I needed it, came away with a greater appreciation of just how lucky I am to be married to Jeanie.

Bob and Wendy arrived at the Jacksonville airport Thursday evening for their annual visit...

I arrived (back from a six-day business trip to The Netherlands) around 2:00 AM Friday morning.

The bad news was that from the time I embarked on my trip home, until I walked in the door at home - a trip that was literally "trains, planes and automobiles," -  26 hours had elapsed.  The good news was that the trip was so long and tiring, and the hour of my arrival so late, that I was able to go right to sleep, and never really suffered any jet lag.

Friday

The weather was somewhat cool and wet.   We didn't end up getting to go to the auction preview which was a bit of a disappointment, but not crushing.  Since the weather wasn't great, we spent the day just visiting with each other.

Saturday

The weather was once again somewhat cool and wet. 

We drove to Hugonot Park and rode around on the beach.  It was very windy, so we elected not to get out of the truck so we wouldn't get sandblasted.

On the way home we stopped by the BlockBuster and picked up Gone Baby Gone.  It was well written, acted, directed, etc., but it was vulgar (which is something coming from me) and depressing.

Sunday

The weather was absolutely beautiful: sunshine, blue skies, temperatures in the low 70's.  We overslept a bit due to the changeover to daylight saving time.  Even so, Bob and I arrived prior to the gates opening at the 13th annual Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance.  We were able to quickly locate the will-call tent and pick up the tickets I had purchased on-line.

As usual, the show had a dazzling array of amazing automobiles.  As usual, my favorites were the classic cars of the late 1920's early 1930's - especially the Duesenbergs, Auburns and Cords.

An unexpected treat for me was the Breitling aerobatic plane's performance.  Breitling has been a sponsor / exhibitor at each Concours I've been to, but this was the first year I saw them do an airshow.  It was quite long and really good.

Another unexpected treat for me was the 1970 Johnny Lightning race car, which brought back fond memories.

While Bob and I were enjoying the show, Jeanie and Wendy went shopping.  To each his (or her) own I guess...

Monday

All too soon, the visit was over and it was time to take Bob and Wendy to the airport so they could catch their early morning flight home.  It was really great having them here and we're already looking forward to their visit next year.

Wow, I've really gotten behind on my postings.  As of this moment, I have eleven half-finished drafts.  I don't even have a good excuse for not posting.  I haven't been that busy at work, and I haven't been that busy doing stuff at home.  Oh well, here's a start at catching up, beginning with a recap of the weekend of February 23/24...

Saturday

There were two big draws in town for us today: the 2nd Annual Amelia Island Chili Cook-off and Quilts By The Sea - The Eleventh Triennial Quilt Show by The Amelia Island Quilt Guild, Inc.  We started the day by going to the Farmer's market.  We then walked down Center Street to the Cook-off where we had our fill our chili.  There were a number of different variations, although they all were fairly conventional - meat, beans, cumin, etc.  I had hoped for something unusual or daring - maybe a seafood chili or a vegetarian chili.  I was also surprised that most of the offerings were pretty tame as far as spiciness was concerned.  After leaving the cook-off, which served as lunch for us, we went to the quilt show.  Some of the quilts were just amazing.  I marvel at the skill demonstrated by some of the quilt makers.  I did find a limitation to my new bifocals - in order to see the quilts well, I needed to stand at my "mid-vision-distance."  Unfortunately, the bifocals didn't do well at this distance so I ended up getting a headache.  I guess there are going to be some situations where the progressive lenses are superior to the bifocals.   After leaving the quilt show, we went to the Dairy Queen and then ate our cones while sitting in the truck on the beach at Sadler.

Sunday

We drove to Darien to shop and have lunch with Jim and Kim.  We ate at Skipper's Fish Camp.  It was okay, but moderately expensive for lunch.  The "Charlie's Chowder" was delicious - the "creamy, thick and chunky Seafood stew made with fish, crab meat and shrimp," had lots of seafood, and a bit of corn that added a delightful hint of sweetness.  Both Jeanie and I had Sweet Georgia Shrimp Platters - hers broiled, mine fried.  Both were okay with nice large shrimp.  The batter was a bit heavy both on the shrimp and the onion rings.  The coleslaw was strange - it had sweet pickle relish in a creamy based slaw.  It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't great either.  The hush puppies had too much garlic and weren't enjoyable.  Jeanie's shrimp were a bit spicy for her.  Jim had the whole crispy flounder - it had a really cool presentation, and he said it was quite tasty.  For the life of me, I can't remember what Kim had.

After lunch, we drove home (at least as far as Brunswick) via 17.  Turns out that the Brunswick / Golden Isles airport is right off of 17, so we made a stop and went into the terminal.  We were quite surprised to find a nice terminal and airport - interesting in that it is set up as a commercial terminal - complete with TSA security point, ticket counters, etc.,  but only one airline - Delta - as far as we could tell.  I had expected the airport to me more like St. Simons.

After leaving the airport, we decided to take I-95 home.  It was not as scenic, but got us home faster.

All in all, a very nice weekend.

A while ago, I listened to "Raising Atlantis" by Thomas Greanias.

After listening to it, I ended up signing up for an email list for Greanias' next book, "The Atlantis Prophesy."

Well, a couple of days ago I received an email announcing an "Atlantis Prophesy" contest.  Greanias, a former journalist, media executive and screenwriter, created a movie-like video trailer for this new book.  The gist of the contest was that the first 50 people to post the video trailer for the book on YouTube would get a signed, advanced copy of the book.

Well, I did, and I won!

Here's the trailer:

I was catching up on my reading on my last trip to The Netherlands a couple of weeks ago, and came upon this story written by Ray Bradbury...

It was published in the December 2007 issue of Plane & Pilot, although it was originally published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, October 1988.

I can't imagine what it must be like to have gone to war, fought, and survived, but I have to imagine that this story captures the reality for many who have...

You can read this moving short story on the web here.

Back on November 23, 2003, our Kenmore Series 80 washing machine died mid-load...

Well, it happened again yesterday, although with different symptoms.  This time, the tub drained, but the washer would not spin.  I could hear a noise like a motor running when the spin cycle was engaged, but the basket would not spin.  I tried running the wash cycle.  The tub filled with water, but when the agitator should have started agitating... nothing.

Fortunately, the link from my previous entry to Appliance Aid still was active, so I avoided a lot of hassle, as I would have first tipped the washer onto its side to try to access the motor had I not had this entry as a reference.

Jeanie helped me get the washer onto our hand truck and move the washer into the garage.  The pile of black "dust" on the floor where the washer had been did not appear to be a good sign.

After removing the cabinet,

pump and motor, I was able to identify what appeared to be the problem: the rubber coupling between the motor and transmission was mangled, and the plastic drive pins on the motor and transmission drive plates were snapped off.

Jeanie jumped on the Internet and accessed the Sears Parts Direct web site.  I was pleasantly surprised that a search using the part number stamped on the drive plate - 62672 - actually came up with the proper replacement part# - 285753A.  I was even more surprised to learn that there was a Sears Parts Store in Jacksonville, and that they had the part in stock - although confirming that they had them in stock and finding out what their hours were was a two hour frustrating experience that involved multiple calls to the store, only to have our call answered by a fax machine, multiple calls to the Sears 800 number, and finally looking in the white pages and calling the Sears Sewing Center, which just happened to be located in the same building as the parts center.

Once we confirmed that our trip would not be for naught, Jeanie and I drove to Jacksonville and picked up the part.  Turns out they had quite a few, as this part apparently is prone to failure.  I did notice that the replacement part had a number of design features that were different than the original including a metal insert at the center of the drive plate and more robust drive pins.

Cleaning and installing the new parts was a fairly simple affair.  Fortunately, I had thought to take photographs as I disassembled the washer, so between the Appliance Aid site and the pictures, I was able to figure out what went where.

The good news is that the washer appears to be working correctly.  I much prefer the $16.57 in parts and a few hours of driving and manual labor to the thousand or so dollars that we would have spent on a new washer.

Well, that's what it seemed like at first...

Symptoms were that keystrokes were getting lost - i.e. I'd type a word, but some of the letters vanished into the ether, and the mouse pointer was erratic and not all of the clicks were recognized.

At first, thought it was just batteries getting tired.

I changed the batteries on the keyboard, which was no big deal, and on the mouse, which is a major hassle since I forgot that the batteries go in the top rather than the bottom.  Why should this matter, you wonder?  Well, the tabs on the plastic piece that keeps the mouse ball in place are broken, so I have to keep it in place with tape.  The tape has to be carefully placed so as to not block the mouse hole.  Removing the tape leaves sticky residue from the tape which must be removed or my hand sticks to the mouse and the mouse sticks to the mouse pad.  As long as I had the ball out, I cleaned the rollers that track the mouse movement and tend to get gunky after a while.  As usual, I forgot that after removing the batteries, a connection with the base must be reestablished, and this is accomplished by pressing a button on the bottom of the mouse - a button that ends up being covered by the tape that holds the mouse ball retainer in place, so I had to remove the tape and reapply it.  At least after I did this, I thought to write a note to myself on the tape on the bottom of the mouse reminding me that to replace the batteries, I need only remove the top cover - not the tape.

Anyway, after doing all that, I still had the problem.

Turns out that the culprit wasn't the batteries, but the fact that I had placed my new Blackberry next to the wireless receiver and apparently, the Blackberry was creating interference.  I have noticed this when someone sets their blackberry too close to a Polycom conference call unit - you end up with an annoying hum or buzzing.

Moving the Blackberry down one shelf on the stand solved the problem.

While it was a bit of a hassle, and I probably ended up throwing away a set of AAA batteries that weren't quite dead (I did save the AA's), at least I now have a clean mouse and fresh batteries in both the mouse and keyboard.  As long as I don't forget and end up placing the Blackberry next to the receiver again, I should have a trouble free keyboard and mouse for a while now.

I've been working quite a bite lately, thus the lack of posts...

I am working two deals.  Leading the US portion of one, helping on the other.  The former is a global deal that is lead out of Europe, which means that my work day starts early since I am six hours behind the lead country - no, it doesn't literally start at 2:00 AM, they are more considerate than that, but because there are also team members in Asia-Pacific, it does mean that I often start at 6:00 AM in deference to the fact that it is night in the AP countries.  The bulk of my help on the other deal is in the form of writing proposal material, which I have been mostly doing in the evening.  Thus, the long days.

So, even though the weather was absolutely perfect on Saturday, I spent the entire day at home resting.  About the most exertion I had all day was putting the air chairs back up in the back yard.  A good portion of the rest of the day was spent asleep, between waking up late and taking a long nap mid-day.

On Sunday, I also slept later than normal, but did manage to make it to the airport coffee by 9:00 AM.  After I returned home, Jeanie and I ran a few errands and then went to lunch at "Your Place" on the Island.  I was in the mood for a good hamburger, so we first tried Baxters, but like many restaurants on the Island, during the off season, they are only open for dinner.  "Your Place" gets bonus points because even though they were "only" serving their brunch menu, when Jeanie asked if they would be willing to make us a hamburger anyway, they were more than happy to accommodate our wishes.  The patties were hand-made, thick, juicy and tasty.  They were served on a nicely toasted bun with fresh potato chips.  Prices were reasonable for a sit-down type restaurant at $5.95 for a regular burger and $6.95 for a cheese burger.  The brunch menu items ran about $10-12 and I was almost swayed by the seafood newburg crepes.  Service was excellent, as we were the only customers in the place - a testament to why most places are only open for dinner - especially on a Sunday - at this time of year.

After lunch, we headed off to find the beach you can drive and park on that we see from Heckscher Drive when we take the scenic "back back" route to Jacksonville.  The beach in question turned out to be Huguenot Memorial Park (other links).  It is a lovely beach.  It is clean and much of the sand is the really fine, soft variety.  We were impressed at the abundance of well placed trash cans and the general layout of the place.  There were even clean public restrooms and a snack bar that served hot food.  The Durango had no trouble navigating the terrain in 4WD, although I did get a bit nervous at one point when I ventured out almost too far onto the wet sand - but I kept the Durango moving and didn't try to make any sharp turns and we ended up being just fine.  You do have to be mindful of the tides, as the majority of the drive-on portion of the beach is under water at high tide.  As an added bonus, the beach is just a stone's throw from the Mayport Naval Base, and you get get a really good look at some of the ships anchored there.  The view was even better now that we keep a pair of binoculars in the truck all the time.  And as if all of that wasn't enough?  The price of admission?  Fifty cents a head!

Andrew, Laura and Hannah came to visit a couple of weekends ago...

Saturday:

They got an early start on Saturday so they could catch the 10:24 AM Skybus flight from Greensboro to St. Augustine.

Jeanie and I drove the Durango to St. Augustine to meet them.

We arrived at the St. Augustine airport a few minutes before the scheduled arrival, so we drove around the outside of the airport.  It was cool seeing the Galaxy Aviation FBO and FlyBy Cafe from the "other side."

I had been trying to figure out what Skybus would use as a terminal.  Since this is a regular commercial airline, I figured they would have to have TSA security, etc.  The solution?  A fabric Quonset hut as a terminal - an interesting approach.  Even though at first thought, it seemed to me that a fabric structure wouldn't be such a great idea in this part of the world, Andrew told me that he had spoken with someone, and the projected life of the structure was 20-30 years, and that it was more hurricane resistant than traditional hangar type structures.

Seeing the flight arrive, other than the fact that it was a brand new 737, was like stepping back in time.  After the plane taxied up, the ground crew rolled up large stairs front and back so the passengers could disembark.  Rather than walking into the terminal, the passengers walked directly from the apron through a chain link gate and gathered at a outside covered area to await their baggage.  The bags were quickly delivered right there on the sidewalk.

The weather was cool and wet, but not horrible.

Since it was after noon by the time we all got in the Durango, we decided to go straight to St. Augustine and eat.  We decided to have lunch at The Prince of Wales English Pub.  Lunch was yummy.  Jeanie and I shared a large Cottage Pie.  The Cottage Pie (otherwise known as Shepherd's Pie) consisted of "lean ground beef, onions, peas & carrots in a rich brown gravy topped with princely mashed potatoes & sharp cheddar cheese."  We were torn between the Cottage Pie and the Beef & Guinness Pie - my guess is either would have been great.  Laura also had the Cottage Pie and Andrew had the  Large Pub Salad topped with Coronation Chicken ("a combination of [chopped] chicken breast, mayo, red wine, apricot jam, white onions, curry & tomatoes") which was really tasty.

Andrew and I toured the Castillo de San Marcos National Monument, where we were recognized by the Spanish Soldier re-enactors that we had met at lunch.  After walking around, we watched the cannon firing which was pretty cool (and very loud).  The exhibits were nicer than the ones at Fort Clinch, and there was a great variety of canon, but Fort Clinch's big canons are nicer.

Cell phones make life so much easier.  Rather than having had to schedule a rendezvous time and location, we just agreed that after we had our fill of the fort, that we would call the girls.  We did so, and ended up meeting them on St. George street.  We walked down St. George street back to the car, and then drove around the city some.

We went to the Davenport Park and Hannah and Andrew rode the St. Augustine Carousel.

Then we drove to the St. Augustine Light Station.  We decided not to go up into the lighthouse, but walked around and went through the visitor center / gift shop.

By then it was starting to get dark, so we headed home.

Jeanie made a delicious salad for dinner, then we had the twelve layer chocolate cake she had bought last week at her parents for desert - oh my goodness!

Sunday:

The weather was beautiful - clear and crisp.

Andrew and I went for an aerial tour.  We spent about an hour aloft.  I got lucky and made a nice landing.  Jeanie, Laura and Hannah were at the airport as we taxied in.  Before putting the airplane back in the hangar, we put Hannah in the plane and taxied around a bit - she seemed to have a blast.  I got a kick out of Hannah getting to believe that she was "steering" the plane with the yoke, while I actually directed the plane with the rudder pedals.

After leaving the airport we went to lunch at Pablo's, then walked around downtown and the marina.

After lunch, we drove to the beach and walked and shelled.

We drove back to the house and dropped the girls off, the Andrew and I drove to JAX so Andrew could pick up a rental car so they could get back to St. Augustine for their flight home on Monday.

It took longer to get the car than Andrew or I expected, partly because Andrew had to get Avis to switch out the car after seeing that they had given him a Mustang, which, while it might have been fun to drive, wasn't suited to accommodating Laura, Hannah, and their luggage.  Eventually, we both returned home and I cooked steaks on the grill while Jeanie prepared the rest of the meal.

Monday:

I had a 7:00 AM work call.  They showered, then we visited a bit more and I helped Andrew take stuff to the rental car while Jeanie made take-out breakfast for them to eat on the drive to St. Augustine.

The Kagans left around 9:00 AM.

It was a lovely weekend and we look forward to their next visit.

I ordered a couple of these from Woot a few weeks ago.

Overall, I have to say I am disappointed.

On the plus side, the unit did charge quickly, and I had no problems pairing it either with the Blackberry or with my Lenovo T60P.  Well, I had no problems with the T60P once I had uninstalled the Bluetooth driver and installed the latest version - but I attribute that to the OS build that was supplied with the system when I received it, not with the headset.  As a hint, after you remove the old Bluetooth driver and reboot, you must press Function+F5 to get the system to activate the Bluetooth so the system will complete the rest of the installation.  As with many devices, you must cancel the Microsoft default driver installation, and manually run the updated driver installer.  You must be VERY patient with the new driver installation, as it installs a number of services / sub devices which take quite a while but don't provide progress bars to let you know that something is going on in the background.

Price was good - $6.95 each plus $5 shipping.  But, I guess you get what you pay for.

Shipping took a ridiculously long time.  Woot appeared to get the product out of their warehouse in a reasonable amount of time, but then the box just languished with the shipper.  All told, it took fourteen days to arrive.  Granted, I ordered it shortly before Christmas, so there was the Christmas rush, plus the New Year holiday, but still... I could tell from the tracking information that the box was just sitting in a "sortation" center.  In looking at the Woot forum entry for this item, it appears I was not alone.

Good thing I ordered two, as the first one broke within two days.

The earpiece isn't horrible, but it isn't comfortable either.  Without the ear stablizer hook, the unit wouldn't stay on my head, as the ear plug is quite large.  Because it doesn't fit snugly in my ear, there is some background noise which makes it difficult for me to hear, even with the volume on both the unit and the Blackberry turned up to maximum.

As an experiment, I tried to see if the earpiece from my Jabra headset would fit on the integrated ear piece.  It did, which helped both with the volume and the comfort.  I don't know if putting the Jabra earpiece on had any effect on the unit breaking, so I am not taking a chance with the other one, but if it did, that speaks to the overall (lack of) quality of the item in my opinion.

Another big issue is the constantly blinking blue led embedded into the headset.  During the day, it makes you look even more dorkish that you already do wearing a bluetooth headset.  At night, the light is bright enough to be downright distracting / annoying.

This is my second bad experience with Soyo.  When I built my first PC from components, I purchased a Soyo motherboard.  I had problems with it from day one, although I did finally get it working for the most part, only to have it die a year or so later (post warranty) due to faulty capacitors.

Even at $12 total, I would not recommend this headset.

PS. A few days after I wrote this (but before I got around to publishing it) I sent a note to Woot asking what my options were.  In part, I said:

I have taken a look at the Soyo web site (http://www.soyogroup.com) to see about getting warranty service.  Unforunately, Soyo appears to charge $5 for warranty service.  This seems quite unreasonable for a product for which I only paid $7.99 and which only worked for two days!  Not to mention, I will have to pay to ship it to them.  I have also read that generally speaking, Soyo warranty service leaves much to be desired.  I know my previous experience with Soyo was less than satisfactory – in fact I really struggled with whether to partake in this Woot because of that.  Guess I’m a slow learner.

I almost immediately received an automated response which in part read:

Your email to Woot Member Services has been received. This is an automated reply.

Your request has been assigned Case # XYZ.

As you might expect, we receive a fairly large volume of emails. This reply is sent from our case assignment system to indicate your position in the queue has been reserved. Our staff works Monday through Friday during normal business hours in an effort to keep response times under 1 business day. However, in recent peak times we have fallen behind-we thank you in advance for your patience as we work to improve our efficiency. Please be confident that we will respond and resolve your issue.

We have made recent moves to increase staff, cross-train for interdepartmental assistance, and improve case handling automation to serve all members better in the near future. For information on job openings in the Dallas area, visit: http://www.woot.com/Jobs.aspx

Thank you for your support,

Member Services

I found this to be pretty cool.  Quick response, set my expectations, and did some recruiting all at once.

I found it even cooler when a couple of days later, I received an email from Woot customer service apologizing for my difficulties and informing me that a replacement unit would be sent out to me at no charge within a few days.  I still haven't received a shipping notification much less the replacement unit, but I am hopeful.

I still won't say overall that this was a great purchasing experience, but Woot's handling of my email left me feeling much less negative.  I might be a bit more careful as to what I order (I was quite pleased with my other purchase from Woot) but I am fairly confident that I will do business with them again.

For the moment, I plan to stick with my old school wired Jabra headset for use with my Blackberry, and plan to use the Soyo headset for Skype / OneSuite IP telephony with my laptop, where I am likely to be in quieter environments (where the lack of volume shouldn't be as big an issue) and where I would appreciate not being tethered to the laptop by a wired headset.  Plus, if I use the Bluetooth headset, the purchase won't be totally for naught, and I won't have to buy an adapter to use my Jabra headset with the standard two jack (separate headphone and microphone) PC audio connections or continue to suffer with the uncomfortable cheapo headset/microphone I purchased in The Netherlands.

Last weekend was nice...

Saturday:

Jeanie spent a quiet day at home resting after a tiring week dealing with my mother.

I started the day by going to the monthly CAP squadron meeting.  Fortunately, there was no special training or events scheduled, so it was only an hour.

I Went home, changed, then went back on the island to donate blood.

In the evening, we watched the entire four hour presidential candidate debate which we both found very interesting and entertaining.

Sunday:

I Went to the Sunday coffee at the airport and spent a couple of hours chatting with the regulars. There was a relatively small crowd, but I found the time very enjoyable.

I came home and Jeanie fixed a yummy scrambled egg and cheese in a flat bread sandwich.

We took Cali and headed off to the beach for a forty minute walk.  We got to watch the para-motor pilots flying around which we always enjoy.  The weather was a bit brisk, but not too bad.  We then went to Center street and walked around for a while.  It was nice only having Cali, as unlike Diego, she is friendly with strangers and doesn't embarrass us.  We then went to the Dairy Queen, where Jeanie and I both ordered a double dipped cone.  Much to Cali's delight, the nice girls in the drive-in window gave her a small cup of DQ.  We drove onto the beach at the end of Sadler and ate our ice cream while we listened to the band playing at Sliders.  We then headed home, where Diego got to share some of Cali's DQ.

Since the weather was nice and my night currency was getting close to expiring, I decided to go do my three take-offs and landings.  I got to the airport a little after sunset, and by the time I had finished preflighting the aircraft, completing my CAP paperwork, getting my flight release, etc. I was good to go for my three trips around the circuit.  Technically, I had to only do two night landings, as I had just done a night landing less than a week ago, but I couldn't figure out how to do the three night take-offs but only do two night landings <grin>.  I was very pleased with my flying.  I performed one short field take-off and two normal take-offs.  Since the last time I had done night currency circuits, I had been high on all of my approaches, I decided to extend the downwind leg more than seemed "right."  This worked out well, as I was able to intercept the PAPI and fly the glideslope out at a much more comfortable distance and altitude, which allowed me to fly a much more stabilized approach.  For all three landings I used "normal" technique, but for the first two, I still ended up with reasonably short landing distances and reasonably smooth touch downs.  For the last landing, I allowed the roll-out to be relatively long so I could practice keeping the nose wheel off the ground as long as possible.  This worked out well, as it allowed me to get to a convenient turn-off point on the runway without having to do a lot of extra taxiing.

Jeanie and I started off the new year by taking a day trip to Cedar Key...

We headed off to the airport around 0930 and were wheels up at 1053.

I had planned our route to go from Fernandina Beach (55J) to Mayport (NRB) to NAS JAX (NIP) to Cecil (VQQ) then direct to the George T. Lewis Airport on Cedar Key (CDK).  I did this to avoid the JAX Class C airspace and the TFR over the Jacksonville Stadium and the restricted areas south of Cecil.  It turned out that the restricted areas were cold, so I could have gone direct from NIP to CDK, but I elected to stick with my VFR flight plan as filed.  The flight over was lovely.  The sky was clear and visibility was great at our cruising altitude of 4500 feet.  We did have a brisk headwind of approximately 20 knots which reduced our ground speed to about 85-90 knots.  The 129 knot trip took about 1:30 including pattern time.  I don't know why, but it seems every time we fly to an airport next to the ocean for one of these adventures, I am faced with a direct cross wind for landing.  This was no exception.  The combination of the slightly gusty 10 knot cross wind and 2,355 foot runway created some challenge for me, but we managed to land and get stopped (comfortably, without extreme braking) before the end of the runway on our first try, although it did take a small bounce or two to keep the wheels firmly planted on the runway.

I had read on Adventure Pilot.com  that if I made an inbound approach call on the CTAF (122.9), that more than likely Judy, of Judy's Cedar Key Airport Taxi, (Cell: 352-949-2127, Home: 352-543-5406, P.O. Box 326, Cedar Key, FL 32625) would respond back to ask if we would like a ride.  I did, she did, and I said we would.

By the time we landed, Judy was sitting on the ramp waiting for us.  The two mile or less ride from the airport to "town" was quick and reasonably priced at $10 total ($5 per person), and Judy was friendly and informative.

Judy drove us to Dock street, where Jeanie and I checked out the menus of the various restaurants.  We ended up selecting Frog's Landing Restaurant (420 Dock Street, Cedar Key, FL 32625, 352-543-9243).  We thoroughly enjoyed our selection.  The ambiance was nice, with a Florida Keys decor and Jimmy Buffet / Island type background music.  The food was wonderful.  Jeanie started with a cup of "Frog's Thick and Creamy Crab Bisque" which was delightful - true to its name, with loads of tender crab meat.  I had a cup of their soup of the day - a hearty gumbo which was also quite good.  For our entree, Jeanie and I split an order of Deviled Crab (2) and Fried Shrimp (6) with fries and slaw.  Ordering deviled crab can be a bit of a crap shoot since sometimes it is more devil than crab, but in this case, it was definitely more crab than devil.  The crab and shrimp were cooked just right, the fries were hot and crispy, and the coleslaw was light and creamy.

After lunch, we took a walking tour of the island.  The streets on the main portion of the island are laid out in a grid and logically named.  The east-west streets are numbered 1-8 starting at the south, and the north-south streets are lettered A-G starting at the east.  We ended up walking the length of Dock, 1st, 2nd (which appears to be the "main drag" and 3rd streets.  This gave us an opportunity to see many of the restaurants on the island, as well as to visit a number of shops, a grocery store and the city park with its tiny (we believe man-made) sand beach.  The island is small, and appears to be best suited either for a day trip such as ours, or if you're planning to stay a night or two, to those who want either a very laid back quiet vacation, or are avid fishermen or nature lovers.

As an experiment, we took Jeanie's new Garmin Nuvi 650 with us as we walked around Cedar Key.  I also played with the four different GPS/Mapping applications I have loaded on my Blackberry.  We were surprised and disappointed at the performance of the Garmin as a pedestrian GPS.  While it is wonderful in the car, we found it to be inadequate while walking around.  The main issues were that we couldn't find a zoom level that gave us enough of an overview while maintaining reasonable detail, and we couldn't scroll the map to display what we wanted to see.  On the other hand, the Blackberry worked surprising well.  Both the Garmin and the Blackberry had difficulty locating the GPS satellites.  I don't really understand why, as we were out in the open when we started trying to use them.  Both did eventually lock on (mostly).  The worst performer on the Blackberry was the Blackberry native mapping program.  It never did manage to get the GPS active.  Nav4All worked okay.  amAze GPS worked quite well, even noting some points of interest without having to go into POI search mode (which is good since its POI search is weak).  It did struggle a bit to maintain the lock on the GPS satellites and when it lost them, in terms of best overall functionality, I'd have to give the prize to Google Maps.  I believe that Google Maps supplements it's GPS guidance with guidance based on triangulation from cell phone towers.  It seemed to have the best control over map size and location, along with an uncanny ability to determine our location and direction of travel.  The one downside to using the Blackberry as a GPS device is that doing so gobbles up the battery.

Ended up back on Dock Street.  Jeanie was in the mood for a cup of coffee and something sweet.  We decided to try a different restaurant, just because.  We selected "Seabreeze On The Doc" (PO Box 520, Cedar Key, FL  32625).  Seabreeze is a two story establishment, with a bar on the ground floor and a restaurant on the second floor.  We elected to go up to the restaurant.  As with Frog's, the restaurant sits on pilings extending out into the bay.  Three sides of the dining area were floor to ceiling glass, which afforded just about everyone in the place a beautiful view.  We were seated next to the glass in the sunshine, which was fine with us as we were both a bit chilled.  We ended up splitting a scrumptious slice of Key Lime Pie.  The pie was just right, with that perfect blend of sweetness and tartness, complimented by the creaminess and sweetness of a fresh whipped cream topping.  The crust was a traditional graham cracker crumb crust, with just enough butter and sugar to hold it together, but not so much as to make it sticky or tough.

Even though from what I had read, the $10 taxi fare was "round trip," Jeanie and I decided to walk back to the airport so we could sight