My last lesson was almost a week ago, but the schedule’s been pretty full so I haven’t had a chance to sit down and write about it yet.  Only just now had a chance to get the flight from paper to Zululog, and thought I should get this out while it’s still in my head.  Last time up we did about four approach stalls, and got in one touch and go back at BJC.  The north runway was closed for painting, so we had to sneak in what we could.  We had to forgo one of the touch and goes for a low approach pass.  Those are always fun, as you don’t get to fly that close to the ground without landing all that often.  It really enhances the sense of speed when everything is that low and close. 

It sounds like I’m going to solo again in the next lesson or two, and after that we’re going to do a cross-country.  I was given a choice to plan a flight to either Cheyenne or Akron.  I think I’m going to do Cheyenne, as we planned a flight to Akron in ground school.  We’re going to focus on pilotage, so I’ll have to find some good landmarks to navigate by.  I picked up the latest charts and A/FD this weekend, as mine expired while recovering from surgery.  I have a check up and x-ray on Wednesday, and with any luck flying on Thursday will be much easier.  I’ll let you all know then.

Time In.

That’s right, I’m back up there.  Tuesday I went for my first flight since the surgery.  I was worried that take offs or landings may be hard on my wrist, but the pressures weren’t even uncomfortable.  The only iffy thing is that I can’t pull the yoke fully back and apply full left aileron.  I’m not willing to do any solo work until I’m 100% though so it shouldn’t be a big issue.  My instructor is fully ready to give me a hand, I just have to say “help me out”.  Anyway, Tuesday we went out to the practice area and did some slow flight and some rolls about a heading.  The former went very, very well.  We slowed down to about 45 knots, with 20° flaps and made a whole bunch of turns to headings with the stall horn blaring.  This is always a lot of fun, and zero impact on the hand since in that configuration almost all roll can be handled by the rudder.  Rolls about a heading didn’t go quite as smoothly.  It was obvious to me that I wasn’t very coordinated, and a lot of that was getting used to rolling quickly without putting my thumb on top of the yoke.  I ended up using my index finger and pinky to put pressure on the top and bottom, but this made holding my pitch a little difficult.  I did have my rudder inputs correct, but either I was leading the turns too much or I wasn’t using the right amount of left/right input to keep the nose centered.  Rolling the plane like a pendulum is always fun, but rocking back and forth in your seat not so much.  This is a difficult maneuver to master (so I read) and will vary from plane to plane.  Someday I’d like to get enough practice in a specific plane to master it, even if only in that one bird.  After all the rolling, we turned back to BJC and had time for three touch and goes before a full stop.  There was only one landing that we touched down rather hard and that I got a little help on, which isn’t bad considering I haven’t been up in the skies for almost six weeks.  We had time to get in one more touch and go, but a 10 knot tailwind was present.  BJC is on top of a mesa, which tends to bring updrafts and down drafts following the contour of the land.  For quite awhile after our last take off we had almost a zero climb rate, and decided to call it quits while we were still happy with our performance.  While taxiing back to the school they were changing runways, so we hit our timing just right.  Until I get the thumbs up from my hand surgeon, I’m going to stick to one flight a week.  That should keep me from getting rusty and not tax my healing in any way shape or form.  Now I just have to fight the urge to hop on the Triumph seeing as I can almost fit my brace around the grip and squeeze the clutch at the same time.

My wife gets creative during the day... she calls this her Jack in a box.

Good advice for everyone!

And yes, I suppose this is my quiet return....

Current Mood: busy

Some SPAM you just don't mind....

** So, MELT-BANANA is touring in USA in April - June!
This time, we will have 51 shows to play, and there will be some towns where
we have never played before, so it will be fun. And hope no dead bambi!
check out the schedule at MELT-BANANA official web-site or the Kork Agency web-site.


I'm almost looking forward to having my ear drums ring for the 48 hours following the show.

PS: I just remebered Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind is being released today in the US. As much as I hate Disney, and to support anything it does, I love Studio Ghibli. I won't be buying it as I have a Japanese release, but if you only buy one DVD this year, I highly recommend this be it.

Current Mood: giddy

Is it just me or is Microsoft's buying an Anti-Virus company as well was a spyware removal company akin to admitting you're part of the problem?

Current Mood: amused

Shoulda seen this yesterday, but alas, I am lazy.  A good deal of you use one or both of these, so headsup!

- Mozilla Firefox Multiple Drag and Drop Vulnerabilities

  Three vulnerabilities have been reported in Firefox, which could
  be exploited by attackers to conduct Cross Site Scripting attacks
  or compromise a system [...]

  http://www.k-otik.com/english/advisories/2005/0116
 
- SquirrelMail S/MIME Plugin Command Injection Vulnerability

  A command injection vulnerability was reported in the Squirrelmail
  S/MIME plugin, which may be exploited by malicious users to
  compromise a vulnerable system [...]

  http://www.k-otik.com/english/advisories/2005/0115

Current Mood: groggy

Due to overwhelming response, I'll respond to all the bandwagoneers when my head isn't pounding, or I'm not at work.

[01] Reply with your name and I will write something about you.
[02] I will then tell what song(s) remind me of you.
[03] Next, I will tell you who you remind me of, celebrity/animated or otherwise.
[04] Last, i will try to name a single word that best describes you.
[05] Put this in your journal

Current Mood: amused

I remember reading an article in Omni magazine about the cleanliness of restroom stalls.  After 20 years I'm still convinced that the middle and handicapped stalls are to be avoided.

Current Mood: curious

Those crazy french....

Current Mood: groggy

Happy Birthday femur.

If you ever try anything like that again, I'll cut you off myself.  That shit hurts.

Current Mood: groggy

I believe I've discovered why I'm always so tired.  Walking has become like riding a motorcycle.  I have to pay attention and concentrate on every movement I make.  As riding a motorcycle proves, this is very taxing.

Current Mood: tired

Hey everyone.  Say hi to my friend gypsydawn.  I recruited her from FFXI ^_^  What's new...  PT is still going along.  I have another 4 or 5 months they estimate.  It's kinda frustrating as that'll put it up at over a year of therapy.  Got out on the Ducati this last weekend.  For the first time in around 8 or 9 months.  It wasn't too bad, but I stayed strictly on the freeway and residential roads.  That's a diferent kind of riding entirely.  If I'm very lucky, I'll get to hit a canyon before riding season is through.  I'm not going to push it though, don't need to do something stupid.  As you all know, I've been kinda scarce lately.  I'm back working for a real company, where stuff gets done, instead of the venture people that just hand them money.  My day has gone from having lots of idle time to almost none.  Hell, I'm usually lucky if I get lunch.  And, when I get home, I sit right down to the History channel and fire up my game.  Though, I'm getting better and checking on my friends here.  You'll have to forgive me.  Or don't. *shrug*

Current Mood: thoughtful

Everybody loves me goes away
And I'd kill myself if that would make them stay
And I'm drinking to the day that I was made
And I'm sucking on my grown-ups lemonade

Yeah I'm a mean motherfucker now but I once was cool
Yeah I'm a bad motherfucker now but I once was cool
And I was born a long time ago today
And everybody loves me goes away

And it's Christmas time again
Yeah it's Christmas time again
And it's Christmas time again again and again

In my head
In my head
Am I dead
In my head

Curse the light that laughter shines on me
And I couldn't care if I'm never on TV
I'm fine and fit, I'm wasted, and I'm free
And everybody loves me lets me be

Yeah I'm a mean motherfucker now but I once was cool
Yeah I'm a bad motherfucker now but I once was cool
And I was born a long time ago today
And everybody loves me goes away

And it's Christmas time again
Yeah it's Christmas time again
And it's Christmas time again again and again

In my head
In my head
Am I dead
In my head

In my head
In my head
Am I dead

Current Mood: tired

So, I got two hours of sleep last night before going on to get cut up. I was probably out for about two hours then. I've been trying to go back to sleep all day, and it hasn't happened. Even with the percocet haze sleep just won't come.

Shoot me now.

Current Mood: exhausted

Damn hiccups are back again. Stupid opiate based pain killers. And they aren't even working.

Finally watched Lost in Translation. Wow.

Current Mood: irritated

What the fuck was I thinking letting them cut me open again.

I've always had a strange love for Masamune Shirow. Particularly his Appleseed work. I just saw a trailer for the remake. It makes my heart stop and gives me goosebumps. Not quite sure how I feel about the change in character design, but the movie looks like it will be awesome....

Landmates rock.