Our new home in VA is close to a number of bike paths. Although we haven't been here that long, I have spent enough time on the path to notice a number of different characters:
1. You get the guys who decide that on a beautiful weekend day, when the trail is at its busiest, they are going to cycle like they are training for the Tour De France. These guys have incredibly fancy bikes and very fancy cycling gear. I bet they paid more for their super trendy matching jerseys and shorts than I did for my entire bike. These guys just like to bomb up and down the trail, constantly screaming "On your left" as they pass someone. They also are very impatient at cross streets playing chicken with on coming traffic. Frequently seen at bike shops complaining that their rig must not be optimized because they are not as fast as they would like to be.
2. The old dudes who could care less about society's rules. It is not only cyclists who use the path, but also walkers, joggers and apparently even horseback riders (although I have yet to see anyone on horseback, there are all sorts of signs that provide that all traffic must yield to horse traffic). Last weekend I was on a quick jaunt and noticed these two old guys, dressed for a crisp autumn day even though it was nearly 90 degrees, and just walking slowly down the very middle of the path. Generally everyone keeps to the right, except to pass, but these guys were right smack in the middle and could care less. Even better, if someone said anything to them, they just ignored it. I imagine these are the type of old guys that probably smoke in hospitals and around babies!
3. The posers. In many ways, these people are very similar to those in category number 1, they have equally fancy equipment. However, they don't ride that much, and are consequently very slow. I passed someone in this super nice racing set up on my mountain bike. Even more amazing, I was on the gravel path and they were on asphalt. He was far better dressed than me though. These are also the type of people who put on their biking gear to go to the bike shop. Even if they drive there. Sort of like getting dressed up for an event I guess. The last time I was in the bike store I was one of the few people there who was not in cycling gear. I was also one of the few people that had rode to the store instead of driving!
4. Trail police. These guys are in no way affiliated with a legitimate police organization. They are regular guys who feel that it is perfectly OK to boss other people around. For instance, this morning when I started my ride, it was quite dark and I had to use a light on my bike. The trail is pretty empty early in the morning, but not deserted. Most of the time when you are approaching a rider coming the opposite way, you try to cover your light with your hand so to avoid blinding them. So I come around a corner and encounter another bike, he covers his light and just as I am about to cover mine he yells out "Dim your fucking light"! Naturally, I took a bit longer to dim it. The funniest part about the whole thing was that my light is not particularly bright. Also, people are usually nicer on the trail than they are in typical society - for instance you may say good morning to someone as you pass on the trail. If you do this on most streets as a pedestrian people will think you are a lunatic if you engage in any kind of pleasantries. Also, generally when you are exercising you feel pretty good and don't have much stress. So this guy deciding that my light dimming was not fast enough and losing his shit over it leads me to believe that he is a pretty volatile individual. The kind of guy who if he has a few cups of coffee in him might kick you in the balls and chew on your ears if you sent him a memo with a typo in it.
I am sure there will be some more encounters to come. If I owned a horse and commuting to work via a horse were an option, I would definitely do it. If only to tie my horse up outside my office like it is a saloon out of the Wild West.
Monday, September 15, 2014
Thursday, September 11, 2014
Going all Tolkein
I don't remember exactly how we decided that Jane came from the Middle Earth. Jane worked at camp a few summers and was quite the character. She had probably the palest complexion you can imagine and very red hair. She was on the short and stout side. In fact, one person nick named her "Tank". Perhaps it was because of the short stature and stout build that we decided that she was similar in appearance to a dwarf. So it began, it started out pretty innocently as these things tend to, with an off-hand remark here and there. It quickly progressed though.
The Weebs and I would have long, inane, but hilarious to us discussions about how she had to have a stout build and small hands to make her way through the various tunnels and lairs in her native land. Jane was incredibly good natured about it, which I think added to the fun. It was just such an absurd thing to say to someone that you really could not get offended by it. Sort of like if you joked around that someone was able to see in infrared! We naturally assumed that Jane had to be very good at fighting because she must certainly come across angry badgers and other burrowing creatures. Similarly, we assumed that she did not need a flashlight at night because she could almost certainly find her way in the dark. Finally, her incredibly pale complexion had to be due to her not spending much time above ground.
The problem was, both Weebs and I were only vaguely familiar with the writings of Tolkein. I mistakenly believed that Middle Earth must be underground. Of course that wasn't true, but nobody ever bothered to correct us, probably because the whole idea was absurd. The highlight came when we decided that we wanted Jane to take us down to Middle Earth. The office area in the camp sort of doubled as a staff lounge and there was a large corner unit couch. Right where the corner met the wall, there was a gap. A gap that was just a little too big for Jane to fit through. Nevertheless, Weebs and I hoisted her up and inserted her head first into the gap demanding that she lead us on a tour underground. She went through about 1/2 way, her waist and legs were visible, albeit upside down. If you were to come across this scene with no context, all you would see is a couple of legs thrashing about in the air with two guys demanding that entry to the underground kingdom. Even with context, it didn't make any more sense. Jane took it all in stride though.
The Weebs and I would have long, inane, but hilarious to us discussions about how she had to have a stout build and small hands to make her way through the various tunnels and lairs in her native land. Jane was incredibly good natured about it, which I think added to the fun. It was just such an absurd thing to say to someone that you really could not get offended by it. Sort of like if you joked around that someone was able to see in infrared! We naturally assumed that Jane had to be very good at fighting because she must certainly come across angry badgers and other burrowing creatures. Similarly, we assumed that she did not need a flashlight at night because she could almost certainly find her way in the dark. Finally, her incredibly pale complexion had to be due to her not spending much time above ground.
The problem was, both Weebs and I were only vaguely familiar with the writings of Tolkein. I mistakenly believed that Middle Earth must be underground. Of course that wasn't true, but nobody ever bothered to correct us, probably because the whole idea was absurd. The highlight came when we decided that we wanted Jane to take us down to Middle Earth. The office area in the camp sort of doubled as a staff lounge and there was a large corner unit couch. Right where the corner met the wall, there was a gap. A gap that was just a little too big for Jane to fit through. Nevertheless, Weebs and I hoisted her up and inserted her head first into the gap demanding that she lead us on a tour underground. She went through about 1/2 way, her waist and legs were visible, albeit upside down. If you were to come across this scene with no context, all you would see is a couple of legs thrashing about in the air with two guys demanding that entry to the underground kingdom. Even with context, it didn't make any more sense. Jane took it all in stride though.
Thursday, September 4, 2014
The U-Haul Scam
I my experience, if you are looking to rent a moving truck your basic options are U-Haul, Ryder and Penske. For whatever reason, most of the time I have used U-Haul. It seems that they have the most locations. It seems most U-haul stores are set up the same way, there are seemingly endless supplies of boxes, tape, bubble wrap and other assorted supplies. It appears that U-haul has now got into the habit of subcontracting out moving help as well, with advertisements indicating that they can help you hire people on either end of the move. Curiously, the last U-haul I went to had a number of warning signs that provided that people should avoid hiring day laborers because of the danger to the home-owner. What kind of crock of shit is this? Does U-haul contend that all of the individuals that they recommend have been thoroughly vetted? Of course not, but there is the warning all the same. Further, are day laborers inherently bad people, definitely not. My only experience with day laborers was when I was young (12 or 13) my sister and I went to this big housing development that catered to Senior Citizens after a snowstorm. You were paid something like $6 an hour to shovel out all the sidewalks and areas where the trucks could not get. It was hard work, particularly on this day because the temperature was right around freezing and the snow was wet and heavy. Once we got to the main assembly area we were put on buses and shipped out to various locations. My sister and I were paired with a couple of mexican workers. They were the nicest guys, even though they spoke no English, they helped us out. They were also incredible workers. I had to call it quits after a few hours, but these guys, seemingly fueled on a diet of caffeine and nicotine were unstoppable! Too bad the day laborers cannot form a class action lawsuit based on defamation.
The other business idea that U-haul seems to be exploring is to try to scare you into buying over-priced insurance. At the checkout counter there are large posters that indicate that your auto insurance and credit card will almost certainly not cover damage to the equipment, and you should buy their insurance. Of course, the insurance is listed as priced per day, so $15 a day doesn't seem that much until you realize that it is close to $5,000 per year! They then list the replacement value of all the equipment and it is shockingly high. After you see what they value their equipment at you expect that when you walk onto the yard you will see a glistening fleet of trucks and other equipment. Instead, it seems more like where trucks go to die. Most of these trucks were probably rolling when Regan was in office! Provided that it will move, there is no problem if there is a huge dent or other issue. During the walk through you see into the scam. The guy doing the check out will walk right past the human sized dent or lovely graffiti and do a half assed assesment of the vehicle and send you on your way. Yet, it appears that business is thriving.
When we were moving from Chicago to Washington D.C., we chose to rent a tow dolly so that we could all drive in one car. The tow dolly is a pretty simple affair, the front two wheels of the car being towed are attached to the dolly while the rear wheels ride along the road. U-haul estimated this fine piece of machinery at $8,000. From the outset, it was a shit-show. First, I showed up right when the store was supposed to be open, but it appeared deserted. Interestingly, the door to the office was open, but it was completely empty. I easily could have stolen miles and miles of bubble wrap, but chose to wait, and wait. Finally, half an hour later the manager walked in, and was very surprised to see me in there. Apparently they had left the door open overnight. I explained that I had a reservation and after 5 minutes he informed me that the system was down, but he expected it would be up soon. He told me that I could get hooked up to the trailer and wait in my car until he had it fixed. I was a bit frustrated, but we had to be on the road that morning and it would take awhile to make a reservation with another company. After about 10 minutes, he called me in only to realize that the computer was still not operating. He tried calling customer service, but was not getting anywhere. He asked me to give it a call, and I was able to get through almost immediately, however, the corporate office only confirmed that the computer was still down. I began researching other options and asked the guy behind the counter where the nearest non-uhaul location was. He took great offense at this, wondering why I would possibly want to go with another company! At any rate, this spurred him into action. He went rustling around in the back and came back with this old school paper contract. The type of thing where you have to push the pen really hard to make three copies, one white, one yellow and one pink. Regardless, I was finally on my way.
We got the car all set up, and were on our way. After about 30 minutes, I pulled over just to make sure everything was working fine. It was then that I realized that one of the fenders on the towing dolly was severely bent. There was also a huge gash in the fender. In all the hooplah of the morning I had not realized this. My concern what that it looked like the fender may rub against the tire and cause a flat. I called up the manager and he indicated that the previous renter had caused some damage, but, and this is a direct quote "The previous renter didn't think it would cause any real problems, and we have to go off what the renters tell us." That is a hell of a process right there. Because, I think we can all agree that the person who is responsible for any repairs will certainly volunteer the full extent of any damage. He told me I was welcome to try my hand at fixing it, or I could call a 1-800 number, but it would probably take a long time since it was the weekend. I decided I wasn't going to hang around the side of the road waiting.
We got lucky, everything worked as well as it should have and we made it to DC with little issue. Returning the trailer was equally painless. I drove it into the yard, a guy disconnected it, and told me that I was all set. He either ignored the damage or didn't care, possibly both. However, I was a bit wary, particularly given that I was travelling under an antiquated contract. It took the staff on the other end a long time to get it all sorted out, but eventually I truly was accounted for. I firmly believe that I could have held on to that dolly for the rest of my life and never faced any repurcussions for it. However, I doubt it was worth the lofty $8,000 that U-haul assigned it!
The other business idea that U-haul seems to be exploring is to try to scare you into buying over-priced insurance. At the checkout counter there are large posters that indicate that your auto insurance and credit card will almost certainly not cover damage to the equipment, and you should buy their insurance. Of course, the insurance is listed as priced per day, so $15 a day doesn't seem that much until you realize that it is close to $5,000 per year! They then list the replacement value of all the equipment and it is shockingly high. After you see what they value their equipment at you expect that when you walk onto the yard you will see a glistening fleet of trucks and other equipment. Instead, it seems more like where trucks go to die. Most of these trucks were probably rolling when Regan was in office! Provided that it will move, there is no problem if there is a huge dent or other issue. During the walk through you see into the scam. The guy doing the check out will walk right past the human sized dent or lovely graffiti and do a half assed assesment of the vehicle and send you on your way. Yet, it appears that business is thriving.
When we were moving from Chicago to Washington D.C., we chose to rent a tow dolly so that we could all drive in one car. The tow dolly is a pretty simple affair, the front two wheels of the car being towed are attached to the dolly while the rear wheels ride along the road. U-haul estimated this fine piece of machinery at $8,000. From the outset, it was a shit-show. First, I showed up right when the store was supposed to be open, but it appeared deserted. Interestingly, the door to the office was open, but it was completely empty. I easily could have stolen miles and miles of bubble wrap, but chose to wait, and wait. Finally, half an hour later the manager walked in, and was very surprised to see me in there. Apparently they had left the door open overnight. I explained that I had a reservation and after 5 minutes he informed me that the system was down, but he expected it would be up soon. He told me that I could get hooked up to the trailer and wait in my car until he had it fixed. I was a bit frustrated, but we had to be on the road that morning and it would take awhile to make a reservation with another company. After about 10 minutes, he called me in only to realize that the computer was still not operating. He tried calling customer service, but was not getting anywhere. He asked me to give it a call, and I was able to get through almost immediately, however, the corporate office only confirmed that the computer was still down. I began researching other options and asked the guy behind the counter where the nearest non-uhaul location was. He took great offense at this, wondering why I would possibly want to go with another company! At any rate, this spurred him into action. He went rustling around in the back and came back with this old school paper contract. The type of thing where you have to push the pen really hard to make three copies, one white, one yellow and one pink. Regardless, I was finally on my way.
We got the car all set up, and were on our way. After about 30 minutes, I pulled over just to make sure everything was working fine. It was then that I realized that one of the fenders on the towing dolly was severely bent. There was also a huge gash in the fender. In all the hooplah of the morning I had not realized this. My concern what that it looked like the fender may rub against the tire and cause a flat. I called up the manager and he indicated that the previous renter had caused some damage, but, and this is a direct quote "The previous renter didn't think it would cause any real problems, and we have to go off what the renters tell us." That is a hell of a process right there. Because, I think we can all agree that the person who is responsible for any repairs will certainly volunteer the full extent of any damage. He told me I was welcome to try my hand at fixing it, or I could call a 1-800 number, but it would probably take a long time since it was the weekend. I decided I wasn't going to hang around the side of the road waiting.
We got lucky, everything worked as well as it should have and we made it to DC with little issue. Returning the trailer was equally painless. I drove it into the yard, a guy disconnected it, and told me that I was all set. He either ignored the damage or didn't care, possibly both. However, I was a bit wary, particularly given that I was travelling under an antiquated contract. It took the staff on the other end a long time to get it all sorted out, but eventually I truly was accounted for. I firmly believe that I could have held on to that dolly for the rest of my life and never faced any repurcussions for it. However, I doubt it was worth the lofty $8,000 that U-haul assigned it!
Tuesday, September 2, 2014
Multi-Tasking
It was extremely hot in the DC area yesterday. Our new housing area has a pool and it was lovely to cool off there. Then the thunder came and we had to leave the pool. Often, after a thunderstorm it cools down, but not after this one. It just made it steamy and even more uncomfortable. So, I decided to go to the grocery store to get some cool drinks. Everything went smoothly until it was time to check out. There was only one person ahead of me. He was likely in his late 40s early 50s, and appeared hispanic. He was almost done. Almost. All his items had been rung up, he knew what the total was and he had elected to pay by credit card. All he had to do was slide his card. He already had the card postioned at the reader. The problem was that his cell phone rang, and he answered it. This was the limit of his mental power apparently. He was discussing the merits of what brand of milk to buy, and he could not slide his card. He just stood there, with his mouth half open and his card tantalizingly close to the reader. Every so often, he would pause during his discussions of paseteurization and homogenization and glance down at the card reader, but that was it. Just a glance, he couldn't actually go forward with the transaction. This went on for probably 3-4 minutes, but it was infuriating because he was wasting my time, the cashier's time and the bagger's time. We all stared at him in disbelief.
Perhaps it was because I was hot and tired, or perhaps because this guy was both a moron and incredibly rude, but I actually said something. I told him to hang up the phone and swipe the damn card, but it didn't have any effect. Fortunately, another register opened and I was able to use that one. When I left the store, he was still just standing there, talking on his phone, card still held up, slack jawed and on the phone.
Perhaps it was because I was hot and tired, or perhaps because this guy was both a moron and incredibly rude, but I actually said something. I told him to hang up the phone and swipe the damn card, but it didn't have any effect. Fortunately, another register opened and I was able to use that one. When I left the store, he was still just standing there, talking on his phone, card still held up, slack jawed and on the phone.
Wednesday, August 20, 2014
Close Calls
There were three occasions when I had a near collision while flying a small aircraft, two were entirely my fault, one was not:
1. I was flying to an airport I had never been to before. This airport was on one of the islands close enough to Okinawa that you could fly to it in a small aircraft. I was relatively new to flying and had done most of my landings at Kadena Airforce Base in Okinawa. The runway at Kadena was about 2 miles long and probably 150 feet wide, it could accommodate any aircraft. The Cessna I was flying needed nowhere near this length, so it was a very forgiving runway. You could land near the end of the runway and still have plenty of time to come to a stop. The airport I was flying to had a shorter runway, it was still long enough to easily land on, but was probably half the length the runway at Kadena. The first problem is that I came in way too high. I immediately chopped the power, and put full flaps, but I still wasn't losing altitude quickly enough. I put the aircraft into a forward slip, To execute a forward slip, I banked into the wind and applied opposing rudder (e.g. Right aileron + Left rudder) in order to keep moving towards the target. If you were the target you would see the plane's nose off to one side, a wing off to the other side and tilted down toward you. Still, I wasn't losing altitude fast enough and I was picking up speed. I should have executed a go around, and aborted the landing, but I stuck with it. When I finally touched down, I was near the end of the runway and had a pretty good head of steam. My first instinct was to apply full power to see if I could get airborne again. However, I was concerned that if I did not get airborne in time I would hit the fence while still accelerating. In an instant I made my decision. I stomped on the brakes, harder than I had ever done before but the fence at the end of the runway was still rushing towards me. Thankfully I stopped, but I did overrun the runway into the grass. Fortunately, I did not hit the fence or do any damage to the aircraft, but it was my worst landing ever. It would have been particularly awkward if I had damaged the aircraft because I was on a small island and spoke nowhere near enough Japanese to communicate the problem. It would have been particularly embarrassing too because it was entirely my fault and easily avoidable. I still don't know why I stayed with the landing. I was not in a hurry, there was no-one else in the aircraft it would have taken all of 5 minutes to have set up for the landing again and come in low enough that I comfortably landed.
2. I was flying in the evening, after work and perhaps I was a bit more tired than I realized. I was setting up to land at the Air Force base, a maneuver I had done many times in the past. Because the Air Force base is operational, the pleasure aircraft have lowest priority for landing. I radioed the tower and asked for permission to land, and was told to "hold over the water tower" This meant I was supposed to fly in circles around a particular landmark while waiting for incoming traffic to land and clear the runway. My flight instructor had pointed out the various landmarks that the air traffic control refer to on many occasions and I had held over the water tower several times in the past.
For whatever the reason, I went to the wrong water tower. Critically, I flew directly across the approach path to get to the other water tower. As I was crossing the approach path, the incoming traffic flew just below me, It was close, I could see every detail of that aircraft, had I been 50 feet lower, we would have collided. I then realized my error and immediately proceeded to the correct water tower and held. The Air Traffic Controller then instructed me to land immediately and to phone the tower immediately after I secured the aircraft.
I thought I was going to get yelled at and possibly lose my flying privileges for awhile. Instead, this very polite senior officer calmly, but sternly, asked why I had done what I did and I explained that I had made a mistake. He informed me that the other pilot had not reported it or complained and that we could just chalk it up to a learning experience. I never did get the water towers confused again.
3. This is the only one that was not my fault. Typically, when you depart and set up to land at the air base, you have to come in via a set number of landmarks. One of the most popular is a lighthouse that is located about 5 miles from the air base. I was coming in for a landing and was told to proceed to the lighthouse and given an altitude to maintain. As I was approaching the lighthouse, another Cessna from the Aeroclub was also in the area, but I did not know that … yet. It is usually pretty tricky to see other aircraft when you are in a small plane. The visibility is not grab because half the view is taken up by the instrument panel. Additionally, you really cannot see much above you, because the wing is directly above the cockpit. You have limited side visibility as well. Consequently, when Air Traffic Control warns you of other aircraft in the area, it typically take a few moments to find it, even when they tell you directly where to look.
In this case, I was unknowingly heading directly towards another aircraft and fortunately we were not at the exact same height, I was slightly higher. We were probably each traveling at about 90 mph, for a closing speed of 180 mph or 1 mile every 20 seconds. I only saw the other aircraft for a moment as it passed directly below me. I don't think the other aircraft saw me at all since I was above. I could see both the occupants clearly, it was over in a blink of an eye but the memory is still vivid. There was no follow up to this one. Since we were flying under visual flight rules, it is the pilot's responsibility to avoid other aircraft. However, the tower had ordered me to fly to a certain location at a certain height. Arguably it was the other aircraft's fault, but I don't really think they had done anything wrong. It was simply a matter of coincidence that we had both chosen to be in nearly the exact same place at the same time. Who knows, perhaps I had other close calls that I didn't even realize!
1. I was flying to an airport I had never been to before. This airport was on one of the islands close enough to Okinawa that you could fly to it in a small aircraft. I was relatively new to flying and had done most of my landings at Kadena Airforce Base in Okinawa. The runway at Kadena was about 2 miles long and probably 150 feet wide, it could accommodate any aircraft. The Cessna I was flying needed nowhere near this length, so it was a very forgiving runway. You could land near the end of the runway and still have plenty of time to come to a stop. The airport I was flying to had a shorter runway, it was still long enough to easily land on, but was probably half the length the runway at Kadena. The first problem is that I came in way too high. I immediately chopped the power, and put full flaps, but I still wasn't losing altitude quickly enough. I put the aircraft into a forward slip, To execute a forward slip, I banked into the wind and applied opposing rudder (e.g. Right aileron + Left rudder) in order to keep moving towards the target. If you were the target you would see the plane's nose off to one side, a wing off to the other side and tilted down toward you. Still, I wasn't losing altitude fast enough and I was picking up speed. I should have executed a go around, and aborted the landing, but I stuck with it. When I finally touched down, I was near the end of the runway and had a pretty good head of steam. My first instinct was to apply full power to see if I could get airborne again. However, I was concerned that if I did not get airborne in time I would hit the fence while still accelerating. In an instant I made my decision. I stomped on the brakes, harder than I had ever done before but the fence at the end of the runway was still rushing towards me. Thankfully I stopped, but I did overrun the runway into the grass. Fortunately, I did not hit the fence or do any damage to the aircraft, but it was my worst landing ever. It would have been particularly awkward if I had damaged the aircraft because I was on a small island and spoke nowhere near enough Japanese to communicate the problem. It would have been particularly embarrassing too because it was entirely my fault and easily avoidable. I still don't know why I stayed with the landing. I was not in a hurry, there was no-one else in the aircraft it would have taken all of 5 minutes to have set up for the landing again and come in low enough that I comfortably landed.
2. I was flying in the evening, after work and perhaps I was a bit more tired than I realized. I was setting up to land at the Air Force base, a maneuver I had done many times in the past. Because the Air Force base is operational, the pleasure aircraft have lowest priority for landing. I radioed the tower and asked for permission to land, and was told to "hold over the water tower" This meant I was supposed to fly in circles around a particular landmark while waiting for incoming traffic to land and clear the runway. My flight instructor had pointed out the various landmarks that the air traffic control refer to on many occasions and I had held over the water tower several times in the past.
For whatever the reason, I went to the wrong water tower. Critically, I flew directly across the approach path to get to the other water tower. As I was crossing the approach path, the incoming traffic flew just below me, It was close, I could see every detail of that aircraft, had I been 50 feet lower, we would have collided. I then realized my error and immediately proceeded to the correct water tower and held. The Air Traffic Controller then instructed me to land immediately and to phone the tower immediately after I secured the aircraft.
I thought I was going to get yelled at and possibly lose my flying privileges for awhile. Instead, this very polite senior officer calmly, but sternly, asked why I had done what I did and I explained that I had made a mistake. He informed me that the other pilot had not reported it or complained and that we could just chalk it up to a learning experience. I never did get the water towers confused again.
3. This is the only one that was not my fault. Typically, when you depart and set up to land at the air base, you have to come in via a set number of landmarks. One of the most popular is a lighthouse that is located about 5 miles from the air base. I was coming in for a landing and was told to proceed to the lighthouse and given an altitude to maintain. As I was approaching the lighthouse, another Cessna from the Aeroclub was also in the area, but I did not know that … yet. It is usually pretty tricky to see other aircraft when you are in a small plane. The visibility is not grab because half the view is taken up by the instrument panel. Additionally, you really cannot see much above you, because the wing is directly above the cockpit. You have limited side visibility as well. Consequently, when Air Traffic Control warns you of other aircraft in the area, it typically take a few moments to find it, even when they tell you directly where to look.
In this case, I was unknowingly heading directly towards another aircraft and fortunately we were not at the exact same height, I was slightly higher. We were probably each traveling at about 90 mph, for a closing speed of 180 mph or 1 mile every 20 seconds. I only saw the other aircraft for a moment as it passed directly below me. I don't think the other aircraft saw me at all since I was above. I could see both the occupants clearly, it was over in a blink of an eye but the memory is still vivid. There was no follow up to this one. Since we were flying under visual flight rules, it is the pilot's responsibility to avoid other aircraft. However, the tower had ordered me to fly to a certain location at a certain height. Arguably it was the other aircraft's fault, but I don't really think they had done anything wrong. It was simply a matter of coincidence that we had both chosen to be in nearly the exact same place at the same time. Who knows, perhaps I had other close calls that I didn't even realize!
Friday, August 8, 2014
Zip Line
For some reason, one of the most popular activities at our camp was the zipline. It was a simple set-up, there was a steel cable that ran across the lake and a bar attached to a trolley that ran along the steel cable. Scouts would climb up to an elevated platform about 10 feet high, grab onto the bar and start sliding down the cable. At some point your ride would come to an end, either by letting go, or the bar got low enough so that your lower half of the body was in the water. Once the scout let go, there was a rope attached to the trolley and the next scout had to pull the zip line back for his turn. If you were tasked with running the zip line that day, you simply stood on the platform and were there to jump in the water if someone had trouble swimming.
There were a number of different strategies. First, you had the older athletic kids that could actually do a backflip off the bar. They would usually let go pretty early so that they had sufficient height. The main group simply cruised down and would let go at various intervals. There was always at least one kid who always wanted to ride the zip line to the end, his lower half of the body would be in the water and he would hang onto the bar for 30 seconds as all the other scouts would yell at him to let go. Eventually he would, and he would repeat the pattern each time. I imagine he probably got beat up a lot. Then you had the chunky kids. These guys couldn't quite hold their body weight, so almost as soon as their feet left the platform they simply fell. They would never admit that they fell, telling their friends that they liked the big drop, but every single time they went it was a very abrubt fall as gravity overwhelmed them.
The staff would often pull various antics at the zip line, the most common riding the zipline in full uniform, there was a fair amount of nude ziplining in the evenings. The thing about the nude ziplining is that it was almost always 100% male, just a bunch of young guys stripping down and getting naked with each other. Every so often a feminina would be up for it, that always led to an extremely well attended event. One particular event involved a young lady named Ruth. Ruth was dark skinned, possibly Indian and was particularly busty. She was quite a character, she was there for only one summer, but was instrumental in keeping morale high across the camp. She was probably in her early 20s, and greatly enjoyed being one of the few females on the staff. She was not ugly by any stretch, but you would have thought she was a super model the way everyone chased her. Fortunately, you didn't have to put much effort into the chase. In fact, she took a liking to a young man of 15. However, it quickly ran its course and from that point on we referred to him as Ruth-less. Interestingly, on the night of the co-ed nude zipline event, she backed out a bit and decided to go down in her underwear and a white t-shirt. Needless to say every run after the first became quite a bit more revealing!
The only time I ever had to do any sort of rescue was an unusual one. Our camp director that year had a young son, probably about 2 years old or so. His son and his wife lived on the camp that summer. The zip line pond is entirely man made and is drained every summer. Consequently, there is a large concrete retaining wall that you walk along to get to the platform. The top of the retaining wall is probably about 18 inches higher than the surface of the water. I happened to be on duty and about midway through the shift, our director's wife and young son came walking along. It all happened so quickly, so I am unsure about the exact sequence of events, but the toddler all of a sudden ended up in the water. He was not a trained swimmer. However, he was the calmest one there, his mother was justifiably panicked. I was all set to go all baywatch like and jump in from the top of the tower, when one of the fathers was able to reach out and pull him to the shore. The best part was that the little tyke's only complaint was that his feet had gotten wet!
The zipline is a Summit Base fixture, a lot of things have changed up at camp, but I think the zipline will always be there.
There were a number of different strategies. First, you had the older athletic kids that could actually do a backflip off the bar. They would usually let go pretty early so that they had sufficient height. The main group simply cruised down and would let go at various intervals. There was always at least one kid who always wanted to ride the zip line to the end, his lower half of the body would be in the water and he would hang onto the bar for 30 seconds as all the other scouts would yell at him to let go. Eventually he would, and he would repeat the pattern each time. I imagine he probably got beat up a lot. Then you had the chunky kids. These guys couldn't quite hold their body weight, so almost as soon as their feet left the platform they simply fell. They would never admit that they fell, telling their friends that they liked the big drop, but every single time they went it was a very abrubt fall as gravity overwhelmed them.
The staff would often pull various antics at the zip line, the most common riding the zipline in full uniform, there was a fair amount of nude ziplining in the evenings. The thing about the nude ziplining is that it was almost always 100% male, just a bunch of young guys stripping down and getting naked with each other. Every so often a feminina would be up for it, that always led to an extremely well attended event. One particular event involved a young lady named Ruth. Ruth was dark skinned, possibly Indian and was particularly busty. She was quite a character, she was there for only one summer, but was instrumental in keeping morale high across the camp. She was probably in her early 20s, and greatly enjoyed being one of the few females on the staff. She was not ugly by any stretch, but you would have thought she was a super model the way everyone chased her. Fortunately, you didn't have to put much effort into the chase. In fact, she took a liking to a young man of 15. However, it quickly ran its course and from that point on we referred to him as Ruth-less. Interestingly, on the night of the co-ed nude zipline event, she backed out a bit and decided to go down in her underwear and a white t-shirt. Needless to say every run after the first became quite a bit more revealing!
The only time I ever had to do any sort of rescue was an unusual one. Our camp director that year had a young son, probably about 2 years old or so. His son and his wife lived on the camp that summer. The zip line pond is entirely man made and is drained every summer. Consequently, there is a large concrete retaining wall that you walk along to get to the platform. The top of the retaining wall is probably about 18 inches higher than the surface of the water. I happened to be on duty and about midway through the shift, our director's wife and young son came walking along. It all happened so quickly, so I am unsure about the exact sequence of events, but the toddler all of a sudden ended up in the water. He was not a trained swimmer. However, he was the calmest one there, his mother was justifiably panicked. I was all set to go all baywatch like and jump in from the top of the tower, when one of the fathers was able to reach out and pull him to the shore. The best part was that the little tyke's only complaint was that his feet had gotten wet!
The zipline is a Summit Base fixture, a lot of things have changed up at camp, but I think the zipline will always be there.
Tuesday, August 5, 2014
Funny things that Erin Does
Of my two daughters, my youngest is definitely the bigger prankster. Some highlights:
1. It is always tough to admit that you are wrong and to apologize, whatever your age. Erin, has a really big problem with this. She doesn't do anything that bad, just the usual level of nonsense, but you have to have some sort of discipline. Luckily my wife imposes the discipline, overall she is the far better parent. One day, I can't remember exactly when, we told Erin to apologize to her sister for something minor like stealing her toy. Erin was very reluctant to do so, finally she grinned a big smile and belted out "Sorry Whaaaa", and laughed her head off. Apparently, she came up with the compromise that she was OK with saying sorry if she didn't have to say who she was apologizing too.
2. She loves to sing in public places at the top of her lungs. She usually pulls from the movie "Frozen", but also likes to sing her version of the abc's. Her version consists of inserting the letter "O" at the usual stopping points, so she will sing "A-B-C-D-E-F-O-H-I-J-K-L-M-N-O-O-Q-R-O-T-U-O-W-X-Y-AND O" and so on. She did this for an entire train ride, but luckily the train wasn't crowded and people thought it was hilarious, in fact they were encouraging her to do it again - which she happily obliged. Sometimes she will just make up a language and sing it along to a melody.
3. She has no idea about her relative size. She genuinely thinks she can wrestle me into submission to get her way. The other day, we were playing in a creek and she was having a great time trying to herd a flock of Canadian Geese, and those are pretty good sized birds. Similarly, she used to believe that she could breathe underwater. The first few times we took her to the pool she would just calmly keep walking into deeper and deeper water until it was over her head. Of course we were there to intervene. Her favorite way to move around is to jump everywhere, off of couches, off of people, off of anything.
4. Depending on the day, she is either extremely friendly with remote controls or a pure menace. Most days she is a menace, she loves to steal the remotes, try to run and jump into a remote (pun!) location and hit all the buttons in the hope of changing the channel, turning it off etc. On other days, she is very concerned that you are actually holding the remotes and not comfortable with the idea of them simply being within arms reach. She will hand over each one, saying "there you go" in the most serious voice she can muster.
5. If it were up to her, she would do all her eating in the car. At meal time, she seems to eat very little, but the moment she gets in the car she has this insatiable appetite. It is amazing how much food she can put away when she in that car seat. Typically, she then falls asleep, kind of like an old man.
Was trying to get to 10, but drawing a bit of a blank right now, I will try to make a note of some more.
1. It is always tough to admit that you are wrong and to apologize, whatever your age. Erin, has a really big problem with this. She doesn't do anything that bad, just the usual level of nonsense, but you have to have some sort of discipline. Luckily my wife imposes the discipline, overall she is the far better parent. One day, I can't remember exactly when, we told Erin to apologize to her sister for something minor like stealing her toy. Erin was very reluctant to do so, finally she grinned a big smile and belted out "Sorry Whaaaa", and laughed her head off. Apparently, she came up with the compromise that she was OK with saying sorry if she didn't have to say who she was apologizing too.
2. She loves to sing in public places at the top of her lungs. She usually pulls from the movie "Frozen", but also likes to sing her version of the abc's. Her version consists of inserting the letter "O" at the usual stopping points, so she will sing "A-B-C-D-E-F-O-H-I-J-K-L-M-N-O-O-Q-R-O-T-U-O-W-X-Y-AND O" and so on. She did this for an entire train ride, but luckily the train wasn't crowded and people thought it was hilarious, in fact they were encouraging her to do it again - which she happily obliged. Sometimes she will just make up a language and sing it along to a melody.
3. She has no idea about her relative size. She genuinely thinks she can wrestle me into submission to get her way. The other day, we were playing in a creek and she was having a great time trying to herd a flock of Canadian Geese, and those are pretty good sized birds. Similarly, she used to believe that she could breathe underwater. The first few times we took her to the pool she would just calmly keep walking into deeper and deeper water until it was over her head. Of course we were there to intervene. Her favorite way to move around is to jump everywhere, off of couches, off of people, off of anything.
4. Depending on the day, she is either extremely friendly with remote controls or a pure menace. Most days she is a menace, she loves to steal the remotes, try to run and jump into a remote (pun!) location and hit all the buttons in the hope of changing the channel, turning it off etc. On other days, she is very concerned that you are actually holding the remotes and not comfortable with the idea of them simply being within arms reach. She will hand over each one, saying "there you go" in the most serious voice she can muster.
5. If it were up to her, she would do all her eating in the car. At meal time, she seems to eat very little, but the moment she gets in the car she has this insatiable appetite. It is amazing how much food she can put away when she in that car seat. Typically, she then falls asleep, kind of like an old man.
Was trying to get to 10, but drawing a bit of a blank right now, I will try to make a note of some more.
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