Archives August 2013

This is only a test, feel free to ignore it. 🙂

So after work I headed to Boston Beer Garden to attend our fantasy football league draft order lottery. This is where teams pick a number out of a bag to decide their place in the draft next week.  We have a total of 12 teams, 3 of which are owned by people out of the area. 6 of the 9 local owners were at the lottery, including myself, with this being my first time ever attending the event.

I wasted no time ordering my dinner, Miller Lite.  I had two or three of them down in pretty short order.  Doing this on an empty stomach meant I was hit pretty hard pretty quickly.

So the lottery began and Taylor, one of the three league commissioners was the first to put his hand in the bag that contained 12 numbered poker chips, one for each team in the league.  I couldn’t believe he pulled out the number 1 pick, beating the 12-1 odds.

My hopes of getting a better drafting position by being present for the lottery didn’t prove to be helpful, I secured the 9th picking spot, nothing to be thrilled about.  Oh well.

After the lottery was done I continued drinking.  In total I think I had 6 or 7 beers and no food.  I was drunk, no doubt about it.  I was going to be faced with sitting at the bar a long time until I sobered up.  I stumbled across some good luck when Cindy told me she was actually having dinner in the same shopping center, she was able to be my designated driver and get me home safely.

Yesterday I made my second RC vehicle purchase in less than a week, buying a Blade MQX, a RTF quadcopter.  I read that it is a great way to learn how to fly a quad to prepare you for something bigger like the DJI Phantom.

I had already spent my allocation of hobby dollars for the month so I squeezed the purchase in utilizing my Amazon spiff points, my out of pocket cost was $10.57.

Between my yet to be built Tuff Wing and the Blade I expect to have some aerial backyard fun on the docket the next several months.

I haven’t had a chance to do my normal evening weekend chore dilution this week so I have a full boatload of to do’s to be handled the next two days.  On top of that I would like to do some maintenance on the van and get in another training brick Sunday morning.  I also will have the dogs for another 4 days, starting tomorrow to add to the fun.

I am really looking forward to October when the first cold front rolls through.  I have had enough 90 degree, 90% humidity days for 2013, thank you very much.

I was surprised to see my 32″ Tuffwing showed up at the door yesterday since I only ordered it Sunday.  I have never built a RC plane from this point before.  All of my other plane have either been RTF(ready to fly) or ARF(almost ready to fly) or built by someone else (Mike). I am looking forward to the challenge.

I already watched a how to video on assembling the plane and I am very glad I did.  When assembling the plane many parts require CA glue, basically super glue.  Well when it comes to RC plane building there are various types of CA glue which I wasn’t really aware of.

They have thin, medium and thick varieties, each used for different situations.  They also have CA accelerator which you spray on something to be or already has been glued to greatly reduce the curing time.

However the most valuable CA glue tip I discovered via the video was that there is a type of CA specifically designed for EPP foam planes like the Tuffwing.  If you use normal CA glue on EPP foam it MELTS IT.  I can only imagine my reaction if I started gluing the plane together only to have the fuselage start melting away.  So, I ordered foam safe CA glue yesterday which should arrive soon.  Once it does my build can begin in earnest.

Yesterday my gym was closed because of construction.  As planned I headed up to the 4th floor of the parking garage to do my workout.  I will cover the workout more over in Dufisthenics but let’s just say it was challenging, with me netting a total of 620 reps in 30 minutes. I was joined on the 4th floor by a woman that was running laps around the same deck.  She said 20 laps around equals 3.8 miles.

I picked up the dogs last night on the way home.  While I was outside walking around with them I saw we had a beautiful sunset going on so I grabbed my phone and snapped several pics.  Beautiful sunsets are very commonplace where I live.  I don’t take the time to appreciate them as much as I should.

When we were inside I called Nicki back to the bedroom to see her new luxurious bed.  Sadie was first to see/smell the bed.  When Nicki saw it she abandoned her normal caution she utilizes with anything new, seeing Sadie sniffing about the bed must have made a difference.

Nicki got right on top of the bed and sat on it with what seemed to be a “This is MY bed” attitude, letting Sadie know the real deal.  I look forward to seeing how she likes it during the dogs extended stay this weekend.

My Google AdSense 2.0 account (well technically my mom’s) is starting to build up steam.  It got an unexpected $40 pop the other day, pushing the account total up to $120.  My mom had just gotten a $150 payout from them at the end of June.  To already roll back over the payout threshold in August is pretty sweet.

It seems like they track the dollars differently than they used to.  When I look at my adsense account from day to day it appears to just show banner ad related revenue and then right around the middle of the month the YouTube dollars get dumped in.  They way it worked before I thought I was seeing the YT money on a daily basis as well.  Regardless, it looks like the effort I put into rebuilding my AdSense account from rubble is finally paying off.  It’s not a fortune but it is a nice little bump in mom’s account every once in awhile.  Who doesn’t like free money?

Tonight I am playing the lottery but not like you may think.  Our fantasy football league is having a draft lottery get together tonight after work.  Basically you pull team names out of a hat to determine the order they will draft players next week at the league draft which is once again going to be held out at my house.

This is the 8th year of the league and I have never attended the draft lottery. Perhaps coincidentally my draft position most years is normally pretty poor.  It should be a good time and allow me to drink a few beers to commemorate the new chapter in my personal book of life that just started.

So last night was the club social run.  It was a HUGE success.  I headed right over to the running store after work to help get stuff set up, the event didn’t start until 6.  Before the event even started we had already raised close to $3000 just from the online part of the fund raiser.

The event was free but participants were also encouraged to donate to the fund.  We also had a raffle where a number of donated items would be given away after the run.  Well as 6PM drew near a huge crowd developed.  At first I was working the donation/raffle table myself, thankfully Ali showed up shortly thereafter.  The donation line extended way out the door of the running store.

At first the thought process was the raffle/donation would kind of be a separate thing but it soon morphed into one.  People realized that if the money was going to the same place whether it was via raffle or a straight donation, they should just do the raffle.  It made sense, give to the fund and get a chance to win something.

Well since the tickets were $2 each or three for $5 we were quite busy.  We had people donating as much as $100 which translated into 60 raffle tickets.  I would count out the tickets and tear them in half, giving the the person their stubs.  Ali was in charge of tearing our stubs into individual tickets to be placed in the drawing box.  We had tickets, cash and checks flying everywhere.  We even enlisted three people to hand out tickets to people standing in line. It was crazy.

Ali said she was ok not running and would tend to the mountain of money that we collected.  I headed out with the crowd to do the run.  I might have covered 2 1/2 miles with Cindy. I didn’t have my GPS, but it felt like a pretty fast pace.  The one good thing about running quickly was I beat a good chunk of the crowd back to the store so I actually got some food this time, which consisted of a slice a cheese pizza and some tortilla chips.  I also managed to score one free beer which I basically chugged because the area I was in was so congested, it was driving me a bit nuts.

Ali had totaled the money that came in, it was an amazing $3000 +. When totaled with the online donations that meant the club had raised over $6000 for this girls family living expenses.  The generosity of all that participated was really incredible.  It felt good to know that I was part of the great core of people in our group that turned an email request for help into this event in about a week.  Online donations for Elizabeth are still coming in.  I have no plans to take it offline anytime soon.

My gym is closed today due to construction being done to the plaza it is housed in.  Instead of chalking it up as a day off I instead hope to head to the nearby parking garage and do an endurance set of alternating 10 push ups and 10 body weight squats for a half hour straight.

I have been working on setting up the refurbished Ipad 2 to be used for running club transactions at the store.  Part of that has been establishing a dedicated Square account that is connected to the club bank account.  It will be used to allow people to pay with a credit card, even if they are handing over a paper application for a race.  Up until now if someone was paying for a race they had to use a check or cash.

Square is a great little package.  The fees are cheap, only 2.75% of the transaction if you swipe a card using their reader or 3.5% +15 cents if you punch in card information manually.  The Iphone/Ipad app allows you to create a functional, simple yet powerful point of sale system with no up front costs (minus the Ipad).    I am excited to see how we integrate it with our other club technology.

Speaking of technology, we are using some of it to help a local high school student runner.  Her mom sadly has developed cancer and has become unable to work, causing much hardship to this single parent family.  This girl contacted the club asking for us to help in some way if possible.

At first the idea was holding a race to help raise money but after some online brainstorming, someone suggested to make the club social run tonight a fundraiser where participants would be encouraged to donate to the cause. I took it a step further, suggesting an online venue to allow people far and wide to donate with their credit card.  I did this via our normal race registrar.

Response online has been great so far, much more than I expected.  It helped drive home that if you make giving easier for people, they are more likely to do so.  When we add in whatever we raise on site this evening it should add up to a nice shot in the arm for Elizabeth’s mom.  If you want to check out the donation page go here.

Yesterday in the mail I received the two new battery packs that were supposed to be for my flying wing that I smashed into the ground the day prior.

I am hoping I can still utilize them in my Sky Scooter, although that thing is pretty shaky n the air as is.  Oh well.

My plan last night was to watch the new Breaking Bad episode.  Unfortunately I was so damn sleepy I only got about a half hour into it before heavy eyelids took over.  I shut the Xbox off and fell asleep, figuring I would try to finish it tonight.

Well I woke up for some reason this morning early, a little after 4AM.  I got the bright idea to finish off the episode.  Well although it was a good idea, AMC did not make it easy on me.

The way the Xfinity streaming app works on the 360, it doesn’t always save your spot when you exit a show and go back to it later, unlike the HBO and Netflix app that do this very well.  Ok so I relaunch the show and figure I will just fast forward to the half hour mark and resume.  Wrong.

Certain channels don’t like the idea of letting you fast forward through the show and the embedded commercials.  They have the ability to disable fast forwarding altogether.  Well evidently AMC follows this practice.  So in order to get to where I stopped I just had to let the show play along at regular speed.

I didn’t just sit there and Dufner it, I used the time to go out and prepare my normal breakfast of egg beaters, peanut butter wheat toast and OJ.  By the time I brought the plate back to the bedroom to eat we were getting to the point of the show where I was nodding off last night so it worked out well.

The episode was epic, although I would expect nothing less.  I am still planning to watch all 8 episodes leading up to this point just to get everything fresh in my head.  I have 4 of them under my belt so far.

I am doing something unconventional, crafting a blog entry in the evening.  I prefer to avoid writing about emotional subjects where others might see a moist pair of eyes.

So today was the court date that Ali and I both knew was going to be here someday.  Honestly it arrived much later than either of us expected when we first separated. We originally planned to try to have it in the books right after the new year, assuming the world didn’t end on December 21st of course.

The journey we took to get to this day hasn’t been as smooth as I hoped it would be but perhaps what I hoped for was unrealistic.  I definitely did not enjoy the moments where Ali and took on an adversarial instead of friendly positions against one another.  It felt foreign and toxic.

For the most part I have managed to keep my nose to the grindstone, getting spun off into dwelling on the past far less than I would have expected going into this.  That might also be because for the most part Ali and I continued a relationship that was not conventional husband and wife but similar in some ways.  We still saw each other and did things together on a pretty consistent basis.  Now that both of us are dating other people that has tapered off quite a bit but Ali and I still interact with each other on a regular basis.

It has been quite the contrast from my first marriage where once she moved out that was it, she more or less became an insta-stranger that I have not spoken to in close to 20 years. Of course the circumstances leading up to that marriage dissolution where quite different and treacherous.

So anyway, our court time today was early, 9AM.  I got countless questions about the shirt and tie I was wearing from my co-workers, since they never see me in such garb.  I was glad the hearing was early, I had a change of clothes packed.

So I met Ali by the courthouse and we found the courtroom together.  She was visibly upset from the get go.  Outside the courtroom there was a mass of people.  Evidently with simplified marriage dissolutions they knock them out assembly line style.  Ali’s lawyer showed up a few minutes early just to go over the process with us.  It seemed pretty simple, they basically ask you 6 or 7 questions and that’s it.

There were 3 or 4 couples that were ahead of us so we knew exactly what to expect.  So they call our name and up we went.  Ali was really crying which always upsets me.  I coped with it by not focusing on her as we answered the questions we were asked. Then in less than 90 seconds our almost 15 year marriage was dissolved.  As I was standing there I couldn’t help thinking about the bitter irony, comparing our wedding day, which had tears of happiness as we exchanged our vows to today, where the tears were for the death of those same vows a decade and a half later.  It stung me badly but I tried to not let it bubble up to the surface.

After being told the final paperwork will be sent to us we exited the courtroom and talked to the lawyer some more.  He has to prepare the quit claim deeds transferring assets around per the divorce agreement, hopefully it gets finished up this week.

So I told Ali I would walk her out to her car.  It was a sad couple hundred yards but I tried to remain as upbeat as possible.  The finalization of the divorce doesn’t symbolize the end of my relationship with Ali, it’s just a new chapter where both of us hopefully continue to grow, learn and find our way to happier lives for whatever time we have left on this planet.

So in less than an hour I have my court date to finalize the divorce.  It sort of feels like having a dentist appointment looming on the calendar to have cavities drilled, without novacaine.  Yes this is going to suck but it will be a relief when it is over.

Even with keeping my blog updated during my at home training week it feels like I have a lot of things to cover, without even discussing what it feels like to be officially divorcing the person you spent well over a third of your life with.  Perhaps I’ll try to describe that in the future.

On Friday, training got done early which gave me time to get a nice head start on my weekend.  I did a grocery run which included a Trader Joe’s and Sam’s Club stop.  I actually got out in the morning before class and got my Publix shopping out of the way.  Yes, it is awesome not starting your work day until 10AM.

On Friday I received the new Bar-barian bracelets that I ordered as prizes for the forum challenge.  Last year I received some from the NYC guys to hand out as prizes.  I wore them myself as well.  Unfortunately I have gone through two of them at this point.  The bands had the text printed on them and unfortunately time washed that text away eventually.  At this point they just look like a plain black and white band.

The bands I bought are laser cut, meaning they may get dirty and beat up but they should remain readable indefinitely.  Of course I outfitted myself with one for field testing.  🙂

The water level on the property actually dropped enough on Friday that the trenches out by the road dried up  enough to mow down the 2 foot high trashy looking grass that filled it.  I was glad I got to it when I did, it rained cats and dogs later, once again filling the trench.

When I was doing my grocery shopping I grabbed a new dog bed for Nicki, a Serta no less.  It claimed to be very soft, comfortable and therapeutic for older dogs with joint problems.

I know Nicki will be suspicious of it and hesitant to use the new bed as she is hesitant about most anything new, but hopefully it makes her nap times just a little bit more enjoyable.

Unfortunately over the weekend Ali told me that whatever urinary issues Nicki has seem to have has returned, despite two weeks of antibiotics that we thought knocked it out.

On Saturday I kept myself very busy.  I changed the oil in the Tacoma and made a YT video out of the process, perhaps helping oil change first timers down the road.  Of course as in most of my videos, there were several lol moments involved.

I also hung a new floodlight out front, replacing the conventional motion detector unit that died recently.  The replacement was also bought at Sam’s Club and it was pretty cheap, something like $40.

The new unit isn’t so much a floodlight as a security tool.  It’s 4 ultrabright LED’s are motorized.  If the light detects motion it locks onto it and tracks it.  So the light shoots on and then follows you up the driveway.

It also has a constantly blinking LED that makes it appear to be a security camera as well.  Installation required some McGyvering.  The mounting screws they included were too long so I grabbed some shorter ones at the nearby hardware store.

Then, the screws I bought had too large of a head to fit in the narrow slot the base provided.  I remedied this via a big ass drill bit, boring the opening until it was big enough.  My unconventional installation yielded conventional results.  The new light worked as planned. Even during the daytime it is in action, tracking movement.  It doesn’t flash on the lights when the sun is out but is cool still the same.

Saturday afternoon I also mowed the property, going around the areas that were still submerged from the heavy rain.

Over the weekend I got turned on to a new type vehicle that they are trying to push into production sometime in 2014, utilizing a former GM production plant.  It is called an Elio.

The Elio is an American made trike vehicle 1+1 layout with two front wheels and one in the rear.  There is a second seat behind the driver seat.  The long narrow configuration helps contribute to it’s impressive gas mileage numbers, 84 mpg on the highway and about 50 mpg in city driving.

The engine that pulls the vehicle around is a small, 3 cylinder, fuel injected 70 hp configuration. (anyone remember a Geo Metro?) Despite the small motor, the light weight and aerodynamic shape allows the Elio to get up to 100 mph with 0-60 times of right around 10 seconds, not awful at all.

Overall I like the look of the Elio. the Plymouth Prowler naked front suspension looks cool.  The overall aerodynamic shape is pleasing to the eye.  Supposedly the interior is designed to fit 95% of the population, even 6′ 3″ storks like myself.  The interior also includes standard amenities like power windows, power locks, AC and a radio, nice.

Despite it’s small size, supposedly they expect the Elio to receive a 5 star safety rating with it’s standard 3 air bags, energy absorbing crumple zones and a cage designed to protect the occupant(s) surprisingly well in a collision.

Oh did I mention that the projected price of the Elio is only $6800?

Yes that is not a misprint, $6800.  At that price point I could buy an Elio and literally pay for it with gas savings as it would make a perfect commuter vehicle for someone like me that logs close to 50 miles per day back and forth to work.

So of course, there is some fine print.  The Elio, despite securing a potential manufacturing facility is not yet in production.  Their current timetable is a late 2014 production launch.  They are taking “reservations” for the car online.  Basically they have different reservation amounts, $100, $500, and $1000.  Basically the higher your reservation amount, the sooner you will get your new Elio. (reservation amount comes off the price of course)

Despite all of this potential goodness, as of now, there is no guarantee that Elio will get off the ground, it’s a very difficult thing to enter the automotive market.   Plus if the Elio does make it to production, we have no way of knowing just how good they will actually be.  If their build quality and reliability are Yugo-like, no matter what their price is, it won’t be very successful.

So although it would be intriguing for me to slap down a $100 reservation, I instead am just going to be waiting and seeing.  If the Elio actually does make it all the way to production I will seriously be considering squeezing one in the garage next to the SSR in a year or two.

On Saturday night I went to see Elysium.  I had some high expectations for the flick since it had some big names like Matt Damon and Jodie Foster in it.  The premise of the movie seemed intriguing as well, the ultra-rich build their own orbiting space station paradise while the common people are left on a decimated planet Earth to struggle to exist.

Without getting into too much detail, I just found the movie disappointing and weak.  It just didn’t grab me like I expected it to and I thought Jodie Foster’s role was really lame.  I can only give it a B.

On Sunday I did another brick, a brick made more brutal by the blazing sun and high humidity.  It was a 17 mile bike ride, followed by a 1.25 mile run, 1200 yards of swimming, and then another short .6 mile run.  The circuit was made more difficult by the backpack I was carrying for the ride and run segments of the training.  Cindy and I were thoroughly beat by the end of it.  It was so damn hot and humid.

One thing the hot sun is good for is evaporating water.  By the time Sunday afternoon rolled around I was able to hop back on the tractor and take care of the spots I missed the day before due to standing water.  Since I weed whacked a few days prior, as a whole the landscape was looking pretty good for mid-August.

Sunday afternoon I also headed back outside with my flying wing.  I was a bit more daring this time out, despite some gusty cross winds.  Well, it cost me.

I was having a good time, looping, climbing and rolling at full throttle.  I brought the wing into a steep dive with the intention of pulling out of it maybe 50 feet above the ground.

Well as the ground was approaching I wasn’t being as attentive on the stick as I should have been.  A cross wind tipped the wing one way and by the time I realized it the wing had smashed into the ground nose first at probably 60 mph plus.  I knew it was going to be bad…

As I approached the wing I saw the motor mount lying on top of it.  As I got closer I knew the plane was history.  In addition to the broken mount the interior guts were torn out, the prop was broken and one of the servo mounts was destroyed.

I felt really bummed out and angry at myself for crashing the wing.  The plane was old and ready to be replaced, since it was probably damn close to 10 years old at this point.  However what made me sad was the plane was meticulously built by Mike, my former RC buddy that moved to Colorado.  I felt terrible destroying his handiwork via careless flying.

I wasted no time ordering an EPP foam wing to replace it, named the Tuff Wing.  My flying skills will put it’s name to the test for sure.  It’s supposed to be a 70MPH plane right out of the box.

I was also annoyed because I had just ordered two additional batteries for my old wing.  The new wing will utilize different battery packs.  I plan to try to get my old clunker Sky Scooter back in the sky with the new battery packs.

Sunday night I got to see Taken 2.  It was entertaining and action filled with bad guys getting what they deserve left and right.  I never would have pictured Liam Neisen as an action star years ago but in this role he excels. I’d give the film a B+, a very solid rental.

So today marks my last day of in home training.  I have enjoyed my week quite a bit, not starting until 10 AM and having no commute are both things I definitely could get used to.

Yesterday I had another good lunchtime workout, completing two of three versions of the BB forum challenge, here and here.  I got some flying time in as well.

The girls had a nice day with me although Nicki with her grexxing for no apparent reason was driving me a bit nuts.  I decided it just basically means “I want attention”.

Last night Ali didn’t pick up the dogs until 9:30.  I filled my night with some chores, some tv, washing the Tacoma and some more running club related work.

I had a weird dream last night.  It started in a warehouse looking area of Sovereign Bank, where I used to work for a couple years back in PA.  I was talking to Brad a friend (that I have fallen out of touch with) whom I worked with there.  There was a table stacked high with computer power supplies.  Brad told me if I wanted extra money I could tear down the power supplies into parts to be recycled.

Sure that is easy, brainless work, plus Brad said he could allocate 500 hours of paid time for me to do nothing but rip apart power supplies.  Sweet, easy money.

So I grab a power supply and take it over to a mostly clear table and start ripping it apart.  I look up and somehow I am now in Brad’s living room, albeit still with the table with a half open power supply.  Brad is sitting in his recliner and on his big screen tv was the Eagles / Redskins game.  It was just starting the 3rd quarter and the Birds were ahead, 24-14.  I said to Brad, “Holy shit I can’t believe I forgot the game was on!”  Brad just smiled and took another sip of his beer.  End of dream.

This weekend I need to get around to doing the oil change on the Tacoma that I postponed due to heat exhaustion the week before.  I also might get out to see Elysium, looks like my kind of film.

Can you whistle with your fingers?  I can not even after watching this video.

Yesterday my at home gym session was fun, it was squat and dead lift day, something I NEVER do at home typically.  Jeremy always complains he never gets to see my squat and DL form since I always do them at the gym where I don’t shoot video.  So now there is a full 10 minutes of footage to satiate his needs.

I followed up with a funny tribute to Lou, one of my calisthenics buddies who is particularly hard core.  Lou likes to attack work outs and is particularly adept at picking up heavy things.  His intensity is inspirational.  Here is my tribute video followed by one of Lou’s.

Yesterday’s at home class was ok but was covering a lot of subjects I already knew a decent amount about.  I wound up doing a lot of multitasking, mostly working on a ton of running club related work.  A lot of people think you just time a race and be done with it.  There is so much background legwork that both precedes and occurs after a race for me.  It really can pile up.

I also was working on an annoying problem at work while attending class.  I was able to diagnose and implement a fix from the comfort of my home.  I really am going to push to see if maybe I can get at least one day a month as an official work from home day.  98% of what I would be asked to do does not require me to be physically in the office building.

I went outside and flew my wing yesterday morning before class.  I had two bungled launch attempts where the wing hit the ground, one of them including my index finger getting clipped by the propeller.  However once I got the plane up in the air it was a nice long 10 minute flight.  Instead of using full throttle the entire flight I went to about half throttle and got the wing up high, allowing it to float on the wind, increasing the flight duration.

During the day I had ideas of getting the weed whacking done when class was over.  Unfortunately it was raining quite steadily when the time came.  After I ate dinner I looked outside and saw it had stopped raining.  I then looked at the clock and saw it was 7PM, an abnormal time to weed whack but I had at least an hour of daylight left, why not?

Despite the very wet grass and diminishing sunlight I buzzed around the grounds, getting everything nice and tidy.  I assumed I was going to be destroyed by mosquitoes, even with wearing OFF but they weren’t bad.  I wonder if the exhaust, noise and flying debris created by the whacker is enough to keep the little blood suckers away.

Today I once again have the dogs to keep me company during class.  Nicki has already started her whining routine where she just looks at me and makes noises like she wants something although what that thing is never made quite clear.  It can get rather perturbing.

Yesterday was another solid day of training from home although I was actually late for class.  Before class I went to pick up the dogs, get coffee and drop off mom’s new ion/magnet bracelet.  I didn’t get logged into the remote classroom until 10:15.

The dogs chilled out, slept, hung on the pool deck, and whined (Nicki) while I was in the training.  During the breaks I did my best to entertain them.  They both closely supervised my lunch workout.

Before Ali came out to pick up the dogs I finally got out to try to put my flying wing back up in the air, a place it hasn’t been in a couple years.  I had 4 old battery packs, only one would hold a decent charge.  I gave myself a quick mental refresher on what I needed to do to get the plane in the air, turn on the transmitter, plug in the battery, adjust the initial aileron angles, hit full throttle and give it a good strong toss at an upward angle.

My toss wasn’t great but the power of the brushless motor was enough to overcome it, sending my flying wing upward.  Instantly I could tell my initial trim settings weren’t good.  With no stick the wing wanted to climb and circle right.  I clumsily adjusted the trim mid-air, making sure there was plenty of space between the plane and the ground.

Despite the battery being dormant for a long time it actually provided a decent amount of punch.  I was able to do loops, rolls and pull out of power dives without problem.

Luckily flying an RC plane is much like riding a bike.  Once you get accustomed to the controls it comes back to you.  I didn’t have any issues with disorientation regardless of the direction or angle the wing was flying at.

I had the plane up for maybe 6 or 7 minutes before I brought it down, not wanting to push it too far with an old battery.  I managed to land it cleanly about 10 feet from Sadie who was watching the flight along with Nicki.  I was quite pleased at my success flying after so long.  It was fun.  As long as the standing water stays away today I will probably try to get back out there again some time today.

Last night I finished the single player version of Heart of the Swarm.  It was a pretty epic storyline with huge battles along the way.  I used minimal skill in my play style, preferring to use the F2 key to just send my entire army around the map instead of doing careful micro-management of my units as you are supposed to.  Oh well, it got the job done, great game.

If you are looking for some epic tv by the way, watch Ray Donovan on Showtime.  It is a bit like a modern day Sopranos.

So Monday is Ali and my court date to finalize the divorce.  It has been tough on both of us as the date has grown closer.  Despite both of our assumption that this day was coming, the finality of it is still a tough thing to deal with.  It will be good in the long run to finally have it done with officially so we can both move forward in whatever path we wind up following. However I don’t think the little twinges of sadness and feelings of failure will ever really go away for good, at least for me.  I am happy that we have continued to be supportive of each other throughout the separation and I hope we continue to be good friends the rest of our lives.