Archives June 2003

The weekend is just around the corner, no interesting thoughts, no cool links. Just looking forward to a good weekend. Out to dinner, volleyball, alcohol and no yard work sound pretty damn good right now.

My buddy Rich flies down late tonight with his girlfriend for a long weekend. We are playing in a vball tournament on Saturday and then gonna just do whatever the rest of the weekend. I’m looking forward to it. I have played ZERO outdoor doubles since last October. Rich hasn’t either. It will be interesting to see how it goes. At this point I just enjoy getting to play as opposed to 5 years ago where I was playing 3 or even 4 times a week and winning meant everything to me. My busy schedule, physical limitations and lack of people I know that play down here has changed volleyball from being one of the biggest parts of my life to a diversion that I only get to participate in a few times a year. Bums me out a bit but I guess everything changes sooner or later.

I had to do some modifications and repairs to my new flying wing last night. The control surfaces were pulling loose. The high speed puts high stress on these joints so I needed to beef em up. Hope to give it a test flight tonight.

I got an eval copy of Windows 2k3 Server. Installing it now. I’m debating if I want to implement it here since I recently upgraded all of our servers to Windows 2000. There is no real need for it here but the part of me that likes to stay current with technology is making me want to do it sooner or later. I like the security initiative they have talked about with 2K3, if it actually delivers is another story.

Got an email saying my Novell CNE requires a test by October to keep it current. I won’t be pursuing it. I would be interested in how many CNE’s are dropping from the ranks. It used to be THE certification to get. It brought great respect from your peers. However, Novell has just been obliterated by MSFT. It’s funny when I first started, I was a MSFT zealot. Then I got into a big Novell environment and saw how good Novell’s products were. Just about when I got comfortable with it, the higher ups decided to convert to all MSFT. I opposed the move, but it was inevitable. Just like thousands of other businesses, we abandoned Novell. I’m actually surprised Novell is still in business for themselves and haven’t been bought by someone.

Here is the quick clip of the 4 wheelin idiots.

Another weekend flies by. On Saturday I played my first golf of this year and I believe it is the first golf I have played in over a year. I enjoy golf, but it is expensive, I am not very good at it and I don’t really have anyone to play with regularly down here. It was my first chance to play a round with my new clubs. It was a scramble format tournament which is great for me as it takes the pressure off. I decided early on that I would only hit irons all day long. My woods play is far too erratic now and could be dangerous and embarrassing since several of the holes are precariously close to a major roadway. I had a typical day for me. I impressed my teammates with my ability to hit irons long but embarrassed myself with some duffs off the tee that didnt even make it to the womens tee area. It was a good time. We finished towards the back of the teams in the standings, even with us finishing 6 under par. Following golf, we got a fancy lunch and they handed out prizes. It was a great deal for 40 bucks IMHO.

Saturday night, I finally got a chance to go see The Matrix Reloaded. I had heard and read all the negativity about the flick so I was well prepared to be disappointed. Granted the film was not fantastic, but I thought it was far from the utter disappointment that some had felt. Reading about some of the plot twists ahead of time helped me follow the story better. The special effects were waaaay cool. There is a dumb 10 minute love scene that is pointless and gave the film it’s R rating. I hardly think it was worth it. Some of the story made no sense but I think I followed the important parts. Overall I enjoyed the movie more than X2. I was also clued in that if you sit through all the credits you get to see the trailer for the third and final movie. Us and 1 other couple sat through to the end. 🙂 I’d give the film a solid B in my book.

Sunday was rainy early on, a rarity here. Normally the rain comes in the afternoon. So we had to wait a bit before mowing the grass. I did that and several other outdoor projects.

My buddy, Mike called and said that he had finished the plane that he was making for me. It is a flying wing. It is far faster than anything I have owned. I met up with him and went to a field to do my “maiden” flight. Mike first flew his so I got a feel for how it handled. I got mine ready to launch. 2 attempts, 2 nosedives into the ground after a few feet. The second crash pulled a connector off that could not be fixed at the field. I was disappointed but packed it up and took it home for some TLC. I made some quick repairs at home and launched. I had some less severe launch failures but finally on the 3rd attempt I had it in the air. Wow it is faaaaast. Just screams through the air and sounds like a pack of angry hornets. I landed safely. On my next flight I had another scary incident. After doing a loop a couple hundered of feet in the air, my battery pack unexpectedly released, leaving the plane to flutter to the ground, helplessly. It took me awhile to find it. No damage to the plane but repairs were needed to the battery pack. I got it up into the air a couple more times. It really is fun. Something to scare the neighbors with.

Around the same time, we began hearing what sounded like a motorcycle racing around our area. Keep in mind, the speed limit on our road is 30 mph. It turns out it wasnt motorcycles but 2 idiots on 4 wheelers drag racing each other on the streets. These guys were going at least 60 if not faster. This continued for a good 20 minutes. Finally we had enough and Ali called the sheriff station. Cops caught em. Hopefully they fined em but they probably got off with a warning. Some people are really ignorant. I have a quick clip that Ali shot of them flying by our house, I will post the link soon.

June is finally here. It is going to be a BUSY month for us starting this weekend. My buddy and his girlfriend are coming down this weekend. We are playing in a vball tourney. The following weekend we have an All Star minor league baseball game to go to. The following week, we fly to PA for the Pottstown Rumble and my neice’s christening. The weekend after that we fly to Arizona for my sister’s wedding. Crazy busy. Maybe all this activity will help me shake the cloud that has been hanging over me recently. I haven’t felt very good about stuff for several months now. 2003 started bad with my car burning up and has never really gotten much better.