Chazd's (Charles Dowdell's) News Burps

I am back from Atlanta. We won the annual CIDM Rare Bird award in regards to our XML process development! The award is great, but feeling that you deserve it is the greatest part. I am in the hospital waiting room in Binghamton. Bonnie is under general anesthisia for the sound wave lipotripsy to breakup the remaining large kidney stone. Hopefully it works. I am not sure how long it is going to take. I haven't had a flying lesson this week. I will be going up this coming week. I have been studying the sectional charts looking for interesting cross-country trips. The plan is the same as it has been, to accomplish a first-solo this year. After that I haven't made any commitments, but the natural thing to do is the required cross-country solos, written exam, build hours, take a oral exam and check flight. It takes a minimum of 40 hours for the private pilot license. I will have many more than that most likely. Getting comfortable in the air is not as easy as it is for some folks,...

Bonnie is doing better. They got one of the stones out. A future lipotripsy will get the other big one. She was doing well enough that we decided to have me to continue to Atlanta, where I am now at the CIDM Best Practices Conference. My presentation went well. I have another couple days of meetings. It feels good to be ahead in our processes compared to other folks. The Future is even better. I have alot of work to get ready for winter still. I am looking forward to finishing projects I started earlier this year. After working outside last winter in Antarctica, I plan on working outside more this winter in tame-ol upstate ny. You must dress and regulate. What I mean by regulate is you have to manage your clothing. If you get hot, remove; if you get cold add. Humans can't regulate their heat that well. It requires a manual process. Knowing that makes a big difference.