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Showing posts from September, 2008
What a rainy weekend it was. Dad and I went to the Elmira hamfest. It was pretty much a total wash out. Today I had to cancel my flight lesson because of weather and we are looking for a high in the 50s this Friday. The weather is closing in.
I have been thinking a bit about the differences and simularities between self-respect and self-esteem. It seems like the individual has more control over self-respect. Treat yourself with respect. Be your own Mother.
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I practiced emergency engine-out procedures with my instructor last evening. That was a first. It was a lot like using flight simulator with the unusual attitudes and low altitudes outside of the traffic pattern. It was a great experience. Flying can get pretty addictive. This pic is of the instrument panel almost exactly like the plane I fly.
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The blogger was broke. I had to delete some unrelated files on my server. It is back. Dennis and Greg came down for the weekend. We put up two tree stands. Dennis is mentoring Greg and I for the upcoming season. We had a lot of fun. We tried grilled pigeon. It was pretty good. We zeroed in some sights on some guns and generally had fun.
The conference is going well. I will be flying back to NY on Thursday. Santa Fe is nice. It turns out the solar panel can get damaged by not having water in it when it exposed to the sun. It gets that hot. "Hot-Liquid Solar" energy is here. It is everywhere else in the world, why not the US? Energy is energy. I saw this moose sculpture getting loaded onto a truck this morning. I was a bit jealous. I have hauled some weird stuff with my truck over the years, but nothing quite like what this guy was towing with his truck.
I am in Santa Fe New Mexico for most of this week for the Center for Information Development (CIDM) conference. This is where I hob nob with all the Technical Information Development movers and shakers from large corporations. The conference is always good. I was reflecting on what has changed in the last five years in this area and it is quite staggering. 5 years ago most participants were musing about information component management systems. Now everyone has one. It is a way of life today, DITA, XML. Then there is the emergence of new problems of integration with SOA, content ownership, and communications between collaborators. It is nice to have respect from large intrepid businesses in the area on content development management.
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The solar system is coming together. I have all the major components. I still need to get some PEX pipe, insulation, pressure relief valve, expansion tank and some valves & fittings. I ended up getting an evacuated tube collector instead of my using my homebrew system. I hooked up with two Chinese PhDs and we are collaborating. You never really know how things turn sometimes, bizarre sometimes. When I was taking the collector off the truck I took the cardboard off because it got wet in rain. It was out sitting exposed to the cloudy-rainy sky for about an hour before I could get it off the truck. Surprisingly, when I grabbed the water outlet it was hot. I don't mean warm. I mean hot. And it was raining out. This thing really works. Cool. Well, Hot. The complete system costs are not tallied yet. I will be doing that for sure, but it is easy to justify the system with it costing $800 to fill the oil tank. This has been one of the more satisfying projects this summer, err Fall.
The gas leases here in Upstate NY are really getting everyone's attention. The Marcellus shale that runs through the north Appalachians squarely runs though this area. You get thinking with that great value-filtering scenario that we should all live our lives with ... What would you be doing if you had a million dollars? It does help to think in those terms. What would you do if you could spend your time totally as you please? Your true values come out.
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Fall is falling on us. It is that time of year when the inevitability of a coming Winter is becoming just a bit more than a future state of mind. I was thinking about self-discipline. It occurred to me that it is a double edged sword as most things are. Self-discipline allows you to change in ways that put you where you want to be, what you want to do, where you see yourself belonging. On the other hand, self-discipline moves you away from where you are naturally and comfortable. Is comfort and nature where you need to be? I had to take a picture of Jim Morrison in the trash. It looked like real art in its context. I am getting about 6 eggs a day now. There are three roosters getting me up in the morning. That number will come down to 1. There is a brood hen sitting on a clutch up in the corn crib. Maybe there will be little chicks. The hay wagon is coming along. It is painted and I have the lumber. I need to finish sand blasting the wheels and get them painted and get the plat
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Well Labor Day is pretty much history. It was a good weekend. I did a mix of work and play. I went to a BBQ in downtown Killawog NY (the next town over) put on by the largest business around, the precast concrete producer in the area. They has one hell of a fireworks show especially for a clambake. It was fun and an unusual experience for me. In case I kept you hanging on the D6 dozer. It is is running after 30 years of not being started. Jay is putting a pond in with it. Notice the lack of smoke. It is running very well indeed. So, if you have an old cat tractor around taht hasn't run in 30 years, there is hope. Took an early morning hike over to Greenwood park this morning. It was very nice before all the Labor day crowds arrived.