Chazd's (Charles Dowdell's) News Burps

I am in NY. Richard and I got to do some flying, fantastic weather. We went from Greene, Norwich, Hamiliton, Sidney, back to Greene. Lots of fun. I got to meet up with my old flight instructor. That was great seeing him. He just sold the plane I originally learned how to fly.

The sawmill is currently setup and running. My neighbor is bringing over some logs to slice up this afternoon.

I climbed Blood Mountain yesterday in Northern Georgia. It felt like a mountain in that the climb through the woods turned into more and more granite faced ascents. The wind picked up and the temperature went down. Again, the decent was a mirror of the ascent. Eventually, back to the car it was the comfort of a dense calm forest valley. It might be worthwhile to do that one again.

I had to use my backup camera. Not as crisp.

I completed a very nice cross country today, LZU to IIY via AHN and direct back to LZU. After that I went back home and piloted my vacuum cleaner around the apartment. Our theme (this week) in my leadership class is humility. Interestingly, when I opened the cypher lock for the pilots lounge at IIY (lights out and vacant) there was a bible (between the weather computers) that when I picked the book up it opened to Matthew Chap 18:18-19.

The airborne pic shows the Athens, GA airport in the right and the city of Athens, GA on the left at 4500 ft.

Flight Planning at SkyVector.com

I feel I would really be missing something if I didn't post SOMETHING on 11-11-11.

I am in Duluth, I am planning a solo cross country from Gwinnett County to Washington Wilkes county airport tomorrow in a Cessna 172 R model with GPS. I think Sunday is a hike day. The leaves are all turned here in Duluth. Up in the mountains they are largely falling off. I will be on the Appalachian trail. I certainly need some exercise.

My work week went pretty well, mostly successes. It is about moving multiple projects down the road. Multitasking is crazy these days. The bottom line is that my heart beats 168 hours a week. I have two hands, feet, ears and eyes. And I have one brain and one soul. There is only so much you can do.

I have been daydreaming a bit about my recent trip to Brazil. I admit it. The gas price of 2.84 Brazilian reals per liter works out to be $6.13 Gallon at today's prices. This was in the capital district of Brasilia, the equivalent of Washington DC in the US. Most places I travel outside the US gas I see gas as twice as expensive as the US.

DJ made it down to Duluth. She brought the truck and we loaded up my new saw mill. I finally found the right deal on the porta-band mill I had been looking for. I found it in Georgia, however, not NY. I will be messing around with it over Thanksgiving holiday in NY. I might have to get a firewood processor too and hire someone to do my "fun" work.

We also made it to the Gwinnett County Hamfest. I picked up an Icom 2 meter for the "skua" (my Georgia car) for 40 bucks. It seems to work good.

I am almost all recuperated from my latest trip to South America (actually just Brazil). I got to spend some weekend time in the capital Brasilia and a city called Maringá in the state of Parana. I think that I have now been in 5 different Brazilian states (out of the current 27). Work went so well and blended so well with adventure it was what I would consider a peak experience. I was definitely living life large and having an experience I will never forget.

Brazil reminds me of the US about 30 or 40 years ago. The growing middle class population is about optimism and friendliness.

Practical joke

On one of my domestic flights in Brazil I was stopped at security after the x-ray machine for your carry-ons (the way security used to be in the US). No one at the security point spoke English. They indicated that there was something in my computer bag that was not allowed. They were making gestures like they were eating. Weird. The line started backing up and I emptied out my entire computer bag. There is a lot of junk in there between power supplies, flash drives and stuff I might need. OK. I admit it. My computer bag contents are just like the purse of an old neurotic woman. We ran the computer through the x-ray for a third or forth time. After that, I just handed the empty bag to the security guard. Everyone was a bit amused that this had somehow become such a huge production with all of my stuff in trays and bins with things that belong to the gringo that can't understand Portuguese. Well, he tore through my bag and he finally found a regular old fork. How it got in there was certainly a practical joke from one of my colleagues. (Paybacks can be tough). A security guard came up and pointed at the fork and asked "chama?". I said "fork". "Ahh fork!" came back from the security team almost in a chorus. The initial security guard that barks at folks on what to do and what to put on the conveyor started to bark "Naõ forks!" Everyone started laughing. It was great.

We lost a friend last week when I was in Brazil.

Mike was pretty funny and a very sincere person.

Michael A. Angelini (March 30, 1951 - October 27, 2011)

Age 60, passed away on October 27, 2011.

Michael was predeceased by his parents, Michael A. Angelini and Rose (Naccia) Angelini, and wife, Katie (Brady) Angelini. He is survived by his brother, Joseph P. Angelini; nieces, Debbie Hrivnak and Lynne David; and great-nieces and nephews, Morgan, Hunter, Alexandra, Samantha, Dominick, and Isabella.

A Funeral Service will be held at the CHARLES P. ARCARO FUNERAL HOME, 2309 Lancaster Ave. in Wilmington, on Monday, October 31 at 10am. Visitation will be held at the funeral home, prior to service, from 9-10am. Burial will be held privately at a later date.