Thursday, June 30, 2016

Saratoga is only 51 minutes away.

That's how long it took us to get to Saratoga County Airport and that includes engine start, preflight, engine run-up and then waiting for an arriving Cessna to land & clear the runway. It also includes a headwind that slowed us a bit.

On the way back, with the tail wind, it took only 38 minutes to get to Northampton and land.

It was a beautiful flight at 4,500 feet the took us directly over Mt. Greylock, then the Taconics and finally the Hudson River Valley. We returned at 5,500 on the same path.

I know everyone thinks they live in God's Country but when you fly a plane a mile above western Massachusetts and northern New York, I can tell you that we live in God's Country. When you're a mile up, look in any direction and all you see are green rolling hills littered with lakes & rivers and small towns occasionally punctuated by slightly larger towns or small cities.

I can't wait to do it again.


You might think there was no baseball tonight but you would be wrong. I'm going to watch the Pawtucket Red Sox play some ball.

While I do that, you should visit these links:

Wednesday, June 29, 2016

They won and lost

The Red Sox managed to win last night but they lost this afternoon.

If I were John Farrell, Chili Davis or Carl Willis, I would be worried about my job.

The Orioles won today and they now have five and a half game lead over the Red Sox in the ALEast.

Also, the Blue Jays won today and they are now tied with the Red Sox for second place in the ALEast.

Things are not going well. Not well at all.


In the world of things that are going well, I managed to create flight plans for several different trips without the aid of the internet. The first two were a little difficult but once I figured out which variables get subtracted from the heading and airspeed, I was on a roll.

In case you're interested, it'll take just about 10 hours to go to Ames, Iowa. Once I add in the two stops to refuel, I'm looking at a 12 hour trip.

I could do 12 hours in the air. I love flying.


You might like these links:

Tuesday, June 28, 2016

Looks like Farrell is getting nervous

After last nights ass-kicking by the Rays, John Farrell called the Red Sox into the locker room and closed the door to the media. This indicates he had some things to say that were not really for public consumption.

Things like, "What the hell is going on? Why can't you pitch? Why can't you hit the ball? What were you thinking when you made that completely unnecessary throw to third and airmailed it over the third baseman's head?"

Perhaps he may have even used some "salty language."

I know I would have.

Let's see what tonight brings.


No flying today, just an education on how to file a flight plan.

My instructor is teaching me how to do it the old-fashioned way using a chart, a plotter and a "flight computer" which is really a lot like a slide rule. We sat down and decided we were going to go to Saratoga, NY.

Trust me, it's both hard and easy to do.

If I was 15 years old, still in high school and we were all still doing math in our heads, it would be easy. It's a lot of simple addition or subtraction.

Unfortunately, I'm not 15 and no one does math in their heads anymore so it's a little bit of a struggle.

After we finished doing it the old fashioned way, he showed me how to do it using the FAA-provided website.

That was pretty darned easy so now if I ever want to go to Saratoga, I can.


While I watch some baseball, you can click on these:

Monday, June 27, 2016

Looks like a repeat.

It's beginning to look like the 2016 Red Sox are going down the same path as the 2015 Red Sox.

They are more than 1/3 through the season and they are still trying to figure out what to do with Clay Buchholz.

Add to that, they seem to have lost all faith in Joe Kelly and are probably leaving him down in Pawtucket with Sandoval, Craig and Castillo.

Eduardo Rodriguez just isn't the same guy he was last season.

As far as David Price is concerned, he's not giving them the performance they expected.

On the other hand, Steven Wright is the best thing that's happened to them this year and Rick Porcello seems to be pitching at the level they had hoped for when they extended him last year.

In the bullpen, Heath Hembree, Robbie Ross and Tommy Lane are all holding up their end and trying to keep things in check when the starters fall apart.

And what can be said about Craig Kimbrel other than the man is an amazing closer.

As for the hitting, what can you say. That is a skill that comes and goes more than most things in baseball. Let's face it, trying to hit a 3 inch sphere that is traveling in an unpredictable arc at speeds in excess of 90mph with a 2 1/2 inch cylinder isn't easy.

Each batter has his ups & downs and it seems some of the Red Sox batters have managed to hit a bad streak at the same time.

I'm hoping they manage to turn it around tonight when they start a three-game series against the Rays and they keep 2015 in the past where it belongs.


You can enjoy these links if you would like:

Sunday, June 26, 2016

My humble opinion

So the people of England decided that they didn't want to be part of the European Union anymore. I'm not seeing a huge problem with that decision.

Prior to the 1980s, all of the nations of Europe were on their own. There was no European Union, just sovereign nations, doing their own thing like negotiating treaties with each other, controlling their own borders, issuing their own fiat currency and trying to wipe each other off the face of the earth every 20 years or so.

When the European Union was formed, the English were slightly more than a little nervous about joining. Just 40 years prior, the Germans were sending flaming death rockets of flaming death into London and yelling things like, "Shwinehundt! You have do not have pointy helmets and you do not have lists of things like we do!"

Also, for as long as anyone can remember, the French had been thumbing their noses and saying snooty things like, "You English people are pale and your cheese does not have that superior blue mold in it like ours does. Also, we like to wave our stinky, unshaved armpits in your pale face!"

So when it came to joining the European Union, the English signed up for the bargain plan. They participated in the open borders part and they agreed to the elimination of tariffs but they did not jump on the currency conversion. They liked their sterling pound and didn't want to convert to the Euro.

Now, after 40 years of being told what to do by the European Union, the British have said, "Piss off you big wankers!" and they are now once again going to be a sovereign nation without any foreign involvement in how they run their country.

If they want to tell the Syrian refugees, "Hey! You guys are okay and you have really attractive woman! Come on in! We got plenty of room", they can.

If they want to tell the Syrian refugees, "Yea, right, like we want a bunch of unwashed foreigners wandering around. We've got enough problems with all those stinky French armpits coming over here through the Chunnel", they can.

So now, the British are heading back to the way they were in the 1970s which means maybe they'll re-open that Arthur Treachers fast food joint that used to be on Boston Road over where Zayres used to be.

I never shopped at Zayres but I liked the fish and chips at Arthur Treachers.


Enjoy these links:

Saturday, June 25, 2016

Many things got done today

Turns out I didn't have a lot of time for interwebbing.

I'm assuming Britain is still in a tizzy over it's recent vote to leave the EU.

I'm also assuming we still only have two choices for President, Trump or Rodham.

Furthermore, I'm assuming that my retirement account is in the toilet and it's probably gonna stay that way until 2017.

That's enough assuming for the day.


The Red Sox won last night but so did the Orioles. That means they started the day one and a half games behind the Orioles.

The Orioles are playing a double-header today and they won the afternoon game, putting them 2 games ahead of the Red Sox. If the Orioles lose the evening game (as I type this, they are down 2-0 in the second inning) and the Red Sox win, they will end the day only one game behind the Orioles.

The Red Sox need to win tonight. End of discussion.


Try these links out:

Friday, June 24, 2016

That might not have been the best idea they've had...

The people of Britain voted to remove themselves from the European Union and it's causing a major tumble in the financial markets. The British Pound has fallen against almost all other currency in the world. Yesterday, one pound sterling was worth $1.46. Today it's worth $1.36 That's a loss of  almost 7%.

The Scots, the Irish and the Welsh didn't want to leave the EU and they are all making noise about leaving the British Empire and rejoining the EU.

The French, the Germans and the Belgians are all telling Britain, "Well, if you're leaving, let's get this over with. Invoke the 2-year countdown now. Don't drag this out because if you do, we're going to make it hard on you."

The British, however, are saying, "Whoa, hold on there pardner. There's no need to be hasty. We can talk about this."

Sounds to me like the Brits might have a bad case of the "morning after regrets" and the rest of the EU is probably going to punish them for their vote. I imagine that negotiating new treaties, new tariffs and new border-crossing protocols will not go in Britain's favor.

I told my youngest that this is probably the biggest event in his lifetime but not to fret too much. The markets will go crazy for a few days or weeks and eventually this will all settle out. Britain will deal with it's new (renewed?) status and learn how to fend for itself once again.

Until then, hang on to your hats because it's gonna be a bumpy ride.

Oh, and once it's over with & things settle down, we'll get to deal with the craziest presidential election in my lifetime. You can bet that's gonna shake it all up again.

Yay!


I'm hoping to make it through at least four innings of the 8:15 Red Sox / Rangers game.

While I do that, you should think about visiting these links:

Thursday, June 23, 2016

Two games behind

The Red Sox lost again last night but the Orioles won. That put the Orioles two full games ahead of the Red Sox. To make matters worse, the Blue Jays also won which meant they were only half a game behind the Red Sox.

Today, the Red Sox won and the Orioles & Blue Jays were on an off day. This means the Red Sox are now one and a half games behind the Orioles and one game ahead of the Blue Jays.

The Red Sox are heading down to Texas to play a three game series against the Rangers. Hopefully they win all three down there.


Try these links:

Wednesday, June 22, 2016

"It comes to around $40.00 a year."

Every member of the US House of Representatives, the US Senate and the current administration should be required to watch this video clip from the 1960s.

Maybe they'll learn a little something.


My instructor is trying to get me used to flying in and out of Class C airspace so today we went to Barnes out in Westfield. My daughter was able to join us on this trip and she really enjoyed herself.

She took a lot of pictures and a lot of video during the flight, including all five of my touch & go's out in Westfield.

Here's a nice shot she took of Mt. Tom as we were leaving Barnes and heading back to Northampton:

Here's a link to a video she shot as we were landing back at Northampton.

It was nice to have her along and show her what it's like to be in a small plane. I also liked showing her how far I've come in my quest to become a pilot.


The Red Sox lost again last night but so didn't the Orioles and the Blue Jays. This means the Red Sox are still in second place, one game behind the Orioles and one & a half games ahead of the Blue Jays.

I'm really, really hoping that they win tonight and the Orioles lose. This would put them back in a tie for first place.


Try these links out for size:

Tuesday, June 21, 2016

Short field, soft field...

Today was spent practicing short field landings, short field takeoffs & soft field landings. Those things are kinda interesting on a windy day.

A short field landing requires you to get the aircraft configured so that it flies along at 60 knots. Then, instead of aiming for the runway numbers, you aim for something before the runway. My target today was a fence about 10 yards before the runway started.

Once I reached the fence, I let the aircraft settle into the ground effect and kept it in the air until it reached the runway. Then I let it settle onto the runway and hit the brakes.

Then I turned around, taxied back the beginning of the runway and set about doing a short field takeoff.

This is were you apply about 40° of flaps, sit on the brakes and go to full power. Once the aircraft is at full RPMs, release the brakes and let it go. As it begins to roll, pull back on the yoke and as soon as the aircraft leaves the ground, level it out and let it build up speed.

As soft field landing is interesting in that the goal is to hold the front wheel off the ground for as long as possible. This is the landing you would use on a soft field like grass or snow. It prevents the front wheel from digging into the ground and flipping the aircraft tail over nose.

That would be bad.


The Red Sox are in trouble so I need to pay attention to them.

You can visit these links while I do that:

Monday, June 20, 2016

Long day of meetings

I spent my afternoon meeting with the good folks of Mass Unemployment. And I'm not being sarcastic, they really are good people.


Here are some links:

Sunday, June 19, 2016

Went to see Wilson and Jardine today

My wife, my daughter and my youngest son took me to see Brian Wilson and Al Jardine. If you don't know who they are, let me enlighten you.

At one point in my youth, those two gentlemen, along with Carl Wilson, Dennis Wilson and Mike Love, used to play in a little band called The Beach Boys.

It was a hell of a good show and we all enjoyed it. We are all a little sunburned but that's fine with us. We had a good time.


The Red Sox won today but so didn't the Orioles. That means the Red Sox are still a game behind the Orioles in the ALEast.

I'm kind of hoping the Orioles will go into a slump and start losing.


While I fall asleep in my recliner, you can click these links:

Saturday, June 18, 2016

Firmly in second place

The Red Sox lost to the Mariners last night which put them one full game behind the Orioles and tied for second with the Blue Jays. Today they beat the Mariners and the Blue Jays lost to the Orioles.

This leaves the Red Sox in second place. one game behind the Orioles and the Blue Jays in third place, one game behind the Red Sox.

I would like to see the Red Sox in first place but I'll take second.

For now.


My son asked me if I had ever created a Ticket Master account to buy any concert tickets. I said I had and expressed my curiosity as to his inquiry....

He told me that Ticket Master had recently lost a civil suit and was giving everyone two free tickets. He said if I logged on to my Ticket Master account I should be able to find a notice about it.

Damned if he wasn't right.

I am now the proud holder of a code that will give me two free tickets to as yet-to-be-named select events. I imagine those free tickets will be to events like The Greater Worcester Area Thumb Wrestling Thumb-Off's or Buffalo Freestyle Knitting Championship.

So anyways, if you log on to your Ticket Master account and click on the "Active Vouchers" link on the right side, near the bottom, you might see a voucher for two free tickets to something, somewhere, sometimes....


While I hang out and watch bad television, you can hang out and click on these links:

Friday, June 17, 2016

It's expensive to throw stuff away.

Today we disposed of a mattress, a box spring, a futon mattress and a small dormitory style refrigerator. It cost me almost as much to get rid of the items as it did to buy them.

Seems a bit excessive to me.


No flying today, just housekeeping.

I've taken to cleaning the house and while I'm not really good at it, I do manage to make a dent in the mess, which seems to make my wife happy.

It's always a good idea to make your wife happy.


My brother seems to be doing quite nicely after his recent heart surgery. His recovery is going along well and he says the pain seems to be gone.

The down side is that he isn't allowed to drive until late July.


The Red Sox are not doing all that great lately and everyone keeps blaming it on the pitchers. I gotta be honest with you, it's not the pitchers fault, it's the batters fault.

No one wins baseball games without stepping on home plate, plain and simple.


Here are today's links:

Thursday, June 16, 2016

Second supervised solo

Today I completed the second of three required supervised solo's.

As with the first solo, I was required to complete three takeoff's followed by three full stop landings. Fortunately there was almost no wind today and my landings were spot on.

Next up is to complete the third supervised solo and then get to work on my navigation skills.

I still need to remained focused on my ground school because I'd like to take the written exam as soon as possible. That way, all the remains is the complete the requisite number of flight hours, sit through a hour-long question and answer exam with the FAA and then do my PPL check flight.

Once I'm done with that, I will be able to say, "The sky is the limit!" and actually mean it.


Enjoy these links while I use my special coaching TV to hopefully help the Red Sox win tonight:

Wednesday, June 15, 2016

Flying under the hood.

Today was the day I started my instrument training. This training is done by flying the plane by only looking at the instruments. They accomplish this by putting a hood over your head that looks like a bizarre visor. It blocks your view out the windows but lets you see the inside of the cockpit.

I took off and got us up to 3,000 feet heading north. My instructor took control of the plane and had me put the hood on. Once it was on he turned the controls back over to me and man, it was very disconcerting. I was in a plane at 3,000 feet traveling at 90kts (100+ mph) heading towards Mount Sugarloaf and I couldn't look out the windows.

He had me do some maneuvers like a 360° turn and a few altitude changes. Then he said, "Let's teach you how to navigate the old fashioned way!"

The "old fashioned way" is a series of transmitting antenna scattered around the country called the VORTAC system. These antenna transmit a signal that aircraft can track. One such antenna is located in Chester, MA and it's called, appropriately, CHESTER. I set the VOR receiver to 115.1 and picked up the signal.

From there, it was simply a matter of keeping the plane pointed at the VOR in Chester.

Once there, he had me raise the hood so I could see the antenna as proof that I actually did it right. Once I passed over the antenna, he said, "Pull the hood back down and let's go to Barnes out in Westfield."

I set the VOR to 113.0 and navigated my way to Westfield.

Once we crossed the airport in Westfield, we turned north and I made my way back towards Northampton. As we got close, he took control of the airplane and I took the hood off. Much to my surprise, I could see the airport and we were at the right altitude.

I settled into the pattern and landed perfectly

Not a bad day.


You can try these links:

Tuesday, June 14, 2016

There will be baseball tonight!

I'm hoping the Red Sox manage to win tonight and move into first place alone. You can bet I'll be watching them and providing my sage wisdom via my special coaching TV.


I'm going to go watch some baseball.

Here's a link or two to click on:

Monday, June 13, 2016

Quiet day today and no baseball this evening.

My lesson today was canceled because of winds and turbulence. My instructor told me that there was some fairly serious turbulence between 2,000 and 4,000 feet, which is the altitude were lessons are conducted.

Hopefully the rest of the week will be a bit calmer and I'll be able fly this week.


I'm trying to dispose of a mattress and box spring and I'm more than a little amazed at the prices being charged. Anyone know of someone who can pick these things up and dispose of them properly?

And no, I don't want them to end up on a dirt road in Indian Orchard. I'd like them to be shredded, cleaned and properly recycled.


Just a few links today:

Sunday, June 12, 2016

Fifty is a lot.

They say that at some point in the recent past, the FBI had investigated this guy for ties to terrorist organizations. Since he declared allegiance to ISIS shortly before the shootings, I'd say that maybe he had some ties to terrorists. Also, according to his family, he disliked gay people.

So if I've got this straight, it looks like some homophobic nutjob who thinks we should all become muslim or die, went to a crowded dance club and gunned down a bunch of people.

Now you would think that politicians would be standing in front of us saying things like, "If you express sympathies or allegiance to any extremist organization, we will arrest you and toss your ass into a super-max where you will plenty of time to think about how good you had it before you decided to hitch your wagon to a bunch of murderous douche-nozzles."

But you won't see that, will you.

What you will see instead is a bunch of politicians standing around talking about "gun violence".

Why are we, as a society, so afraid to place blame where it belongs? It's not guns, it's people.

Evil, narrow-minded, ignorant people.

Also, I can't help but think that if one or two patrons at that club were armed, maybe, just maybe, they might have gotten a shot off at the guy and ended it well before he managed to execute 50 people who were just out having a night of fun.


The Red Sox and the Orioles both lost today.t. That means they are still tied for first place in the ALEast.

They are both off tomorrow while both teams travel to Boston to face each other in a three-game series. By Thursday night, I'm hoping the Red Sox are at least 1.5 or 2 games ahead in first place.


Try these out for size:

Saturday, June 11, 2016

Moving day.

We spent the day helping our youngest move from one apartment to another today. The lease on the apartment he's been in for the last year or so is up in mid-June. Since he is working in Keene for the summer, he needed another place to stay and one of his friends had a small place up for sublet.

We rented a van (I highly recommend UHaul if you ever need to rent a van) and with my wife driving her wagon and me driving the van, we caravan'd up to Keene.

My son had everything all ready to go and it took us about two hours to load the car and the van. My wife and I headed home made it home by 2:00, unloaded the stuff into the garage and returned the van by 3:30.

All-in-all, the day went pretty well and  when he's done with his job up there and he's ready to head back here, he needs to pack up less than a carload and leave.


My brother is doing pretty damned well and he is talking about getting released from the hospital tomorrow. Not bad for a guy who had open-heart surgery on Thursday.


The Red Sox won last night and again today. That measn they are once again tied with the Orioles for first place the ALEast. They are one game behind the first place Rangers in the American League.


Enjoy these links:

Friday, June 10, 2016

I hope they take all three games

The Red Sox start a three-game series against the worst team in the American League so I'm really hoping they win all three of those games.


My brother seems to be doing pretty well. He's sore (they had to crack open his chest, so yea, he's gonna be sore) but he's in good spirits and it seems that his surgery went well.

And for that we are all very happy.


I stayed awake a little too late last night watching the Penguins lose to the Sharks so I'm probably not going to last through more than a few innings tonight.

While I do that, you can click on these:

Thursday, June 9, 2016

Too windy to fly today

Hell, it was too windy to walk today.


One of my younger brothers had some significant surgery today and we are all very happy & relieved to hear from his wife that he came through it pretty well.

Now it's time for rest, recovery and relaxation.


I'm not even gonna mention the fact that both choices for President of the United States have really bad hair styles.

Oh, and they're both arrogant pricks.


The Red Sox are travelling to Minnesota today and tomorrow they will start a three-game series against the Twins. That means I'll be spending my evening looking for something to watch.

While I do that, you can try these links out for size:

Wednesday, June 8, 2016

Interesting day of flying.

The windsock at the landing end of the runway showed a right crosswind. The windsock at the departure end of the runway showed a left crosswind. In other words, the wind was blowing in two different directions within a distance of 3,000 feet.

It made for some interesting takeoffs and some very interesting landing.

And the start of my lesson was just as interesting. Just as I was getting ready for my initial departure, an aircraft showed up in the pattern with no radio transmission. The pilot gave no indication that he was joining the pattern and he gave no indication that he was landing. This meant I had to sit and wait to see what he was doing.

He landed, cleared the runway and I took off. Once I finished with my lesson, I asked the staff what he was doing. Turns out he had a defective radio and he was bringing the aircraft in for service.

To misquote Rosanne Rosanna Danna: It's always something. If it's not a silent plane, it's bizarre winds.


I stayed awake through 4 innings last night and I'm going to try to do the same thing tonight. Fortunately, they won last night and I'm really hoping they win again tonight.

I'll find out tomorrow morning.


Here are today's links:

Tuesday, June 7, 2016

Ground school ain't easy!

Several weeks ago, my CFI told me about a online tool he used for his ground school when he was going for his ATP (airline transport pilot) certification. He suggested it would help me with the FAA test I have to take.

I bought a subscription and I've been studying / testing quite a bit because I'd like to take the written test sooner rather than later.

Man, there is a lot of stuff to learn and it's all important.

Things like:
  • What happens when you travel from an area of low pressure to an area of high pressure?
  • What happens to a magnetic compass when you are flying north and make a turn to the left?
  • Who has the right of way when two aircraft enter the pattern at the same time?
  • What is the lateral space of a class D airport?
Thank God they don't have airspace rotary's...

Wait. They do. It's called "the pattern".


The Red Sox are playing the Giants at 10:00 tonight. That's wrong, Just plain wrong, wrong, wrong.

There is no reason that those left coasters out in San Francisco can't watch a ball game at 4:00pm their time. If they did that, I would be able to watch baseball at 7:00pm my time instead of half past my bedtime.

Someone needs to smack the guy who does MLB scheduling because whoever decided sending an east coast team out to the west coast for a two-day series was a good idea needs to be rebooted.


Here are a few links you can visit if you are so inclined:

Monday, June 6, 2016

No solo today

The winds today were to unpredictable for my second supervised solo so we decided to do some navigation instead.

We left Northampton and flew to Orange. I did three touch & go's there and then flew to Turners Falls. At Turners, I did two more touch & go's before flying back to Northampton where I landed and we called it a day.

All toll, the flight lasted about an hour and it was a nice day to do a little site seeing in the Pioneer Valley. The route to Orange takes you along the Quabbin Reservoir and over some nice little mountains.

Western Massachusetts sure is beautiful to see from 3,000 feet.


No Red Sox but there is baseball. NESN is carrying tonight's game between the Pawtucket Red Sox and the Toledo Mud Hens.

I wonder if Max Klinger will be watching?


Try these links:

Sunday, June 5, 2016

I've been told I'm getting a little wordy again.

The Red Sox lost today and, as I write this, the Yankees / Orioles game is in a rain delay in the 8th inning. If they call the game now, the Yankees will win 1-0 and the Red Sox will remain in first place in the ALEast.

I think that's enough words for now.


Here are some links you might enjoy:

Saturday, June 4, 2016

He is floating like a butterfly

He was the greatest and he would tell you that every chance he got. Even after his body was destroyed by Parkinsons he remained a public man. He fought his disease as hard as he fought in the ring.

Back in 1996, he stood in front of the world, struggling mightily to hold his arms still long enough to light the Olympic torch in Atlanta.

He was a hell of an athlete and even though all the rednecks, hardhats and bigots of the world hated him when he changed his religion, changed his name and refused to participate in the Vietnam war, they all lined up to watch him when he fought Liston, Fraser and Foreman.

I'm not a fan of boxing but no one of my generation doesn't know who Muhammad Ali is and now, free of his disease, he is once again able to float like a butterfly and sting like a bee.


Key idiotic and arrogant phrase in this story: "They're wrong, they're mistaken."

No Mr. Galvin, they are not wrong. They just have an opinion that is different than yours. That does not make them wrong. I don't like tomatoes but that doesn't mean I think people that like tomatoes are wrong. I use a windows device but that doesn't mean I think people that use Apple machines are wrong.

Unfortunately for both the democrats and the republicans, your fanatical, centric, prejudicial belief that anyone who doesn't agree with you is wrong is what is causing people to vote for someone who may very well be among the most egotistical and insane people on the planet.

Twenty thousand people left the Massachusetts democratic party and you assume it was because of Trump. I believe that 20,000 people left the Massachusetts democratic party because of arrogant "I'm right and you're wrong!" racists like Obama, Warren, Patrick, Kerry, etc... These are people who automatically assume that when someone says, "I don't want me hard-earned dollars being used to buy someone on welfare a cell phone!" they don't want to help their fellow man.

And for the record, yes I did call them racists. They hate hard working, tax-paying, blue-collar workers. And that is a race of people that is getting smaller and smaller by the minute. The next time someone says, "We must be doing a good job because unemployment is down!" I'm going to jam a rolled up newspaper down their throats. The government doesn't measure unemployment. It counts the number of people receiving unemployment benefits. When someone's benefits run out, they drop off the roles of the unemployed and the government gets to say, "See! We told you unemployment is down!"

Our current choices for president of the United States is either a former reality TV host or Monica Lewinski's ex-boyfriends wife and, to be honest with you, that sucks.

I feel as if I have been betrayed by every single politician in office and I'm not alone in that feeling.


In case you are interested, the Red Sox lost last night which put them once again, in a tie for first place with the Orioles. They won today but the Orioles are playing the Yankees and right now, the Yankees can't win a game to save their lives. This means that I'll wake up tomorrow morning to find that the Red Sox and the Orioles are still in a first place tie.

There is a sadness in the Boston media about the way the last four games have gone. I understand that everyone would like the Red Sox to win every game they play but you gotta admit, being in first place a third of the way through the season isn't a bad thing. It's actually a pretty damned good thing.

And based on how Dave Dombrowski handles this team (Anyone seen Pablo Sandoval lately?), it's safe to assume that he will make some moves or advance some youngsters to get the pitching staff back on track.

I have faith and you should too.


Here are some links to click on:

Friday, June 3, 2016

They need to win.

The Red Sox managed to split the four-game series with the Orioles and now they are back in Boston to play a three-game series against the Blue Jays. They need to win at least two of those three games before they head out to the left coast to play the Giants in yet another inter-league series.

They are still in first place with a one game lead over the Orioles in the AL East and half a game lead over the Rangers in the AL.

As for the two recent losses, what can I say. Porcello has been pitching lights out for the last several games and he had one bad game. I'm not ready to hold that against him.

As for Kelly, he's still shaky. Sometimes he's great, other times he seems like Buchholz - afraid to throw the ball. The Red Sox optioned him down to Pawtucket so he can work out the kinks and they brought Noe Ramirez up to fill his spot.

Unfortunately, I'm not entirely sure that Ramirez is any better than Kelly.

Tonight it will be Price up against R.A. Dickey. Dickey is a knuckleball pitcher and the Red Sox have mixed results when they go up against him. I've seen them hit everything he throws and I've seen them swing and miss everything he throws.

I guess it just depends on fate.


While I urge the Red Sox on to victory via my special coaching TV, you can click on these:

Thursday, June 2, 2016

Dammit! I had to cancel flying.

Yesterday, my car informed me that the left headlight was burned out. This caused me to experience a major tantrum because I drive a Volvo, which is swedish for, "HaHaHa you fool! There is nothing you can fix on this car! You must take it to a dealer!" It has been my experience over the last 18 years of owning Volvos that replacing light bulbs is never easy. Ever.

Fortunately for me, I have the interwebs and I was able to find this informative, profanity-laced video on how to access and replace the left headlight.

Unfortunately, in the midst of all his colorful language, he neglected to mention that when you disconnect all of those hoses, vacuum lines and wires, you will cause a glitch in the matrix and the car's computer will make a random decision that there is a major problem with the brakes.

First it flashes a massage on the dashboard that says, "Reduced Brake Performance!"

Then it flashes a message on the dashboard that says, "Reduced Engine Performance!"

Then it goes into what is known as "limp mode".

Limp mode is a configuration where the computer tells the engine to run like shit and never accelerate beyond 15 or 20 miles per hour.

Oh, and by the way, it doesn't do this when you are in your driveway or on a side street. It waits until you are in the middle of a busy main drag going 40 mph. In my case, it came on quite suddenly while I was on Stony Hill Rd. heading to the Northampton Airport.

I managed to turn around , "limp" home and get the car in the garage. I called the airport, cancelled my lesson and texted my instructor just to be sure he got the message. Then I took all that "stuff" apart again just to make sure that nothing was disconnected.

After taking it apart and not finding anything amiss, I decided to go back to the intertubes to look up those two non-informative messages.

Amongst all of the talk about EMFs and AMTs and vacuum-assisted carborational hose clamps, I found one guy who said, "When you disconnect the throttle body wires and vacuum lines, you cause a glitch in the system. Try rebooting. Simply remove the negative battery cable from the battery for 10 minutes. The computer memory will flush itself, along with all the error codes, and you should be good to go."

Damned if he wasn't right.

I drained the ions from the electrical system and when I reconnected the battery cable, I still had a message about a brake issue but the engine ran fine. I drove around my neighborhood for a few minutes and the brake message went away.

Still, I was a little pissed that I had to cancel today's lesson. Today would have been three more touch & go's with my instructor and then three takeoff's & full stop landings as a solo. I was looking forward to it.


Try these links out:

Wednesday, June 1, 2016

The Great Bathroom Debate

There is a lot of talk lately about who is allowed to use what bathroom.

Some people call it discriminatory that transgenders are forced to use the bathroom of the gender they were born with while others claim it's perverted to allow people of one gender to use the bathroom designated for the other gender.

Here's what I think:

I don't care who is next to me in a public bathroom.

What I do care about is that I notice that there is always a long line at the ladies room. I don't know why there's always a line. Maybe women take longer to pee. Maybe women socialize in the bathroom, Maybe there are more of them and they have fewer stalls.

All I do know is I better not run into a long line at the men's room because women are using it.

If you are going to use my bathroom, pee, wash your hands and get the hell out. If you need to socialize, do it in the hallway or out in the parking lot. If you need to take a dump, go home. No one wants to deal with your stink so do your poopin' at home.

That's what I think.


My daughter got a pwanger yesterday. She needs it for her studies. I told her that I didn't know vets used pwangers on dogs (or cats or lizards or whatever). She said she didn't know they did either.

Maybe it's an Iowa thing.

And for the record, it's not actually called a pwanger. My daughter told me it's called a plexor or reflex hammer but to me, it's always been a pwanger. When I was a kid, every time Joe Stirlacci hit me in the knee with it, I said, "Pwang!" and he giggled like a school girl.


Oh, by the way, I solo'd today. I completed three takeoffs and three full-stop landings without an instructor.

That's right, I am now licensed to fly an aircraft by myself anytime I want.

Well, maybe not anytime I want. Maybe just during daylight and in good weather and remaining outside of class A, B, C and D airspace and staying within 25nm of my training airport. But other than that, anyotherdamnedtimeplace I want!

If you would like, here are two short videos my instructor took while watching me. This is my first solo takeoff and this is my first solo landing.

When you takeoff without an instructor in the right seat, you are thinking to yourself, "Hey! I can do this! This is easy!"

As you reach 800 feet and you turn crosswind, you are thinking to yourself, "Man, I know what I'm doing. This is great!"

As you turn downwind and reach 1,100 feet, you are looking around and thinking to yourself, "Wow, what a view. There's UMass over there. And look at Mount Sugarloaf! Man, the Connecticut is a beautiful river."

When you reach the end of the downwind leg, you suddenly start thinking about the things you need to do, "Set the flaps. Decrease RPMs. Begin your descent."

When you turn base, you think to yourself, "You're going too fast. You're too damned high! Push the nose down. Slow down! Raise the nose. Watch your airspeed!"

When you turn final and you see the end of the runway coming up at you, you think to yourself, "What the hell was I thinking. I have no idea how to fly this thing. I'm going to splatter this aircraft and myself all over the runway. It's gonna be a mess. They're gonna have to notify the FAA. The local news stations will come here and film the wreckage. I hope someone gives me a nice eulogy."

Then, all of a sudden, you cross the runway threshold, land the aircraft, apply the brakes and taxi over to your instructor. And that, my friends, is when you realize you did it. You realize that maybe, just maybe, you do know what you are doing and what you are doing IS THE ABSOLUTELY THE COOLEST FREAKIN' THING IN THE WORLD!

So you go do it a few more times, just to prove to yourself you really can do it.


While I bask in the joy of attaining a significant milestone in my quest to fly, you can click on these links: