SR-71 Blackbird

SR-71 Blackbird

Last night I was talking with someone familiar with our country’s premier spy plane, the legendary SR-71 Blackbird. He sent me a link to this exciting account of a mission over Libya in 1986.

Intelligence agencies hate to give up capabilities. The rule in intelligence is that no system is ever retired unless something has taken its place. There is no known aircraft that can match the Blackbird’s performance. The “sled,” as it was known to its pilots, has been retired. Just imagine what we must have now.
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Off the hook!

I called AT&T Small Business Services today to check on the status of my long-standing unpaid-bill dispute (as well as my short-standing new bill dispute). After dealing with an initially confused rep by the name of Daniel, I got confirmation that I’m no longer listed as the responsible party for these accounts. Hallelujah!

I called the NC Attorney General’s office to update my file with this information. The specialist working the case asked me if AT&T was going to contact her with an update, to which I laughed. Huge corporations have little time to trifle with such things as the law, you know (thank goodness the telecom immunity bill has been shelved, for now at least).

Two steps forward, one back?

Just when I thought I was out of the woods with AT&T, I returned the second call I got yesterday, the one from Barbara Blatt. Ms. Blatt works at AT&T’s collection agency. I half-way listened to her spiel until her mention of the amount due brought me back from my daydreaming.

“Whoa, there,” I said. “This one’s $161.23? Is this something new?”
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Filter changing time

If your home’s air filters are so clogged that they’re actually whistling when your heater runs, it may be time to change them.

Of course, mine weren’t that bad, you know. I’m talking theoretically.

Ahem. Hey, look at the ponies!

AT&T gives up?

Wow. My ongoing saga with AT&T/Bellsouth appears to be reaching its conclusion. What’s more, it is concluding in my favor! I had a message left for me yesterday from Ms. Fuller, a representative at AT&T Southeast (which I assume is AT&T’s new name for Bellsouth). She referenced the N.C. Attorney General Consumer Protection filing and apparently was empowered to make things right, because she put in an order to AT&T’s collection department to drop the matter and to remove it from my credit report (if it has been sent there, which I don’t believe it has). She said because it was a business line that AT&T Small Business Services needed to actually act on it, but said she would send her request straight to them.
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Stellarium

I was poking around my Mac tonight when I remembered I once downloaded Stellarium, the GPL star chart. “Awesome” is the only way to describe Stellarium. It draws the night sky as seen from anywhere in the world. You can instantly find any object in the sky. It can even point a motorized telescope. I hope to take it in the back yard at night and get better acquainted with the night sky.

Also check out Celestia, another GPL space viewer, only Celestia lets you fly through space to visit an object up close and personal.

Hard to believe software like this is freely available. It is, though, thanks to the GPL.

Back To Annapolis

I’m heading back Monday to Annapolis, that beautiful sailing capital of the U.S. I’ll be there to conduct a few days of training. Seems like only last week I was there. Oh yeah, it was only last week.

Overall, its a fun place to work and the travel isn’t bad. The drive up is usually a pretty smooth trip. I’ll go up, do what I need to do, and then return late Wednesday.

Weekend recap

I’m closing in on the last minutes of the weekend. It was a good one with lots of Daddy time with the kids. Kelly took Hallie to see The Nutcracker Saturday morning, leaving Travis and me to work on some projects. We went to Lowes to pick up mulch and a few other items and returned home to finish our flowerbed project around the mailbox. After naps for the kids, we had dinner with our friends yesterday evening and had a great time.
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Spectacular meteor!

The family went to Cafe Capistrano for an excellent dinner tonight. As we were getting into our car, Hallie shouted “Daddy, look up!” As I did, I saw a spectacular meteor go streaking horizontally across the eastern sky before it dissolved. It was a round ball so bright the crescent moon didn’t even wash it out. I can’t recall any meteor that ever lasted long enough for someone to point it out to someone else, but there it was.

I was unsure what I had just seen until I remembered reading mention of the annual Geminid meteor shower in the paper yesterday. Supposedly the shower peaked at noon today, but the mega meteor we saw came at 7:06 PM.

If this is what we can expect from this year’s shower it should be worth watching indeed!

Home again

I’m back from my jaunt up north to Annapolisburg. It was drizzly and cool the whole visit. Quite a shock to pull up to my driveway to 75 degree weather after starting off so chilly.

The company party was fun. I enjoyed talking to my coworkers and their S.O.’s. Everyone always has something interesting to say. I always learn something from any one I talk to.

One of the meetings I attended was a mandatory sexual harassment session. I had to ask if it was proper for my female officemate to always be jumping into my lap while I worked. Of course that particular officemate is no longer with me, alas.