It was eerily quiet outside the house last night. The funny thing is, I don’t really know what I was hoping to hear. Whatever it was, I didn’t hear it. And I’m a bit troubled by it.
I think it has something to do with Tropical Storm Ernesto headed our way. Maybe the animals and insects outside are hunkering down, naturally more aware of the upcoming weather than we “modernized” humans. While I’m not concerned about the tropical storm, I think the critters outside know something is on the way.
I’ve been incommunicado today, giving advanced training on our wonderful product to our other sales engineers. I’m flying without a net, just letting the attendees tell me what they want to learn. I’m having a blast doing it, too. It’s so refreshing to teach something new rather than the same old “introducing our product” spiel. And these guys are smart so I don’t have to belabor the small stuff. They can figure it out.
I’m getting an early start on training tomorrow in an effort to get these guys out of here before Tropical Storm Ernesto pays us a visit Thursday. Sure, the winds will be piddily by the time it gets here but there will still be the threat of flooding and tornadoes. In a way it reminds me of the first training I did when started at $LAST_COMPANY. It was held in the fall of 2003 when the last tropical storm came through Raleigh. We were in the Clarion Hotel in downtown Raleigh: the big round hotel on Hillsborough Street. I’ll never forget the feeling of standing on that balcony and hearing the wind howl through that cylindrical building.
Oh, and another thing. I took the guys back to the hotel after dinner and pulled up right behind a satellite truck for the The Weather Channel. You know if you see these guys show up you’re in for some wild weather!
Would the media have fallen all over the JonBenet Ramsey story if she had been named Jane or Mary?
Today’s Washington Post notices today what I noticed last week: Osama Bin Laden isn’t wanted by the FBI for the attacks of 9/11. Nowhere on his most wanted poster does it mention the September 11, 2001 attacks on the Pentagon or the World Trade Center.
The article says its because Bin Laden’s never been charged with the attacks. In a way I’m glad to see the FBI is going by the book on this one, and only listing crimes for which a suspect has been indicted.
Rule of law. What an amazing concept. If only the rest of the gummint held this standard.
I’m listening now as the air conditioner in my office slowly tears itself apart. Bad bearings have once again caused it to wheeze as it runs, providing some grating background noise as I work. Left unaddressed for a few days, it will increase to a point where one cannot think.
The air conditioner is a fussy, mechanical affair, largely unchanged since its invention in 1842. That’s when Dr. John Corrie of Apalachicola, Florida thought to use a compressor to cool his hospital patients. A compressor is still at the heart of today’s air conditioners.
Still, in a hundred and sixty years compressors haven’t evolved much. Like the one squealing over my head right now, they need frequent maintenance, they’re very sensitive to voltage changes, and they consume a tremendous amount of electricity. Why, after 160 years of cooling air, do we still use such a troublesome part?
Why do places like California and New York suffer blackouts in the heat of summer? They do because of electricity demand fueled by air conditioner compressors. People don’t turn on more lights or run more equipment when it gets hot. That surge in electricity demand is all air conditioning.
There are ways of cooling things which do not require a compressor. A recent technology called thermoacoustics uses sound to do the work. While thermoacoustic refrigerators are still under development, they promise to solve many of the issues plaguing modern air conditioning. Should they catch on, air conditioners will become more reliable, perhaps even more quiet, and use a fraction of the electricity the compressor models use. Our need for oil, coal, and neutrons to cool ourselves will drop as well. It will be nothing short of revolutionary.
With every whine and grind of the compressor above me, I long more for this cooling revolution.
The sailboat officially became part of the family this weekend, though we don’t have a name for it yet. Then again, that’s how Hallie started off and look where she is today!
I picked it up Friday afternoon and hauled it back home. It was the first time I’ve towed a boat. Everything went well until I got to my neighborhood and collected stares from all of our neighbors, who now probably think we’re loaded. I don’t think I’ll ever be comfortable with appearing wealthy (like I’ll ever have that problem!) Still I don’t like looking pretentious. I parked the boat (or more accurately, I had my CDL-carrying neighbor park the boat) between the houses where conveniently it can’t be seen until you’re right next to it.
There it sat all day Saturday while I attended a boating safety course at Lake Wheeler park and Kelly and the kids did volunteer work for Hallie’s preschool. I had been looking forward to taking it out for a sail Sunday with the previous owner, who volunteered to “show me the ropes,” but got a call during my class from him saying he couldn’t make it. Fortunately, my friend Ralph agreed to take us out and so we made plans for a trip this morning.
I had loaded up the boat with all our safety equipment when we got the call that Ralph was ready to join us. Kelly loaded the kids in the car and we towed the boat down to the boat ramp at Jordan Lake. An hour later, Ralph and I had the boat rigged and ready to go. It would be up to me to back it down the ramp and into the water.
I’d never put a boat in before. If you’ve never done it, it can be the most intimidating thing you can do. I spent fifteen minutes just getting the boat lined up to where it was straight on the ramp. Then a few more harrowing minutes later it was floating free while the minivan’s exhaust pipe blew bubbles in the lapping water. Note to self: minivans aren’t ideal for launching boats.
Once it was in the water the crew could finally board and shove off. I’m used to smaller boats where a good push with my arm can launch them away from the dock. That’s not so effective with this boat since its too big! I turned back to the outboard motor behind me, its bizarre controls unfamiliar and unlabled. I couldn’t even figure out how to lower it into the water! Our fun day was off to a very slow start. I do know how to use a starter rope, so at least I could do something. A bit of fiddling later and our engine was puffing smoke and leading us away from the launching ramps.
I discovered my next problem right then: sailboats and outboards have an uneasy coexistence. The sailboat’s rudder shared steering duty with the outboard, meaning whenever I had to turn the boat I had to steer both the outboard and the rudder. It was easy to forget which needed to be doing what.
Thank goodness Jordan Lake is a big lake! I simply pointed the boat out towards the wind and waited. Ralph put up the sails while Kelly kept the kids entertained in the cabin. With the sails raised, Ralph and I took our positions in the cockpit and waited to start moving.
We waited. And we waited. The wind that was promising a minute earlier had now dwindled considerably. The 10 MPH winds promised by the morning weather forecast had not materialized. We ended up having a wonderful float within clear view of our launching ramp starting point.
By this time it was nearing noon. Kelly and the kids had an appointment to make, so we headed back in. All told, we probably put twice as much time into rigging and unrigging the boat as we did actually sailing. That doesn’t take into account the 45 minutes it took each way to travel from our home to Jordan Lake. We made another note to ourselves to drive separate cars next time we bring the kids. That way the boat could be rigged before they arrive, making the trip more pleasant for them.
And its not like they didn’t have fun, once we were going. All the time spent working on the boat made them hot and cranky. Stuffing them then into a cabin with little air passing through wasn’t adding any to their joy. Still, they did seem to enjoy being topside when there was some wind blowing. I think they’d like to go again.
Kelly was jealous of me for the time I spent topside. She’s itching for the chance to sail her, too. We’re thinking the next sail we take will involve having a babysitter take the kids while we sail. That way we can both concentrate on sailing, rather than keeping our junior sailors occupied.
I had just gone through the holy terror of dragging the boat up the ramp when I looked back to see the wind blowing nicely all across the lake. Bah.
When I returned the boat to our newly-acquired storage space, I backed it into its slot like I’d been doing it all my life. Like everything we did today, we knew that next time would be better. My boat parking certainly improved.
So our “shakedown cruise” wasn’t the best experience we’ve had, but we accomplished what we wanted. We learned how to rig and unrig the boat, we learned how to work the motor, and we gained experience launching and recovering the boat. It wasn’t perfect, but there weren’t any disasters either so we did okay. By the time I’m inviting y’all out for a cruise we’ll have this thing down to a science.
Fair winds and following seas, shipmates.
I have guilty pleasure for Paul McCartney’s cheesy 70’s period.
Paul McCartney And Wings
Let ‘Em In
{Refrain}
Someone’s knocking at the door
Somebody’s ringing the bell
Someone’s knocking at the door
Somebody’s ringing the bell
Do me a favor, open the door and let ’em in
Continue reading
A New York satellite TV dealer named Javed Iqbal was recently arrested simply for providing access (no, actually for agreeing to provide access) to a certain satellite channel. You won’t see Disney cartoons on this particular channel, as its al-Manar, a channel that acts as the propaganda arm of Hizbollah, the Lebanese terrorist group. (Read USA Today’s recent profile of Al-Manar).
Now I don’t happen to agree with Al-Manar’s message. After all, for hatred and one-sided, venom-spewing propaganda there’s always Fox News. But aside from all that, it is a clear violation of the First Amendment to make listening to an opposing viewpoint a crime. That’s just what the Department of Treasury did in December 2004 when it branded the television channel “a terrorist entity” and made all financial transactions between Al-Manar and Americans unlawful.
How a video signal can be considered dangerous is beyond me. Guns, yes. Bombs, yes. But not a TV signal. As far as I know, no one’s ever died from watching TV.
Blocking broadcasts is something cold-war Soviets did. It’s what Castro’s Cuba does. You expect it from totalitarian governments. It’s not something a supposedly free country – one which supposedly values freedom of speech – engages in. Even the oppressive, Islamic government of Iran can’t stop the spread of thousands of satellite dishes on homes across the country.
Is Hizbollah a terrorist organization? Undoubted and unabashedly. Is Al-Manar being used to further their terrorist goals? Perhaps. But freedom of speech is freedom of speech. You either accept that every idea has a right to be expressed – whether you agree or disagree – or you don’t. If you restrict speech – ANY speech – it isn’t free anymore.
I hope this New York guy’s case to court and he wins. And then he sues the pants off the Treasury Department. A government that can tell us what we can and can’t watch and whom we can and can’t believe poses a bigger threat to our freedom than any terrorist.
Oh, and I need to tell you I’m obsessed with our new sailboat! We don’t even have it home yet and have never put it in water and I’m obsessed with it. I find myself daydreaming about it when I’m at work.
We take it for our first sail on Sunday, following a day spent Saturday in a boating education class. Boy will I be happy when we finally shove off!
To continue my previous post about the beach trip, we did wind up taking pictures Thursday morning. A little before everyone was supposed to meet, I surveyed the heat and light and suggested we put it off until the evening. Well, that went over like a lead balloon! We pressed on anyway, however. Some of us (ok, just me) were in a cranky mood and it showed.
Everyone was ready for something different after that, so Jeff and Suzie took their kids on a trip to Seaside while Kelly and I put ours back in the pool. Then it was baths and naps for the kids, followed by free time for Kelly and I. Kelly usually took a walk down the beach during naps but I took one Thursday. I was feeling like a slug after hearing how Kelly and my mom were getting all this exercise. After an hour’s walk I returned to the condo.
We had our cookout that evening, with friends and relatives coming over. Jeff manned the grills and I kept him company while everyone else ran roughshod around the condo. It was a screaming, giggling fest for the kids and a memorable night for the adults. In spite of the noise, I thought it ended too soon. There’s never enough time to visit with good friends and relatives.
We crashed early again that night and woke up on Friday on the late-ish side for a change. Yet another morning spent at the pool, though by now the seaweed had been pushed sufficiently offshore to allow some beach time. We played at both before doing our now-familiar bath-and-nap routine.
We had all talked about taking another stab at some pictures that evening. As the day wore on, storm clouds began to gather on the horizon. My parents were out visiting relatives in the city while we were battening down the hatches at the condo. When it looked like we were going to get rained out, I called my mom and told them we were going out to dinner instead. She sounded so disappointed we weren’t taking pictures that I was bummed the rest of the night. The whole time we were at Pineapple Willie’s I was wishing my parents were with us. Kelly had to ask if I was feeling okay.
When we saw rain bands rolling up the beach towards us, we got out check and headed back to the condo. I broke out my guitar and played for the family while lightning flashed outside. I went to bed uneasily knowing our final day of vacation was approaching.
Our last day began once again at the pool. (Hmm. Perhaps our next vacation will be to the Cary Holiday Inn.) This pool morning was special though as our kids learned how to swim! Travis would go completely underwater and kick towards us, while Hallie would jump in and kick and paddle her way to us. It was amazing to watch both of them just take to it – all in the same day! This, along with many other reasons, had us wishing it wasn’t our last day at the beach.
Saturday evening we had another round of pictures. With the sun setting and temperatures cooling off, it was an ideal time to take pictures. The shots came out fantastic and eveyone enjoyed the experience. Several of the pictures already have homes in picture frames around the house.
Our photo session went straight through what would’ve been dinner time, so everyone scrambled to find dinner. Our family was the only one to venture out, while my parents and Jeff and Suzie’s family ate in their rooms due to the late hour. We drove over to a place my parents ate at for lunch earlier in the week; a place called J. Michael’s tucked in the back of a crusty marina. After a modest wait, we were seated inside.
It was a dive by most every standard, but like all good dives it had incredible charm. The wait staff was very friendly and the mood was light. The kids worked on coloring books while Kelly and I inhaled our dinner salads. I ordered the Grouper Creole and was mesmerized by its out-of-this-world taste. Kelly had the grouper sandwich and was equally impressed. When a dive restaurant sticks around for 20 plus years, it must be doing something right. I consider it the best meal I’ve ever had in Panama City, outside of Grandma’s house of course!
Our food was so good, in fact, that it knocked the lights out of the place. Halfway through our entrees the power went out. The owner’s daughter seemed to have dealt with this before. We watched her dial what we took to be a well-worn cellphone number as she loudly denounced the crusty marina they were in. Apparently a transformer serving the marina blew up, which left the restaurant with only half its usual power. Everyone was apologetic about having to close but I thought it made a memorable evening even more memorable. I made it a point to tell the frazzled owner’s daughter that we’d be back. Food like that is worth the trip.
We stayed up way too late packing our stuff for the trip home. Sunday morning came and we were on the road by 6:45 Central time. The kids were incredible in spite of Travis’s fever we detected early in the trip. In spite of that, we made it home that evening a little before 9 PM, incredible considering the distance and circumstances. It was wonderful to sleep in our own beds Sunday night!
Vacations always leave you different from when you left. I treasure the week spent with my family, watching my children grow up and spending more time with my parents than I do in three months. I know we can’t take big vacations every year, but the time spent together is the most important thing. That’s something I can’t ever get enough of.
