It occured to me how much I enjoy walking back to my PC after having been away for a while.

It’s not that I’m necessarily enamored with my work here. It’s because of the screensaver. My Linux screensaver runs the old Unix “fortune” application, one that prints quotes, stories, jokes and other text items across the screen.

Thanks to fortune and Linux, I become wiser every day.

I used to think that pilots were introverts. I mean, why would anyone want to spend their day locked up in a little room, in front of a panel of dials and sitting on their ass all day?

Then I took a look at what I do for a living. Ahem.

But seriously, I’ve never met a pilot who didn’t want to talk my ear off about flying. Makes me wonder how I ever thought of them as introverts.

Even though my flight simming didn’t pan out, even though the wireless network card balked at my laptop, the evening is not a total waste as the N.C. State Wolfpack trounced the North Carolina Tar Heels, 77-59.

On my way out of the office, I bragged to my boss that I was going home to fly. He knew how anxious I was to try out my new CH Products yoke and rudder pedals. Problem is, I stayed grounded.

I just bought Fly!II, thinking that a new yoke deserved a new flight simulator. Heh. It runs like a snail on my Pentium 266. Even my Voodoo3 card can’t help. Ugh.

So I fight with it for hours; still no luck. Thinking that FlightGear was still installed under Linux, I tried it there. Well, RedHat 7.2 broke OpenGL, so FlightGear doesn’t work.

I could’ve gotten my pilot’s license by now. Sheesh

Dave, the guy I just met this morning when he delivered plane stuff to me, did it again! He stopped by after lunch to give me an FAA sectional map and the address of yet another flight school.

Any minute I expect to find a set of Cessna keys on my desk.

Expressing interest in flying is a like joining a cult: once you express interest, the “members” make sure you don’t back out!

Out of the blue, so to speak, I got a visit from another pilot here at the company. He heard from Bill, my pilot boss, that I was hooked on flying.

I’d never met the guy before, but here he was in my cubicle, handing me a folder on flight schools at a local airport and a book on Federal Aviation Regulations.

One thing that pilots all have in common is their zeal for flying. They can’t wait to tell you about it. It’s clear that by becoming a pilot I’ll be joining a very friendly, chummy group of people.

It’ll be a week of public service this week. Last night I led a meeting of Garner Crimestoppers, a group whose mission is incredibly easy since crime in Garner is almost nonexistent. Unfortunately, so was attendence. Oh well.

Tonight I meet with the web group for the North Carolina Museum of Art Contemporaries, a group working to increase museum membership (and donations, natch). Ah, the lengths I will go in making the world a better place.

The ticket diatribe below grew out of my frustration in finding an easy source for tickets to Contemporaries events. I was pitching Etix, an innovative Raleigh company doing print-at-home ticketing. They seemed like a perfect match. My scheming came to a screeching halt when I found out the museum has an exclusive contract with TicketMaster, meaning that we’re SOL for doing easy tickets. Monopolistic bastards!

From the North Carolina General Statues:

GS 14-344. Sale of admission tickets in excess of printed price.

Any person, firm, or corporation shall be allowed to add a reasonable service fee to the face value of the tickets sold, and the person, firm, or corporation which sells or resells such tickets shall not be permitted to recoup funds greater than the combined face value of the ticket, tax, and the authorized service fee. This service fee may not exceed three dollars ($3.00) for each ticket except that a promoter or operator of the property where the event is to be held and a ticket sales agency may agree in writing on a reasonable service fee greater than three dollars ($3.00) for the first sale of tickets by the ticket sales agent. This service fee may be a pre-established amount per ticket or a percentage of each ticket. The existence of the service fee shall be made known to the public by printing or writing the amount of the fee on the tickets which are printed for the event. Any person, firm or corporation which sells or offers to sell a ticket for a price greater than the price permitted by this section shall be guilty of a Class 2 misdemeanor. (1941, c. 180; 1969, c. 1224, s. 8; 1977, c. 9; 1979, c. 909; 1981, c. 36; 1985, c. 434; 1991, c. 165; 1993, c. 539, s. 232; 1994, Ex. Sess., c. 24, s. 14(c).)

Once again I see why I have been leaving so early to get to work. My commute took me over an hour this morning, on account of my leaving an hour later than my normal time (7AM).

Traffic is one of the major bummers in taking this current contracting job. In the future, I will turn down jobs that require more than a 20 minute commute, tops.