September has been great! I decided to get my scuba certification this month in anticipation of my trip to the Florida Keys in October and I just finished my open water dives. So...this means I didn't drown.

This is another one of those things that I would recommend to anyone looking to expand their horizons. The classwork is painfully simple. The pool work is fairly easy but very funny. I'll explain in a minute. The open water dives are a blast.

Can you remember to breathe...good, then you can scuba dive. To be fair, it is a bit more complex than that. Being underwater for extended periods of time is very unnatural. They say you'll always remember the first time you are underwater...and breathing. Hell yeah you will, because you think you are going to die any moment. So what that you are in the three foot end of the pool. Fact...not all scuba gear is the same. Fact...scuba shop rental gear varies greatly.

On the first pool session, I had a regulator that made me feel as though I was having a very bad asthma attack. The air is very dry which you get used to quickly, but on some regulators you really have to work to draw the air out of the tank. Now, some regulators on the market have zero resistance breathing or are much easier breathing. This information would have been much more beneficial to me prior to taking those first very labored breaths at the bottom of the pool. Additionally, it would have been nice to have a wetsuit where the zipper worked. To remedy this, I just went to another dive shop and bought a wet suit before the next class. Problem solved and I have a pretty cool looking wet suit that keeps my warm and from looking like I am stuffed into some sausage casing.

The second pool session I ended up with a different regulator. This one had such easy breathing that you barely knew it was there. I loved that regulator and the pool session went much better. Additionally, by this time I had silicone lube to smear on my mustache and now my mask actually sealed on my face allowing it NOT to completely fill with water every time I went below the surface.

NOTE: After you arrive at the pool and take all your gear out of your vehicle...you MUST put your keys (with the nice key fob) in a safe DRY place that is not your swimsuit pocket!!!

The skills practice is unnerving at first as your instincts try to take over in a situation where they have no practical application. Taking you mask off and putting it back on underwater doesn't have anything to do with your breathing. But your brain tells yourself that you are in a foreign environment and somehow with out your sight you are about to drown. You have to consciously REMEMBER to stay calm and BREATHE. Your mask being off doesn't mean you can't get air...duh! Seriously, it is one of the harder things to do underwater as you start to think that must mean you are about to lose all your air...completely irrational.

Also of note, big people need big weights to keep them from floating up to the surface. AND if you are a large barrel chested individual with a large lung capacity, good luck trying to maintain your buoyancy control. Breath in...heading to the surface...breath out...heading to the bottom. Lots of fun trying to get that one just right.

You put twelve people in your local YMCA pool with sixty pounds of weights and gear, then add fins. Next, you will really wish you had a camera. At first we are all bobbing around like dorky corks banging and clanking into each other as we try to move from the surface to the bottom. It is just hilarious watching everyone careen into each other and the pool during these pool sessions. Soon you are yearning for the open water and the promise of more space (and hopefully less careening)

Our Open Water Dives were in the Puget Sound. This is a large inland fjord that is flooded with sea water from the Pacific with its most notable port being Seattle. We were down on one of the fingers west of Seattle in the Hood Canal. The water temp was about 50 degrees...so yeah, it was cold. As such we had to wear full body two piece wet suits, neoprene hoods, boots, and gloves. One thing about scuba is that there is a LOT of gear. Also, since this is seawater, not pool water, we all had to use more weight to stay underwater.

After standing in the 75 degree sun for about twenty minutes in a black neoprene full body suit covering you from head to toe, the cold water felt just glorious! Visibility for the first twenty feet was awful which makes you want to panic and shoot straight for the surface. I mean, come on, for God's sake...there are eels down there...and octopus too! Eventually you get to about 35 feet and visibility suddenly clears. The bottom is only about six feet away and no Loch Ness Monsters or Orcas in sight...whew. There are however loads of slimy sea anemones and Pacific Sea Cucumbers which look like an eighteen inch spiky jelly roll...yech.

Over Saturday and Sunday we do a total of four dives practicing our pool trained skills and ending each dive with a sightseeing component. This was great. I got to see tons of fish, most of which I couldn't identify (except the rockfish...yum!), a wolf eel, some prawns, and a lot of eating size dungeness crabs (oh, so it IS a marine sanctuary, which means we can't take them back for dinner?...damn!). Unfortunately the Hood Canal is having a lot of oxygen depletion problems right now so there were a lot of dead fish about.

The dinner Saturday night back at the bunk house was a wonderful dinner prepared by our dive instructors (oddly, no seafood...hmmm) and was much appreciated by all us tired, soggy, hungry divers. All in all it was one of the best weekends that I have had in a very long time. I met some truly fantastic people, learned a wonderful skill, and saw tons of awesome sights both in and out of the water. I can barely wait to start taking the Advanced Open Water training and maybe even the Underwater Photography course.

If you get the chance or even think you might enjoy it...take a scuba course...it is easier than you would expect!

Wow, it has been amazingly busy lately. I think I just got caught up on sleep and I am pretty sure that I am back in my original timezone.

I went back to Indiana for my usual inspection of the troops on July 19th. Did the annual employee reviews on Thursday. All went well and everyone seems happy with the raises this year. They've certainly earned it. One year of working remotely and no big problems (that we couldn't work out) or burning down of the facilities as Levi likes to point out.

Three weeks before this trip my friend and soon to be business partner, Kris, found a fantastic deal on an entire brew on premises shop that had gone out of business and was liquidating the entire contents. So, we hoped we got a great deal for pennies on the dollar, although sight unseen for the most part. The only catch being that it was in Florida. Kris thought it was somewhere near Orlando. No problem. I happen to have a big box truck that we could use to go and pick up this merchandise.

So...Friday morning, which has a humidity level somewhere around 112% as it is beading up on the windshield already, I hop into the box truck and am alarmed to find that the AC is not working. Nothing, nada, just blowing outside temp air. Uh oh, but "oh well, we have to make this run." Kris and I figure we can tough it out since we have towels to sit on and clear our sweating brows. Also, I am either sick or allergies are killing me as I can barely speak (or breathe) for the next three days. Oh, I wish I had remembered to bring my asthma medication disk, breathing and talking seem critical for the next few days. We load the cooler between the seats and by 7:30 am we are on our way south.

The next surprise is when Kris tells me that our destination is not Orlando, but Davie, Florida. Davie! That is in Miami! Oh, and we have to go to Davie, then back to Fort Myers (Punta Gorda) actually to pick op some of the remaining items, then to the guy's house for the last bit. Well we've only got until Monday as I have to be back in Indiana on Tuesday for work and then back on a plane on Wednesday.

We make pretty good time as the sun and temperature both climb. By Nashville, TN we've about had it. We pull over in Murfreesboro and take the truck to a Goodyear shop. It is currently 96 degrees. Yes, the do AC work, and yeah, they can get us in the bay in an hour. Turns out all it needed was a recharge. One hundred and forty-nine dollars, a cold beer for Kris and I, and two hours after pulling off the interstate we are back on the road.

Finally we make it to Florida and we are oh so very tired. We're trying everything to stay alert. So we switch to singing bad 80's tunes that are on the radio in very bad fashion while bobbing back and forth like Stevie Wonder. All of a sudden we both exclaim, "there are flashing lights>" Uh oh, the heat is after us at 1:30 am, not much chance of out running them in a box truck, so we pull to the side of the road.

The cop asks for the license and registration which Kris hands over. "Uh, is something wrong, 'cause I don't think we were speeding?" He informs us very politely that we just blew past an agricultural inspection point. I didn't think we had to stop at those since we are under 10,000 pounds gross. Turns out ALL trucks (including pickups) must stop. "But we're not hauling agriculture" I proclaim. Turns out they verify this by having you pull over. Oh well, no harm no foul, and he just gives us a written warning. A ticket would have been $167. We pull back onto the interstate laughing our asses off. A half hour later we call it a day by stopping in Gainesville.

On Saturday afternoon we finally make it to Davie to the brew on premises shop of the merchandise owner's friend. He gives us the grand tour and answers our volley of questions. Then we're off to Punta Gorda for more of the supplies. Along Alligator Alley we see many reasons for the name. I must have seen at least a dozen gators on the drive back across Florida. We load the supplies onto the box truck and dripping with sweat, head to his house to pick up the two pieces that were the main reason for this entire journey. The Sabco brewing system and the 12 tap keg cooler are in far better shape than we had even imagined. All of a sudden the entire trip was worth it.

We stop in Ocala to catch some sleep and Sunday we are on the route home. Georgia is a bit boring and smells kinda funny, but we just keep on truckin' and make it to Chattanooga for the evening. Having just spent the past three days cooped up in a box truck we decided to call it an early day and stop for a good dinner and rest. We found a good hotel in downtown Chattanooga and headed out for some dinner. Ate a wonderful meal at Easy's Seafood, hit a brewpub for a beer, then off to a local watering hole for a couple more beers. Oh, what a great stop. I almost wish I had more time to check out the downtown, the aquarium, and the duck boats. Maybe next time.

Monday is a seemingly long and tedious drive the remaining distance to Bloomington. We drop off the few big pieces of cargo at Kris' house and I take the box truck back to Gosport. We decided we would unload the next day as we were just beat by the time we pulled in to Bloomington. All that way and even with our hodgepodge method of packing without any packing pads or blankets we didn't break a single thing, including the 24 glass carboys we had been hauling.

Wednesday I get an amazing behind the scenes tour of the Indianapolis Museum of Art from Angela, then off to the airport for the ride back to Oregon. The next day Amy and I run back to Portland to pick up our friends, Glenn & Kalpana who will be visiting for a week. By now, Amy is sick and has allergy, sinus, or coughing issues for the next five days.

We spend the next week running them around Oregon and spending some fine time at the coast. What a blast. I love showing friends the Oregon we have come to know and love. I am sad that they returned to Indiana yesterday, but am so happy to have the chance to catch up on sleep and work now. It has been two weeks of non stop running and I am looking forward to a break. Oh so much work to catch up on, but that can wait.

I just feel like whining for a bit. Not my typical style and not a good behavior for a pirate.

I am just frustrated and I don't think I should be. The weather here is great even with the occasional mist and rain. I have just spent a glorious weekend at the Oregon Country Fair which totally freakin' rocked. I then went on a 10 - 12 mile kayak excursion with my bro and his missus which was much fun. Although, I think next time I should work up to these things. The last time I had been kayaking was over a year and a half ago when I was back in Indiana. I am going ocean salmon fishing (or chumming) in two days. I have the luxury of owning my own business and working from home. Biz is doing fine but not growing as I'd like. Yet I am bored.

Last night I pondered this and I think that I am not getting out enough. We've officially been here in Oregon a year now and I still don't know very many people. Sure, I talk to my 70+ year old neighbors when I am out mowing the lawn and such, but I know almost no one my age. I also don't think I am being challenged enough. I need to step up more at work and lead the company in the direction that I want it to go, but I just am having a hard time with that lately. This was something I feared might happen by leaving the business in Indiana and moving out here to Oregon. I need to find a way to reconnect to what the business should be doing and where I should be taking it. I just seem a little unmotivated as of late (think six months).

I haven't been gliding lately as I decided that rather than be a pilot I 'really' just wanted to be a tourist. I don't find anything wrong with that, it just surprises me that I didn't 'love' it as much as I thought I would. The going up and lollygagging while looking around at all the pretty sights is fun, but the work involved to do the actual flying, and to do it well, I found rather boring and tedious.

I envy those people that seem able to find the one passion in their life and to devote themselves to it. I consider myself more of a swiss army knife (yes, like in the Buffett song) as I enjoy many activities and yet don't seem able to find any one single item to focus my life on. My brother on the other hand is 'obsessed' with sailing and devotes all his free time, energy, and money towards that end. My guess is that in about four years, he'll chuck it all and go sailing full time. I haven't stumbled upon anything like that in my life and I am still searching heartily.

I have a friend who wants us to embark on a microbrewery business in the next year or two. I like the idea, but am concerned that it too will be something in which I only have a passing fancy and will not be able to stay dedicated to its success for the long haul. On the other hand....there's beer, and people involved with this concept, so perhaps it is just what I am looking for.

Although I use one often,I am just not into computers and find them no different than my table saw. A tool, but certainly not something where I intend to spend copious amounts of time and energy. Business on the other hand is a fantastically fun game to be involved in. You take the risk and if you are lucky, you reap the rewards. You live or die (in a business sense) by your wits. I would very much like to find a means by which I could help other people start businesses of their own. Perhaps this is a direction I should be pursuing further. Yet, the corporate culture today is often annoying. It seems as though no one is interested in creating something pure and beautiful. Most I have talked with are simply in it for a quick buck, everyone wants to get rich quick. What about the ethics and morals that 'should' exist in business. Why are we all willing to sell each other down the river for a few dollars? Why are business schools preaching this quick buck mentality?

If you are looking for a better understanding of just how and why I think the world is becoming a horrible place just go see an Inconvenient Truth (the Al Gore movie). We all know better, but we don't do better, because it is easier to say that it is someone else's problem or 'let the government fix it.' Just like in the movie (see the Gore family tobacco farming section), until it effects each person in a personally profound way, it is easier to not change.

Aaaahhhh....there, I feel better. I mean Arrrrgh...I feel better.

It was a day that started out like any other...oh, who the hell am I kidding? Today was awesome. At least I can say that NOW.

I am still taking gliding lessons although last week was my last chance at ground crew for a while as all the little children are out of school and somehow need the money more than I do. What! My mommy and daddy aren't paying for my hobbies!

It was gorgeous at the field today. A light north wind and lots of sun. Just a few scattered high and light clouds (no, I do not know all the cloud names yet--just puffy or not puffy). Takeoff was good and I am doing pretty well flying on tow. I still have to make tons of small corrections. Nose up, left wing up slightly, right wing up more, nose down, stay behind the tow plane. All in all pretty good. Then we detach from the tow plane and make a slight right turn while the tow plane goes left. It is a little bumpier at 3000 feet than I am used to, but not too bad. I go into a steep right hand turn and here is where it gets interesting. I apply a little too much right stick, our airspeed slows a bit too much, and we are nose heavy. So she starts to pull nose down as we are going into a high banked turn without enough speed. This is sort of bad. So, I pull back on the stick thinking that I'll get the nose back up...wrong. This only exacerbates the situation and we are thrown into a very tight downward spiral. I am looking straight down the nose at the ground while we are spinning all too quickly...whoa!

Joe gets on the controls and pulls her back out to level flight. Whew! You have to use the opposite rudder to come out of the spin, THEN try to flatten the flight by bringing the nose back in line. In what I can only guess is about four to ten seconds...we have lost 800 feet of altitude! Talk about your lump in your throat. I was shaking like a leaf after we came out of that one.

A couple of minutes later, after my heart rate returns to something resembling human, I take the controls again as we head towards the airport. My turns after this are sloppy and I am being overly cautious. At this point, I still haven't figured out how I even got into the spin in the first place. We get back down to the runway and I finally feel able to catch my breath.

The guys on the ground come up saying "that was great!" I sure didn't think so. They explain that for your tests you have to show how to get into and out of a spin like that. Joe asks if I want to go up again. I decide that "yeah, but I need a few minutes to calm down." They all seem to think that I just tried to learn high performance maneuvers a little ahead of the normal pace. "You have to learn to do it sometime." "Yeah, but I wasn't planning on that being today!" Now, a couple of hours later, I just sort of look back on it and smile..."damn, that was wicked."

The next flight was a little sloppy in the turns but otherwise uneventful. I figured that I had better get back up on that horse. Inside, I was still pretty shaken.

Last week I had to fly the glider while a yellow jacket kept landing on me. Joe kept saying "you want me to hit it?" I just thought that leaving it alone would be better. Still, the damn thing landed on me before I was even off tow and I had to deal with him the entire flight and landing. I did a pretty good landing though...AND didn't get stung. Their response "Oh, that happens very rarely." Of course the bug would decide to come around to my glider on the exact day and time that I am out flying.

Surely tomorrow will be a little easier. I've already gotten all the hard obstacles out of the way...right?! Hmmm, maybe I'll re-read the flight training book again tonight.

BTW...breakfast actually stayed down, but I am not sure for how much longer that would have lasted ;-)

This weekend we took off for a couple of days of camping at the coast in Oregon. A great little state park with scads of sites all within walking distance to the beach and within a mile of Rogue Brewery...too sweet!

As we unpacked our pile of camping gear we realized it had in fact been something like five years since we last went camping. "Hey, that's where that went!" was uttered many times Friday evening as we found lots of long lost camping supplies.

I had been itching to go camping ever since we set foot in the state. However competing interests and the cool winter weather made that something less than ideal. We finally got there however, and armed with our new cheap Coleman tent (which has a freaking electric port/door no less) and a new cook stove we gleefully took over our small part of the campground.

There are a whole list of those things that seem just so typically Oregon and camping is one of them. I don't think you can spend much time in Oregon and not go camping...it would just be wrong. That got me to thinking about all the other things that are 'Oregonian' in nature. I'll make a list of them later, but back to the story. I realized that there was an entire gradient or skill set of Oregon adventures to be had. It reminds me of martial arts, or rather, what I have read about martial arts (not having taken any myself). I therefore determined that by going camping in Oregon we had just earned our Oregon Pink Belt! Sure, it doesn't sound as cool as a Black Belt, but you have to start somewhere. I think I may even be up to a Yellow Belt in Oregonian as I DID go crabbing at Newport last year! Damn, I am moving right up the ladder.

My brother and I determined that in order to get a Black Belt you'd have to walk up to a bear, kick it in the nuts, put it in a headlock and wrestle it to the ground. Scary as it may sound, I think I have met some people out here that might just very well have the Black Belt in Oregonian. It'll be a while before I kick a bear in the nuts. Next step...the Orange Belt ...salmon fishing or halibut fishing or some kind of cool big kick ass fishing. Catching it with your bare hands requires a much advanced belt. I don't know squat about fish...just that they are really tasty when grilled and served with butter. The rules for fishing out here should and probably do require their own badge. I'll let you know when I get that far.

In other news, we bought something a little more fuel efficient than the Cherokee! That could be pretty much anything, but as an early anniversary gift, I got Amy a 2006 New Beetle. It is diesel, which I like and I have to admit, it has tons more room in it than I originally thought it would. They are great cars and I am happy to drive that little 35mpg city/42 mpg highway bubble around. At least the diesel makes it sound a little more manly. Hmmm...what kind of flower do I want for the bud vase...could I just put a wrench or screwdriver in there to macho it up a bit?

The big plan is to eventually be brewing my own diesel. Trade in the Jeep for an older diesel truck to test it all out on and see how homemade biodiesel works. That'd be wicked cool. Maybe by the end of the year...we'll see. Hmmm...I wonder what color belt the biodiesel belt is?

Today was the second day of glider training and I had been running drills and practice sessions in my head all week. I finally got the chance to ask some of the questions that had developed in my brain over the past week. Again it was another perfectly serene day, the windsock hung straight down.

My first flight was pretty shaky...the controls just hadn't come back to me yet and I was too tense. Gliding is one of those things that you do better when you are relaxed. Me relaxed...I'll have to work at it. The second flight was much better and I felt significantly more comfortable putting the glider through the turns. I am also not leaning against the turns nearly so much as before. I feel like I am starting to get the hang of this...a little bit. Practiced lining up the glider alongside the runway for the approach glide path. Not too bad, still need to work on that yawing left and right though. I have this tendency to over-correct with the glider.

The Third flight was great. I felt a lot more confident in the turning radius of the glider and didn't pull the nose up so often on this flight. It went fast since I was staying fairly nose down, but it was even more enjoyable this way instead of that feeling as though I was constantly fighting the nose heavy glider by pulling back on the stick so much. Got to feel the glider start to shudder just as we reached a stall point. Interesting to see what it is like, but you don't really want to feel that when you are gliding. I brought it the farthest along the approach glide path of any flight yet and on this one it just clicked. There was one perfect moment there where I was relaxed, the glider was perfectly smooth in flight and the only sound was the whoosh of the air. It was truly beautiful. Of course that changes quickly and with a tight left turn we are on the runway and skidding down the asphalt.

I think I got into the good graces of the flight instructor today not only with the fact that I did much better in the cockpit, but that I was the only one to notice and mention just as we were about to takeoff on the second flight that his beloved old dog was wandering between us and the towplane on the runway...whew...that could have been really bad. Uh...Joe...Gumby is on the runway! Luckily any disaster was averted. Joe couldn't even see him with my fat head in the front seat and Gumby was right in the blind spot for the tow plane pilot.

I am going to be ground crew on Thursdays which will give me the opportunity to see some of the other gliders in action and get me some free flight time...too sweet...because I could see wanting some more flight time. When I asked if they ever took a glider apart and reassembled it if I could help out or watch, I thought they were going to come right out of their clothes. "REALLY" Hell, we got this one big heavy job that we need to do that with and nobody wants to do it, but hey, you're big, you'll be great." Hmmm...maybe I should learn to keep my mouth shut a bit longer.

Finally learned all the models of the gliders there (something like a dozen of them). There's even a couple of really nice looking sport gliders that are single seaters. Hmmm...maybe I'll get to go in one of those after I get certified. Pretty fast and I hear they have great performance characteristics. Met the owner of one of them and we hit it off big time after a discussion of the Delta Unisaw being the best tablesaw on the market. All right, a fellow woodworker to boot.

While standing around afterward helping out, a weird wave of awe came over me. There I was staring up at the clouds and realizing that, "damn", just a short while before 'I' was 'up' there flying a glider. There have been things like flying that I have said I would learn to do ever since I was a little kid and it always seemed like something that would ALWAYS be later, but holy cow..."I am actually doing this!" Somehow it just seemed very surreal.

Still wearing a grin on my face that I think was permanently affixed when I hopped into the cockpit, I head back to Salem to pack up for our weekend of camping at the coast...God, I Love Oregon!

Ok, so I haven't exactly been a writing machine the past year or so. Oh well, it just hasn't been something that I bothered to focus on. I spent just so much time and energy getting here that I didn't bother to document it. Specifically I am talking about all the efforts and energy spent in getting to Oregon and keeping the business on track.

At first I wasn't exactly sure why I felt like sitting down and getting my thoughts out, but then I realized "hell yeah" I know why. I generally choose a path that is a little different by the standards of many. Most thought I was crazy for starting my own business. Even more thought I was borderline nuts to buy a building built in 1873 in a tiny Indiana town to call home for the business. Pure nuts to buy an old school bus and convert it to an RV for a cross country move with our four dogs. It isn't crazy or nuts, it is just different. I am an experiential junkie. I like to try new things all the time. I recognize that we only have a limited amount of time here on this planet and that in general we as a society spend way too much of that precious time mired down in a lot of worthless crap. I simply try to avoid as much of that crap as possible and get to the good things.

But last Friday I did something that even surprised me. I started on the path towards my glider pilot license. I had always thought about learning to fly and just figured it would be in a conventional powered aircraft, because that is what I had always heard of others doing. Luckily out here in Oregon there are a number of soaring schools or gliderports. To me this seemed like just the ticket. Much quieter and more relaxing than power piloting. One thing I hadn't counted on is that it can be a little disconcerting if you are a control freak like me.

Let's start with the beginning. Friday was gorgeous. It was sunny and perfectly smooth air. A great day for the uninitiated to venture forth from the confines of the earth in search of an airborne adventure. My trainer, Joe is great. He's brash, bossy, gruff, and cheesy all in one large fashion nightmare package. Damn, I hope I get to be like him when I grow up! We strap into our glider and Judy, the tow pilot in her seemingly ancient crop duster gracefully pulls us down the runway and we drift into the air behind her. I was surprisingly (to me anyway) not even the slightest bit worried or anxious about the takeoff. Joe is in the seat behind mine, updating me on everything that is going on and what I can expect. We do a little parabolic hop and "whoop" there goes the tow rope. Wondering, I ask what happens to the rope. Surely she can't fly around and land with that thing just dangling out the back of the plane. Well, yes, she can.

We glide on a fairly nice level straight path for about a minute when Joe tells me to take the stick and get the feel of it. Then he tells me "the glider's yours." WHAT THE HELL. I somehow expected a little more instruction and preparation than that. Luckily he begins filling me in rather quickly on how a glider flies...nice timing, Joe. We glide around and I'm doing fine until the glider starts to lean to the left. Uh...what exactly do I do now. He twitches the stick to the right in one quick movement and we're back flying level. Great, I almost peed myself. My right hand grips the glider control stick as if it were a club. I'm using way too much force, Joe says. Hell yes, by my reckoning, this stupid little stick is the only thing between me and a fiberglass coffin with wings tilting on its side and plummeting out of the sky like a rock. I have to relax and not think about falling out of the sky, let's focus on trying to stay "in" the sky. Next thing I know we are coming in for a landing and Joe takes over to bring us to a perfectly smooth landing in almost the exact spot we took off from.

The tow rope is reattached and we're back off into the wild blue yonder. This time, I am keeping the glider in the same flight path as our tow plane (critical so that we don't all die). After detachment we try a couple of left turns, which I completely botch and Joe tweaks the stick to keep us flying level. He tells me I am doing great. I think he just says that so I won't throw up in his glider or so that I'll keep coming back. I feel as though I am piloting some very retarded duck through the sky which is sad as the glider itself is damn graceful. I can't believe that I am doing this already and only after about twenty minutes in the air. Too freaking cool! Joe brings us in for another spot on landing and we open the canopy and I step out onto the runway. Whoa. That was AWESOME! Suddenly I realize I am shaking. Part adrenalin overload, part scared out of my mind. I like everything but turning. Takeoff, level flight, landing...it is all fantastic. But making a turn in the glider is unnerving. I keep trying to lean against the turn like on a motorcycle. Only that doesn't work in a glider and takes your view off the yaw string and away from where you are gliding...and that isn't good. It just feels weird since I don't know yet the flight characteristics and limitations of a glider. Like, how far can you bank the glider before all lift is gone and you plummet to the ground. From a couple thousand feet it won't take long. Hmmm...at 32 feet per second per second, that'd be about...oh hell with that...I don't want to know! I just want to get back to level flight!

I stand around for another hour watching another student practice some landing drills. All in all, my lesson was only about an hour for the two flights. It seems as though it went by in the blink of an eye. I can't wait to get back here next Friday and do that again...better this time.

Many things I do are different or possibly interesting, but nothing has compared to piloting a glider. If you have the opportunity, I certainly suggest you find a gliderport near you and at least take a ride.

Ok, so today I find out that my sister is basically screwing up her life and certainly her college existence and wants me to come to the rescue. Time to play big brother and try to turn her around before she gets into real trouble. I think that she just needs a good swift kick in the ass. However, it certainly reassures me that I DO NOT want to ever have children of my own. ;-)



I don't know whether to laugh or cry!
We just received a call from a customer that says he purchased one of our products in 2002, never opened it and would like to return it. WHAT...2002...REALLY...You mean like OVER TWO YEARS AGO? Yep. Then when he is told that we cannot accept a return that is that old as our policies do and always have stated that we have a 30 day return policy on unopened or unused merchandise, he states "yeah, God forbid a company ever make a cash refund."

WHAT THE FUCK? We're talking about something he bought over thirty MONTHS ago much less thirty days ago. Don't get shitty with us because you're a dumbass.

Then he wants to know if he can exchange it for two other smaller products. I think about this one for a minute and decide, sure...if he is willing to ship the original back at HIS expense and it is in good condition, I will give him a credit of the 2002 price he paid and he can apply this towards the 2005 price of the two items that he would like.

Oh, I can barely wait for tomorrow...ROADTRIP! Time to get out of here for a couple of days.

Wow, I can't believe how much time has passed since my last entry. It seems that this time of year is always frustrating and tiring.

February being such a short month, you'd expect it to bo over quickly and without much fanfare. However, I feel as if January was a long time ago and that March will never be here in time. Granted, I had a great Valentine's and got a much desired roof basket for the Jeep, complete with spare tire mount. It was relaxing to assemble and mount to the Jeep. It was also fun to drill a big hole in the bus so that I could mount the power port that I purchased back in December. Woohoo, one step closer to completion of the bus project. Now if it would just warm up so that I could finish the interior electrical and cabinets.

Sales at the biz for the past three weeks have been absolutely dismal. Far worse that I have seen in previous years. As such, I have spent copious amounts of time reviewing costs, looking at past trends, etc. all in hopes of finding a solution to the slower than usual sales. I don't think it is just us though as when talking to both the Hardware store owner and the Auto Parts/Repair shop they both mentioned that sales were virtually nonexistent. Sales reps both in the pet industry and hardware industry have mentioned that their sales are way off the mark for this time of year. Yet, no one seems to know why and I certainly haven't heard them asking why in the media. Bush and company would like everyone to believe that everything is just hunky dory. I am telling you, though, when people slow down their purchasing of things for pets, you know there is trouble brewing. Most people will spend their last dime on their pets before they would spend it on themselves.

I am so sick of hearing about new laws that some idiot thinks we "need" to have. Locally, it is "megan's law." This is the one about requiring seat belt use in SUV's and Pickups here in Indiana. In a press conference the other day a teary eyed father steps to the podium and explains how his daughter always wore her seat belt when in a car, but didn't wear one in a truck because she assumed they must be much safer since seat belt use wasn't required and that had they been required by law that she would be alive today. I feel for his loss and agree that what happened was a terrible tragedy, but "oh geez." Life isn't sanitary, life isn't perfect. Terrible, horrible things will always happen and loss of life is inevitable. Sure, it sucks when it is someone close to you, but that doesn't mean we need to jump in and try to sterilize life on this planet.

Perhaps if Megan had put down the Playstation or the TV remote and bothered to pay attention in elementary school science class she would have realized that with a higher center of gravity that of course a truck/SUV is MORE likely to roll over than a car. If her parents had taken the time to explain to her that any two thousand plus pounds of rapidly moving steel and plastic is a dangerious thing if not handled properly and not adequately respected, then she might have worn her seat belt and be alive today. I mean, c'mon, how many times has the media done a report about the high roll over risks associated with SUV's and pickups? Instead, her parents want to memorialize her death by creating a new law to force the seat belt use in pickups and SUVs. Yeah, I am sure that Megan would love to be remembered for a moment of bad judgement than for all the wonderful things she probably did on Earth.

It would be like me being dumb enough to stick my hand into a blender that is running at full speed then having them make a law that all blenders must be equipped with an emergency shut off if the lid is opened. Oh yeah, I don't want MY name attached to that, but we could wipe out BD (blender dismemberments)in our life time!

I think that in the future I will:
- Not schedule a doctor appontment on Monday ( I always have too much to do at work then anyway) and,
- Not ever schedule a doctor appointment before 9:00 am.

In my stupor last night I did not set the clock correctly. Amy notices this morning that it is in fact an hour after we had planned to get up. So, we jump out of bed running around like hyperkinetic freaks and go racing from Gosport to Bloomington. Everything worked out and I dropped Amy off for class and made it to my appointment just in the knick of time. They're not busy at this time of the morning so they get me right in. Damn, I didn't quite get to figure out how to perfect my golf swing!

Diagnosis:
You're overweight, you're still diabetic, have high blood pressure, high cholesterol, a righteous head cold, and a rotator cuff injury. You'll need to see a physical therapist and possibly a joint specialist. I'm adjusting some of your meds. See ya in April! Me walking in to walking out -- 17 minutes.

So, now I am exhausted, tired from the head cold, seriously congested, bummed about the possible shoulder surgery, and not looking forward to the resulting bills. I could probably orchestrate a space shuttle launch, but I still don't understand my health insurance. Things it looks like they would never pay for they do, and things that it should cover end up being billed to me. I have poured over the documentation many times to no avail. Whatever.

From Merriam-Webster: Business
Activity concerned with the supplying and distribution of commodities. Business may be an inclusive term but specifically designates the activities of those engaged in the purchase or sale of commodities or in related financial transactions.

Ok, so to be in business one needs to purchase and sell commodities. Services are also commodities. Seems simple enough.

SO WHY DOES IT HAVE TO BE SO DAMN HARD?

I have a 3 year contract with a local trash service and we have outgrown our dumpster size after the contract has been in effect for 1.5 years. Solution: I would like to either get another pickup per week or a larger dumpster. So, I call our weasel of an account rep and tell him that I need to increase our service. After listening to several minutes of how busy they are because some competitor has failed to pick up trash in the past three weeks, he finally tells me he'll call me back tomorrow at the latest. This is on a Monday morning. Late Wednesday afternoon and still no response. So I call into the main office and tell them that I need to increase our service. So, they put me through to my rep again who then spends another five minutes telling me how horrible his life is and that his wife is having a baby and how impossibly busy he is. So he says he'll call me back as quickly as he can. Monday late afternoon, I call again and he swears to call me first thing in the morning with the information. Tuesday I finally call him again at 2:00 pm.

Finally he shuts up for a couple of minutes while I reiterate the problem and detail the possible solutions. We have a 1.5 yard dumpster so I ask about 2 yard and 3 yard options. His response when I ask about price is that I have a contract for a 1.5 yard at $40 per month (pretty good for this area) so a 3 yard dumpster is supposed to be twice that price or $80.

WHAT! That isn't how it works. Just because something is twice as much or twice as large doesn't mean that it is twice as expensive. In the $40 per month price I am also paying for the truck expenses, the labor expenses, and the dump fees. So, how do these double with the larger dumpster? They don't. He already has said the typically smarmy, " I just don't think that is right and while I'll probably catch some flak for it from my supervisor I'm gonna knock ten bucks off the cost and say we'll do it for $70. God, I despise stupid salespeople.

Having already done my homework. I tell my weasel of a rep, "Well ok, but (the other local trash company) will do it for $59.95 and they provide the same services." Silence........"Let me go talk to my supervisor and I will call you back tomorrow.”

So, it has been over a week and I still haven't gotten a company that I have dealt with for over a year and a half to bring me another dumpster. Oddly enough, the savings that I would see by going with the 'other' local trash service would just cover the costs of breaking my contract with the first company.

All this for a larger dumpster.

Why do companies make it so difficult to buy their products and services?

It certainly reminds me to and inspires me to be better about sales at Petwerks. Simple pleasant responsiveness would go a long ways in creating a better business environment for everyone.

Stepping down off my soapbox now. I have to go and cram stuff into the dumpster.

Damn I am jazzed today. I have gotten so many of those dark shadows off me and am getting things moving in my life. The 'dark shadows' are all those things that I said I would do someday and never really followed up on or got started with. I realized that most of these things really weren't all that big, expensive, or even time consuming. Part of the problem was simply a misunderstanding of the goal. So, now I have gotten moving with a lot of those small things and I feel that a huge weight has been lifted. No longer am I lingering under that dreadful shadow. Ahhh...

Resolutions:
I have never quite understood why so many people hate them. I make resolutions to myself all the time. They are simply goals. Things that I wish to do or accomplish. Do I make more of them at New Years? Sure, but this is because I have ususally just spent several days in the last two weeks reviewing what I 'did' get done this year, preparing my business year end paperwork, and making new performance goals for the upcoming year. Could this be done some other time? Sure, but since I am using the regular calendar year as my business and fiscal calendar year, it just seems to make a lot of sense to work on it then. That, plus the fact that I have more days off at this time of year due to holidays than at any other time and these holidays allow me ample time to review such goals. Resolutions, like most things, are only of value if you make them for the right reasons and follow up on them regularly.

So, to all of you out there who made resolutions, regardless of when you made them, good for you.

As for me, I am looking forward to getting a lot done in this next year. Who cares that the time frames are arbitrary or made up by some freaky religious zealots in history. Time is as it is, just don't waste it unless you mean to.

Sharkey

I have often thought that writing in a journal would be a very productive exercise, yet I have not started one until now. Of course I had to do the obligatory, course required one in high school and that really didn't pan out for me.

Since then I have often thought of lots of little tidbits and insights that I later wished I had written down. Lot's of really lame business ideas and crazy dreams that I probably should have written down. So I have decided that I should finally get this underway.

New: Had a great relaxing weekend, other than clean the house after the usual holiday torrent of mail, cards, giftwrap, etc, I really didn't do much. Damn, that was nice. No running right back out to work or starting some other large hare brained project. Seems that I have enough of them already. Watched a lot of really top notch B-grade movies. What a way to spend a cold snow covered weekend. Snuggled in at home, with no work that HAS to be done, hanging with the dogs, and watching movies. Good time to start writing down thoughts and starting a journal.