We just launched the redesigned website at WVU Libraries, check it out: http://www.libraries.wvu.edu

That site has taken a significant portion of my time for the past 3 or 4 months, looking forward to starting something new next week.

Back in October there was a slight problem with my shower. It developed a crack in the bottom that was shaped strikingly like my heel. That weekend I tore the shower and carpet out of my bathroom and installed a new shower. The shower, it turned out, was the easy part. Getting a new floor and shower doors proved to be the more difficult aspects of it all.

6 weeks later, my shower doors FINALLY arrive. I installed them Friday night (12/7/2007) and today took my first shower in my brand new shower stall.

Flickr Photo Set of the progress from start to finish

3.4 more to go to reach the 100 hour mark.

Since I got my PP Ticket I’ve learned that backups are as important there as well as on my computers. On one of my first flights after my check ride i had an electrical system failure. What I learned from that is that I should be carrying a hand held radio with me when I fly. Picked up the one from Sporty’s with the build in VOR, just in case it happens at night I thought the hand held VOR would be handy in a pinch. I also carry extra batteries for it and my flashlight.

Got me thinking, and I realized I didn’t have a backup of some of the most important data that I have. My Log Books. I don’t want to just photocopy them, I want something kept off site (in case of fire), something that I can print out (so i don’t have to photocopy them), something that will help me keep track of currency, something that i can tag and search, cross platform (windows, mac, linux), and something that I can view from anywhere.

Enter Zululog.com. I’ve had some minor trouble with how their system updates hours, but their support was quick to address those problems. Other than that its seems like the best bang for the buck with online log books. SSL, RSS, Aircraft logs, instructor logs, currency checks, email reports, flight logs, xml/pdf/excel exports.

Zululog’s free account limits you to entering 20 aircraft and only 2 flight instructors, but for most private pilots that is probably enough. If you have a one time rental on an aircraft, and it isn’t for a currency requirement, you don’t have to define it.

This weekend I learned …

- Flying first class is better than flying coach.

- Flying left seat in a Cessna is better than flying first class

- Where my pocket knife has been for 3 months

- Its really easy to get a pocket knife through security at a major airport

- I care about my girlfriend much more than I realized

- I get cranky when I’m tired

- Working out of state from a hotel network isn’t fun

- Colorado is brown, mostly flat, and boring. Looking at the Rocky Mountains was kinda neat though.

I’m finding more and more of my daily applications are moving to the web.

• Google Reader : Has replaced NetNewsWire
• ToDoist : Replaces todo’s in iCal
• Meebo : pops up on my laptop instead of a real IM Client

Those are just applications that I use every day. Others, such as Roundcube could easily replace mail.app if they would just introduce collapsible folder listing. Google Calendar could completely replace iCal if I could sync it with my palm (that is, things i add on the palm go into Google Calendar. I know it can go from gCal to iCal).

So. Web Desktop. Other than being able to sync easily with devices (phones or PDAs), there is one piece missing. Desktop cohesion. All these applications exist in a web browser, usually in tabs or separate windows. Problem is, they are not only ugly but don’t always use the proper hot keys for the operating systems. command+n doesn’t create a new Todo in todoist. The web app has the bookmark and url navigation of the browser it is in.

The best idea i can come up with is a Firefox extension that allows an API to websites to more easily control the actual browser interface. Perhaps even the menu bar (either along the top of the screen for MacOS X or in the window for other OSes) that the browser displays when its window is selected. I’m thinking of GreaseMonkey, but backwards. Instead of you scripting for sites you visit, sites script your browser interface.

A new HD DirecTV satellite setup: $100

Two year contract with DirecTV for HD programming: $1440

Calling Comcast Cable to tell them that your DirecTV Satellite is working during a storm, but the cable is out: Priceless

Internet Explorer has this wonderful thing called conditional comments.

All browsers should support conditional comments. Something off 1 pixel in safari? No Problem. add a style that moves that one element 1 pixel over for that browser. Problem is fixed, without pulling out any hair.

No more dirty-as-all-hell CSS Hacks because one browser handles something slightly different than another (or has a nasty bug in one version).

Now, back to trying to figure out how to move something 3 pixels to the right in Safari, but not in Firefox or IE.

At 8am on July 25th, 2007 I arrived at the Morgantown airport. Preflighted the plane and flew down to Elkins airport.

10am, I had my oral exam. The examiner told me he would meet me out at the plane. I passed the oral.

11am, we were in the air. My practical test was going well so far.

11:50am, I walked back into the terminal. Fast test. Very fast. I was worried.

by 12:00 noon I had my temporary pilot certificate in my hand, and a huge smile on my face.

Been waiting to hold one of those in my hand for very nearly all my life. Gonna fly around for a couple months, practicing everything i’ve learned and making it perfect. Then I’ll begin my instrument training sometime this winter.

If you are in or around the Morgantown, WV area and have a plane or are looking for a co-owner in a plane contact me. I’m very interested in working with someone to fly their plane or own so that i can stop renting planes from flight schools.

At 8:30am on July 10th I walked into the Robert C. Byrd Aerospace Education Center in Bridgeport WV. Sat down, did all my paper work, and by 9am was taking my FAA Private Pilot Knowledge Exam. This was my second attempt at the test, the first being in 1996 with a failing grade of 68%. Just 1 question shy of passing after spending 2 hours in the test room.

At 9:10am I was about half way through my test (2.5 hours is the allotted time). At 9:30am I was done, and started over. There were only 3 questions I wasn’t sure about, but I wanted to redo the whole test since I had time and I’ve been known to make stupid mistakes during testing. At 9:50am I stood up and proclaimed to the world that I was finished. The test proctor told me that I finished very fast, I told her that I did the test twice. She went to her desk, graded the test and handed me the print out in that “See, you shouldn’t have rushed” kinda of way that teachers hand papers back to students.

My heart dropped as I reached for the results print out and glanced at it knowing that I failed. My eyes got big and I smiled wide. 98%. I only missed 1 question on the test. Hot Damn.

2 months of studying for several hours a day payed off. I was happy, but suddenly upset with myself that my grade wasn’t a perfect 100%. I rushed to get to the Office after the test, logged into the FAAs testing website and looked up the code for the question I got wrong (the information on where to find it was provided on the printout). I put 122.5Mhz as the frequency for Flight Watch instead of 122.0Mhz. Damn-it. I knew that. Stupid mistake.

I’m still upset about missing only 1 question, but, its back to studying. I have 2 more tests to go before I get my license. The Oral Exam and the Check Ride. Both will occur on the same day.

All my requirements are met for me to take the check ride. Now, its just a matter of convincing myself that I’m ready and tightening up some of my maneuvers. There are 5 blank entries on the current page of my log book. I’d like that 5th one to be my check ride.