Happy Passover/Happy Easter

April 16, 2006

I have flown on every major holiday since being deployed. I flew on Thanksgiving, flew and got stuck due to weather on Christmas, and flew today (Easter Sunday and Passover). These flights make for memorable holidays.

Our mission today was to fly a catholic chaplin to several remote bases to lead Easter Mass. The weather started out stormy and we had some concerns about not being able to get the chaplin everywhere he needed to go. The weather, however, cleared and we had beautiful flying.

One of our stops was at FOB McHenry. This is a small base populated mainly by infantry soldiers. For some reason they had cowboy hats for sale at the tiny PX on base. Larry, the Pilot-in-Command of my bird, liked the hats so much that he bought one. As you will see from the photos we had a lot of phone posing with the hat on.

Another stop was at a prison way up North in the Kurdish region of the country. It is used to hold the worst detainees and is manned by American soldiers teaching Iraqis how to run a prison. The area is very remote and very beautiful. We shut down the helicopters while the chaplin went to give mass. This gave us the chance to eat Easter lunch with the soldiers in the prison. We ate in an open air courtyard in the center of the dentention facility. They grilled steaks, hot dogs and hamburgers. There were jelly beans, chocolate bunnies, potato salad, cake, and lemonade. The detainees in their cells probably could see us eating and surely could smell the food but none of us gave that fact very much thought. We thoroughly enjoyed the cool mountain air, talking with new people, and eating freshly grilled food.

Google maps adds features

April 15, 2006

Though you might draw a different conclusion from the titles of the last several posts here this hasn't become a Google cheerleader site. However, Google is simply doing cool stuff that works well. A friend pointed out how Ask.com has better maps, but they don't work on Macintosh/Safari.

However this evening as we were sitting at home a call came out for the fire service and as I usually do I typed the address into google. In addition to the map the small locator is in the bottom corner of the map. It is handy and the arrow allows you to show and hide the locator as well as using the box to navigate the thumbnail map.

Google Calendar and trip scheduling

April 14, 2006

A bit ago I posted about using Google Calendar in libraries. Many of the same principles apply to the question of how to have online calendars automatically add our trips when we make online reservations or add links to our receipts from online purchases. Imagine how handy it will be to check out from a hardware store online and click a link that will add a summary to your calendar of your purchases.

Even better will be the day when you can make in-store purchases and have the summary easily added to your calendar. Need to know when you bought that new computer (and when it's warranty expires)? Just click a link in your email receipt and away you go. It also is the answer to the calendar feature to kill for and it is available as soon as the travel sites add it.

Clark County Fair and Rodeo - 2006 Edition

April 11, 2006

We spent the first part of our vacation at the Clark County Fair and Rodeo. Living up to expectations it was a good show. The musical acts are, however, disappointing. A couple of years ago we walked in and heard the Doo-Wah Riders a great country band. After listening for a bit we picked up some autographed CDs and have been listening to them ever since.

The last two years, however, have been disappointing. Each year I enter the fair holding on to hopes of hearing another great band. The results last year and this have been disappointing. On the other hand, the rodeo never fails to impress. The PRCA rodeo features many of the same names that compete each year at the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas. Not only are the cowboys and cowgirls those from the NFR but many of the same stock are in Logandale as well. One has a chance to get a little slice of what the NFR is like with much better parking and a beautiful spring evening.

Always On

April 11, 2006

Tonight I wanted to send an IM to a colleague. It occurs to me that in the past I could have sent a message to someone who is "away" and not thought a lot more about it. In 2006 however, the "away" status really means "set to forward to my cell phone". With this feature IM is now always on. A boon to the ability to reach someone anytime anywhere, but not so great when it comes to leaving a quick one-line compliment on a job well done.

Blink

April 5, 2006

What happens in the blink of an eye? I've just started listening to Maclom Gladwell's book Blink and it is fantastic thus far. In the introduction he presents a study that suggests in setting of making choices the human body begins to exhibit stress reactions after just 10 choices. That's 40 choices sooner than we have a "gut feeling" forming and another 20-30 away from being able to articulate those feelings.

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