﻿<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?><rss version="2.0"><channel><title>rbhenderson's Xanga</title><link>http://www.xanga.com/rbhenderson</link><description>Latest Xanga weblog from rbhenderson</description><language>en-us</language><ttl>60</ttl><image><title>The Weblog Community</title><url>http://s.xanga.com/images/xangalogobutton.gif</url><link>http://www.xanga.com/rbhenderson</link></image><item><title>Has it really been nearly 3 months? Goodness...</title><link>http://www.xanga.com/rbhenderson/668738228/has-it-really-been-nearly-3-months-goodness.html</link><guid>http://www.xanga.com/rbhenderson/668738228/has-it-really-been-nearly-3-months-goodness.html</guid><pubDate>Sun, 03 Aug 2008 05:43:53 GMT</pubDate><description>Well, I've been meaning to blog for quite awhile now, but every time I sit down to do it I feel so overwhelmed that I just don't!&amp;nbsp; So I'm not going to try to cover everything thats gone on...&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;I've had a good summer, crazy but good.&amp;nbsp; I've been commuting for work several days a week, which entails a 1.5 hour drive each way so I haven't had as much time to do stuff...&amp;nbsp; The church and Bible study I'm going to are both quite nice and I've got a lot of great friends!&amp;nbsp; &lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;While I was in Tx I got to go on a tour of one of the aero companies that is based in the DFW area and if they ever get on the ball and get me an offer I should be moving there in the next few months.&amp;nbsp; It sounded like a pretty sure thing before I left, the head of one of the programs wants to hire me and he's got a lot of clout so I don't see why I wouldn't other than the Lord wanting me to stay here...&amp;nbsp; We'll see what happens with that.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;You may have noticed already, but I cut my hair a few weeks ago...&amp;nbsp; It just got to be too difficult.&amp;nbsp; I've been enjoying being nearly bald, I don't have to think about it, its really nice!&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;The main reason I'm blogging is because I'm getting my Bible rebound and wanted some design opinions (and ideas?)...&amp;nbsp; So here we go &lt;img src="http://s.xanga.com/images/happy.gif"&gt;&lt;br&gt; &lt;a target="_blank" href="http://photo.xanga.com/rbhenderson/10432203730055/photo.html"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt; &lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a target="_blank" href="http://x09.xanga.com/f16c6a25d4433203729552/b158203759.jpg"&gt;&lt;img title="flap tucked in" style="border-style: none; border-width: 0px;" src="http://x09.xanga.com/f16c6a25d4433203729552/m158203759.jpg" width="580"&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;a target="_blank" href="http://x68.xanga.com/dadc8a2454035203729595/b158203798.jpg"&gt;&lt;img title="with flap" style="border-style: none; border-width: 0px;" src="http://x68.xanga.com/dadc8a2454035203729595/m158203798.jpg" width="580"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;This is my photoshoped idea... &amp;nbsp;Just a simple flap that tucks inside a slot. &amp;nbsp;It should stay shut fairly well if done right (I think? &lt;img src="http://s.xanga.com/images/confused.gif"&gt;) and it doesn't have any hardware to wear out.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt; &lt;a target="_blank" href="http://xa1.xanga.com/48cc9325d5033203729644/b158203837.jpg"&gt;&lt;img title="without flap" style="border-style: none; border-width: 0px;" src="http://xa1.xanga.com/48cc9325d5033203729644/m158203837.jpg" width="580"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;I didn't bother putting in the open version of the flap... &amp;nbsp;I think I want to move the slot closer the center of the cover and make it a little smaller so it doesn't reach all the way to the edges (My Bible is really big!)&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;a target="_blank" href="http://x58.xanga.com/29bc9a3668232203729648/b158203841.jpg"&gt;&lt;img title="journal_large_front_L" style="border-style: none; border-width: 0px;" src="http://x58.xanga.com/29bc9a3668232203729648/m158203841.jpg" width="500"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a target="_blank" href="http://x7d.xanga.com/e04c603268230203729651/b158203844.jpg"&gt;&lt;img title="1850key" style="border-style: none; border-width: 0px;" src="http://x7d.xanga.com/e04c603268230203729651/m158203844.jpg" height="300"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;I also liked the tie/cord thing on the top... &amp;nbsp;I think it could get really annoying after awhile though, I mean, it'd have to be close to 3 feet long! &amp;nbsp;If I did the tie thing it might be cool to have the leather cut so that the actual edge of the hide is the edge of the flap, like the picture on the bottom...&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt; &lt;a target="_blank" href="http://xff.xanga.com/eb1c9a2455032203729655/b158203848.jpg"&gt;&lt;img title="skgi_2469062_31481" style="border-style: none; border-width: 0px;" src="http://xff.xanga.com/eb1c9a2455032203729655/m158203848.jpg" width="580"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;A simple snap would be just fine as well, I just don't want to have to deal with it breaking at some point... &amp;nbsp;I figure once I get this done its going to be at least another 10-15 years if not much longer before I need to get it done again, so the hardware may not be up to the task!&lt;a target="_blank" href="http://photo.xanga.com/rbhenderson/10432203730055/photo.html"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;a target="_blank" href="http://photo.xanga.com/rbhenderson/e10a0203730068/photo.html"&gt;&lt;img title="skgi_2075909_32240" style="border-style: none; border-width: 0px;" src="http://xe1.xanga.com/0a0c772442630203730068/m158204193.jpg" height="580"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;a target="_blank" href="http://photo.xanga.com/rbhenderson/10432203730055/photo.html"&gt;&lt;img title="skgi_2469057_31185" style="border-style: none; border-width: 0px;" src="http://x10.xanga.com/432850e346248203730055/m158204182.jpg" width="580"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt; &lt;a target="_blank" href="http://photo.xanga.com/rbhenderson/e10a0203730068/photo.html"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/div&gt;So, ideas and opinions anyone? &amp;nbsp;I'm having it done by &lt;a href="http://preservetheword.com/" target="_new"&gt;Preserve the Word&lt;/a&gt;, they have a little kiosk in the Bible College bookstore... &amp;nbsp;Its a two week turn around (as opposed to 6 or 8 weeks) and its close enough that I can drive over there and look at the leather colors they currently have (since the photo's don't do a good job of representing the colors). &amp;nbsp;The one nice cord bound book can from a website called &lt;a href="http://www.renaissance-art.com/" target="_new"&gt;Renaissance Art&lt;/a&gt;, they do journals and blank books and such... &amp;nbsp;And how is everyone? &amp;nbsp;Its been waaaaay too long, and I'm sorry!&lt;br&gt;        </description><comments>http://www.xanga.com/rbhenderson/668738228/has-it-really-been-nearly-3-months-goodness.html#firstcomment</comments></item><item><title>Cool astronomy pictures and other nonsense...</title><link>http://www.xanga.com/rbhenderson/656637289/cool-astronomy-pictures-and-other-nonsense.html</link><guid>http://www.xanga.com/rbhenderson/656637289/cool-astronomy-pictures-and-other-nonsense.html</guid><pubDate>Mon, 12 May 2008 19:29:26 GMT</pubDate><description>Well, its been over a month since I've posted anything here so I figure I should write something.&amp;nbsp; I've been busy but more so I just haven't felt like blogging...&amp;nbsp; And I have a lot of stuff to write about but I can't think of half of it at the moment, oh well!&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;A few weeks ago I stumbled across a really cool website, its the archive for an astronomy picture of the day thing done by NASA...&amp;nbsp; Here are a few pics from it:&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt; &lt;a target="_blank" href="about:blank"&gt;&lt;img title="" style="border-style: none; border-width: 0px;" src="http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0804/ngc3582_noao_big.jpg" width="600"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;a target="_blank" href="about:blank"&gt;&lt;img title="" style="border-style: none; border-width: 0px;" src="http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0804/flagstaffsky_usno_big.jpg" width="600"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;a target="_blank" href="about:blank"&gt;&lt;img title="" style="border-style: none; border-width: 0px;" src="http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0805/NGC6188_ebersole.jpg" width="600"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;a target="_blank" href="http://photo.xanga.com/rbhenderson/ebd52188654159/photo.html"&gt;&lt;img title="M104b_peris2048" style="border-style: none; border-width: 0px;" src="http://xeb.xanga.com/d52c622030032188654159/m145021602.jpg" width="600"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;Pretty cool to think that the Lord created it all and holds it in the palm of His hand!&amp;nbsp; &lt;a href="http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html" target="_new"&gt;Here is the link&lt;/a&gt; to the site, there are hundreds of pictures like this... &lt;br&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;************************************************************************************&lt;br&gt;&lt;/div&gt;In other news, I have almost 14 hours of flight time and after about 80 or so landings I officially know how to land.&amp;nbsp; Which means I can solo soon, next Saturday as a matter of fact (but don't tell my Mom, she's worried...)&amp;nbsp; I've been having a ball and I'm looking forward to having my license so I can take people with me.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;And someday I want to learn how to do this:&lt;br&gt;&lt;object height="355" width="425"&gt;&lt;param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/nj1tmnwiVyI&amp;amp;hl=en"&gt;&lt;param name="wmode" value="transparent"&gt;&lt;embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/nj1tmnwiVyI&amp;amp;hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="355" width="425"&gt;&lt;/object&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;   ************************************************************************************&lt;br&gt;&lt;/div&gt;I was struck a few days ago with the realization that I really like FIOS!&amp;nbsp; Mostly because of the picture below...&amp;nbsp; (FIOS is fiberoptic internet for those of you who have no clue what I'm talking about...)&lt;br&gt;&lt;a target="_blank" href="http://photo.xanga.com/rbhenderson/dc143188629277/photo.html"&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a target="_blank" href="http://photo.xanga.com/rbhenderson/dc143188629277/photo.html"&gt;&lt;img title="Why I like FIOS" style="border-style: none; border-width: 0px;" src="http://xdc.xanga.com/143c642316d35188629277/z145000157.jpg" width="400"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;Yes, its a total nerd thing, but hey!&amp;nbsp; 580 KB/sec is nothing to complain about!&amp;nbsp; A 500 Mb in about 10 minutes is pretty spectacular... &lt;img src="http://s.xanga.com/images/happy.gif"&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;   ************************************************************************************&lt;br&gt;&lt;/div&gt;I'll be commuting to work an hour each way for the next couple of weeks, so if I'm grumpy, well, now you know why!&amp;nbsp; They need more guys at the other site for the moment so I'm gonna head down there and help them.&amp;nbsp; Needless to say, I'm not very enthused with the idea of leaving for work at the same time and getting home 2 hours later everyday!&amp;nbsp; (at least the company is paying for gas, if they weren't then I'd be in a tizzy)&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;   ************************************************************************************&lt;br&gt;&lt;/div&gt;I've been reading a book called "The Way of the Wild Heart" by John Eldridge, its really good, he goes through the stages a man goes through while growing up and he focuses on how the Lord wants to Father us in all the places that were missed in one way or another .&amp;nbsp; Its been a good constructive read, I've got a great dad and a great stepdad but things still get missed...&amp;nbsp; Its not an easy or quick read, thats for sure!&amp;nbsp; Its also been good because its helped me refocus on the Lord, I've been having a hard time getting up in the morning to read my Bible and just as hard a time not being distracted when I get home from work.&amp;nbsp; So yeah, there you have it.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;I'm at the beginning of an effort to sell off a lot of the stuff I collected at the beginning of my job...&amp;nbsp; Stuff that I didn't need to buy but that I wanted.&amp;nbsp; I knew I shouldn't have bought it, I've lived my life up until now with the mindset that I wanted to avoid debt at all costs because it would hold me back if the Lord called me to do something.&amp;nbsp; Well, I'm not in very much bad debt (from a credit stand point) but I am in debt for my truck, plus I've got a very expensive computer and a big TV (among other much littler things).&amp;nbsp; Well, the mistake has been made and now I intend to correct it, its not gonna be a fun process because I'm probably going to loose money on the whole deal, but I really feel like the Lord wants me to simplify and I want to be obedient (and I'd like to simplify some as well) soooo, we'll see how it all turns out...&amp;nbsp; &lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;Alright, I've got to go study some before my flight lesson, hope everyone has a great week!&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;PS.&amp;nbsp; I added a new song to my page...&amp;nbsp; Its kinda quiet but I don't have any good sound editing software so I can't change it.&amp;nbsp; Keith Green is a favorite of mine, enjoy!&lt;br&gt; &lt;br&gt;&lt;a target="_blank" href="http://photo.xanga.com/rbhenderson/ebd52188654159/photo.html"&gt; &lt;br&gt;&lt;/a&gt;  </description><comments>http://www.xanga.com/rbhenderson/656637289/cool-astronomy-pictures-and-other-nonsense.html#firstcomment</comments></item><item><title>I don't know what to call this... (or: Ouch! I bit my tongue)</title><link>http://www.xanga.com/rbhenderson/650723086/i-dont-know-what-to-call-this-or-ouch-i-bit-my-tongue.html</link><guid>http://www.xanga.com/rbhenderson/650723086/i-dont-know-what-to-call-this-or-ouch-i-bit-my-tongue.html</guid><pubDate>Sun, 06 Apr 2008 01:44:09 GMT</pubDate><description>Well, here I sit wondering what to say...&amp;nbsp; I guess I'll start with the tongue story...&amp;nbsp; I was eating lunch on wednesday and bit my tongue, not once, but twice in the same spot!&amp;nbsp; Now, I'm sure most of you haven't thought about it, but the tongue is a very important muscle, you use it to swallow, chew, and talk.&amp;nbsp; Mine's been hurting so bad that it hurts to do any of those things (and coinsidentally, it sounds funny too, slurred words and all that).&amp;nbsp; It's a lot better today, I just thought it was funny how much we take it for granted...&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;**************************************************************************************&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;On to other things!&amp;nbsp; I'm up to 7.7 hours in my flight training, I went up this morning and did 10 landings.&amp;nbsp; The last 3 were unassisted, so I'm getting pretty close to soloing!&amp;nbsp; Now I just need to get over my mic fright and start talking on the radio...&amp;nbsp; (and get my medical done, and take the written test)&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;
**************************************************************************************&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;Along the lines of flying, I found a couple of airplanes I really like. (well, there aren't many that I &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;don't&lt;/span&gt; like!)&amp;nbsp; It just seems like they made them better (well, better looking at least!) back in the day...&amp;nbsp; First up is the Beech Staggerwing:&lt;br&gt; &lt;a target="_blank" href="http://photo.xanga.com/rbhenderson/fb074182691736/photo.html"&gt; &lt;br&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a target="_blank" href="http://photo.xanga.com/rbhenderson/fb074182691736/photo.html"&gt;
&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a target="_blank" href="http://photo.xanga.com/rbhenderson/fb074182691736/photo.html"&gt;&lt;img title="StaggerWing" style="border-style: none; border-width: 0px;" src="http://xfb.xanga.com/074c7b06c8635182691736/m139845333.jpg" width="580"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;a target="_blank" href="http://photo.xanga.com/rbhenderson/e9198182691735/photo.html"&gt;&lt;img title="StaggerWing2" style="border-style: none; border-width: 0px;" src="http://xe9.xanga.com/198c6737c0335182691735/m139848177.jpg" width="580"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;  &lt;a target="_blank" href="http://photo.xanga.com/rbhenderson/8030a182687582/photo.html"&gt;&lt;img title="Beech Staggerwing 1" style="border-style: none; border-width: 0px;" src="http://x80.xanga.com/30ac663b32d35182687582/m139845334.jpg" width="580"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br&gt;And then a Cessna 195:&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt; &lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a target="_blank" href="http://photo.xanga.com/rbhenderson/3020f182691733/photo.html"&gt;&lt;img title="cessna 195" style="border-style: none; border-width: 0px;" src="http://x30.xanga.com/20fc750143d32182691733/m139848175.jpg" width="580"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br&gt;And last a Beech 18 or as it seems to be known the Twin Beech (I got to sit in one of these today, the owner stores it in the hanger behind my flight school...&amp;nbsp; Apparently he uses it to take medical supplies down to Mexico for ministry purposes.&amp;nbsp; I think I'm gonna have to meet him!)&lt;br&gt; &lt;a target="_blank" href="http://photo.xanga.com/rbhenderson/3020f182691733/photo.html"&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a target="_blank" href="http://photo.xanga.com/rbhenderson/3020f182691733/photo.html"&gt;
&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a target="_blank" href="http://photo.xanga.com/rbhenderson/2bf99182691725/photo.html"&gt;&lt;img title="be18-b" style="border-style: none; border-width: 0px;" src="http://x2b.xanga.com/f99c6037c0335182691725/m139848167.jpg" width="580"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;a target="_blank" href="http://photo.xanga.com/rbhenderson/8e0d8182691729/photo.html"&gt;&lt;img title="beech 18" style="border-style: none; border-width: 0px;" src="http://x8e.xanga.com/0d8c6b3720334182691729/m139848171.jpg" width="580"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;a target="_blank" href="http://photo.xanga.com/rbhenderson/be6bf182691726/photo.html"&gt;&lt;img title="beech 18 close" style="border-style: none; border-width: 0px;" src="http://xbe.xanga.com/6bfc643640335182691726/m139848168.jpg" width="580"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br&gt;************************************************************************************&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;I've been having trouble with my new computer, and I'm blaming it entirely on vista...&amp;nbsp; I'm getting ready to switch back to XP just from frustration!&amp;nbsp; I use the new computer to watch DVD's (yep, its a really expensive DVD player... *rolls eyes*) and the whole computer will lock up two or three times while watching a movie.&amp;nbsp; Needless to say its pretty annoying!&amp;nbsp; Aaaand, today I spent about an hour just trying to log on because it was doing the exact same thing! *grumble grumble*&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;
**************************************************************************************&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.xanga.com/daughterofthingking85" target="_new"&gt;Somebody&lt;/a&gt; ;) jogged my memory about dogs, and so just for fun, this is the kind of dog I'd like to have eventually:&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt; &lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a target="_blank" href="http://photo.xanga.com/rbhenderson/f4197182687591/photo.html"&gt;&lt;img title="Bernese" style="border-style: none; border-width: 0px;" src="http://xf4.xanga.com/197c633733535182687591/m139845341.jpg" width="580"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;Yep, thats right, a big Bernese Mountain Dog...&lt;br&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br&gt;
**************************************************************************************&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;With regards to putting music up on my page...&amp;nbsp; &lt;br&gt;&lt;div style="margin-left: 40px;"&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;I upload music to my xanga music area&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;
once it has uploaded and finished processing there should be an edit option&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;
once on the edit screen click on the "preview audio" tab under the big speaker&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;
there are two sets of text there, you want the one that is titled "audio html"&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;
select that and copy it (control-c in windows and command-c on a mac)&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;create a custom module (I use the new xanga layout system...) &lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;by clicking "edit theme" at the top of the page (while viewing my public preview) &lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;and selecting the "add modules" tab up at the top&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;there is an option in there that says "Custom Module"&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;select that one (and figure out where it put it...)&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;and click on the edit module button (I think its the pencil but I don't remember)&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;once there paste the text that you copied into the window (control-v in windows and command-v on a mac)&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;save the module changes&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;save the edits to the page (the save button up at the top)&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;that should be all it takes (it seems like a lot but its not too bad really)&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
**************************************************************************************&lt;br&gt; &lt;br&gt;And now I've got friends over from the Bible College so I'm gonna head out!&amp;nbsp; Have a blessed rest of the weekend...&lt;br&gt; </description><comments>http://www.xanga.com/rbhenderson/650723086/i-dont-know-what-to-call-this-or-ouch-i-bit-my-tongue.html#firstcomment</comments></item><item><title>Flight Lesson #4 (and some pictures to boot!)</title><link>http://www.xanga.com/rbhenderson/647891565/flight-lesson-4-and-some-pictures-to-boot.html</link><guid>http://www.xanga.com/rbhenderson/647891565/flight-lesson-4-and-some-pictures-to-boot.html</guid><pubDate>Wed, 19 Mar 2008 18:52:48 GMT</pubDate><description>Well, I had my 4th flight lesson last night and it went really well.&amp;nbsp; I'm starting to get used to the plane and how to control it.&amp;nbsp; It was the first time that I was able to keep up with the plane instead of reacting to whatever it was doing.&amp;nbsp; We did a little bit of everything!&amp;nbsp; We covered slow flight (see pics below), power on and power off stalls, ground reference maneuvers, steep turns, and I even did a couple of landings (well mostly, I had some help but not as much as last time! &lt;img src="http://s.xanga.com/images/laughing.gif"&gt;).&amp;nbsp; I also found out that my CFI is a Christian, I had kind of suspected it but wasn't really sure...&amp;nbsp; Its pretty cool, the Lord found me a mentor and an instructor who are believers, fun stuff!&amp;nbsp; One of the main reasons my instructor got into aviation is because he wants to get involved with missionary aviation at some point.&amp;nbsp; Which could be really handy if I end up going that route.&amp;nbsp; Coincidentally, thats what I've been praying about...&amp;nbsp; We'll see what the Lord says, there are still a lot of unanswered questions and what-if's in my mind about the whole thing (and I'm committed to working here until august sometime) but if I do end up going that route it'd be another 3-4 years of schooling/training.&amp;nbsp; (it would be messy and hands on and a lot of air time, so it wouldn't be too bad ;)&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;Anyway, enough of that!&amp;nbsp; I took my camera up and actually remembered to take pictures this time around so here they are...&lt;br&gt; &lt;br&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a target="_blank" href="http://photo.xanga.com/rbhenderson/ad1ec179108664/photo.html"&gt;&lt;img title="At the Airport 002" style="border-style: none; border-width: 0px;" src="http://xad.xanga.com/1ecc40f527333179108664/m136723036.jpg" width="580"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;br&gt;This is looking at Hemet, &lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;a target="_blank" href="http://photo.xanga.com/rbhenderson/16879179108648/photo.html"&gt;&lt;img title="At the Airport 001" style="border-style: none; border-width: 0px;" src="http://x16.xanga.com/879c466750d32179108648/m136723020.jpg" width="580"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;Hemet and one of the mountains, don't ask me which one!&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a target="_blank" href="http://photo.xanga.com/rbhenderson/7412f179108635/photo.html"&gt;&lt;img title="At the Airport 003" style="border-style: none; border-width: 0px;" src="http://x74.xanga.com/12fc55f5c7333179108635/m136723007.jpg" width="580"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;This is one of the reservoirs in the area, its a good landmark!&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: left;"&gt;Well, thats all for now, which is good since I need to get back to work!&amp;nbsp; Hope you enjoyed the pics!&lt;br&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt; </description><comments>http://www.xanga.com/rbhenderson/647891565/flight-lesson-4-and-some-pictures-to-boot.html#firstcomment</comments></item><item><title>Flight Lesson #3 (or The Blustery Day)</title><link>http://www.xanga.com/rbhenderson/647599255/flight-lesson-3-or-the-blustery-day.html</link><guid>http://www.xanga.com/rbhenderson/647599255/flight-lesson-3-or-the-blustery-day.html</guid><pubDate>Tue, 18 Mar 2008 04:40:05 GMT</pubDate><description>Well, lets see, it was really really windy! &amp;nbsp;Wind at 15 mph and gusts up to 20... &amp;nbsp;Needless to say flying was interesting. &amp;nbsp;We decided to fly for a little while to get in some crosswind practice, its really difficult to follow a straight line in a crosswind! &amp;nbsp;And its really difficult to fly in circles too... &amp;nbsp;And landings, oh dear, landings are pretty crazy! &amp;nbsp;You come in pointed off to the side of the runway with one wingtip slightly down and so when you touch down you touch down with one wheel first and then put the other ones down. &amp;nbsp;And since its windy you come in faster, &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;that&lt;/span&gt; was the crazy part! &amp;nbsp;Now, you have to understand, landings aren't a problem for me when someone else is flying, but when I'm the one flying and the ground is rushing up its just a little much at this point. &lt;img src="http://s.xanga.com/images/happy.gif"&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;Now, the wind was crazy but everything sure was pretty! &amp;nbsp;I meant to take some pictures from the cockpit but I never got the chance (it was pretty bumpy)&lt;br&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;a target="_blank" href="http://photo.xanga.com/rbhenderson/12fe8178950248/photo.html"&gt;&lt;img title="To the Airport 012" style="border-style: none; border-width: 0px;" src="http://x12.xanga.com/fe8c711677635178950248/m136586023.jpg" width="580"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;Yep, the clouds are pretty, but you can't fly in them.!&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;a target="_blank" href="http://photo.xanga.com/rbhenderson/00bdc178950225/photo.html"&gt;&lt;img title="To the Airport 008" style="border-style: none; border-width: 0px;" src="http://x00.xanga.com/bdcc55e230633178950225/m136586002.jpg" width="580"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;It reminds me of SLO! &amp;nbsp;Its green and hilly and farm land! &amp;nbsp;I really miss the farm land part...&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;a target="_blank" href="http://photo.xanga.com/rbhenderson/c1bda178950206/photo.html"&gt;&lt;img title="To the Airport 007" style="border-style: none; border-width: 0px;" src="http://xc1.xanga.com/bdac71e030635178950206/m136585983.jpg" width="580"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;Yeah, more farm land&amp;nbsp;&lt;img src="http://s.xanga.com/images/happy.gif"&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;a target="_blank" href="http://photo.xanga.com/rbhenderson/8a94d178950188/photo.html"&gt;&lt;img title="To the Airport 004" style="border-style: none; border-width: 0px;" src="http://x8a.xanga.com/94dc911617437178950188/m136585965.jpg" width="580"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;And more farm land&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;a target="_blank" href="http://photo.xanga.com/rbhenderson/e0e4a178950164/photo.html"&gt;&lt;img title="To the Airport 002" style="border-style: none; border-width: 0px;" src="http://xe0.xanga.com/e4ac71e230435178950164/m136585943.jpg" width="580"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;And hills with lots of wild flowers...&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;a target="_blank" href="http://photo.xanga.com/rbhenderson/ef6ef178950171/photo.html"&gt;&lt;img title="Tow plane" style="border-style: none; border-width: 0px;" src="http://xef.xanga.com/6efc701667532178950171/m136585949.jpg" width="580"&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br&gt;This tow plane and glider took off while I was waiting for my lesson... &amp;nbsp;Pretty cool stuff! (it would look cooler except I didn't get my camera out fast enough)&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: left;"&gt;I don't really have much else to say. &amp;nbsp;I'm seeking the Lord on some stuff that is in my heart to do but I don't know if it's a passing whim or something that has been waiting to surface for a long time (well, I know that its been around for a long time but I don't want to go rushing into things!) &amp;nbsp;Anyway, I know thats totally cryptic, and I don't really mean for it to be but I'm just not ready to spill the beans :) &amp;nbsp;I would appreciate your prayers though! &amp;nbsp;Wisdom and direction would be the order of the day.&lt;br&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;a target="_blank" href="http://photo.xanga.com/rbhenderson/e0e4a178950164/photo.html"&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/div&gt;</description><comments>http://www.xanga.com/rbhenderson/647599255/flight-lesson-3-or-the-blustery-day.html#firstcomment</comments></item><item><title>Bank Accounts = Frustration, and a cool picture to boot (and another hour of flying!)</title><link>http://www.xanga.com/rbhenderson/646930207/bank-accounts--frustration-and-a-cool-picture-to-boot-and-another-hour-of-flying.html</link><guid>http://www.xanga.com/rbhenderson/646930207/bank-accounts--frustration-and-a-cool-picture-to-boot-and-another-hour-of-flying.html</guid><pubDate>Fri, 14 Mar 2008 02:05:22 GMT</pubDate><description>Sometimes (most of the time actually) I just get tired of dealing with money, its such a pain in the neck!&amp;nbsp; I have two bank accounts, one high interest savings and then a checking account with a national bank.&amp;nbsp; I try to keep as much in the savings account as possible which means keeping a pretty good eye on my finances (which is a good thing!).&amp;nbsp; I missed something this month and got hit with $90 in overdraft charges and I'm wishing for my small town credit union! (my only gripe with them is that they are only local and I'm fairly transient right now...).&amp;nbsp; Weren't overdraft fees $20, didn't I have enough money in that account?&amp;nbsp; Humbug!&amp;nbsp; I knew I was getting low and tried to get it all fixed but when bank transfers take 3 days apiece its kind of difficult...&amp;nbsp; So, one hour of flying down the drain and a very frustrating lesson learned (and no one to blame but myself!).&amp;nbsp; I'm going to be banking a little differently in the future...&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;Anyway, on to cooler things!&amp;nbsp; In my random travels across the internet I found a really nifty picture of Sandia National Labs Z-Machine running...&amp;nbsp; Why is it cool you might ask?&amp;nbsp; Well, how many things do you know of that can reach 2 billion degrees Kelvin?&amp;nbsp; Thats hotter than the interior of stars...&amp;nbsp; And all you need (well, not &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;all&lt;/span&gt; you need...) is 20 million amps of electricity!&amp;nbsp; That will vaporize a really expensive piece of metal and then compress it in a really really really strong magnetic field...&amp;nbsp; The fun part is they aren't sure why it got so hot, they got more energy out than they put in!&amp;nbsp; Thats not supposed to happen unless you are running a nuclear reactor...&amp;nbsp; Anyway, most of you don't really care about that, BUT, the picture of it running is cool!&amp;nbsp; If you want to read more about it &lt;a href="http://www.sandia.gov/news-center/news-releases/2006/physics-astron/hottest-z-output.html" target="_new"&gt;here is the article.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;a target="_blank" href="http://photo.xanga.com/rbhenderson/9d24e178204561/photo.html"&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a target="_blank" href="http://photo.xanga.com/rbhenderson/9d24e178204561/photo.html"&gt;&lt;img title="z-machine" style="border-style: none; border-width: 0px;" src="http://x9d.xanga.com/24e8473bc8220178204561/m33228171.jpg" width="580"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;Check out the arcs running all over the walkways!&amp;nbsp; Thats a LOT of electricity!&lt;br&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br&gt;And of course following recent tradition, no post of mine is complete without something related to airplanes or flying!&amp;nbsp; I switched flight schools, the new one is about 20 minutes away from my house (as opposed to 2 minutes) but its a better schools...&amp;nbsp; Its also in the middle of farm country, which I hadn't seen before and really enjoyed (feels like home!)&amp;nbsp; The 10 degree drop in temp is nice too!&amp;nbsp; I had my first lesson with the new instructor on Tuesday and I had a blast.&amp;nbsp; He's a lot of fun and knows what he's doing.&amp;nbsp; I think it helps that I'm picking things up pretty fast.&amp;nbsp; We did some S-turns (a rough interpretation of is flying perfect zig-zags over a straight road, its pretty hard!) and turns around a point, where you pick a point and fly perfect circles around it (well, not so perfect in my case, but decent...).&amp;nbsp; Missionaries use the same maneuver to pick up and drop off mail and other stuff in areas that don't have an airstrip.&amp;nbsp; Fly a tight enough circle and you can lower a bucket down out of the low side of the plane and have it sit still in the middle of the circle.&amp;nbsp; (which my flight instructor knew... Kind of makes me wonder what his background is!&amp;nbsp; I guess I've got 20-25 more hours to find out &lt;img src="http://s.xanga.com/images/laughing.gif"&gt;)&amp;nbsp; I also had more control during landing than I ever have (Scary! Well not really, but thinking about doing it on my own is a tad worrisome!) all in all a great flight, I had a good time.&amp;nbsp; Weather permitting I'm going up again on Saturday...&amp;nbsp; I think stalls are the order of the day, he said he thought about doing them last time but figured I had had enough (which I had, my brain was full!).&amp;nbsp; Now to work on memorizing the phonetic alphabet, I think I've got most of it down but a few of them are still really hard to remember (like (J)uliet and (U)niform, oh well, I'll get them eventually)&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;Well, I think thats about it, and I'm hungry so I guess that it actually is!&amp;nbsp; Oh yeah, has anyone else had an incredibly hard time adjusting to the DST?&amp;nbsp; Its driving me nuts!&amp;nbsp; I was all used to the sun being up when I got up in the mornings (finally!) and they had to go and change the time so now I get up before the sun again, grumble!&amp;nbsp; (except I haven't been, thats the problem...)&lt;br&gt;</description><comments>http://www.xanga.com/rbhenderson/646930207/bank-accounts--frustration-and-a-cool-picture-to-boot-and-another-hour-of-flying.html#firstcomment</comments></item><item><title>Homeschooling?  Stay away from California... (and my second hour of flying...)</title><link>http://www.xanga.com/rbhenderson/646105287/homeschooling--stay-away-from-california-and-my-second-hour-of-flying.html</link><guid>http://www.xanga.com/rbhenderson/646105287/homeschooling--stay-away-from-california-and-my-second-hour-of-flying.html</guid><pubDate>Sun, 09 Mar 2008 00:47:32 GMT</pubDate><description>Well, I've kind of avoided blogging on this subject because it tends to make my blood boil and I generally have enough stuff going that does that already.&amp;nbsp; But, I guess I have to say something or it'll just drive me nuts...&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;Before I start let me say (and this isn't for my own pride...) that I was homeschooled from the 4th grade until I graduated and started attending the Community College at the ripe old age of 15...&amp;nbsp; I then proceeded to attend California Polytechnic University San Luis Obispo (rated in US News school listings in the top 10 for nearly 20 years), earning a Bachelors degree in Mechanical Engineering with a GPA of 3.2 (the GPA at CalPoly is non-inflated so most engineering students graduate with less than a 3.0...) had 4 internships during my college career and got hired on at a small engineering company from my first interview (not usually done, it usually takes 2-4 interviews).&amp;nbsp; People are usually shocked when I tell them that I was homeschooled, because they have this way goofy idea (which I blame on the Media and some other sources...) that homeschooled kids haven't been properly socialized and don't know how to act around people.&amp;nbsp; So if I sound biased about the whole homeschooling issue its because I have good reason to be...&amp;nbsp; Anyway, on to California's court system and education code (this is pretty dry...).&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;The California Court of Appeals 2nd Appellate district ruled at the end of February that the California Education code does not include anything that allows for homeschooling and thus it is unconstitutional.&amp;nbsp; If you want to read though all the legalese (I could never be a lawyer, it'd drive me nuts!) you can go &lt;a href="http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/opinions/documents/B192878.PDF" target="_new"&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp; (it is interesting to note that the leader of the Ca teachers union endorsed this decision...&amp;nbsp; I guess my frustration with unions is another subject though)&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;Now, they don't go through and give a definition for home schooling so it can be somewhat ambiguous but a&amp;nbsp; quick search of the California Education Code (boy is that a convoluted piece of legislation!) turned up at least one&amp;nbsp; place that pertains to homeschooling:&amp;nbsp; 47612.5.d.1 Specifically states that home study is allowed through a charter school.&amp;nbsp; This is how I was homeschooled and its also how my brothers have been homeschooled...&amp;nbsp; I do know of several families that are homeschooling without any sort of charter school and I have to say that I envy them...&amp;nbsp; I wish my family had the money to do it that way (and if the government would give them the money that it takes for education they actually might!) because it gives more freedom and cuts down on some really useless paperwork...&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;Anyway, all that to say the court has no power over families that are using a charter school but it has singlehandedly created a precedent that would allow a welfare officer (thats what started this whole thing) to demand that a family place their kids in a public or private school.&amp;nbsp; Now the chances of this happening are fairly slim just because of the shortage of welfare workers we have here in Ca.&amp;nbsp; But, there is the chance that it could happen and all it would take is a neighbor or parent of a friend saying something to a welfare officer (and the officer actually doing something).&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;So this whole thing is actually the result of a hole in the California legislature that was probably left there intentionally because Ca can't stand the thought of not having control over peoples lives.&amp;nbsp; I have to say I think its a good idea to keep track of the homeschooling families that choose not to use a charter school but I think it should only be in the form of yearly standardized testing...&amp;nbsp; (of course, the fact that Ca made the tests easier because students could pass them would be a turn off)&amp;nbsp; I don't think that that testing should be used as a basis for forcing parents to stop homeschooling.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;************************************************************************************&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;Anyway, on to more interesting things...&amp;nbsp; I got to meet and fly with my new flying mentor (the &lt;a href="http://www.aopa.org" target="_new"&gt;AOPA &lt;/a&gt;has a cool flight mentorship program set up... As well as a free 6 month membership that includes a cool magazine!).&amp;nbsp; Got in 1.3 hours of flying time since my mentor is a CFI and got to go see another local airport with a much better flight school (I'll be switching to them...).&amp;nbsp; I also found out that my mentor is a Christian (I had kind of suspected as much when I talked with him on the phone but I wasn't sure...) which means that in addition to finding a cool guy to fly with I found a new friend that I can fully relate to.&amp;nbsp; We worked on coordinated turns, climbs and decents, and climbing and decending turns.&amp;nbsp; Its really hard to focus outside the plane and not get fixated on the instruments, so we worked on that as well :)&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;The new flight school is about 20 minutes away (as opposed to 2 minutes) but they are much more "together" than the old one and they seem much more excited about flying and instructing (instead of a kind of dissinterested "I don't really care" sort of attitude).&amp;nbsp; I have to say, it means a lot to call a place and end up speaking with the owner of the operation, sure it points to a smaller operation but it also means you can assess the feel of things and they overall way things are run.&amp;nbsp; I'll be learning in one of these Cessna 172's (actually probably both) &lt;a href="http://hemetflightcenter.com/about-us/our-aircraft/n7154g/" target="_new"&gt;N7154G&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href="http://hemetflightcenter.com/about-us/our-aircraft/n5283e/" target="_new"&gt;N5283E&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp; Its fun to fly and has enough room for a student and instructor (shoulder to shoulder) and two passengers (although I'm thinking that it would be much more comfortable in the back with just one).&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;Okay, its time for dinner so I'm gonna wrap this up...&amp;nbsp; Sorry if the homeschooling thing doesn't make sense I haven't had a chance to proof read it!&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt; </description><comments>http://www.xanga.com/rbhenderson/646105287/homeschooling--stay-away-from-california-and-my-second-hour-of-flying.html#firstcomment</comments></item><item><title>Planes, Flying, Cheese and Work...</title><link>http://www.xanga.com/rbhenderson/645146028/planes-flying-cheese-and-work.html</link><guid>http://www.xanga.com/rbhenderson/645146028/planes-flying-cheese-and-work.html</guid><pubDate>Mon, 03 Mar 2008 05:48:20 GMT</pubDate><description>Well, humbug!&amp;nbsp; I was going to change songs on my site but Xanga must be in a bad mood or something...&amp;nbsp; The editor isn't working right!&amp;nbsp; Oh well, on to other things. (EDIT: Xanga must be feeling better this morning...&amp;nbsp; I've got a new song on the site, since its not Christmas anymore&amp;nbsp;&lt;img src="http://s.xanga.com/images/winky.gif"&gt; Its called Up and At It by Tuck Andress)&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;I went to the local airport yesterday and met an instructor and signed up for a flight on tuesday evening.&amp;nbsp; I'm not sure if its a flight lesson or a demo deal, I think its a flight lesson.&amp;nbsp; Either way I'm actually on my way to being a pilot!&amp;nbsp; I've wanted to do this for a long long time.&amp;nbsp; Plus its really nice to actually have a hobby.&amp;nbsp; Now, as I'm sure most of you have figured out, once I find something interesting I tend to research the living daylights out of it.&amp;nbsp; So I've of course been researching all things related to flying and including some research on owning a plane (a very costly proposition!)&amp;nbsp; At this point it looks like it might be cost effective to own a plane once I've actually completed my flight training, but of course the kind of plane that I want (see below) is expensive enough that that wouldn't be the case.&amp;nbsp; However, there are plenty of people who share planes (and all the associated costs) between several people which works fine since most people aren't flying every day of the week.&amp;nbsp; I'd probably end up doing something along those lines.&amp;nbsp; Anyway, I've fallen in love with the Mooney's, they are just great planes.&amp;nbsp; Of course the fact that they are made in Texas helps a little! &lt;img src="http://s.xanga.com/images/happy.gif"&gt;&amp;nbsp; Here is a picture of one (and they all look about the same):&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a target="_blank" href=""&gt;&lt;img title="" style="border-style: none; border-width: 0px;" src="http://www.mooneypilots.com/images/photoalbum/027.jpg"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;They have been developing this airframe since the late 50's, its one of the safest, fastest most fuel efficient ones on the market...&lt;br&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br&gt;In other news, I tried out some new cheese a few weeks ago, its called Kasseri.&amp;nbsp; Its a hard cheese that tastes kind of like a sweet Feta (only its drier)...&amp;nbsp; I really like it (but of course I like just about any cheese made), its good by itself or in sandwiches.&lt;br&gt; &lt;br&gt; &lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a target="_blank" href=""&gt;&lt;img title="" style="border-style: none; border-width: 0px;" src="http://www.cheesesupply.com/images/P-21-068.jpg"&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: left;"&gt;Back to aviation related stuff, I stumbled across a website that lets you listen in on communication between the towers and pilots at several of the nations busiest airports...&amp;nbsp; &lt;a href="http://www.liveatc.net/feedindex.php" target="_new"&gt;Here is the link.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;Well, I got sidetracked and can't remember what else I was going to blog...&amp;nbsp; Oh, my first really big test starts tomorrow at work!&amp;nbsp; I've been working on designing and building it for the past 5 months and tomorrow is the big day.&amp;nbsp; We'll see how it goes!&lt;br&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt; </description><comments>http://www.xanga.com/rbhenderson/645146028/planes-flying-cheese-and-work.html#firstcomment</comments></item><item><title>Yep, I'm a dork/geek/nerd (I can never remember which is actually correct...)</title><link>http://www.xanga.com/rbhenderson/643540085/yep-im-a-dorkgeeknerd-i-can-never-remember-which-is-actually-correct.html</link><guid>http://www.xanga.com/rbhenderson/643540085/yep-im-a-dorkgeeknerd-i-can-never-remember-which-is-actually-correct.html</guid><pubDate>Mon, 25 Feb 2008 19:52:01 GMT</pubDate><description>Well, just to prove it beyond the shadow of a doubt, this is what I've been doing research on starting last week:&lt;br&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helmholtz_resonator" target="_new"&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helmholtz_resonator&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.braeunig.us/space/sup1.htm" target="_new"&gt;http://www.braeunig.us/space/sup1.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;a href="http://exploration.grc.nasa.gov/education/rocket/nozzle.html" target="_new"&gt;http://exploration.grc.nasa.gov/education/rocket/nozzle.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.nortonsalesinc.com/" target="_new"&gt;http://www.nortonsalesinc.com/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;And here are some fun movies I found on Youtube... (and just so you know, I won't be offended at all if you find this completely boring!)&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;object height="355" width="425"&gt;&lt;param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Ge9mpvX9G_I&amp;amp;rel=1"&gt;&lt;param name="wmode" value="transparent"&gt;&lt;embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Ge9mpvX9G_I&amp;amp;rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="355" width="425"&gt;&lt;/object&gt;&lt;br&gt;Super incredibly slow motion lift of sequence for one of the Delta series rockets...&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;object height="355" width="425"&gt;&lt;param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/jYp1lwKTDhQ&amp;amp;rel=1"&gt;&lt;param name="wmode" value="transparent"&gt;&lt;embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/jYp1lwKTDhQ&amp;amp;rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="355" width="425"&gt;&lt;/object&gt;&lt;br&gt;This is a test for the &lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S-IC" target="_new"&gt;intial boosters on the Saturn &lt;/a&gt;series rockets...&amp;nbsp; 5 engines = 7.8 million pounds of thrust! (thats a lot...)&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;object height="355" width="425"&gt;&lt;param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/DFG0P5KCBrw&amp;amp;rel=1"&gt;&lt;param name="wmode" value="transparent"&gt;&lt;embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/DFG0P5KCBrw&amp;amp;rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="355" width="425"&gt;&lt;/object&gt;&lt;br&gt;This one is a methane/LOX (liquid oxygen) rocket, apparently its very innovative...&amp;nbsp; (rolls eyes)&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;object height="355" width="425"&gt;&lt;param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/FZK8gM_1_D0&amp;amp;rel=1"&gt;&lt;param name="wmode" value="transparent"&gt;&lt;embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/FZK8gM_1_D0&amp;amp;rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="355" width="425"&gt;&lt;/object&gt;&lt;br&gt;This one is my favorite of all the movies, fire is just fun, and fire that does something useful (and looks cool at the same time) is all that much better!&amp;nbsp; The diamonds in the flame (I think it might actually be called a the jet) are called Mach diamonds and are caused by the exhaust gas speed, a rocket nozzle operates by accelerating the gases to supersonic speeds, the number of diamonds in the flame is how many times faster than the speed of sound it is actually moving... (I won't bore you with the long explanation)&amp;nbsp; The rocket in this movie has 6-7 diamonds thus, the exhaust gases are moving 6-7 times faster than the speed of sound.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;I finished a cost analysis of buying an airplane vs. renting one and
until I actually have my pilots license it makes more sense to rent one
(after I've got my license it ends up being about half the price if I
own one...)&amp;nbsp; And I've been in a funk all weekend, it was no fun!&amp;nbsp; I'm a little better now, don't really know what the deal was though.&amp;nbsp; &lt;br&gt;</description><comments>http://www.xanga.com/rbhenderson/643540085/yep-im-a-dorkgeeknerd-i-can-never-remember-which-is-actually-correct.html#firstcomment</comments></item><item><title>Being random (well, more like random things about me)</title><link>http://www.xanga.com/rbhenderson/643241382/being-random-well-more-like-random-things-about-me.html</link><guid>http://www.xanga.com/rbhenderson/643241382/being-random-well-more-like-random-things-about-me.html</guid><pubDate>Wed, 20 Feb 2008 04:43:31 GMT</pubDate><description>Well, I got tagged (can I really say that since it was more like tag yourself at your own risk?) by &lt;a href="http://www.xanga.com/daughteroftheking85" target="_new"&gt;Marianna &lt;/a&gt;and I have some stuff to post so I guess I'll roll them into one post&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;1.&amp;nbsp; Its already past my bedtime (9pm, sigh, work work work...) so I had better make this fast!&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;2.&amp;nbsp; The Lord is working on my pride...&amp;nbsp; Have you ever pondered the question of are you willing to fail for Him?&amp;nbsp; Its not a fun one to ponder!&amp;nbsp; (EDIT: This isn't a "fail and then say it was for the Lord" thing, this is the Lord specifically asking you to fail in something, or even causing you to after you've given Him permission, because He will ask...&amp;nbsp; Are you listening?)&amp;nbsp; Another side of that is that He isn't so concerned with the outcome of things as He is with us growing through them, succeed or fail isn't really the issue. (at least thats how I see it at this point, this isn't a completed thing in my life, more of a not quite to the middle thing)&amp;nbsp; (EDIT: He's been revealing to me that I tend to calculate all my risks (I am an engineer after all, the only time we end up in the news is when something goes wrong!) and avoid anything that I don't have a pretty good chance of completing successfully...&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; How much have I missed because success wasn't assured?)&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;3.&amp;nbsp; I had my job review today, it went really really well, I've basically performed above expectation in every area except getting to work on time (the first few months were incredibly hard! But I'm better now...).&amp;nbsp; The whole thing was one giant compliment.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;4.&amp;nbsp; I've watched 3 movies fairly gut wrenching movies in the past week or so (I don't know what the deal is but I'm on a movie kick), now I can't recommend these movies without the caveat that they are very blood (and one has a scene that needs to be skipped, its the only movie that I will watch that carries that caveat).&amp;nbsp; The movies were Blood Diamond, which is a decent movie except that there is an amazing father-son interaction that was enough for me to decide that I'll own it someday.&amp;nbsp; The others were Braveheart (thats the one with the scene) and Gladiator.&amp;nbsp; So some will think they are gut wrenching for different movies, but I honestly can't watch any of these movies without crying (yeah, its true...). &amp;nbsp;The only one left to complete the set is The Patriot, I'll watch that one sometime soon...&amp;nbsp; Hmm, I guess thats not that random (I'm really not very good at this...)&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;5.&amp;nbsp; Umm, I almost fried a $1000 piece of equipment at work (but didn't! quadruple checking is a good thing!)&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;6.&amp;nbsp; There is such a thing as too sweet, and I think its called Splenda... &amp;nbsp;(never again!)&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;7.&amp;nbsp; Okay this one is pretty random...&amp;nbsp; I was minding my own business, going to get a pair of shoes at Big 5 (everybody knows they always have shoes on sale...) and as I was getting out of my truck this mom says to one of her kids "lets go get a fish" (yeah, the pet store is right next to Big 5, go figure) so I got to thinking "Ya know, I want a fish too!"&amp;nbsp; So after I got myself a pair of shoes (Saucony running shoes if you must know), I went and got myself a fish.&amp;nbsp; Now I'm normally a pretty introverted guy when it comes to shopping, (I'm actually introverted most of the time I guess...) I like to mind my own business and keep to myself when I'm shopping.&amp;nbsp; But I asked one of the guys (turns out he was the manager) what fish looks cool and works well in a fish bowl, "well..." he says "pretty much the only kind of fish that works well in a fish bowl is a Beta, because they breathe air (instead of getting O2 from the water... comes from having to survive in the swamps of the south...)"&amp;nbsp; So I went and found myself the coolest looking beta they had (well the cool cheap kind, they have some that are called crowned that are like twice as much) and I bought him (only the "him's" are fun to look at, the do sell "her's" as well though, beta babies I guess?)&amp;nbsp; Anyway, without further adieu here is Bob:&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a target="_blank" href="http://photo.xanga.com/rbhenderson/080e6174546863/photo.html"&gt;&lt;img title="Bob 002" style="border-style: none; border-width: 0px;" src="http://x08.xanga.com/0e6c5521c0c32174546863/m132821534.jpg" width="580"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/div&gt;Looking at me, he tends to do this... &amp;nbsp;I'm not sure why I called him Bob (it was the first thing that came to mind really...) but I'll say I named him after a character off of an old show called ReBoot! that I used to watch...&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a target="_blank" href="http://photo.xanga.com/rbhenderson/0e4a7174546873/photo.html"&gt;&lt;img title="Bob 005" style="border-style: none; border-width: 0px;" src="http://x0e.xanga.com/4a7c4221c0c32174546873/m132821544.jpg" width="580"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;a target="_blank" href="http://photo.xanga.com/rbhenderson/080e6174546863/photo.html"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/div&gt;And a better look at him... &amp;nbsp;His home is actually a vase, and unfortunately I cracked it when I was washing it for him, I had stuck my hand down in it and when I pulled it out I whacked it against the side of the sink, so today found me hunting through Peir 1 Imports trying to find another fish *ahem* "house" (because bowls are boring). &amp;nbsp;I didn't find anything cool enough so I'll have to see if &amp;nbsp;I can find a Cost Plus somewhere...&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;Well I guess thats about it, if this post doesn't prove that I desperately need help in the randomness areana I don't know what will! (I've been hanging around engineers too long! Somebody save me!!)&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;Walk Strong!&lt;br&gt;Ben&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;PS.&amp;nbsp; I've got (I think) 3 sermons I've been meaning to post on here, I just haven't gotten around to it yet!&amp;nbsp; Someday...&lt;br&gt;</description><comments>http://www.xanga.com/rbhenderson/643241382/being-random-well-more-like-random-things-about-me.html#firstcomment</comments></item></channel></rss>