Category: Rant

I’m ready to give up on trying to work with this guy

Back in March, I wrote about a miscommunication between me and the MC for the Lance. Well, since that time, he has never told me what’s going on with the plane. I see it get scheduled for maintenance, but he never tells me why. I asked him what’s going to happen about the prop overhaul, and he didn’t answer me. This weekend, the guy who had the Lance booked for the weekend wrote to the club list to say that it was available, but if anybody wanted it, it was still out at Batavia. I asked and he said it was out there for an oil change. I guess the MC took the plane out without informing me, and without asking if I could help ferry the plane, or anything. And I don’t dare do something to get the plane back, because if he’s made other arrangements he’ll throw another fit if I get there first.

I’m on the verge of sending him this letter, (cc’ed to the VP of Maintenance) but I’m going to sit on it overnight first.

Dear Bill;

Since I’ve become AMC for the Lance, I feel like either you don’t want an AMC or you just don’t want me to be your AMC. You never communicate with me, you never tell me what is going on, and even when I ask you a direct question (like when I asked about the prop leak), you rarely if ever answer. You have grounded the Lance several times without telling me what was going on, either before or after. You have never asked me for help ferrying the plane, even when people are sending messages to the mailing list saying “the Lance is at Batavia if you want it”. The only function you have allowed me to perform is to pass information on to you, while never getting any information back. As AMC, I feel like my functions could be better performed by your answering machine.

I signed on as AMC so that I could help in the maintenance of the aircraft, and also so that I could be a useful to you and to all the other Lance pilots in the club. Since I am not getting that opportunity, I am resigning as AMC. I hope you can find another volunteer if you want one.

A little close to home

This morning, I got an email from another member of the flying club. He wanted to know if the aircraft in this news story was the one that belongs to a member of our flying club. I happened to know that “Rochester Waterwings” was a LLC that he and another guy set up to buy a Cessna 172 on floats, and that they’d then gone and bought a Taylorcraft so they’d have something to put on skis last winter. (Yeah, they’re living my dream.)

A few hours later, that club member wrote to the club officers to confirm that he was at the controls during the crash, and while he came out of it with scrapes and bruises, the other man in the airplane, his partner in both aircraft, had a lower back injury but thankfully no spinal cord damage. He didn’t offer any clues as to the cause, probably a prudent thing before the NTSB has issued at least a preliminary report.

I still want a ride in his float plane.

Suggestion for Apple

I’d like to make a suggestion for Apple: If you’re going to sell an HP Printer/Scanner/Copier PSC 1510, you should make sure that HP bundles drivers THAT WERE WRITTEN IN THIS FUCKING CENTURY! No shit – I hit the “Scan” button, and it launched “Classic”, the backwards compatibility program that allows it to run programs written for the old OS 9. It then fired up some limited edition of an ancient version of Photoshop.

Come on, you guys.

Product Review: Innopocket Hard Case for Palm Treo

After wrecking my Treo at Pinckneyville, I decided the replacement (that goodness I bought insurance on it) needed a bit more protection. I got the Innopocket Magnesium Case for Palm Treo.

The case appeared to be ideal, with strong clear plastic over the screen and strong magnesium everywhere else important. Even better, the case has a good double hinge so you can get the front out of the way to use the whole device. The reviews warned me about one drawback – there is a nubbin on the back to clip into the belt clip, and when you fold back the front the nubbin touches the clear screen protector. And sure enough, there is a bit of a wear mark there. But then again, better wear on a replaceable case than on the Treo itself.

The design of the case seems to have placed a premium on access to all the extraneous bits of the phone, like the SD card and the camera. That can be handy at times. But it has also lead to a couple of drawbacks:

  • The SD card keeps popping out. Especially when the phone pops out of the belt clip and drops on the ground.
  • There isn’t anything along the top to secure the phone in place if the hinge opens, which has lead on more than one occassion to the phone dropping on the floor.

The belt clip is an interesting design and works pretty well, except when the clip itself falls off my shorts.

Not a complaint about the case itself, but more a simple observation: a couple of times I’ve forgotten that the case was closed and attempted to “touch” on the touch screen. Doesn’t work through the screen protector.

In summary: I like the case, and can overlook the small flaws. I hope it will protect the Treo, especially since Cingular cancelled my insurance for having the temerity for making a claim against it.