Category: Revelation

One bright spot

One thing I am looking forward to this weekend: Last time, Alyssa and I had an hour to fill in between the checkout time of the hotel and the start of the movie we went to see, and so I stopped for a walk along the Ottawa River. I’ve always loved the Ottawa River – when I lived in Ottawa I’d frequently go out of my way to drive or bike the River Parkway on the way somewhere.

On this short walk, we discovered some amazing sculptures done in the river. I remember this artist from 10 or so years ago – he wanted a place to set up his easel to do some painting, and arranged the flat stones that he found in the river into an Inuktuk. He liked it so much that instead of doing his painting, he made dozens of Inuktuks, mostly in the shallow parts of the river. Well, evidently he’s still doing it, but he’s progressed beyond Inuktuks – some of the things he’s doing now are amazing. I hope they haven’t been swept away, as I’d like to document them.

Second and Third

Reader’s Choice Awards–PDA Software Winner

So CoPilot came second in the poll, which is a real vindication of this wonderful unpretentious and understated free software. Coming second to the flashy, expensive and hugely processor intensive Anywhere WX (which only runs on PocketPC because of the processor requirements) is no shame. If I had a PocketPC I’d probably want AnywhereWX or WXWorks.

But I’m surprised to see that number three is another piece of software that I’m slightly involved with – GPSPilot.com’s Fly 5.1. GPSPilot.com are the nice people who bought me my lovely Sony Clié as thanks for doing my waypoint generator for them. It appears that they’re paying more attention to the connection to AeroPlanner than to my generator now, so I probably won’t be able to convince them to replace the Clié now that it’s getting kind of battered looking. Oh well.

If I can just convince Vicki to replace her clunky old Handspring Visor with a Palm Tungsten E, I might be able to get away with buying a new PDA next year. I’m so crafty it hurts – too bad I’m letting the cat out of the bag here.

I apologize to Plane and Pilot Magazine

In a previous blog entry, I asked people to vote in a Plane and Pilot magazine poll for some software that I’m involved with. In that, I made an ironically cynical remark that “it can’t win against software that actually buys advertising in the magazine” – memories of the notoriously biased and down right fraudulent “Runners World” shoe surveys on the late 1970s and early 1980s and the like dancing in my head. Well, it turns out that Plane and Pilot Magazine, like most aviation publications, are straight shooters, and I insulted them gratuitously. For that, I apologize.

In the good news department, Plane and Pilot Magazine tells that we finished in the top five in the poll. Woo hoo.

Oh, and to give you another indication of why Plane and Pilot Magazine has gone way up in my estimation, the publisher himself posted a comment in my blog pointing out the insult, but NOT threatening me or asking me to apologize. And that’s why I think they deserve the apology.

Moved to tears

I’m currently listening to my iPod, specifically the Bulgarian Women’s Choir, World Tour ’93. Right now, the song is called “Polegnala E Toudora”, and for some reason it’s just moving the hell out of me. It’s so beautiful, I can’t stand it. I’d almost call it “Unearthly”, but Anna Russell didn’t seem to consider that a compliment in her “Album?”. So I guess I’ll call it “ethereal”. The other CD I have of this music is equally moving and beautiful.

Side note to the RIAA: I bought these two CDs because somebody sent me a couple of MP3s and I liked it so much that I had to own it. In my case at least, music sharing drove more music sales. So put that in your lawsuits and smoke it.