My pretty, glowing liver

My HIDA scan…radioactive stuff injected while you glow for the scanner to check gall bladder function. That’s bile going from my liver into the intestines. But my gall bladder is apparently in stealth mode…

Meet the Boeing family of wide body jetliners

I think a lot of people will enjoy this, not just airplane nerds like me…

From: http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/flightblogger/2012/02/a-touch-of-truth-and-humor-for.html

787: She is drop-dead gorgeous, she has all the “right” friends, and all the boys want to date her. She loves spending time at the spa, and she is addicted to social media. Predictably, she is a drama queen. Every little problem gets blown out of proportion, resulting in tears and tantrums. She has an attitude of entitlement, believing that everyone exists to serve her needs and desires.

767: He isn’t terribly smart, or good-looking, or popular, or talented. He is a little clumsy and socially awkward. Though he is a diligent and reliable worker, his only real option for the future is to go into the military, because frankly he has little prospect of finding employment in the private sector. But bless his heart, we love and adore him.

777: He’s the family overachiever. Eagle Scout, 4.0 average, captain of the football team, scholarship offers flowing in, a gorgeous and smart girl friend. He wonders to himself how he could possibly be related to this cast of characters, and secretly wishes he weren’t.

747: Quiet and studious, she tends to keep to herself. She’s a bit heavy and has a touch of asthma. She seems wise beyond her years, and is burdened by an unspoken sadness. Yet she is unfailingly loyal and will go to the wall for you. Others would do the same for her in an instant.

Start me up!





Start me up!

So we were moving some furniture at work and viola – mystery laptop appears!

So I took it back to my office to see what it was….holy smokes! This
thing had Windows 98 on it. It must have been sitting down there all dusty
and lonely for a decade or more.

But it still works! Curiously, the laptop doesn’t seem all that slow –
just goes to show you that for as much as hardware gets more powerful there
shall be bloated software and operating systems to fill the void 🙂

Greetings from flight level 330





Greetings from flight level 330

Over Idaho on the way to DFW enjoying WiFi Internet on my laptop from
33,000 feet..first time I’ve had the opportunity. I know this has
been around for a while now, but I’m old and it still gives me a big
WOW factor that I can browse the net from 33,000 feet while traveling
at mach 0.80 on a tiny little netbook at connection speeds I would
have sold my soul to have 10 years ago.

It’s really cool.

Lunch time treat! 787 on approach





Lunch time treat! 787 on approach

I was able to get off work early as I did server maintenance this
weekend and then today had to drop off some recycling in SODO….and
look what graced my late lunch! A 787!

Update!! Two of them in a row! I got a video of the second one and
will post later, because, well, like any good airplane dork would do,
of course 🙂

When a downgrade “upgrades” your iPhone…

I did like some features of IOS 4.x, but holy cow did it slow down my 3G. It became intolerable. 15 seconds to open the messages app (I timed it!) Another 5 seconds to start a new message. That’s an eternity.

So I downgraded my iPhone 3G to the 3.1 software version and viola! It’s like new again. And yes, I restored the phone, reset the thing, etc — tried all the tricks before the downgrade – no luck.

So if you haven’t upgraded — I suggest you don’t if you have a 3G! The 3Gs and, of course, the iPhone 4 will probably be OK.

Meet Junior…





Meet Junior…

He’s there on the right next to his brothers of various ages – isn’t
he cute?

I had wanted a smaller device to use while traveling and while
watching TV (it’s fab to lookup stuff/stars/stats while watching!)

I had high hopes for the Apple iPad but the first version that came
out a few weeks ago just didn’t meet my needs or expectations (no
flash player Apple? Come on now…that’s just dumb no matter what)

So I finally got a "netbook" – and it’s pretty neat. One inch thick
and about 2.5 pounds. 10 inch screen running Windows 7. Intel Atom
N450 processor (the very newest Atom processor) and 2 gigs memory.
Keyboard is more useable than it looks. It’s a sweet little dealie
and performs great.

Oh, and here’s the fun part… It’s a Gateway. Yep, remember them
cows? I was going for the highest rated and reviewed HP netbook but
found this little gem that just came out while researching for the
others. The specs beat the others and price was right so I got it.
Hopefully this little guy will continue to perform.

YAY – new toys!

KOMO: 747? 787? They’re the same, right?

This just cries out to be ridiculed and made fun of as wide as possible.  Seriously, this is a professional news organization in an area where aerospace is one of the top 2 industries.

Seriously, KOMO, you deserve all the raspberry you can get for this.  It’s just sloppy and lazy.  No excuses — you are NOT the average person who may not see the difference — you are in the business of ACCURACY and by god in the Seattle area you need to know your airplanes. Would a TV station in Detroit make a story with a caption about a Mustang yet have the picture be a F150 truck?  Must I even explain this to you?!

Next you’ll show a screen shot of Apple Macintosh OS X in relation to a Microsoft Windows 7 story.  Seriously, guys, this is that bad…and if you can’t see that — wow, I’m astonished and kind of embarrassed you are in my town.  You guys are being THAT stupid.  And you haven’t even corrected it after hours of people leaving comments on your own website!

Shame on you.

Here’s the link to the story, which hopefully they will correct.  But I took a screen shot to proove KOMO’s stupidity: