August 2008

You are currently browsing the monthly archive for August 2008.

Zenith 650 or 649?

August 26, 2008 in Aviation, Homebuilding, Zenith Zodiac 601XL, Zenith Zodiac 650 | No comments

I am at a crossroads.  I learned today that waiting for plans for the new Zenith Zodiac 650 could delay me until late September or early October. 

The purist in me is willing to wait.  I could put together a laundry list of odds and ends jobs to do for the next month plus.  If I’m smart, these are all things I need to do anyway so I’m just time-shifting them to the front of the line.  That way I can keep busy and productive instead of just sitting on my hands and losing time.

The pragmatic part of me says that I should be content with a hybrid that would incorporate all the changes except the changed angle of incidence on the wing.  The day I decide to leave my wing at the 601XL angle (not dropped down by 2% at the back), I free myself to continue building my fuselage and cockpit area.  Then I’m still in a position to incorporate the major changes (new canopy system and re-styled rudder) without slowing down for plans.  That’s what my Park Ranger building buddy in North Carolina has done.  Debo, you’re looking smarter every day.

Either way I must make a decision soon.  I’m quite sure that I’ve expended more calories fretting over this decision than I could possibly spend making metal shavings in the garage.  Stay tuned, but even as I write I believe the pragmatist may have won the arm wrestling match.

Tags: , , ,

Things happen

August 24, 2008 in Blogging, Life in General, Technology, Travel | No comments

I’ll make this brief.  My hiatus from posting was due to equipment issues of two sorts: my back and my computer.  The outcome for both was positive, but clearly took my focus off of blogging. 

When I went to Toronto just 13 days after surgery, it was with my surgeon’s blessing.  In fairness, however, he did say that four weeks was usually his minimum.  I feel that being there was absolutely essential, so I have no regrets for boarding the plane.  On the other hand, I now understand why Dr. White usually has his patients wait a full month before airline travel — especially the 5-hour-each-way kind of flights. 

The day or two following our return flight, I began to feel pains that were eerily reminiscent of the pains that sent me to surgery in the first place.  I was scheduled to lead Stadia through Strategic Planning (Session Two) on Monday through Wednesday, but I knew that would only make matters worse.  Tom McGlinchey graciously agreed to lead the effort, giving me a chance to take Naproxen for the inflammation and to rest for three days. 

The good news is that the plan worked.  On Thursday I returned to work and had my first physical therapy session and since then the pain has virtually disappeared.  I credit rest and a return to a healthy, back-supporting regimen. 

No sooner was my back on the mend than my computer went on the fritz.  No connectivity at all, either wired, wireless or even broadband to Verizon.  I was dead in the water.  With the great help of our IT team, I was actually put in a new ThinkPad T61 laptop on Friday, which may tell you what I’ve been doing for the last 36 hours.  Ah, the joys of reconfiguring a new computer. 

So, I’m back online in two important ways.  If you are in the habit of checking my posts (or have RSS feed), you may reasonably expect more stirrings of life from me.

Tags: , , , , , ,

Toronto bound

August 12, 2008 in Provision, Travel | No comments

Today Joy and I head north to Toronto for the annual Board Retreat of Provision Ministry Group.  We picked Toronto this year, in part to reinforce our commitment to church funding and church planting in Canada.  Our partner ministry, Impact Canada, is very capably led by Jim Tune.  Jim is also the founding Pastor of Churchill Meadows Christian Church, a fast-growing church in the suburb of Mississauga.  In a future posting, I’ll share more about this vibrant group that is totally sold out to reaching Canada with the good news of Christ.  

More later.

Tags: , , ,

New Zenith Zodiac 650

August 9, 2008 in Aviation, Homebuilding, Zenith Zodiac 601XL, Zenith Zodiac 650 | 2 comments

On June 27, 2006 I picked up my Zenith Zodiac 601XL plans from the factory in Mexico, MO and have been happily working toward completion of that aircraft since then.  At AirVenture 2008 in Oshkosh this year, Zenith unveiled the new Zodiac series model — the 650. 

Reading posts on the internet, I quickly learned I was not the only 601XL builder concerned with having an uncompleted aircraft that was already yesterday’s news.  Great relief came as subsequent statements confirmed that Zenith had made every single innovation on the 650 retrofittable to the 601XL.  For completed airplanes, the expense might outweigh the rewards.  For someone like me, the only cost will be some new plan pages and upgraded materials, where that applies.  Count me in.

The 601XL has been built by several manufacturers around the world, to somewhat different standards based upon special regulations, particularly in Europe.  There has also been nearly unanimous disdain for the 601XL canopy design.  The folks at Zenith took this opportunity to pull together the best of all the existing 601XL design mods, in addition to a new canopy system with roll-over protection, to create an internationally certifiable model called the 650.  Good thinking, and I know it has to make life simpler for them.

The biggest single change is the canopy system, which is now split with the back portion fixed to the roll-over protection structure.  This gives a better hand hold for cockpit entry, a lighter portion to lift when entering, and less surface to be caught by wind on the ground.  The latching mechanism is also dramatically improved, with a single shoulder-height lever between pilot and passenger.  The updated canopy system is even roomier, which means I should really have no issues with fitting now, even at 6′6″.

 

Additionally they changed the rudder to be less upright and more swept and streamlined.  For the non-aeronautical types among us, the rudder is the “thingy” at the back of the plane that sticks up and helps turn the plane.  Some minor bracing was added to the rear of the fuselage to comply with European standards, and the trailing edge of the wing was lowered slightly to increase over-the-nose visibility. 

It is good to work with a company (centered around the designer, Chris Heintz, and his four sons) that continues to value their existing customers by providing them with new innovations and a clear path to incorporating them.  I invite you to visit their website to see all of their airplanes, as well as more detail on the 601XL/650 I am building.  You can visit http://mykitlog.com/lwinger to follow my progress as I make my Zodiac 1251 (601+650) or Zodiac 649 (not quite a 650).

Tags: , ,

YouMail to the rescue

August 8, 2008 in Productivity, Technology | No comments

I’m a raving fan of a free online voicemail management service called YouMail that I discovered in April.  Built-in cell phone voice messaging capability is, in my opinion, a real weakness for most providers.  YouMail to the rescue.

Before I go into a laundry list of features, let me tell you how it works for me.  By disabling Verizon voice messaging and forwarding those calls to YouMail, I now get instant text message notification of voice messages, including caller ID and datestamp plus a new beta voice transcription of the message.  Great for getting the gist of your message without having to step out of a meeting. 

But the best part for me is that YouMail also launches an email containing that same info and transcription, with a link to their website and my message in MP3 form.  It plays automatically and is downloadable.  Very cool.  That way, when you have a voice message you’d really like to keep, you can.

On the caller end, YouMail is fairly amazing as well.  You can record or choose a pre-recorded outgoing message for all generic callers.  That’s expected.  The unexpected part is what you can do with people you know will be calling.  By entering their name (first & last) along with all numbers, it will use a “Smart Greeting” with them. 

So if George Smith is one of my contacts and he calls from a phone number I’ve put in the system, the “Smart Greeting” will say “Hi George, Larry’s not available right now.  Please leave a message.”  Needless to say, your friends will be impressed!

Take that even one more step.  At any time you may override the “Smart Greeting” and record a caller specific message.  “George, sorry we couldn’t talk before I got on my flight.  We were delayed and I’m going to be arriving at 6:30, not 5:15. See you curbside.  Thanks.”  Can you begin to see the advantages?

And finally, I should mention that you can re-program your cell phone speed dial to go right to YouMail’s excellent voice message retrieval system.  That is an acommodation for the Luddites among us — good old fashioned voice mail with a better cell phone interface, if nothing else.

I’m skipping the laundry list of varied greetings, voicemail management, caller identification and blocking.  You can read that for yourself.  But at the very least, give it a try.  With compatible phone systems, you can even set it up to capture your landline messages as well.  Happy messaging.

Tags: ,

Breaking news

August 5, 2008 in Life in General | 1 comment

I just finished my follow-up visit with the orthopedic surgeon, and the news is all good.  I’m cleared to return to driving, work and and even dinking around in the airplane factory (otherwise known as the garage).  This also means I’ll be flying to Toronto in just one week, ready to participate in our Provision Ministry Group Board Retreat. 

Thanks for the thoughts and the prayers of many.  I give my surgeon, Dr. Jon White, 5 stars and am grateful for a super team of leaders at Provision who have held a steady course through my time of absence.  Above all, I’m thankful for an understanding and patient wife who helped pave my road back to health.

Tags: ,

Shake, rattle and…drip

August 4, 2008 in Family, Life in General | No comments

Last Tuesday we experienced the most pronounced earthquake anyone in our family has felt in our 10 years as Southern California residents.  The 5.4 magnitude tremblor was centered in Chino Hills, less than 20 miles from our home.  When the shaking and rolling had subsided we thought the clean up was limited to righting a few tipped items and counting our blessings. 

Getting the newspaper this morning, Joy was surprised to see substantial water all along the edge of the garage door seal, with a stream backed up to our hot water tank.  What we learned from our friendly plumber, Eric, was that the flex fitting bringing cold water into our tank had mildly corroded over the last six years, barely holding together and just waiting to develop a pin-hole leak at the prompting of our recent earthquake.  In the 60 minutes before the plumber arrived — 146 hours after the quake — the pin hole enlarged enough to move from leak to steady spray that had water dripping from the ceiling and nearby A/C unit and insulation.  Another hour and we might have had our own version of Horseshoe Falls.  Not a good thing, especially if undetected in real time. 

According to the plumbing service scheduler, they have been overwhelmed with service calls for leaking pipes and fittings in nearby Yorba Linda as a result of the quake.  We are not alone.

In the “count your blessings” column, I’m reminded that this could have happened while we were in Europe for a wedding.  It could have happened when we had a house full of out-of-town family here for the reception.  It could have happened while I was in the hospital or in the early stages of my recovery.  Simply put, it did not.  Thank you, Lord.

The bummer is that I was relegated to cheerleader status as I watched my sweet wife move every piece of airplane building equipment from the double side of our garage to the single side.  I mean everything, as I assumed (incorrectly) that we might be looking at a full replacement of the tank.  I would include a picture, but it would be too sad.  I must say that watching Joy wrestle a full-sized bandsaw into submission, balanced on a 12″x18″ moving dolly, was a sight to behold.  She is amazing!

Tomorrow I see my surgeon, Dr. Jon White, hopefully to have my staples removed and to get a schedule for return to a more normal existence.  Being laid up, especially after being in a perpetual state of hyper-activity, can be mind numbing.  I guess I should be glad for every bit of entertainment, even if it means the ocassional earthquake or domestic waterfall.

Tags: , ,

Recovery Road

August 1, 2008 in Life in General | 1 comment

For me, the title has double meaning: recovery from surgery but also from long-term use of opioid analgesics leading up to my surgery.  In order just to function day-to-day, I was on maximum doses of hydrocodone-APAP (otherwise known as Vicodin, Norco, Anexsia, Lorcet, Lortab, and the list goes on).  To put that in perspective, oral hydrocodone is considered to be 1.5 times as potent as oral morphine. 

The side-effects aren’t terrible, but the worst for me was the drowsiness and reduced mental acuity I felt every single day.  The technical term is “depressant effects on the central nervous system.”  In short, I often felt zoned out and lethargic.

Immediately after surgery, I wasn’t in much of a mood to get off drugs, but after 18 hours I stopped taking any pain medicine just to get it out of my bloodstream.  Even without Vicodin, the pain from the surgery site is probably only 20% of what I was experiencing in my left leg before surgical relief.  I can deal with that any day of the week.  I know that the surgical pain will lessen every day, so there is certainly hope ahead.

The great praise I have is that I am still completely free from the left leg sciatic pain.  The surgeon has put walking at the top of my “best activities” list, with a daily target of one mile.  I did that yesterday without a problem, so today I upped it to over 2 miles.  What a great feeling to walk without leg pain.

For anyone reading this who has exhausted the other treatments available, I would encourage you to at least consider the new types of back surgery available to you.  This is not your father’s back surgery with long incisions and lengthy recovery times.  My incision is just about 1.4 inches long.

I would, however, advise against watching the available online videos of microdiskectomy surgery before you decide.  Not such a good idea.  The results are certainly worth it in the long-run.

Tags: , ,