You want me to do what?!?...

My company provides software for the insurance industry.  It comes in versions for the desktop and the web.  Apparently, we have a little bug in the display code because the desktop version displays the correct instructions, but the web version...  well, you have to see it for yourself.

I don't care how much the commission is, I am NOT licking any participant's anything!

Weather or not I'm old

I saw this article on the local paper's website a few days ago.  It talks about a weather beacon being reinstalled on the Walker Center in Salt Lake City.  That in itself didn't do much for me since I didn't grow up here, but it did remind me of the weather beacon I did grow up with in Fresno, CA.

For years during my youth I remember the giant "G" glowing various colors on top of the Guarantee Savings bank building.  I don't even remember what they all meant, but the colors would  be red, green, or white, and it could possibly be flashing.  You could see it for miles around, even from my farm.  (Yes, Fresno is a pretty flat place.)

You should be able to see it in this picture below.

According to this article on Wikipedia, it no longer works.  However, this website referred to by the Wikipedia one seems to say otherwise.  I hope it's true that it works.  There aren't too many around and although these days you could just fire up weather.com to see what the weather is, there was nothing like that big "G" slowly turning on top of that building.

So let's say you want your own way to see what the weather is going to be.  According to the Salt Lake City paper, it's going to cost $500,000 to put the Walker sign back up.  You could do it for a lot less.  Go ahead and look out a window at a tall building in the distance like the Guarantee Savings building I could see while growing up.  I'll wait.  Got it?  Good.  Now if you look around the building and see blue, the weather is clear.  If you see water, it's raining.  If you see white, it's snowing.  If you see nothing but black, it's night.  If you see...

Update to my airports list!

Check out my airports post.  I am now up to 44 airports in 25 states.

One thing I must say, though.  I've always had this romantic notion of John F Kennedy in New York as being some amazing place.  The other week, my dream was shattered.  The Delta terminal, at least, was rather old and showing its age.  Oh, the shops were fairly nice, but the walls, floors, and interior was just generally... "dirty".  It definitely could use some modernization and spiffying up.

Another new airport

Last week I added Minneapolis/St. Paul and Minnesota to my ever-growing list of airports and states.  I've decided to also keep the original post updated so that I can have it all in one place. :)

Busy, Busy, Busy...

Wow, that is quite a lack of updates on my site.  I'm going to have to do much better at that...

As posted previously, I've been traveling quite a bit.  My last trip was to Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey.  I can now add Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) to my list.  That brings airports up to 41 and states I've landed in/taken off from to 22!  I'll be adding another one next week, and probably a couple more next month.  What a collector I am. :)

I am also a major procrastinator.  I should probably start a local chapter of the procrastinators' club, but I think I'll wait until later.  Anyway, I signed up for an independent studies class last year, and it's almost due!  I only have a little over a month to get it done and I've barely started.  Back to the books now...

Take to the skies!

Google has an update to its Google Earth app.  It's really cool for two new features it has.

First up is being able switch from looking down to looking up!  From Google Earth's own "What's New?" page: "Switch your view to see the sky above your Earth location, and explore far-away galaxies, nebulae, and more.  Zoom in to see imagery from the Hubble Space Telescope, learn about the lifecycle of a star, or even view the constellations.  After all, the Earth doesn't sit in a vacuum...  that would be an awful waste of space."

The second is what's really cool.  It now has its own flight simulator!  As the GOS blog states, it’s not quite Microsoft Flight Simulator, but it is pretty good. And just a whole lotta fun! I started out by flying around in the prop plane. It made it a lot easier to learn to fly and I buzzed my house and all that fun stuff, but the real challenge, at least for me, is learning to fly that F-16! Now that is cool! I still don’t quite have turns down yet, so I practice at 25,000 feet so I have a little wiggle room. 

Anyway, if you want to waste some time, download the latest Google Earth!

Added an airport!

Last month, I added an airport to bring the total airports I've been to up to 40!  I also added another state to bring that total to 21.  (But alas, it was not Hawaii...)

And the lucky runway belongs to... drumroll please... Des Moines International Airport, IA (DSM)!

It's been awhile

Wow.  Guess I've been a little negligent in keeping this blog updated.  But don't worry, I've got plenty of material now, so if you haven't been here for awhile, or ever, there will be plenty to read.  And with that, off we go!

Oh, the places you'll go!

Since I'm in the travel frame-of-mind, I thought I would create my own post of airports I've been to.  Alisonwonderland did a post like this a while back, so I'm just stealing her idea here.  I thought it would be interesting.

BTW, I don't know why, but the Dr. Seuss book was the first thing that came to mind when I was thinking of a title for this post. 

"You'll be on your way up!

You'll be seeing great sights!

You'll join the high fliers

who soar to high heights."

--Dr. Seuss, "Oh, the Places You'll Go"

Airports I've flown into and/or out of, in alphabetical order...

• Atlanta Hartsfield International (ATL)
• Austin, TX (AUS)
• Baltimore Washington International (BWI)
• Boston - General Edward Lawrence Logan International Airport (BOS)
• Burbank Bob Hope (BUR)
• Calgary, Canada (YYC)
• Camarillo, CA (CMA) 
• Cancun, Mexico (CUN)
• Charlotte Douglas International, NC (CLT)
• Charlottesville VA (CHO)
• Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International (CVG)
• Cleveland (CLE)
• Colorado Springs (COS)
• Dallas Fort Worth International (DFW)
• Denver International (DEN)
• Des Moines International (DSM)
• Detroit, MI (DTW)
• Fresno Chandler Field (FCH)
• Fresno-Yosemite International, CA (FAT)
• Heber City Municipal - Russ McDonald Field, UT (36U)
• Houston George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH)
• Indira Gandhi International (DEL)
• John Wayne-Orange County Airport (SNA)
• Kansas City International (MCI)
• Las Vegas McCarran International Airport (LAS)
• Los Angeles International (LAX)
• Louis Armstrong New Orleans International (MSY)
• Louisville, KY (SDF)
• Miami International (MIA)
• Minneapolis/St. Paul International (MSP)
• Narita International (NRT)
• New York - John F Kennedy International (JFK)
• Newark Liberty International, NJ (EWR)
• Oakland, CA (OAK)
• O'hare International (ORD)
• Oklahoma City Will Rogers (OKC)
• Omaha, NE (OMA)
• Ontario International, CA (ONT)
• Orlando International, FL (MCO)
• Philadelphia International (PHL)
• Phoenix Sky Harbor International (PHX)
• Portland International (PDX)
• Reno/Tahoe International (RNO)
• Richmond International, VA (RIC)
• Ronald Reagan Washington National (DCA)
• Sacramento International (SMF)
• Salt Lake City International (SLC)
• San Diego-Lindbergh Field (SAN)
• San Francisco International (SFO)
• San Jose, CA (SJC)
• Seattle Tacoma International (SEA)
• Twin Falls, ID (TWF)
• Washington Dulles International (IAD)
• Windsor Locks - Bradley International, Hartford, CT (BDL)

Some interesting facts (to me, anyway)

• Now totaling 54 airports spanning 31 states and 5 countries. 
• Although the city renamed its airport Fresno-Yosemite International, going by "FYI", at the FAA it's still "FAT". :)
• Did you know that the airport commonly known as Logan International (Boston) is really General Edward Lawrence Logan International?
• Why haven't I been to Hawaii?!?! :(
• I still haven't been to Hawaii... (3/25/22)

UPDATE 3/25/22: Added Burbank, Charlottesville, Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Louisville, Narita, Chicago.

UPDATE 12/3/08: Added Portland International (PDX)

UPDATE 5/23/08: Added Indira Gandhi Intl, Delhi, India

UPDATE 10/16: Added Boston (Logan) and New York (JFK), updated facts.

UPDATE 9/29: Added Des Moines, Newark, and Minneapolis/St. Paul, updated facts.

Where's that Plane? Part II

Here it is: FlightView in action. At this very moment (or at least a few moments ago depending on how fast Blogger uploads my post and how long-winded my typing is...) Alisonwonderland's plane is somewhere over Kansas (West of Kansas City, North of Wichita).