Dark Side, Fad Web-Site, Wings, and A Pound of Flesh!

Finally an update! It seems that I am starting most of my blog postings with that sentence. I guess I am not as dedicated a blogger as I had hoped to be. Oh well. I'm going to stop feeling pressure to update. The blog is kind of like a journal to me. I'll get to it when I can and set no more limits.

ROGER WATERS

I was luck enough to catch the last Roger Waters show of his North American tour here in Toronto. It was really cool. He played the Dark Side of the Moon album in its entirety! He also played other great Pink Floyd songs that I never thought that I would hear live. Song like Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun, and Sheep. The performance was phenomenal and the stage show was fantastic. It was the first time I had ever seen anti-Bush graffiti spray painted on the ass of a giant remote controlled inflatable pig! Good stuff!

My friend Scott, who accompanied me to the concert (Andrea was teasing me about it being a date!) brought along his new iPhone. That thing is so cool! It is definitely living up to all the hype. If you have the means, I recommend you picking one up.

Facebook

As of late I have been on Facebook more and more. This may be part of the reason that I haven't been updating the blog as much. If you aren't already a member I recommend joining. It's a relatively easy way to stay in touch and share photos with friends and family.

Flying

Since starting the blog I had realized what a boring life I actually lead. I keep busy, but truly with things that are not worth writing about. I know the people really don't care that I have learned about how the Canadian tax code treats losses to a capital gains account! So I am trying to be more proactive with actually living life. One of my dreams has been to go up in one of those little Cessna planes that we see flying around. I don't know why, but I had always wondered what it would be like. Well on August 20th I realized that dream in a big way! Not only did I go up in one, but the pilot let me fly the thing for 5 to 10 minutes! It was one of the most amazing experiences I have ever had. It also terrified me to my very soul! It was a windy day and those small planes feel every little bump there is. The controls were very sensitive and I had to keep compensating for the wind blowing us around.

The plane had been built in 1967 and inside it had the same smell as the inside of an old car on a hot day. The seats were really close together, and it was almost impossible to get in or out of it easily. I got to wear one of the headsets and heard the pilot speaking to the tower. We started down the runway and the speed seemed a little slow. It was a lot like when you are speeding up on an on-ramp for a highway. I guess I am used to the high speeds of large jets on take-off.

Well next thing I know we are off the ground. The plane starts rocking back and forth in the winds, and I start thinking about the barf-bag in the glove box. We reach about 2500 ft when he gives me the controls. I am instructed to climb to 3000 ft and then level off. He tells me to keep the horizon level with the dashboard for the climb. When we reach 3000 ft he tells me to lower the nose until I get "4-fingers" of horizon above the dashboard. 4 fingers! Was he ordering a Scotch?! Isn't there a more technical way to do this?!

Once we were leveled I was free to turn left or right and go where I wanted. We are now over Port Perry and lake Scugog. The winds are flowing under the plane giving it a floating feeling, a lot like a boat on water. Up and down, up and down. It took me a while to not overcompensate for it. The controls are very sensitive. I give the controls back to the professional and he now wants to know if I want to see him do some maneuvers! We have been in the air now for about 20 minutes and I am starting feels a little uneasy about things, so I decline. We head back to Oshawa Airport and it seems like we are coming in on an angle. The pilot is speaking to the tower so I can not ask any questions. I have to have faith that this guy knows what he is doing, a and is happy enough with his life that he doesn't want to kill himself and take me with him. We land safely.

We pull back to the hanger, and I take a few minutes struggling to get out of the tight seat. Once I am out the pilot grabs the plane by the propeller and pushes into a parking spot like ti only weighed 10 lbs. I guess there really isn't much to them.
Stratford

Last weekend we made our annual trip to Startford, Ontario. This year we saw Merchant of Venice. It was an unusual performance that seemed to be both modern and traditional translations of the play. There was fast beat dance music and a combinations of old and new style costumes. The strangest part was the casting of Graham Greene as Shylock! He did a great job, and in the end I understood why he was cast for the role. The story has Christians thinking of Jews as a lower form of life and trying to convert them to Christianity much like the pilgrims did with the native Canadians and Americans many years ago.

Well that's about all that is new. Andrea and I are both doing well. We are trying to plan another trip to New York. We want to drive down this time. Probably in early October. Central Park in the fall will be nice. Until next time!