iWeb

So I got the new iLife '06 Friday after ordering it from the online Apple store a few days earlier. For the most part it's just updates to the existing iLife programs with one exception, the new iWeb program for designing web pages, blogs, podcasts, etc. Before I go into iWeb let me say that the improvements to iPhoto are awesome. It loads about 10x faster on my iBook G4 1.44 and has a bunch of new features that I've wanted for a long time, such as a fullscreen mode where you can view/edit photos full screen with a black background. I haven't had a chance to look over iMovie or iDVD much yet but I hear there's some improvments there as well.

Now for iWeb. Some of you may have noticed I took this blog down and replaced my page with a new iWeb created page that looked awesome. iWeb makes it SO easy to create cool looking webpages that within about 10 minutes I had what I thought was going to be a pretty bitchin web page going (although Mckell gave me shit for just about every word on it). Well, after spending an hour or so adding photos and customizing it just the way I liked it I started to realize some pretty big holes in the program. Enough, in fact, to force me to stop trying to build a web page using iWeb and just go back to my regular old blog. Here were the features that I felt were critical that iWeb doesn't support (yet).

- No way to create photo albums. Sure it has an unbelievably nice system for importing photos from iPhoto and creating photo pages, but it offers no way to create an album page where people can then click on albums and go to the respecitve photo sets. I can't believe they didn't add this feature and I'm sure they'll be adding it soon.

- No way to publish the site to your server. The only way iWeb will automatically publish your site is if you have a .mac account. Otherwise it only allows you to export your site to a folder on your computer. You then have to manually upload that folder to your server via a 3rd party FTP client. This might not sound like that big of a deal, but once you get your page designed and finished, you are forced to publish your entire site to a folder (which can take quite awhile) and then upload it to your server (which can take quite awhile as well) every time you want to publish a new blog post. In other words, if you have a large site it can take upwards of 4 - 6 minutes just to simply update your blog. Big, big, big problem in my opinion.

- Way too much .mac integration. Want photo albums? Gotta have .mac. Wanna have a page counter? Gotta have .mac. Wanna do a bunch of other things? Gotta have .mac. .Mac is a ripoff in my opinion and I think it's REALLY annoying to keep trying to push users into using it. It's fine if they want to offer .mac integration, but don't design the entire program around .mac and then leave all the regular server users out of the loop.

- Inability to view the HTML code. This was another issue that I thought was really annoying. There is NO way to view or edit any of the HTML iWeb creates. Here's a real world example of how annoying this can be. I recorded a little intro for my web site and wanted it to auto-play whenever anyone went to my page. iWeb makes it all too easy to add the audio to my page, but doesn't have an option to enable any kind of auto-play. If I had access to the HTML it would have been as easy as changing the value in the AUTOPLAY="never" command to "always" but there is no way to do so, and so it makes it a huge pain in the ass to get it done.

There are a few more little gripes I have but for the most part those are the biggies. Overall the program is really, really cool and it does make creating a really good looking web page about as easy as it could get. It is, however, blatantly obvious that this is a 1.0 application and still needs a lot of work. Luckily Apple seems to listen when people complain so I've done my part in getting things changed. Now do yours.

I miss my drum set ;(

Hmmm

Before we fly we have to check the current weather conditions and area forecasts through an FAA web site which you have to log into with a username and password assigned to you by the FAA. Well today when I logged in I had the following message pop up which I thought was kind of interesting.

spawn telnet 10.131.32.102
Trying 10.131.32.102...

Connected to 10.131.32.102.

Escape character is '^]'.

GTE Contel DUAT System

Session number: 00585


Enter DUAT access code -or- last name:
Enter your password:

Transaction number: 016706
Sat Jan 14 18:58:00 2006 (UTC)

Welcome to the DynCorp DUAT System

***********************************************************************
**********************NOTICE******NOTICE******NOTICE**************
* The U.S. Government continues to receive credible indications that
extremist individuals are planning additional terrorist operations
against U.S. and Western interests within the U.S. and overseas. Such
operations, possibly involving civil and general aviation (GA) aircraft,
could be carried out whenever attack preparations are complete and
operatives are in place. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA)
has no credible information concerning specific targets, timing, or
methods of attack. However, the GA community should observe good
physical security for aircraft and facilities and be continuously on the
lookout for suspicious persons, activities, and operations around airports.

* Terrorists who are no longer able to hijack commercial airliners because
of increased security at commercial airports may turn to GA airports and
aircraft to conduct operations.

* The TSA asks members of the GA community to report all unusual and
suspicious activities. If you observe persons, aircraft, and operations
that do not fit the customary pattern at your airport, you should
immediately advise law enforcement authorities.

* Your immediate action is requested for these items:
- Secure unattended aircraft to prevent unauthorized use.
- Verify the identification of crew and passengers prior to departure.
- Verify that baggage and cargo are known to the persons on board.
- Where identification systems are in place, encourage employees to
wear proper identification and challenge persons not wearing proper
identification.

* Increased vigilance should be directed toward the following:
- Aircraft with unusual or unauthorized modifications.
- Persons loitering in the vicinity of aircraft or air operations areas.
- Persons who appear to be under stress or the control of other persons.
- Persons whose identification appears altered or inconsistent.
**********************NOTICE******NOTICE******NOTICE*******************
* With Aviation Security the primary issue in the United States today
the FAA has issued the following WARNING which is directed at
unauthorized users, abusers, and hackers and is not meant to
discourage legitimate users in any way. DUATS is a free FAA
sponsored service to pilots, dispatchers and others authorized by
the FAA. Legitimate users are encouraged to use DUATS as much as
needed and without reservation.

I wonder if anyones reported me for always telling everyone that I only want to learn to fly large aircraft once their in the air with no regard to takeoff or landing?

Goodbye to Two Years

I tend to be kind of a pack-rat when it comes to files on my computer. I tend to keep stuff (essays, pictures, email messages, etc.) forever in case I ever need to go back and look something up. Well today I had to do something to free up some space since my HD is now below 1 GB so I decided to nuke 2 years worth of saved email messages; 2768 to be exact. I don't know why it was so hard for me, but it was. And so in the memory of my fallen message brethren I decided to make this post as a tribute to their honor. God speed my friends... God speed.

Yet Another

Yet another comic strip from my favorite, yet currently unknown comic. If anyone knows who this guy is, please let me know. I just keep running across his comics on Myspace.

First Flight

Well I'm hoping my first flight was not a sign for things to come. As most of you know today, after completing my instructor ground school and simulator training was supposed to be my first flight. Unfortunately that never happened, and here is why.

So I fill out all the paperwork at dispatch (this is the building at the airport where we sign planes in/out, check weather, etc) and head out to pre-flight the plane with my instructor. The first thing we notice is that the strobes aren't working, now on a side note any time anything is out of ordinary with the aircraft there is a complex system we have to go through to report it and then verify that it is still considered safe to fly without said equipment. Luckily in our case of not having strobes, it was. So after 10 minutes to report the strobes we continue our pre-flight. At this point I notice that the engine oil is low, so we have to walk to the maintenance hanger, get the oil, fill the engine and then take the oil back. Again, this takes another 10 minutes. We complete pre-flight and hop into the plane to begin our before engine start checklist when I notice one of the annunciators (a light/warning system that will notify you if a certain system is malfunctioning) is broken into pieces. And so once again we have to radio maintenance back over to the plane and spend 15 more minutes changing out the annunciator. By now we should have left the ground about 40 minutes ago and all of this time is being deducted from my actual flight time since my instructor has another student after me. Well finally we get to the engine start checklist and I turn the key. What happens? Nothing. Well to be fair the prop turns about a half-rotation and then stops. I try cranking about 3 more times before we finally throw in the towel due to a dead battery.

The point of this story is that for my very first flight as the primary pilot of an airplane. Nothing works. I'll take this as a sign that I shouldn't be flying but a sign I will ignore none the less. I'll be back in the cockpit on Wednesday to try the whole thing over again. This was a very rare set of circumstances for planes that are so meticulously maintained.

Wish me luck!

Beginnings

Well tomorrow at 9 am marks my first day in the Mesa Pilot Development program, and the beginning of my new life; and I couldn't be any more excited. To think that within a week I'll be flying, and within a year I'll be getting paid to fly still amazes me. Being a pilot has been a life long dream for me, and tomorrow I take my first step towards my dream.

My new house is incredible. It is literally brand new. As of two weeks ago there wasn't even any carpet or doors. I'm finally done unpacking and now it's starting to feel like home. We live directly across the airport under one of the main landing patterns which is really cool for us because we're starting to get an idea for what the different planes sound like and can peek our heads out to see what's landing if we hear something interesting. The sound isn't loud either, more of a soft hum when a prop is flying in. The jets tend to make a little bit more noise.

As of now I only have one other roommate. Since we have a four bedroom house we need to find two more. The house is going to be a pilot house and we're only allowed to rent it out to other pilots in the program so we're hoping to find a few more guys at the orientation dinner at the Mesa hanger tomorrow night. My current roommates name is Ben and he's from Phoenix. He's a cool guy and we have similar interests when it comes to hanging out, movies, partying, etc. so I think we're going to have a lot of fun. Plus it's nice to always have a study partner around.

I'm starting to like Farmington. It's not that I ever hated it, but I always thought of it as a small town and I've never been big on small towns. Now that I've lived here a few days though I'm starting to think otherwise. The mall is huge, nearly as big as the ones in Salt Lake, and there is every store you could imagine (i.e. Target, Wal Mart, Best Buy, etc.) if you need something. One things for sure, I'm not in Utah anymore. You can buy full percentage beer and alcohol nearly everywhere. They even have delivery liquor stores so you can just call in and order your booze; 10 minutes later, it arrives. The bars are also a lot more liberal here. On New Years Eve the bartenders kept buying drinks for people at the bar and then drinking with them, it was awesome.

So basically what I'm trying to say is I think I'm going to like it here. I've got an unbelievable house, a great roommate, a cool town and I'm beginning to live my life long dream. Yes kids, life is good. Life is good...

A Simple Equation

Props to JP for this one...