RC Air...A New Level...

Well, I'm on vacation camping, and it's becoming routine that I build an airplane or something. As you know, it's a hobby I enjoy, and I love the satisfaction of putting many hours into an airplane and taking it to flight for the first time.

This summer, I built the Reactor Bi-plane (or Bipe for short), pictured here. It's my first plane that isn't a trainer, isn't a glider, and isn't a foam of some sort. This is the real deal, has scale aerodynamic surfaces, and really is meant to fly like a real plane.

It took me about a week and a half to assemble, and this morning, I took it on it's maiden flight. Out in the Shuswaps here, I found a full size grass airstrip that doesn't see much action from real aircraft, so I chose it to fly my Bipe here. This am, wind socks were telling me about 10-15 knots of wind, which is a little on the heavy side for a first test flight of the Bipe....but what the hell.

This plane flies SO much nicer than all the others I've flown so far (I've got 6 others...most of them still flyable). It's a very striking plane on the ground, and even more so in the air. It's much more stable than my other aircraft, as it's a bit bigger, and with two wings, it floats a lot nicer. Rolls are precise. Loops are accurate, nice and round. Landings are easy as you can bring it in so nice and slow .... lots of lift.

Stay posted. I'm going to get Dianne to try and get some video. Not real easy trying to track this all over the sky...but we'll give it a shot.

I truly enjoy building and flying RC. I keep saying to myself, I enjoy it because I'm fortunate to not have had too many written off aircraft....My goal is to keep it that way.... ;-)

Camping?...Not really...Its much more than that...

May long weekend, and we decided this year, we would be one of the die hards and head out early in the year for the first practical camping of the year. Truth of it is, there is nothing 'die hard' about what we do. We purchased an RV last year, and we'd be lying if we said we were really 'camping'. It's RV'ing for us, and we love it.

We headed out to Jasper Thursday afternoon, and got back Monday night, and had just an awesome weekend. As a family, we really have found a passion, and we wish we could do it more often. This year, we have made an oath to use our RV as much as possible.

There are many things that I personally enjoy about hooking up the trailer, and heading out. First, and foremost, we are 'heading out'. That means, escaping the city, work, the computer (I admit, I brought my notebook, with an Aircard, but used it all of 10 minutes), and everything that we do 5 days a week, and spending focused, quality time as a unit. (I love that word. Reminds me of my grandfather who had a motorhome...always called it 'the unit').

Getting out to the mountains (or whereever), provides lots of time to do what you want to do. This weekend, we spent a LOT of time together. Throwing ball with the kids, Mark loves baseball...spent lots of time chucking around a tennis ball. Court loves football. She's getting the hang of it. We took all our mountain bikes, and rode a few trails. Dianne spent some good quality time reading, while I built an airplane, and fixed up my pal Greg's Mini-T monster truck.

We ate. Oh ya, man, we ate like kings. Almost the number 1 reason to go camping. BBQ steaks. Eggs and bacon in the AM. Sandwiches. Beer. Jasper fudge. Coffee and Baileys by the fire. Ice cream. Eat Eat Eat. Drink. Eat. Drink. Drink.

The other thing I really enjoy about RV'ing, is just being out in mountains, and being self sufficient. Having the RV certainly helps, and I love having all the ammenities (Call me spoiled, but I'm far from done 'camping'). The fridge. The running water. The 120 Volt inverter. The bathroom. The BBQ. The cookstove. The Coleman lantern. The furnace at night. The air conditioning during the day (if needed). I'm a bit of a mechanical nut, so I enjoy seeing all this stuff work.

This year, I invested in two GOOD 6V high capacity batteries, wired them in series to power the 12V system in the trailer. These are made by a company called Trojan batteries (T-125+), and have WAY more power than a traditional 12V deep cycle battery (and they weigh a freakin tonne). The batteries I had last year lasted about 2 nights. These babies lasted through the 4 nights we were there, with the furnace on every night (a serious battery sucker), and showed only half run down by the end of the weekend.

All in all, our camping adventures are memorable for all of us, and we intend on creating more memories all summer long. Beats the hell out of work, and helps to provide some balance in our busy work and regular life schedules.

Indoor RC!

Last year, I was re-introduced to the world of Radio Controlled technology by a friend (who is an R/C genious and has been doing this for 30 years). Previously, I played a bit with R/C cars, and quickly found myself lacking the excitement to stay interested. But it's different now. I'm now dabbling with R/C aircraft.

I've always been interested in aviation, so much so that I got my private pilot's license about 6 years ago. Flying real airplanes is a joy that I will always cherish and be thankful that I have the opportunity to do. But it's expensive, time consuming, and doesn't happen as much as I'd like. Radio controlled aircraft is a refreshing substitute.

Last year, I got my first R/C aircraft. It's an EZ Star by Multiplex, and is pretty much a big powered glider. I recommend it for anyone who is looking to get into the hobby. Docile, easy to fly, very flexible, and easy to maintain. But it's meant for park flying. So what happens when winter comes?

Indoor flying. They call the foamies, and tonight, I flew my first foamie in a huge, empty warehouse. It's called a Sobre (pictured), and is made by E-Flite. My R/C genious friend Darin put it together, and it flies solid. (Not that I have much to compare with). It's really amazing to see how far battery, motor and radio technology has come. These indoor planes are powered by tiny, powerful motors, thin, light Li-PO battery packs, and tiny servos and receivers. This Sobre is a full 3D airplane, meaning you can do all the normal aerobatics that the big planes do....I'm happy to just fly it in square circuits and keep it in the air.

....I'm also happy to report, my plane came back in one piece. :-)

I can see where this hobby can get extremely addictive. So many planes to build. So many motors to choose from...so much to learn....

Google Street View - What next?

Today, someone told me about Google Street view. I was blown away. It's been out for a while, but this is the first I heard of it.

If you don't use Google maps, today, you should start. These guys think of everything. What they have here is revolutionary...and seemingly impossible, but once again, a reality.

It's really great to have maps on your computer. Very cool to have a satellite view to go along with it. What about a street view? What does a given street look like from a car? What do the buildings look like? The roads and sidewalks? The trees? Google street view can show you.

It's only available in major cities, but it's amazing to see how much Google has mapped out already.

Take a look at times square below. Click on the arrows and move yourself around. Awesome!

Want to know how they do it? Check out these posts:

The Camera...

Immersive Media - One of the companies hired to shoot photos

This girl is rockin!

I came across this video and had to post it. If you listen to classic rock, you'll recognize this tune. Its Carry on My Wayward Sun by Kansas.

This young girl is simply amazing with the way she has reproduced this tune on an organ. The rythm, tune and effects are pretty darn good considering she doesn't have a 5 man band behind her...

Happy New Year!

Well, another year has gone by, and as I look back on everything that has happened in 2007, and wonder how 2008 can be any more fullfilling at home or at the office.

It was truly a busy year. 2007 brought us some new family adventures with our RV this year. We spent some great weekends away from our busy home / work lives at some beautiful spots in Alberta, as well as a relaxing vacation in Radium and the Shuswaps. 2008 will hopefully bring some US travel down the Oregon / California coast...

Mark started playing hockey this year, and he absolutely loves it. He's turning out be a great little player, and I really think it's due to his love for the sport (between NHL 08 on the PS3, street hockey, Oilers games and Flaming pucks, he doesn't leave much time for anything else). It's awesome to watch these little guys progress throughout the year as they get more ice time under their belt. This Christmas, the Flaming Pucks (Marks team) played in a city wide tournament and won 4 out of 5 of their games. The whole family was present for all the games, and we had a blast cheering on the team. We've definitely turned into a hockey family....and we all love it.

On the work front....where do I start? Dianne is getting busier and busier, and puts in 3-4 days a week, depending on the time of the month (billing / payroll etc). She does the bookkeeping, and although it's turning into almost a full time job, she really enjoys it (at least that's what she tells me :-). Our team at the office has really gelled. We've got a great team of 8 people right now, everyone is working hard, and it shows in the progress we made this year. In fact, this year, we were published in Alberta Venture magazine as one of the top 50 fastest growing companies!

This year our company launched the ProExchange, which is a content library of training titles that our training sites can tap into and either sell training on their site, or consume for internal training. Along with launching the ProExchange, we also upgraded our training software to be fully SCORM compliant. Unless you are in the training industry, you probably don't know what SCORM is, but if you do want to run a training site, SCORM is very important as it provides a standard for learning content that you create and upload to our system.

This coming year will bring more innovation at ProTraining. We are currently working on a project that is due to be launched inside of a month or two that will allow us to penetrate a new market for us, and build our volume of retain training sites. Oh, and in between mainting putting up new sites and working on a couple other special projects, we plan on launching a new version of our website....again.

Other than than, our kids had a great year at school, family is healthy, we have finally settled in one place and don't plan on moving for a while. We had an awesome break between Christmas and New Years, and look forward to another great year!

Happy New Year!

High Definition TV and no HD box?

I have a friend. Let's call him Mr. Deprived. Mr. Deprived was telling us about all about his wonderful new 67" HD TV. Watching movies, weekly programming and your favorite sports channel on a 67" HD TV would be truly awesome, especially with all the growing list of HD programming available on digital cable and satellite.

But then, Mr. Deprived mentioned that he didn't have an HD cable box or sat box. "huh? Ya right, you don't... Why would you have a 67" HD TV and no HD tuner?"

I have a 50" HD TV with Shaw HD Digital cable. Compare it to normal programming, it's night and day. Now when I turn on the TV, I immediately search the HD channels first for something that I like, and watch it in HD.

If you have an HD TV, and you have yet to upgrade your box to HD, you need to hit the Tim Hortons drive thru, buy yourself a coffee and box of timbits, and head over to your local Future Shop. Plunk yourself down on the couch and watch some of their HD. After you do, stand up, slap yourself a couple times, and walk over and pick up an HD tuner.

Let's talk about PVR now. When I first got my PVR, I wondered if I would ever use it. Now that I've had it for a year, I don't know what I would do without it. I don't watch a whole lot of TV, usually because it's not convenient to catch my favorite programs when they air. No problem. Find the program in the program guide, select series record, and the PVR will record all episodes of your favorite program for you to watch on a Friday night. Watch sports? When Gagner makes his triple-head bob shootout goal to win the game, you can hit rewind/play and watch it 4 times if you like. Need to take a leak, but don't want to leave the tv set? Hit pause, do your b'iness, and come back and hit play.

Back to Mr. Deprived. Mr. Deprived thinks that an HD tuner would be great. Well Mr. Deprived, I'm here to reinforce your thoughts and, despite any outside forces that say you don't need it, you must look at the precious 67" TV minutes you are wasting in Low Def without a very necessary HD tuner. You are doing your 67" of 1080p a major disservice by not having one.

Your HD Support Team