Weird Plant

This thing has been growing in our yard since we have moved in and nobody seems to know what it is. Especially now in early autumn it looks very corn-related but I know no specific. Any ideas? (For reference the shed in the picture is probably 15 feet tall at its peak.)

One Six Right

I like movies, all kinds of movies. Some have said I like weird movies, and, at times, I must agree. I enjoy seeing art of many kinds but films offer a very large canvas on which to build. Just think about it. There are movies filled with special effects eye candy and there are films with only a few characters set in places that could be just down the street. They are all trying to tell a story of some kind (well, almost always) and those creating the film work to realize that story.

Last night Katie and I saw a film made by a man who is passionate about aviation. It was released a year or two ago and was playing one night in Wichita as a sort of 'thank-you' to Cessna who helped underwrite it. The story is of aviation told through the busiest general aviation (that is, "non-commercial") airport in the US (maybe the world): the Van Nuys Airport. The producer and director learned to fly at this airport and loves flying. He spent four years of his life building this film to express that love and did an truly wonderful job. No fancy special effects to speak of, just a simple documentary he crafted together in an expert manner.

We were blessed to have this man, Brian Terwilliger, there at the screening and it was wonderful to hear what you might call "DVD extras" live and in person. After hearing him speak, it was easy to see the strong connection between the film and the man. If I ever get into film, I would be blessed to be able to so clearly and simply communicate through that medium.

If you get a chance to see it, especially if it is on the big screen, take it. It is a great example of simple and powerful artistic expression.

One Six Right


(As a side note, the film was shot in digital HD and a digital projector was used in our screening. The quality was noticeably improved over regular film but nothing so spectacular that I would call it "revolutionary". I wouldn't stay up too late worrying about when your local theater will decide to go digital.)

Shameless Pitch

I recently ordered a flash memory card from Memorysuppliers.com and they are offering me $10 back for posting their link on my blog so here it is:

http://www.memorysuppliers.com/

The store appears to be the place to get memory for both mobile devices (like digital cameras, cell phones, PDAs) as well as memory for your desktop or laptop computer.

Sorry if this ad is distracting, thanks for being understanding. Feel free to leave a comment about my shameless efforts to save a few bucks.

Equinox

In the park down the street from us, Wichita has a very cool piece of public art that is especially neat four times each year: a solar calendar. In the tradition of many ancient cultures, a couple of artists here in Wichita collaborated to construct an accurate solar calendar that clearly marks the two equinoxes and two solstices that occur each year.

The piece has several stone pillars throughout the area but there is one central stone pillar and it has a steel and glass orifice mounted at its peak (make to look artistically similar to a human eye).




This orifice casts an eye-shaped shadow (with the pupil being open) on the ground and as the sun moves throughout the day and year, so does this shadow. The artists have also placed on the ground three marker stones with tennis-ball sized glass discs mounted on the surface such that at "high noon" on each solstice and equinox the pupil of the eye lands exactly on the glass disc and illuminates it. Think of Indiana Jones in "Raiders of the Lost Ark" but without all the special effects.

Well, today was the day after the equinox and a small crowd gathered at the solar calendar to see the show. (Yesterday being a work day, I'm assuming the turn-out wasn't as good). Due to daylight savings, "high noon" was around 1:30 or so and there was probably about two dozen people there. We were also blessed to have the artists show up for the event which I really enjoyed. Since celestial event itself was rather slow-paced and predictable, they were able to explain how they constructed the piece and explain some of the more esoteric artistic references. (All of the pillars are decorated with painted tiles meant to allude to the various ancient methods of time-keeping).

As it turned out, being one day late for the event meant the shadow was slightly out of place. The artists said that the equinoxes are the most precise and every day counts but around the time of the solstices, the eye appears to land exactly on the glass for several weeks.



Here's the view of the glass target stone looking back up towards the eye.



The next event is on December 21st at the winter solstice and it should be easier to see the eye exactly on the eye (as long as it isn't cloudly). The artists also mentioned they had another project in the works for a larger, calendar/time-piece for the county park here in Wichita. Considering they just got this one done in 2004, I'm surprised and pleased that they would be able to do something similar so quickly. Maybe Wichita isn't as un-cultured as I thought.

Third Injection

Two weeks ago I had my third and final epidural injection for the herniated disc in my back. (For reasons I don't understand, they only do three injections for any one injury.) It had been about five months since I had been in for my second injection; it had only minimal long-term effect. I had waited this long since the last one to give physical therapy a chance to do its magic and, as I have mentioned previously, there has been some definite improvement as my abdominal muscles have strengthened. With the physical therapy ending, it was time to give this all one more shot.

The procedure went very smoothly. From the time when the surgeon walked in to him walking out was no more then ten minutes; I had forgotten just how quickly these things can go. Post-proedure pain was fairly minimal but I knew by the time I got in the car I wouldn't be going back to work that day.

Two weeks later, I can say that the injection has gone a long way and that I am as pain-free as I have ever been since the injury. I am able to walk long-distances (a mile or so) without significant pain and have been able to do more than lay down when I get home from work. I am very thankful for such marked improvement.

The flip-side is that I'm not all the way healed and still have to answer the surgery question. Due to insurance weirdness, if I do the surgery this year, its free. If I wait, I will definitely have to pay and, due to ever-decreasing insurance coverage, probably have to pay more than I expected. Despite, or maybe because of, all my progress, this decision is still not clear cut. I'm going to be visiting my neurosurgeon soon and see what he thinks. Feel free to leave a note and let me know you're thoughts.

Hey, maybe I'll get to do another cool MRI!

In Business News...

Recently, our company announced the "top secret" (aka obvious progression of our existing models) new business jet: the CJ4. This is the model that I have been working on for several months and will continue to be working on for the next year or two. Yes, we really do announce products that far in advance. We have firm orders for over one hundred of another model, the Mustang, and we have yet to certify the plane or make a single delivery. Does it seem odd to you that customers are lining up without ever haven even taken this for a test drive? Ask me sometime to explain the crazy world of private business jets.

Here's a nifty little press release that gives you all the fun stats for the plane (again, prior to it even being built.)

http://www.cessna.com/news/article.chtml?ID=buKkVHZ237qaHQJkpv6VAVsE8LmmyRYUAdf1dk7iE9qFUlQvCr

Not related to Cessna but still in the aerospace vein, Lockheed-Martin won the contract for the next generation space vehicle. Their winning bid calls for a capsule approach to space travel, much like the Apollo program. To me, this seems a step back but I think after two very disastrous Shuttle accidents, NASA is making higher reliability and lower cost a priority.

If you want to really know why Lockheed choose this approach you can give my good friend Jon Markley a call. He works Lockheed. In fact, he works in the rocket program they have.

Yes, yes. Jon Markley is a rocket scientist.