Let's Internet

Moved

2008-04-28T21:25:00.000-05:00

This blog has moved to blog.chetweb.com.

test

2007-11-27T23:52:00.001-06:00

This is a test of the email blogging tool.

This is a bad month for authors

2007-04-23T22:05:00.000-05:00

Today I learned that two more of our favorite authors have passed away ... David Halberstam and Bob Buck.

The Pulitzer Prize winning Halberstam is most famous for his writings on the War in Vietnam. But Greta's favorite is his gigantic The Fifties.

Buck we discovered only recently after I started my flight training. Buck is best known for his writings about flying and weather. But my favorite is North Star Over My Shoulder which recounts his lifetime of flying achievements and adventures. It really made the romance and adventure of flying come alive.

Long live Kurt Vonnegut

2007-04-12T10:52:00.000-05:00

Today is a sad day.

I have been a fan of Vonnegut since high school when I read all of his books. "Cat's Cradle" is still one of my favorite books of all time.

He will be missed.

A Stone Horse with no name

2007-03-19T21:49:00.000-05:00

Tonight we went to have dinner at a new restaurant in town ... Stone Horse.

It's a "steak and sushi" restaurant which usually doesn't do much for me. I find that they're often heavy on the steak and light on the sushi. Turns out, this is actually a Korean restaurant that specializes in cooking steak in a special oven. I can't remember the details but the menu describes the oven, as it's based on a traditional Korean type grill. The highlight is that it operates at extremely high temperatures. Guess we won't be waiting long for our meal.

There are some typical Korean dishes on the menu, like bulgoki and kimchee .. yum and yum! G opted for a grilled mahi tuna and I went for the orange beef kabobs. Plus we ordered a spicy tuna roll, an oshinko roll (first time I've ever noticed that on a menu), and some saba sushi.

Saba (mackerel) is the big test. I love saba. And it also happens to be a good barometer of a sushi restaurant's stock. Saba is a dark oily fish with a strong taste. If a restaurant serves good tasting saba then everything else will be good. If it's mediocre .. well then all bets are off.

There are exceptions though ... one of our favorite restaurants serves mediocre sushi but their hot dishes .. especially the tempera udon .. are fabulous!

Anyhow, the saba was really good. Not the best I've ever had, but I'll be back.

The mahi tuna had a wonderful flavor though there wasn't much on the plate. Usually that's a good thing but tonight G was a little surprised when she looked down and all her fish was gone.

The beef kabobs were wonderful, and filling. They come served over rice and with some grilled zucchini and asparagus. The rice, oddly enough, seemed rather long-graned and mediterranean instead of short-grained and asian.

The restaurant is divided between dining and bar. The bar looks well stocked and inviting though the music is top-40-ish. Hrm ... sushi and Duran Duran. I bet this place is a hit with young single people.

G wasn't too sure about going back. But I'd like to try the bulgoki.

Run Away

2007-01-16T23:34:00.000-06:00

What a great idea! This guy sets up his camera, sets the self-timer for 2 seconds and then runs away from the camera as fast as possible.

Goodbye Kitty Chan

2006-08-05T22:59:00.000-05:00

Kitty Chan Redux
Originally uploaded by Airman Chet.

We noticed today that our Kitty Chan head has gone missing. Either a victim of gravity and wind or a passerby. I'm so glad I took this pic when I did. Sad Chet.

548 miles later ...

2006-07-30T20:19:00.000-05:00

We had brunch this morning at The Acme on the square in Llano before hitting the road back to Dallas. As you can tell it's a HUGE breakfast. And no, I didn't finish it all. But it did nearly hold me for the entire day. Once back in Dallas we made one stop at Jamba Juice for a smoothy and a pretzel and we're done. Good thing I'm going to the gym tomorrow! lol

Instead of following the same path back that we took coming South we drove from Llano over to Burnet and then followed Highway 281 North through Lampasas, Adamsville, Evant, Hamilton, Olin and Hico. In Hico we took a right turn at the Koffee Kup diner and joined Highway 67 to go through Chalk Mountain, Glen Rose, Cleburne, Keene, Venus and Midlothian before finally setting sights on Big D.

At Glen Rose, G mentioned that she had never been to the Dinosaur Valley State Park. One u-turn and a quick circuit through downtown Glen Rose later we were paying our $10 admission to admire dino footprints in the Paluxi River.

A lot of other folks had the same idea and the place was pretty busy. And that's despite the fact is was 107-degrees Fahrenheit outside!!!

Seeing the tracks was pretty cool. For the most part you can walk up pretty close to them and they're fairly obvious though some aren't marked very well at all. There was also water in the river so a lot of kids were swimming ... who cares about dino tracks when there's a swimming hole to enjoy! lol

G and I didn't go swimming but we did visit the gift shop. I almost bought a hat but then decided its dork rating was too high.

Llano was fun, even though the Dabbs Hotel was disappointing. Coopers BBQ is definitely worth a repeat visit, which may happen as soon as I earn my pilot's license.

Dinner at the Llaneaux Seafood House

2006-07-29T21:54:00.000-05:00

We drove past this place yesterday and thought, hrm seafood sound nice. Well, tonight when we got there we found out it's not just seafood ... it's CAJUN!! Yippee!

The Llaneaux Seafood House is an old house right next door to Llano Park and the Inks Bridge. You can sit inside or outside (we chose air conditioning) on what looks like vintage diner furniture. The menu is fairly extensive and has some non-Cajun items. But there's lots of dirty rice and etouffee.

G had the shrimp etouffee while I had the Crawfish Duet .. Fried Crawfish and Crawfish Etouffee (pictured above). I had never really tried crawfish before so this seemed the perfect opportunity. G and I joked that it probably tastes just like shrimp and guess what? ... it does! lol

At the end we had a cup of coffee before we left and that seemed a perfect way to end the meal. On the way out I spied a curved staircase leading downstairs. I asked what was down there and turns out it's a bar. It was too early to have much of a crowd but the next time we're in Llano I think I'll give it a try. It's a great location.

Now we're back in our room geeking it up on the internet and enjoying a bottle of Marques de Casa Concha (um .. a 2003 Chilean Merlot). Cheers!

More pictures here.

Best damn BBQ ever

2006-07-28T21:22:00.000-05:00

Well, OK, maybe not the best BBQ ever but tonight ... it hit the spot. G and I are in Llano, TX and for dinner we stopped at Coopers Old-Time Pit BBQ. We really only picked it because it was surrounded by cars and trucks. If everyone else was going then it must be good.

Outside are three or four gigantic BBQ pits. There was only one going so I'm guessing they alternate them or they fire up more when they have a big event going. Anyway you line up outside the building and stop at the pit first. The pit guy will help you pick out what meat you want. He cuts it and dunks it in sauce (if you want) and puts it on a platter.

Then you take the platter inside where someone else slices the meat for you and wraps it in butcher paper. Then you pick out your sides and pay. The cashier hands you "your plates" which is waxed paper. Then you stop at the drink stand where you'll find free all-you-can eat beans, onions, pickles, etc. Then you pick a seat from a room full of tables and benches.

G and I sat next to a couple of good-old-boys who described ... in excruciating detail ... a football game. But then later started talking about "that guy in that tv show with Kurt Russell and he played a sniper." LOL

We finished off dinner some excellent hot peach cobbler. Mmmmmmmmmmm!!

Check out the photos.

Found Pop's Logbooks

2006-07-23T21:08:00.000-05:00

When my parents divorced I accompanied my mom to East Texas to help her remove items from their lakehouse. We were mostly interested in getting two trunks of belongings that belonged to her father (Pop) and her grandfather.

I was not looking forward to doing this and just wanted to get it over with. We grabbed the trunks and made a cursory examination of the house but we didn't take much else.

Once we left the house we knew that my father planned to sell it and, since he lived overseas and was unlikely to come back in time, and everything in it. Sure enough, that's what happened. I suspect that the contents either ended up at Goodwill or the Salvation Army.

A few years later I started to develop an interest in learning to fly, like my father and Pop. And so I asked my mom if she had Pop's old logbooks. Nope, they weren't in the trunks. After much searching we never did locate them. I was devastated. I was sure that my bad attitude about cleaning out the lakehouse had led me to leave them behind. All that history, gone.

Now, ten years later, my wife and I are caretaking her parents' home. Her mother passed away in April and now she and her sister are going through the house deciding what to keep and what to estate sale.

Lately, most of the work has been concentrated on the garage. Yesterday they came across a box that had my name on it and G set it aside for me. Inside I found an old army jacket, some army caps, a box of old knicknacks that I cherised when I was a kid. Also there was a alligator-skinned zippered folio. And inside the folio were Pop's logbooks, student pilot's license and several sectional charts, circa 1951.

I felt like I had been kicked in the chest. All those years thinking I had thrown away my Pop's flying history and here it was sitting in my own garage gathering dust! After picking myself up from the floor and wiping away the tears I started reading through documents.

There are two logbooks. The first contains Student Pilot Certificate S122676 for Sam James Hamm, issued on 14 August 1940 in Alamo, Texas. The backside shows his solo endorsement issued by FH Rodgers on 15 August 1940.

The first flight recorded is on 23 December 1939 for thirty minutes in an Aeronca Chief (NC21369). In the remarks section is written "1st lesson. Very pleasant."

After four flights in the Chief he switched to a Piper Cub (NC26848) and made an additional nine flights before he soloed the Cub on 15 August. His total flight experience at that time as nine hours.

All of the remaining flights in this logbook were in the Cub and were local flights except for one cross-country from Mission to Brownsville and back. Total flight time was 28 hours 34 minutes.

The second logbook picks up on 16 March 1950 at Whitefield Airport in Rotan, Texas. It looks like he started his training over again and he soloed a Taylorcraft on 30 April 1951.

He stayed a student pilot until 17 May 1955 when he passed his flight check and earned his private pilot ticket. At that point he had amassed 151 hours of experience, not counting his flights back in 1940.

The vast majority of the flights were local except for cross-countries to Sweetwater, Abilene, Big Springs, Midland, Snyder, San Angelo, Hamlin, Aspermont, Lake Thomas, and Portales, New Mexico. And most of the flights were very short in duration, usually about 30 minutes.

The last flight logged was 1 hour 45 minute local Rotan flight in Aeronca Chief N86342 on 21 October 1956. His total experience was 214 hours 30 minutes.

Aircraft flown:
Aeronca Chief NC21369
Piper J3 Cub NC26848
Luscombe 8A N45492
Taylorcraft N44174
Piper J3 Cub N42643
Super ? N07603H
Cessna 140 N76251
Aeronca Chief N86342

And with a mighty roar ...

2006-02-14T23:29:00.000-06:00

I'm a little behind the times, but I just saw this (thanks Greta) ...

'Godzilla' composer Akira Ifukube dies at 91
TOKYO: The Godzilla theme composer Akira Ifukube died on Wednesday night in Tokyo of multiple organ failure. He was 91.

Ifukube, best known for his music for Godzilla (1954), was self-taught in music composition and wrote screen music from the 1950s. His more than 300 works include 'Gembaku no ko' (Children of Hiroshima) in 1952 and Daimajin series starting in 1966.

Born in Hokkaido, Ifukube graduated from Hokkaido University. He served as the president of the Tokyo College of Music between 1976 and 1987.

Ifukube received a Person of Cultural Merit, one of Japan's highest honours, in 2003.

(he also created Godzilla's roar using a contrabass)

Joseph Goldstein on Karma

2006-01-24T21:48:00.000-06:00

The Buddha identified karma as volitional activity. That is, each volition in the mind is like a seed with tremendous potential of the same way that the smallest acorn contains the potential of a great oak tree, so too each of our willed actions contains the seed of karmic results. The particular result depends on the qualities of mind associated with each volition.

Greed, hatred, and delusion are unwholesome qualities that produce fruits of suffering; generosity, love, and wisdom are wholesome factors that bear fruits of happiness.

The Buddha called the understanding of this law of karma, the law of action and result, the "light of the world," because it illuminates how life unfolds and why things are the way they are. The wisdom of this understanding allows us the freedom to make wise choices in our life.

--Joseph Goldstein, Insight Meditation

Happy New Year!

2006-01-01T18:22:00.000-06:00

Here's wishing a wonderful and happy 2006 to everyone.

I'm done with gaming

2005-12-11T23:46:00.000-06:00

Yep, that's right. I'm done with gaming.

This weekend, while playing a round of Battlefield2 Special Ops it suddenly dawned on me what an enormous waste of time it is. When I look back and think about all the hours and hours that I have spent shooting at virtual enemies when I could have been ...

1) spending time with my wife
2) studying for my flying lessons
3) learning something new about programming
4) meditating
5) painting
6) writing
etc.

So I uninstalled BF2 and a couple of other games and I collected all the cd-roms and dvds and their manuals and I'm trying to decide what to do with them. I could take them to Half-Priced Books or I could sell them to a friend. Either way, they're not staying here.

Dallas to Alpine to Marfa to Alpine to Dallas

2005-10-11T22:25:00.000-05:00

9 hours each way ... in a bug ... and every minute was a blast!

Maybe it would have been more fun if we flew? Perhaps next year.

Marfa was fun. It was open-house weekend at Chinati and so we got to peruse what we missed last year. Donald Judd's aluminum boxes were impressive. Ilya Kabakov's "School No. 6" felt like walking into a Solzhenitsyn novel. I overheard another visitor saying he'd brought a Russian friend there to see it and the guy freaked out because it seemed so authentic. We also went to see Judd's house in town which is really more like a miniature warehouse. There's a really nice contemplative pool outside though which quite a few people were enjoying.

We also visited a couple of our favorite galleries, Gene Binder's and Ballroom Marfa, while also checking out some new places. And, of course, we made the long drive out to the other side of Valentine to visit the Prada Marfa site. It looked great, but we found out later that it had been vandalized only a couple of days before.

Once again we stayed at the wonderful Holland Hotel in Alpine. We didn't see Carla this visit but the nihilist was lurking around and the restaurant has been taken over by a couple of Bavarian guys. It's Edelweiss now and besides serving authentic Bavarian food they're a micro-brewery serving excellent Bavarian beer!

After arriving in town about 3pm on Friday Greta and I decide to take a nap in our room. Around 7-ish I wake up and hear this strange noise. "Greta, someone is playing a tuba in the hotel." We go downstairs and find a German oompa band playing in the hotel lobby. IT'S OCTOBERFEST!!! Edelweiss is in full-swing and the place is packed. The beer is flowing. The waitresses are wearing traditional Bavarian dresses. There are beer-stein-holding strength contests. The oompa band is playing. Prost!!

Next year, I'm not sure about going back to Open House. But, Octoberfest in Alpine? No way I'm going to miss it!

I posted pics at shutterbook.

Asashoryu wins

2005-09-29T22:09:00.000-05:00

Asashoryu won his sixth tournament in a row.

Kotooshu lost his last three bouts but he ended the tournament with a 12-3 record and set several new sumo records. So good job!!

Sumo Basho is getting even better

2005-09-21T22:28:00.000-05:00

As I mentioned before, Asashoryu is hoping to win this tournament and set a new record by winning six tournaments in a row. But he lost his first bout which is not a good sign. Well, it's now day 11 and Asashoryu hasn't lost another bout, which is good.

However, Kotooshu (the handsome Bulgarian rikishi ... and Greta's boyfriend) is currently undefeated!! 11 wins -- 0 losses! Since this tournament was his debut at the Sekiwake level he is now in the record books with the best Sekiwake debut since they started the 15-day tournament schedule back in the 1950s. And the two guys who had the best Shin-Sekiwake (new Sekiwake) records before him both went on to become Yokozuna!

Tonight ... ohhhh tonight ... Kotooshu had his first top-level opponent, Tochiazuma (an Ozeki). Who himself has been having a pretty good tournament with a 8-2 record. Kotooshu wins! Not only does he win but he retains control throughout the bout and soundly defeats Tochiazuma.

Next up was the last bout of the day, the Yokozuna, Asashoryu against Aminishiki (a lower-ranked guy who hasn't been doing to well). We're all ready for Asashoryu to dish out the usual ass-whoopin. But no. He get's over confident and Aminishiki keeps his whits about him and he manages to leg trip Asashoryu and dump him on this butt! The Yokozuna looked stunned. I almost thought he'd break out laughing ... "I got beat by Aminishiki".

This means that Asashoryu is now tied with several other guys at 9-2 while Kotooshu is the sole leader at 11-0. With only four days to go Kotooshu looks poised to win his first Emperor's Cup.

Kotooshu. Gambatte kudasai!!

Asashoryu loses on day 1

2005-09-11T18:31:00.000-05:00

This is going to be an interesting basho! Asashoryu, the lone Yokozuna and quite the badass, is trying to win his sixth tournament in a row. If he does it he'll tie a record set back in the 1960's, but that guy did it twice.

No one has won seven tournaments in a row.

Asashoryu usually mode is to start a tournament strong and only start slowing down toward the end. However, today he lost his first bout to Futeno, a guy who's only been in the top division since March of 2004.

The bout was a really good one too, Asashoryu tried several times to upset his opponent but each time Futeno fought back. Finally, Futeno turned it on and powered Asashoryu out of the ring. The crowd just erupted, filling the ring and the air with purple cushions.

September Sumo Basho starts today!!

2005-09-11T00:53:00.000-05:00

I'm about to go set up the VCR to tape the first day of the September Sumo Basho. Sometimes it seems like it's been a year since the last one, but it's only been two months.

The September tournament is being held in the Kokugikan in Tokyo and it should be a really good competative one if Asashoryu fights like he did last time.

For more info check out the Sumo Kyokai's website and for the uninitiated check out Sumo Goo, which is chock full of interesting info about sumo.

You can view this tournament's banzuke here.

New Orleans :: News from the people actually living there

2005-09-02T00:56:00.000-05:00

Check this out

Racism in the News

2005-08-31T14:52:00.000-05:00

Apparently, white people "find" things while black people "loot" things .... see the photo.

Post Ichiban

2005-08-10T19:56:00.000-05:00

Oh hell yeah ... another blog.

And another first post.

So, umm, what now?