VanHeusen Discontinues Long Sleeve Whole Neck Sizes

VanHeusen has discontinued the "whole number' neck sizes in all of its Long Sleeve shirts (for pilots).

Ten minutes after finding out, I emailed our Mailing List, letting all of you who subscribed know what's happening. (Might be a good time to sign up if you haven't already...)

So, for those of you who usually wear, say, a size 18 36/37 Aviator, you'll need to choose either the 17-1/2 neck or the 18-1/2 neck for future orders.

Pilot Shirt Backorders

Here's the latest:

Commander Shirts Backordered until 11/27/05
Size 15-1/2, 16, 16-1/2, 17, 17-1/2

Yep, we were right... 5 billion Chinese can't be wrong.

Stop and Stay - Colorado Springs, CO

Mid January, Bob and I had a flight to Colorado and met some very interesting people along the way. En route to Telluride, we stopped at Raton, New Mexico for fuel. Oh yes, this is the absolute middle of nowhere - but Pegasus Aviation is not your average FBO.

We popped in there on cold, clear day, crunching through snow to get into the door. As we stepped in, intent on getting to the facilities, we were met by Fern and the mouth-watering smell of stew simmering in a crock pot and cookies baking in the oven. Oh that smelled so good! Without hesitation, Fern offered her homemade Elk Stew and cookies and set the table for the four of us. That was delicious; warm, the right touch of spicy and just what we needed to get to Telluride.

If you're heading that way, stop and see Fern and her husband, Keith, at Pegasus Aviation in Raton, New Mexico. Call if you get a chance: (505) 445-3076 or email them: pegasusaviation@zianet.com


When you are overnighting in Colorado Springs or spending a few days, call the Old Town GuestHouse. Yes, the Broadmoor is nice, but The Old Town GuestHouse is better. Located in Old Colorado City (between Colorado Springs and Manitou), Kaye and David Caster have created an unpretentious, well-decorated, colorado-funky Bed & Breakfast filled with colorful people and luxurious accomodations. With a Library (video and books), free wireless internet access, lively happy hours and interesting conversation, no detail is missed here, and the service is stupendous. Call ahead if you can: (719) 632-9194 or Toll Free (888) 375-4210.


The foyer of the Old Town GuestHouse, looking from the dining room. The Library, complete with fireplace is across the Foyer.


Old Town GuestHouse Dining Room in Colorado Springs, CO


The view from our beautiful third floor room at the Old Town GuestHouse.


Old Town GuestHouse Hosts Kaye and David Caster with Val

Van Heusen BackOrders

Until May 15, 2005 the following Styles and Sizes are backordered by Van Heusen (which means they don't have them):

Short Sleeve Aviator Shirts Sizes 15 through 18-1/2

Short Sleeve Tallman Pilot Shirts Size 18-1/2

Bad Day for the Frog

There's a saying in French - "bad day for the frog" and as French as it is, it's applicable. You know I shouldn't rant but I'm not going to stop myself.

• I woke up early enough to get to the airport to catch that King Air flight to Key West, but I didn't wake up early enough to get my Momstrosity out of bed, to get ready to get up here to take Hannah to school - because that flight was leaving at 7:00 am.
  
  Bad day for the frog.


• Van Heusen, our one and only supplier of pilot shirts, in response to our PO's for Aviators, says, "Last week someone bought all of our Aviator Inventory form sizes 14-1/2 through 17-1/2."
  
  GULP
  
  I'm stunned. I'm speechless and I'm not thinking. I say, "You've got to be kidding!" But no. She's serious folks. Well, 24 hours later, my thinking cap back on, I call Van Heusen and say, "Can you tell me who bought the stock? Maybe I can give them a call and see if I can buy some shirts from them..."
  
  Nope. That ain't gonna happen.

   

  
  BAD DAY FOR THE FROG.

What does this mean to you? This means, I've got severely limited Aviator inventory. And when I grow up, and rule the world, Inventory Management and Planning is going to be a required course for every publically traded apparel company.

How does Van Huesen get cleaned out of ALL Aviators?

Bad day for the frog.

CBS News | Skydiver Hits Plane In Midair

SkyDive Deland

Pilot Shirt Sale

SALE RULE REVISION: NO PAYPAL

ON SALE RIGHT NOW
The following Aviator Pilot Shirts are on sale. You will save between $1.00 and $1.25 per shirt off our already discounted prices. Here's the catch, in addition to the rules below (maybe in my next life I can be an attorney) the shopping cart TOTAL for your shirts will reflect your price less the discount - the quantity price doesn't change but the sum does - trust me:

Short Sleeve Blue Aviators: Sizes 14 and 20
Short Sleeve White Aviators: Sizes 14-1/2, 15, 15-1/2, 17, 18, 18-1/2, 20
Ladies Short Sleeve Aviators: Sizes 10 and 12
Short Sleeve TALLMAN Aviators: Sizes 15-1/2, 16, 16-1/2, 18

THE RULES
Here is how this can work for all of us:

1. Notice of the Sale will occur through the mailing list AND this Blog.

2. Specific Styles and Sizes will be on sale ONLY through our website. Please, no phone calls, unless you want to offer me free time in, say, a WACO, G4 or a 727. Sorry, all other aircraft, need not apply.

3. This Sale is limited to quantities In-Stock only. No rainchecks, no backorders.

4. The Sale is "first come, first served." When the current inventory is gone, the sale is over.

5. As each style and size become unavailable (i.e., we don't have anymore), I will post UNAVAILABLE.

6. Here is the important part:
When you place your Order Online (and all sales will be online sales only SEE #2), you will, of course, receive a confirmation. This first confirmation lets you know ONLY that the shopping cart is functioning. Your card is not charged unless we can ship your shirts.

You will know if your shirts have shipped because I will send you, individually, an email with your Paid Invoice attached. If you do not receive this PAID INVOICE, we have already sold out, did not process your order, did not process the transaction, did not charge your card, and cannot take a raincheck or backorder at Sale Price. Please do not call me (SEE THE EXCEPTION IN #2 ABOVE).

7. All Sales are Final.


Standby, I need time to change the website, then launch another email.

1,000 lighters confiscated at S. Florida

1,000 lighters confiscated at S. Florida airports under new ban: South Florida Sun-Sentinel

This is beyond unbelievable. WHEN is this nonsense going to end? Probably when I decide that General Aviation is more profitable than pilot shirts and promotionals and actually start my own air charter company. At that time, our federal government will recognize that they have gone too far with the restrictions to commercial air travel, they'll roll back all the nazi tactics used at airports to frisk passengers prior to boarding and wipe out the niche market they created for me to build my charter business plan on: those who need to travel quickly without feeling like a criminal for wanting to board an aircraft.

FAX Scam Alert

SNDMarketing.com

Ahh, what kind of day would it be if we didn't receive unwanted, misleading faxes? We'll find out July 1, 2005 and I can hardly wait. After receiving all of the faxes this morning, I came across one targeted at the unsuspecting and the ignorant (i've been known to ignorant, but my level of paranoia protects me from being unsuspecting). After reading the fax, I decided that I was up to the task of filing a complaint with the FCC. One more cup of coffee would be all I needed.

Here are the faxes:
Body of Fax

Fax Cover

Here's the deal. These faxes are not only incredibly misleading, but they are illegal.

Here is the body of our complaint to the FCC:

Our company received what appeared to be an Invoice from SND Marketing, complete with Fax Cover Letter that stated in big, bold letters, "ATTENTION: Accounts payable." The fax contained a description of services, how to make a payment, where to send that payment, customer number and bar code. This fax is misleading and unwanted.

Our company has never done business with SND Marketing, nor any of its related companies which include Domains By Proxy, Inc. and the Internet Coporation Listing Service, hence there is no established business relationship. We did not request nor authorise this fax and consider the sending of this fax in violation of the FCC Regulations.

A search for Domain Ownership reveals these addresses:

WEBISTE: www.sndmarketing.com
Domains by Proxy, Inc.
DomainsByProxy.com
15511 N. Hayden Rd., Ste 160, PMB 353
Scottsdale, Arizona 85260
United States
(480) 624-2599


Website: icls.net
Internet Corporation Listing Service
2530 Berryessa Road # 912
San Jose, CA 95132
USA

The fascimile does not contain a telephone number.

I have saved the fax including the cover page.

Here is where you can go to file your own complaint:
The FCC

Post Pilot Shirt Sale Problems

Two weeks after what we thought was a great idea, the afer-effects are still being felt. It seems that we have three camps. Those who were able to actually receive their shirts at a great price and are thrilled. And those who were unable to get their order because we were already sold out. I know, that's two camps. The second camp is sub-divided into those who understood that this was a sale without rainchecks and backorders and those who did not understand and are sitting somewhere between miffed and irate.

We certainly didn't plan to have a sale and not ship shirts. We planned to move inventory at a good price with limitations. I tried to make those limitations clear in my emails. And, no, it was not possible to email everyone individually of the status of your order - that is why I opted for the mailing list.

Now I'm on the fence regarding emails to the mailing list. And, I'm thinking that most dialogue will now occur through this blog. Which means, at the next sale event, I'll spell it out right here. Your comments would be appreciated.

And what a sale it was...

Early yesterday morning we launched our first Surprise Sale through our Email List. A short, simple email to our List Subscribers let them know we were serious about providing an incredible savings on our Pilot Shirts and that this savings was only available while supplies lasted! The response was nothing short of amazing. Our picking and shipping department was overwhelmed and our inventory went quickly. What a blast we had! And we truly enjoyed the opportunity to help our Subscribers. A note to some who subscribed to our Mailing List but did not receive our email... some emails were blocked by your Spam Filters. Apparently the words "Limited Time Offer" in the Subject Line raised a red flag with some spam filters.

Hard Drives and Power Supplies

Hot on the Tail (not Trail!) of the Security Issue, mid-day Friday, my Mom tells me she has someone coming over to her house to look at her computer. I start to tremble. It seems she's had the big lock up (more like lock out) and her Windows98 machine (yeah, there are still people out there running Windows98) will not boot and she's got what she thinks is her start-up CD in her second CD drive.

Friday evening, we talk on the phone, and she says her hard drive crashed:

"What makes you think that?" I ask.

"Well, the guy said my hard drive was bad," she replies, "so I need a new hard drive."

"Mom, will you bring it over tomorrow?"

"Sure!" she says.

Bright and early Saturday morning, My Mother in Her Black Miata arrives. Out of her trunk she pulls her machine - no keyboard, no mouse - just the machine with the power cord hanging out of the back. Alrightie then. Welcome to Saturday. Off goes the case covers, into the socket goes the plug, press the button and ... click, click, click, click goes the hard drive and whrrrrrrrrrrrrrr goes the second CD Drive. Hmmmmm. This does not sound like a happy machine.

"Mom," I ask, "Did he open the case?"
"No. He just turned it on, heard that sound and said my hard drive was bad."
"Oh." I sighed. I have a hard time believing that ANYTHING can be deemed "irretrievably broken" without actually removing the cover and LOOKING at whatever it is. And my Type A Personality in less than a millisecond judged that "computer person" as just slightly more competent than a complete idiot. Sorry, but welcome to Val. I'm no computer genius, but I don't give up that easily.

First, the CD in the drive. The motor was receiving power, but the drive wasn't spinning and the door was well and truly stuck. I pressed that button, I pulled on that door and that blasted beast was not about to let go of that CD. So, I took it out of commission by removing the ribbon, the power supply and the cable to the audio in. At this point, I didn't have it hooked up to a monitor so I wasn't modifying the BIOS. And that was one less problem to complicate my Mission.

Now for the hard drive. What was that familiar clicking sound? Where had I heard that before. Click, Click, Click, Click, then in rapid succession: click,click,click,click,click,click,click,click,click,click,click,click. Ahhh, I know! One of the Zip Disk Drives on one of my other computers does that. By the way, or, "later that day" I'm on the phone with my Web-Host-All-Things-Computer-Guru - on Saturday! - and he says, "That's 'stiction'." Oh what a good word for that!

From WeboPedia:

(n.) Short for static friction, a condition in which a hard disk drive's read/write heads become stuck to the disk’s platters with enough strength to keep the platters from spinning, resulting in hard drive failure. When a computer is turned off, its hard drive's read/write heads park on the platter's landing zones. Under normal circumstances, the heads will lift off the platter when the computer's hard drive is activated and the platters rotate. Stiction typically occurs when a computer has been turned off for long periods of time.

Stiction, huh? Well, that doesn't mean her Hard Drive is bad. Time to hook the box up to a monitor, keyboard and mouse. Into the office I march, machine in hand. Plug. Plug. Plug. Plug. Switch and Press the button to turn it on. Wait. Click, Click, Click, Click. click,click,click,click,click,click,click,click,click,click,click,click. Hmmm... No drive light illumination. Hmmmm...then:
DISK BOOT FAILURE, INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER

Ahh, the prelude to the kiss of death. But wait, I am on a mission! Back to the web I go to find the Checklist from a favorite site: TechRepublic. (Remember, it's a Checklist, not a Do List.)

• Physical connectivity? (YES) Is the drive receiving power? (YES) Is it plugged into the PC by a correctly connected ribbon cable? (YES, RED STRIPE IN #1 POSITION) For an IDE drive, are its jumpers set correctly? (YES, SET TO CABLE SELECT)


• BIOS setup? (YES) Does the BIOS see the drive? (YES)


• Viruses? Does the drive contain any boot sector viruses that need to be removed before continuing? (HMMMmmm...It seems my Mom didn't have an Anti-Virus Recovery Disk so this nifty little Item cannot be confirmed not denied).


• Partitioning? Does FDISK find a valid partition on the drive? Is it active? (Well, it was three days ago!)


• Formatting? Is the drive formatted using a file system that the OS can recognize? (SEE ABOVE)


• Drive errors? Is a physical or logical drive error causing read/write problems on the drive? (SIGH, CAN'T GET TO SCANDSK YET)


• Operating system? Does your OS have a feature that checks the status of each drive on your system? If so, what is that status? (Another obstacle - I cannot get to the operating system and, I NEVER ran Windows98. Hmmm. Well, we'll cross this bridge if we get to it!)

It must be time to change tactics. Certainly if there really is a Boot CD in the drive isn't functioning, I should be able to get it out of the drive and use another drive, yes? More unscrewing ensues, a bit of pulling and the drive is free. Wrenching and prying the door of the CD Player open, I pull the drive open to reveal anything but a Windows 98 Startup disk. I should have guessed this part.

With the CD Player out of the box, I could more fully concentrate on why the Hard Drive was not functioning. Time to power it up again only to get a different error message on start-up.


Frustrated, I return to the forlorn-looking CD Player now in pieces on my desk. Maybe the CD was just stuck in the drive and the drive will function now. Plug it back into the Molex socket, turn on the PC, press the button. But the same high-piched whirring ensues and the drive door does not open. I shut the machine off for the thousandth time and begin pacing. I walk outside.

Now something is really fishy here. Time to get out the Multi-Meter.

Every home should have a multi-meter. A multi-meter rivals duct tape as the number one cannot do without item, although I have heard a rather embellished story about a guy sealing up his aircraft door with duct tape so he could fly it across the pond from the Bahamas to Florida. I suppose in that situation, I'd rather have the duct tape. But inconsistent error messages and changes in sound make me wonder about the power supply to the drive.

A return to the web results in a relevant document by Tomi Engdahl, "How to Get Power from PC to Your Circuits."

Normal floppy disk and hard disk drives use normally +12V and +5V power supplies, so spare disk drive power connector is very useful if you need those voltages for your own projects which you fit inside PC (for example extra fan for better cooling). Typically you can take up to few amperes of power form the disk drive power connector (remember not to exceed the total power rating of the PC power supply when you start taking extra power for your circuits).

Here is the power connector pinout when you look the CEE-type connector on the drive back:

   _______
  /         | 1 2 3 4 |
 |_________|


Pin Function

1   +5 V
2   Ground
3   Ground
4   +12 V

According to the BIOS, these voltages are correct coming from the Power Supply. But what about the Molex Connector that connects the Hard Drive to the Power Supply? I unseat the connector and peer into the cylinders. It looks fine. But for grins and giggles, I plug a different connector from a different bundle of wires into the back of the disk drive and fire up the machine.

No stiction. Drive light illuminating. No error messages. And looky there - there's the Windows 98 Intro Screen. This is good. Let's put the multi-meter to work on the other connectors on the other bundle of wires because it looks to me like we have a power supply issue.

Ground to ground, test the 5V red wire. No problem. Ground to ground, test the 12V yellow wire. PUFF! POOF! Dead Shut Down. WOW! I think that wire is bad.

I cannot explain the dead CD Player issue. Frankly, I did not pursue a reason; it was more critical I either save my Mother's Hard Drive or determine beyone a shadow of doubt that it had, in fact, failed. In fact, her Hard Drive is fine. Instead, the yellow 12V wire going to the Molex Socket was bad (or, perhaps the connection itself was not good). I suppose the first thing I should have done was drag the multi-meter out and test each Molex Socket. Afterall, the first item on the Checklist is Physical Connectivity. "Is the drive receiving power?" is one of those basic items - like, is there fuel in the tanks? Then the next logical question is, "Is there enough power or fuel?"



[1] Abexis Hosting Solutions (home of my personal Tech Guru)
[2] WeboPedia
[3] Troubleshoot Hard Drive Failures in 7 Easy Steps
[4] How to get power from PC to your circuits

Security, Stats and Would You Like a Ride?

There are some days when work should be verboten. I'm not so sure I'd even want to fly on those kind of days - especially when 24 hours begins to stretch into 48 going on the next multiple and work life has not gotten any better!

Friday began as another innocuous day. I finally had the time to get back to updating the Website and was looking forward to completing changes in design as well as extending the Bowman Eagles Flying Club Order Cut-off Date. Having moved over to Macromedia Homesite+ recently and aquired a laptop to boot (ha!), I've been a very happy web developer - imbued with a renewed sense of purpose. But some twisted soul in Germany decided three days ago that the Stats program I run on another domain was fair game for her/his scripting antics, which generated the "we have a problem" telephone call from my Hosting/Server/Programming/Engineering Guru. Now, we all know when your Web Host calls you, that's not good (well, actually, that's great but the news he bears is not great).

So, instead of updating the Website, I go off chasing knowledge to find out what happened, the extent of the damage (anything compromised? how many domains does this affect?), and what needs to be done about it. Welcome to the Web. And a big "Thank You" to the person who thinks exploiting other people's programs and websites is jolly good fun. May you grow up and not be the victim of your own twisted genius. Would you like to go for an airplane ride?



[1] The Website
[2] Bowman Eagles Flying Club
[3] AWStats - the Stats Script
[4] iDefense AWStats Security Advisory
[5] Webmaster World's Report on AWStats
[6] Internet News on AWStats
[7] Abexis Hosting Solutions

Flight Blog Star Date 02-11-05

No longer content keeping my flying photos to myself and having been given virtual space to write...I bring you...The Flight Blog!