Why I've been quiet, etc.

As I've mentioned before, I don't write much here anymore.  What little I do write I tend to put on twitter or facebook (other than my flight logs which continue to go here).  What I haven't mentioned is that I also have another blog over at myfitnesspal.com which is strictly devoted to my exercising/weight loss efforts.  I joined the local gym on my last birthday with the intent of getting stronger/healthier (and by getting stronger boost my metabolism to dispose of some excess tonnage).  I may eventually link that here, but haven't done so yet.  On my last birthday, I was up to a higher weight than I've seen in about 2 years.  Since that time I have gotten stronger (though not at the pace I had hoped for) and lost some weight (also, not quite at the rate I had hoped for), but I'm not where I expected to be.  Part of it is due to timing and injury (the trip to Scotland was great, but did through a bit of a monkey wrench in the workout plans).  I also made plans to compete in the Columbus half-marathon in Oct, however, very shortly into beginning training for that I had the aforementioned injury (knee) that has thrown those plans into doubt (I will post on that here soon though)  That being said, I expect to consolidate some of that stuff back here (and/or double post) on this blog in coming weeks, so if there is anyone other than bots from search engines reading this, I really will be updating soon (as soon ans I feel I can take the time from my SANSFIRE talk prep).

Flight Log 2011-06-13

This flight was intended to be an almost-IPC.  Since it had been more than 60 days since I had flown, I had to go up with an instructor to get a refresher to rent at KVTA, so I figured I might as well get some better use out of it and get instrument current, too.  Plus, I got a break on my renter's insurance this year because of getting some dual instruction last year, so I figured it couldn't hurt.  However, when I did the run-up, the oil pressure gauge was pegged at the top of the gauge.  I put the squawk on the sheet and we taxied back in and switched from N785SP to N20626.  Of course, when I got that preflighted and fired up, we had radio problems.  I couldn't hear Harold through headset.  We went with the speaker and hand mike and decided we'd just do 3 times around the pattern.  On the first one, I was too low and slow on final and made one of my poorest landings in a long time.  On the second time around, Harold realized that the radio problem was that someone had flipped the ISO switch on the comm panel.  The second and third landings were much better.  I very nearly grounded both planes though.  The pilot's left brake was very soft, though Harold claimed his wasn't, so...  Anyway, I'm current to carry passengers again, but I'll try to schedule something later in the summer to get instrument current.  0.3 hours and 3 takeoffs and landings.