Igor, Fire Up the Theremin...

This week I've been working with my former leader, Paul Bolinger. We also welcomed a new worker, Barbara Minke, to our team. Last night, Paul and his lovely bride Camille, Barbara, and I all went out to dinner. On the way, we drove by 112 Ocean Avenue, the site of The Amityville Horror.

Camille had researched the location where, in November 1974, Ronald DeFeo, Jr. killed his mother, father, two sisters, and two brothers. In 1977, the book The Amityville Horror was published, describing alleged paranormal events that had beset George and Kathy Lutz and their three children. The Lutz family had purchased the house and moved in in December 1975. The book became the basis for a series of movies.

So now I feel that I really have been to Amityville...

We went to dinner at Bellissimo Ristorante Italiano, a marvelous place indeed. I had Tortellini del Nonno, a cheese filled pasta with shrimp and sundried tomatoes in alfredo sauce. Very dietetic!

An Erection Lasting More than Four Hours...

Last week, as I indicated recently, I went home and erected a new gazebo. It was a great experience! My friend Monty Love gave generously of his time. He came up from Huntsville both Saturday and Monday evening.

On Saturday we completed putting the floor in place and getting the posts and rails put in place.

Monday evening we put up the roof panels. Later in the week, I got the rest of the roof decking finished and ready for the roofers to come.
When they have finished, I'll add a picture of the final product.

Thanks Monty and Dinah! And thanks to Mary Ann for overseeing the setting of the foundation slab and patience!

And as promised, here's a picture of the finished gazebo!

A Life Well Spent...

Today I attended the beautiful memorial service for Joan Mead, my sister-in-law. In many ways, Joni was more like a sister than an in-law. We were very close to contemporaries and she lived with my parents for the better part of a year in the 1960's while my brother Willy was deployed with his Marine Corps fighter squadron. For many years I was the bachelor brother and Bill and Joni hosted me on many holiday weekends. Joni was very much a part of my life.

Mark and David, her sons and my nephews, both spoke eloquently of her life, her love, and her influence. I was proud of them both, along with Laura, David's wife. Laura was a major caretaker in Joni's last months.

Joan died peacefully last week. Her obituary is so beautifully written, I want to share it:

Joan English Mead entered peacefully into God’s arms July 2, 2008. Born in Baton Rouge, LA, May 28, 1940 as Joan Marie English, she enjoyed her early childhood in Bay St. Louis, MS, returning to the MS Gulf Coast during her marriage. Joni as she was known, graduated from Christ the King girls school in Atlanta, GA, and counted those years as some of her best. During her years on the Gulf Coast, she was a librarian for the city of Pass Christian, MS. For many years, she enjoyed a career with the NOAA library at the Stennis Space Center. She was also a friend of Bill W. and was active in helping many women through that friendship. Joni loved art and creative writing; she spent her early retirement years taking classes at the local college in those subjects. Recently relocated to Orlando, FL to be near her son, daughter-in-law and grandsons, Joni was a resident of The Bridge. There she was a popular resident during her stay, as she volunteered her writing services to other residents and took notes on their life stories on her laptop computer. Joni will best be remembered as Grandma Joni to her family. She is preceded in death by her parents, Emmett and Marie English, her brother John and husband William H. Mead. She is survived by her sons, David Richard Mead of Orlando, and Mark William Mead of Costa Rica, her daughter-in-law, Laura Mead and her grandsons, Canon Harrison Mead and Forrest William Mead, son-in-law, Michael Brown, her brothers Richard English, Robert English, Michael English and sister Mary Kludac along with numerous nieces and nephews. She will be missed by all. The family asks that remembrances be made by donating to your local Hospice office or to the cancer research organization of your choice. Joni’s memorial service will be held at All Saints Episcopal Church, Winter Park, FL on Tuesday, July 8, 2008 at 11:00 am.

Rest in peace, Joni...

A Major Project...

I'll be going home next weekend for a much-needed rest. But I have a project waiting for me that is very exciting and may well prevent getting that rest. And here's the rest of the story...

Several years ago, a group of our friends who are amateur musicians started having informal music parties that were hosted by members of the group. Sometimes we had a few people and sometimes many, but we had these get togethers monthly for several years. The host would prepare a main dish like chili or hamburgers and the guests brought salads and desserts. We usually had at least one guitar player, a mandolin, a banjo, sometimes a fiddle, usually at least one hammer dulcimer, and lots of fun. I always played my autoharp and we usually had group singing on at least a few songs. The parties gradually died out as people moved or got busy with other interests.

As Mary Ann and I acquired the land on which her new building now stands, we decided we had the perfect location for a "music gazebo" in which we could start having music parties once again. We selected a lovely spot under the trees and poured a concrete pad on which to put it. We have run water and electricity to the spot, and now the gazebo kit has arrived!

We've recruited the assistance of our friends (and fellow music lovers) Monty and Dinah Love, and next weekend we'll start putting it together. Here's a picture of what the finished product will look like, all 12' x 18' of it:

I ran across a video of a gentleman building a smaller one as a good will gesture. I couldn't help noticing the army of people in the video working on it! What have we gotten ourselves into?? Stay tuned...

A Trip to England...

The "Morphis" Motion-based Entertainment Simulator

In the mid-1990's, my employer, Camber Corporation, established a new division called Camber Entertainment. The division was set up in Crawley, England, not far from London. We planned to develop a line of entertainment simulators. Since we already had a division that built flight simulators (Camber Flight Simulation, in Albuquerque), we thought that the two divisions would be synergistic. Although that never proved to be true, I got a wonderful trip to England out of the deal.

Most of the personnel in the new Camber Entertainment organization were former employees of Thomson Training and Simulation, part of a large European aerospace conglomerate. They were mostly "techies," deeply immersed in the technology of motion-based simulation devices. A couple were also astute market analysts who understood the various segments of the world market for entertainment simulators. Their contacts included many artsy creative types who were of a very different psyche from their techno-nerd brethren. It was a remarkably talented, extremely diverse group that came together in a common enterprise.

The group decided to develop three separate product lines -- a small one- or two-person simulator for mall venues, a larger 14 to 20 passenger "pod" type ride for larger markets, such as museums and amusement parks, and a line of large theater-sized motion and sound seating systems. They decided to develop the pod configuration first. Our CEO, Walter Batson, asked me to go to Crawley to develop the master plan (road map) and schedule for the project.

I flew to Gatwick airport, only a few miles from Crawley, and was picked up by a couple of the new Camber employees. Our site manager, Paul Spence, introduced me to many members of the team and we began to subdivide the project into manageable pieces. The next day, we were joined by several other participants, including Nigel Brown, who owned a factory and would be manufacturing our prototype units. There were artists, engineers, sound specialists, marketeers, and technicians. For the next six days, I coralled this unlikely group and tried to keep them focused on the job at hand.

I used Microsoft Project to create a logic network of the tasks needed to develop the product. The final product was a network of some 2,000 activities and milestones, described in terms that everyone had agreed to and understood. Development began immediately.

Eighteen months later, our first "Morphis" unit was completed, almost exactly on schedule and close to its development budget. It was one of my most rewarding planning efforts. And even though that division of Camber was sold off many years ago, the product is still in production.

The Mobile Version of the Morphis Simulator Designed for the U.S.Navy

A Great Display of Hawaiian Slack-key Ukulele Playing

I am fascinated by a style of open-tuning string instrument music that originated in Hawaii. One of my favorite Christmas albums is a Hawaiian slack-key guitar CD. Recently I found this little gem on YouTube and had to share it:

Note the bass ukulele on the left!

Living Sculpture

Click on the image to see animation

In 1971 and '72, I served as Superintendent of the power plants and chilled water plants at the University of Oklahoma. In a building we referred to as the "old" power plant there was an 1898 Westinghouse reciprocating steam driven dynamo -- a very early electrical generator that had served the university at the turn of the century. It was gorgeous! It had a huge cast iron flywheel decorated with bright paint, ornate lettering, and gold leaf. Everything had been beautifully preserved. It was like a technological time capsule. Each week, my crew turned it over by hand to make sure it stayed lubricated. About once a year, Earl Tabor, our chief engineer, would apply steam pressure to it and run it for a few minutes to exercise its mechanisms.

A Dynamo Similar to the One at Oklahoma

My immediate boss, Mike Hunt, had gone to work for the University in the 1920's. His first job was setting the clocks in the classrooms every morning. This was necessary because they shut the powerplant down every night! The power plant stayed on line for one half hour after the library closed each night. Then, everything shut down, including the street lights. At 6 AM, the plant was restarted for the day.

The University was building a new engineering center in the early 1970's. The architects had designed a large atrium at the main entrance to the building. There were plans to have a sculpture competition to come up with a work of art that would idealize the engineering profession. I suggested to one of the officials that the antique dynamo would make the perfect centerpiece for that large open space. My suggestion went nowhere, and a massive laminated wooden abstract sculpture was installed.

I wonder what ever happened to that beautiful piece of machinery. Could it still be residing in the "old" power plant???