Have you ever wanted to password protect a website or a sub folder of a website? Many CMS systems allow this to be done but there is a pretty simple way to protect access to the site before any login procedure using an .htaccess file which some people may find useful.

I had to do this recently and thought it would be useful to some to share the details, as some of it can be quite tricky and various instructions you will find are ambiguous.

The end result we want is that whenever a user goes to a particular address he will be greeted with something like this from the browser:

Browser Login Dialog

Note that this is completely independent from any forum or CMS logins that may be required.

So here’s how it is done.

You will need access to your web space via FTP or similar.

Navigate to the folder you want to protect (if this is your entire site then it will be the main root folder that your website is stored in).

You may already have an .htaccess file in the root directory. Have a look and see. If not you can create one and edit it. The basic structure will be:

AuthUserFile [PATH TO PASSWORD FILE SEE BELOW]
AuthType Basic
AuthName "EnterPassword"
require valid-user

AuthUserFile will contain the path to a file containing your user name(s) and password(s)
require can be set to valid-user or to one of the names in the password file.

There are two ways of creating the password file itself:

(Not recommended) You can use a simple text file anywhere on your web site.

Preferably you can use a file called .htpasswd which can be stored outside the root directory of your site. You must know the path to the password file as it needs to be entered in the .htaccess file like this example:

Filename: .htaccess

AuthUserFile /home/blahuser9/afolder/.htpasswd
AuthType Basic
AuthName "EnterPassword"
require valid-user

The password file should contain a username and password (or a list of user names and passwords).

The passwords must be encrypted!

The easiest way to do this is to go to a site that will do it for you. Here is a great example.

So if you go to the KXS site above and enter Username: myname Password: mypassword you will then end up with a string of text that looks like this: myname:0ifoldegAzttw

This line goes in the .htpasswd file:

Filename: .htpasswd

myname:0ifoldegAzttw

Once all that is done – Anyone entering that folder on your site will have to enter myname / mypassword in order to go further.

You can also add multiple user names and passwords in the file.

You can then change the line in .htaccess to:

require myname

If it doesn’t work it will most likely be because the path to your password file is incorrect.

Remember the password needs to be encrypted. So do not try simply typing a password in to the file without encrypting it first.

There are many, many more things you can with .htaccess but this is intended as a guide for anyone who wants to do this as simply and quickly as possible.

Good luck and any questions feel free to post a comment.

A little while ago I decided that as I have been running quite regularly these days, I would have a go at doing my first Big Fun Run and see if I could raise a bit of money for Saint Gemma’s Hospice. The run took place at Roundhay Park, Leeds. An area where I spent many a day of my childhood – fishing, running, walking and so on.

It is just a over a year since my mum passed away (it was July 1st 2009). We were all so grateful to the people at Saint Gemma’s and the way they took care of her (and us) in her last few months. So I thought I would do this run as a small way of saying thank you to the people at Saint Gemma’s and also a nice remembrance of my mum.

My wife Carol came along for moral support and to take some pictures and a bit of video. I had a T Shirt made with mum’s picture on it, a little message and the Saint Gemma’s logo on the back.

Mum On The Shirt

We arrived at Roundhay Park in good time and after a brief warm-up it was time to go. The actual run was only 5 Kilometres, which is roughly what I do on my daily run. So I didn’t anticipate any real problems making it around the course.

Starting Out

There were a few things that changed, compared to the approach of my normal run though.

• It was wet on the grass – Makes your feet feel very heavy if your running shoes have soaked up the water which mine had. ( I need to get some waterproof running shoes!)
• I also started off at the back of the group, which I didn’t really think would be a problem as the idea is not to “win the race”. But of course the competitive spirit soon kicked in and I found myself wanting to pass a lot of the slower runners (and walkers). Also you do have a “pace” that you get used to and running slower than that pace is very hard. So I ended up having to detour onto the grass a lot more than planned to get around crowds of people (and pushchairs and funny folks in animal costumes hehe).
• There were two very steep hills to climb too – Tough going. But I made it to the end and enjoyed every minute of it.

No Pain No Gain

I finished in about 25 minutes and came in at around no. 15 out of 400 or so which is OK. Although I started off a bit too fast for reasons explained above. The compare said I was smiling at the finish line – More like a grimace of pain to me but I’m not going to argue. :-)

Here’s a short 2 minute video showing some of our highlights.

YouTube - Big Fun Run - Roundhay

I used the Virgin Money Giving site to help raise some sponsorship money. Take a look here:

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/philpendlebury

It’s a very neat system enabling people to donate on-line and the money goes straight to your chosen charity (in my case Saint Gemma’s Hospice). I was extremely touched by the amount of donations given. It really made it all worth while. The grand total was £273.59 (including gift aid).

Thank you sooooooooo much to everyone who donated. It actually brought a real tear to our eyes when we saw the final figure. Fantastic!

Chilling On The Walk Home

After the run was over – We set off walking to the bus stop and then ended up walking all five miles home. We had some nice weather and it was great to spend some time with Carol, discussing what we had done.

There was a great sense of achievement but also a slight sadness wishing mum could have seen it all.

She would have loved it. But who knows, maybe she was there somewhere… I’m sure she was.

Happy At Home

I must admit though – the legs are aching a little as I write this, mainly from the long walk home. Thankfully we both have the rest of the weekend off work.

Wishing We'd Taken The Car!

All in all a great day in every way and something I will definitely do again given the chance.

Thanks for reading.

Here’s a GPS track of the route for anyone who is interested. I use RunMeter for the iPhone – A great little gadget for runners and walkers:

Route: Big Fun Run Roundhay
Started: 14 Aug 2010 10:58:41
Run Time: 26:24
Distance: 4.77 km
Average: 10.84 km/h
Fastest Speed: 15.99 km/h
Climb: 37 meters
Calories: 419
Official Route: Yes

I made a minor discovery this morning before starting work in the studio. Something quite interesting, geeky and possibly useful too. It reminded me of some random time in my childhood, spent making codes with my school-friends that only we could read… Then trying to crack the ones that another group of friends had made.

QR Codes. A QR Code is a two-dimensional bar code displayed in a square box. It was created by a Japanese corporation in 1994. QR stands for Quick Response. The creator wanted the code to allow its message to be decoded at high speed. It certainly works, at least it does now.

So what’s the point of it and what does it do?

Well to put it simply – you can encode a message of varying kind into a QR Block (Is that a word? It is now!) The block can then be scanned and the message decoded. The thing that really tweaked my interest is of course that up until recently you would have required some kind of scanning gadget to read the code. Today we can use pretty much any smart-phone that has a camera and an available QR Code reader.

The above QR Code is a URL. Actually it’s the URL to this very page.

Here’s an iTunes link to what is probably the best QR Code reader / creator for the iPhone – It’s called Optiscan.

http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/optiscan-qr-code-scanner-generator/id304099767?mt=8

Optiscan has a few extra features too. You can also produce as well as read various different types of QR Codes and then mail them and share them.

There are a few different standard QR Code types. They can be URL specific for example, a URL will automatically be recognised as a URL and can then be opened automatically. Phone numbers will be auto-dialled. Contacts – added. SMS Sent. etc.

I also found that they can be shrunk down quite nicely as long as they are not anti-aliased. I have now added a small section to my email signature.

Look out for them – You’ll notice that various companies and TV channels, games etc. are starting to use these clever little beasties. Especially now that they realise that the general public (that’s you and me) can actually decode them easily.

If you do manage to get hold of a QR Code scanner – Check this out.

Thanks for reading.

Today I completed my first ever solo journey out of the local airfield vicinity. I have done a fair amount of solo flying but up until now, only in the circuit at Sherburn. This means plenty of take-offs and landings but not much radio and navigation work. Today was the day when instructor Jonathan felt confident enough to let me out of the circuit on my own.

Incidentally it was my main instructor Jonathan Anderson’s last day at work today as he has procured a job with Ryan Air. I was slightly sad that we wouldn’t be flying together for this last time, as he has been teaching me for nearly three years. But what better way to say so-long than to send me off on my own. Haha! Good lad. I wish him all the best, he has been a super, level headed and concise teacher and I have learned a heck of a lot from him. Once again – Thanks Jonathan and good luck to you.

Instructor Jonathan Anderson & Mr Phil

Another chap that was really helpful today was our Fireman, Dave. Always up for discussion of iPads and iPhones which suits me. And offered to clean the bugs off the windscreen before I departed today. Mega helpful and great moral support. This is the same guy who gave me 7 out of 10 on my flapless approach video. Hopefully I would have got at least a 9 out of 10 today. Hehe.

Dave & Phil Discuss Jonathan's Camera Technique

Back to the flight. I spent all day Thursday preparing. Not just the regular stuff but I got it into my head that the Pilot’s Log could be done really nicely on an Excel Spreadsheet. Especially with applications like Google Docs and DocsToGo for the iPad and iPhone, enabling the spreadsheet to be edited and viewed at any time. Of course in the actual flight, a paper PLOG is all that is really needed. But I found it great therapy working through the equations and also a good way to double check my calculations.

Phil's Excel PLOG

If anyone would like to try it out here are some download links. The RED areas are equations and should not be edited. The ORANGE areas are for entering data. The YELLOW areas are for hand written text if required. The wind calculations are taken from the 2000′ wind velocity and angle (entered at the top left). there is a space for 5000′ Wind V/A but this is not used in the calculations.

Blank PLOG XLSX

Blank PLOG XLS (For older Excel versions)

Of course if anyone finds these useful or indeed can offer any ideas for improvement please feel free to drop me a line.

So that’s the therapy out of the way – Now let’s go flying!

It was windy today. Not enough to stop me going but I knew that the flight would not be straight forward and that the navigation training would have to be used. It would be no use just pointing the nose at the destination and flying. Another concern was the runway in use 24 Grass – Not as direct out to the east as 29 and a slightly lesser known circuit (for me). So it appeared that much of the training would need to be used today and indeed it was. Here’s a Memory Map screen-shot of the planned course. (If only we could fly like that).

Selby - Driffield - Brough - Selby

Pretty straight forward really but with the wind today being up to 25Knotts it was constantly taking me off course. Luckily the training had worked and I managed to correct for wind and get back on to where I was supposed to be quite easily. The radio work went fine. The Flight controllers at Church Fenton are very helpful especially when you mention you are a student.

After I had been under way for a few minutes, relaxed and aware, trusting the aircraft and trusting myself – It felt great to be in the skies alone.

It’s one of those once in a lifetime things that I am luckily enough to be experiencing more than once.

Everything went perfectly. The landing back at Sherburn was one of the smoothest I have ever done and I admit to punching the air and shouting a huge YES! After vacating the runway of course.

So here’s the usual GPS record of the actual track I flew. As mentioned, it is part of the training NOT to fly direct (Homing). I had the iPad with me, using Air Nav Pro and it would have been all too easy to ignore the training and simply follow the GPS but that is not the object of this exercise. Incidentally though, when I did glance at the iPad, it seemed to be tracking me perfectly, including the slightly early turn over Brough. Haha.

After the lovely landing and then checking the above track I was super pleased and Jonathan was happy too. So next week I’m heading out solo again: Selby – Hornsea – Bridlington – Selby. It’s a longer flight and I’ll be hoping for clear skies and low winds. Another one or two of these and then it will be time to start “landing away” – i.e. landing at Humberside / East Midlands.

It will be super cool when I can start officially using this technology and integrate it into the manual navigation techniques I am learning now. I do feel it is a shame that learning GPS Navigation is not at least part of the official PPL Syllabus. Especially as many pilots will use a GPS the minute they gain their license. There is no doubt though that using a map and a watch is essential technique to know and to be honest it is great fun when you realise that your paper calculations are actually working in the real world.

My wife Carol had been following my route with GPS updates which was super cool. She knew when I had landed and even when I got back into the clubhouse to pay the bill… Nice. If there was any downside to today it was only that I wish my dear old mum could have seen my face when I got home.

Until next time – Thanks for reading.

Friday, July 26 – Time for another section of navigation exercises from Sherburn. This time I had some technical testing and questions in mind as well as the actual navigation exercise. My questions – Does the GPS system that is built into the iPad work well enough to be used for navigation? And if it does – Do the navigation apps stand up to the task?

First, a little about the iPad. Basically a big iPhone. Lovely clear display and fast enough to do most normal tasks – email, web browsing, etc. There is also an abundance of apps available to assist with many aspects of aviation; weather, notams, and pretty much any calculation you can think of, including some pretty neat weight and balance tables. What actually sold the idea of an iPad for me was the potential for use as a navigation device. After all, most pilots these days have some kind of GPS device and if the iPad works well enough in that department then there would be no need for a separate GPS unit.

iPad

The iPad did create quite a stir at the Aero Club. I met a number of pilots who were eager to find out if the GPS system actually worked. Especially after seeing how absolutely gorgeous the maps and charts look on the iPad display. Using Memory Map as an example – You can also do planning on the PC software and import it to the iPad / iPhone. You can see here the planned track is visible in blue on a quarter mil’ CAA chart. These are actual screen captures from my iPad but not captured in flight.

Memory Map Quarter Mil

I arrived at Sherburn almost two hours early and had some time to discuss plans for the flight with instructor Jonathan. As I am still a student, I realise that it would be completely wrong for me to even attempt to use GPS during training. So I requested that Jonathan have the iPad on his lap and occasionally check it out whilst I referred to the real chart and pilot’s log used for the actual navigation. Jonathan was fine with this. So we were pretty much good to go.

Parked before checks

This week’s flight was from Sherburn to Selby then Winterton on to Malton and back to Selby. The actual flight went really well. Church Fenton was closed, which eliminated the need for some of the radio work. I called Humberside and later, Linton and all went smoothly. A small amount of wind picked up as we flew, which I had not accounted for in my original plan. This is ideal really as it gives me a chance to test out my reckoning when I realise were are off track by 5 degrees: Adjust track by 10 degrees and fly for the same time to get back on track. Then adjust the original written track by 5 degrees. This should bring us back on course.

It’s funny, although I passed the exam quite easily, it took hard thought to remember the theory behind that. I swear your IQ drops by about 20 points when you are flying and navigating.

Throughout the flight, Jonathan was viewing the iPad app – Air Navigation Pro. I also occasionally glanced over and could see that our track was being recorded and displayed with what looked like a great deal of accuracy. I could clearly see how much I had flown off course – partly due to wind and partly due to my lack of experience. Bear in mind that even though I knew I was slightly off course, we still fly our planned heading, as the object of the exercise is not just to get from A to B but to put the navigation plan to the test.

Air Navigation Pro has a full moving map and options to display various instruments and also details of your actual flight. The flight details are constantly updated and when referring to our actual flight they were very accurate. This application shows air space boundaries as well, although the map is a normal map and not a CAA chart. The author has said that CAA charts will be available eventually. Once again, these are actual screen captures but not taken in flight.

Air Navigation Pro

When we arrived back at Selby, Jonathan then switched over to Memory Map. This does have UK CAA charts on a moving map but no other real features as such. The charts look beautiful though and it had picked us up easily from Selby and was displaying a line of track as we head back to Sherburn.

I had been recording the track with Motion X on the iPhone as usual and have overlaid the recorded track on the screen capture of Memory Map. You can see the planned route (in blue) and you can also see the actual route (in pink) which clearly shows the flight deviation and corrections I mentioned. Jonathan was impressed with the iPad, as was I. Every time I glanced over, I could see the display clearly and the navigation picture on the screen matched what I was seeing out of the actual aircraft perfectly.

Memory Map Track and Actual Flight Path

Here is a Google map of the actual track we flew. You can see over Malton that I was quite far off track so we did a right turn in order to turn left over Malton. Maybe they should start calling me Derek Zoolander instead of Captain Pendle. :-)

It is worth mentioning that to use the iPad for navigation – You need the 3G version which has the GPS chip but you don’t need to have 3G active for the GPS to work. All the apps I used allow caching of the maps so there is no need for internet access. Google Maps cannot be cached by law but none of these applications use Google maps (unless required).

Yes there is a bit of set up involved and by looking around I see that some people have had trouble sending their maps from the PC to Memory Map. It worked perfectly for me though and as you can see, the end results are positively stunning. The main thing is that the applications work and they work well.

So the results are in and the verdict – Go out and buy it now! :-)

There are obviously some dedicated Aero-GPS units that can do very much more than this – airspace infringement warnings and built in weather radar etc. They may well come to one of the iPad navigation apps soon though. In fact some of the US based apps do have some very sophisticated features but not as much coverage for the UK as yet… Plus, with the iPad method you get so many other tools, all built into the same device for a relatively small fee. Now if someone can figure out a simple way to mount the unit in the cockpit, that would be an added bonus. Of course your passenger or copilot can always just hold the iPad.

As for me, I now have yet another reason to be excited about gaining my PPL. Aviation meets technology once again. Fantastic!

If anyone has any questions or comments, feel free to leave them below or contact me using the contact form.

Thanks for reading.

MEAP – Multi Export Audio Pro – has been released to the public today. It has had a huge redesign and lots of extra features added, including a new streamlined dialog and many internal code tweaks and enhancements.

What is MEAP?

MEAP is a tool for automating the process of exporting (to audio) all individual MIDI instrument and Audio tracks from your musical project.  If you wanted to deliver all your parts (stems) to another studio for example:

Without MEAP you would have to sit and manually export each of your tracks, one at a time. This can take hours, even days! MEAP will enable the process to be done unattended. It does not speed up the process of exporting tracks but simply eliminates the need for human interaction.

MEAP also adds some options that would be impossible to do without it. Track listing to a text file. Screen Shots. Automatic naming of output files. Various useful locator setting options. To name but a few.

MEAP is a Windows application.

MEAP works with all Steinberg V3, V4 & V5 audio applications.

MEAP Version 7

Some of the features new to MEAP version 7 are:

• Added compatibility for Cubase 5.5
• Added compatibility for Nuendo 5
• Added extra options to toggle EQ/Inserts/Sends
• Added new Main Menu system
• Internally Streamlined export process
• Updated MEAP Shots application
• Recompiled with latest compiler (12.0.2)
• Recompiled installer with latest version (7.6.1)
• Added Frame Rate Calculator
• Recompiled all free tools

MEAP Version 7.0 is a free update for all existing MEAP customers.

There will be a small price increase for new customers at the beginning of July 2010.

So anyone purchasing MEAP before July 2010 will get the present price and all future updates free. Purchases made after July 2010 will be at the new price but will still receive all future updates free.

For more information and to purchase MEAP see the official MEAP Website:

http://www.meap.biz/

There are some testimonials from MEAP users here:

MEAP Testimonials

Cheers!

My navigation instruction continued on Friday with a trip to Hornsea (on the East coast of England). Instructor Jonathan gave me the OK to bring a passenger which was really neat. So I met my old friend Pete Neville in the morning and we finished off the flight plan and route calculations at home before heading to Sherburn. Pete took a few pictures with his phone which turned out quite nicely.

Entering The PA28

Today’s route involved getting from Sherburn to Selby to start the navigation exercise. Then heading to Hornsea on the coast, turn left up to Driffield inland and then back to Selby. From Selby back to Sherburn for landing.

Pre Flight Checks

It was little windy which is good as it helps to put the theory of the whole navigation thing to the test. Compensating for wind etc. Everything worked out really well although I have to admit I am finding it tough doing radio calls correctly, listening out, reading the map, looking for landmarks, writing estimated arrival times and of course flying the aircraft. And there in that very sentence is one of the key lessons that I learned on this trip – Flying the aircraft comes first. Everything seems to happen at once. But this is normal. I felt the same way when I first started doing circuits and now I’m very comfortable with that. It’s just a matter of time… Hopefully.

It was great to see my old mate Pete and I’m pretty sure he enjoyed the whole day as much as I did.
Well, the sick bag didn’t get used so I can only take that as good sign.

Pete also volunteered to try and grab some video footage – A tricky task when in the back seat of a small aircraft bumping up and down with the gusting winds. Some of it has come out OK, although it will probably only be of real interest to any other light aircraft pilots or at very least, of interest to Pete and myself.

Getting Set To Depart

Here’s an edited version of the video. It is quite extremely edited in places. The whole flight took about an hour and fifteen minutes. Partly due to having to “go-around” on final approach due to runway activity. There was, as mentioned, quite a strong wind which made the landing a little challenging. All good because I’ve had a long period of no wind landings. All went as it should and Pete even managed to capture the sound of the tyres screeching as we touched down pretty smoothly (the tyres screeching is generally a good thing).

The video is cut down to about 10 minutes, including an edited walk-round before departure.

YouTube - Flying to Hornsea - PA 28

Back to my earlier statement about flying the aircraft. Something we learn very early on as students:

ANC – Aviate, Navigate, Communicate.

There are times when as a student you really feel you want to tell the guy behind you on downwind that you are slowing down to make space between yourself and the guy in front (we don’t have brake lights) – or you want to tell the glider pilot who’s aircraft is half a mile away, turning towards your position that you have spotted him and ask him if he has spotted you – and so on. But of course, as instructor Jonathan makes very clear – Not your problem – Fly your aircraft first, every thing else is secondary to that.

Once again, I recorded the track with Motion X on my iPhone. Here’s the actual track we flew. It’s surprisingly close to the planned route. Of course there are a few GPS track error spikes as usual but generally the plot is pretty accurate.

Thanks for reading.

Today marked my first PPL Navigation exercise from Sherburn. I have been learning to fly now for over two years and today was the first time I have actually flown to a destination outside of the normal Sherburn circuit. There is some out of circuit work involved before the navigation exercises begin but it’s mostly just at the training area, learning to cope with stalls and steep turns etc.

After that, much of the time is spent in the circuit doing 7 or 8 take-offs and landings per lesson, many of them solo. I do love the take-offs and landings but it is nice to be finally going somewhere other than round and round.

Some people start and finish the whole PPL course in a matter of weeks (some even less). But for me it has all been down to money (or lack of it) and of course the good old UK weather.

Last week instructor Jonathan and I had planned our route from Sherburn to Selby then to Bridlington, Brough back to Selby and then Sherburn to land. This morning I had to check the wind situation and update the flight plan and pilot’s log – PLOG – accordingly. It was very satisfying to finally be putting all the things learned in the exams into actual practise.

It was a beautiful day today. A bit hazy but lovely and warm and very little wind. We set off from runway 06 grass, which is another first for me and a very short runway compared to the big tarmacked 29 that we normally use. After departure we head to the village of Selby and begin the navigation from there. It involves flying certain headings, compensating for wind (if there is any), timing each leg and – RADIO! Well I passed the comms exam a few months ago but have never had to actually do the whole thing like this, all at once.

Sherburn After Landing

There is a lot to do that’s for sure. Whilst trying to maintain course and altitude, looking for landmarks etc. there are quite a number of calls and radio station changes which all seem to come at the same time. Listening and repeating back QNH and SQUAWK settings etc. Everything went as expected and to be honest everything went very smoothly but it was not easy that’s for sure.

I hope that this will turn out a lot like when I first started flying circuits. After the first one or two I used to think that there is no way I’ll be able to do this and relax, but shortly after, it becomes almost second nature. I’m looking forward to getting to that point with the navigation.

Anyway, we got to Bridlington, turned back to Brough, back to Selby and joined Sherburn’s very short right hand circuit to land on runway 06. It was great seeing Bridlington. Looking down and seeing people on the beach where I spent many a fond weekend when I was kid. Being up above it all and picking out landmarks really gives you a different perspective to the one you are used to (obviously I guess). Especially when you’re viewing places that you have visited many times on the ground. (although not recently).

Once again, I managed to get a GPS track using Motion X for iPhone and here it is below. You can see we head East to Brid’ and then turned back to Brough. You can even see the very tight overhead joining turn and the turns before final landing. It does look like I was on one side of the runway though which I definitely was not. Also it seems the speed increases to >350Kt near the end. So I guess there is a little inaccuracy there.

I passed the Flight Planning and Performance exam on Tuesday (thanks again to ground school from Barry and moral support from Julia at SAC – You guys rock!) I now have just one more written exam to pass – Aircraft General (hopefully next week) and then more navigation and the all important Solo Cross Country (major milestone). Followed by some flying revision and then the big one – The Skills Test.

Next week we’re flying to Hornsea and Driffield. Can’t wait! If you live on the route from Selby to Hornsea – look up at about 13:00 – if you see a small, white PA28 – give us a wave!

Thanks for reading.

Just a quickie… I went over to Sherburn today to do the final preparation for next week’s navigation exercise. We’ll be flying to Bridlington and Brough. So I need to get the procedure straight. There’ll be a small chance to revise it before we go. This will be my first proper navigation using a map and nothing else but eyes and watches. More on that later.

Jonathan talked me through the procedure and it went very smoothly. So we had 30 minutes remaining and decided to do some flying. It was extra nice today because there was bit of a wind (a little extra challenge) and the runway in use was 24 grass which I haven’t used for quite a while.

We only managed three circuits, which was fine. All went very nicely and instructor Jonathan seemed happy too, which always a good sign.

I managed to get the Motion X track again by switching on Motion X and putting the phone back in my bag. Clever stuff.

Parked at Sherburn

In the track below you can see the circuits and you can see that we have to avoid the villages on the circuit South Milford to the West of Sherburn, Monk Fryston to the South and Hambleton to the East. You can see clearly that I managed to avoid them all and that the circuits look pretty neat, considering the wind. Super cool. I’ll have to try capturing the track when we (hopefully) fly to Brid next week.

A “circuit” in this respect means flying around the designated path for the runway in use and landing the aircraft without stopping (otherwise known as a “touch and go”). The final landing is a “full stop” landing of course.

Thanks for reading.

I’m in the process of putting the finishing touches to the new release of my MEAP application. Multi Export Audio Pro will reach Version 7.0 within the next few weeks. There are quite a number of changes both visible and “under the hood”.

All internal code has been re-written, pretty much from the ground up. It’s been a challenge but work is almost complete.

From the ground up – A cliché term often used in application building that really has nothing to do with the actual ground or anything above it whatsoever.

First and foremost, MEAP 7.0 will add support for the forthcoming Steinberg release of Nuendo 5 – Advanced Post, Live and Audio Production System. You can read more about Nuendo 5.0 at Steinberg’s official announcement here: http://www.steinberg.net/en/products/audiopostproduction_product/nuendo5.html It looks amazing. There is also some news here at Steinberg’s site about the forthcoming Cubase 5.5 update: http://www.steinberg.net/en/company/steinberg_news/detailansicht/archive/2010/03/26/article/mipa-for-cubase-5-1059.html

Nuendo 5 Collage

This is all very exciting stuff for those of us in the music and production industry.

One of the biggest challenges has been getting MEAP to press buttons that are not actually labelled as buttons within the Windows API. I have managed to get around this by taking more screen shots of the buttons in questions (in all languages) and having MEAP search for the right button to press.

When Nuendo 5.0 and Cubase 5.5 are officially released I will be able to check everything for a few days and then release the MEAP 7.0 update accordingly. All the routines are in place within MEAP but cannot be finalised until the applications are released – So that I can actually see what it looks like running.

MEAP 7.0 will be a free update to all existing MEAP customers. The price of MEAP has not changed for over 2 years, therefore for new customers there will be a small price increase after the release of V7.0. So if you don’t already own MEAP – Now would be a good time…

MEAP Dialog - Main Options

Here are some of the new features of MEAP 7.0

• Added compatibility for Nuendo 5
• Added compatibility for Cubase 5.5
• Added extra options to toggle OFF EQ/Inserts/Sends before export
• Added main menu system
• Updated MEAP Shots application
• Streamlined export process
• Recompiled with latest compiler (12.0.00)
• Recompiled installer with latest version (7.5.00)
• Recompiled all free tools

Project Options

MEAP 7.0 is due for release in June 2010 and is available only form the MEAP Website: http://www.meap.biz/

If you don’t already know about MEAP – Here’s some information from the MEAP Website.

A tool for automating the process of exporting (to audio) all individual MIDI instrument and Audio tracks from your musical project.

If you wanted to deliver all your parts (stems) to another studio for example:

Without MEAP you would have to sit and manually export each of your tracks, one at a time. This can take hours, even days!

MEAP will enable the process to be done unattended. It does not speed up the process of exporting tracks but simply eliminates the need for human interaction.

MEAP also adds some options that would be impossible to do without it. Track listing to a text file. Screen Shots. Automatic naming of output files. Various useful locator setting options. To name but a few.

MEAP is a Windows application.

MEAP works with all Steinberg V3, V4 & V5 audio applications.

MEAP Feature List

MEAP is not just a standard batch export but way more.

Here are just some of the features:

Export Locator Options:

• All Project Range
• Only the parts on each individual track
• From the start of the project to the end of the parts on each track
• From the first part on each track to the end of the project
• Export each part separately on each track. Every part is exported and named separately
• Export your project in sections as set by your Marker Track
• Add a nose and tail to your locator settings for catching reverbs and intro sections

File Naming Options:

• Use the project track name
• Use your own default file name
• Insert the location of each part into the file name using whatever format you have displayed on the transport
• Use custom file naming where variables can be inserted
• Use the audio application default naming (for markers)

Other Options:

• Log all actions and exported files to a text file
• Take a screen shot of the finished export
• Automatically save new project before export
• Shut Down your OS after export is done

These are just a few of MEAP’s ever growing feature list.

Advanced Options

Thanks for reading.

We were pleasantly surprised by some more good weather today. So I managed to get over to Sherburn for an hour of flying instruction. It was time for some more practise of precautionary procedures today. It’s a lot to take in all in one go but very enjoyable stuff and as mentioned before, essential to a pilot’s arsenal of skills.

A precautionary landing is a simulation of being low on fuel or some other similar emergency, and it is flown with power, unlike a forced landing which is a simulation of engine failure (or other catastrophic failure) and therefore flown without power.

I took a quick picture as we were about to depart for the runway. This is from the Captain’s seat in the cockpit, looking down the wing towards some other aircraft parked.

Parked and Ready

The precautionary landings were first. It involves doing a circuit of the runway, imagining that it is a field or small landing strip. Because we have power (for now), the procedure for getting down to earth is a little different. We do some circuits of the chosen landing area. Starting at 1000 Feet, then one at 500 Feet, then one at 100 Feet. (These figures are heights above the airfield ground level not above sea level). At all times trying to keep the landing point in view and checking for obstructions – sheep, cows, dogs, bears, streakers and any other things that could impede a smooth landing.

Flying around the runway at 100 Feet was quite a daunting task. The ground moves fast! And any deviation in height seems much more extreme. You can clearly see birds on the ground from 100 feet, which is very cool.

We then went out of the circuit and did two more Practised Forced Landings. Followed by a glide approach on the final actual landing. This is where Jonathan the instructor pulls back power and says “get it onto the runway.” So with no power at all you have to control speed and descent and get to the runway and land in once piece. I managed to get the aircraft down. It wasn’t the smoothest landing ever but safe enough and we walked away shortly afterwards which is always a good sign.

I knew it was going to be quite intense today. There’s a lot of quick thinking involved, especially if you want to be realistic and imagine that you really can’t touch the power on a forced landing. Plus it was quite windy so there was a greater need to concentrate on trying not to get blown off track. Which meant that it was unlikely I would be able to get any other pictures or video.

However, I had my trusty iPhone with me and decided give Motion X GPS a go. It’s a GPS tracking application. I just started it before we set off, put it in my bag and left it there. I didn’t realise at the time that, not only will it track all areas of the flight – course, speed, altitude etc. – quite accurately but you can also save the track and view it in Google Earth. Then to add more indulgent fun, I found a great little WP Plugin that will display the track in a post.

So here it is – I hope you find it as interesting as I did.

Note to pilots: Obviously the speed below is Ground Speed in Knots not Air Speed. I don’t think a PA28 would be very happy doing 200 Knots IAS!

Wicked! You can clearly see the circuits followed by the trip out to do two PFLs and then the return track is very straight because we were heading straight back to Sherburn.

I know this is probably not of great interest to everyone but I hope some will agree – It’s amazing… Another little piece of mind blowing technology in the palm of your hand. I can already see how useful this will be for future training and will probably be doing this much more often.

Thanks ever so much for reading.

PFL – Practised Forced Landing

So what happens if you are up in the sky in your aircraft and you get an engine failure? That’s what today’s flying lesson was all about.

We take off from Sherburn and head to the southern training area (Over and around Doncaster). This was fun in itself, as it is the first time I have been out of the circuit for quite a while and using the radio talking to Church Fenton and Doncaster was another new challenge. I did pass the radio telephony / communications exam a while back but putting it into practise is somewhat different. It went fine though and we soon found ourselves at 3000 feet in the training area.

Some Fields

Pick a field. Not any field. We look for a field that has few good characteristics.

We do this after Jonathan has pulled off the power and informed me that we have approximately six minutes until we hit the ground.

First we trim the aircraft so it is flying at around 73 Knots. Trimming is done so that the aircraft will maintain a particular speed under particular conditions with no further input required form the pilot. This means the angle is set so that we will get the best endurance with no power. I am sure there are more accurate ways to explain that but I am not a flying instructor so that will have to do.

We look for a long field. A field that is has an approach facing into the wind without any obvious obstructions. Not as easy as it seems. The lower down you get the more you realise that there are things put there to stop you; tractors, hedges, power lines, trees etc.

I got some video again today but unfortunately none of it is in or from the air. It’s just a brief intro from the airfield.

YouTube - PFL - Intro

I’ll be honest though, it’s not as bad as it sounds. Once you have picked a good looking area to land, you can, with combination of flaps and changing angle, extending turns etc. find your way into quite a good position quite nicely. Before doing so there are number of checks involved and a May Day call too.

Of course we don’t actually touch down. At somewhere between three and five-hundred feet when the instructor is satisfied that we would have made ground – we apply full power and go around.

Forced landing technique is essential to know and practise regularly but hopefully you’ll never be in a situation to require using it.

It was great to be out of the circuit today. Also very interesting to see how different doing a single approach and landing was compared to doing many touch and goes in the space of an hour. We did a low level approach back to Sherburn, maintaining six-hundred feet until lining up for final.

Final Approach Sherburn

Not far to go now. Another two exams and another few hours flying. Some more PFL practise and then the all important cross country navigation.

I can’t wait…

Thanks for reading.

Mmmm Cold Beer

Finally, good weather and finances permitted me to get over to Sherburn today to get some flying done. It was one of those very rare days when the weather forecast says “Wind = CALM”. Which means, as it says, there was little or no significant wind – at least from the surface to where I was flying (not above 1000 feet today).

Why the picture of beer? I thought this post was about calm wind, flying and PPL exams (even though beer is much more interesting than exams)? Well… I’ll get to that in less than a minute.

Flying with no wind is quite an odd experience. Usually we have a headwind on take-off and landing. There are many reasons for this but the bottom line effect is that it slows down your ground speed.

Imagine that you throw a ball at 100mph. Imagine the wind blowing towards you at 50mph. The ball would actually move relative to the ground at approximately 50mph (ground speed). Although it would still be travelling through the air at 100mph (air speed).

So (Don’t worry I’ll be quick – before you fall asleep)… The air speed used for take-off and landing is always roughly the same (depending on the type of plane and some other factors) but depending on the wind velocity and angle the ground speed will be different.

Normally we approach to land at 70 Knots (air speed) but if there is a 15 Knot head wind and I look down, I will be travelling across the ground at 55 Knots (ground speed). Today – when you look down – you are travelling across the ground at 70 Knots too. So it seems to take longer to descend (when in fact it just takes more distance) and you use up more runway when landing and more when taking off too.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8pBHyX_SRI

I took some video today but it is not very exciting. If you really are having trouble sleeping, have a look here. There is no in-flight footage I’m afraid. I can’t hold the camera and fly solo. I’ve had an idea for next time though so stay tuned.

Incidentally – This video is my entry for most boring, ugly video ever posted on YouTube. I think it’s a winner.

So… Why the beer?

Well one of the questions in the Human Performance and Limitations exam is:

How long does it take the body to eliminate one unit of alcohol? One unit of alcohol is equivalent to a half a pint of beer, one glass of wine or one measure of regular spirit.

The answer is one hour.

I passed by the way.

Special thanks to Julia at Sherburn and the Great Circle iPhone app for much revision help.

:-)

Cheers.

This post comes under the category of Technical / IT and is for Geeks only…. You know who you are…

I’ve been off-line for a few days due to building up a new computer. Something we should never take lightly, as there always a certain amount of problems that crop up just when you think things are going smoothly.

Anyway, I have now got everything back up and running, including installing all the hardware and studio software. I must say, one thing that really struck me about this build was the quality and ergonomics of the case (otherwise known as the “chassis”).

Here’s a picture of the finished build. There are a few points to note. Overall the first thing that would hit you is the fact that – yes – this is the finished build (minus 2 PCI cards)… Where are the cables?

If you look really carefully you can see the rubber grommets that are secreted around the far wall of the case. All cables go through the far wall (from the power supply at the bottom) into the cavity between the wall and the far side lid. The cables can then be brought back through to the relevant place and plugged in. The beauty of this, apart from looking very neat, is the lack of heat buildup. More space for air to circulate, less space for dust to accumulate.

Corsair Obsidian 800D

Another really neat feature are the hot swappable hard drive bays. All power and data cables are plugged in to a panel which is hidden away by another detatchable panel. The hard drives are placed in a rack and can literally be installed and un-installed in seconds from the  panel on the front face, without ever opening the case again. Very neat.

So here’s the basics:

1. Radiator for CPU water cooling. Very easy to set up. In fact easier than a normal fan setup.
2. Here you can see some empty space and some black rubber grommets.
3. More cables coming through as if by magic.
4. The hard drives are behind here, slotted in from the front.
5. Power supply.

The whole build took about two to three hours and if I had to do it again, it would be much less.

Of course, one of the really time consuming parts is setting up the software. The Operating System must be installed from scratch as it is a completely new system. System backups just won’t work in this situation. To be fair, Windows 7 is much quicker and much more straight-forward than XP was though.

Some of the studio plugins and sounds are very tedious to install too. Especially the ones that require you to install not only the plugin but the full sound libraries as well. There are some that allow you to find their content (if you have it installed on a separate hard dirve – as you should) but there are some that don’t allow this. Trolling through 8 DVDs of installation can be rather soul destroying, especially when you know that you already have all the content on your media drive.

Anyway, all just about done now. A few bits of tweaking and fiddling and we’re good to go.

The finished system spec can be seen here:

http://www.pendlebury.biz/sysinfo/

So far it is blazingly fast. I have overclocked the CPU and memory, quite conservativey but it seems effective enough so far, although hardly necessary really. The performance meter in Cubase barely moves. Even when loaded up with vast quantities of big stuff like The Grand 3. And super low (2ms) latency.

Right, time to get some work done!

Thanks for reading. Any questions – Feel free to post comments below.

I had to cancel flying again today, due to having no transport to take me to the aero club. I suppose it was just as well, after what I had to pay out for the car service, MOT and parts. So I thought I’d make a blog entry with some pictures of the planes I have been flying.

Piper PA28

Some of the pictures are a little old but the actual planes haven’t changed much in that time. What has changed, is my knowledge of them. Obviously there is still a lot to learn and that is big part of the enjoyment for me.

Driving on the roads here in England is pretty horrible these days and something well worth looking down on.

For instance, this picture I took on one of my first lessons, is a rough view of the instruments inside the cockpit. When looking at this I remember thinking there was no way I was ever going to understand what everything does. Of course, like many aspects of learning, all it took was time and interest. I am now at the stage where I not only know what everything does but also how it works and why it was put there in the first place. There is a ton of clever technology in there, enough to appeal to the anyone’s geeky side.

PA28 Cockpit Instrument View

I even find that I am starting to recognise the differences in layout and some of the quirks of each individual aircraft. It’s a nice feeling.

PA28 Side View

The first time you enter the cockpit of one of these light aircraft there are few things that will hit you. One is the general smell of aircraft fuel and engine oil. Sounds bad but to be honest it isn’t bad at all… In fact it’s great! Then you think “Hmm… This is a lot smaller than being in a 747 or an Airbus”… Well it is… But to me, that is one of the great things about it.

When you head down the runway and “rotate” upwards at around 50-60mph – You sense everything moving around you. The controls are immediately responsive and you know that you are in the air. You feel almost every little breath of wind as it gently (and sometimes rather aggressively) moves you around.

PA28 Rear View

There really is nothing like the feeling of being PIC (Pilot In Command). When you get up there on your own and begin to feel comfortable with it, the rewards are immense. For example – from Sherburn, which is where I fly from (central England) – you can see both East and West coast lines from just a few thousand feet up, on a clear day.

And even when the weather isn’t so good the views are still amazing.

Winter view just after take off

You don’t feel the cold when you are up in the skies. I suppose you would if you had the air blowing in your face. I haven’t flown an open cockpit aircraft yet but hopefully will get the chance one day.

Winter views again

I have to confess. My favourite part of the flying so far has been the landings. Especially once they start becoming consistently good. The view you get when lining up on final approach is a challenging puzzle and beautiful too. the whole mind and body are concentrating on one thing – getting back to the earth smoothly and comfortably.

Winter approach to runway 29

Also a good feeling is when a landing doesn’t go quite as you expected (they rarely do) but you deal with it in the right way instinctively. Like an immediate go-around after a single bounce. It really makes you feel like you have learned something (although it is to be hoped that doesn’t happen too often – for me it’s been once so far which is not bad going). And nothing beats that feeling of lining up and settling onto the runway, holding the aircraft nose up and hearing the tyres screech as they touch the runway surface.

Nailed it!

If you ever get the chance to fly in a light aircraft, don’t turn it down. If you haven’t had the chance yet, you may be surprised how easy it is to book a trial flight at your local aero club and get up there for half an hour and see what you have been missing. You’ll even be able to take control of the aircraft for a while when you’re up in the air.

YouTube - Flying At Sherburn - May 2009

Driving on the roads here in England is pretty horrible these days and to me, something well worth looking down on.

I’m hoping to have my license by summer this year. I can’t wait. And of course anyone that knows me will know I will be very keen to share the experience.

Pack your bags folks!

Thanks for reading.

The new web site is pretty much done now and I have pretty much settled on using the fantastic Mystique theme for WordPress. This is one the nicest and most useful themes I have seen. Built by the amazingly talented people at Digital Nature.

Web site with added icons

Many people have been having trouble adding extra icons to the theme. There are a number of ways to do this found in various places around the web but none of them stand alone and work correctly. I though it only fair that I publish my little walk through.

Thanks go out to all the people involved in the other walk-throughs – Mark N Hewitt, Kerem Erkan and many others.

This works with the latest version of the theme, as of March 18 2010. It is an amalgamation of many steps and has taken me hours to check and double check.

The main area of confusion was that some of the icons are contained within one main icon. I didn’t want to use them. Plus it was very confusing when trying to use the other icons as well. Then it was a case of trial and error and making it neat and tidy. I think the below should be very easy to use (and add to if required).

Please be sure to use all the code from this page. Do not mix it with other code until you are sure that everything is working.

So here’s the 4 steps.

1. Put the icons on your server

Head over to Mark’s site and download the icon pack (it’s half way down the page in a zip file).
http://www.marknhewitt.co.uk/archives/1921
Unzip an put all the icon files in a folder on your server: ../wp-content/uploads/mystique_icons/ *icon files go here*
You will have to make the folder mystique_icons first.
Now go to the WP Control Panel > Appearance > Mystique settings…

2. This code goes in User CSS area

#header p.nav-extra {top:-46px;height:54px;}
#header a.nav-extra {height:60px;}

#header a.nav-extra.rss{background:url("/wp-content/uploads/mystique_icons/nav-rss.png") no-repeat scroll right top transparent;}
#header a.twitter{background:url("/wp-content/uploads/mystique_icons/nav-twitter.png") no-repeat scroll right top transparent;}
#header a.myspace{background:url("/wp-content/uploads/mystique_icons/nav-myspace.png") no-repeat scroll right top transparent;}
#header a.linkedin{background:url("/wp-content/uploads/mystique_icons/nav-linkedin.png") no-repeat scroll right top transparent;}
#header a.facebook{background:url("/wp-content/uploads/mystique_icons/nav-facebook.png") no-repeat scroll right top transparent;}
#header a.blogger{background:url("/wp-content/uploads/mystique_icons/nav-blogger.png") no-repeat scroll right top transparent;}
#header a.email{background:url("/wp-content/uploads/mystique_icons/nav-email.png") no-repeat scroll right top transparent;}
#header a.googlewave{background:url("/wp-content/uploads/mystique_icons/nav-googlewave.png") no-repeat scroll right top transparent;}

3. This code goes in Advanced > User Settings (over-write the <?php in case you aren’t sure)

<?php
function mystique_custom_nav_icons($nav_extra)
{
  $nav_extra = '<a href="'.get_bloginfo('rss2_url').'" class="nav-extra rss" title="RSS Feeds"><span>RSS Feeds</span></a>';
  $nav_extra .= '<a href="http://www.twitter.com/phil_pendlebury" class="nav-extra twitter" title="Twitter"><span>Twitter</span></a>';
  $nav_extra .= '<a href="http://www.myspace.com/philpendlebury" class="nav-extra myspace" title="MySpace"><span>MySpace</span></a>';
  $nav_extra .= '<a href="http://uk.linkedin.com/in/pendlebury" class="nav-extra linkedin" title="LinkedIn"><span>LinkedIn</span></a>';
  $nav_extra .= '<a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/RIFFS-RAYS/99388735458" class="nav-extra facebook" title="Riffs & Rays @ Facebook"><span>Riffs & Rays @ Facebook</span></a>';
  $nav_extra .= '<a href="http://gwfts.blogspot.com/" class="nav-extra blogger" title="Google Wave Blog"><span>Google Wave Blog</span></a>';
  $nav_extra .= '<a href="http://www.pendlebury.biz/contact" class="nav-extra email" title="Contact"><span>Contact</span></a>';
  $nav_extra .= '<a href="https://wave.google.com/wave/?pli=1#restored:wave:googlewave.com!w%252Bupyy5rPyA" class="nav-extra googlewave" title="Google Wave"><span>Google Wave</span></a>';

  return $nav_extra;
}

add_action('mystique_navigation_extra', 'mystique_custom_nav_icons');

4. Edit the URLs in the code above

You don’t need to edit anything until you have checked that the icons show up correctly. When you’re ready just change the areas that are required (between the first set of quotes) e.g for me – the Twitter URL is (feel free to follow me):

http://www.twitter.com/phil_pendlebury

I hope some people may find this useful.

Thanks for reading.

Please note: There have been some comments that this does not look quite right in Google Chrome. It works fine in Firefox, Explorer and Safari. The icons don’t move as smoothly in Explorer but it works fine.

Fitness and diet – Something I haven’t really written about before (and probably won’t again) but here’s a little story for you:

Around Christmas time, like many of us, the result of some rather indulgent meals and lack of exercise prompted me to weigh myself for the first time in years. The results were not pleasing. I was, as far as I know, the heaviest and most out of shape I have ever been to date.

I must point out though that one of the highlights of the Christmas-stuffing-selves-with-fattening-food session was a huge goose, fresh from the local butchers. Nice.

A Goose Yesterday

Again like many of us I have had various gym memberships over the years. I always find the gym a great place to be but no matter how close the gym was, it was just too easy to avoid. Plus very, expensive of course.

So I decided it would be a good idea to buy a decent exercise bike for the home. I always enjoyed the bike at the gym as it seemed to be great for loosening up the lower back and burning the calories. After some shopping around and the usual “Sorry that model is out of stock now but it was in stock when you ordered it that’s why we took your money”… I was blessed with the arrival of a brand new Reebok b57e.

Reebok b57e

After an hour or so to set up, it was ready to be sat upon next morning. Great!

I also discovered a fantastic iPhone App called Tap & Track, which keeps track of your food intake (including recipe management),  weight, calories burned, exercise done and all the other associated facts.

This kind of thing is perfect for me because it appeals to my geeky side and to be fair, it really does help when you can see exactly how many calories you are allowed in the day and how much that freshly baked pork pie will cost you from your daily calorific allowance.

Tap & Track

Next was to start looking at getting some more healthy but enjoyable food. Banished from the kitchen and shopping list are the pork pies, chicken in bread-crumbs, huge loaves of fresh white bread and sadly (or not) we have avoided McD’s KFC and the rest of the fat+salt+sugar machines since December.

For example, we have re-discovered Sainsburys fresh fish counter, where you can get fresh salmon and trout fillet steaks put in a bag, cook in the oven – add large amounts of salad and a bit of dressing and egg etc. very tasty and great on the calorie meter.

Salmon Fillets

Anyway – there are a ton of web sites available for diets and recipes and it is not my intention to write about all that here.

So, after 3 or 4 days of getting up and doing 30 – 40 minutes on the bike and counting the calories I was already noticing a difference. I also noticed a difference in the bike… Was that a squeak from the flywheel or am I imagining it? Over the next few days the thing began emitting some noises as if trying to complain to the god of mechanical exercise equipment that this big guy was giving it a tough time.

After a few more days the noise had become so loud that the whole house would be brought to a standstill by this horrendous squealing and knocking whenever I did my daily 40 minutes. But the whole routine was working for me even though it felt like I was constantly riding through a large pack of noisy rats whilst pedalling over a cobbled road. The video was taken at one of the quieter moments. It was obviously time to call the shop.

YouTube- Reebok B5.7e Noises Part 1

Can you guess what they said? I think you can…

“Sorry sir but you’ll have to call the dealers.”

I would for the next 3 months be wishing that at this point I had simply said “I am not satisfied and I’m sending it back.” But alas I do not have the gift of seeing into the future. So I attempted to follow the correct channels.

I know – I should have known better.

So I called the Reebok Technical help line. The following is rough condensed version of events from then on until yesterday.

December:

• Call Reebok Tech Support (hold for 15 minutes waiting for answer being told how important my call is)
• Reebok have no record of my purchase
• Call shop again and arrange for record to be sent to Reebok
• Wait for call back from Reebok… Never happened
• Call Reebok Tech Support (hold for 15 minutes waiting for answer…)
• Get an appointment with an engineer

January

• Engineer arrives – smashing chap – knows his stuff – nice guy – diagnosis: bike needs new parts
• “But I’ve only had it 3 days before it started doing this”
• Weeks pass
• Nothing happens
• Call Reebok Tech Support (hold for 15 minutes…)
• I am told that parts are very difficult to get but should be with me soon.

February

• Call Reebok Tech Support (hold for 15 minutes waiting for answer…)
• Parts are on their way
• Send email with above video for the head support guy – he never mails me back
• Parts arrive – in fact one part arrives – a flywheel – nothing else
• Call Reebok Tech Support (hold for 15 minutes…)
• Arrange appointment with engineer
• Same chap arrives – finds it odd that not all the parts he ordered have been sent and spends 2 hours opening up the bike
• Engineer discovers that the flywheel is the wrong size – Reebok don’t use part numbers
• Call Reebok Tech Support (hold for 15 minutes…)
• I am told that I will be sent a new bike but that they are out of stock so I’ll have to wait and I can’t get an upgrade because my bike is the top of the range (actually I now find out that’s not but maybe it was at the time – I feel like a penny farthing was top of the range at the time, it was that long ago!)

March

• Get a call from a delivery company – We are coming to pick up your bike – not deliver a new one – Sorry I say, No take without give
• Get a call from delivery company office – The delivery vehicle has broken down, can we collect anyway – Erm Nope
• Re-arrange delivery / collection date
• Get a call from a delivery company – We are coming to pick up your bike…
• Get a call from delivery company office – The delivery guys have put the wrong item on the wagon, can we collect anyway – Haha Nope
• Re-arrange delivery / collection date
• New bike arrives old one taken away – It took a few days short of  3 months!
• Open and set up new bike (an hour job)
• We discover (hardly surprisingly) that the bike is not new it is reconditioned and some of the fittings don’t snap together properly because they are broken off.
• Eventually start pedalling.
• Bike makes a soft grinding noise…

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

And there my friends the story ends for now. Will it get worse again? Will it go away? Will I be forced to go back to step 1 of the above list?

The thing that makes this extra sad is that when it works, the bike is great.

I have lost almost 10 kilos since December. I have not for many years, felt better.

How much of that loss is due to the stress of dealing with the above (believe it or not – very condensed) list?

But what do you do when you get caught in a loop by this kind of ridiculous customer service?

What would you have done? I would really love to know.

And if you say

“I would certainly not buy a Reebok bike”

I think I would understand.

Update MAY 2010:

I have just finished with my THIRD exchange bike. this one finally gave up on me earlier this week. It was making a very similar noise to the first two, as this video, recorded earlier in May, shows here:

YouTube - Reebok Performance Series B5.7e - May 2010 (3rd Bike) - Part 3

And then, shortly after that video was taken, something went bang and the crank now seems to just spin without any breaking action whatsoever. As you can imagine – I had finally had enough!

I called Reebok yet again and after being on hold for exactly 46 minutes I got through and requested my money back.

I then had to call Gym World which is where it was originally purchased. Spoke to a lady named Claire who was very nice, very helpful, sympathetic and on the ball… Thank goodness!

To cut a long story short – Gym World are sending me a new bike – NOT a Reebok one. If only I had done that after the first mishap in December / January.

At least hopefully if anyone else is in the market for an exercise bike and they search the net like I did – my post may show up as a warning!

Cheers and Thanks for reading.

Apart from studying for PPL exams and the usual weekend gigs, celebrating a birthday and finally seeing almost 10 Kilos lost on the scales, I have been on a bit of a mission this month to sort out some of my little corners of the world wide web.

Earlier, we (Riffs & Rays) launched our Remix Contest, which has already picked up a lot of interest. It will be very interesting to see, at the end of the month, how many remixes of our new track have come in and indeed how many of them are actually usable.

R&R Remix Competition

There have been some great submissions so far, which apart from the obvious dance orientated stuff there has also been a ballad and an R&B version. (Well to be honest, I did both of those myself but hey…) Plus my son Andy has done his first official remix too. Nice One!

I have also just moved my blog over to my own domain at last. If you’re reading this – I guess you found it.

That’s been quite fun, if a little bit painful at times, especially looking over certain parts of last year and having to relocate pictures and so on.

Anyway, it’s all done now and seems to be working fine. Although it will probably change a few times over the next few weeks.

New PAP Web

Next on the list is to take the PPL Human Performance and Limitations Exam which should be next week some time. I’m almost ready I think. Have been getting between 90 – 100% in the mock exams so that’ll do for me. Especially when only 75% is required to pass . Many people say that any more than 75% is wasted effort. Hmmm not sure about that.

Let me know what you think.

Thanks for reading.

It’s been a while…

Lots of music and flying related things going on.

Most notable news would be that I have now passed three more of the PPL exams.

After passing Air Law late in 2008, I realised (rather late) that I have only a remaining six months to pass all six other exams. Luckily the exams themselves don’t cost as much as flying lessons, so I have managed to get my head down and after working out a rough schedule, things are looking good.

With the the help of some night classes at Sherburn and also a couple of notable iPhone applications I began work on the RT Comms exam in January this year.

There is an 18 month “window” to pass all seven written UK PPL exams. The window opens on passing the first exam. If you do not pass the final exam before the 18 month period then you must re-sit the first exam. The window then moves to 18 months from the exam you originally passed second – and so on.

Radio stack

After that came Navigation, which was great fun but dealing with air charts for the first time was a bit of a challenge.

Nav chart

End result was a first time pass though and I think this is one of my favourite areas of the syllabus so far. (Which is just as well seeing as you have to know how to do it in order to fly anywhere further than your local air field. :-)

I passed Meteorology last week too. Also managed to actually get up and fly for an hour…. Lovely!

Some clouds outside yesterday

So that just leaves Human Performance and Limitations, Flight Performance and Planning, Aircraft General and Principles of Flight. That plus the actual qualifying cross country flight and then the all important skills test.

All being well I am hoping to be done and licensed by summer this year.

There are many stories to tell already but I’m saving them for a mega article when the license is gained.

Imagine reading your favourite novel or watching your favourite movie and then being told that you had to answer questions on it… That’s what this feels like. The subjects are fascinating and enthralling but passing exams kind of takes the fun out of it.

Still at least I have a 100% pass record so far…

Let’s hope it remains that way.

Clear skies to y’all.

It’s a tough few months. (I know, I know – everyone says that)… But it is honest!

Anyway without dwelling on the moaning…

I just found out that there is time limit applied to the PPL (Flying Training) written exams.

We have a period of 18 months from the date of passing your first exam (Air Law) – to complete all 7 written exams.

PPL books

The 7 exams are as follows:

• Air Law & Operational Procedures
• Meteorology
• Navigation
• Aircraft General & Principles of Flight
• Communications
• Human Performance and Limitations
• Flight Performance & Planning

If you don’t finish the 7th exam within the 18 month period, the exams previous to that 18 months are not valid and must be re-sat. So it’s like an 18 month window that stretches up to the last exam you pass.

This validity only applies to the written exams. You can pass the exams at any time and then do the flying later but obviously that wouldn’t really make sense practically.

After completing the 7th exam you have 24 months to take the skills test and apply for the license.

So…

I need to start studying fast! I really don’t want to let all that hard work be wasted.

Top 10 list of Google Wave related things I find myself answering for people (and wishing they would listen to):

Wave Logo

1. Update your profile as soon as you can. Add a picture. So you don’t look like a random web item with no personality.
2. Use the double click method to get an indented reply within a wave (but be careful not to reply in the wrong place). This gives a nice neat collapsible reply instead of a brand new wavelet.
3. UNDO (Ctrl+Z) doesn’t always work. Watch out! (Copy & Paste is also sporadic).
4. Save your searches. For example onlyto:me is:unread = very handy.
5. When in a public wave – think before you hit a button – You could potentially destroy the wave. You could also leave a lot of random junk in someone’s well maintained Wave. If you do – Clean it up before you leave.
6. Please don’t add bots or gadgets to public waves that you didn’t start yourself. Again – You could potentially destroy the wave.
7. Share you knowledge and don’t be a proud-ass if someone shares yours and forgets to credit you – it is all public knowledge after all.
8. Don’t moan and whine about broken features. Remember we are testing new technology here. It isn’t going to work properly for a while yet. But you know Google – It will work eventually and when it does – it will rock!
9. If you’re unsure about something, use the help link: http://www.google.com/support/wave You may be surprised how much info you can get from there. Including confirmation that a feature you can’t get working doesn’t work for anyone yet.
10. Remember you are dealing with real people – or in my case – a real dolphin. So be cool to each other. :-)

So long and thanks for all the fish.

Earlier this week I managed to procure an invite to try out the new Google Wave communication system. Something I’ve been waiting to get my hands on since first seeing the developer preview video on YouTube a few months ago.

I must admit I am impressed. I took the bull by the horns and started a few “Waves” including one that has hints and tips for beginners (like me). It now has over a hundred subscribers. Nice.

Google Wave

What is Google Wave? Email on steroids? Well rather than reading my explanations, take a look at the preview video here:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_UyVmITiYQ

Be warned though – it’s an hour and twenty minutes long. It’s only for the real geeks among you.

I have started a Blog about my Google Wave experiences here: http://gwfts.blogspot.com/

While we’re on the subject of geeky stuff. I am now running the official release of Windows 7 (Ultimate 64 bit) on my main PC and the studio PC. Very impressive. Fast and slick.

I never really had a problem with Vista though but even so there is a notable difference in performance in all areas so far.

There’s not really much point in going into the pros and cons of Windows 7 here. There is so much information on the Internet, it would be kind of pointless to add mine. So here’s a picture of the box. :-)

Windows 7 Ultimate

The install itself went really well. It’s just time consuming getting the studio machine back to a working state. Lots of applications and plugins to install. Most have to be done from scratch which is not a bad thing but it is time consuming.

Finally – I managed to squeeze in one hour of flying training at Sherburn on Friday morning. What a great feeling to get back in the air. I did OK. It’s been around four months since I was last flying. So I had my doubts as to how well I might manage.

PA28 GBNOM

The weather was OK, a little cloudy but as we were only doing circuits, that was not a great problem. There was also a bit of crosswind which added to the challenge.

As far as I could tell, my flying was good, quite accurate with just a few of the usual distractions. I must have been OK because Jonathan stepped out after we landed on the fifth circuit and sent me off on my own for one more.

It felt great to be back solo in the skies, as I’m sure anyone can imagine. The hour was over way to quickly and I hope I can get back and continue soon.

That’s all for now.

Thanks for reading.

Sawas dee khab!

Riffs & Rays short tour of Thailand, September 2009. Any attempt to fit the whole trip into a blog like this would be futile. Also many of the really good parts are unpublishable or forgotten and the really really good parts are probably both.

I have now calculated with the aid of 2 full passports plus my 3rd existing passport that this was my 28th trip to the land of smiles. Even so there is always something new to discover and re-discover. One day I may even manage to get back to the Rose Garden and the Floating Market.

So here’s a brief summary (with pictures taken from iPhone when possible) of some of the highlights.

I have deliberately ignored any working-days. Who wants to hear about work?

We got bumped up to business class on the Dubai – Bangkok leg. Bonus! Except we figured the reason for this was because a bag was left in Dubai. Luckily it was only our friend Bill’s keyboard which was retrieved later the same day.

Business Class

Checked into hotel and immediately donned the sunglasses. 14:00. – travelling for 24 hours – The anticipation was too much. Had to go to bed…

Shades on at night

Met up with TT Scott and Gavin Hunter. What an awesome surprise. Here’s TT on the left, myself in the centre and Dave Dennison from Riffs & Rays on the right.

Where was this picture taken and why Dave and I are making strange hand signals… Nobody knows.

TT, PP & DD

Ahhh the obligatory tuk tuk race from Nana to Cowboy. Now any seasoned veterans will yawn at the prospect of racing your friend’s tuk tuk – been there, bought the silk T-shirt etc.

I did manage to add a new angle to this, however for the first time ever:

Terry and Gavin’s tuk tuk was far superior to ours and Dave & I knew we were fighting a losing battle that no amount of spoken or shouted encouragement to our driver would overcome.
Dave had already given me the 100B required to pay our driver at the end of the journey and I had it held in my hand ready.
Then a sudden idea… I asked our driver to pull up along side Terry & Gavin’s driver and stealthily handed THEIR DRIVER the money and asked him to slow down…
It worked…
For a while…
Until he pulled back next to us and asked for more…
I gave another 100B… This time a quick-eyed TT spotted me and gave him another 500B!

Needless to say we were pipped at the post. Terry and Gavin’s driver was about 800B better off too.

Haven’t laughed so much for a long, long time.

(Not actual picture unfortunately)

Tuk tuks

Many an afternoon spent outside the Landmark on Sukhumvit in Bangkok, great food and no hassle, watching the world go by. The blue mark on my hand is not a bruise, it’s a stamp from the club we played the night before.

Phil at the Landmark

Other Bangkok highlights included:

• Dave taking me for a guided tour of somewhere neither he or I have ever been before.
• Best ribs in the world at Tony Romas.
• Meeting up with Ambassador Nick Adams (old friend from Dubai). The man who first drew me a map of where to go and not to go in 1994.
• Surreptitiously setting up Papasan-Bill at Jungle Jim’s.

After a few more nights we moved on to Pattaya.

Met up with Graham Heath (also old friend from Dubai) and the inimitable Marco Van de Burn, who is a partner at Insomnia; The premier night club in Pattaya.

Here’s Dave, Marco and Graham (with brolly) outside the brand new club.

New Insomnia

Here’s a shot from the VIP area. the new club is amazing!

Insomnia from VIP area

Visited Bill and Madame Janmanee at their condo on Jomtien beach. Lovely place to stay. As you can see, our Bill is happy as can be.

Papasan Bill

Back to Insomnia again. This time the views are from the work area (i.e. the DJ/Lighting booth) which is raised above the crowd.

Marco doing his stuff.

Marco Van de Burn

Lights, Action, Sound!

Insomnia from DJ booth

A small portion of the crowd.

Insomnia from DJ booth

Other Pattaya highlights included:

• Marco’s Pad – TARDIS springs to mind.
• The “gun” show at Soy Diamond.
• The full English Breakfast at Secrets.
• Calamaris at Secrets.
• EVERYTHING at Secrets.
• THREE Shwarmas (2 chicken – 1 lamb).
• Subway!
• Listening to some guys getting their Thai words all wrong and seeing the staff girls laugh – but not correct them.
• Being rather disappointed with Angelwitch (at last). Feels like the devil has given me my soul back. Hahaha.

Here’s Marco on our last day, on a Bhat bus.

Marco Van de Burn

And finally me on the bus with my “manbag.” Totally useful accessory to be honest. Try carrying – Ciggies, Lighter, Wallet, Phone, Reading glasses and loose change whilst wearing a pair of swimming shorts and T-Shirt with no pockets. :-)

Phil on a Bhat bus

Low points:

• The flights. Too long and even with business class – long haul air travel sucks these days. Especially coming home.
• Upset stomach (obviously).
• Construction work outside my hotel room window at 7:00 A.m. almost every morning.
• People expecting instant replies to emails and tech support.
• Typhoons at Carol’s family home in Philippines.
• Mosquito bites (although managed to avoid any really bad ones this time, totalled only about 7 or 8 for the entire trip).
• The uncooked Bratwurst!
• The fact that mobile phones still work in all the bars. Shame.
• Not living here.

I often wish I was more vigilant with the camera. The thing is, I have accumulated thousands of pictures over the years (before the digital age) and I really do prefer to take the moments in with my eyes rather than worrying about framing up a picture.

Of course it then becomes a shame when blogging like this because some pictures can capture many, many words. And words that I am not eloquent enough to write in the first place.

I promise to be more photo-active in future.

Thanks for reading.

Chok dee khab!

Just a short post here regarding the past weekend of music:

We played at Manchester Pride on the main stage Saturday afternoon to approximately 10,000 people (apparently).

I have to admit it was somewhat a strange and of course great feeling.

Why?

Well, I’ve worked on stage now since I was 13 years old. But not since I was about 20 years old have I been performing my own material.

In the middle east, I had some great bands with some real top class musicians and great friends – but we were only performing other people’s songs. Even the shows that I do here in England at the weekends are basically nothing but cover-cabaret and a means of paying the bills. (Although I do confess to still loving playing the old Status Quo live, imagining I still have my long hair etc.) Hehe.

Anyway, an odd concept – Live PA of our own material with a couple of covers thrown in. Basically it was like being back in the old band days but with our R&R DJ behind us instead of a drummer. This was helped of course by live sax, percussion and the show that we had put together quite carefully.

You're Looking Good Out There!

I even opened up the show asking “Are you ready to rock?!” Hehe…. And received a massive “YEEEEEEEEAAAAA” in reply… Nice.

YouTube - Riffs & Rays - 2009 - Intro - Funky Music

Not an ounce of nerves which was a bit of disappointment. It was the one thing missing for me from the old days. That feeling – before walking on stage – of being so afraid that everything is going to go wrong and then – 20 seconds into the show – it really doesn’t matter and nothing can go wrong anyway! :-)

Are You ready To Rock?!

Here’s a couple of pictures from the event. You can see me in the checked shirt at the front and then one of our PAs – Holly Johnson – who did a great job – looking out into a small portion of the crowd.

Holly J - Miss You

I think the highlight of the event really has to be when Dave & I pointed out to each other that there were hundreds of people singing the words to our songs. I know this is probably a Drop In The Ocean to already established artistes but hey – what a great feeling – people I have never met, knowing the lyrics. And some even knowing exactly where all the breaks and starts were coming… Wicked!

It has really given me ideas and hope for future events. We are all looking forward to doing it again and as any of you entertainers out there should know – that is such a bonus – actually looking forward to performing instead of moaning any aspects of the gig.

Thanks for reading.

Long time no blog…

I promised for my own safety (and the reader’s) that I would not write anything over the past few months.

Mum’s illness (cancer) got much worse in May and after some time in St. Gemma’s, she finally passed away on July 1st, 2009.

Here’s a picture of us from early June. We had many good talks and reflections and mum was actually very happy at St. Gemma’s. The people there do an amazing job.

Mum & Son

Despite that, they were tough times indeed, both before and after. In fact there are many things that go through one’s mind when this kind of occasion arises:

What should I do to make sure everyone else is OK?
Is it right that I am crying like a baby even though I am grown man?
Where is [insert name here] when I need them?
Do I really need them anyway? Am I better keeping this all to myself?

And so on.

Truth of the matter is that, as far as I have learned, you can’t grieve properly unless you are alone. When there are people around – you just feel awkward and concerned that they too may feel awkward and embarrassed. At least that was my take on it.

The sub-strata of this section of the post could easily go on for another 5,000 words. So I’ll keep it short:

Losing a parent is tough. Apart form the obvious side of it, there is lots to do, tasks, organising, communicating. Be prepared to feel shards of emotion that you have never come across in your life before ever. And be prepared to face your own mortality.

The rest of this I will save for my book. Haha.

It’s not quite over yet. We will be taking mum’s ashes to Ipswich (where she spent a good part of her life) next week.

So, work goes on. Things progress. All good in the end. And with the help of family and friends – starting to feel a sense of peace and a need to get on with being happy.

Funny though, how the last people you would expect can be the most supportive and some you would expect to be full of concern – aren’t.

Bottom line – Everyone has there own life to live and everyone’s problems seem more important to them than yours. Live with it and get on with it! :-)

Flying?

I haven’t been flying since just after mum went to hospice but am planning to get back and complete that PPL very, very soon. I did manage to make a very rough video which was done so that mum could see what it’s like down at Sherburn. Here it is on YouTube:

YouTube - Flying at Sherburn - May 2009

We have missed some great flying days over the last 2 months. But I’m sure there will be many more to come and there is certainly no rush to get that license.

Finally I drew the line yesterday and went for the hair cut and so on. I post these pictures in the hope of raising a few chuckles

Plastic Surgery

The dreaded bleach stays on for 50 minutes. End result… A nice even shade of silver.

Going grey

If you think this looks bad, you should have seen it before. Haha.

That’s all for now.

Thanks for reading. I promise my next post will be more fun.

:-)