version="1.0"?>
<rss <?xml version='2.0'><channel><language>en-us</language><description>Ben Okopnik&apos;s blog.</description><generator>RSSscraper</generator><title>The Bay of Tranquility</title><link>http://okopnik.freeshell.org/blog/blog.cgi</link><item><comments>http://okopnik.freeshell.org/blog/comment.cgi?name=40-Monday.February.09.2004</comments><description>...that&apos;s what I feel like these days. Too much stuff to do! - and that&apos;s
not really a complaint but a simple statement of fact. I&apos;m now flying as
often as I can (at ~$100/hour, it&apos;s not something I can indulge in daily.
Well, I suppose I could... the only thing stopping me is the sense that it
&lt;i&gt;is&lt;/i&gt; self-indulgence :), I&apos;ve been doing a lot of volunteering at the
Spanish Quarter (apprentice blacksmith), I&apos;m still doing yoga (although
I&apos;ve slipped a bit on the once-every-two-days schedule - rats!), still
working as the Technical Editor at the Linux Gazette (which flares up into
odd time-consuming duties once in a while), and dealing with boat stuff
(I&apos;ve agreed to participate in the Menendez Birthday festival, where we
will come into harbor under sail to reenact the original settlers&apos;
landing.) I &lt;b&gt;like&lt;/b&gt; being busy, but at times it gets to be a bit
overwhelming - a few days ago, I was ashore doing laundry/getting my outfit
repaired/taking a sword ashore to show a friend basic fencing
technique/getting dressed for shanty night/taking the garbage ashore, and
found myself ready to jump in the shower... without a towel or soap, and no
time to go back to the boat and get them.&lt;p&gt;
Rule #3,539: When you drop the top plate off the stack you&apos;re carrying,
&lt;b&gt;do not&lt;/b&gt; try to catch it; it&apos;ll cost you the rest of the stack. I
showered using a palmful of hand soap carried from the sinks and a looong
strip of brown paper towel. &lt;img src=&quot;../img/smile.png&quot;&gt;
</description><title>A one-legged man in an ass-kicking contest...</title><comments_link>http://okopnik.freeshell.org/blog/comment.cgi?name=40-Monday.February.09.2004</comments_link></item><item><comments>http://okopnik.freeshell.org/blog/comment.cgi?name=38-Thursday.January.01.2004</comments><description>Yep, I&apos;ve been quite remiss in keeping up with this thing - but life has
been... busy and odd and rather twisted in a distracting fashion. So, here
we are. Lots of business and yoga and flying; yesterday, I actually went up
in the left seat (as the pilot, that is - although the instructor was in
the right seat ready to take over in case of problems) of a &lt;a
href=&quot;http://parisair.com/pa28-161.html&quot;&gt;Piper Warrior&lt;/a&gt;. What a thrill!
It&apos;s a whole &lt;b&gt;new&lt;/b&gt; ocean for me to explore...
</description><title>Long time no visit...</title><comments_link>http://okopnik.freeshell.org/blog/comment.cgi?name=38-Thursday.January.01.2004</comments_link></item><item><comments>http://okopnik.freeshell.org/blog/comment.cgi?name=37-Saturday.December.13.2003</comments><description>I&apos;m in Baltimore, hanging out with my darling Rivka - who, incidentally, is
getting to be quite the bright star in the blogging constellation. Her &lt;a
href=&quot;http://respectfulofotters.blogspot.com&quot;&gt;RespectfulOfOtters&lt;/a&gt; site
is packed with incisive, thoughtful commentary, most of it in the political
and medical realms, and all of it worth reading. You may not agree with all
of it - I certainly don&apos;t - but if it doesn&apos;t make you think, you may want
to check that you still possess the capability. And are still breathing.
(What, too strong? :)
</description><title>Running behind</title><comments_link>http://okopnik.freeshell.org/blog/comment.cgi?name=37-Saturday.December.13.2003</comments_link></item><item><comments>http://okopnik.freeshell.org/blog/comment.cgi?name=36-Sunday.November.23.2003</comments><description>Seems I&apos;ve got a bit of talent as a shanty-man - or so said my
enthusiastic audience. Who knew?&lt;p&gt;
I&apos;ve been really getting into doing sea shanties with The Bilge Rats
lately, and having a grand old time. It&apos;s good fun: in fact, I think I&apos;ll
volunteer a bit of my time to do re-enactment stuff at the smithy in the
Spanish Quarter here and learn some iron work. Anyway - this past Friday, I
did my first solo, since the other Rats didn&apos;t know the words (it was &quot;The
Rounding of Cape Horn&quot;, which I learned from a David Coffey recording) -
and the audience response just knocked me out. While I was singing, the
room filled up - the people who had been sitting in the back crowded in -
and when I was done, I got a standing ovation. Moreover, on Saturday (and
I&apos;m &lt;i&gt;not&lt;/i&gt; claiming that this is due to me, but it is an interesting
coincidence) the &lt;b&gt;&lt;i&gt;Taberna de Gallo&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt; where we do this act had
the biggest crowd &lt;u&gt;ever&lt;/u&gt;, according to Gilly the Bar Wench (a lovely
and very friendly young woman who is the girlfriend of Brad, the lead
singer.) I&apos;ve made several friends, been leered at and hugged by a number
of women... yeah. I think I&apos;ve got a bit of a singing career in my future.
</description><title>My second &quot;15 minutes of fame&quot;</title><comments_link>http://okopnik.freeshell.org/blog/comment.cgi?name=36-Sunday.November.23.2003</comments_link></item><item><comments>http://okopnik.freeshell.org/blog/comment.cgi?name=35-Sunday.November.16.2003</comments><description>Last week, Larry and Chris from &quot;Bananawind&quot; spotted me sitting on a bench
in St. George Street (the touristy part of town, where I don&apos;t normally
spend much time) and dragged me along to the &lt;i&gt;&quot;Taberna de Gallo&quot;&lt;/i&gt; - a
recreation of an old Spanish tavern of the 1600s that actually serves beer
and hard cider. A group of reenactors in full garb called &quot;The Bilge Rats&quot;
was singing sea shanties - something I know a bit of and love to do, so I
joined in. Well, it seems they appreciated it and asked me to come back -
and this week, given that one of their guys was out sick, they wanted me to
provide some backup. Big fun! Now, I&apos;m actually looking at getting some
garb so I can look the part. Arrrr, matey! &lt;img src=&quot;../img/smile.png&quot;&gt;
</description><title>&quot;And it&apos;s all for me grog, me jolly jolly grog...&quot;</title><comments_link>http://okopnik.freeshell.org/blog/comment.cgi?name=35-Sunday.November.16.2003</comments_link></item><item><comments>http://okopnik.freeshell.org/blog/comment.cgi?name=34-Wednesday.November.12.2003</comments><description>&lt;b&gt;&lt;i&gt;&quot;...ready for takeoff.&quot;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;p&gt;
I&apos;ve spent a lot of time in the air over the course of my life, and have
always loved the feeling of it (although specific airlines&apos; accomodations may
truly &lt;a href=&quot;comment.cgi?name=30-Saturday.October.18.2003&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;suck&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
on occasion.) I&apos;ve never felt anything quite like the adrenaline rush of
flying - and yes, for a little while I &lt;b&gt;&lt;i&gt;was&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt; actually the one
with my hand on the joystick - a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.harmonrocket.com&quot;&gt;
Harmon Rocket II&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;p&gt;
&lt;center&gt;
&lt;b&gt;Get ready...&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;../img/Flight-Warning.jpg&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;../img/th_Flight-Warning.jpg&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
</description><title>&quot;Tower, this is Experimental Two-Two-Five-Romeo...&quot;</title><comments_link>http://okopnik.freeshell.org/blog/comment.cgi?name=34-Wednesday.November.12.2003</comments_link></item><item><comments>http://okopnik.freeshell.org/blog/comment.cgi?name=33-Tuesday.November.11.2003</comments><description>A few shots that actually worked out - it&apos;s sorta hard to take pictures
when you&apos;re on a boat that&apos;s pitching 5&apos; at the bow.
&lt;table border=&quot;0&quot; cellpadding=&quot;8&quot;&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;../img/Gale-after_trip.jpg&quot; class=&quot;UsualLink&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;../img/th_Gale-after_trip.jpg&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;small&gt;After a short dinghy ride&lt;/small&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;&lt;a class=&quot;UsualLink&quot;&gt;&lt;img href=&quot;../img/Gale-darkness-1300.jpg&quot; src=&quot;../img/th_Gale-darkness-1300.jpg&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;small&gt;Darkness at 1 p.m.&lt;/small&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;../img/Gale-larsen.jpg&quot; class=&quot;UsualLink&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;../img/th_Gale-larsen.jpg&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;small&gt;Too close for comfort&lt;/small&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;../img/Gale-surf.jpg&quot; class=&quot;UsualLink&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;../img/th_Gale-surf.jpg&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;small&gt;Surf breaking on seawall&lt;/small&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;
</description><title>Pictures from the heart of a gale</title><comments_link>http://okopnik.freeshell.org/blog/comment.cgi?name=33-Tuesday.November.11.2003</comments_link></item><item><comments>http://okopnik.freeshell.org/blog/comment.cgi?name=32-Sunday.November.09.2003</comments><description>There&apos;s a gale blowing through St. Augustine. The wind is howling in the
shrouds, the seas are pounding my bow and breaking into spray. Early this
morning, my main (storm) anchor let go its hold on the treacherous soft-mud
bottom of St. Agustine, and &quot;Ulysses&quot; dragged toward the &quot;Larsen&quot;; I fought
things to a standstill, and laid out two more anchors, then went to help
two other boats that were dragging. Scott, on &quot;Larsen&quot; suspects that we&apos;ve
tangled our main anchors in the process; we laid out his spare anchor, and
some friends of his came along with another 65-pounder. Now that he&apos;s
riding well, we&apos;re just waiting for slack tide so we can see about raising
my main hook and finding out what went wrong - as well as possibly
relocating &quot;Ulysses&quot; further inshore, where the holding is better and I&apos;m
farther away from the bridge (my main concern right now.)
</description><title>When the skies of November turn gloomy</title><comments_link>http://okopnik.freeshell.org/blog/comment.cgi?name=32-Sunday.November.09.2003</comments_link></item><item><comments>http://okopnik.freeshell.org/blog/comment.cgi?name=31-Saturday.November.01.2003</comments><description>It&apos;s been a little while since I&apos;ve written here; a matter of being busy
and, oddly enough, by intent. You see, I was busy fostering a revolution -
and wasn&apos;t going to say anything until the time was ripe... and I&apos;m
generally not interested in doing empty chatter just to fill space. Well,
it&apos;s happened - and now I can talk about it. &lt;p&gt;
The on-line publication I write for, &lt;a
href=&quot;http://linuxgazette.net/&quot;&gt;Linux Gazette&lt;/a&gt;, had been going through a
highly unstable period - SSC, the people who had hosted it for a number of
years had suddenly decided that they &lt;b&gt;own&lt;/b&gt; it. This, contrary to all
fact: the LG is written, produced, assembled, and published by a group of
volunteers including myself. They decided that they didn&apos;t like the way
that the LG was presented - despite the fact that our constantly stated
self-defined mandate all along has been a &lt;b&gt;&lt;i&gt;static&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt; - and thus
replicable - content, with very basic graphics, etc. Quite a lot of our
readers live in other countries - we have a number of translators and
mirrors that carry us.
</description><title>Up The Revolution!</title><comments_link>http://okopnik.freeshell.org/blog/comment.cgi?name=31-Saturday.November.01.2003</comments_link></item><item><comments>http://okopnik.freeshell.org/blog/comment.cgi?name=30-Saturday.October.18.2003</comments><description>I&apos;m going to avoid flying Delta again, if I can. The flight out was
characterized by tiny puddle-jumper planes, where the seats were cramped
(the usual fare in coach these days) but not horrible. On the way back,
even though the plane was larger, it &lt;b&gt;was&lt;/b&gt; horrible - if the seats had
been designed for torturing people, they couldn&apos;t have done any better. In
fact, when I mentioned it to the flight attendant, her response was &quot;oh,
yes; I know. I hope you write to the company about it.&quot; It wasn&apos;t just too
uncomfortable to sleep - I didn&apos;t get a wink, and being able to catch a few
is the usual reason I do red-eyes on the way back east - it was literally
torture to sit in with my knees either jammed against metallic ribs in the
seat in front or splayed out and jammed against the outer edges of the seat
in front &lt;u&gt;and&lt;/u&gt; the tips of my own seat arms. No matter how I tried -
and I kept trying, non-stop, for the two-plus hours - I was in pain. The
only times I got any relief was when I stood up when it became intolerable.
Yep, Delta is going to get a rather strongly-worded letter.
</description><title>Home again, home again</title><comments_link>http://okopnik.freeshell.org/blog/comment.cgi?name=30-Saturday.October.18.2003</comments_link></item&g...