Fly Me To The Moon

About a month ago, I was invited on a private plane ride by one of the engineers I worked with at Google (he had heard through the grapevine that I was itching to fly). I accepted heartily, of course, and this lead to my first-ever private plane ride.

It was just Bogdan and I in his 4-seater, single-engine, front-propeller Columbia plane. We flew out of Palo Alto airport in the early evening and not only did I get to see the Bay Area (minus San Francisco due to weather rules involving the SF airport) bathed in summer sun, but also painted in sunset stripes, and eventually, cloaked in moonlight. What a thrill!

As we were taxying, Bogdan was telling me flying stories. He wisely decided to filter which stories he told, as he watched my facial reactions to his story of a bird flying into the propeller, and causing the plane to swerve off course before the bird itself was disintegrated by the blades. Perhaps it wasn't the noise-reduction headphones that cause nausea, afterall.

The flight was incredibly smooth, excluding one extreme jolt which caused both of our headsets to fly off and my head to hit the roof. We were able to fly over dear San Carlos and see the red roofs of Stanford University. We crossed the Santa Cruz mountains, hovered over Santa Cruz and Monterey, and headed south to Paso Robles. Finally, we flew up north again through the dry Central Valley, and returned to the glittering post-sunset lights of the expansive South Bay Area.

Stay tuned for more flying adventures (hopefully).



For bigger pictures, check out this album online here.

Vital Vowels

This hilarious article is an oldy-but-goody written for and published in The ONION, a satirical online periodical.

Clinton Deploys Vowels to Bosnia

Cities of Sjlbvdnzv, Grzny to Be First Recipients

Before an emergency joint session of Congress yesterday, President Clinton announced US plans to deploy over 75,000 vowels to the war-torn region of Bosnia. The deployment, the largest of its kind in American history, will provide the region with the critically needed letters A,E,I,O and U, and is hoped to render countless Bosnian names more pronounceable.

"For six years, we have stood by while names like Ygrjvslhv and Tzlynhr and Glrm have been horribly butchered by millions around the world," Clinton said. "Today, the United States must finally stand up and say 'Enough.' It is time the people of Bosnia finally had some vowels in their incomprehensible words. The US is proud to lead the crusade in this noble
endeavour."

The deployment, dubbed Operation Vowel Storm by the State Department, is set for early next week, with the Adriatic port cities of Sjlbvdnzv and Grzny slated to be the first recipients. Two C-130 transport planes, each carrying over 500 24-count boxes of "E's," will fly from Andrews Air Force Base across the Atlantic and airdrop the letters over the cities.

Citizens of Grzny and Sjlbvdnzv eagerly await the arrival of the vowels. "My God, I do not think we can last another day," Trszg Grzdnjkln, 44, said. "I have six children and none of them has a name that is understandable to me or to anyone else. Mr. Clinton, please send my poor, wretched family just one 'E.' Please."

Said Sjlbvdnzv resident Grg Hmphrs, 67: "With just a few key letters, I could be George Humphries. This is my dream."

The airdrop represents the largest deployment of any letter to a foreign country since 1984. During the summer of that year, the US shipped 92,000 consonants to Ethiopia, providing cities like Ouaouoaua, Eaoiiuae, and Aao with vital, life-giving supplies of L's, S's and T's.