Rainbows from the air!

[Frank N. O.]

Email sent.

Ah yeah that was hard to understand, here in DK it's been on or below freezing outside for a long time until recently. We do have heat here, but it's a small electrical thingy and with no insulation worth mentioning in this rented row-house, especially not in the floor, then we are a bit cold and nevertheless spending more money on heating than ever.

Frank

[Gulfstream Driver]

So, you had winter for a month?  I realize Denmark is pretty temperate, but you don't have an extra sweater?     We had 5 months of winter this year.  Between late October and mid-March, the temp didn't get above 35, which is pretty warm for this region.  Last year, the temp hung around 0 F, and a few years ago, we had a wind chill of -70 F. 

[Frank N. O.]

Actually we have winter for the full season but the thing is is that this house we've lived in for about a year now was made very cheaply and we know that from one of the people that built it. They had orders to make it cheap and simple, even though common sense would say that will cost them later. It's owned by an organisation you can join as a member and when you got seniority you can get assigned to rent a home when one becomes available. It's a 2 story row-house, there's no addic so the ceiling of the top floor goes up in a V-shape just inside the roof that doesn't seem to have any insulation and it's drafy aand freezing and as said the electric heating is all but worthless even on full power 24-7, well maybe except for the power-company There are big gaps all over so a lot of draft and the floors are ice-cold. Furthermore we live on a small island in a fjord on Zealand the large eastern island and the fjord was frozen over completely for a long time less than a month ago and we had week long period of snow with temperatures going over and under freezing daily causing thick ice under the snow on everything, house, roads, cars etc.

My first flight took us over the northern part of the island Fyn (the round island in the middle south of Denmark where Odense lies on) at the Odense Channel (that leads to Odense Harbour) and it was going close to sunset so it was very nice and showed me places from a new angle and what a beautiful angle it was Also nice to do a fly-by to great our friend in the tower (not buzzing though ) and I'll never forget suddently looking down on the floor without moving my head, he pulled up sharly after the tower It wasn't wildly sharp mind you, not dangerous to my knowledge, he was a calm and friendly pilot, and president of the flying club I think, he lives just a few hundred meters from the airport. My mom wanted to wait in the car while me and Michael (my much older brother who was in the backseat, and a few weeks had a trip in a Pacer in windy conditions with the ATC at the tower), she said we nearly buzzed her in the car, flying right over her. I still thinkn it's funny the registration of the first plane I flew in, and flew a little, was BIL which is the danish word for car, and me being originally a car and driving enthusiast as my dad, although I still seem to remember my dad saying he wanted to fly but due to a lazy eye he couldn't join the Royal Danish Air Force when he served in 58 (danish men have to serve if they are fit, can't remember what it's called in english). I can't get it veryfied but my dad loved driving due to the freedom so it isn't far fetched he originally wanted to fly, I also seem to remember hearing he had a uncle that was a military ATC but I haven't been able to get that confirmed from the remaining family members (my dad wasn't the only member of his family to die prematurely and all but one was from cancer )

Frank

[Gulfstream Driver]

I'm sorry about your dad.  My grandfather died last summer from cancer. 

Living in the Northern Midwest, we have a lot of tricks to reduce wasted heat.  If you have gaps in your door frames, put a rolled up towel or small blanket on the floor to block airflow.  Weather stripping around your doors will help, as well.  You can put shrink wrap on your windows, as well.  That helps a lot.  3M makes an excellent product, but there are generic ones that are a little cheaper.  You just tape it up around your windows and take a hair dryer to it. 

The vaulted ceilings don't help you at all.  It'd be nice if you could put a false ceiling in with some insulation, but that probably impracticle.    Extra blankets and sweaters can help keep your heating costs down, as well.

[Frank N. O.]

Jim: Thank you very much for the offer, very kind of you and appreciated. I hope to at least be able to meet you, and Mike and maybe some of the others from here, and my best friend Chey who lives in Stockton in the hopefully not too distant future. Could be cool with a fly-in lol. Following my dad's intimely death it became appearent that he left a big void in the life of both me and my mom and since I was still focusing fully on my education, with full support from my parents, then my life development got halted for a long time as I tried to find my direction in life and my identity. I got my identity now, I'm simply me! Now I'm working on the final step, finding a place in life and that of course requires an income and since I'm not one to just lie down, unless I'm tired, I'm aiming at computergame creation since I enjoy various types of computergames/sims and creating new content and I know several 3D artists and even a professional game-programmer so I got some good connections. I've inhearited many good things from my dad that will help me in life, not possessions of which there were few, but natural skills like mind with automatic analytic sikills and great awareness. That and a sense for both the big picture and details will all help in creating games. I got a long way to go yet, but I'm well-prepared and I'm very realistic in terms of what to expect and what needs to be done so I'm trying my best.

My condolences with your grandfather, I hope at least he went peacefully.

Thanks for the tips on improving the house, I myself have thought a lot on how a good house can be designed to be both durable and with low running costs, and being nature friendly. In DK they designed a wood-house built with paper insulation, a different structere around the windows and with solar panels on the roof that is so insulated and energy efficient it doesn't need a heater and the electricity can be generated to cover most if not all the needs of the house via the latest type of solar panels, and DK is pretty cold so not needing a normal heating system is fantastic, and there are no new materials needed, it's just a different more efficient way to use exisitng technology, now that's cool in a hot way I think.

Now, does anyone else have some good stories? I feel like I've hijacked the thread and while my story does seem to be getting a happy end then I'd like to hear from the rest of you of your good experience with life, living and flying

Frank

[fireflyr]

Stockton is close--If you get there, call and I'll fly over and give you guys a tour of the coast.

[Plthijnx]

Frank - your story humbled me. i'm going through a very, very tough time in my life, heck, just look at my avatar. i WILL tell the story once everything is finished. long and short is that i've been arrested and accused of something that i'm not guilty of. point of the matter is to be resiliant (sp?) your obviously a very smart person and can do whatever it is that you want to do. as far as the thread hijack, well, i guess i contributed.......

[Frank N. O.]

Jim: Sounds cool, thanks for the offer 

Hijnx: Sorry to hear you're in trouble, especially undeserving. I hope you can get your name cleared in the end and I respect the need to have the details held back, I just hope it will be Innocent and not released due to lack of evidence and I hope the real people behind it are caught.

Frank

[fireflyr]

plthijnx--don't worry about the small stuff---I mean, my probation says I  can't be in a turkish bath with minors present but that's not a hardship in California---hehe---just kidding!

Remember, friend, don't sweat the petty stuff and don't pet the sweaty stuff.   Pilots rule!