Funny web site...

I've been quite boring of late, with nothing worthy of note happening... bummer!

However, I did find the following website:

http://www.gapan.org/news/rfc.htm

Very funny if you're into flying, not so funny if you have a fear of flying :-)

You would think I could get bored...

I'm working way to hard right now!

You would think that since I have currently out of work (and looking hard!) that I'd have plenty of time on my hands. No such luck!

In that "spare" time I have now acquired, I'm keeping quite busy enough thank you very much. Just in the past few days I've been to meetings about Club and regional flying competitions (still trying to get the Club comps finished off.... bad weather), and have spent more time than I thought I'd have to continuing to work on the national comps and Wings International Trophy for February next year.

Wow... I'm hoping to get out of town for a few days next week if I don't get any job interviews in the meantime...

The deed is done

Went and voted this morning. It's a great feeling to know that at least once every three years we all have the opportunity to go out and influence the nation in one way or another.

The "EasyVote" card (with your name, address, electrorate printed on it) certainly did make it easier... just handed over the card and a few seconds later I have the voting paper. No more having to spell my name 10 times until they pick the right one. Yippee!

Anyway, tonight we get the results (hopefully), so keep watching this space...

Situation Normal. No Change.

*Phew*. There will be no change to the date of the club competitions (told ya I'd keep you posted).

Now all I have to worry about is who I will vote for on Saturday...

We'll see...

Bill Gates - Making Ctrl-Alt-Del Famous!

Check out this link. It requires Quicktime installed. Very good if you have geeky inclinations!

http://www.milkandcookies.com/links/28888/

The picture's not original... but very funny :-)

Doh!

So much for that!

So much for our competition practice day! I was going to include a picture here, but read on, and you'll see why not...

Headed out to the airfield bright (?) and early. As expected there was fog. Unfortunately, it didn't really start to lift until around 10am. That's OK, we had everything organised, so off we went. Keen and eager!

Before entering an active area on the field we tested our aviation band transceiver. I mean, hey, what could possibly be wrong with it? It had been charged over night, and it was receiving other transmisisons really well. Only problem is that it will not transmit much at all. Worked fine when we were within 20 meters of the receiver, but that's next to useless!

Phone call to Unicom to let them know we were not going out after all - somewhat annoying for all of us I'm sure, but better safe than sorry... Still, a number of people went out to practice without the grid which was good.

This all reminds me of that very true saying:

"If you've got time to spare, go by air!"

Next stop, the actual comps day on 1 October. Simple, except for one thing (there's always one thing!). I've now received a request for this to be delayed a week. We'll see - keep you posted.

Been really busy...

It's been really busy the last few weeks!

Auckland Aero Club is having a competition practice day this weekend (weather permitting). Should be interesting. We'll have a landing grid set up, where the objective is to land an aircraft smack in the middle of the thing. Sounds easy. Yeah right.

I'll be flying a Grumman American AA1-C trainer aircraft (as above) - it's got a fairly quick approach speed for such a small aircraft (70-75kts), but when you pull the power off it tends to try and fall out of the sky (which can a good thing if you're trying to land on a spot!).

Actual competition day is early October at Whitianga aerodrome which should help to sort out the men from the mice - and find us a team for the regional comps in November.

Competition rules are as per the RNZAC rules (www.rnzac.org.nz).

Customer Service. What? You Gotta Be Kidding!

Hmmm, OK, so I'm hardly likely to lecture on customer service, but hey, I've had some really good examples of really bad stuff recently.

Ever dealt with an organisation that treats you as if your only mission in life is to make their life horrible?

You know the types. The don't acknowledge correspondance. They never get back to you. Worse still, they promise to keep you up to date, but you never hear from them again.

Weird.

It's not as if you really want to be a pain. I mean, hey, you might even be able to help them make a bit of cash! But no, they really don't care.

Come on guys - keeping customers happy is really simple!

1. Under promise, over deliver.
It's better to say it will be ready in a weeks time, and deliver tomorrow than the other way around... Simple, eh?

2. Keep in touch!
Even a weekly/monthly form email is better than leaving them wondering if you've died or fallen into a rather large hole!

Oh yeah - a pet hate - don't set an expectation you'll get back to someone then avoid them like they have some horrible, highly contagious desease!

3. Don't lie - even to save your own backside
You'd be surpised how many times your customers work out that you're telling lies - usually before you manage to shut your mouth... OK, so you may have to withhold information from time to time, accentuate the positive and all that stuff, but black is never white and blue is not red... get the picture?

4. Treat them like they are the best, even if they're not.


Did I ever mention that I ramble on like a maniac? Oh well, send me a comment - it might encourage me to keep on rambling!