Al The Web Guy Strikes Again
FROM CAP’N MERYL
Link to this week’s column at USAToday.com/travel:
USA Today.com Column
If anyone who’s been with me as a reader for some
time has stopped by www.fromthecockpit.com lately,
you must have noticed there’s a whole new look.
Al The Web Guy has been working ‘round the clock
to redesign this site for several reasons.
As far as I can tell, Al The Web Guy operates on
batteries. No human could function on the three
hours per night sleep he gets. You could say he’s
a little intense when he gets going on a project.
I pass him occasionally on the way to the kitchen,
but that’s about it. He’s like the Energizer
Bunny except his ears are smaller and he’s not as
pink. Cuddly, though, and actually quite furry,
if you must know. Add a little drum and you could
hardly tell the difference.
When we first hired a web designer to get us going
with a website, we didn’t have anything commercial
in mind. We just wanted a place where people could
come to communicate directly with an airline
captain or two, in this case me and Al The Web
Guy, a retired B-747-400 captain—-to get their
questions answered. After the initial design, Al
The Web Guy took over and added several pages,
graphics and the upkeep of the site. He wanted a
design, however, that wouldn’t require so much
time for slower connections to load.
Now that the site is a huge hit with tens of thousands of
visitors each month, we’ve had to get a dedicated
server to keep up with demand. To cover this and
other related expenses, we decided to go ahead and
open the site up to advertisers. Most of the ads
will be in the right-hand margin and hopefully
you’ll find things of interest there. The main
site content for now is basically unchanged except
for our new “Articles” section and the “Poems by
Captain Meryl section.” Have a look along that
left-hand margin to make sure you haven’t
previously missed something that interests you.
If anyone has an interesting tale to tell about a
wonderful trip, or an awful trip—just something
interesting—please submit it to me and I’ll see
about publishing it in the “Articles” section.
Use the following address with your explicit
permission to publish if we choose to do so. Put
ARTICLE in the subject and submit to me at:
info@fromthecockpit.com
If you spot any errors in our new site, please
bring them to our attention and we’ll get them
fixed. (What’s this “we” stuff? What I really
mean is I’ll tell Al The Web Guy and he’ll get
them fixed.)
Also in this issue I wanted to let you know about
a special deal being offered by my friends “The
Trip Chicks” who had me as a guest on their radio
show not long ago. They’ve asked my help in
spreading the word about a last-minute, moderate
level biking trip to the Czech Republic. Please
click here for all the details:
http://www.thetripchicks.com You’ll also find
this info in the right-hand margin on our new
site. You can listen to my May 2005 interview, if
you want, on WMET 1160 Washington DC at the
following link. You’ll need to scroll down to
bottom of pages and pull down menu of May 29.
http://wmet1160.com/artman/publish/thetripchicks.shtml
One more thing, and that is I’d like some input
regarding my notion of including a “Voices from
our Troops” section on my site. After having
flown a military charter to Kuwait, I’ve
maintained personal contact with some of the
troops we dropped off out in the “sandbox.” When
we landed, a military welcoming committee of
officers came on board our plane and that’s what
they said, “Welcome to the sandbox.” What these
soldiers write to me and what the media reports
are so vastly different, it occurred to me to give
them some space on my site. This isn’t for
political venting, but rather just for human
interest—not that different from my “Ask The
Captain” column in a way where I answer
matter-of-fact types of questions. I’m interested
in their personal thoughts, about coping with
being away from home, what their day-to-day life
is like, etc. The question is, are you
interested?
Please send me your thoughts about whether to
include such content on my site in a note to
info@fromthecockpit.com In the subject please
put IRAQ so I know to open your email right away.
With well over a thousand emails per week now, I
need some help sorting. Also, do you like the
name “Voices from our Troops” or “Voices from the
Sandbox” or do you have something else to suggest
as a title?
And with that, I’ll get back to work writing the
sequel to “The World At My Feet.” I’m up to
chapter 12 now and more than a third of the way
finished. Of course, this is before my editor has
had her first shot at my manuscript, so I don’t
know what’ll be left after she gets done with what
I’ve written so far.
New subscribers can find the original book at
www.fromthecockpit.com.
And with that, until next time...
Maintain Airspeed!
Cap’n Meryl
www.fromthecockpit.com
www.flyingfearless.com
www.fromthecockpit.com/profile.htm (keynote
speaker contact info)
***********************************************************
……
Link to this week’s column at USAToday.com/travel:
USA Today.com Column
If anyone who’s been with me as a reader for some
time has stopped by www.fromthecockpit.com lately,
you must have noticed there’s a whole new look.
Al The Web Guy has been working ‘round the clock
to redesign this site for several reasons.
As far as I can tell, Al The Web Guy operates on
batteries. No human could function on the three
hours per night sleep he gets. You could say he’s
a little intense when he gets going on a project.
I pass him occasionally on the way to the kitchen,
but that’s about it. He’s like the Energizer
Bunny except his ears are smaller and he’s not as
pink. Cuddly, though, and actually quite furry,
if you must know. Add a little drum and you could
hardly tell the difference.
When we first hired a web designer to get us going
with a website, we didn’t have anything commercial
in mind. We just wanted a place where people could
come to communicate directly with an airline
captain or two, in this case me and Al The Web
Guy, a retired B-747-400 captain—-to get their
questions answered. After the initial design, Al
The Web Guy took over and added several pages,
graphics and the upkeep of the site. He wanted a
design, however, that wouldn’t require so much
time for slower connections to load.
Now that the site is a huge hit with tens of thousands of
visitors each month, we’ve had to get a dedicated
server to keep up with demand. To cover this and
other related expenses, we decided to go ahead and
open the site up to advertisers. Most of the ads
will be in the right-hand margin and hopefully
you’ll find things of interest there. The main
site content for now is basically unchanged except
for our new “Articles” section and the “Poems by
Captain Meryl section.” Have a look along that
left-hand margin to make sure you haven’t
previously missed something that interests you.
If anyone has an interesting tale to tell about a
wonderful trip, or an awful trip—just something
interesting—please submit it to me and I’ll see
about publishing it in the “Articles” section.
Use the following address with your explicit
permission to publish if we choose to do so. Put
ARTICLE in the subject and submit to me at:
info@fromthecockpit.com
If you spot any errors in our new site, please
bring them to our attention and we’ll get them
fixed. (What’s this “we” stuff? What I really
mean is I’ll tell Al The Web Guy and he’ll get
them fixed.)
Also in this issue I wanted to let you know about
a special deal being offered by my friends “The
Trip Chicks” who had me as a guest on their radio
show not long ago. They’ve asked my help in
spreading the word about a last-minute, moderate
level biking trip to the Czech Republic. Please
click here for all the details:
http://www.thetripchicks.com You’ll also find
this info in the right-hand margin on our new
site. You can listen to my May 2005 interview, if
you want, on WMET 1160 Washington DC at the
following link. You’ll need to scroll down to
bottom of pages and pull down menu of May 29.
http://wmet1160.com/artman/publish/thetripchicks.shtml
One more thing, and that is I’d like some input
regarding my notion of including a “Voices from
our Troops” section on my site. After having
flown a military charter to Kuwait, I’ve
maintained personal contact with some of the
troops we dropped off out in the “sandbox.” When
we landed, a military welcoming committee of
officers came on board our plane and that’s what
they said, “Welcome to the sandbox.” What these
soldiers write to me and what the media reports
are so vastly different, it occurred to me to give
them some space on my site. This isn’t for
political venting, but rather just for human
interest—not that different from my “Ask The
Captain” column in a way where I answer
matter-of-fact types of questions. I’m interested
in their personal thoughts, about coping with
being away from home, what their day-to-day life
is like, etc. The question is, are you
interested?
Please send me your thoughts about whether to
include such content on my site in a note to
info@fromthecockpit.com In the subject please
put IRAQ so I know to open your email right away.
With well over a thousand emails per week now, I
need some help sorting. Also, do you like the
name “Voices from our Troops” or “Voices from the
Sandbox” or do you have something else to suggest
as a title?
And with that, I’ll get back to work writing the
sequel to “The World At My Feet.” I’m up to
chapter 12 now and more than a third of the way
finished. Of course, this is before my editor has
had her first shot at my manuscript, so I don’t
know what’ll be left after she gets done with what
I’ve written so far.
New subscribers can find the original book at
www.fromthecockpit.com.
And with that, until next time...
Maintain Airspeed!
Cap’n Meryl
www.fromthecockpit.com
www.flyingfearless.com
www.fromthecockpit.com/profile.htm (keynote
speaker contact info)
***********************************************************
……
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