I just returned from the first part of my high school reunion. I’ll post a full report here soon after the Saturday afternoon picnic. At tonight’s event, I ran into some old friends who mentioned that they visit my site either on occasion or frequently. So in other words, I have stalkers! Or fans! Or people who really need a better hobby! Either way, I’m thrilled that there are more than 5 people who visit from time to time. I want to know who you are! Please click comments above and say hi so I know who you are and if there’s anything you’d like to see in the site regarding features or discussion topics.
Category Archives: Site News
Welcome to the New AndyBox.com!
Well, I finally did it! Over the weekend I converted most of my site into WordPress. This new format will allow YOU, my loyal readers, to do some things you’ve never been able to do before.
Comments: I WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU! To comment, just click the “comments” link under the title of the blog entry. Bear in mind that if you’re too nasty, I might delete you using my admin powers.
Sidebar Nav (right side): The Pages are like the web pages on my old site. Some pages have subpages that appear after you reach the “parent” page. I haven’t posted the pages that had large pictures. I haven’t decided how to handle them yet with less screen space. The Categories let you isolate blog posts on the topics that interest you. I have all of this year’s blog entries loaded, and I hope to finish the rest within a week or two.
Another perk of this new format is that I can update the blog from any internet connection, not just from home. That means you’ll probably see more frequent updates. I’ll keep working on the site in the coming days. Tell me what you think!
Machines I Like
I like my car. After airing up the tires and spending lots of time on the highway, my Honda Fit achieved 34.6 MPG. That makes me happy. Sell your gas-guzzler and buy a Honda.
Tuesday night I had a special training session for work. A coworker and I spent two hours in a 737-700 flight simulator at Southwest. Yes, we both flew a bit, but the point was for us to observe an instructor pilot performing several different scenarios. I can’t adequately describe for you how realistic the simulator is, but it makes even gray-haired pilots sweat every year during their training. When we took off, I was pushed back into the seat, and I felt every bump on the “runway.” It was absolutely amazing. We saw landings in fog, stalls, windshear, engine-out climbouts, and landings on icy runways – the types of problems that our pilots don’t see on a daily basis but need to be able to handle if they ever do come up. I tried climbing out of Reno, an airport in a mountainous region of Nevada, right after an engine failure. It made me very glad that we have such well-trained and capable pilots up front rather than myself! I would tell you to go get your own sim while you’re getting your Honda, but they’re pretty expensive and hard to fit in your garage.
I also updated the Family page with links to cousin websites for Jeff and Lisa Cerney (excellent and timely if you can stomach the frequent pro-Aggie comments) and Joe and Erin Cerney (horribly out of date, but worth a look due to cute pics of daughter Paige).
Alaska Pictures with New Technology
I finally uploaded the Alaska pictures. Thanks to a great tool called Adobe Photoshop Elements, I turned the pictures into a Web gallery with thumbnails and a slideshow option. Let me know what you think! I’m working on adding captions as well.
Jenny and I plan to leave Wednesday for a short trip to San Diego. She’s helping run a luncheon for new hires and then selling new-hire sponsorships at the Southwest Airlines spirit party on Thursday. I’m going along to help. I haven’t been to San Diego in many years and look forward to a great time. We hope to visit the famous San Diego Zoo while we’re there. The weather is forecast to be PERFECT!
The Importance of Software Testing
I am embarrassed to admit that my heavily-emphasized AndyBox.com Customer Survey has been broken for the last week, and no one knew it, not even me. I just thought no one cared. =) I accidentally messed up some of the code and didn’t test the page after I monkeyed with it. Bad Webmaster, Bad! Sigh. So if you responded after I listed the 5-6 questions just above the survey, I didn’t get your response. My server created the email and sent it into a black hole instead of my inbox. So please have pity on me and try one more time!
AndyBox.com Customer Survey
I use hit-tracker software to record traffic on andybox.com. My home page averages 8-10 hits per day, which makes me both happy and curious. Some of my frequent visitors are family (Hi Mom! Hi Grandmother and Granddaddy!), but I know they only account for a few hits. So I want to know who the rest of you are! Please visit my contact page and shoot me an email. Tell me how often you visit and why. Tell me your favorite and least favorite parts about the site. Tell me what else you’d like to see. I want to hear from you!
In a side note, you might have heard about a MASSIVE STOCK MARKET SELLOFF today, or something to that effect. International stocks fell more than American ones. My best performer, American Oriental Bioengineering (AOB), fell nearly 14 percent. Am I disappointed? Of course. Am I panicking and selling? Absolutely not. Why? Because as far as I know, the companies I own are still good companies with solid business models, good management, and bright prospects for future growth. Nothing has changed about the companies except their stock prices. This is a marathon, not a sprint!