I'm Back!

WARNING: This blog entry was imported from my old blog on blogs.sun.com (which used different blogging software), so formatting and links may not be correct.

I just got back from a really nice vacation visiting my family in
Norway. It's been ten years since my last winter-time visit to Norway.
The temperature in my hometown

Tynset was cold the first couple of
days there (-22° Fahrenheit, or -30° Celsius). But I got to
go cross-country skiing, and I hadn't forgotten how - I guess it's like
bicycling - once you know how you never forget.

Everything about the trip was great. Celebrations were a bit somber
this year though because of the

Tsunami catastrophe in Asia
.

I flew with
SAS.
Perhaps some other airlines offer this too (but certainly not all, since
I've flown several other big carriers in the last couple of months), but
I was really blown away by their flight camera feature.
Unlike the Channel 9 feature offered by United Airlines (where
you can listen to cockpit transmissions), you can choose to view the
forward facing (or the downward facing) camera on your TV screen. This
works at all times, including during take-off, during flight, during landing,
and even while the airplane is taxing back to the gate after landing!
It was quite a kick to "participate" in the landing process, seeing
the airplane aligning with the lit-up runway, seeing the approach angle
and so on. It reminded me of some flight simlator computer games I've
seen, but with unbelievably realistic graphics!

I'm reasonably rested from the plane ride home and now I'm catching up
on e-mail.