Whew! I’ve come up for air after a busy last few weeks. I’m still on a high after spending spring break in Grand Cayman, where my family logged a total of 40 dives. My son did 16 dives, I did 13, my oldest daughter (and newest diver in the family) did 7 dives, and my wife did 4. The highlight of the trip was the last dive, which was at a site named Devil’s Grotto. It’s an easy shore dive that features lots of fish and underwater swim-throughs. In one of the swim-throughs (coral tunnels), we ran smack dab into three huge tarpon. My daughter, who’s new to salt-water diving, thought they were sharks. She practically walked on water getting out of there.
I’ve been humming the Doobie Brothers song “Takin’ It to the Streets” to myself all day, but I changed the words to “Takin’ It in the Teeth.” Yes, it’s tax time. I mailed mine yesterday. Don’t forget to get yours in, too.
I was on campus (Microsoft) last week and while I was there, I dropped by building 42 and visited Don Box and Chris Sells. Chris turned me on to the Web site www.dramatica.com, which has some great stuff for aspiring fiction writers. I downloaded a document Chris recommended that turns structuring a novel into less of an art and more of a science, which is perfect for geeks like me. I had no idea that fiction was so formulaic. I’m interested in this because as a family project, my kids and I are working on a kids’ mystery set in Grand Cayman. The working title is “The Cayman Cave Caper,” and we have most of the first three chapters drafted.
I finally started building my B-25 this past weekend. I only spent an hour on it, but at least it’s a start. I went flying Sunday afternoon and banged up my F4U Corsair when I apparently let it stall on landing. I was flaring out and when the plane was 4 or 5 feet off the ground, the nose suddenly dropped. The crash tore the retracts out of the wings, but it’s very fixable. Hoping to have it back in the air this weekend, weather permitting.