POWIP Piece of Work In Progress

I’ve been away for too long

And hope that you all think I still belong amongst the cadre of POWIP authors who have been "picking up my slack".  I assure you that my absence has been neither arbitrary nor capricious.  "Well where the heck have you been, Rocket-geek", I hear you all asking.  And, as fair is fair I owe all of our readers an explanation...

I'd like to be able to say that I've been on an adventure in some romantic locale, like on Safari in the heart of darkest Africa,  or in  the harsh beauty of the Arabian desert, or even on a mission as a mercenary for the Sultan of OOM-Pa-Pa-Mau-Mau.  But alas, reality is so much more banal than that.

I've been in a frenetic place; at the confluence of many committments and obligations, at once familial, professional, and ministerial.  In order to live up to any of these undertakings, let alone the combination of them, something had to give.  Unfortunately, writing here at POWIP, although a labor of love was, alas, extra-curricular.  Please don't misunderstand me though, it's not as if posting here is a mere dalliance, to be blown off when "a better offer" comes along.  Indeed, it is the opposite; a privilege that I take seriously.  I couldn't simply dash off any half-arsed posts and feel that I was adding anything the conversations.  As some have noted over the past 10 weeks or so, even my comments in the various threads have been few and far between.  That's because I'm the kind of person that doesn't do thinks half-way; I generally strive for excellence in all of my undertakings.  And as I mentioned, several committments outweighed my own recreation over that same time period.

But now I've finished the draft of the documents, lesson plans, experiments, and companion text, pertaining to a course I'll be teaching soon; it's a companion course in Aeronautics to go along with the Astronautics course I developed and taught last summer.  And, although there will certainly be refinements to be made before the course takes off (sorry about that!), and my work with several of my church's ministries will always be an ongoing committment, the labors should not be so intense that I won't be able to fit some words in edgewise here-so to speak.

So to my fellow POWIP authors I offer a hale and hearty greeting; many thanks for all of the fine content you've provided since the start of 2010.  And especially to Dan and Enoch, the cornerstones of this marketplace of ideas, I offer a thousand pardons for seeming to disappear, and assure you that your efforts here have not been, and are not, in vain; something that you fellows seemed to question recently.  Now, more than ever, we have to keep in the game; rhetorically slugging away at those that would subvert our Republic and undermine our individual God given liberties; as well as, you know, academically discuss the important nuanced difference between racks and sweater-puppies!  Be of firm will, unwavering courage, and good cheer my friends, the ol' Rocketman has got your backs!, as they say in the hood.  And I'm not going anywere but up! (sorry about that again...)

I'll have more to add later, but unfortunately my electricity has been out since Saturday, and the battery on this laptop is getting  low, so it will have to wait until the public library opens or LIPA get's on the ball-whichever comes first...

I mean, after all, we are on the smart grid...Now that's progress.

Rocketman