There’s rarely a day that goes by lately where someone doesn’t ask me where I’ve been since they haven’t heard from me lately.  People call, they write, they even stop into my office for a quick chat – yet, I seem to be missing.  Well, the picture above tells the story better than words alone could ever describe – I’ve been flying – EVERYWHERE!  This is the flight tracking map of my flights in my Cirrus SR22 Turbo aircraft over the past few weeks alone into and out of the Orlando area.   Each of the yellow lines is the actual flight path I flew my plane during an approach or departure from the area.  I’ve literally flown dozens of flights to dozens of cities in states throughout the country – from the northern states to the southern islands, from the east coast to the west coast and everywhere in-between.  At a time when many people are sitting on the porch hoping for “better days to come”, I’m out there making things happen trying to brighten the future for our business.  I’ve visited existing customers, prospective customers, trade shows and have attended multiple conferences.  I’ve flown through rain, snow, clouds, haze, icing conditions and fortunately have had plenty of sunshine along the way as well which always brightens my day – literally and figuratively.  I’ve taken off before the crack of dawn to see the sunrise from the air (incredible) and have flown all day long to see the sunset from the air as well (even more incredible).  I’ve flown along a whole lot of coastal areas, passing over oceans, lakes and rivers, glided along above the flatlands and more farmland than I could ever imagine, watched the dense brush of forests pass under the wings, looked out the window at the desolation of desert and ranch land below with no one in sight for hundreds of miles, flown over canyons and amazing rock formations, and have even seen the magnificent sight looking out the window as I flew past snow covered mountain tops and down into valleys.  I’ve had smooth landings that I greased with ease, not-so-smooth landings in much more challenging conditions with gusty winds and wind shear, landings in snow, landings in rain and landings with ice still firmly adhered to the wing tips and other unprotected surfaces from flights in the icy clouds above.  I’ve landed at airports with runway elevations as low as -1.7 feet (yes, that is a negative), and as high as 4,456 feet – the power of the humming engine in my Cirrus SR22 Turbo aircraft handled each of those scenarios flawlessly.  I’ve done more approaches to minimums in low clouds than in my previous 13+ years of flying – sometimes being the lone plane coming into a small field with no control tower, and other times flying a parallel approach into a busy airport with a 767 along side of me gliding through the thick clouds to a smooth and safe landing below.  I’ve flown into small back-woods fields, military bases, islands, small towns, large cities, and into some of the busiest international airports in the country.  Over the past few weeks, I’ve experienced it all – virtually every condition known to flying.  I know I’ve certainly become an even much better pilot because of these experiences.

There’s no doubt I’ve been busy beyond belief, but it’s also been a spectacular journey that’s enabled me to see some of the most beautiful landscape this country has to offer.  And the best part of it all, I’ve been working to generate sales and new opportunities for our business the entire time.  How cool is that?  Those who know me have often heard me refer how much my Cirrus Aircraft has changed my life – truly every aspect of who I am and what I do – this post is undeniable proof of that statement.  While I used to cringe at the through of extensive travel, I now actually look forward to it – after all, getting there and back again safely in the comfort of a world-class aircraft is often the most enjoyable part of the trip.

So, if you’re wondering where in the world I’m at, you now have the key – just look toward the skies above – you’re likely to see me passing overhead, smiling the entire time, as I soar above the incredible landscape below embarking on my next adventure.

An audio testimonial interview I did last week was sent out to thousands of people in a newsletter and posted to the No Plane No Gain website.  The “No Plane No Gain” campaign is a joint undertaking by the National Business Aviation Association and the General Aviation Manufacturers Association.  They seek to educate the public about the importance and value of general aviation aircraft to our country and its communities, companies and citizens.  It was a real honor to take part in this project and a really enjoyable experience to work with their talented interviewer and writer, Kevin Murphy, to make this happen.  There’s more in the works with my involvement with this campaign… stay tuned for more details!

You can view the article and listen to my audio testimonial interview by going to:  http://noplanenogain.org/_Restaurant_Equipment_World.htm?m=58&s=457

I recently had the honor of being featured in the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) Pilot Magazine.  The article was written by Ian Twombly, who did a magnificent job of illustrating how I use our company aircraft, a Cirrus SR22, to bring our business to new heights.  This is part of series of articles for a campaign called GA Serves America which highlights the many ways our country benefits from the use of general aviation aircraft.  It was a really enjoyable experience talking and flying with Ian.  Chris Rose also deserves a lot of credit for doing an amazing job with the photography / video for the project and was a pleasure to work with as well.  I’m also very thankful to Cirrus Aircraft and their incredible staff for their role in making this article a reality – our Cirrus SR22 is certainly the star in being a game-changer for our business!

You can read the complete article in the AOPA Pilot Magazine, or online at http://www.aopa.org/members/files/pilot/2009/november/gaservesamerica0911.html

I’ve recently updated my headshot photos so decided to post them here rather than sending them individually to each of the publications and organizations where I have an affiliation.  If you’re using one of my old headshots, please update your content to include one of the new versions shown below.  Thanks!

I’ve had the honor of being a featured customer in another Cirrus Aircraft video called “Airwaves”.  Cirrus Aircraft has changed the aviation industry by developing the most technologically advanced general aviation airplanes in the world. They’ve balanced their customer’s needs among speed, comfort and safety while developing great looking airplanes. This video showcases Cirrus’ Innovation, Safety, Cockpit, Customers, and Future. Cirrus is the best, they build the best, and the best is yet to come.  This is a phenomenal video which I hope that you’ll enjoy watching!

I’ve got several security camera DVR units made by Speco Technologies at my business.  I wanted to use Slingbox device to be able to view and remotely control these units from my Blackberry using the SlingPlayer Mobile software.  Unfortunately, Slingbox doesn’t have a remote control available for the Speco Technologies units since they aren’t standard consumer devices and use a proprietary remote control.  To solve this issue, I used the Remote Master software to create a custom remote control that you can use to handle this task which works perfectly.  Creating the remote control itself was frustrating and time consuming, but I finally got it all to work so figured I’d give back to the online community with this guide.  Don’t worry, I’ve already done all the decoding, setup and compiling to created the necessary remote control file, so it only will take a few minutes for you to implement it yourself.  Here’s how to do it:

1 – SlingPlayer Software Version Note:  I’ve read that the SBAV BIN remote control files can only be loaded when using version 1.5 of the SlingPlayer software and not the newer versions, but I haven’t verified this statement nor tested loading the remote control with a newer version, although it might work just fine.  All of this documentation is based upon version 1.5.0.322.  A search of the internet should turn up an older version.  In newer versions, the terminology used in these setup instructions has changed, but the basic premise of using a custom remote setup remains the same.  Once you’ve done all these steps and have your Speco Technologies DVR remote control loaded, you can then upgrade to the latest version of the SlingPlayer software and the remote will still work.

2- Physically install your Slingbox unit like you would with any other video device.  The Main Monitor connector on the Speco Technologies DVR unit plugs into the composite video port of your Slingbox using a standard RCA cable with a BNC connector adapter.

3- Download the Slingbox Speco Technologies Remote Control bin file I created (download V2000_PL.zip by clicking on the file name)

4 – Extract the V2000_PL.bin file from the V2000_PL.zip archive you downloaded above and place it in c:\Program Files\Sling Media\SlingPlayer\SBAV (or if you’re using Windows Vista, the directory is c:\Program Files (x86)\Sling Media\SlingPlayer\SBAV)

5- In the SlingPlayer, go to the Slingbox Directory to set up your new device.  If you’ve already set it up using the wizard, the section you’ll want to go into is called “Audio/Video Sources” in the Slingbox Configuration tab.

6- When you’re asked about what type of device your composite video source is connected to, select “Miscellaneous Device”

7 – For brand, select “Other”

8 – In the Alternate Code section, enter “V2000″ (without the quotes)

9 – Your setup is complete!

You’re all set to control your Speco Technologies DVR unit with your Slingbox.  You can view it with the standalone SlingPlayer, the web based SlingPlayer, or SlingPlayer Mobile on your Blackberry, Windows Media or other smartphone device.  The picture quality is phenomenal and you’ll have full control of every function of your Speco Technologies DVR unit just like you’re sitting there pushing the remote control buttons in front of the unit.

If you’ve successfully implemented this remote control functionality of your Speco Technologies DVR unit with a Slingbox, please leave a comment below so that others will know you’ve found this guide useful.

FastServers.Net is the best website hosting provider – period!  Over the past 13 years as our online e-commerce operation has grown, having a quality dedicated website hosting company has become even more critical.  We’ve gone through several providers who’ve each made big promises but continually fell short when it came to actually performing.  Fortunately, after a lot of misses with other less expensive companies, we found FastServers.Net who has continually exceeded our expectations.  They were recently acquired by Layered Technologies, yet unlike some mergers, I’m very happy to report that nothing has changed – the quality and response time are still phenomenal and the transition has been completely transparent to customers such as myself.

Let’s face it – all website server hosting companies promise fast response times, uptime guarantees, etc.  How many of those actually deliver on those promises though?  My past experience tells me that most fall short of their so-called “guarantees” and often play the blame game – but not FastServers.Net!  On the rare occasions that we’ve needed to contact them, we typically have had an e-mail response that someone is working on the issue within a matter of minutes, not hours.  Typical time to resolve any issue we’ve thrown their way has been under an hour, which is far superior to most website hosting providers who don’t even respond to your technical inquiry for 24 hours or more.  Here’s the best part of all when it comes to the tech support responses:  you actually get a knowledgeable person responding who’s actually the one who’s going to be handling the inquiry!  These guys are tech guru’s – they eat, breath and sleep servers and know them inside and out.  I’ve thrown the most complex problems I can think of at these guys and they handle them with ease – quickly, efficiently, and done right the first time!

One additional thing I wanted to mentioned when it comes to FastServers.Net is their willingness (and ability) to handle custom modifications or out-of-the-ordinary requests.  Most server hosting companies have cookie cutter solutions – they do X, Y, and Z only – outside of those bounds are unsupported and they won’t even touch them, regardless of your willingness to pay.  Fortunately, that’s not the case with FastServers.Net.  If you can dream it, they can do it.  I’ve had numerous special modifications including a complex off-site server redundancy system set up that they handled with ease.  Try asking any other server hosting company to perform that type of action, especially given that it’s not even going to be located on their premises or providing ongoing revenue, and they’ll likely tell you it’s something they can’t do.

So, if you’re in the market for a solid, reliable, and friendly dedicated website server hosting company, be sure to check out FastServers.Net.  No, they’re not the cheapest company out there, but they are absolutely the best value of any hosting provider I’ve ever worked with.  Simply put, they are worth every penny they charge for their services.  It’s easy to write a blog post singing the praises of a company, but in my case it’s much more than just words alone – I trust them to handle a multi-million dollar e-commerce business I operate.  The bottom line is that FastServers.Net is a rock solid dedicated website hosting company that I strongly recommend without hesitation.

You can visit FastServers.Net by clicking here.

As many of your know, I currently own and fly a Cirrus SR22 airplane.  This is an amazing aircraft that’s been an invaluable asset to my business.  Several months ago, Cirrus Aircraft gave me the opportunity to take part in a video presentation they were developing to introduce a concept called Flying 2.0 which is about changing the way you travel.  It’s about flying on your schedule, not on some crazy airline’s schedule.  It’s about making more time to do the things that you enjoy in life.  It’s about freedom, flexibility, and getting more done in a day to help your business succeed.  It was truly an honor to be able to be a part of this video and to share with others how much this aircraft has changed my life.  I hope that you enjoy the video!

This past year has been a great year overall!  I spent a lot of time traveling  to cities across the country.  Some of my travels were to familiar placed I’d been many times before like San Francisco, Aspen, Las Vegas, Denver and Chicago – all great cities with unique personalities that make them great.  I also visited cities like Austin and Duluth which are more off-the-beaten-path, but were great as well!  I’ll actually be back in Austin in just a few weeks from now and am looking forward to visiting again.  It’s about a 6 hour flight from Orlando to Austin in the Cirrus so it’s a bit of a trek, but well worth it once you arrive.

Besides doing lots of traveling and a good number of conventions and meetings, 2008 was also a busy year in terms of actual business.  We once again had solid growth and I couldn’t ask for a better staff of people who really care about treating our customers well and taking care of their needs.  On a more personal note, it seems my to-do list is never-ending, but I’m getting through it slowly but surely.  There are a lot of on-going projects and goals that I haven’t yet accomplished, but will continue working towards completing in the year ahead.

As I look forward to 2009, I see a very good year ahead.  I know you’re probably shaking your head right now wondering if I’m the only person in the world who’s not a pessimist with all the news of the economy and so many bad things happening to so many good people.  Sure, I’m keenly aware of the disastrous state we’re living in right now, but I’m choosing to keep my thoughts positive which I feel is the best way to get through this challenging time.  Negativity breeds like cancer and is crippling to a person’s ability to succeed at their goals.  It skews your perceptions by putting a dark tint over everything in life.  This darkness makes problems feel even deeper and you begin to loose hope right at the point when you need it the most.  It’s a downward spiral that’s hard to recover from once it begins.  As I mentioned earlier, I have a lot of goals for the year ahead – some of them are small, but others are huge and won’t be accomplished overnight – but they will be accomplished.  I know that I’ll reach them because I’m keeping my head high and my attitude positive.  You’ve got to believe that your dreams can become a reality, that tomorrow will be a better day than today, and that you can accomplish great things.  Believe in those people around you who are positive as they’re you’re best ally and will give you the strength to believe in yourself.  They are the ones who you can trust and reach out to for motivation when times get tough.  There will be situations that are out of your control, challenges and hurdles that seem impossible to overcome, to-do lists that are daunting, but a positive attitude is they key to overcoming those obstacles.

Take time out of your busy schedule to SMILE, LAUGH, DO THE THINGS YOU LOVE TO DO, SPEND TIME WITH PEOPLE YOU LIKE, HAVE FUN, and ENJOY LIFE!

Do those things and you’ll be amazed at what a great year 2009 becomes!

Those of you who’ve met me know that I’ve got a little (or a lot) of geekiness within me when it comes to high tech gadgets.  Two of my favorite gadgets are the Slingbox (lets you view and control your DVR from wherever you are – or even watch live TV just like you’re sitting on your couch) and the Ooma device (crystal clear FREE local and long distance phone calls using your regular home phones – no phone bills – EVER!)

My VoIP (Voice over IP) phone provider discontinued their service a few months back.  I went to Best Buy to purchase a Vonage kit when I discovered Ooma – buy it once and never pay another cent – that sounded like the perfect price to me!  The Ooma system works flawlessly and has perfectly clear calls – the only problem is that it blocks you from viewing your Slingbox remotely.  I didn’t realize this until I was at my office one day and fired up my SlingPlayer to view a breaking story on Fox News, only to find that my Slingbox wouldn’t connect.  Due to how you plug in the Ooma device to ensure voice calls take bandwidth precedence (for clarity – using a technology called QOS), it kills the Slingbox remote viewing ability.  Basically, the ethernet line goes from your modem, to the Ooma device, then out to your home router (wired or wireless).  I beat my head against the wall for hours trying to set and reset the Slingbox IP address, properly enable port forwarding on my router, calling my internet provider to see if port 5001 (used by the Slingbox) was blocked, etc.  Then I remembered the cabling configuration of the Ooma / network / Slingbox and realized that the Ooma device was the culprit which was keeping me from viewing my Slingbox remotely.  So, in an effort to help others who may run into this same ordeal, I’ll explain step by step how to make a Slingbox work remotely when you’ve got an Ooma device installed as well.  This guide will require some basic network knowledge, but is not difficult if you understand general concepts behind how networks operate.

Let’s set up the Slingbox IP first.  To begin, launch your SlingPlayer.  Go to the Settings then to the Setup Assistant.  Click where it says Setup Internet Viewing.  Click where it says to manually configure your network settings (you’ll need to click this on the next page too).  Next, click the Change button and input the IP address on your local network you’d like to use for your Slingbox.  In my case, I use 192.168.2.200 (I know 200 is high enough that no other devices will automatically try to use with DHCP).  I prefer using a static (pre-set) IP address like this rather than DHCP so that I’ll always have your port forwarding set correctly on my router (we’ll do that later).  With DHCP, say you have a power failure – once your router comes back online, your home system grabs an address (xxx.xxx.xxx.1), then your laptop (xxx.xxx.xxx.2), then your Slingbox (xxx.xxx.xxx.3).  After another power failure, let’s say that first your laptop grabs one (xxx.xxx.xxx.1), then your Slingbox (xxx.xxx.xxx.2), then your home system (xxx.xxx.xxx.3).  Basically, without a static IP address set, you never know which device is going to get.  That scenario can make your port forwarding settings on your router not work for your Slingbox anymore.  If you don’t know what I’m talking about with all of these techno terms, don’t worry – just set your address to some number like (xxx.xxx.xxx.200) – or in my case, 192.168.2.200 like I specified above – it will work – trust me!

Okay, we’re all done setting up the Slingbox IP address.  Now let’s set up your router to properly forward traffic to your Slingbox.  Go to your router’s setup screen using your web brower (usually http://192.168.123.1, http://192.168.123.254, or http://192.168.2.1 – check your owners manual for this address).  Once you’re in there, go to the area where you can set up what’s typically called Virtual Servers or Port Forwarding.  Set up Port 5001 (the Slingbox port) to redirect to whatever IP address you set for your Slingbox (in my case, 192.168.2.200).  In case your router asks, the port type to forward is TCP.  Save these settings – you may need to reboot your router for them to take effect.  Before we leave the router screen, find the general status page where it shows all of your internet settings.  Somewhere on this page, you’ll find a WAN IP address – copy down this number – you’ll need it in just a minute!  I won’t reveal my WAN IP here, but it’s in standard IP address format of (xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx) – I’ll use (100.100.100.30 for this example).  This is actually the address the Ooma device has assigned to my home network router.

Your router is now all set and ready to go.  Time to do the final step – settting up port forwarding on your Oooma device.  In your internet browser, go to http://setup.ooma.com.  Click on Advanced and scroll down the page to where it says port forwarding, click Add New Rule.  Where it says Start Port, type in 5001 (the Slingbox port).  The type is TCP.  Where it says forward to IP Address, type in the WAN IP address you wrote down from your router internet settings page (100.100.100.30 from my example above).  Click Add Rule and you’re all set!

Now, double check your settings by reviewing this document and making sure they all are set exactly like I’ve specified.  Then, head to your office or your favorite coffee shop and fire up your SlingPlayer.  Presto!  It should connect and your laptop or desktop will be streaming live (or DVR) content from your home Slingbox.

While it took me quite a bit of time to diagnose the problem and figure out the solution, in reality, making these setting changes to make your SlingPlayer connect to your Slingbox remotely should only take a minute or two.  In essence, all that you’re doing is telling the Ooma unit to forward incoming Slingbox traffic (port 5001) to your home router (100.100.100.30).  You’re then telling your home router (100.100.100.30) to forward the Slingbox traffic (port 5001) to your Slingbox (192.168.2.200).  The tricky part of figuring this out was the basic premise that when thinking about a network, we usually think that all the locally connected devices are on the the same local subnet (such as 192.168.2.xxx or 192.168.123.xxx) – but Oooma changes the game – it creates a network within a network with two different IP address ranges.  That was the issue that was originally causing me all the headaches until I pieced everything together in my mind to develop this solution.

I hope that this document helps others who find themselves in the same prediciment that I ran into when setting up the Ooma and Slingbox to work together.  I’ve tried to make this as straightforward as possible, but unfortunately, there’s no real good way to make networking discussions “simple”.  So, if this is way over your head, find a local college student or technie neighbor, buy them dinner and give them a printout of these instructions.  As of the writing of this blog post, neither Slingbox nor Ooma has posted these setup instructions in their tech support areas (which surprises me), so you can save yourself the trouble from even looking for them by just following my instructions above.  Hopefully, Google will index this page quickly so others are able to find it and save themselves headaches as well.

Enjoy using your Slingbox and your Ooma – working together in harmony at last!