A Geek Goes Flying

My boss got me several of these (and a few more, when the batteries on one went out). But he can’t remember where he got them. Sigh. They work great for copying down clearances at night, etc. They’re not quite perfect; the clicker at the top of the pen controls the light, and the ballpoint end is extended/retracted by twisting the barrel. But if you can live with that, and if you can find them, maybe you can call on, the Red LED Pen:

I’m using a ‘poor man’s KVM,’ (one of these days I’ll get something with EDID , like the IOGEAR GCS932UB ) hooked up to an OS X mini tower (DVI) and a MacBook Air ((mini) DisplayPort). I use the input selector on the  DELL U2311H monitor (I love  matte displays) to toggle the displays, and a Plugable USB switch to toggle a Unicomp SpaceSaver M  (best. keyboard. ever.) and ThinkPad Laser Mouse (which matches the USB version  I carry with my laptop) between the two CPUs. Problem: The Creative T10 speakers (cheap, but all I really have room for at this workstation; elsewhere I have a set of Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 s that are mind-blowing) weren’t switched, and the connection is buried behind the mini-tower. 1st world problems... (How do I link this back to flying? Oh, yeah, editing GoPro footage. And, um, LiveATC.net .) Anyway, problem simply and cheaply solved: Sabrent USB External Stereo Sound Adapter  ($7) (shows up immediately in OS X 10.9.5 as a C-Media Electronics Inc. USB Au

Just a quick note to give a shout-out where it’s due. I've been flying with the Lunatik Touch Pen Alloy  ($20) (2021 update: Amazon link , $15) lately, and it's a godsend. As a stylus, it’s just firm enough to be usable to, e.g., annotate charts / use the ForeFlight scratch pad en route; as a pen, once the abominable ink cartridge it comes with is discarded and a CROSS 8521  ($7 for a 2-pack at Office Depot; $6.23 on Amazon ) refill swapped in in its place, it writes like a dream. I liked my “flight bag” one so much, I got another to keep in my briefcase to take with me to/from the office. No caps to lose, no awkward writing position with the stylus tip at the ‘clip’ end of the pen (the pen tip extends and retracts through the stylus, but unlike those cheap disposable promo pens, the stylus on this pen is firm and very usable).