October 15, 2024 / admin / 0 Comments
My wife and I have recovered from Covid which we picked up somewhere during our trip to Texas in late August. I know everyone has different symptoms with this virus, with some experiencing no symptoms to cold-like all the way to more flu-like symptoms. What we experienced was closer to flu-like symptoms. We both ran a low-grade fever for about 48 hours and experienced a complete drain of our energy levels. Our initial plan upon returning from Texas was to take a few days to recuperate from the long drive and then dive into the few projects we needed to complete in order to ready our home in Denver to go on the market. Contracting Covid was not on our Bingo card and needless to say, we’re about two weeks behind.
However, in mid September I began the more physical efforts needed to ready the house. This included a small sheetrock repair in the basement along with repainting two small rooms. We’ve also begun staging the spare bedrooms and other areas of the house to have it ready for the Realtor when they want to take pictures.
We close on the Texas property in about 3 days and thankfully we can do it electronically and I believe we’re only days away from being ready for our Realtor to do their thing. The housing market in Denver and specifically in our neighborhood is extremely hot at the moment. Houses have typically sold within two weeks after being listed. So we’re hoping for the same experience.
Also this week or early next week we plan to meet with our Denver Realtor and start the process of getting our home listed for sale. This entire process has been a long, long time in the making. But we felt we needed to truly go above and beyond in all the prep work and cleaning to bring the house up to a point where we can get maximum value for it.
Unfortunately at this point in time I’m not exactly sure when we will officially move. If our Denver house sells quickly, then obviously we will need to move prior to closing. However, in just a few days we will officially own two houses. Which of these two houses we leave empty is the big question which we’ve not answered at this time. Traditionally the housing market seems to slow down around the holidays and our illness has unfortunately thrown us behind. But I’m sure it will all work out and I’ll be certain to keep you updated on the progress. However, we’re still shooting to be moved into the Texas house before Thanksgiving.
Until next time…
More Happy Packing!
Jerry
September 10, 2024 / admin / 0 Comments
My wife and I just recently returned from our trip to Texas to visit family and to hunt for a house. During our week long stay, we toured nine different houses with our realtor and found our new dream home. Interestingly, the house we purchased was the first house we toured. We’re currently in the process of having inspections done and pending no major issues, we will close on the property in mid October.
We’re already back in Denver and will be working on getting our house here ready to go on the market. We hope to list it towards the end of this month (Sept) and believe it will sell quickly as others of the similar size in our neighborhood have sold within the first 10 days or so. While we’ve already managed to pack a considerable amount of our stuff, we still have a lot more packing to do and of course we need to arrange for the moving company.
Our target time to arrive in Texas and move into the new house is anytime after mid October to mid November. Everything from here on out really depends on the sell of our home in Denver. But we’re hoping to be in Texas and in the new house before Thanksgiving.
Until next time…
Happy Flying!!!
Jerry
August 27, 2024 / admin / 0 Comments
As mentioned back in May, my wife and I are planning to move from Colorado back to my home state of Texas. In about a week, we will visit my family in Central Texas and spend a few days shopping for a new house. It’s been a hectic past few weeks as we’ve already started sorting through 20+ years of stuff in an effort to downsize from a home of almost 5,000 sq. ft. into something about half the size. We’re making great progress, but still have so much to do.
The timeframe for our move is still very much up in the air at the moment. We know we’re going to move and we know where we’re moving to. However, at the present moment in time we don’t have a house in Texas to move into. We certainly want to move this year and would love to be settled into our new home before Thanksgiving. While the calendar tells me that Thanksgiving is still over 3 months away, we still have so much to do and to accomplish before hand.
The planned trip next weeks will hopefully produce fruit in the sense that we’ll find the home of our dreams and then be able to establish a solid plan to get everything from Colorado to Texas. But wow…is this stressful.
There may come a time where my almost weekly blog posts will fall off to perhaps only once or twice a month or perhaps to even nothing for a few months. I’ll keep you all posted on what we learn from our Texas trip. Hopefully that will be good news and we’ve found a house and can truly get this move on the way.
Until next time….
Happy Packing!!!
Jerry
May 16, 2024 / admin / 1 Comment
As many of my longtime readers may know, I am originally from the Great State of Texas. There’s actually a funny saying that I’m reminded of that goes something like this, “If a man’s from Texas, he’ll tell you. If he’s not, why embarrass him by asking?” Anyway, yes….born and raised in Texas as they say. I moved to Colorful Colorado back in 1998 for a brand new job and adventure. A lot has happened in these past 25+ years. In 2001, I met the love of my life. Together we bought our house where we’ve been living for 20 years. In 2007 we got married and of course in 2020 I officially retired.
My wife and I have been contemplating where we would live as we grow in our years and we’ve decided for us, the best place to do this is back home (at least back home for me) in the Great State of Texas. While we’ve absolutely loved living and playing in Colorado, as one grows old the cold winters are just not a thing we enjoy anymore. While Texas does have brutal summers, we feel that is the better alternative to the Colorado winters.
Our relocation back to Texas may not happen for several months. Actually, it may not even happen this calendar year. We’re going to visit family this August and tour a few potential neighborhoods in the North Georgetown area. Beyond starting to do some organizing and cleaning up of unneeded junk that we don’t plan to move to Texas, the real planning for the move will occur sometime after this trip takes place. Naturally this will include placing our current home on the market.
The housing market (especially in our current neighborhood) is very strong at the moment. But in addition to selling our current home, we have to find a new home in Texas, which we may or may not find during our visit in August. The longer we wait (after the August timeframe) the closer we get to the end of the year and the holidays. Things tend to slow down and almost stall towards the end of the year as most people don’t tend to move or change locations at this time.
Having said all that, I’m excited about this move back to my home state. We will be downsizing as well. Our current house is almost 5,000 sq. ft of living space including finished basement and upstairs. We’re looking for something in the 3,000 – 3,500 sq. ft. range all single level as my old knees won’t tolerate stairs in the coming years.
While this blog post has nothing to do with simulation gaming, I have always strived to keep my loyal readers involved as much as possible or as much as I want you to be involved in my personal life. This is a big step for my wife and I, and will certainly mark a brand new chapter in our lives together. I’ll occasionally update you on our progress as we make this journey together.
Until next time….
Jerry
June 10, 2023 / admin / 1 Comment
In my last blog post where I discussed the upcoming MSFS AAU2 (Aircraft & Avionics Update) which is due to release on 23 June, I briefly mentioned some issues I had been having with my gaming PC. The PC in question, I called GBS Beast Mark V (which was the 5th gaming machine I had built in recent years). I built the machine in May of 2018 (5 years ago) and at the time it was pretty much top of the line with an Intel i7 8700K CPU, Nvidia 1080Ti GPU and 32GB of RAM. It performed well with the games of that time period including American Truck Simulator, Euro Truck Simulator 2 and Prepar3D Flight Simulator. It performed OK with the new Microsoft Flight Simulator. However, sacrifices had to be made with some graphic settings in an effort to keep the FPS above the 30 FPS mark.
However, over the past month or so I had been experiencing several issues which caused concern for the overall health and longevity of the machine. I’m pretty good about keeping backups, so about two weeks ago I made a backup of everything I needed and a few days later the machine finally rolled over and said no more. I quickly put a plan in place to start looking at the costs of building a new machine which would obviously be more powerful and hopefully future proof for at least another 5 years.
GBS Beast Mark VI
Obviously technology has taken a huge leap forward over the past several years and certainly so since 2018. As previously stated, I wanted to try to future proof any new build everywhere possible. As with previous builds, the most intensive gaming I play is flight sim. To truly maximize the total immersion possible, any new build would need to have the very best CPU and GPU available and that’s what I’ve done with this new build.
GBS Beast Mark VI features an Intel i9 13900KF CPU on a Z790 motherboard and cooled with a liquid CPU cooler. In addition, I’m going with the top of the line Nvidia 4090 24GB GPU. In addition, I’m adding three Samsung 990 Pro NVME SSD’s and reusing three Samsung 870 Evo SSD’s from the old machine. Total storage capacity will be 8 TB. In addition, I’m adding 32 GB RAM (DDR5) which is more than enough for the games I play and all this will be housed in a massive (largest case I’ve ever used due to the massive Nvidia 4090 GPU) Corsair 5000D Airflow ATX Case.
Testing Benchmarks
As I have stated many, many times over the years. I tweak my system for smoothness and typically don’t concern myself too much with how many FPS I can get from the hardware. As stated above, my old gaming machine was still capable of giving me a fairly smooth experience around the 30 FPS mark in Microsoft Flight Simulator. Of course, I had to dialed down some of the graphics settings in order to achieve this, but nonetheless I was able to enjoy the sim just the same.
Of course, the beauty of having this extremely beefy system now with the i9 13900 KF CPU and the truly awesome Nvidia 4090 GPU, I’m pretty much able to run my graphics settings to the full extreme and still enjoy a smooth, buttery visual experience at 60+ FPS with both the Fenix Airbus A320 and the PMDG Boeing 737-800.
The WOW Factor
I’m literally blown away at the huge leap forward I’m experiencing with this new PC and it very much reminds me of how I felt 5 years ago when GBS Beast Mark V came to life. But of course MSFS wasn’t around at that time and has completely changed the flight simulation landscape. Over the next few weeks I’ll continue tweaking the new machine and will post my settings once they are all dialed in the way I want them. While I’m not saying one cannot enjoy MSFS without a 4090 GPU, I will just say that it is absolute joy to see the virtual skies in all their glory without sacrificing performance.
It’s great to have a gaming machine once again and I look forward to many years of what I believe will be truly awesome experiences in all the simulation games I enjoy. Obviously, Farming Simulator and American Truck/Euro Truck will certainly enjoy the benefits of the updated hardware, but of course not to the same level as MSFS since that is both a CPU and GPU extensive simulation.
Until next time…
Happy Gaming!
Jerry
February 18, 2023 / admin / 2 Comments
It is with a heavy heart that I write to inform those of you who regularly read my blog that our dear, dear friend….Eustace Pharmer aka Atomic67-Gaming recently passed away. Like many of you, I met and got to know EP via his YouTube Farming Simulator Channel. While EP was not responsible for me starting my own channel, he was truly the inspiration and mentor in which I continued to strive to be in my own efforts of developing online content. While EP wasn’t actively producing content on his main channel, he had been actively working on a new project where he released daily YouTube Shorts featuring daily inspirational messages on his Percy Wyatt Relaxation channel.
As we all know, EP was a perfectionist in all that he allowed us to see and often times we waited anxiously for his next installment of what ever he was producing. But it was his shear talent and love for all of us that he put into each and every production he released on his channel. For me personally, each time I received a notification of new content from his channel, I knew it would be absolute gold. However, his greatest love was in helping others. Whether it was helping someone understand various elements with the games he played or helping someone start their own channel, he did it because he loved doing it. This was his true passion and the legacy in which he leaves behind.
While there are many content creators who were inspired through EP’s efforts, I’m lucky to have been able to call him a friend and was fortunate enough to be able to meet him face to face on one occasion about 5 years ago. EP and his wife were flying through Denver on their way out to Las Vegas and we met up at the airport for lunch.
In the 8+ years I knew EP, I got to know the real man behind the YouTube personality and to be honest….there really wasn’t much of a difference. EP was a loving husband and father and just an all-round good man. Thank you for your friendship and all the kindness you shared with me over the years. You will be dearly missed….but NEVER forgotten.
Requiescat in pace amicus meus
Jerry
February 13, 2023 / admin / 0 Comments
A few weeks ago I was perusing through the various social media platforms and groups I belong to and discovered a discussion taking place regarding why simulation based games are so popular. One individual in particular was (in my opinion) trolling the group and making various references that simulation based games are the absolute most boring titles he had ever witnessed and just couldn’t understand why people would spend countless hours playing these types of games. He referenced two which I myself enjoy, Flight Simulator and Farming Simulator.
One point he attempted to make was if you wanted to farm or fly, just go do it in real life. He went on to compare the costs (specifically with flight sim) where one could easily pay for the lessons and time to obtain a PPL or Private Pilots License. I attempted to follow the discussions for a few days but finally lost interest as it was pretty clear to me he really had no clue what he was talking about and most likely was a kid just trying to get a reaction from the group. Anyway….
The gaming industry today is big and growing even larger. If Google is correct, the total industry size includes 3.2 billion players and some $197 billion in revenue during the year 2021 and the forecast for 2022 was expected to hit $200bn. Needless to say, there’s something for everyone when it comes to video game content.
As for me personally, the reasons I enjoy simulation based games is most likely not unique. While at one time in my life I had a dream of learning to fly and obtaining my PPL, this just simply isn’t possible any more. However, through the awesome Microsoft Flight Simulator platform I can fly anywhere in the world from the comfort of my mancave and enjoy each and every minute while doing it. I can role play anything from a bush pilot flying into the Alaskan wilderness all the way to a commercial airline captain flying into small or large international airports around the world. And with the beauty of MSFS, I can fly into a large airport in my jetliner and then depart in a small single engine aircraft and spend time sightseeing around the region.
I’ve known many fellow flight simmers who have used their virtual experience to propel them into various aviation careers such as private and commercial pilots and air traffic control. Many pilots I’ve known through the years continue to use the various flight simulation platforms (in some degree) to brush up on their skills. Likewise, I’ve read about individuals who have come of age with ATS or ETS2 and have used that experience to take up a career in trucking/transportation. I also know of a few individuals who have started working on farms because of their interest and passion from Farming Simulator.
The level of immersion has always been a number one requirement for me in any simulation based gaming title. I’ve discussed many times before that in my opinion the bar has been set fairly high by the flight simulation genre as what truly will define any other simulation gaming title. I’ve discovered in the past where developers have labeled their titles as “Simulation”, but found many reasons why that misses the mark greatly. Any simulation based title must provide an “As Real As It Gets” experience to truly immerse me into that virtual world.
For the simulation based titles I play the most (Flight Sim, ATS/ETS2 and Farming Simulator) the level of immersion is high enough to allow me to completely escape the stresses of the real world for an hour or more as I simulate the life of a pilot, a trucker or a farmer in my own virtual world. And it is for this very reason why I sim.
Why do you sim?
Thanks for taking the time to read. Until next time…
Happy Simming!!!
Jerry
December 15, 2022 / admin / 0 Comments
Here’s another reader question/comment that was submitted a few days ago. I think this will be helpful to those who are thinking about taking their simulation experience to the next level. While my comments to the general question will reference American Truck Simulator/Euro Truck Simulator 2, most of my key points will be directed towards Flight Simulator. So let’s get started with the question and then my general comments.
Hello. I found your blog site after a few Google searches regarding a recent issue I experienced after connecting to the VATSIM network for the first time. In all honesty, I’m fairly new to Microsoft Flight Simulator. But many years ago I did use FSX but never tried VATSIM. I’ve been watching YouTube videos and Twitch streams and VATSIM seems really cool. But my first experience wasn’t an easy one and I’m really confused. Basically I connected to VATSIM and wanted to experience seeing other aircraft in real world liveries and just fly. The first issue I discovered was that I didn’t see other aircraft in their respective real world liveries and I also angered the controllers and other pilots when I attempted to take off without permission. I was hoping my VATSIM experience would be similar to ATS where I could just do whatever I wanted to do until such time as I could get my head around all the procedures. Needless to say, I don’t think VATSIM is for me but wanted to see if you had any pointers for me.
First things first. The VATSIM online network is NOT like the online networks for ATS or ETS2. Yes, you’re right….for the most part with ATS/ETS2 you can connect and just do your thing pending it doesn’t violate the terms of service of TruckersMP. In other words, as long as you don’t crash into other players or block roads/intersections then most likely you’ll be fine. Of course, you’ll see plenty of idiots doing the very things I encouraged you to avoid, but when they are caught they are generally served with a ban.
But like I said, other than TruckersMP and VATSIM both being online multiplayer networks…that’s really where the similarities end. The online networks for flight simulation including VATSIM, IVAO, PilotEdge and POSCON are all serious, by the book online multiplayer networks. Before connecting to any of these networks you really need to have an understanding of a few important things.
First, you really need to have a solid understanding of the aircraft you are flying. In other words, you should be able to taxi, take-off, fly and navigate based on a pre-determined filed route including SIDS/STARS and finally land, taxi and shut down the aircraft. While I’ve been flying on the VATSIM network for more than two decades, I rarely fly using a new aircraft until such time that I’ve put in the time required to learn it properly.
Second, you really need at the very least a basic understanding of the procedures required for filing a flight plan, requesting ATC clearance and just a general understanding of all the radio communications needed during a flight. While there may be times you’ll find no controllers logged in, this doesn’t mean you can just do what you want to do. Regardless of ATC availability…one should always operate his/her aircraft in such a manner that doesn’t impact other online pilots.
It may all sound like a lot of stuff to learn, but if I can do it…then anyone can learn the ins and outs of VATSIM or any of the other online networks for flight simulator. My advice is to search YouTube for VATSIM tutorials. You’ll find hundreds of hours of content to get you started. Second, I would encourage you to connect to the VATSIM network, make sure your plane is parked at a gate or some other remote parking area and tune into the various frequencies and just LISTEN! You’ll hear how other pilots are requesting clearance and communicating with ATC. Don’t give up….keep learning and keep trying. But bottom line, please understand that the online networks are for serious users who want to simulate the real world operations.
Now, you mentioned when you did login all the other aircraft did not appear in the real world liveries as you had hoped they would. There is an easy solution for this and allow me to direct you to the FSLTL (Flight Sim Live Traffic Liveries) website. You’ll also find YouTube videos on how to setup FSLTL so that when you connect to VATSIM you’ll see other aircraft as you would expect.
Finally, I also have several “how to” articles I’ve written over the years which can be found here. Alternatively you can navigate there by clicking the Flight Menu and clicking Flight Sim Tutorials. A few that might help you initially will be The Basics of VATSIM, IFR versus VFR and Your First Flight.
Also, understand this final important thing. Everyone….including myself and everyone else you’ll find on the VATSIM network have been exactly where you are today. We’ve all been brand new and we’ve all made mistakes. From time to time we may even still make a mistake. But bottom line is we’ve all been brand new at this. The vast majority of individuals you’ll encounter will go out of their way to help someone new. Especially when that new person has a desire to learn and improve.
I hope this helps you and I hope it helps anyone else that may read this article at some time in the future. The flight simulation community for the most part is comprised of likeminded individuals who all have a passion for aviation and we’re all extremely helpful to those who are new.
I hope to see you flying the friendly VATSIM skies very soon.
Until next time….
Happy Flying!!!
Jerry
September 4, 2020 / admin / 0 Comments
On 2 September 2010 I wrote my first flight simulator related blog article and published it to an old blog site I called “Position and Hold”. Ten years later, I’m still actively writing about my involvement in the hobby of flight simulation. And with a brand new simulator release from Microsoft, there’s going to be so much more to write about.
A few years later I did rebranded my site to bring all of my simulation based gaming interests into my GrizzlyBearSims brand and renamed the site “Planes, Trains and Automobiles (and Farming Too!) which of course is the name of a great movie starring the late John Candy and Steve Martin. The concept was to have a single platform to write about flight sim (Planes), train sim (Trains) and ATS/ETS2 Truck Sim (Automobiles) and of course also throw in Farming Simulator into the mix.
Over the past 4-5 years my writings typically followed which ever of the above mentioned topics I spent the most time enjoying. While I enjoy ALL the titles I mentioned above, my writings have been the most passionate when they discussed the topic of flight simulation. This is why you’ll find a lot more posts on flight sim than any of the other topics.
As previously mentioned, with the release of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020, there will be so much more to experience and ultimately write about. I’ve already been busy enjoying the new sim and providing as much information as I can through both this blog site and also my YouTube channel. In addition, I’ve been rebuilding my GrizzlyBearSims Discord channel to feature all things simulation. Please join me as I pop the cork on the past 10 years and what will hopefully be many more years to come.
Jerry
March 26, 2020 / admin / 0 Comments
Hello Friends,
I haven’t been active on social media much the past few weeks. Since Monday, 16 March I’ve been working from home and being in the IT field, I feel as if I’m just as busy in this remote configuration as I’ve been at any time based in an office. Still managing the same projects, much of the same work and even some new challenges as a company of over 100K employees all fight for available bandwidth across a VPN network. The good news is everything seems to be holding together well and we’re all just trying to make the very best of the situation.
Health
My wife and I, (along with all my family members around the world) are all healthy. In early March and well before the grocery store shortages began, my wife and I began shopping for essentials as we suspected things would get bad here in the US. We didn’t hoard, but we added to our pantry some essentials and even some non-essentials such as snacks. After all, if we’re going to be confined to our house for any length of time….might as well enjoy it with some Twinkies, Oreos and bean dip. No, this doesn’t get consumed together. LOL
Parents Role Reversed
I’m really not sure at what point in life the role of parent/son gets reversed. After my mom passed away last year, I’ve had a few opportunities where I needed to apply a little more persuasion with my dad than I’ve ever done before. My dad will turn 77 this fall and for the most part he’s doing well coping after my mom’s passing. But I had to be a bit forceful a few weeks ago about insisting that he go to the grocery store and purchase a little extra food than normal and also that he limits his visits. He gets it and I rest easier being 1,000 miles away from him that he’ll be OK through this.
Coping Mechanisms
We all have different coping mechanisms when it comes to how we deal with the stresses of life. My wife and I both lost our moms last year. She and I were very eager to celebrate the new year and say goodbye to what we thought was a crappy year (2019) and hello to what we thought would be a very good year (2020). Needless to say, the jury is still out on just how this is all going to unfold and what things are going to look like on the other side. But as I said, we all have different coping mechanisms….
While I’m busy with work, I’m still stuck at home. I’ve been spending a bit of time doing some virtual flying. It had been a few months since I had seriously spent any time with Prepar3D (P3D) and I’m enjoying flying long-haul flights where I can start the flight up before my work begins and either land during my lunch time or after my day ends.
This week all I’m flying are cargo runs as I still can’t believe we have as many real-world passenger flights flying all over the world and furthering the spread of COVID-19. But I digress. As I said, the flights I’m flying are cargo runs with Fedex. I’ve done some flights to and from Memphis, but now embarking on some imaginative flights to help shuttle medical supplies, food and perhaps even some toilet paper to some far away places.
Final Thoughts
I’m no expert. But we all need to do our part to help stop the spread of COVID-19. Stay Home! Wash your hands! And while we all need to stay informed, limit your exposure to the 24 hours news cycle to just a few minutes each day (perhaps a few times a day).
I may storyboard some of my flying adventures and post them here to my blog. Who knows….
Until next time….
Please stay safe! Remember, the life you save…might just be someone else.
Jerry
