I went back today and got it done.
I decided that I'd shotgun the problem, as we say in electronics repair: I ate a nice bland sandwich with thick bread, munched on crystallized ginger for the hour's drive to the airport in Mankato (since I didn't like the weather forecast for the return flight, I decided flying wasn't a good idea), used Lance's electric wristband, and not only did the maneuvers myself, but the whole flight, takeoff to touchdown.
It was a nice pretty morning. We talked briefly, I put on the electric wristband and adjusted it for a tingle up my palm (I never could get the tingle all the way up my middle finger), we got the airplane preflighted and started (the instructor said that was the easiest he'd ever seen one of the Diamonds start in cold weather ever), and departed. We got clear of the local area and climbed to about 4000 AGL.
I'd decided that I was going to treat it as though I were giving a lesson on spin entry and recovery. As we were climbing, I discussed stalls and spins, and how to avoid spinning in the first place, and what we would do to demonstrate a real spin. One clearing turn later, I pulled the power off and the nose up, then stomped left rudder at the beginning of the stall buffet. No spin, just a steep spiral. I recovered, we turned away from the town we'd flown over during the recovery and climbed back up, and I did it again, talking the whole time. This time, we were getting a strong stall buffet when I did it, and the airplane obediently snapped over and spun. I think I recovered after 1-1/2 turns. The pullout wasn't smooth, as I let up a little in the middle, but I pulled no more than 2 G according to GeeMeter on the iPhone.
I felt fine, so we did another, this time to the right. I recovered more quickly this time, and the airplane seemed just a little more reluctant to enter the spin in the first place. I felt the effects of that one, but not enough to give the controls back. The instructor said he felt I understood what was going on and how to teach it, so we headed back.
I flew a tighter pattern than usual on the return to Mankato. I did manage to slow the slick little Eclipse down pretty well, though, and the landing wasn't exactly a squeaker, but it was a lot better than I was expecting from the rather crappy final I'd flown in a gusty wind. On the taxi back in, I asked the instructor what he thought overall. He said that I definitely understood what was happening, and the explanations I'd given were some of the best he'd ever heard. (Yay!) He said he thought I'd make a fine instructor. I've heard it before, but it still feels nice to have someone knowledgeable say it.
We had a little bit of a fun time coming up with the proper language for the endorsement in my logbook, since the instructor had never done one for CFI-SP before, but that's now in there. I'm happy to have gotten that ticket punched. I now know I can do it, and if I had to do it again, I could, though it might not be much fun. I guess I'm not the aerobatics type.
