TEE NOTICE CADETS for Focus Air

I have left Fort Lauderdale, but I still have yet to close up the wounds as it just sucks really bad to be this young and tossed around like some kind uneducated "intern" who was promised things that they couldn't keep.

This is true that this company couldn't really give a care about the program or us. It is a shame on how fast one company in Florida can say, you're awesome and then thanks, and just curb you. They have done their best as they see it, but it was what they though their best was. This isn't how the other airline run a business is it?

TEE NOTICE CADETS for Focus Air

This is to notify you that the following Employees are no longer with the company effective:

EMPLOYEE NAME: Elijah Nicolas

SUPERVISOR: Bruce Wohlgemuth

POSITION: Cadet

TERM DATE: November 24, 2006

ON TO A NEW BLOG ONCE AGAIN!!! sorry to keep changing things on you all... stay tuned for new page...

Title Completed

I completed the title of this blog over the last week with my first trip to Frankfurt. I enjoyed every moment of it as I got to do normal things such as buy really cheap food (2.20 Euro Dogs and cheap cola), grab a Starbucks (just for old times sake), walk around and shop for electronics although it definitely wasn't Best Buy and just get to see some sights. I even got to see Mr. Bill Gates who stood 3 feet from me but whose guards wouldn't let me take a picture with him at the General Aviation Terminal, FraGas. Oh well, a missed opportunity for a good picture, but its all good I guess.

Frankfurt was an overall good experience. It's definitely a lot more city than Luxembourg but definitely not as quiet. I wouldn't mind living there either, but Luxembourg has definitely grown on me quite a bit.

I uploaded some new pix and there are a bunch of Landstuhl just for you Mar! (they are on page 2 of the Frankfurt Gallery) I tried to take some of the little town and signs mostly. You and Jojo should come out and visit ASAP. It's not that far from Luxembourg at all. Be sure to click on the photo gallery icon on the right side of this blog.

Adelle found some old pix of me and her that we took together our first Halloween in 2002. We weren't a couple yet if not far from, but it definitely was the beginning of things to come. I'll post it sometime later but definitely they were good times.

Bonjour / Au Revoir

I had a good drive to Paris from Luxembourg with two crew members which proved to be really fun as we stopped by Reims on the way. I even got to attend a French Catholic Service at Notre Dame Paris!

This was a really quick trip to Paris to swap out Jepp Bags and then back to the Luxembourg Parc Plaza!!! You can barely see the Eiffel Tower in the background, but it's there!
Check out the gallery by clicking on the photo!

Goodbye Hilton?

I just found out from the receptionist downstairs that I will be forced out as they are booked for two consecutive weeks. Looks like I'll be transferring hotels once again. Parc Plaza anyone? At least now if I ever decide to drink which is hardly ever, I can walk home just fine.

I read the forecast for this morning, and it had as a description, "possible snow showers," which definitely didn't sound fun. I mean, I love the snow, but living in it is totally different. No there weren't any snow showers and the sun is brightly shinning today, but the temperature is still at a low 4C as of this posting. The ext. forecast calls for a range of 8C to -2C for the weekend and into next week. How exciting!!!

Things are going well. Yesterday was the start of Christmas shopping and decorations here in Luxembourg. There is no sign of Thanksgiving what so ever either. =( I think that we are going to try to celebrate it with some friends over here (Greg and I <-- he's going to cook perhaps) which will bring some festivities to the event. We'll see how that goes. I got to check out some long johns while shopping for more electrical outlet adapters and they were quite expensive at €13.00 for a top and then another €13.00 for the bottoms. They did look a little better than the Hanes one I use to wear as a kid. I wore three layers the other day with a double pair of socks. I think though that a face mask would be key.

I bought some new gel today which is just like the gel I use to get for Halloween! It's sticky as heck. It doesn't freeze your hair over either, but man, I need to get a haircut very soon. €25-30 anyone? I also found out that getting a shoe repaired is €30. It's getting ridiculous to live here with all these minor lifestyle expenses. Another price point for ya: it cost €4.60 to dry clean a shirt and €8 to complete a load of laundry. It's just nutty here! And to think that I am not getting any European Living Monetary Compensation. Umm...what do other companies do? Now, it is true that living in Asia would be much less and yeah that wouldn't be cool if the co. paid us a lower dividend, but I don't think that any co. does.

So, now that this version has come out, there have been a few things that have annoyed me. It is still a great and very responsive browser, but since IE 7 came out, it is tempting to d/l it and run it exclusively. There are still some webpages though that do not work with IE 7 and Firefox which is still a little dosconcerning (i.e. Focus Air HR Webpage).

Lifehacker posted a nice little list of configuration tweaks that I must give a shout out to because of how useful they have been. Check it out at: http://www.lifehacker.com/software/firefox-2/geek-to-live-top-firefox-2-config-tweaks-209941.php

Something Indescribable

As the title says: Something Indescribable as landed in the office. These are the Jeppesen updates that we have for the next few days. Focus Air has 8 Kits each consisting of two bags thus two sets of plates. It's going to be TREMENDOUS!!! Am I going to get overtime? I don't know, but this is ridiculous! If anyone wants to kick it Jepp style, just hit me up. I'll be sitting in the Luxembourg office sleeping on the floor from time to time. =(

time for each "set" = 3.5 hours

Lux has Frozen Over

It has begun!!! I was lucky today that someone had an Ice Scraper of sorts to lend me. I only did the front and my side window, because he was in a rush and man, it's impossible to see out the rear without doing that one too?! It's only suppose to get colder. Now Let's just see if I could get corporate sponsorship for some winter gear.

Here's a cool pic while I was on the ramp kicking out an aircraft for departure...I get to see the sunrise every now and then and its just awesome! This is probably the best part of the job: being out there with the aircraft, making sure everything is good for the flight and just making things happen.

turning a new leaf

The colors of autumn popped out of nowhere over the past week with some trees bearing their branches after only 2 days of color change! It's beautiful out here especially the ride from the Hilton to work. Leaves falling as you drive through the tunnel of trees just gives you the sense of a movie like autumn-winter season. It really is breath-taking.

I've been getting a lot better lately with all the positive thoughts and mental motivation lately. Going out and just trying to keep a constant smile really does a body good. It was a rough time in life for me, but its all part of growing up I guess. I have said before that knowing when you are going to be coming home gives you a different sense of being prepared rather that not knowing at all. My leaves are a changin' ~sorta...