Two Day Whirlwind Tour (part 1)

Waking up at 5:00AM after a goodnight of just hanging out in a Cancun Spring Break like scene, we got ready and headed downstairs to a cab waiting to take us to the Israel / Egypt Border.  Once there, we proceeded to clear one side onto the other without any problem but once we were at the Egyptian side, our passports did not contain the proper visas to go to Cairo.  They sent us back in a midst of confusion, as we really couldn't communicate.  Walking back to the Israeli side, the guards called us back as the tour ambassador showed up with the proper papers to process us through.  I got a cool looking Egyptian Visa, boarded up a minivan like vehicle and took off.  It was the three of us, Bobby, Donna and myself along with our bus driver, and a personal guard strapped with a H&K Full Automatic MP5. 

The 5 hour journey began.  I couldn't sleep for most of the ride due to the weak suspension of the vehicle coupled with the badly paved roads, but eventually we ended up meeting our tour guide at the Egyptian Museum in Downtown Cairo.  There really wasn't that much to see as we crossed the Sinai Peninsula.  Just barren desert, random construction sites as grand canyon like geography.

We had a good lunch and got to know our personal tour guide asking him a handful of questions.  We then proceeded to the Egyptian Museum where he loaded us up with knowledge of everything that was contained in that building.  It was albeit overwhelming / wrong timing especially after a 5 hour van ride.  Structuring it in a different order might have been better.  Also having us rush on the decision to take part in either a Dinner on the Nile River Cruise, Laser Light Show at the Pyramids or Camel riding at Sunset didn't go well with us.  We decided to not add anymore expenses to the already $360 tour + $60 for border crossing fee that we incurred earlier that morning and call it a night with dinner at the hotel.  It definitely wasn't a 4 star place as we were told but it would have to do. 

Tel Aviv to Eilat

I landed early morning at Ben Gurion Airport, Tel Aviv Israel and took an airport shuttle to the domestic terminal where I was greeted with closed doors because it was a little too early.  They opened it up within five minutes and I sat inside until security opened up.  I was questioned quite a bit, for about an hour total including a back room full body check, but they ultimately helped me get a standby ticket and treated me fairly nice.  They are very thorough with their security processes but one can only imagine how necessary it is. 

I finally got on an Arkira 757-300 as one of last passengers and boarded up for a 20 minute flight.  The aircraft was full and we cruised relatively low for quite a while.  The approach into Eilat was great passing by the beach as the beginning of the runway boarders the north west side of the Red Sea.   I walked a little way to the Hostel that my friend Bobby told me to go to, changed in the closet, locked my things up and walked around with a new friend that I met at reception who was well trvaeled for the last few months.  Mike and I walked around for about 2.5 hours just wasting time and touring around until our rooms were ready.  I had a chance to take a dip in the Red Sea that early afternoon and check out the boardwalk.  I have to admit that it was very Mexico Riviera with the bars and beach chairs lining up the "ocean." 

I headed back to the Eilat Youth Hostel and Guest House, took a shower and napped to where I woke up a little later to Bobby and Donna arriving around 5:45PM.  The Hostel ended up being about $40 a head per night but also included a pretty impressive kosher breakfast.  Apparently, most Hostels in Israel include breakfast due to necessity of having Kosher meals.  No complaints here for sure. 

We headed out for a good dinner after catching up a bit and found a good restaurant on the boardwalk.  Mike joined us and we even toured the Hilton Queen of Sheeba Hotel.  It was definitely a step up from the hostel, but considerably much more.  We agreed to change the trip from Petra to Cairo the night before and we partied a little bit that night in anticipation for a 5.5 hours van ride to Cairo leaving at 6:00AM the next morning from the Hostel.  Eilat was quick, but we knew that we would be coming back in a couple of days.

Third Time is a Charm

I initially planned on hopping on a flight to Tel Aviv on Saturday but then figured out that I could end up going one day early so I tried for the Friday night red eye.  I was fourth on the list and it wasn't looking too good, but I thought that it would work out.  I got to the airport early and low and behold, there were a couple of flights that were diverted to Atlanta due to weather at JFK.  Those planes had passengers that were going to depart to Tel Aviv from JFK but instead were re-routed to ATL.  So, now I was out of luck.  They let 3 non revenue passengers on and I was fourth on the list.  There were over 20 other non revenue passengers that were waiting for a seat for the past few days, so I guess I didn't have it that bad.  I'll give it a try to next day. 

This time, the list looked good enough so that I would get on.  I ended up seeing the same couple from the night before and made friends with a few other familiar faces in the terminal all going to Tel Aviv for a summer vacation.  The flight originally made to depart at 10:40PM ended up being postponed due to maintenance till 12:40AM but as we started to board, the right engine cowl was still wide open with just a lot of flashlights peering into the engine nacelle.  I knew that it might be a little while longer until anything was going to be resolved.  Well, by the time we board and I had a breakfast mimosa, about around 2:00AM, the captain came over the loud speaker and announced that the flight would have to be canceled.  By then, it was almost a no go for, but when I got back to the house around 5:00AM, I saw that Delta had created an extra flight to accommodate the previous canceled flight at 11:00AM.  I called up one of my buddies, made it to the airport on time and even bought an ID90 (airline discounted ticket) on Arkira air so that I could fly to Eilat, Israel once I landed.  I boarded up along with the other people from the 2 previous tries and we headed out!  Third time is a charm. 

The Next Couple of Posts

Now that I have a great trip experience to write about, I'll definitely be posting a lot more in the next couple of days.  To sum it up here and now, I expired my last allowed paid vacation from my company this past weekend.  I decided to take a trip to Israel which happened to include a last minute 2-day trip to Cairo.  With that, I now have the remaining year to move all my trips around for larger breaks in between days of flying and maybe might be able to take another trip somewhere on the other side of the world.  Stay tuned for a nice post tonight on the first part of my 4 part journal entry.  Maybe it might just be 3 parts, but we'll see... =)

a 4 Hour Sit in Cincinnati Airport

Oh the joys of scheduling a 2 leg day with a four hour sit getting paid only per diem with no crew lounge.  Contemplating where to adventure to around the CVG airport, I find myself sitting her in the McDonalds in Concourse C with a brand new book that I just bought at the airport Borders Book Store.  I guess I shouldn't complain about that though because I got 10% off for being an airport employee and the #1 at McDs was just as I imagined it would be. 

The books that I picked up by the way at by Atul Gawande entitled, "Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science" and his second book called "Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance."

Today's scheduled block pay (flight time) consists of 3 hours and 8 minutes.  Our total duty time though is 7 hours and 58 mins.  That means with our minimum duty rig of 2:1, I should get paid for almost 4 hours.  Oh joy... =)  Now with the weather slowly starting to roll into the Columbia, SC, our next destination and with more weather forecasted to arrive in ATL tomorrow, just makes sense that the last day of a 4 day, prior to me getting back to San Diego, should pose these anti-on-time hurdles.  It's going to be nice though once I'm on vacation. 

Sitting...

I'm on the last four day trip prior to my 2-week vacation.  Plans are slowly solidifying, but as we all know, my standby pass is only good when I'm on the plane, seated, and the door is closed.  Till, then, we won't know where I'm going to end up.  This is also the last vacation period that I have for 2008.  I'm going to have to bid around and move pairings around on my lines for the next few months in order to block together some good days off. 

Flying has been going well lately too.  I'm use to just working days in a row with 1 day off in between lately.  It wasn't as rough as I thought it would be with all the low time blocks we have been getting.  (4-days of flying blocked to only 16 hours with one dead head)  The trips all look the same with 3 legs the first day followed by 2-2-3.  We have 2-hour sits in between our ATL round-trips which gives up ample time to grab some dinner too, but the days are that much longer.  You can't complain much when other airlines are asking for voluntary leaves I guess.  I'm just glad to be getting credits of up to 80 hours or even more. 

I just bought a new backpack for my upcoming trip.  Tentatively, I'm heading to the Eastern Mediterranean Shores, but with the current coup in Lebanon, it's getting me a little nervous.  I'm sure it'll be okay, but we'll see what ends up happening.  Back to the bag.  It's a Kelty Redwing 3100 (3100 cubic inches of cargo / 50L) that was on sale at REI for $69.99.  I also had a $5.00 credit so that just made this bag that much more awesome / cheaper!!!  I didn't want a metal frame because I'm all about carry-on luggage only and I think that the cargo space it advertises is more than enough for some summer traveling.  I'm really excited to put some miles on this bag.  I still have yet to get a locking mechanism for those stays at hostels.  Anyone have a good idea?  I just have a Master combo lock but haven't the faintest idea on what to use to tie my bag up to the air-conditioner.  I'm not going to sew on an American Flag Patch or a Canadian one, but I was thinking about a California State Flag patch.  Maybe even something that has UCSD or San Diego.  Who knows. 

It's been awhile

I promised to continue to update the blog on a daily if not every other day basis, but I've just got too much to say sometimes that I talk it out of myself and don't write it down.  I'll keep trying.

Today is the 3rd day out of a 4-day trip and is day 10 out of my 14 of 16 day work schedule.  Plans have gotten a little more solid in terms of when I plan to fly overseas to meet up one of my college friends in the Mediterranean coast.  I leave on a Saturday, arrive Sunday night and hang out for a couple of days.  We're still not sure on what exactly we're going to be doing once I get there, but I'm sure that more plans will come about closer to the dates.  (May 17 - 24th)

Flying this much isn't that bad really, but being away from the comfort of home kind of stinks.  I haven't been back to San Diego now for almost a month and am still dying to try out the new wetsuit that I bought a month prior to that. (O'Neil Mutant 4/3) Parents also moved back to San Diego so I'm really excited to get all setup again.  I probably won't bring the PS3 back to San Diego since there are more chances of me playing it while in ATL but I'll have a room close to the beach and everyone else around town.  Now, I just have to redo a lot of my permanent address stuff which is going to take a little figuring out.  Kind of stinks to keep on changing address especially with all the moves in the last 3 years. 

Just had some great Mexican food at Monterey Mexican Grill in Wichita, Kansas.  Usually can't go wrong with Carnitas, and I wasn't disappointed. 

New May Schedule: 14 out of 16

Check out the new May Schedule!  I'm on Day Four of a Four day but if you could really include tomorrow's 2-day as part of this trip, so it's day 4 of 6.  Then I have one day off, followed by another 4-day, one day off, then another 4-day.  Why am I doing this to myself?  Well, if you look at the new updated May Schedule, I'm going to have 14 days off in a row!  It's a great thing too because with all the days off, I'm still going to get paid more than I would be in months where I only have 11 days off.  I'm so far scheduled to be credited for 86.xx hours!  I definitely could use the extra $300 or so in the check that comes in on the 15th of each month. 

I'm loving the captains that I've been flying with and hope not to jinx the upcoming pairings.  The only think that is killing me though is my ongoing issues with my back.  The pilot seats don't do anything positive to improve it and flying these next few days without proper rest I'm sure isn't going to give it enough time to recover.  On top of that, carrying my bags totaling about 100lbs. I'm sure just makes it that much better. 

Time to start strengthening my core muscles.  I think that I'm going to start swimming laps.  I'm glad that the Tributary HOA finally opened the pool again!!!

The Jawbone by Aliph (part 2)

I sent out my dilapidated Aliph Jawbone Bluetooth Headset last Saturday from a San Diego post office with hopes for a quick return.  To date, it has been about one year since the original purchase from their online store and I reviewed it as less than stellar.  Almost immediately following my 3rd or 4th inquiry to Jawbone, I received an RMA and took care of it. 

By the time I came back to Atlanta from my four day trip, I had a UPS package from Aliph with a brand new headset!  I'm not sure how many different revisions there have been in software or chipset, but this headset is blowing away my previous experience.  I'm really happy with the performance as well as the distance of the headset.  Maybe it's also because I have the Treo 755p instead of the Treo 650, but nonetheless, it's nice to be hands-free again. 

Aliph kept their promise in expediting a replacement and I cannot be more thankful.  As we all know there are more states that are following suit regarding cell phone usage while driving (California Law regarding this issue comes into effect July 1st, 2008) and I'm going to be compliant.  Cheers to Aliph. 

The Possessive Investment in My "I"

I have just finally finished Jacques Lusseyran's Collection of Selected Writings called "Against the Pollution of the I." For everyone out there that thinks that they are the shiznitz (sorry for the slang) and / or believes that they are more important that the other person ordering a tall, non fat, half-caff, 1 shot of vanilla and hazelnut, latte with an extra shot of espresso coffee drink in the local Starbucks while dangling your precious keys and purses, this is a read that should humble you. I say humbling because it talks about someone's journey that puts our plights to shame. Of course, if you are more into yourself than the average Joe, then maybe it might not. I can assure you though that coupled with his amazingly written autobiography, "And There Was Light," both these works will make have you understand that there is a lot more to life than what's inside of your head. Please read them so that we can all just love one another already and just get along. Maybe we can also meet up and have a book club. =)

Unhappiness, I saw then, comes to each of us because we think ourselves at the center of the world, because we have the miserable conviction that we alone suffer to this point of unbearable intensity.

Poetry in Buchenwald, Against the Pollution of I p.179

I will write a more thorough review at a later entry. Hope that you look forward to that.

Surefire's G2 LED Flashlight

Well, here it is. I'm not just finally able to accomplish my walk arounds, but I'm equipped with one of the best flashlights I have ever used. I leveled up a notch but definitely haven't maxed out. For a low price, and I say low only because it is one of the cheapest that Surefire has to offer (A2 Aviator sells for $195.00), it's truly the best out there. The Surefire G2 sells for $65.00 and it is worth every penny as long as I can keep on my person and not misplace it.

I had a Mag-lite mini that I modded with a Luxeon LED which was great but that was taken from me in the beginning of my career here at ASA and never returned. I replaced it shortly with a what I thought would be a good flashlight, the Coast 3-LED, but that was a big let down. Not much to say there, but I'll give the G2 my personal recommendation until I test out the G3 or the A2. This flashlight is almost overkill really, but it's just nice to carry a light saber in the cold dark mornings.

More pictures after the jump alongside the Coast 3-LED Flashlight with night and day pictures.

The Surefire G2 LED Flashlight is touted as one of the most compact, high-intensity LED flashlights that are great for tactical, outdoor and general use. I chose to use it for aviation specifically but that's just me. The beam is advertised to put out 4x the light of a larger two-D-cell flashlight attacking Maglite directly as they are still the leader in this business. I haven't tried it out yet, but Surefire also says that it is bright enough to temporarily blind and disorient a person by impairing his night-adapted vision. It's detailed specifications include a max output of 80 lumens, a runtime of 12 hours, measures 5.14" and weighs in at 4.10 ounces. "Constructed of lightweight, corrosion-proof Nitrolon® polymer and rugged aerospace-grade aluminum," this flashlight should last the test of my lifetime. The batteries are the only draw to the flashlight as they use two 123A lithium batteries would could add up in cost. ($1.75 each x 2 = $3.50 per 12 hours) My walk arounds don't take that long, but I'll post the first time I have to replace the battery.

Taking a look at these pictures, you cannot even see the beam that the Coast 3-LED light is shinning! I'm telling you that it's on as you can see on my fingertips. The Surefire G2 is a little larger but the spot light is brighter than the sun in the darkness.

There two pictures only differ in exposure, but in the normal shot to the left, you can see the faint light that the Coast 3-LED is shinning. Now, I'm not going to jump all over and say that Coast's Flashlight are inadequate, especially if one of my good friends uses them. They are cheaper, and I'm sure that his might shine a lot brighter than the one that I own because of his 1-LED fixture, but this comparison is over! Surefire wins outright. I'll update this post with another comparison between the Coast 1-LED and the Surefire G2 at a later date when I cross roads with that aforementioned flashlight.

Update: Apparently, I was naive in posting that the brand that I had compared.  Instead of Coastal, the proper name should be Coast Flashlights.  More specifically, the Coast LED Lenser V2 (3-LED) Flashlight is the one that I compare to the Surefire G2.   Thanks for the correction =)

Joey Roth's Sorapot Unboxing

It's finally here; The Simple, Modern Sorapot by Joey Roth.   Mr. Roth sold out the first 300 and with the 2nd batch, he included a pack of some of his favorite tea from The Simple Leaf; a sample 1 oz pack of Honeybee Nepal Oolong.  That to me was more than worth the wait.  He had the kindness to notify me and ask if I could wait, and I agreed.  What else could you do as a customer but accept his reward for not minding to wait?  That's customer service right from the top.  Now, for the details.  I arrived home after a long 4 day trip not expecting anything except my Surefire G2 LED Replacement Flashlight and low and behold, something else was awaiting my unwrapping! 

The first picture is of the Mr. Roth Seal on top of the outer packaging.  Not much to say here except that the package weighed in at 5 lbs.  Next, compensation for the long wait was a 1 oz. bag of tea and a coupon for my next order at The Simple Leaf which was perfect because I haven't found a great place in Atlanta to buy some fresh leaves just yet.  I faintly remember that there was a place in the Lenox Square Mall, but it's just too far to go check out.   Here's are two more pictures before you have to click on more to keep on reading.  Check out the string and the innards! 

 

Intricate but simple.  I know that's an oxymoron, but that word alone sums up the amount of detail that I believe had to of transpired in the overall package design.  Untying the box was such a joy but opening the egg crate box to reveal what was inside was that much better.  The directions wrapped around the glass pot, that was awesome.  Forget about the little small pamphlets that no one looks at!  Unrolling this paper was just too good.  Creative!

The lighted picture is the best that I could offer being that I'm still stuck using my measly 4.0 MP Sony DSC-P9.  The first picture shows the final product sitting on top of the box ready to get dismantled and injected with some tea leaves!  The final product couldn't have looked any better.  The construction is flawless, but I have to say that the spout is a little harsh in that it isn't smooth like the rest of the steel.  Doesn't seem like the finish was thorough, but either than that, nothing else was short of perfect.  More than a conversational piece, it's just an awesome pot.  The second picture shows the steel casing unscrewed and the glass taken out.  Conveniently coupled with my Zojirushi Water Boiler, I just have to put some leaves in, reassemble the device and then pour the hot water in and wait.  It was meant to be! 

There next two pictures show the Sorapot before the water ready to go with leaves inside, and the next with the tea brewing away!  The tea was a little dry and I have yet to perfect the master brew, but being my first try, I was more than happy to get going and drink away. 

This piece will definitely stay with me throughout the my travels and will always sit alongside my favorite items.  It's not just art...it's simple but wonderful at the same time.  Fulfilling if you want to call it.  I just think that everyone should get one already and help out Joey Roth because he is the man. 

If you want high quality, detailed pictures, as mine do not give the Sorapot it's well deserved recognition, head over to the official site: Sorapot - a Simple, Modern Teapot

Now if he every produces his teacups, count me in to complete my coffee table set. 

Eli Stone and New Amsterdam

Both these two shows, Eli Stone and New Amsterdam, have been part of my daily cruising the Internet for things to do.  So, I end of on fox.com or abc.com and stream away the episodes that I have missed.  It's a good streak too especially when you have fallen behind, but it takes up way too much time to catch up.  I'm just in the middle of watching Eli Stone (on the 3rd one straight) and the last episode featured singer/songwriter, George Michael.  It's pretty cool just reading about how the creator and producer is a big fan and how he incorporated the singer into his show.  (Wikipedia)

Both these shows feature a cast that is just fun to watch interact.  I'm loving the various plots that each episode has to offer and its just refreshing to me that writing like this is still out there.  I still watch How I Met Your Mother, which by the way, had a great ending to the last episode.  It featured Neil Patrick Harris blogging away at his computer like he use to do as Doogie Howser.  That was just an awesome way to end his Sweet Sixteen Womanizer Story.  Oh well, I should probably get back on the being productive track and get some sleep.