of working slowly

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The homework that we were assigned tonight consisted of completing 2 weight and balance cards complete with reading the dispatch, cargo load manifest and TLR. It really isn't that trivial and doing it over and over again will definitely make things easier, but I have to admit that I find myself sometimes adding here or subtracting even though I was suppose to do the opposite computation. I just have to slow down and make sure that I think more about it and work it out slowly. I enjoy doing them but just get frustrated when I miss a computation.

I had some Smokey Bones again tonight for dinner and Wendy's for lunch. I can't say that I've been saving my money but this hotel food thing is just getting to me. I'll try to be good.

I'm so proud of Adelle because she is helping me out in booking a flight back home this weekend and is on top of the new Delta Phone Travel Phone System. I love it when she takes charge of things. It definitely impresses me a lot! I love you sweetie.

My Scott Leather Jumbo Flight Bag came in today and it's freaking awesome! It smells so good and the work is just too perfect. Thanks a lot Dianna Taylor for fulfilling the no logo customization. I was surprised when it didn't come with the inside pocket, but I'll just have to order it later on. The Jeppesen Accessory Case will have to do for now. I took some picture phone photos of the case and you can find them on trelijah. I filled it up to the brim with some space to go, but I just can't wait to start lifting it all day long. The backpack thing and flight bag definitely was a good combo but now, I'm able to be a little more professional without the backpack deal. Maybe a side messenger bag or something would help out carry things here and there. On to the next purchase of my luggage bag from Luggage Works (formally known as Purdy). Man, this occupation is getting pretty pricey!

Enjoy the pics! Click on each of them for some comments of each.

You have new Picture Mail!

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Pic #3: Side Pocket for Enroute Charts. I was able to squeeze a couple in there right now and am in the process of trying to stretch it out a little bit. It too also does not have the logo which I think just adds to the clean sleek look to the bag. I have to admit that the logo does add a little bit, but I know what the bag really is and that's all that matters really.

Gen Ops Mod CRJ200 in Freezing Weather

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Today was the first day of Ops Mod and we got to learn about stuff like the new Aero Data System that we are using for Takeoff Limitation and Weight and Balance figures. It went really smoothly today with another sponsored lunch from ALPA. So far, our class has gotten just about 1 or 2 free lunches every other week while we have been here in training. It's not a bad deal. The hotel is a different matter but at least the newest classes that started today got the benefit of our complaints. They got put up in the Amerisuites which just have too many nice amenities that it's a shame to even compare it to the hotel that I'm at right now. So with that, I'm not even going to start to mention any of them.

The calculations seem to be pretty easy and the homework wasn't that bad. You just have to get use to how to read the dispatch release and the actually Take-off and Landing Report. We have 3 more days of this with a test on Thursday. Then I get 5 days off before all the simulator sessions. I know that I have to study a lot and get all my flows down still, but I'm trying to work something out where I could use my time wisely and get a lot of studying done while traveling!

Adelle got to find out who was who on my travel list so she's ready to head out and use them. I told her to check out some flight, but who know how the loads are and to where we would actual travel to. I'm also still unsure on the whole cost of traveling. I'm getting my second paycheck tomorrow which is going to be tremendously large! I'm excited for that! <-- that was sarcastic by the way but who am I to complain really. I'm loving what I'm doing.

Oh yeah....totally forgot too, the temperature right now in Atlanta is freezing! I saw a puddle today that was iced over. Here's what the weather was this morning until the afternoon where it heated up to a warm 45 degrees. Now as I post this tonight, its 30F!

On other notes:

  • Chick-Fil-A has a nice restaurant / diner here in Atlanta and I have to admit that I was impressed. I'll definitely go there again.
  • The FAA is posed to announce that they are increasing the age limit for mandatory pilot retirement tomorrow. The new age is 65 years old. I really have mixed feelings about this because it just means that I will be forced to wait another 5 years until I upgrade. Just to think that all the major airlines are going to be postponing their hiring for another 5 years kind of stinks. On the other hand, it does prolong my "career" another 5 years. Can't complain there I guess. I think that the one stipulation is that someone in the cockpit has to be age 60 of younger while the older pilot is present. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/01/29/national/main2410945.shtml

of getting on an open flight!

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After all the testing taking on Friday, I decided that I should try to get on a flight and use some of my benefits. To make a very long story short, out of the 3 that Justin and I listed ourselves on, I got on the last one, but decided to just stick it out together and we finally just got onto another airline. We connected in Phoenix and then made our way to San Diego. Adelle picked us up and we tackled the first thing on the itinerary list: Hit up In-N-Out Burger! I ate that Cheeseburger #2 combo so fast that I really don't even remember it.

We woke up early the next morning (Saturday) and headed to Kono's in Pacific Beach for breakfast, followed by some arcade action at Vincenzo's place then to PQ. Okay so my old time friend of more than 20 years hooked up an arcade machine with a comptuer setup and has over 4300+ arcade games. That includes the NES emulation and everything. It was awesome just playing some Street Fighter 2 and some Altered Beast again! That was a pimp setup. I hope to kick it more with him and everyone else once I get back. I just wanted to get some good old house time and we got to eat some Buckey's Ice Cream and PQ Donuts for some good dessert time. The breakfast at Kono's was just so much that I didn't even eat anything for lunch besides the pint of Ice Cream. (Mudd Pie and Toll House combo is the best) Back to Adelle's townhome for some rest and then off to Wildomar to see my parents. We had some good dinner there then drove down to Adelle's parents house to play some pool and then back up for one last goodnight. My mom has been doing really well lately and its nice to see that my father and her are "hanging" out. My mom is awesome! She just told me that she was looking into some older community place in Vegas and it looked sweet. I just don't know how the heck I'd be able to take advantage of the place because apparently we younger ones are not allowed. Oh well...

I got some Jamba Juice today which totally hit the spot. It stinks that they increased the price by 35 cents but it is definitely understandable being that California lost about $1 billion dollars of crops over this winter freeze. We drove around downtown for just a little bit and got dropped off at the airport. Found out that the PPR number works great and Justin and I were on our way to play more of the standby game. We were numbers 2 and 3 and got seats 1 and 2 out of three available. We were lucky. Our backup plans seemed good too, but this early flight was just right. The Captain announced that the flight was going to be 3 hours and 22 minutes and I was shocked! Everyone screamed a little bit on our landing in Atlanta which startled me a little bit but I thought that the crew did awesome especially in the weather that they were facing.

Ate some Ruby Tuesday's and then I'm off to bed! Goodnight! I'm going to try and head out somewhere this week, but from what I've seen, its hell trying to get on standby on a Delta flight. We'll see how things pan out. I can't really risk too much you know?


For more pictures from the trip. click here