London in 28 Hours = No LAX

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This stinks...during a spontaneous trip to London, my sim partner and I who were very excited to get the new LAX base found out that ASA was closing down its LAX operations this June. Looks like I'll be stuck here in Atlanta. It's not really that bad of a thing, but I was really looking forward to handing out with some old friends and just getting back to a normal West Coast Lifestyle. This is the airline industry though eh?

Here are some pix from the 28 hours that Eric and I spent in London. International Business to and from London! Now that's the way to travel. 6 course meals and everything. It was the royal treatment. It makes you feel guilty for what you get. Because the original plan was for San Diego, that's what I packed for. I wasn't ready at all for the colder weather in London, so first thing was the find a store with a sale and buy a sweater. I ended up with a gray cardigan from Espirit. I guess if I was to do some shopping in London it was the right choice since the US doesn't have too much brand influence from these guys. Ironically, my sweater says New York on the left upper arm. Eric and I had some curry fries which just proved to be the best food for a quick snack.

Next trip is to Amsterdam or Copenhagen. Hopefully I'll run into some friends from a past life. It was an awesome choice but way too expensive. The dollar just under-performs the pound making it all too hard to "vacation" in London. But, you have to give it up to them for keeping it up there.

I miss you babe! I really really do. I wish that I could have come see you this past break.

Sim V and fatigue

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I was tired today. For some reason unknown to me, I just felt tired throughout the entire day. I can admit that it hampered my learning and performance a little bit today while in sim training, but it didn't necessarily downgrade it all too much. I thought that I did okay. It was the first time that we went through a full flight up to altitude and back down via emergency due to an APU fire. That was good stuff. I'm definitely looking forward to tomorrow's lesson and learning more. I think that these next two days off, I'll need to just hide out somewhere and study for 10 hours or so. Anyone been to the library at Emory? I think that I'll try to hit that up or something. We also practiced quite a few crosswind landings today. We went overboard a little bit and I have to admit that it was my first red screen where I added too much aileron correction. I'm definitely improving and getting it down. I can't wait till the moment that I can stand up and say, "I'm awesome!" That'll be a while, but man...I can hope and imagine that feeling right?

Had some awesome Hot Jalepeno Spicy Talipia again today from Johnny Carino's after mass. It was the bomb! All you can eat salad and bread too. So, I had two salads, saved half of the second, ate a lot of bread and saved half my entree and now I have a great lunch for tomorrow. I'm a little excited.

I noticed that there was a press release today by CAPT that states that they are lowering their program cost to the first 50 people. I hope that they are able to attract a few peeps. I have a house down in that area that is in dire need of renting out to students.

Alright, well, its a little later than I would like it to be and I need to wake up early too. Better get some rest. Goodnight!

I really don't like how Obama is against the Iraq War. Don't get me started, but that is definitely a downer. Chargers look like they are setup for 2007 at least almost. And...yeah...that's about it! Western Digital finally released their NAS (Network Attached Storage) External Hard Drive. I'm excited to pick one up and hook it up. I'm dying here without any form of extra space since my last disk failure. 2GB Flash drives are on sale at Best Buy for $29.99. That to me is a little cheaper than before. Almost so awesome that I wanted to buy one but I thought of all that awesome cash that I don't have and resisted. I think that I'm going to give up, what I like to call spontaneous-rogue spending, for Lent. Should prove to save me a couple cents here or two. Hopefully...

to enjoy good food...

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Once again I was able to enjoy the awesomeness of what is Sam Woo BBQ at Ranch 99 in Clairemont Mesa. Spicy Salted Pork Chop, Garlic Baby Bok Choy, House Special Chow Mein, and Walnut Shrimp...that is the meal that just works every single time. Especially when you eat it with some good friends. It definitely sucked that is was raining here in San Diego this trip around, but it really wasn't that bad at all.

Adelle and I watched a movie today called "Because I Said So." It was good entertainment. We then went to Barnes and Nobles for some good studying time. I read what was required to get ready or my next 3-4 Sim Sessions which brings me to the end of training. I can't say that I'm totally ready as I have a lot more to study before my oral exam. I hate how I have to read things over and over again. It takes a while for me to remember things and to actually store them in my mind which stinks, but I'll get it sooner or later. I'm definitely going to use tomorrow's plane ride to study. I just hope that I'm able to get on one of the morning flights back to Atlanta.

I'm not sure if you guys noticed or anything that but I've added a link to my friend Eric Christiansen's Blog as well as another feature that contains some news articles that I've elected to "share." I've been using Google Reader for quite a while now and I'm loving it. It seems to lessen the time that I spend reading different websites individually and just condenses everything into one continuous read. It's nice and I've never been into RSS Feeds until Google finally updated their version. I was using Mozilla's Thunderbird for a bit, but this is nice. Now, I just need a page with all my bookmarks so that I can retrieve them wherever I am.

In other news, the Chargers seem to be stacking up on coaches with the hiring of Norv Turner, who in turn named long-time NFL assistant Ted Cottrell the team’s defensive coordinator. We also picked up Ron Rivera from the Chicago Bears to be our Linebacker coach. It's going to be interesting to see what kind of new plays this new all star staff will come up with. I'm still a little disappointed on the decision that the Chargers made, but we have to look forward from here. Who are we going to pick up in the 1st round?

to become comfortable

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It's about time that I come out of a Sim session feeling better about the whole thing. It did take up to 4 sessions to finally get to a comfortable level where I thought that I could actually fly the thing. It's awesome once you achieve that too! I had a chance to work on a lot of crosswind landings which did get better over time. I still have more to work on specifically on the final round out. I did a single engine cross wind landing too which went really well. I haven't shined has bright as I've wanted to yet, but I'm definitely getting there. I can just feel it. I got four more till the check. I also have a lot to study for the upcoming oral exam. That's going to be exciting!

I decided today that I might as well try to go home for a quick day. I'm going to be able to study at home which is good, so I won't be that far off. Getting home is going to be an obstacle again, but it is every time. I can't believe that it's Ash Wednesday already. What are you going to give up for Lent?

I had some Bronx pizza for dinner which was awesome! Just wanted to share that. I'm also going to probably have some awesome Chinese food but since it is Chinese New Year, I'm not sure if they are going to be open. Shucks...Happy New Year though!

food!

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I had some broken jasmine rice, two eggs over hard, sliced pork chop and some cucumber and tomato back at Pho Dai Loi. I can't believe what I've been missing out on. I have to go back tomorrow for dinner or something!

I'm not feeling 100% today which really cut down on my studying time today. Totally kind of stunk but hopefully I'll wake up just feeling super! I need to keep on studying hard because the days aren't getting any longer. Before I know it, I'll be in the briefing room doing my oral followed by the check ride. It's going to get crazy, not that it isn't already.

Goodluck on the interview at USD tomorrow babe! I know that you'll be awesome! Keep it up!

of Peter Pan Peanut Butter

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Apparently the last two jars of peanut butter that I bought have a chance of containing Salmonella Tennessee. Yeah for me especially when I already finished 95% of one of the jars. Sorry babe if you had some of it too. Luckily, Adelle or I did not have any symptoms or anything. I took a picture of my jars and posted them on trelijah. Usually its fun to be part of something cool, but this time around it just isn't that exciting. =(

I finally got a chance to take some pix of unboxxing the new Jawbone Headset from Aliph. It is really comfortable and the sound quality is actually pretty good. Since I'm still not on the receiving end, I'm not really sure on how the quality is, but I'll post more on a review later. The presentation is definitely top notch and the little extras are great too. The boxes that you see online on ebay from Cingular are definitely a lot different than what I got. Since I ordered it directly from Aliph last week, the packaging was without a branded cellular provider box. I haven't had the chance to try out the different ear pieces because the standard one fit just fine. It is a little bigger than other headsets, but it does boast to have 6 hours talk time. That's a lot more than the competition. Here's the company's website, http://www.jawbone.com.

I was able to relax today but I think that I can squeeze in a couple of hours for studying. Just two really. Well, I'm off to get something done. I might work out, but might not. We'll see how I feel. Tomorrow is definitely going to consist of at least 6-8 hours of hardcore review and studying. Wish me luck on that plan!