a Crazy 10 hour duty!

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It all began with last night's debacle in trying to depart Atlanta for Wilmington, North Carolina. I dutied in early and decided that since the screen said that the aircraft was at the gate, I would show up early and get going. I showed up to the spot at 2030 (8:30pm) and didn't see anything. I went back in the Crew Lounge and tried to find more out but didn't get anywhere. Finally, I got a call from Flight Ops and they told me to call the tower to ordered up a shuttle to transport us to the aircraft at Delta North which was on the other side of the airport. After a 3 different phone calls, a shuttle ended up picking us up 1.5 hours later. It was ridiculous! Then, we got to the aircraft, and there was no cleaning done, the aircraft was filthy, didn't have any catering, the lavatory was broken and deferred and the aircraft needed to be turned around. I was beginning to feel like it wasn't meant to be. I got the chance to taxi on Atlanta's new Taxiway Victor which is pretty out there on the departure end of 26R and 26L. I'm just going to make this story short, but after it was all said and done, we needed to get de-fueled, catered, cleaned up and boarded. About 3.5 hours after our scheduled departure, we finally left ATL for ILM. We made up a little time, but I got to sleep around 3:30AM. It was almost like a nap. I didn't have to meet the crew until 12:00 for the shuttle over to the airport which was okay but of course, the morning was a little rocky. I started up waking up at 1 hour intervals again from 8-10, then I setup my final alarm for 11:00. My phone's charging port is a little loose, so every time my phone vibrates, it comes loose and it just deactivates the alarm. It really stinks because that's what probably happened. So, I woke up at 12:00 exactly. I through my pants on, packed up and left for downstairs. On top of it all, there wasn't any power to the entire building because of the electrical shutdown they had planned and I had to find the stairs in the dark, ended up at the side of the hotel, ran to the lobby and forgot the lunch box. I went back upstairs to grab it, and it was all good. I thought that I lost my pajama shorts but I found them when I went to use the restroom. I ended up wearing them underneath my uniform pants! That was fun.

Well, after a 4 leg day, ILM-ATL-PIA-ATL-ATW, I'm resting in the Hampton Inn waiting for a 1500 (3:00 pm) departure. I went swimming tonight by myself and will try to work out tomorrow. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that I was able to get some good sleep on the Tempur-pedic Mattress in Wilmington. You have to love the Hilton there. The Hampton is nice because they have breakfast in the morning. I can't wait. I just have to wake up now. =)

Diet for today: Banana, Apple, Orange, Nature Valley Granola Bar, trail mix, small bag of hot cheetos, peanut and butter jelly sandwich, waters, Zesty Lemon Pepper Starkist Tuna Packet. It was a good day but too bad that I dont' have that much left for the next two. I have to restock on the fruits or something tomorrow morning. Till then!

and I'm back...

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Hawaii was an awesome trip. I have to say that I did just about everything that I did when I went there in 1996 with my high school band. It was nice reliving the experience but I have to say that I was a bit disappointed in how "modern" and "mainland" Waikiki has turned out. We got to our hotel rather late in the night, but when we arrived, it seemed as if I was just back in Fashion Valley Mall. There's new construction everywhere, Louis Vuitton, Prada, Coach and just about every other high end retail store on the main street that parallels the beach. It's isn't what it use to be but of course nothing is, yes I know. Next time I head in that direction, I definitely want to check out a volcano and head to the big island or Maui. I heard that it's nice to really venture out and get away from it all.

I just got back from a Nap to Florence, South Carolina. It was a nice trip but drama with the van driver was quite interesting. Let's just say that we might not be using their services again because of how awkward or threatened we felt. Just plain rude. I am reserve again next month holding a Nap line. I'm on reserve in other words from 1900-0000. It's kind of nice that way because I get to "commute" in the same day from San Diego.

I'm trying to decide whether or not I want to play Pokemon DS. It would be easier if I had the books that I've been meaning to read here with me in ATL, but they are all still in Florida. We'll see in the next few weeks. Chargers are making some good draft picks. A little interesting in the WR choice, but I'm sure that AJ know more than I do. The Padres are doing alright. Trevor Hoffman blew a big game, but I'm sure that it'll all start to click again.

I got my tax return of $600.00, but of course that basically funded this Hawaii trip. I'm still in debt and I just have one more month until my loan repayments start kicking in. I'm a little scared, but I'm sure that I should be able to work it out. I haven't gotten a chance to fly out of LAX yet as all my other 6 roommates have including a couple of other friends that I went through training with. It's kind of ridiculous how I can't get it even though I'm there. It's a little disappointing but what can you do. Here are some of the details. I'm in San Diego calling scheduling that I'm available to fly out LAX. They instead tell me that there are no trips available, have one of my friends deadhead out to LAX, take a trip the next day and I have to fly back to ATL to do a trip there. Even when I call and tell them both our employee numbers and ask for a trade, it doesn't happen. It's a little frustrating, but like I said earlier, what can you do?

I'm just excited that I actually got what I requested which was the Nap reserve in May. I am now #362 out of 510 which is pretty neat. I hope that I'm able to get a line next month, but it's all good. Alright, well, I'm finally going to get some rest. C'ya!!!

don't forget to check out trelijah under the links for some more updated pix and just random notes. I'm thinking of just combining the two blogs already. We'll see. I'm also thinking of just using WordPress, but I don't want to bother yet. We'll see. I just want to do everything and can't make up my mind.

getting home...

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is impossible when you are on reserve. You're days are switched out all over the place and its just hard to finally get some flight scheduled are ready to fly home. It's definitely going to be a little harder, but its all good still. Adelle and I are still going to try to salvage what we have this up coming week and see where it takes us. I should be taking a flight directly from ATL to LAX then to HNL. We'll see how it works out.

Oh yeah, I'm in Cedar Rapids right now on a trip that I didn't think that I was going to get. I tried to get it swapped out but we're hurting so much in scheduling that they needed everyone that they could possibly get. We need pilots like every other regional out there.

Tonight's flight was pretty cool. I'm still trying to perfect the visual approach, but I still end up trying to figure out why the Approach Mode in the FCP (Flight Control Panel) didn't activate the 2nd time we pressed it. I ended blowing through the localizer, but made an awesome recovery and landing. It worked out pretty well, but like I've said before, it's not to my standards at all. The 10 knot crosswind landing though was pretty sick. It was a 90 degree and just blowing 30 knots up until 500 feet. It just all came together really well. I love flying by the way!

Packing for 8 days...

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I just got scheduled for another NAP (or COD - continuous on-duty or also called a standup.) If you haven't already gotten the terms, it just means that I will be arriving really late at the away station and leaving back for Atlanta early in the morning. More or less, I'm going to be getting very little rest. I'll be arriving around 2200 local if there are no delays, taking a shuttle to the hotel (15 mins) and then try to go to sleep right away. Then I'll be catching a crew bus at 0500 which means that I'll be having to wake up around 0415 to get ready. I should be getting back to Atlanta around 0845 and hopefully, I'll be able to take a flight directly back to San Diego that leaves at 0900. If I don't get that one then I could go at 1100. It's going to be a long 24 hours but should be rewarding when I breathe the SD air!

Oh yeah, Adelle and I are also planning a trip to Hawaii this upcoming Sunday through Thursday. Should be pretty fun and like always, she's all geared up to go eat at these recommended places and do the touristy things. She's definitely a great little travel agent! Thanks beeb!

Two of my roommates also got LAX trips for the next few days! Why am I getting excluded from the West Coast Flying! I want to get out there bad. Hopefully I'll get out there for the last 3 days of this month. Hopefully, it'll work out well. =)

8 days out...

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My original schedule of being away for a quick overnight round trip (RT) on the 12th ended up with me being extended all the way through tonight (5th overnight) plus the fact that I have been on duty for 6 days so that means that because I dutied out tonight around 2100 local, I need a mandatory 24 hour rest period. So that means that I cannot fly the MTX flight out that I was originally scheduled to take back today to ATL, my regular day off (tomorrow) will be spend here in Hot Springs, Arkansas and I will DeadHead back to ATL on Wednesday. I have a new off day on 21st followed by another on the 22nd then my 4 Golden Days in a row. It should make for a good trip but we'll see how things turn out. I really want to fly a RT in the LAX area but we'll see where that goes.

So, because of all these extension to my original schedule, I'm forced to do some laundry in the sink of my hotel room. I don't think that I have had to hand wash my clothing since...shoot, ever?! It's definitely an interesting life I tell ya. But, I'm still enjoying it.

Today was a good day in that I flew back to ATL this morning with some crazy winds and landed pretty well, DeadHeaded to Little Rock on Delta, drove with the Captain to the Hot Springs Maintenance base, and took a CRJ 200 for a spin around the area. We flew up to 15,000 feet and just started to do some maintenance checks. It was fun, but frustrating at the same time because we got delayed on the flight out of ATL to Little Rock then, the maintenance checks didn't really go that well. So, here I am. It's going to be an exciting day in Hot Springs tomorrow! =)

Oh yeah, I was 1 bid from a Relief line as I got the 354th bid that I made which was RES703. I have May 19th - 22nd off. Yeah!!! My co-worker who is just one spot ahead of me got awarded a line. Congrats guys! I can't wait till next month.