BlogRush, Twitter and trelijah and some little icons

I just got approved to add the little Blog Rush Widget on my 3'rd column.  It's pretty cool the way that it works because it sends me hits from all over from other people's blogs that have had it approved on their site as well.  I just thought that adding it should provide a little bit of fun for others on my site.  Click on someone else's and check it out.  I'm not necessarily trying to drive traffic to my website, but more hits would be nice. 

I also just installed the Twitter Tools Wordpress Plug-in from Alex King.  I'm trying it out just for a little bit to see how well it works because it just seemed easier than adding the whole twitter thing to my sidebar.  I definitely don't want too many things there, but if you can't find it already, its on top, next to the title.  I decided that I would rather have a rolling type subject / blog title than just some random one that wasn't creative.  So, read away and refresh.  I'm able to update my 'status' from my mobile phone so I'll get back to doing that. 

I hate that every time I change my links, my photos stop working or whatever, but I'm going to trash the entire trelijah blog and just recreate it under the same name.  All the archives don't work and I think that it's about time that I get it going again.  Blogger seems to have it best so that I can upload pictures straight up from my phone to the blog.  I haven't found a suitable WordPress deal yet and I'll try looking once again so that maybe I could just add it to the top of my webpage rahter than juts making it a link.  But, stay tuned.  I'll have it up shortly.  It is already available at http://www.elijahnicolas.com/trelijah but nothing is there really. 

I also thought that I could had some little widget for some neat icons on the bottom of each of my posts.  It just looks nice, but it also serves as a portal so that you can easily "socially bookmark" my website (link it to other websites, etc. like digg, de.lirio.us, technorati, stumbleupon, etc.  I was bored, and it looks cool so just leave it alone!  It's call Share This! and it works seamlessly so far. 

I know that I have a lot of junk now, but it still loads quicker and I like it better than "the battle" layout.  I'm still making adjustments and stuff, but just have some patience.

Flying on the Day After Thanksgiving

The flight to Montgomery, AL was pretty packed but for a change, it was nice to walk in a terminal without physically running into people left and right.  I definitely understand that a full terminal is a good one, but sometimes it just gets too ridiculous!  You have to wonder if fire marshals approve of some of the airport terminals with all the record breaking passenger traveling that is being these days.

It was also particularly pleasant because I got the chance to grab dinner without having to wait in a line for more than 10 minutes at one of the busiest restaurants.  I got to eat it my chicken salad, french roll and banana nut muffin top from Atlanta Bread Company (all for just under $4.00 --> a trade secret of regional pilots) right next to my gate and just relax.

I only had two legs today and the last one from Atlanta to Montgomery was quick being only a 27 minute flight.  Taking off to the west and landing to the west, it all just makes for a nice way to end the work day.  Why couldn't this ever be on the 4th day of my trip!?

It's my 5th year anniversary with Adelle!  Happy Anniversary babe!  Time definitely has gone by fast huh!?  Sorry I couldn't be there, but Christmas and New Year's this year will top last years for sure!

Here's a picture of us on Halloween 2002!  We weren't actually going out yet, but this was the beginning of it all! Who knew back then that I would end up a pilot?

Oh yeah...there's a really cool website too that is a basic dictionary but it serves the words in record lightning speed!  Check it out at http://definr.com/ and try typing in anything!  It's awesome!

You have new Picture Mail!

Miami at Virginia Tech!

December Final Schedule

The schedules were released yesterday and I updated the link to the right to reflect my latest flight schedule.  Take a peek and if you happen to be in the same city as me, give me a ring. 

I'm not sure what happened to my website last night, but it seems like the additions were erased and a couple of other things were made unavailable.  I think that its back up, but you tell me if there are some missing links. 

I'm in Providence, Rhode Island for Thanksgiving just sitting in a hotel room.  My captain bought us lunch during our 2 hour layover in Columbia, SC and we called it an early night because we all woke up around 4:00AM!  What an awesome holiday!!!

The Greatest Place on Earth

I really enjoyed hanging out yesterday at Disneyland with Adelle and just exploring all the new things at California Adventure.  Seeing the Christmas Parade and listening to carolers  really gave me the feeling of Christmas!  It's definitely something that I needed.  Looks like I'll be headed to Providence on Thursday for a Thanksgiving there due to my flying schedule this month.  I do have Christmas and New Year's off this year which is great! 

I've been lagging in my studies for the advancement of my airline employability status, but because I've been slacking in my scheduling, I won't be able to break the nice round number of 1000 flight hours until January or February of 2008.  It's all good really, but if I set my sights on it earlier, I could have definitely reached that goal no problem.  I had a few months with only 50 hours of flight time, so once I get to 2nd year pay, I'm going to try flying my butt off!  On more ASA news, I just read online that the Tentative Agreement was voted in.  We should see the changed shortly at the company.  Hopefully and I'm sure that it'll be for the best!

I'm still writing for phonenews.com and I'm happy that my articles are becoming a little more un-blog like and more journalistic, but I still have a lot of growing to do.  Everytime I come back here to update this blog, it kind of brings me back to the comfortable style that I'm use to.  You can call it talking to the keyboard.  That's mainly why you can probably tell that I don't even proof reading.  Oh well, make sure that you leave comments on my articles and everyone else's on phonenews.com 

December Schedule and Vacation 2008

Looks like the preliminary bids are in and I have Christmas and New Year's Eve.  It's pretty awesome being a 1st year at my first commercial airline to actually get these holidays off.  I did make Christmas Eve and Christmas Day my first priority in my bidding and being #226 out of 462 pilots helped quite a bit.  The line that I was awarded was actually my 38th pick so I think that I faired pretty well.  Some of my other friends got their first choice and I'm really happy for them. 

I got the first two bids for my vacation!  My two 1 week vacation periods in 2008 are from 17MAR - 23MAR (Holy Week / Spring Break) / 19MAY - 25MAY (Beginning of USD Summer Vacation).  Kind of stinks that I'll be expiring both my vacations in the 1st half of the year, but I'm sure that my schedules next summer will be pretty good. 

Flying around lately around the east has been really cold.  Every pre flight has me hurting behind the ears because of the wind chill and every place that we flew to today (started out in Nashville, Cincinnati, Columbia SC, Cincinnati then Toronto were all just around freezing temperatures with flurries in Toronto.  It's about 35 degrees F with a windchill bringing it down to 25F.  I'm glad that I brought my pilot sweater but now I'm just missing some gloves.  I met an FO with some neat gloves from REI but the reviews weren't that great online.  Anyone know of a pair to check out.  It would be great if they were waterproof, wind resistant, etc. 

I've become really picky in what I write for phonenews.com and now I'm more resistant to just writing about anything phone related.  Stay tune for my next article as I'll be working on one for the next hour or so.  CYA!

Back to Work

Well, as I'm slowly getting to bed, I realized that I haven't done much since being out for the last week except play video games, clean, and sleep.  I have been a little constructive, to say the least, with writing for PhoneNews.com and learning how to be more professional in the way that author my articles.  I'm so use to the basics of blogging and writing what I feel like, its a lot different to just "report."  I like it but its definitely harder for me because it's all about being exact and concise.  I'm learning fast and look forward to getting a lot better.

I start a 4 day tomorrow and end up in Nashville, then Toronto the next day, followed by an overnight in Roanoke.  I should be able to make it back to San Diego on Sunday, but we'll see what happens.

Clinton's tactics revealed!

CNN just posted a great story on how the Clinton campaign is actually hand picking the questions being asked of her.  It's not really that much of a shocker, but come on!  Let's be real here...

Here's a video of the actual planted question: click here

Who needs flight attendants when you got...

these lovely young ladies to fill up your cocktail glass? Why couldn't I be a First Officer on this flight? Well, hats off to you my fellow pilots who I'm sure were more than smiles on this 4.5 hour flight.

Check it out!

I made it...at least temporarily.  So far, I'm learning quite a bit on writing styles but its a start.  I should have jumped on the bandwagon a couple of years back, but its going to be a fun ride with this new venture.  Thanks to my honey for some proof reading!  Oh, and for you guys who didn't know what I've been posting about on my blog, it was for a writer's position on phonenews.com. 

Google's Android SDK

The battle has official begun with the scheduled release of Google's Android Mobile OS SDK. Developers all over the world are being enticed by a $10 million competition, courtesy of Sergey Brin and company, to use the Android SDK and develop innovative software sets to be released in the near future.  Not only did they demo a seamless package, but the 3D graphics that are enabled on the platform easily render Quake as one of the many gaming options.  As impressive as the demo video looks, 2008 is gearing up to be a showcase of mobile phone operating systems. For a full feature listing, click here.

Nokia's Turn at the Red Curtain

Following Apple's marketing lead with a timer and red curtain to boot, Nokia's teaser site is up and running without providing little hints as to what they have in store for Wednesday's unveiling. Speculation hints to the N82 but its only a couple of days away so just sit back and enjoy the countdown. You can also revisit Symbian Guru who, back in May, posted some images and specifications on what the N82 might have in store for its public and since then, its been really quiet...too quiet. While your there, you can browse through the N810 Tablet mini site. It looks like Nokia finally has a winner with that one but its going to be facing some stiff competition against the Asus Eee PC.

Colts at Chargers

Final Score: I can't take it anymore. The Chargers have just been causing me so much stress lately. From getting their asses wiped by some Vikings, to an offense that can't move the ball. At least our special teams is doing really well and with Antonio Cromartie intercepting Payton manning 3 times tonight and making some awesome plays last week, it looks as if our secondary is actually a force to be reckoned with. I just wish that we had the team from last year which includes the entire coaching staff. And we just won...by luck I tell ya. Payton being intercepted 6 times and Addai going for less than 3 yards per carry. We barely got away with this one and the rest of our schedule doesn't look that easy. Let's just hope that we get a lot better offensively. It's like all the big names from last year are gone. Where's LT, Merriman and Gates? Please guys...lets just play some good football.

Now I just need Matt Hassleback to do bad or at least not score more than 14.00 points in fantasy terms. I'm beating one of the top guys right now and tomorrow will determine who wins. I need to be third going into the playoffs in order to avoid playing one of the guys with Tom Brady.