The 3 Days Prior to the Bimmer Dying...

I really got to enjoy driving the machine all over Atlanta with one of my good friends from San Diego, Greg.  I finished a trip on Wednesday and I picked him at the airport once I landed from finishing up a four day.  At first, we were planning to head out to either Cancun, Belize, or somewhere random, but after deciding that it would be much more economical to just hang out in Atlanta, we did just that. 

The following morning, we woke up rather late, but planned to just roam around Atlanta.  Had some breakfast, hung out till lunch and just discussed our alternative Atlanta vacation.  Nothing really too much besides go out and hit the local bars, eat at different Atlanta restaurants, hit up the sights and that's about it.  We ate at Five Guys which proved to have some great tasting hamburgers and fries seasoned with Cajun spices.  Definitely a little more on the expensive side of things but if you consider that their patties are almost a 1/4 pound each and that the regular hamburger has two of these, its not that bad.  We roamed around a little more until it was time to watch the Atlanta Thrashers play against the New York Islanders (NHL). The game was pretty exciting as both teams scored a lot of points (8 total + one in overtime) and then hit up Buckhead.  To make that long story even shorter, we went to one bar where I was going to meet up with a friend but he wasn't there, so after a while we went to Moondogs where we met some random Filipinos who ended up having ties to some of our friends from high school!  Small world, but it was cool to see some friends with connections as it always proves that it really is a small world.  That was Thursday. 

Friday included us waking up late again, hitting up Shane's Ribshack and then hiking up Stone Mountain.  That was the highlight there really as we just burnt the time at Barnes and Nobles and driving around even more.  Saturday was a chill day trying to eat at the The Flying Biscuit Cafe.  We had to go to 2 of them finally reaching the second and still having to wait about 20 minutes in line.  Still good times though. 

We played a little bit of some Pixel Junk Monsters on PS3 and called it night.  Oh yeah, I also forgot to mention that I leveled up a female Blood Elf Paladin to level 3 almost reaching to 4 on World of Warcraft and that's when I threw in the towel. 

Now I'm on a 4 day trip just wondering what the heck I'm going to do with my car and everything else in the next few days.  Oh the joys. 

There Goes the Bimmer

i was driving around Atlanta today on my way to downtown when I felt the need to turn on the air conditioner for the first time in 2 months.  Everything was going all good (so I thought) until my "CHECK" light came on, I looked up and low and behold, it said "COOLANT." 

I watched the temperature gauge start to increase a little bit so I instantly shut down the A/C, stopped the fan, turned off the radio and just tried to do what I could.  I was driving on backroads for a little bit but I reached my destination and hung out for an hour or two.  When I got out of the car though, my car was leaking coolant explosively.  It was just all over the parking spot. 

To make a long story short, I then again headed off to work, but stopped as a gas station along the way, bought some 50/50 mix (2 bottles just in case), poured one of the bottles in the reservoir, took off and a little while later, my temp gauge spiked to red, then passed red. 

I couldn't wait any longer, and just continued to drive to work so that I wouldn't be late.  By the time I got to the parking lot, I had been running with the temp needle past the red (I mean like at the 3:00 position) an the car started making funny noises like clicking by the time I reached the employee lot.  Now, its just sitting there as I'm away for 4 days, and I plan on having it towed somewhere --> maybe the stealership because I don't know of any good mechs in the ATL area.  (Any help there anyone?) 

So, what damage could I have done driving for 20 miles with the temp gauge pinged at 3:00 and what else should I look for?  These pictures and the engine itself I could not really take a close look because of the time constraint, but to tell you the truth, I'm afraid.  It seems like it's going to cost a pretty penny. 

March Schedule

I just uploaded my schedule for March and if you take a look at it, I'm going to have quite a few days off in a row.  I'm looking at even making it a little bit longer with a few swaps here and there.  I'm still getting some flight hours in too along with a good pay credit.  It isn't that great, but at least I'm not losing out on too much. 

If you are wondering what I'm going to be doing for vacation, I'm actually going to be running a 10K in San Diego on the 15th followed by Spring Break with Adelle to who knows here.  The following week, I'm left to believe that I'll just be wandering around the world maybe in Asia if I'm up to the long flights.  We'll see.  Anyone going to be around?

4 Days of Training Over!

It's been a crazy two weeks of training here at ASA.  While celebrating my first year anniversary at my first official flying job, I knew that it would be time to undergo what every pilot goes through at least once every year for the rest of his career.  It was just the beginning and I have to admit that it wasn't even that bad. 

For many of the those who do not know, all pilots throughout the airline industry undergo what's called Recurrent Ground Training and Proficiency Checks at least once every year with another type of training every 6 months ranging from Line Oriented Flight Training (LOFTs) or Line Checks once you're a captain.  What does this all mean?  Our job is on the line every year as we need to pass all these tests or risk having to go back through training.  We also have to maintain first class medical which entails routine doctor visit every 6 months.  All this with only making $19K my first year.  I'm looking forward to making $30K now baby!!!

Now, I have one day off followed by a two day trip, then I'm off for three days.  I think that might work on my taxes or something.  I also have A LOT of filing to do as all my mail piled up over the last 6 months. 

I'll be posting my March schedule shortly and I'm off for 20 days!!!  I have 17 days straight but of course, one of those weeks is Adelle's spring break so we're going to try to find something to do.  Either hang out around the US or maybe even head out to Europe or South America.  I have no idea yet.  Traveling is just so expensive these days with how much the dollar has fallen.  It's going to be an awesome month of March!!!

Qumana - Free Offline Blog Editor for Mac OSX or Windows

I've been using Windows Live Writer for quite a while now and have been completely satisfied.  I'm able to write when I'm traveling back and forth from San Diego but I wasn't really into bringing along my Powerbook until now.  Of course, that posed one problem. Being only available for Windows, I had to find a Free Offline Blog Editor for Mac and stumbled onto Qumana.  It's quite basic, and offers all the necessities for WYSIWYG editing.  It's GUI is simple and its just as easy as using Windows Live Writer.  The only draw back that I've found annoying is how slow the spell check runs, but so far, with writing 2 simply posts, I haven't had an issue.  Check it out!!!

It also has an "Insert Ad" button which I'm going to play around with.  Seems fun.  There it is down below.  It's cool, but I don't think that I'm going to really use it that much.

Powered by Qumana

edit: renamed qumana.com link to reflect the .htm to .php // thanks Mr. Christian Biggins

Two Weeks

It's been about two weeks since my last post and that's due to the overwhelming amount of studying that I've been having to do for my proficiency check.  Of course that went well as I'm still flying happily on the line.  I also went back to San Diego to hang out with Adelle where we watched Jumper and Definitely, Maybe. 

I liked them both as Jumper was a different kind of theory that I really haven't been exposed and found the concept interesting.  They definitely left it open for a sequel which I may or may not see.  Definitely, Maybe was just an all around feel good movie but it's not something that you can go watch over and over again.  It was a little too predictable but still romantic. 

I'm back in Atlanta for 4 days of 8-hour a day class work that's called Recurrent Ground Training.  Both the PC and RGT happens once a year at most airlines and its my turn!  It's kind of crazy as it all puts it in perspective that we are really celebrating our one year anniversary here in Atlanta. 

There are quite a bit of merger rumors lately and we have no idea how its going to affect anyone, but I just hope that people come out of both sides with smiles and hope.  It's such a negative industry that anything can just trigger a mud slide of emotion and disgruntle-ness.  Oh well...

I haven't been able to write lately either for PhoneNews.com due to the fact that my hotels that I've been staying in are charging for Internet service!  It's an outrage!  I thought that it would be easy to write more articles this year, but its only getting harder as my work times are more sporadic and just with all these qualifying events happening, it doesn't look good.  Let's see what kind of news I can dig up.  There's been a lot for sure like all the unlimited plans that all the main carriers have released!  It's about time a price war starts in the mobile phone industry. 

Hunnington Beach

I got to really just hang out with some buddies this past weekend which was quite relaxing and enjoyable.  I went out with my buddy to a shooting range and I have to say that I was relieved that my aim is still pretty good.  I still have a lot to learn, but its definitely getting to be a little bit easier as my confidence level goes up.  The shooting range in Oceanside called Iron Sights is a great place to rent and try out a variety of handguns and rifles.  That's my number one choice in San Diego for now until I have to re-qualify next month.  I also ended up at a Moroccan restaurant called Marrahkesh in Newport Beach where I had rabbit for the first time.  It definitely tasted like chicken but I can't say that I was too impressed.  The lamb was awesome but I enjoyed the baklava and tea the most.  The tea was a minty green with a lot of sugar.  The rest of the experience was enjoyable as I got to hangout and meet some people for the first time.  I met one of my friend's roommate from UCSD and his wife of almost a year and she participated in the belly dancing.  Bobby also got up and danced a bit.  It was all fun.

We headed out to a bar in Newport Beach called "The District" which was basically a really small bar that was on par with PB Bar and Grill but a little bit more upscale.  We had a couple of drinks, met more peeps and called it a night night around last call at 1:45AM.  I crashed at his pad and woke up to a beautiful day.  I really can't see myself leaving Southern California for anything else and I didn't want to leave.  We walked the pier and ate a Duke's where I had an amazing seared rare ahi steak tuna.  The food was spectacular. 

Now I'm headed up to Flint, Michigan where I'm going from 70F to 11F.  i can't wait! 

Opera Mini and IBM WebSphere Link

Well, as you now, I recently just inherited my sister's not so new hand me down Sprint Treo 755p and tried to find a link for IBMs WebSphere Everyplace Micro Environment v5.7.1.  To my surprise, the direct distribution link that was provided by Palm Inc. was disabled on January 12, 2008 as Palm is not allowed to distribute the package for some unknown reason. I need this application to run Opera's Mini Web Browser for Moblie Phones and all other Java enabled applications for the Palm OS. I used it before on the Treo 650 and and wanted to see how much better it would be with the new EVDO data speeds. So, I tracked down a place where you can d/l the Java Environment Program and thought that you might need it. Here it is! Also, the only file that you need in the entire package to sync with your Palm device is located in the WEME571JVM/JVM/ARM4T folder named J9JavaVMMidp20.prc. You could read the enclosed PDF for more details.

Download v5.7.1 at Softonic

After you download it, then click the banner below to download Opera Mini! It's awesome because you can actually view webpages in all their glory and best of all, it's free! Check out all the features.

Crazy Days in KPIA

The last roundtrip that I had was to Peoria, Illinois where my captain and I decided to walk around the afternoon that we got there.  It started snowing quite a bit and the walk turned into a rather long, cold and windy one.  We headed to the theater to watch National Treasure: Book of Secrets and we also got to watch Rambo.  They were both entertaining but I can't necessarily say that Rambo was for everyone.  It's for those who like 70s - 80s style shoot-em up no plot kind of thing.  I liked for what it was and that's how I usually enjoy things anyways.  Book of Treasures was interesting and just fun, as all Disney movies are. 

So, back to the walk, before we arrived at the theater, we hung a left to the Walmart where I bought a $4.00 beanie cap.  It saved me on my walk back to the hotel and I even slept with it because it was just that cold.  The temp dropped from 18F to 8F and it snowed about 6 inches that very night. 

We woke up that morning and got downstairs for a 5:00AM van time and was alerted that the van driver couldn't make it out of his home, a taxi was going to take 1.5 hours and that they were trying to find someone else to take us.  It all worked out about 45 minutes later so I can't say that it was that  bad.  I enjoy biscuits and gravy, an orange, and some frosted flakes for breakfast. 

I got to the airport and it looked fun.  Along the way in the van, the driver had a news radio station on and they said that the Department of Transportation of Illinois alerted that the roads were "treacherous" and that no one should be driving.  Look at what we go through to get our flights done!  The airport runways were great as the ground crews kept them clean throughout the night but the ramp area where the plane was parked over night was horrible.  Here's a picture of it.  I was basically doing my preflight in 6" of snow and having it leak into my shoes and up my pant legs.  It was fun for about 10 seconds then I got over it.  =) 

Check it out...Enjoy!

Flying...Payday....Treo 755p....DVDs...USS Midway

Like I posted previously, I'm flying 10 out of 11 days.  Today is day 5 and I've been bogged down without having the pleasure of being connected to the outside world.  It's definitely boring with the Internet these days, but I guess that I should be reading and studying for my recurrent training scheduled in the next few weeks.  It's definitely not by choice either believe me.  The Internet at the Hilton charges $9.95 for 24 hours of connectivity pleasure and that's just not really in the budget.  Not sure if you caught wind either but my loan payments are in full swing at $1100.00 a month for the next 20 years.  Really...it's that much.  It's more than my 2nd paycheck here at ASA's 2nd year rate too.  I'll try not to let it depress me, but hey, like I've always flown by, I've got the best office view there is.  Maybe not the FL410, but it doesn't matter because I'm not comparing myself to the other pilots out there.  It's isn't the largest cabin either, but that doesn't matter, because like I've said, it's all about fun and doing what you love. 

Am I going to work out today?  I just might, but I'm forced to run indoors again because of the forecasted 6-9 inches of snow falling in Peoria, Illinois.  We have a 6:15AM duty in too but I'm a little weary on the fact that we might not be leaving that early.  Who will be cleaning the runways? 

I've upgraded to my sister's hand me down Palm Treo 755p.   Do I like it?  It's definitely got more pep to it and the Internet is quicker using EVDO rev. 0, but it's still not the BlackBerry 8830.  It does have a camera, but I'm not too sure if that's a concern anymore.  Maybe I'll just bring my camera with me everywhere instead.  What do you think? 

I'm going to post all my DVDs online on Amazon so that I could begin converting them to Blu-ray editions.  Of course, I'll be a little smarter in my purchases limiting them to not every new Tuesday release, but to the ones that I think I'm going to watch more than just once.  Shoot, maybe I just won't buy any more movies.  I'm talking like I could afford them!  :-) 

Here's a picture to enjoy of Adelle and I touring the USS Midway Museum in San Diego.  We went spur of the moment right after she picked me up so I was pretty beat but it's always fun hanging out with buddy!  You have to check it out but be sure to have 3-5 hours for the entire trip.  We had but 1 hour to roam around and we only got through 20% of it and we rushed too.  When we going again babe?

First of 45

Well, today is day one of the 45 days until my second 10K.  It'll be here in San Diego around Fiesta Island (without hills) so it shouldn't be that punishing compared to my first one.  Today's quick "back to workout" mode consisted of a 20 minute light jog (treadmill speed 5.0 with a little speed increase during the last few minutes) followed by some stretching and quick weight lifting.  I'm not trying to get bigger, just lose some weight, tone up and shape up.  I don't want to end up hurting for an entire week. 

Today's flight were pretty nice a long and uneventful.  Remember that these ones are the best!  So far my food intake for the day has consisted of water, a Triple Threat Power Bar, and a couple dips into my trail mix bag.  Time now is 12 hours after I've waken up.  I think I better replenish. 

February Schedule!

There it is...posted on the right hand sidebar.  Take a look closely though and you will find that I will be flying 10 days out of 11 straight.  It's going to be freaking ridiculous the way that they have it for me in February.  I also have a lot of Recurrent Ground Training (RGT) and two Simulator Proficiency Checks (SR2A).  It doesn't look like I'll be making it home that much to San Diego.  I have to maybe even get a trip taken away because per our contract, we are suppose to have a day off prior to any of our training events and if you look at the 11th of the month, I'm still working.  I don't think that I have that I have that many good overnights, but I always try to make it the best I can.

I'm also looking at maybe participating in the St. Patrick's Day 10K here in Fiesta Island, San Diego.  Should be fun right?!  I better start training now or something.  Check it out!

 

Update: Adelle and I just registered to run the 10K.  Come join in on the fun and let's do it together!  Leave a comment if you decide to register. 

Just a Quik Pic

I haven't had that much time to blog at all either on here or on PhoneNews.com because I've been back and forth again to San Diego and dealing with the 60th birthday of my girlfriend's father.  So, until then, here's a quik pic!  Enjoy!

Now this is what I'm talking about!  All that debt that I incurred is going to pay off...somehow. =)

Here's another one during my Mexico City / Cuernavaca Excursion.  Good times!