Friday, December 29, 2006
The Year in Review
Well, another year has come and gone. Almost. But I'll probably be busy with general revelry at the time the new year comes about, so I'm choosing to do this now, while looking at the Gulf of Mexico in the sun. It's been quite a year, and I've decided to do one of those "flashback" blogs. Kinda like sitcoms sometimes do when the writers are too tired/bored/lazy to come up with new material. So here it goes.
January:
The beginning of the year started out easily enough. I had no clue what waited around the corner. I was excited, because I had gotten 3 multi-engine students on my schedule, which meant more multi engine time for me, which meant I was even closer to being able to go the the airlines. How soon, though, was something I didn't realize. I was quite content in my flight instruction job and didn't really feel the need to move on yet.
February:
Feb. 4th my two good friends Alison and Ben got married in the Cities, and I was an usher in the wedding. While I was down there, a lot of my friends were there who had moved on and done other things after UND. They basically all asked me waht I was still doing there, as I had more than enough flight time to be able to leave. On the drive back up to Grand Forks, I realized that for the first time in a long time, I actually didn't want to be driving back up to GFK. So Ben and Al, somehow your marriage lit a fire under my butt and got me to start getting out of Grand Forks. The rest of the month carried on like any other. I flew, hung out with friends, got the resume and cover letter together, and started the process of getting out of Grand Forks. I also passed 1,000 flight hours in the latter part of the month. Another major milestone!
March:
March, as I recall, nothing much happened. Spring Break happened, but I'm pretty sure I just went home. Still sending resumes out to airlines, and hoping they called back.
April:
April was actually a pretty full month. My grandmother passed away, which I think was a blessing, as she had held on for so long with Alzheimer's, and she wasn't the person she once was. See ya later Grannie. Jes and flew down to St. Louis, which I think was over Easter. That was a lot of fun, and we got to see all our friends, as well as my relatives. It was in the last part of the month that I got my first two airline interviews. Andrea, a friend of mine from UND, was working in the HR department at Atlantic Southeast Airlines, and she helped me get my resume to the top of the pile and get me an interview. I drove home to the Cities and then flew down to Atlanta for the interview. Being it was my first one, I was really nervous, but the interview crew was really cool and made it very relaxing. After I got back from the ASA interview, I stayed at home for a few days and then drove over to Appleton, WI to interview at Air Wisconsin. Again, the interview crew was really nice, and made me feel completely relaxed. I did have a weird feeling about that interview though and about a week later got the "thanks but no thanks" letter from Air Wisconsin. Oh well.
May:
May was another big month. It started out with an interview with SkyWest, which was my top choice. I flew out to Salt Lake City for the interview which I thought went pretty well. It should be said that back in February, I had set a goal for myself to be going or gone from Grand Forks by my birthday, May 21. That day was rapidly approaching. About a week later, Ben, Alison, Jesica and I road tripped to Rocky Mountain National Park to attend the wedding of other set of friends of ours, Sarah and Casey. While we were there, I got a garbled call from my parents that said I had received a package from SkyWest and had been offered a job and that I started on June 5th! It was May 19th, two days before my birthday. The rest of the month was filled with packing, getting everything in order, etc.
June:
You guys can look up the specifics of June in past posts on this blog, but suffice it to say, it was busy. I started groundschool in SLC. UND had really prepared me well for this sort of thing, and I really didn't find it all that hard.
July:
July was flight training devices in Fresno, CA and simulators in Long Beach, CA. After sims were done, I began my first of several road trips across the country. This time it was out to Fresno, where I was based for a month. Fresno is hot, hot, hot. That's about all that can be said about it.
August:
I finished IOE at the beginning of August, and then I became a full first officer. Woot! I spent most of my time inside, as it was really too hot to do anything. I did manage to make it to Yosemite National Park for a weekend though, which was really cool and fun. Most of my days off, however, were spent going to SLC trying to find an apartment, cause I was going to live there starting in September. I eventually did find a place to live, and bid a forever farewell to Fresno at the end of the month.
September:
September I moved to SLC and life got tremendously better. From here on out, things started settling into a routine, and everything in Sept. and Oct. I pretty much the same. My parents did come out to see me, which was pretty cool. One other thing that happened, in my blog at least, is the imaginary friend of mine, Pinky. I know some of you don't understand Pinky, but that's ok. I just got bored writing about my own life one day so I decided to come up with a new character for you all to read about and perhaps have a few laughs with. Don't worry, it's not as if I think he's real or anything. I'm not crazy, though I'm sure some people would tell me that that's debatable.
November:
No, I didn't skip a month here. Like I said, Sept and Oct. were pretty much the same. In November, the world of my high school friends was changed when my friends Ben and Sophia had a baby, Marcus. He's the cutest thing ever, and will definitely grow up to be a great musician like his dad.
December:
December was a pretty good month. I finally had enough seniority in SLC to hold a schedule, instead of being on reserve. I also put in for and got a transition to the jet at the end of January. Back to ground school but as of next June, I'll get a much bigger pay raise! Woot!
The end of the year was spent with my dad's side of the family in a house on the beach on St. George Island in Florida. What a way to end the year!
All in all, this has been a pretty full year for me. Hopefully next year continues to be jst as good, but a little slower would be nice. This year almost burnt me out.
I'll leave you all with a quote from my brother regarding life and vacations:
Drew: "Which kind of mac and cheese would you like?"
Me: "I dunno. The Velveeta is good, but the Kraft stuff is good too."
Drew: "I know, that's why I'm having trouble deciding."
Me: "Well, the Kraft is a good classic. Velveeta is good too, but it's extremely cheesy. You want the extreme cheese?"
Drew: "You know, I love vacations. A week and a half ago I was worried about tests, and all these freaking papers I had to write, and now my biggest decision is which kind of Mac and Cheese to have."
Me: "Ain't life great?"
Drew: "Damn straight."
Happy New Year people. Even if things aren't working out for you as you planned right now, there's always next year!
January:
The beginning of the year started out easily enough. I had no clue what waited around the corner. I was excited, because I had gotten 3 multi-engine students on my schedule, which meant more multi engine time for me, which meant I was even closer to being able to go the the airlines. How soon, though, was something I didn't realize. I was quite content in my flight instruction job and didn't really feel the need to move on yet.
February:
Feb. 4th my two good friends Alison and Ben got married in the Cities, and I was an usher in the wedding. While I was down there, a lot of my friends were there who had moved on and done other things after UND. They basically all asked me waht I was still doing there, as I had more than enough flight time to be able to leave. On the drive back up to Grand Forks, I realized that for the first time in a long time, I actually didn't want to be driving back up to GFK. So Ben and Al, somehow your marriage lit a fire under my butt and got me to start getting out of Grand Forks. The rest of the month carried on like any other. I flew, hung out with friends, got the resume and cover letter together, and started the process of getting out of Grand Forks. I also passed 1,000 flight hours in the latter part of the month. Another major milestone!
March:
March, as I recall, nothing much happened. Spring Break happened, but I'm pretty sure I just went home. Still sending resumes out to airlines, and hoping they called back.
April:
April was actually a pretty full month. My grandmother passed away, which I think was a blessing, as she had held on for so long with Alzheimer's, and she wasn't the person she once was. See ya later Grannie. Jes and flew down to St. Louis, which I think was over Easter. That was a lot of fun, and we got to see all our friends, as well as my relatives. It was in the last part of the month that I got my first two airline interviews. Andrea, a friend of mine from UND, was working in the HR department at Atlantic Southeast Airlines, and she helped me get my resume to the top of the pile and get me an interview. I drove home to the Cities and then flew down to Atlanta for the interview. Being it was my first one, I was really nervous, but the interview crew was really cool and made it very relaxing. After I got back from the ASA interview, I stayed at home for a few days and then drove over to Appleton, WI to interview at Air Wisconsin. Again, the interview crew was really nice, and made me feel completely relaxed. I did have a weird feeling about that interview though and about a week later got the "thanks but no thanks" letter from Air Wisconsin. Oh well.
May:
May was another big month. It started out with an interview with SkyWest, which was my top choice. I flew out to Salt Lake City for the interview which I thought went pretty well. It should be said that back in February, I had set a goal for myself to be going or gone from Grand Forks by my birthday, May 21. That day was rapidly approaching. About a week later, Ben, Alison, Jesica and I road tripped to Rocky Mountain National Park to attend the wedding of other set of friends of ours, Sarah and Casey. While we were there, I got a garbled call from my parents that said I had received a package from SkyWest and had been offered a job and that I started on June 5th! It was May 19th, two days before my birthday. The rest of the month was filled with packing, getting everything in order, etc.
June:
You guys can look up the specifics of June in past posts on this blog, but suffice it to say, it was busy. I started groundschool in SLC. UND had really prepared me well for this sort of thing, and I really didn't find it all that hard.
July:
July was flight training devices in Fresno, CA and simulators in Long Beach, CA. After sims were done, I began my first of several road trips across the country. This time it was out to Fresno, where I was based for a month. Fresno is hot, hot, hot. That's about all that can be said about it.
August:
I finished IOE at the beginning of August, and then I became a full first officer. Woot! I spent most of my time inside, as it was really too hot to do anything. I did manage to make it to Yosemite National Park for a weekend though, which was really cool and fun. Most of my days off, however, were spent going to SLC trying to find an apartment, cause I was going to live there starting in September. I eventually did find a place to live, and bid a forever farewell to Fresno at the end of the month.
September:
September I moved to SLC and life got tremendously better. From here on out, things started settling into a routine, and everything in Sept. and Oct. I pretty much the same. My parents did come out to see me, which was pretty cool. One other thing that happened, in my blog at least, is the imaginary friend of mine, Pinky. I know some of you don't understand Pinky, but that's ok. I just got bored writing about my own life one day so I decided to come up with a new character for you all to read about and perhaps have a few laughs with. Don't worry, it's not as if I think he's real or anything. I'm not crazy, though I'm sure some people would tell me that that's debatable.
November:
No, I didn't skip a month here. Like I said, Sept and Oct. were pretty much the same. In November, the world of my high school friends was changed when my friends Ben and Sophia had a baby, Marcus. He's the cutest thing ever, and will definitely grow up to be a great musician like his dad.
December:
December was a pretty good month. I finally had enough seniority in SLC to hold a schedule, instead of being on reserve. I also put in for and got a transition to the jet at the end of January. Back to ground school but as of next June, I'll get a much bigger pay raise! Woot!
The end of the year was spent with my dad's side of the family in a house on the beach on St. George Island in Florida. What a way to end the year!
All in all, this has been a pretty full year for me. Hopefully next year continues to be jst as good, but a little slower would be nice. This year almost burnt me out.
I'll leave you all with a quote from my brother regarding life and vacations:
Drew: "Which kind of mac and cheese would you like?"
Me: "I dunno. The Velveeta is good, but the Kraft stuff is good too."
Drew: "I know, that's why I'm having trouble deciding."
Me: "Well, the Kraft is a good classic. Velveeta is good too, but it's extremely cheesy. You want the extreme cheese?"
Drew: "You know, I love vacations. A week and a half ago I was worried about tests, and all these freaking papers I had to write, and now my biggest decision is which kind of Mac and Cheese to have."
Me: "Ain't life great?"
Drew: "Damn straight."
Happy New Year people. Even if things aren't working out for you as you planned right now, there's always next year!
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
It's the most wonderful time...well maybe.
It's that wonderful time of the year where everyone is trying to get someplace to be with the ones we love, and yet it's also the time when I think most tempers get lost. Being in the cockpit, the captain and I get to miss most of it, thankfully. Although most people are very pleasant, there is the occasional bad apple. On a flight to Sun Valley the other day, we had one. This time of year, Sun Valley flights are full of rich people going up to ski. The baggage compartment is always filled to the brim with the 400 pounds of baggage each person brings aboard, and the flights are always full. Well, on the flight before the one to Sun Valley, someone was coming out of the bathroom when we hit a little bit of turbulence. The person grabbed on the the closest thing they could to stabilize themselves, which happened to be the lavatory door, and the weigh of the person on the door knocked the door off its tracks, making it not able to close. When we got to SLC, maintenance came to fix it, but it took longer than anticipated, thus delaying the flight a little. The passengers started to board and one of them was already disgruntled about the late boarding. Then he decided to complain that it was too hot in the airplane, mind you he was wearing a jacket at the time. Anyway, with all the people on board, and all their flippin luggage, it took us a little while to get the numbers right to make sure we could take everyone and their baggage without kicking people or baggage off, thus delaying the flight further. In the end, we got out of the gate only 10 minutes late, which is damn good, given all the crap we had to take care of. That guy still complained to the flight attendant for the rest of flight. Whatever. In 7 days I'll be on the beach in Florida sipping on Caucasians and Coronas!
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