They were making and breaking alliances like tube socks in a dryer

Well, another month has almost come and gone. Still sitting reserve here in SLC, which I half expected since it is one of the more senior bases, but life is good. I keep moving up the totem pole by about 4-5 people a month. The good news is that I am high enough up on the list to get whatever reserve line I want, so though I'm still on reserve during November, I have Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays off. Not bad at all.

Pinky has been complaining to me that there is still a severe lack of furniture in this apartment. He says that while it's true that girls want guys with great skills, they also want ones that have places for them to sit when they come over. I guess my rugged good looks and boyish charm will only take me so far.

Last weekend our friends Casey and Sarah came over from St. Louis to play in the mountains with us for a few days. We went hiking to Doughnut Falls (the same place Ben and I went a few weeks ago) and saw a moose. It continually astounds me how stupid people are. This particular moose, which will be henceforth named Mortimer (Pinky's idea), was grazing in an open field near the parking lot for the trail we were going to take. There was a guy there and a college age idiot (more on that in a minute) and his girlfriend. Anyway, the college idiot seemed to be out to prove that Darwin was right and through acts of sheer idiocy remove himself from the gene pool. This guy walked to within 10 feet of this moose, which outweighed him by a good, I dunno, lets say a conservative 900 pounds. He then proceeded to use his FLASH on his camera, spooking the moose. The moose grunted, and moved forward a few feet. At this point the kid did the smartest thing he could at this point, which was to turn and back away. Alas, if the moose had decided to charge, which would have done us all a favor and prevented the idiot from spawning, the chase would have been short lived, as we soon saw when he turned around that his shoes were untied and he was smoking. Wonderful. If only the moose had decided to go his moose way home through this guy's midsection, we'd be saved from this obvious drain on society. Sorry. Not much pity from me on this topic.

On Sunday, Kelly, Casey and Ben went rock climbing. Since I still haven't developed the need to dangle above the ground on a rope, I went with the girls hiking. It was a good time to say the least. We hiked up a canyon on the south side of the city. It started to get really steep near the end. We found this really cool waterfall, much of which was ice. (It was a nice 55 degrees in the valley that day, but the mountains were a little chilly!) I wish we had run into more people cause I could have introduced Sarah, Alison and Julie to those people as my wives. Hey, we're in the land of the Mormons, why not milk it right?

This week was spent sitting on reserve and not getting called. It gave me plenty of time to run errands and the like, so that was good.

One other thing, Kelly and Julie had a Halloween Party last Friday, and I needed a costume quick, cheap and easy. With all the trash and packing material I had around the apartment from all the boxes I've had shipped to me, I duct taped them to a big black lawn bag and went to the party as white trash. Get it? It was pretty sweet. Nice play on words too. Anyway, I post more as the days go by. For a music suggestion, I'd recommend anything from the early '90s. I've been on one of those kicks lately. Also, Michael Jackson's album, Dangerous, is pretty sweet. Not gonna lie on that. Pinky's getting pretty good at the moonwalk.

Mmmm. Reading I have been...

Since the beginning of September, I have began reading quite a bit more. This is probably due to the fact that I have alot more time sitting in hotel rooms while on overnights. Anyway, since September, I have read:

The Complete Walker 4
Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West
Into Thin Air - John Krakauer
Under the Banner of Heaven - John Krakauer
The Relic - Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
Reliquary - Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
Thunderhead - Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
The Codex - Douglas Preston
The Mole People - Jennifer Toth
To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
Our Endangered Values - Jimmy Carter

I am currently out of books. Feel free to make suggestions as to ones to read. Thank you in advance.

I am the walrus

Since it's been like 10 days or so since I posted, and I know so many of you live vicariously through me, (it's ok. I'm a pretty cool guy.) I have decided to post again. Bear with me if this post is riddled with spelling errors, I'm typing on a keyboard that doesn't work all that well at the SLC Public Library. (But why not type on your computer? More on that to come.)

I guess I'll start where we last left off. Two weekends ago, Ben, Al and I went camping in Moab, UT. It was pretty flippin sweet. It's right down by Arches National Park and Bryce Canyon NP. So the scenery was gorgeous. We camped, and went biking too. Al and I are what could be called "novice" bikers, so we stayed away from the hard stuff, like hills with 12 percent grades. It's also a climber's paradise, but Ben didn't bring along his ropes or anything, so we'll have to save that until next time. Moab is only a 4.5 hour drive away, so it's not that far to some pretty cool stuff.

When I got home, I discovered that I had a four day trip on my schedule starting the next day, into my favorite of all places, Southern California. (Sarcasm)It was fun, and my captains were pretty sweet, so it went by pretty quick. No complaints there.

Last weekend Ben and I went hiking in the rain to a place called Doughnut Falls in Big Cottonwood Canyon, which is just a little south of the city. It was pretty cool, and we did a little hiking through uncharted territories around there. All in all, pretty sweet, I'll have to go back when the weather is better.

As to why I am not writing on my own computer: my hard drive blew up. Or, rather, it nearly did. About two weeks ago, I noticed that the hard drive was starting to get louder. About a weeke ago, the whole thing started slowing down. Taking alot of time to do things that before only took a few seconds. Nuts to this I thought. Pinky suggested I take it down to the local Apple store and get it looked at. Smartest thing Pinky ever said. Mind you, and this time he was high on peanut butter and wearing Bermuda Shorts, but apparently, it makes him think better. Anyway, I took it in, and they said I needed to have the hard drive replaced before it melted/blewup/died. We backed up all the information that I had on the thing, and then he told me that it would be $300 bucks to replace the thing. "Not so!" said I, "For I purchased the Apple Care Protection Plan when I bought this thing two years ago, which extends my warranty up to three years!" So what did I end up paying? Zilch. Nada. Nothing. I'll have my computer back in good working order by Thursday afternoon. Woot.

People have sometimes asked me why I would bike up canyon roads, go rock climbing, hike up waterfalls, spend the night in the north woods in a tent when the temp got to below freezing. I was having a hard time with that one myself, but Pinky helped me out, with the words of a country song:

Daddy's belt, momma's drapes
Standing tall on the backyard shed
Looking cool in my Superman cape
I told the neighborhood girl
Said, "Hey y'all, watch this!"
My fate was a broken arm,
My reward, one big kiss
When Daddy asked me why I did it,
I made him laugh out loud when I told him,
"Cause the chicks dig it!"

Scars heal, glory fades,
And all we're left with
Are the memories made.
The pain hurts, but only for a minute
Life is short so go on and live it
Cause the chicks dig it!

No, I'm not going country, and I'll have pictures posted as soon as I get my computer back.

I'm noticing a severe lack of trembling and awe in my presence

Since I've written, I have done much. To further expand on the title of the last blog entry, Something Under the Sink is Drooling, when I came back to my apartment after being gone for 6 days, I realized that I forgot to take out the garbage before I left. Long story short, I quickly went out and bought scented candles and some Febreeze. One would think that my friend Pinky would have helped me out, but he's a lazy little rodent, so no help there. When I got home on Saturday night, he kept blathering on about there not being enough pants for everyone in the world. It was kind of an interesting idea. He took the position that since there were not enough pants for everyone, that no one should have them. That would save quite a bit of fabric, thus enabling everyone to be able to have a good pair of Bermuda shorts in their wardrobe. He hypothesized that if we all wore Bermuda shorts, conflict in the world would end because we'd all have an overwhelming urge to go to the beach and drink Mai Tais. Interesting Pinky. Interesting.

Anyway, the 4 day trip I just got done with was a blast. My captain was a younger guy and really cool. We went to places like Twin Falls, Pocatello, and Sun Valley, which are all in Idaho, and we also went to Casper, WY. Of course we also came back to Salt Lake. In Twin Falls the Snake River cuts a huge gorge on the north side of town, so my captain and I walked down there. There's a huge bridge across it that people go base jumping off of all the time. Very pretty. Sun Valley airport is absolutly nuts, because it's surrounded on three sides by mountains. Very close mountains. Thankfully when we went it was a nice day, but from what I hear, when the weather's bad, you have to bring a clean pair of underwear for after you land cause it's so scary. When we were in Sun Valley, we had a passenger who must have been on drugs. She was walking towards the aircraft and I pointed her out to the captain. She looked about as out of it as you possibly could be. Her belt wasn't buckled, her fly was down, she was barely holding on to the bag that she was carrying. It was kinda sad. She didn't cause any problems on the plane though, so whatever I guess.

I have a three day weekend starting today, so Ben, Alison, perhaps Kelly and Julie and I are going backpacking. Not sure where yet, but it should be sweet.

On another note, I biked so hard the other day I threw up. Oo Ra! Ben and I were going up a very steep canyon, and I had to pull off. Walked around for about 30 seconds, then honked. Good times. I've joined the ranks of Casey. Anyway, I'll post pictures of the adventure, where ever we go, after the weekend!

Something under the sink is drooling...

Well it's been awhile, so I'll start off with last weekend. Mom and Dad came down which was alot of fun. They came down on Friday morning, and we went and toured the town a little and saw a couple of the canyons in the mountains that are just outside of town. Had lunch, then checked the 'rents into their hotel. Saturday we went and toured Temple Square, the heart of the Mormon religion. I've been there before, but the whole experience is rather weird. They have a 12 foot wall around the whole thing, but everyone inside is very friendly. Non-mormons are not allowed inside the temple itself, but the grounds are very pretty so that took up a little time. We went to eat and in the afternoon joined with my friends Alison, Ben and Julie and went to Park City. We walked around old downtown for awhile, looking at the shops and such. We had dinner at the Wasatch Brewery, which, like the name implies, brews its own beer. It's a place that I've been to before and is quite good. On Sunday Mom and Dad tried to fly back home and I went on a bike ride with Ben. We biked up Emigration Canyon which is one of the easier canyons to ride. (Not as much elevation change and such.) My muscles weren't doing too bad, though I couldn't feel my lungs by about halfway through! I gotta get more used to the altitude. Salt Lake sits at about 4,000 feet above sea level, so it's a little higher! When we got back from the ride, dad called to let me know that they had not gotten on the last flight leaving for St. Paul and were going to have to stay the night. They did however, end up getting on the first flight out the next morning.

On Monday I got a call from scheduling to let me know that they had placed a trip on my schedule. Woohoo! I get to fly! It was back in the California system, and I spent three days flying into LA, San Diego, Yuma AZ, Palm Springs and a couple others. On Thursday, I flew back to SLC and got on a plane to go home to St. Paul right after that. Friday and Saturday were spent seeing some friends whom I haven't seen in awhile, and eating home cooked food. As promised, I will post some pictures of the apartment, flying, and the SLC area.

I shot this horse three days ago...I believe it's starting to turn...

Not too much has been going on the last couple of days, I've been on reserve again since Sunday, but alas, they have not called. Oh well, it's given me a chance to get errands done and come to the conclusion that I'll be sleeping on an inflatable mattress for the rest of my life and have no living room furniture. It could be worse though I suppose. I could have no internet. That would be bad. Very bad. It would leave me alone with my own thoughts days in and day out, pondering. It'd probably result in my coming up with an imaginary friend named Pinky. We'd have such wonderful conversations, Pinky and I, but Pinky, not being the sharpest tool in the shed, would never be pondering what I'm pondering. I can see the conversation now, "Pinky, are you pondering what I'm pondering?" "I think so, but where are we going to find a mallard and a spoon at this time of night?" .....Sorry. That was weird.

In all seriousness though, my road bike that I had shipped here is coming tomorrow, yay! I've had it shipped to Ben and Al's place cause Ben is the one that has the tools to put it back together anyway. So I got that going for me, which is nice.

I went to the SLC Public Library today to get a library card. The downtown library is very nice, open with lots of glass. The one thing I didn't like was all the B.O. and the teenagers. I have never witnessed a place where so many people congregated at the same time that all needed a severe slathering of Old Spice. It was like I was on the Sarenghetti amid a herd of wildebeest in the sweltering noonday sun. What I wouldn't have given for an economy size bottle of Febreeze. Then the drama of teenage girls. Oh. My. God. There were a few of them there, who took it upon themselves to gossip loudly enough as to inform the rest of the patrons of the library who among their group of friends was doing what with whom. "John called me fat yesterday!" "You are sooooo not fat!" "I know! It's a gland thing!" (At this point she's shoving a twinkie in her mouth. I kid you not.) "John is just being stupid anyway." "I know. Boys are so stupid." As you can imagine, I'm glad I'm not in jr. high anymore. Praise the lord.

Anyway, not too much else planned on the schedule for this week. Planning on taking that bike out for a tour tomorrow, which will be sweet. Mom and Dad are taking advantage of the reduced price tickets that come as a perk with my job and are coming to see me over Friday and Saturday. Not sure what I'm going to do with them, but I'm sure I can some up with something. Until then, I'll be content to converse with Pinky . I'll leave you today with a line from Pirates of the Caribbean.

Jack Sparrow: No! Not good! Stop! Not good! What are you doing? You burned all the food, the shade... the rum!
Elizabeth Swan: Yes, the rum is gone.
Jack Sparrow: Why is the rum gone?
Elizabeth Swan: One: because it is a vile drink that turns even the most respectable men into complete scoundrels. Two: that signal is over a thousand feet high. The entire royal navy is out looking for me, do you think there is even the slightest chance they wont see it?
Jack Sparrow: But why is the rum gone?

In the city of the Mormons

Hey all - Sorry it's been awhile since I posted. I did mean to post something last Thursday, but I forgot to actaully post it. It is now posted following this one. Anyway, the last few days have been kinda a rush. Got into SLC on Wednesday, and stayed in a hotel for the night. Met up with Ben and Alison that day and just hung out. I couldn't get into my apartment until Friday at 3 so I didn't have alot to those first few days. Kelly and Julie Paasch (Two more of our mutual friends from back in the UND days who live here now, Kelly works for SkyWest too) offered their couch to me on Thursday night which I took. Friday after I moved in I got on a plane back to St. Paul to pack up some stuff (I didn't get as much packed as I'd like, but oh well) to get down to Salt Lake City. Returned to Salt Lake on Saturday night and hung out with Ben and Alison again. Sunday after Ben, Al, Kelly and Julie got back from church we went rock climbing. I'm not really one for that, but it was a small rock, not that tall, so I decided to give it a shot. It was pretty fun, but you still won't catch me on that big stuff. Today I'm running errands, getting internet for my apartment (I'm at the downtown SLC library right now) getting my mail forwarded, changing my address for bills, etc, etc, etc. Good times. I'll be glad when all this moving mess is done with and I can actually call this place a home. It'll happen eventually!

Sorry this is late

Well, this will be my last day in Fresno. HAZA! They've actually been keeping me pretty busy these last few days, which was nice, cause it got me out of the house for awhile. I found a place to live in Salt Lake last time I was there. It was a nice, kinda smaller one bedroom place in downtown Salt Lake, in a nice part of town. The address is 43 South 300 East. I think. It's something like that. I'll get you the definite address when I get there. But you can google that address to kinda see the general area. Anyway, the apartment isn't the biggest thing ever, but it'll do. The kitchen is quite small, but it does have a gas stove, which is kinda nice, cause I much prefer that to electric. It also has radiators for heating which will be alot cheaper during the winter than electric baseboard heating. Tim (my old roommate from college) and I had a place with that back up in Grand Forks and the heating bill was like $200 a month for electric! Can't afford that! It's an older, historic building, just off of a neighborhood called the Avenues in Salt Lake. The Avenues is kinda middle-upscale area that's called the Avenues because the north/south streets are letters (A Street, B Street, etc.) and all the east/west roads are numbered. (1st. Ave, 2nd Ave, etc.) Anyway, I move in on Thursday, and I'm driving over tomorrow. It should take about 10-12 hours to get there, but I plan on leaving first thing in the morning. Getting the hell outta this city! I'll post more on the move and then some pictures when I get them up!

That was interesting

So I'm sitting on reserve on Friday and I happen to check my schedule and see that they put a two day trip on my schedule beginning on Sunday. Wohoo! That means I actaully get to do something besides sit on my butt! Anyway, Saturday afternoon rolls around and I get a phone call from scheduling telling me that they need me to repo (reposition) an airplane from Fresno to Palm Springs. Cool. I asked how I was going to do my trip the next day, and they said they'd fly me to San Fran on Sunday so I could make my trip. The captain and I met at the airport in Fresno, and got ready to repo the aircraft. Just as we were getting ready to close the door, we get a message to call scheduling. We called and they needed us to do a quick maintenance flight on another aircraft in Fresno. Good times. It was quick and painless, and then we were on to Palm Springs. When you repo an airplane, by the way, there are no people on the aircraft. Got into Palm Springs at about 9 or so, and got to the hotel, which was REALLY nice by the way.

The next morning I left the hotel at about 10:30 to catch a flight to LA. Got on that flight no problem, then had about an hour before my flight to San Fran. The flight from Palm Springs to LA was on a SkyWest airplane, the flight from LA to San Fran was going to be on a United aircraft. We boarded the United airplane, and the flight attendant told us that we would be delayed getting into SFO (San Fran) and to just hold tight. I called up scheduling to let them know that I could possibly be late to begin my flight in SFO. About 20 minutes after we supposed to take off I finally talked to the head flight attendant what was going on and the flight attendant revealed that we had no flight crew! No one in the cockpit! They were delayed getting into LA. I asked when we would be getting off, and they sayed it was no going to be a 3:30 takeoff. Not gonna work if I had to be in SFO by 3:50. I called up scheduling again and told them the situation and they told me to call back. After about 10 minutes I called back and they told me that they had found someone to take my trip, and that I was going back t oFresno, cause they had nothing else for me to do. So after a long day, I ended up doing nothing. Oh well. Such is the life of someone on the low end ot the totem pole in the airlines. It'll get better as time goes on though thankfully.

I am going back to Salt Lake on Wednesday to look at some more apartments and see if there's anything else to find. Then it's back to Fresno for 5 days then goodbye to it forever! Woo hoo!

The mormons are coming, or rather, I'm coming to them

Well, went to Salt Lake City on my two days off yesterday. I had found some places online, but not every place advertises online, so I knew there were some more places I could check out. I got on the early flight to SLC (Salt Lake City) and was there by 9 am Mountain time. Rented a car for really cheap cause of my SkyWest discount and also stayed in the same hotel that I stayed in when I was in training. It was kinda weird. Felt like so long ago that I was there. Anyway, spent the first part of the day looking at the places in the city that I had found. Some of them were ok looking, others not so much. I went back and checked in, got some lunch, and then went north to North Salt Lake and Bountiful which are two suburbs north of Salt Lake and where Ben and Alison (more on them in a second) are going to try to live.

Ben and Alison are two friends of mine that I went to school with and instructed with in Grand Forks. Alison recently got another flight instructing job in Ogden, which is a city about 30 minutes north of SLC. Ben, though he went to school to be a pilot, isn't all that into the flight side of it, plus he has recurring medical problems, so he's planning on going back to school to get a business degree from Utah State. They apparently have a very good program. Anyway, they are moving down to SLC in about 2 weeks, about the same time I'll be moving there. Couldn't have worked out any better if it were planned right?

Anyway, I have some prospects so I couldn't set up viewings of the places that I found while I was there cause it was short notice, so I'm going back next week on my next couple of days off to check stuff out.

On a different note, I've been assigned some flying to do on Sunday and Monday, so I'll be flying around those days. Not too much longer in Fresno! Yay!

Sweet Sassymolassy

Weel, I'm done with IOE, which marks the last test I'll have until a year from now. I'm an official full blown First Officer. And now I get to sit reserve.
What is reserve? Well, you're basically on call. You have a block time per day ( say like from 9 am to 6 pm) that they can call you if they need someone to help cover a flight. So that's what I'm doing for the rest of the month. Some days when you're on reserve you may be busy, others you may not. When I'm on reserve I have to be no more than an hour and a half away from the airport at any given time, so I unfortunatly can't just go out and do stuff that's too far away. Oh well though. I do have a few days off at the end of next week which I'm going to use to go and look at apartments in Salt Lake City. I have some promising places which I found on the internet, but I still have to call them on Monday to see if there are any places available and to set up show times. So that's my life for right now. Today I'm off but tomorrow I'm on reserve until next Wednesday evening. We'll see if they use me or not. Who knows!

I can see the light!

Just got back last night from another trip. The captain was really cool. She was in her thirties and used to be in the military. The first day was kinda long, we went to Las Vegas twice, then went to Los Angeles twice? I think. Anyway we ended up in Inyokern, CA for the night which is about as much fun as it sounds. It's a small po-dunk town north of LA that has nothing around it for miles except military testing sites. Wonderful. The next day we didn't really do anyhting all day, flew from Inyokern to LA and then deadheaded back home. Deadheading is where you don't end up back at your base so you just hope on another flight back home. You still get paid though even though you're not flying. So I got that going for me, which is nice.

Today I do another two day trip with the same captain and hopefully this should be the end of IOE if I have enough time by the end of it! Hopefully hopefully so! Today we're off to LA, Bakersfield, and Inyokern again, then tomorrow it's LA, San Diego and someplace else. I'm not sure anymore, but whatever. So hopefully the next time I write I'll be done with IOE Woohoo!

FYI

For those of you who are unaware, you can click on the pictures below to blow them up so they're easier to see!

Yosemite National Park

Zion National Park

And now for something completely different...

Crazy Horse Monument, Black Hills, SD



Famous Wall Drug in Wall, SD



The Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD. Made out of what? You guessed it! Corn cobs!

These next few are the sights along I-70 through Colorado






I-70 through Utah

The grass was rocking back and forth in the breeze like an oscillating fan set to medium

First of all, that last post was supposed to be titled "For the UNINFORMED", not the uniformed. That would be a little weird. Well anyway, I went to Yosemite today. Wish I could have camped, but the time I got there all the campsites were taken. Oh well. I drove up to Glacier Point, which overlooks Yosemite Valley. What a cool view. I'm getting the pictures developed tomorrow, then I'll post them all. I didn't think that it was going to be too crowded, but boy, was I wrong. After about 20 more minutes of drving, I made it to the Charlie Foxtrot that is Yosemite Valley. (For those of you who are unaware, Charlie Foxtrot is an abbreviation for a rather vulgar term which means that there are alot of screwups taking place in a very confind area.) Wow. There could not have been any more cars and people there. Yosemite was unlike any place I'd seen, both in the views and the people. There was a grocery store, yes, a full size store in the park, which is run by the park service. So many vehicles though. I'll have to make sure to come during the week sometime. Which brings me to a rant. First of all, I have come to the conclusion that National Parks, or any park for that matter, is best viewed from a car with a ginormous sunroof (Subarus) or a convertible. Basically, a smaller vehicle. LARGE VEHICLES SUCK! THEY DRIVE ME CRAZY! Anyone who needs to bring a vehicle larger than a Ford Explorer anywhere is bringing too much stuff. I can't tell you how many honking tanks of vehicles were clogging up the roads. Don't get me started on motor homes either. Good lord. They're slow, they guzzle gas, they take up more parking spaces than God would. So basically, if your car get less than 22 miles to the gallon highway or makes the Titanic look like a Tootsie Roll, it doesn't belong in a National Park. Another thing about it, every now and then, you'd hit a spot where the pine smell was so strong you'd think that you were breathing out of one of those bottles of pine concentrate that my mom uses to make the house smell nice at Christmas. So cool.

The biggest thing I've learned over the past two weeks however, is that National Parks SUCK.............without people there to share it with so...I'm calling on Alison, Dave, Chris, Derek, Chris, Deanna, Rachel, Tim, LeAnn, Jenny, Andy, Jodi, Andy, Natalie, Jeni, Matt, Margot, Dani, Colleen, Chrissy, Nick, Ben, Casey, Sarah, Ryan, Mike, Chris, Ben, Sophia, Jesi, Steve, Nate, Richard, Ellen, Timmay, Trevor, Mike, Marc, Shaun and my relatives, Bebe, Mom, Dad, Mike, Rams, Mitch, Cody, Rach, Teri, Steve, Lis, Rick, Corlyn, Kels, Cameron, Tad, and Drew, to get off your butts and come do some stuff with me! I'll see what I can do about buddy passes!

For the uniformed...

What exactly is an IOE trip? Well, IOE stands for Initial Operating Experience. Before they place you in the general pool with everyone, they send you through about 35-50 hours of experience on the flight line. They place you with a special captain who is basically your teacher to make sure you get down a general flow of things, so that way, when you get out with everyone else, you are all on the same page. They can do their best to teach you everything they can in groundschool, sims and stuff, but there are some things you just have to get out there and experience it. So that's what IOE is. It's kinda like on the job training.

Done for a little while

Got done with my first IOE trip yesterday. All in all, it was a fun experience. My IOE captain was a really nice guy, and we had some fun while doing it. I'm still not "officially" hired yet, but getting closer. They want you to get about 35-40 hours for time before they release you into the real world, and on that trip I got about 22. A little ways to go yet. Anyway, my next IOE trip doesn't start until next Tuesday, so I have some time to kill. I was in a hotel last night, but today I'm going to move into a crashpad.

For those of you who are wondering, a crashpad is a place pilots can stay to rest. It's usually used by people who commute to their base, and don't live there. For example, if I were based in Fresno but lived in Salt Lake, I would need to commute to get to Fresno for the beginnings of my trips. If my trip ended late, past the last flight back to Salt Lake, I would need a place to stay. Instead of sleeping in the airport or paying for a hotel room, I could rent out a place in the crashpad so I'd have a place to sleep. This crashpad is a three bedroom townhouse with about 4 twin sized beds per room. People kinda come and go, and it's never really full there. Most of the time people don't live there like I'm going to be, but since I'm only here for a month before I transfer to Salt Lake, the guy who owns the place said that'd be cool.

Not sure what I'm going to do for the next few days in Fresno, but I'm pretty sure a trip to Yosemite is probably in order. What the heck else am I gonna do? I'm working on getting those pictures developed too, so I'll get those on here when I can!

Where are we again?

Well yesterday was much better than the first day, mostly cause we were on time and didn't have any aircraft problems. Yesterday I did alot of the flying cause my captain wanted me to get some experience with the aircraft. Good idea I thought. We left Medford, OR at about 12:30 and went to San Fran. It was really cool all the way down cause my captain was pointing out all the sights along the way. We flew right over the Napa and Sonoma Valleys, which are right next to each other. May have to stop there sometime for some wine tasting. My captain also pointed out a string of lakes that runs north/south along a line about 10 miles in from the coast. They start north of San Fransisco and continue down past San Fransisco. My captain was explaining to me that that is where the San Andreas Fault Line is. Kinda scary, just a little bit. We also flew over Stanford University, and saw their partical accelerator, which is buried below the ground but you can see it from the air cause there are no trees growing over the area for about a mile long straight line. The rest of the day was pretty routine, I was getting my routine down better and figuring out what I needed to do and when. The rest of the day took us to Eureka, CA, and to Redmond, OR, with stops again in San Fran inbetween. I'm getting to know San Fransisco very well. Last night we got into Redmond by 9, got some dinner and then hit the sack. Today we don't have to show up until 2, so that's nice, and hopefully we'll be done by 10 tonight!