Dogg Pound

My plane was late arriving to Ottawa, Canada yesterday due to a minor maintenance problem. So I had time to just sit there like a normal passenger and watch people board flights.

I glance over and notice someone taking what appears to be a random picture of the ceiling of the restaurant nearby. Oh wait, he had the camera phone pointed at himself and some tall skinny black guy standing next to him.

That guy looks familiar. Skinny. Tall. Corn rows. Then he turns around.

Snoop Doggy Dogg.

If I'd been quick enough, I would have asked him if he still remembered everything from when he played a pilot in the movie Soul Plane. Hey Snoop, want to fly this plane back to Atlanta? Hehehe...

July 4th Watts Visit

Allison's parents were our first official house guests this past week. Given the location of the guest bedroom on the main, there were several jokes using phrases like "new roommates," "cheap rent," etc.

The Watts' rented a car in Dallas and drove, stopping first in western Tennessee for the Waggener family reunion and then Nashville to visit Patrick, Lydia and baby Adam. They arrived in Kennessaw in the late afternoon on July 1st and left early on the morning of the 4th.

The visit was relaxing and unstructured. We shopped at Ikea for a rug and ended up buying a few other things. Typical Ikea trip. I bought a new barbecue at Home Depot, totally unrelated to the ever popular BBQ holiday that just happened. I just needed to get one because I love to BBQ and haven't had the legal opportunity given the whole apartment porch against-fire-code thing. Electric ones just aren't the same.

We won our soccer game on Wednesday night so we think Pat and Dave must be good luck charms. They got to see an exciting game. I'm sure Dave will post pictures from the game when they get home and settled.

I had to go to work late on the 3rd so I missed out on the fireworks show in Kennesaw that evening. They had to sit kinda far away though so apparently I didn't miss much. But it still would have been nice to see some fireworks.

I'm in Providence, Rhode Island right now. They had a few fireworks last night but nothing close by. Could see a few in the distance.



Click the photo to see more.

Hope everyone had a good 4th!

The First Few Weeks

Thought everyone would enjoy some pictures from the first few weeks at the house. Most of these are from various projects that needed done.

Click here to view them.

More House Pics

Many people have asked to see pictures so here ya go:

The backyard. There is a stone landscaped terrace.


The entry way and the living room. Dining room is behind us. It's a nice blue.

This is the guest bedroom which is downstairs with a full bathroom.

Looking into the kitchen and the stairs from the family room.

Looking down at the family room.

The second bedroom.

This will be my arts and crafts and sewing room.

The "drunk room" which is our office.

We call it that because it was painted badly!

(even some of the electrical outlets are painted over)

The master bedroom.

The master bathroom.

Here is the family room right after the move.

Here is the new fridge and the moving mess in the kitchen.

Here is Vincent's favorite spot in the whole house.

This is right at the top of our stairs looking down at the foyer.

House on Hackmatack

Allison and I are officially home owners. We signed a mountain of paperwork on May 27th and got the keys to our "new" 8-year-old house on Hackmatack Drive. How's that for a street name, eh?



I now understand why people love Home Depot and Lowe's. I was at either, sometimes both stores, every day this past week. There's a LOT of stuff you don't have or need as an apartment renter, namely lawn equipment. And that's only the beginning.

For those of you who haven't heard much about the house, here's a brief synopsis. The house is in a quiet neighborhood in Kennesaw, Georgia. According to Google Maps, we are exactly 29.6 driving miles northwest of the center of downtown Atlanta. The house was a bank foreclosure and in the best condition of all the foreclosures we looked at. The best part is we have instant equity due to the house value being more than we paid for it. Bonus! Also, we were able to skip over a traditional "starter house" because we got such a great deal and bought a little further outside of town.

But there were a few things that needed fixing. Katy and Kelly, if you read this, you can go ahead and roll your eyes and stop reading the rest because we can't even come close to your project list. Hehe!

The main move-in issues were:
1) a broken hot water heater
2) no kitchen appliances
3) new lock and door hardware to replace the cheap ones the bank installed.
4) replace carpet


New water heater

We shopped around and got new appliances for the kitchen from a few different places. Everything is in except the dishwasher. It's sitting in our kitchen in a box right now. The electric cable isn't long enough. Apparently the removal of the last unit wasn't done very well. Go figure.

As far as the carpet, roughly half the living space had this ugly, horribly stained cheap berber. Right now, as I type this, our new carpet is being installed which will complete our move-in issue list.



There were also numerous small jobs that have kept me busy and I'm loving every second of it. Once the carpet is finished, we'll start unpacking for real. We didn't want to start putting things in place until it was done.

Needless to say, we are both very excited and look forward to our future in our first home.

My Movie and a Make Over Experience

On May 22, 2008 at 7:20 am I ran into Candid at the door of the Tuner studios where we waited to be let in. She is a Third grade teacher in Grant Park and she was another one of the models.

We met our make up artists and got all dolled up. I even got fake eyelashes. We got to go eat from the nice spread they had laid out for us and the crew. There were home made grits, eggs, sausage, snacks, and juice or coffee etc. Then we sat in the "green" room (see pic below) for awhile while they started the shots that didn't include us. Finally we got dressed and headed in for our first shot. We met Mia Butler (the hostess) and Bradly Bayou (the guy that wrote the book about dressing for your body type.)

We did a few different takes for various reasons (each time our make up artists would come fuss over us) and then we went back to the green room and dressing rooms to change for our next shot. They touched up my make up and bronzed up my legs (though on tv I was still very pale!) :-P Here is a picture of what I looked like:

I went out for my shot and we had three shots. The first time I went out I had NO idea what to do!! I just walked out and smiled. Then as the takes went on I figured out how I could move a little. I still felt silly!! It was fun though. (o; Don't I look made over? hehe

Then I went back to the green room and the other girls took their time. They asked me if I would do the Revlon shooting too for their sponsor. I said sure and so I had to stay a little after lunch. They tried to fit us in before lunch but the last shots ran over. So we ate the catered lunch of chicken and veggies along with apple pie. We did the make up shot and I had to speak!!!! I just said a quick thing about how the make up felt and that was it.

There now you know what it's like to be on movie and a make over. Plus I got to keep the outfit you see in the pic. (o:

I'm going to be on Movie and a Makeover on TBS!

I have a friend from high school named Melanie Frank who works at Turner broadcasting here in Atlanta. She sent me an email asking if I would like to apply for Movie and a Makeover. I sent in my information and I was accepted!! All I know is that "the make over" is for a guy's book that talks about dressing for your body type. I will be one of the models.

It is going to air on May 31st at 9:45 am Eastern time.

It will be during the movie Princess of Thieves.
http://www.tbs.com/schedule.jsp?selectedDate=5/31/2008&timeZone=0

I'm super excited!! I'm filming it on May 22nd.

So I can't wait! I'll fill you in on more of the details after filming.

Rule of the Road

Ever since moving to Atlanta in 2004, I've noticed a peculiar habit the local drivers have. They pass you on the right, not the left. Since there is no requirement to take another driving test to get a Georgia license when you have a current out-of-state license, I can only assume that Georgia rules dictate this. Logic only permits as I observe this 90% of the time.

And it REALLY gets on my nerves.

If you don't live under a rock, you are well aware that gas prices are getting ridiculous. The QT station down the street from us is up to $3.72 a gallon for regular. WOW! I can actually remember the days before I drove when it was less than a dollar. I guess I'm getting old. Anyway, to fight this, I've been doing my best to drive more conservatively on the highway by keeping it between 65-70mph. Those of you in Atlanta reading this know very well that going that speed on the perimeter can sometimes be challenging.

For those of you not familiar with Atlanta, the 285 loop that circles the greater Atlanta area (aka "the perimeter") is often referred to as the Atlanta Motor Speedway, a reference to the Nascar race track south of town. The posted speed limit is 55, however, I'd imagine many drivers wouldn't even be able to tell you that. Depending on the time of day, on the west side of Atlanta, you can easily drive 90mph and "blend in" with traffic.

Okay Dave, sure, it's like that in a lot of major cities. Yes, while this is true, there is one major gotcha with 285 in Atlanta.

It is often clogged with big rig tractor trailers.

The reason is because big rigs are prohibited from using I-75/85 interstates that run through downtown Atlanta unless they are local traffic. On 285, which is 4 lanes wide on each side in most places, there are signs posted that require big rigs to use the right 2 lanes.

When there are a lot of big rigs in the right 2 lanes, you are pretty much forced to drive around 80mph in the 2nd from the left lane, which becomes the "slow" lane for cars, or you will be run over.

So when there aren't a lot of big rigs, you can drive in the right 2 lanes but still need to go 10-15mph over the speed limit if you enjoy your life. When these conditions exist, I usually drive in the 2nd right lane, as in, 2nd from the right. This is to avoid the merge traffic coming on the freeway. Okay, easy cheesy, right?

Wrong.

This brings me to my point of severe annoyance. Despite being over in the right hand lanes, a car will come flying up behind you at 90mph, wait until the last possible second, and then proceed to pass you on the RIGHT with 2 EMPTY lanes to the left. May I say again, 2 EMPTY left lanes. Said person is nearly always talking on a cell phone along with most other drivers in Atlanta. I'll save that for another blog.

In Atlanta, this happens ALL THE TIME. AHHHAHHGHAHHGHA!! Never have I seen it on such a regular basis anywhere else I've driven, such as Houston, Austin, Dallas, Phoenix or Los Angeles. What the heck, Atlanta?

Basic driving rules say that the left lane is for passing or faster traffic, the right lane is for normal flow or slower traffic. Pass someone on the left, move back over to the right afterwards.

As an example, let's say I'm driving in the left lane on a 2-lane road. I see a faster car approaching in my mirror. I should yield and move to the right lane so they may pass me in the PASSING LANE on the left.

Okay, we all know this right?

Apply this to a 4-lane road and you have the same dynamic on a bigger scale. 3 years ago, I would do what I described above, move over. After living here for a while, I've essentially given up on other drivers actually following any rules.

So referring back to my original complaint, yes, I'm being partially hypocritical by not moving over to the far right lane. But it's hard not to when you observe other people's awful driving habits. It's the 'everyone else is doing it so I might as well too' mentality. Plus, I've observed this so many times I assume the car will pass me on the right anyway. If I DO move over, the car will likely run into me thus causing an accident. Technically I'm not at fault because I have the right of way being ahead of said driver.

And the best part is that a lot of times, the passing car gets stuck behind a slower moving car after passing me, which, to their amazement, is going the slowest of all the cars WHICH IS WHY IT IS IN THE RIGHT LANE TO BEGIN WITH!!! Whenever this happens, had the moron passed me on the left like they should have, they would have cruised right on by.

I rest my case.

P.S. The best part of all this to me, a lot of these vehicles flying by me are larger sport-utility types, whom, at 90mph, are getting gas mileage likely in the lower teens per mile. You go tough guy. Get there.

**Note** I do acknowledge the fact that some of you could care less about how much you spend on gas and that is fine with me. That is not my beef, but merely ironic to this author.

Soccer (o:

I've told people I play soccer so here is some proof. (o:

It has been fun to play almost every Sunday afternoon.

We lose almost every game but we play hard and have fun.

Dave got to come to a game finally (he was usually flying)

so he was able to get some snapshots.

I'm Ready!

Ready-reserve, that is.

The new pilot union contract we signed last November included a new section for ready-reserve duty. It pretty much means what it sounds like. A ready-reserve pilot sits at the airport waiting to be called to go fly if needed.

Scheduling gave me my first ever RR shifts this past week, one on Saturday and one this past Monday. I flew both times. But you go to the airport possibly expecting to sit in the crew lounge for 8 full hours if scheduling doesn't use you.

So with laptop and Netflix movies in hand, I settled into a recliner in the crew lounge.


Cell phone camera portrait

That was taken on my Monday shift a little after 6 in the morning. The lounge is nearly empty at that time of day. I already had an assignment when I dutied in at 6am but it wasn't for another 2.5 hours.

When I finally go out to the airplane, a maintenance employee kindly left behind his trash for me to clean up.



What a jerk. Whenever maintenance tow aircraft using the mini tugs, one guy has to be up on the flight deck to hit the brakes if the tug malfunctions for some reason. So they just make themselves at home.

Anyway, I am on regular "short-call" reserve today, which means I have to be within 2 hours of the airport. I've also changed my preference for May to "don't fly me unless you have to," so I can start packing and getting things ready for the move.

I don't think we've officially announced it on our blog, but Allison and I are probably going to become home owners at the end of May. The house was a foreclosure, so the bank that's currently responsible for the house can back out of the deal for any reason at any time. Hence the probably. We'll keep you posted.

MARIO KART FOR WII (o:

Wii are so excited to play Mario Kart on the Wii. It's one my favorite games from the old systems!! (o: We have two wheels if anyone wants to come play!

Spring Break Post

As promised, here is the rest of the story of our Spring Break trip.

After looking at houses all day on Tuesday, we woke up early Wednesday for the 7:00am flight to Los Angeles. This trip was a little different because my parents are currently remodeling their kitchen. So both of them were busy dealing with cabinet installation, among other things. It was a fun process to see.



So Allison and I borrowed the Saab (irony on this later) and headed up to wine country for a little vineyard action. The closest and probably best kept secret is the Santa Ynez Valley, about 30 minutes north of Santa Barbara. If you've ever seen the movie Sideways, this is where it takes place and was filmed. The main town there is Solvang, which is modeled to be a mini-Copenhagen, Denmark. Seeing as how Allison and I have been to the real Copenhagen, we snobbishly remarked how cute it was. Funny thing is, the town was founded by actual Danish immigrants so it is fairly authentic, with a little tourist twist.

We had an amazing time and spent the day wine tasting and touring the area. We visited 3 vineyards, Gainey, Blackjack and Sanford/Alma Rosa vineyards. The last one, Sanford, is the first place the main characters stop to taste in the movie Sideways. We watched the movie again afterwards and recognized nearly all the locations used including the hotel, the restaurant and several vineyards. Cool!

The next day, Stephanie drove over from Brea to spend the day with us. We took her to the Marina del Rey beach with lunch from Baja Fresh. Then we walked the 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica, an well-known outdoor mall of sorts. Allison went out to Brea to see Stephanie's new place and had dinner with her boyfriend Ryan and their roommate. I stayed back at my parents as I was really tired and sick of being in the car after our day in wine country. I helped my dad build a stand for his wine fridge, part of the new kitchen.

It was a fun, relaxing visit and we enjoyed seeing all the chaos that comes with remodeling.

Click here to view some pictures from the week. Enjoy!

BTW, the irony about the Saab...Miles & Jack from the movie Sideways drive there in a convertible Saab, just like we did. I didn't realize this irony until we got home and watched the movie. Funny.

Allison Got a New Job!!!!

For a while now, I have been trying to get a job in Cobb county. Ever since we moved to Georgia we have been looking for the area that feels like home. So far, the northwest part of Atlanta including Smyrna, Marietta and Kennesaw are our favorites.

Particularly, Kennesaw. It has lots of shopping (a plus for me), not too far from church, it's got great house prices, it's not far from the mountains (beautiful!), it's close to where we like to mountain bike, it is closer to our nephew, Patrick, and Lydia in TN., it's rich in history with battlefield parks, and there are a few houses that we are VERY interested in!

The job finding went like this...

Filled out forms, went to job fair, waited a lot, and finally I decided to email a teacher at Kennesaw Elementary in First grade to see if she thought I would be a good fit for their team. She responded and said yes so one thing led to another and I got an interview on Tuesday, April 15th. They called me the next day and I said YES I would LOVE to work for you!!!

It's a Kinder to 2nd grade school only which I think is really fun because I love those ages!! Yay! Now we need to get a house.

(o;

Traveling For Free is Fun!

Allison and I went to California to visit my parents over her Spring Break last week. I had a week of vacation as well. I will post a blog about the trip later. For now, here is the story of us getting back to Atlanta yesterday, Sunday April 13th. I wanted to share with you the negative side of free travel benefits.

For those that don't know, free employee travel is on a seat-available basis. All paying passengers are boarded and if there are any seats left, employees get them in priority order by employee hire date, oldest to newest. Some airlines do it first-come, first serve. Via the internet, we can check the flight loads to see how many paying revenue passengers (or rev's) are on a flight as well as the list of employee's (or non-rev's) that will potentially be trying to get on the flight.

Our favorite return flights from the west coast are red-eye's. As you'll see, they waste the "least" amount of time. So what the heck is a red-eye? A long flight going eastbound that skips over "normal" night time completely because of time zones. The 10:55pm Los Angeles to Atlanta is a 4-hour flight that arrives to Atlanta the next day at 6:10am eastern, hence the skipping night. Sleep on the plane or you will have tired "red eyes" upon arrival. Yes, it can create jet lag but it usually doesn't bother us that much. And now we have all Sunday to recover instead of just a few hours.

Anyway, there are 3 red-eye's from LA to Atlanta starting at 10:55pm. The first one on Saturday night was a no go. No non-rev's even made the flight. Then we saw the list for the next one and got on the phone to my parents to come pick us back up. Turned out to be right. We wouldn't have made the other 2 either.

Awoke again at 4:40am Sunday morning to head back for the 6:15am flight. No luck. Then the 7am to Cincinnati. Just barely nope. 7:30 to ATL. No. 8:45 to ATL. No. I think between all 4 of the those flights, maybe 1 or 2 non-revs made it on. All were asking for revenue volunteers to give up seats. Not a good situation for non-rev's.

Between the 7:30am and 8:45, Allison started to get worried. Any later and we'd be getting back to Atlanta after dinner time. Being absent from school the first day back after Spring Break is not good. She has an interview Tuesday that she has to take a half day off for. Also, her contract for next year is due today. So we called my Dad and begged for a frequent flier miles reward ticket to which he responded positively. Thanks Dad! He travels international a lot. Still cost us $85 because of the late booking. It was a 10:05 Northwest flight to Minneapolis, then a 4:10 Delta flight to ATL with a 41 minute connection, arriving to Atlanta at 7:50pm. Great. Stupid computers and their tight connections.

So Allison headed over to Terminal 2 around 8am while I sat and waited to see if I'd make the 8:45 Delta flight to ATL. About that time, 45 minutes later, Allison called me saying she got to the NW gate. Since Delta was a no-go, I had her ask the NW gate agent if they had any jumpseaters listed yet and essentially the answer was there will be empty seats in the cabin. As an airline pilot, I can ride on virtually any airline for free. If I ride as a "jumpseater," I only have to sit in the actual cockpit jumpseat if there are no seats in the cabin.

I headed over to Terminal 2, went to the NW ticket counter to get a stupid gate access pass because even though I'm a crew member, AND in uniform with the intent to jumpseat, I still have to make like a regular passenger because of a certain event a few years ago in September.

Got through security, arrived and checked in with the gate around 9:30, got listed as a jumpseater, got the Captain's approval and got a seat. The Captain has to approve because I could potentially be riding the in the cockpit. Standard procedure.

Allison was only 2 rows in front of me in a center seat, with me on the window. No one showed up to the center seat next to me so right when the flight attendants said the "boarding door is now closed," she jumped up and scurried back. I had already warned the guy sitting on the aisle next to me so he was ready too. We're seasoned veterans at this by now.

3 hours to MSP. Touched down about 10 minutes late, pulled into the gate 22 minutes prior to our Atlanta flight. Actually got off the plane about 5 minutes later which gave us 6-7 minutes to race to the other gate before they closed the flight. Luckily, I already knew it had room for me to get on as a non-rev but I wasn't listed yet. They can list you at the gate but I figured if I showed up that close to departure they might not look on it so positively. Delay a flight for a free loader? Forget it.

So while walking VERY briskly about 1/2 a mile to the other gate, I call my Mom and walk her through listing me on the flight over the internet. That took up until about 15 seconds before arriving at the gate, which was deserted with the exception of 3 gate agents. Lucky for us, they hadn't closed the door and were probably the friendliest agents ever. Maybe it was because Allison had a normal ticket and they were giving her a few extra minutes. No idea. Once they realized we were together, they gave us 11 B & C, the last 2 seats next to each other.

Ran down the jet way, stowed the bags in the overhead, sat down and then heard the flight attendant make the "the boarding door is now closed" announcement. Wow. If we hadn't made that flight, the next and final flight of the day was 2 hours 10 minutes later at 6:20pm, arriving ATL at 9:50pm. Ugh for Allison. So we were thankful. Our flight actually arrived about 30 minutes early at 7:20pm and we were home by 8:30.

So after starting about 9PM west coast time the night before, we were home. Ahhh!

Our Nephew!

For Easter I was able to go see our new adorable nephew Adam. He's super cute and very well behaved. He was all wide eyed and enjoyed being a part of the social gatherings. I got to help watch him a little over night for Patrick and Lydia. I am so happy I got to meet him. Can't wait to get back to Tennessee to see him again!! Here are pics!

-Allison

Spring Has Sprung...a Tornado in Downtown Atlanta!

You may or may not have heard that 2 weeks ago, March 14th to be exact, a strong thunderstorm hit Atlanta. Specifically, an F2 tornado ripped right through parts of downtown and did some nice damage to several buildings.

On the night in question, Allison was at home and I was in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Pennsylvania. I remember being on the phone with her, looking at the storm on radar as it moved in. I told her I was surprised there weren't any tornado watches out because the storm was a textbook supercell with a "nice" juicy hook echo at the southwest corner. That is where tornadoes usually form. Smyrna, where Allison was, is about 15 miles to the north of where the hook echo was so I wasn't concerned. If you saw the news, you know what happened next.


Downtown yesterday, March 25th

The weather the last few days has been perfect. Sunny and 60's for the high. So I went out yesterday on a photo mission and wandered around downtown to check out the damage.

Click here to see the photos.

Ever wonder what it looks like landing at an airport where a snow storm is just moving over the airport but hasn't quite made it all the way across the whole airport yet? You're in luck! See below. It's like flying into a wall:



Can you see the runway? Here, this might help:



I've heard some people are wondering how I take photos like this while flying the airplane. The answer is simple. I'm not flying. I only take them when the other guy doing the work. :-)

Spring Break Panama City!

My 4-day trip this week included a 23-hour overnight in Panama City, Florida from noon on Saturday, March 15th to noon today, March 16th. Allison attempted to come with me on my flight but there were too many Spring Breakers. Too bad she can't ride the cockpit jumpseat. Well, she could, but then I'd lose my job.

After she missed my flight, the momentary chaos started.

The other flights looked bad too, so she listed on an ASA flight to Tallahassee, which is 98 driving miles from the Panama City airport. By the time she found this other option, I had flown my 42 minute flight to Panama City.

Here's the problem. The timing is critical.

I've just arrived to the terminal in P.C. The hotel van is waiting for us. I don't know at this point if Allison is going to make it to TLH because she hasn't been given a seat yet. So do I pick up the rental car and waste money if she doesn't make the flight, or do I just ride the van to the hotel? Bear in mind, there was no penalty if I didn't get the car.

So I tell Allison, "Just forget it, it's too much hassle." But then unbeknown to me, she gets the last seat on the flight to Tallahassee. Meanwhile, I'm riding on the hotel van with my crew. She calls me back already sitting on the airplane.

After some debate, I arrive at the hotel, hastily drop everything in my room, change, make sure I have everything I need, jump back in the van and ride back to the airport to get my rental car.

I had a mid-size reserved but all they had left was a Chevy HHR which is essentially a PT Cruiser. Eh. So for only $15 more, I upgrade to a brand new 2008 Chrysler Sebring convertible for 40% the normal rental rate. Things were starting to get better! Now to drive 98 miles to pick up Allison!

Did I mention the Sebring is a Limited trim line so it has an incredible Boston Acoustics stereo with a subwoofer and Sirius satellite radio? Yeah, I was jamming. Made the drive a lot easier.

We made it back to Panama City around 6 pm. After a quick stop by the hotel, we continued to Panama City Beach where all the "action" was. Neither I nor Allison ever did the whole stereotype Spring Break in college so it was kinda neat. We didn't really do anything except cruise the beachfront at 10 mph blasting music on our loud stereo like everyone else. It was in the high 60's so we had the top down but it was too windy to walk on the beach. Got back to the hotel around 9:30 pm or so and headed down for a relaxing sit in the jacuzzi.

It was really fun watching all the "kids" doing their thing. Made us feel old. Hehe.

Allison has a soccer game today so I drove her to the airport for the 7:30 am flight back to Atlanta and she arrived about when I started typing this blog. My flight leaves at 12:30 so I have a little while. Today I fly back to Atlanta, then up to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. From Harrisburg we go to Cincinnati, and then Cincy back to Atlanta, finishing around 10:30 pm.

I took a few pictures this morning but most of them are of Allison leaving on the ASA ATR-72 back to Atlanta. Wasn't a whole lot to take a picture of yesterday as most of it was driving. I might post a couple later just for fun but I don't have to transfer cable to get them off the camera so you'll just have to suffer. :-)

Boise, Saltillo, Hot Springs and More...

We've had a few things to blog about that neither Allison or I have been able to get to. So I'm writing them all at once but I'm going to break it up into 3 seperate posts so it's not just one giant blob.

Here's the first story as it happened only yesterday, March 2nd.

This reserve pilot thing is interesting. I get to do things I didn't do as a regular schedule-holding pilot. Yesterday, I flew Ship N972EV to Hot Springs, Arkansas for a major maintenance check. Every so often, an aircraft operated under FAA FAR Part 121 (aka airlines) has to undergo regular maintenance. Duh. Ship 972 was due for a C-check which is the "lighter" of the 2 heavy maintenance checks.

When we first got there, one of the mechanics guiding us to parking held up 3 fingers as we parked. Normally, this means to leave hydraulic pump 3 turned on. During maintenance, mechanics install landing gear pins in the landing gear and in order to put this pin in the nose gear, hydraulic pump 3 has to be turned on. We both assumed that was what he meant and shut the aircraft down normally.

Nope. What he wanted us to do was leave both engines running and the APU, hence the 3. Not something either of us had seen before. Well, the problem is they do some of their checks right after the aircraft has flown but the FO and I didn't know that. Long story short, we had to go fly the airplane again.

So after getting more fuel and a new flight plan as a test flight, we launched, flew in a big circle and landed again, this time leaving everything running until they told us otherwise.



You may ask, well, why didn't the mechanics just come on board and tell you that to begin with. Remember, we are flying the plane with just two pilots and no one else. So we have to get up and open the cabin door ourselves which we didn't do until we shut the airplane down.

After that, we waited on our ride to Little Rock airport which was about 60 miles away and deadheaded back to Atlanta.

And of course, here are some pictures.

Another Saltillo Repo!

On Leap Day, Friday, February 29th I took another CRJ down to Mexico to be repainted. In case you didn't know I took a first one, click here to read the post.

Now that you're all caught up, I won't repeat too much as it was essentially the exact same thing. This time we took ship N850AS. The guy down in Saltillo told me they're scheduled to paint 70 airplanes this year so I'm sure it's likely not the last time I'll do it.

Now a few videos for you from that trip.

The first one is me landing the plane as seen wedged between the windshield and the top of the instrument panel. Enjoy the view of the windshield wiper arm. I float forever and the landing is a little firm as the plane is about 10,000 pounds lighter than it normally is. The floating is due to the fact that at the lighter weight, we land about 30 mph SLOWER than we normally do with passengers on board and it feels very strange to be going that "slow," about 115 mph over the ground. So I'm going a little bit fast and the "float" or hanging over the runway before touchdown is because the airplane is not ready to settle. It still has energy in the form of extra speed.

Listen for the dual click of the thrust reversers being unlocked after touchdown and see if you can tell when the nose gear touches. It's very subtle and occurs a bit after the clicks.



Here we are riding through Mexico. My FO is from Nashville. Watch and you'll understand:




And of course, here are a few pictures to view from that trip.

Boise, Idaho Ski Trip 2008

Last story...

We headed out to Boise, Idaho to visit with Allison's brother John and his wife Michelle and daughter Reganne. This was over the long weekend of Feb. 16-17th. Poor Allison spent all day Saturday trying to non-rev out there from Atlanta while I was working. I got finished early enough to run home, pack, run back to the airport and jump on a United flight out to Denver and then another flight to Boise. Ironically, we both arrived around 10:30pm, Allison on Delta from Salt Lake and me on United from Denver. BTW, I can ride as a jumpseater on most any airline for free. Nice perk of being an airline pilot. And I only have to ride the cockpit jumpseat if there are no seats available in the cabin.

On Sunday, we all had an awesome breakfast at a local restaurant in Meridian. John bought his 08-09 Bogus Basin season pass and then we went to a really cool local candy shop near downtown Boise. The rest of the day we relaxed back at the Watts home, visiting and playing with Reganne. For dinner, we had some of the fish John caught on his fishing trip late last year. It was excellent!

Monday morning, John, Allison and I got up early and headed up into the mountains for a day of skiing at Bogus Basin. The snow was incredible, much better then last year when we went at the very end of the season in April. We finished up around 3 pm and headed back home. Allison and I flew back to Atlanta on Tuesday morning, making both flights on the first try. Always a good thing!

Here's some action video. The first part is a little spastic. I'm trying to secure the lens cap in my hand so it doesn't bang around and get in the way.



Click here for the pictures!