101

Got called out on my last day of reserve to do a Detroit round trip. I love doing day trips. It's so nice to not have to worry about packing everything you need for an overnight and breezing right through security because you don't have any bag for them to check. So a thumbs up to my last day of reserve. Tomorrow I get to go over to some fellow's house for dinner and then we are going to see a band. I'm excited. I also need a haircut. I look like I got stuck in the 80's, but I don't want to go to a barbershop because they will only take my money and make me frustrated by giving me a pathetic shearing. I could cut it myself and make it look better than most barbers can, but I can only do a pretty short cut, and I want to keep my long flowing locks for now. I just need them trimmed up for a contemporary style.

ooohhh maybe I could do a mullet! Then I wouldn't stand out so much down here in Kentucky. Class has its drawbacks.

100!!!

I went to my 100th airport last night! I landed less-than-gracefully in Charleston West Virginia and celebrated by going to bed early so I would be able to fly out at 6:00 this morning. Here is my map with all hundred airports marked:
View Larger Map

I also just finished a logbook page and I now have 812 flight hours. with the 84+/- I get next month, I'll hit the road with a nice 900 on my resume.

Back in Cincinnati again

Calvin was AWESOME. I did some amazingly cool things I've never done before and had a general blast. It was very encouraging and refreshing. My faith was strengthened and it was soooo great to see tons of old friends again. I also got to meet some new people, which will make Calvin 2012 even more eagerly anticipated.
I was planning to leave Indy by 9pm to get down here, but familial obligations (playing random made-up shoe throwing games with Nicole) and packing delayed that a bit. Then I had to jump my car because it decided to try to lock the doors for 24hrs and kill that battery, and then I discovered that my rear-view-mirror was on the floor and not on the window where it should be. So I ended up leaving about 11 o'clock and driving mirrorless until 12. Then I decided it would be safest to sleep a bit, so I pulled into a rest park and slept until 430ish and got here at 530 this morning.
I then made up for all of last week and slept till noon before I unloaded my car. Scheduling didn't use me today, so I could have played in our church softball game against Lafayette, but since they did call me about a trip starting tomorrow (puke) the heart attack I would have had probably wouldn't be worth it.
Red Squadron and the Star Destroyers are all doing fine and living peacefully, and Ted (our algae eater) has had a heyday on the sides of the fish tank. They used to be green, but now they are clear. I'm actually a little surprised that he hasn't died from overeating.
I didn't take many picture because I left my camera batteries at home (doh!) but I'll post a few from my phone later if they are good enough. If you want to see a lot you should be friends with Nathan Curtis and Christopher Dean on facebook.

64 hours and counting

I almost can't stand the anticipation. Fortunately I got assigned to a two day trip so I will leave for it tomorrow morning and go straight from the airport to Indy on Friday. yesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyes
oof I just pulled a bicep while using my amazing towel snapping skills on an undead giant spider. But it was worth it. One shot kill baby!

Over the past months I've begun to experiment with my ability to make semi-recipeless meals. Here are a couple of my best results:
Tortillas, but how can you mess that up?:


And baked potatoes with broccoli and cheese and whatever spices sounded good:

note to self: NEVER AGAIN buy broccoli from Aldis~ tis all stems *bleh*.
And don't ask about my bacon. After a couple of attempts with that I had to console myself with the thought that at least I don't have to cook for a living.

And if Eric ever looks at this~ here's a video he can edit into a cool screen saver:
It needs to be pared down to just the cloud shots and lot of other stabilization work, so it'll end up being really short and probably pathetic, but I don't get paid to film ya know.


Yay! my first internet video ever!

My great roommate

bought me dinner last night as comfort food for my news and as a celebration of his passing a couple big flight time milestones. And then this morning he got a bunch more fish for his aquarium before he left for work. We decided to name them collectively The Red Squadron. We don't have individual names, but the first two to die will be Jek Porkins and Biggs Darklighter. Hopefully that won't be for a while. Tomorrow I'm going to start packing for Calvin since I'm now less than 100 hours away!!!!

The dates were released and I saw my name right in the middle of a list of guys due to be furloughed effective September 1st. Hopefully Mr. Cutter will suddenly have a lot of jobs to do on the 2nd so he will look over how badly I burned my bridges with him when I left Covenant.

1 year!

Well it's been exactly 1 year since my first real commercial flight! I've more than tripled my flight time (up to 781 now) and expanded my view of the United States immensely. But it looks like this whole thing is about to come crashing down in the next month or so, as Republic is about to furlough 200 pilots. ppppbbbbsssshhhhhh. Of course nothing is certain yet, so there is a small chance that it will all blow past as a bunch of pilots decide that all the being away from family + low pay + uncertainty on everything isn't worth it and quit for a stable job. (Why they would want to muck stables instead of flying is beyond me) But in all likelihood, I'll be looking for a job in two months or less. In actuality I won't be too extremely disappointed if it does go through. Missing church for the last three weeks has been really draining to say the least. It might be nice to have a steady schedule for a change (especially if we get it worked out that furloughed guys still have their travel privileges). Took a bunch of pictures on my last trip just in case I don't get much of a chance in the future.

Sittin' around in Richmond

Wondering why the confederacy put their capital so close to the northern border. You'd think they would have kept it in Montgomery or some other city decently far away from union marching distance. It's cool flying over this area and seeing how the landscape effected the warfare tactics of the time. It's also interesting to see how much area in the east is still pretty much a wilderness.
Tonight: weird and impossible dreams of national development.

I've kinda been neglecting my blog here

But I'm back now. In the time I was gone I got to fly to NC, MI, and Indy. While I was in Indy I got to go to the first ever 2RP softball game!!! I would have played, but since they had so many people I got sent over to the all-star/castaway team with all the extra players from all the teams. But my team and 2nd won so it was a good day all around. Caleb got his drivers license! Which means that the roads of America are percentage wise a little bit safer. And I get to start a five day trip tonight. The trip will take me from 212 hours down to 128 hours till Calvin so they should go by pretty fast. I'm gonna go pack for it now. See y'all on the flip side. Or maybe along the way if they gave me long layovers.

I didn't get used today

So I did a bunch of e-stuff again. Man I love facebook. It makes me feel a little connected to the world while I live in social oblivion. Some days I just load my profile and try to say something nice to the first five friends it links me to. I love waking up and having ten emails informing me of comments being made on my pictures. Woo! just got a call from Shawn saying he's coming in tonight!
I was listening to a sermon today in which David Reese mentioned Leviticus 22:31-33:

Lev 22:31	“So you shall keep my commandments and do them: I am the Lord.
Lev 22:32	And you shall not profane my holy name, that I may be sanctified among the people of Israel. I am the Lord who sanctifies you,
Lev 22:33	who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God: I am the Lord.”

It reminded me of what another pastor (I don't even remember who) said long ago: Another way to look at the ten commandments is to view them as the ten promises. God, who is faithful, will one day enable me to keep His commands~ I WILL have no other gods before Him. I WILL not take His name in vain. I WILL honor my parents..... Can I hear a giant hallelujah!? The day that that happens is probably the only day I want to see more than the 19th.
Two weeks baby! One Fortnight less nine hours!

So I just made a big mistake

I read the list of everybody who said they were going to the International conference on facebook. That is going to make the next 15 days go sooooo sssllllllooooowwwwwwlllllyyyyyy. I'm even more excited about it now though. I only know a little less than half of the people who say they are going, but I have no idea how I'm going to be able to catch up with all of them and meet a bunch of new people too. I guess I'll have to do it in big groups. I'm betting it will be really easy to find the Blackwoods~ just look for the insanely huge group of people trying to say hi to them.

Happy Independence Day everybody! Except for any Brits who read this. Happy rebellion of the colonies day to you.

I got back from Allentown PA this morning. Took a nap and did e-stuff until I stepped on the plug for my computer and disconnected it. Then I took a seven and a half mile walk just to get out of the house. Went past four giant Catholic church/schools and discovered that I missed a parade by using my Sherlock Holmes skills. "You see my dear Watson, while you merely saw candy, silly string, and flags strewn about the sidewalk, you will recall that I recently conducted a study of candy, silly string and flags which told me that they are only left on the sidewalk in this proportion after a parade. This observation was, of course, confirmed the the church sign reading: 'Pre-parade festivities 10:30.'"

$1.00

I just calculated that I can eat two burritos and drink a pint of milk for $1.00! So if I do that for every meal, I will be able to eat well AND cheaply! Or I could even take it down to just one cup of milk per meal to save an extra 45 cents a day. That works out to 13.5 dollars a month~ I could go to a movie or something! I think I hit all my food groups so no worries there~ beef/meats, beans/veggies&fruits, burrito/grains, milk/dairy, grease/oils! If I get tired of this routine I can switch to burritos for breakfast, ramen for lunch and mac'n'cheese for dinner. I think all three of those will keep me inside my dollar-a-meal limit. Of course when I go on overnights I have to spend two and a half days worth of budget just to get a burger, so I don't think my numbers will look as peachy as I want at the end of the month.

I went to Evansville yesterday (#95!) and I get to do a short overnight to Allentown PA tonight. I hope the skies clear up so I can see fireworks across America.

Chautauqua

So I finally got around to researching my company's name. According to dictionary.com it is most likely a Seneca Indian word meaning "one has taken out fish there" As stated by an educated Seneca, Dr. Peter Wilson. Other meanings given by The Standard Dictionary of Facts: History, Language, Literature, Biography, Geography, Travel, Art, Government, Politics, Industry, Invention, Commerce, Science, Education, Natural History, Statistics and Miscellany (talk about a comprehensive book) are: foggy place, bag tied in the middle, place where a child was washed away, place of easy death, and place where one was lost. (C) 1909 The Frontier Press Company Buffalo NY.
hahahahaahahahaha
So in terms of good airline names it lists right between ridiculous and absolutely horrid.

"Oh yes, I'm flying on place-where-one-was-lost airlines" "It's a foggy place of easy death!"

No worries folks, I have yet to be lost in the fog or see anybody die on our planes.

PURGED!

Well I did it. Everyone who has not posted since the start of 2008 is now off of my list of links. I did however level up in my technology category, so now I have a feed reader and I'll replace a link if anyone decides to start posting again. Especially for the very missed good posters~Josh, Katrina, Amy, Kara, Amelia....
Come to cicny tonight for a SOCCER GAME! We will recreate the EURO2008 final. I get to be on Spain. If you get here soon enough you can be my teammate.

!!!!Viva la España!!!!