It’s weekends like this past one that make me realize how cool it is to be a pilot. Usually.

The plan was for Pam and I to fly up to Vegas after work Friday for my niece’s wedding. The weather decided not to allow that. Big thunderstorms stretching all the way across the San Gabriel mountains from my Granada Hills to Palm Springs. The only way to fly it would have been to go south of the line near Palm Springs, then out to Needles and into Vegas. Would have added an hour to the trip, putting us near Vegas in questionable weather at night. No thanks. So we drove.

Only 5 hours to get there, but 6.5 to get back – 11.5 hours for a trip that lasted a total of less than 48 hours. This is just no good. Flying would have taken me 3.2 hours maximum round trip – and would have been a heck of a lot more fun. As an added bonus, I got my ass HANDED to me at the tables.

Flying our Client Services team here at ISHM to Vegas next weekend. Will report on findings.

Needed to clean out the garage this weekend – so we decided to have a yard sale. What a GREAT idea! So many fun things came out of it!

For starters I got to do something I NEVER get to do on weekends – get up at 6am! I don’t know about you – but I just HATE when I sleep late on a Saturday after a week of working 12+ hour days. This is much better.

Then I got to haul eveything out of my garage onto the lawn, wading through walls of spider webs PRIOR to my first cup of coffee. The BEST! Nothing helps you greet the day like a whole TON of CRAP that needs to be moved from one place to the other, while deadly insects lurk everywhere. Woo Hoo!

Thn the people started coming. Not at 8am like we advertsied, mind you – at 7am, so they could get their pick of items, and haggle ove a QUARTER for them. It sure honed my negotiating skills to go battle over a brand new, in the box CD writer – all in the name of ONE DOLLAR.

Made about $350, minus $100 to have a hauling company take away that which wouldn’t sell – for a mere WHOLE day of work instead of floating in the pool with Sydney and Pam.

But hey – at least my garage is empty.

My (now) 3 month old (and spectacularly cute) niece had a doctor appointment today. Hole in heart shrinking, heart not enlarged, no need to see her again for 3 months! Woo hoo!

Took a new look at fireworks this 4th of July – from the top. Took the flying club Cessna 172 up for a spin last night – just unbelievable. Pammy and I spun around over several different shows for an hour and a half, amazed as well at the amount of fireworks being shot off from private homes. A miracle there aren’t more fires as a result. At one point we were almost at the same height (around 2000 feet) as some really BIG displays. I can tell you – you haven’t lived until you’ve seen it from that vantage.