Driving to Vegas
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.
Yard Sale – So much FUN!
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.
Gracie Update
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!
Fireworks from the sky
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.
Tiger’s Putting
Man – I am SO tired of sports writers who clearly know NOTHING about golf pontificating on why Tiger didn’t win the US Open this weekend. They are now blaming it all on his putting, because he was ranked 80th in putting stats. Let me explain why it was his DRIVING that caused the problem:
He missed a lot of fairways
If you miss the fairway, you are in deep, nasty rough
If you are in deep nasty rough, you can’t hit the ball as close to the hole as you would fron the fairway
If you are further from the hole, YOU MAKE FEWER PUTTS
If you make fewer putts, you make fewer birdies and pars
See how that works? Lay off Tiger. He’s the best golfer the game has ever seen, and he’s going to win more majors. A lot more. He won the Masters this year, along with three others.
So stop. Jeez.
Daddy Dancing
Sydney has a dance recital next weekend (Father’s Day weekend, thank you), which is of course very exciting. She is in four parts for this one, including two – count them – TWO solos. She is almost 8, and very talented and an incredible genius and gorgeous.
To do my part for the recital I have agreed to actually dance. A bunch of the Dads get together, and Miss Andrea choreographs and teaches us a routine. This one is to the song “It’s Raining Men”. We’ve been practicing, and have 3 more rehersals before the big shows – plural. Next Friday night, Saturday around noon, then Saturday night. It is MUCH harder than I thought it would be, which makes me appreciate that much more how hard my girl is working. So impressive at eight. The White House hardly even sounds like a challenge for her anymore.
Will post the most embarassing of the pictures when they are available.
UPDATE: Shows went great, danced in front of 1500 people. Was positively blown away by my daughter, who was not only fantastic in terms of dancing skill, but roughly 10,000% calmer than I was. Man do I love her. 🙂
Kris Graduates
Truly incredible. My sister graduated from nursing school yesterday. An RN. Lots of people do it, sure. But very few do it while having not one – but TWO kids, one who is hell on wheels, the other with a small heart defect, as well as losing a grandmother in the process. I told her that what she did could NOT be done, and I was serious. Just absolutely amazing.
Expensive Battery
Worked on the flying club airplane this weekend. Specifically, the club Cessna 172. It’s been in a hangar getting new paint, new glass, and a new interior (all to the tune of about $14,000) so it will be like a new airplane really nice.
As the maintenance officer, I carry a lot of daily responsibility for the club – fielding questions about the planes, handling communication about fixes and priorities to our mechanic, authorizing purchases, etc. This was a whole different ballgame. The organization required to get a project this big done by effectively two guys is massive. This weekend was the end – with one exception.
The plane was completely done, including the super-cool new vent canjs and sun visors. It was completely reassembled and cleaned up. We rolled it out to fire it up and take it around for a test flight. No dice. battery dead. After getting jump starts, trickle charging the battery, and even getting it running for 15 minutes – we couldn’t get tthe battery to hold a charge. Needed a new one. How much? For what is roughly equivalent to a slightly-more-powerful car battery? How about $225? For a BATTERY. Good GOD.
So now it’s Tuesday to get it running again.
Why I love my job
One of the Sales team leaders just came in to discuss something (to get my opinion), and upon leaving said “Man – we are so lucky to have you here”. So much (for me, anyway) is about the appreciation you get from helping people on a daily basis. It’s not about power, or money, or title. It’s about respect and making a difference.
Maybe it’s a LITTLE bit about money. 🙂
My baby
I just stood in my hallway and listened to my 7.5 year old (the .5 is CRUCIAL when you are 7) have a conversation with Sierra – one of her friends from school. All at once I was amused, amazed, and sad. She sounded SO grown up, SO intelligent, and SO political. Yes – political. She was talking about how “she was talking to X, and they talked to Y, and then Z came and asked me what I thought about Q, and them X wanted an apology for something I did 2 weeks ago, and like stood there for like, 10 seconds waiting for an answer, and I was like….”
Dear LORD. In August she will be 8, which doesn’t seem old – but look at it this way: she’s halfway to 16. SIXTEEN.
I need to calm down now.