of advertising and IOE Schedule!

I figure that I have to make money somehow. So, I decided to finally put up two banners for NC Software, the ones who make a Logbook program for the PC, Palm and Pocket PC. I've been using it for almost two years now and have to admit that it pretty useful in every aspect of keeping time. There are others out there like LogTen for the Mac, but I'm sure that most of you don't even have one anyways. Under the "link" sidebar menu, there's another banner for APDL (Airline Pilot Daily Logbook) which keeps track of just about everything and even inputs all the data that you get from your scheduling department automatically with a cut and paste. It's pretty neat too.

I just got my IOE schedule and have posted it on pilotcrossings.com. On pilotcrossings, it shows you when you'll be near your fellow pilots that you have as friends. It's really neat. I have a couple of friends and family members that signed up and this is the first time that you guys get to check it out, so go do that! You actually have to sign up in order to see my schedule, but I'll be putting it up on my gMail Calendar or something too in the near future.

I was able to study for about 4-5 hours straight yesterday and looks like I'll be doing the same today. Hopefully I'll get more done, but it was nice yesterday to have that university feeling again. I actually went to Emory University's Main Library with Kurt. They have 23" iMacs all over the place along with dual screen PCs for their students and the place was packed! Pretty nice college if you ask me. Well, back to work!

Pajama Shark!

This was funny. It was the new SNL Short that was aired on February 24, 2007. I also have the another video on my Google Reader Items which contains Rainn Wilson's Monologue. Equally funny!

Watch the all-hands meeting. It's time to cut the budget.

Nothing to blog really today besides that I really have to study. It's coming a little too close.

London in 28 Hours = No LAX

This stinks...during a spontaneous trip to London, my sim partner and I who were very excited to get the new LAX base found out that ASA was closing down its LAX operations this June. Looks like I'll be stuck here in Atlanta. It's not really that bad of a thing, but I was really looking forward to handing out with some old friends and just getting back to a normal West Coast Lifestyle. This is the airline industry though eh?

Here are some pix from the 28 hours that Eric and I spent in London. International Business to and from London! Now that's the way to travel. 6 course meals and everything. It was the royal treatment. It makes you feel guilty for what you get. Because the original plan was for San Diego, that's what I packed for. I wasn't ready at all for the colder weather in London, so first thing was the find a store with a sale and buy a sweater. I ended up with a gray cardigan from Espirit. I guess if I was to do some shopping in London it was the right choice since the US doesn't have too much brand influence from these guys. Ironically, my sweater says New York on the left upper arm. Eric and I had some curry fries which just proved to be the best food for a quick snack.

Next trip is to Amsterdam or Copenhagen. Hopefully I'll run into some friends from a past life. It was an awesome choice but way too expensive. The dollar just under-performs the pound making it all too hard to "vacation" in London. But, you have to give it up to them for keeping it up there.

I miss you babe! I really really do. I wish that I could have come see you this past break.

Sim V and fatigue

I was tired today. For some reason unknown to me, I just felt tired throughout the entire day. I can admit that it hampered my learning and performance a little bit today while in sim training, but it didn't necessarily downgrade it all too much. I thought that I did okay. It was the first time that we went through a full flight up to altitude and back down via emergency due to an APU fire. That was good stuff. I'm definitely looking forward to tomorrow's lesson and learning more. I think that these next two days off, I'll need to just hide out somewhere and study for 10 hours or so. Anyone been to the library at Emory? I think that I'll try to hit that up or something. We also practiced quite a few crosswind landings today. We went overboard a little bit and I have to admit that it was my first red screen where I added too much aileron correction. I'm definitely improving and getting it down. I can't wait till the moment that I can stand up and say, "I'm awesome!" That'll be a while, but man...I can hope and imagine that feeling right?

Had some awesome Hot Jalepeno Spicy Talipia again today from Johnny Carino's after mass. It was the bomb! All you can eat salad and bread too. So, I had two salads, saved half of the second, ate a lot of bread and saved half my entree and now I have a great lunch for tomorrow. I'm a little excited.

I noticed that there was a press release today by CAPT that states that they are lowering their program cost to the first 50 people. I hope that they are able to attract a few peeps. I have a house down in that area that is in dire need of renting out to students.

Alright, well, its a little later than I would like it to be and I need to wake up early too. Better get some rest. Goodnight!

I really don't like how Obama is against the Iraq War. Don't get me started, but that is definitely a downer. Chargers look like they are setup for 2007 at least almost. And...yeah...that's about it! Western Digital finally released their NAS (Network Attached Storage) External Hard Drive. I'm excited to pick one up and hook it up. I'm dying here without any form of extra space since my last disk failure. 2GB Flash drives are on sale at Best Buy for $29.99. That to me is a little cheaper than before. Almost so awesome that I wanted to buy one but I thought of all that awesome cash that I don't have and resisted. I think that I'm going to give up, what I like to call spontaneous-rogue spending, for Lent. Should prove to save me a couple cents here or two. Hopefully...

to enjoy good food...

Once again I was able to enjoy the awesomeness of what is Sam Woo BBQ at Ranch 99 in Clairemont Mesa. Spicy Salted Pork Chop, Garlic Baby Bok Choy, House Special Chow Mein, and Walnut Shrimp...that is the meal that just works every single time. Especially when you eat it with some good friends. It definitely sucked that is was raining here in San Diego this trip around, but it really wasn't that bad at all.

Adelle and I watched a movie today called "Because I Said So." It was good entertainment. We then went to Barnes and Nobles for some good studying time. I read what was required to get ready or my next 3-4 Sim Sessions which brings me to the end of training. I can't say that I'm totally ready as I have a lot more to study before my oral exam. I hate how I have to read things over and over again. It takes a while for me to remember things and to actually store them in my mind which stinks, but I'll get it sooner or later. I'm definitely going to use tomorrow's plane ride to study. I just hope that I'm able to get on one of the morning flights back to Atlanta.

I'm not sure if you guys noticed or anything that but I've added a link to my friend Eric Christiansen's Blog as well as another feature that contains some news articles that I've elected to "share." I've been using Google Reader for quite a while now and I'm loving it. It seems to lessen the time that I spend reading different websites individually and just condenses everything into one continuous read. It's nice and I've never been into RSS Feeds until Google finally updated their version. I was using Mozilla's Thunderbird for a bit, but this is nice. Now, I just need a page with all my bookmarks so that I can retrieve them wherever I am.

In other news, the Chargers seem to be stacking up on coaches with the hiring of Norv Turner, who in turn named long-time NFL assistant Ted Cottrell the team’s defensive coordinator. We also picked up Ron Rivera from the Chicago Bears to be our Linebacker coach. It's going to be interesting to see what kind of new plays this new all star staff will come up with. I'm still a little disappointed on the decision that the Chargers made, but we have to look forward from here. Who are we going to pick up in the 1st round?

to become comfortable

It's about time that I come out of a Sim session feeling better about the whole thing. It did take up to 4 sessions to finally get to a comfortable level where I thought that I could actually fly the thing. It's awesome once you achieve that too! I had a chance to work on a lot of crosswind landings which did get better over time. I still have more to work on specifically on the final round out. I did a single engine cross wind landing too which went really well. I haven't shined has bright as I've wanted to yet, but I'm definitely getting there. I can just feel it. I got four more till the check. I also have a lot to study for the upcoming oral exam. That's going to be exciting!

I decided today that I might as well try to go home for a quick day. I'm going to be able to study at home which is good, so I won't be that far off. Getting home is going to be an obstacle again, but it is every time. I can't believe that it's Ash Wednesday already. What are you going to give up for Lent?

I had some Bronx pizza for dinner which was awesome! Just wanted to share that. I'm also going to probably have some awesome Chinese food but since it is Chinese New Year, I'm not sure if they are going to be open. Shucks...Happy New Year though!

food!

I had some broken jasmine rice, two eggs over hard, sliced pork chop and some cucumber and tomato back at Pho Dai Loi. I can't believe what I've been missing out on. I have to go back tomorrow for dinner or something!

I'm not feeling 100% today which really cut down on my studying time today. Totally kind of stunk but hopefully I'll wake up just feeling super! I need to keep on studying hard because the days aren't getting any longer. Before I know it, I'll be in the briefing room doing my oral followed by the check ride. It's going to get crazy, not that it isn't already.

Goodluck on the interview at USD tomorrow babe! I know that you'll be awesome! Keep it up!

of Peter Pan Peanut Butter

Apparently the last two jars of peanut butter that I bought have a chance of containing Salmonella Tennessee. Yeah for me especially when I already finished 95% of one of the jars. Sorry babe if you had some of it too. Luckily, Adelle or I did not have any symptoms or anything. I took a picture of my jars and posted them on trelijah. Usually its fun to be part of something cool, but this time around it just isn't that exciting. =(

I finally got a chance to take some pix of unboxxing the new Jawbone Headset from Aliph. It is really comfortable and the sound quality is actually pretty good. Since I'm still not on the receiving end, I'm not really sure on how the quality is, but I'll post more on a review later. The presentation is definitely top notch and the little extras are great too. The boxes that you see online on ebay from Cingular are definitely a lot different than what I got. Since I ordered it directly from Aliph last week, the packaging was without a branded cellular provider box. I haven't had the chance to try out the different ear pieces because the standard one fit just fine. It is a little bigger than other headsets, but it does boast to have 6 hours talk time. That's a lot more than the competition. Here's the company's website, http://www.jawbone.com.

I was able to relax today but I think that I can squeeze in a couple of hours for studying. Just two really. Well, I'm off to get something done. I might work out, but might not. We'll see how I feel. Tomorrow is definitely going to consist of at least 6-8 hours of hardcore review and studying. Wish me luck on that plan!

for a perfect sim & pho!

I'm going to do it. I swear I will. There will come a day and hopefully it'll be Sim #3 where I am not going to be making silly mistakes and making call outs with confidence. Really, I promise you. I'm going to try to take it easy tomorrow and just review a couple of small things. I've made about a page of notes on what I could have done better today and another page yesterday full of things that I could work on. Of course, I have to work on quite a bit, but I'm going to tackle each problem one by one and before you know it, I will be awesome! I mean, there's really no choice. I need to be awesome.

Sim #1 and #2 were both a little tough. I was basically just getting the feeling for the sim and it took a little longer that I would have liked. I have a good feeling though that I have it done. I just have to go in with the right attitude and keep it up. Wish me luck and pray for me please!

I found Pho in Atlanta almost two weeks ago and finally found the chance to head out to Pho Dai Loi #2 up on Buford Highway NE #G. It was great. I was like Pho Hoa Cali great. I walked in with Eric and it was just like any other Pho place in San Diego. The smell of familiarity made me feel right at home. You usually are seated right away, check, handed menus and water right away, check, and receive your food about 2.5 minutes right after you order...check! I was hoping to taste something that slightly tasted like Pho and I know that you can't really go wrong with it, but trust me, I've tasted Pho that didn't taste good but this was good! It was tasty and spicy and just right. I ordered the normal, noodles with rare steak, an appetizer of spring rolls and Vietnamese Coffee to cap it off. I thoroughly enjoyed it along with the company. I always enjoy going out to places and bringing along friends who have never tried a specific kind of food. Makes it all better and complete when its done and the other is satisfied. I'm just glad that it was what I hoped it to be. I'm going to have some rice and pork chop next time I go there. I can't hardly wait. Maybe tomorrow night for dinner or like on Friday. I don't know. I'm just glad that I have the option.

I also found an Indian restaurant called Rose of India somewhere around Peachtree. This website says it all: click here

Well, I'm about to just head off to sleep. Oh yeah, I fell asleep like at 1930 (7PM) last night. Sorry about not having an update. I didn't even get to work out either. Oh well, I'm going to take tonight as another break from exercising. It's probably a good idea to give my body a rest anyways.

of expansion

So, since my waist has been expanding this last few weeks since I started studying and working here, I've gotten rather depressed about it. I'm trying to cut out on the fast food dieting and trying to run a lot more. I've worked out 5 days straight which I haven't done for quite a while and still going strong. I'm noticing that my knees aren't that great anymore because they are starting to hurt a little bit, but I'm just proud that I'm going strong. My diet is a little better these days too with some Canned Tuna and just whatever else. I upgraded from the Chunk Light to the Chunk White Albacore Tuna and man, even though it is about three times the price (.54 cents to 1.37), it's damn worth it. You can't smell it and is just tastes awesome! I really like the fish section that they have. You can get them in pouches and cans, ready to eat, etc, its just so cool! I'm on a fish loving diet right now. I did crave some crazy McDonald's today but I avoided that catastrophe. Anyways...

On expansion terms, I finally just added a little item on my sidebar which links you to some of the items that I've read and think might interest you. I've been using Google Reader which I love. I never thought that I would start using RSS readers again, but it helps so much because I don't have to navigate all my various webpages. I'm leaving out a few here and there and sometimes it takes a little more time to scroll through some items that I wouldn't really read either, but I'm loving it so far. You have to sign up if you haven't already. I also use their mobile function which loads great on my treo 650 and it loads fast too!

The Chargers have always been a growing team and since the departure of the defensive and offensive coordinators, Mr. Marty Schottenheimer was fired today! It's just crazy! I don't know what's going to happen. That's really all I have to say about that.

Seattle here I come!!! Delta just announced that they are going to continue the awesomeness that which expansion in LAX. I'm excited because this just means that I will have less likely of a chance of being on reserve. Delta is going to be using ASA for these flights and it would be awesome if they bring the 700 there, because then maybe, just maybe I'll be able to bid equipment! I'm sure that Seattle is going to be a popular flight right? Check this out below!

 Delta's schedule between Los Angeles and Los Mochis*,effective June 2:--------------------------------------------------------------------Flight   Departs         Arrives         Frequency      Operated by--------------------------------------------------------------------4855     Los Angeles at  Los Mochis at   Wed., Sat      Atlantic         11:15 a.m.      2:35 p.m.                   Southeast                                                      Airlines--------------------------------------------------------------------4420     Los Mochis at   Los Angeles at  Wed., Sat.     Atlantic         3:15 p.m.       4:27 p.m.                   Southeast                                                      Airlines--------------------------------------------------------------------

Delta's schedule between Los Angeles and Seattle, effective June 7:--------------------------------------------------------------------Flight   Departs         Arrives         Frequency      Operated by--------------------------------------------------------------------4778     Los Angeles at  Seattle at      Daily          Atlantic         6:05 p.m.       8:27 p.m.                   Southeast                                                      Airlines--------------------------------------------------------------------4761**   Seattle at      Los Angeles at  Daily          Atlantic         7:15 a.m.       9:45 a.m.                   Southeast                                                      Airlines

of jogging on a treadmill and diamonds...

Today was a rather productive day where I had some good studying time on my own, went to church, had some awesome grilled mahi-mahi at Bonefish, went to Barnes and Nobles to study, then to Flight Safety to study and worked out for about 45 mins. When I say worked out, I mean that I jogged at a rather timid pace. But the machine said that I burned off ~350 calories and that I had jogged 3.5 miles or something like that. I was happy and I sweat which is what I was looking for.

I had a rather interesting dream last night where I ran a half marathon. Probably because I thought that I was doing such a great job on the treadmill yesterday that I was proud that I didn't tire like I thought I would. Today was good too. I put my iPod to Rock Genre and jogged on!

So as for the title, I was reading this awesome article and it's just awesome! Everyone has to read it because it's what my geology friend has always been saying. I haven't even gotten a chance to see Blood Diamond yet, but I hopefully will someday. Here's the link! Click here

So, tomorrow' schedule is another rinse and repeat. Since I'm presumable only going to be in this hotel for another 3 weeks, and I have some food left, I'm going to the supermarket tomorrow and will try to make it my last trip there. I also have laundry to do and am going to try to study as much as I can somewhere in between taking care of other errands such as getting a refund for the trip that I paid for and maybe, just maybe...if there's time I'll go to Bed Bath and Beyond, j/k, get an oil change.

of confidence

There you have it folks. I finished CPT4 this afternoon with a better head on my shoulders compared to when I got out of CPT3. It was pretty bad in that I went in with too many questions and hesitations. As my instructor told me today, I just need to start doing things and act like I know what I am doing. I really do and trust me, I would tell you want I don't know and what I really know. It took a session like today to finally realize where I stand. As many of you know, I require a lot of personal reassurance anytime that I have a decision to make. I know that they are not training us to be Captains just yet, but I seek it for everything. I've always wanted to make everyone and anyone happy and just do things right. You could say that this is my strongest setback. I'm definitely a little more confident now today and I will be forging a new type of character for these next sim sessions. Shoot, I might as well carved it out right now and set it straight right now!

On other news, My Barack Obama set out for the Democratic Nomination today in Chicago, Illinois. He is definitely one of my favorites and for those that do not know me, I am a Republican. He's ideas and campaign platform for 2008 is a little on the unrealistic side and I can't say that I agree with everything but he is the first candidate, Republican or Democrat that I would actually see myself supporting. I just hope that Mr. Giuliani makes up his mind and announces something soon. He hasn't really had that much time in the public eye recently, and with the storm and Barack is part of, its definitely going to overshadow some of Rudy's efforts if he doesn't do something fast! That's just my point of view. What do you have to say about it? Here are some polling reports from some random website. Click Here

I have a lot to study and I'll try to post as often as I have been doing but its going to get a little tough really quickly. If you were to sum it up and check out my Google Calendar, you'll see that I'm set to finish training in just another 18 days. That's scary huh?

I'll also been working out so far three days in a row! I'm going to two weeks straight and hopefully it'll become habit. I'm also on the don't eat past 1900 (7PM) routine. As long as I'm here stuck in Atlanta without any type of nighttime entertainment, looks like I'll be able to stick to it.

CPT2

It's crazy how much you can actually get accomplished and learn in just one sitting. I definitely was once again not on top of things, but I got them down to a comfortable degree. I'm going to sleep just saying it over and over again and play the scenarios in my head non stop, but as I do that, I have a lot more to go over and learn too! It's definitely all piling up and I could sure use a day to just learn it all. I have CPTs until Saturday and then that night, I'm going to decompress a little bit but then hit it hard on Sunday and Monday. These sessions are going by rather quickly and its just unbelievable.

The Chargers just lost their defensive coordinator to the Dallas Cowboys. I know that Wade Phillips will be an awesome head coach. It's going to be interesting on who we start hiring to fill in all the shoes that are vacating the Chargers Coaching Staff. Supposedly they are also working on a new logo? More on that later if I ever find more out about it.

I worked out again today and was a little better on the diet. I didn't have the two pulled pork sandwiches which was a good thing. Instead, I finished a large can of pears (the ones with water and Splenda which has a lot less sugar and fat for ya), a slice of bread with peanut butter and little amount of jelly, a slice of bread with some turkey and hot sauce and called it lunch! I had a banana this morning with a peanut butter powerbar and just like 5 24oz bottles of water. If you have to guess what I had for dinner again, just click here. I'm going to see how long this can last. I really want some pho and I just might go get it tomorrow. We'll see who's up for it!