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.

CPT1

Today marked the beginning of the end of my training. It's going to only get harder from what I've been hearing and I have to admit that I wasn't as prepared as I would have liked to be today. I was up to par, but did not exceed expectation nor did I feel 100% confident in my answers. I will try to be tomorrow, but I definitely will need some time to actually begin to digest and "learn" not memorize what I am doing. It's getting better though and I'm glad that it is all finally starting to all come together. I'm going to try to start running again and hopefully that will get my blood flowing better to my brain. CPT2 tomorrow from 0800-1500! Wish me luck!

We had a free lunch today from Flight Safety which was awesome pulled pork sandwiches. I had one and there were just too many not to indulge myself and have another, so I did it. I grabbed another. I felt content with one, but shoot, how can you deny free food. My flight partner did and I'm sure that he felt a little better than I did afterwards. Oh well, it was just so good!!! If there is anything that I will miss about the Southeast, it would be all the BBQ that you can get. Of course, the trade off in SoCal is the multitude of Mexican and Asian restaurants. Now weighing in on me in the dilemma of whether or not I should bid back to Atlanta because of Adelle's future college aspirations. Oh the decisions...anyone have any insight?

san diago...

Even though this weekend didn't turn out what Adelle and I was thinking it was going to be, we still enjoyed every single minute of our two days. I have to say that it was one of the best weekends in terms of "kicking" it old school where we just played video game amongst the 4-6 of us, hung out and eat at Niban Sushi, watch a play and just have an overall great time. We also had the awesome spicy pork chops from Sam Woo BBQ! Thanks for the great weekend guys! Jojo finally got his Wii today along with two Wiimotes and I got to hang out with Haas for just a little bit. It's going to be awesome the next time I come back!

I finally setup my Google Reader which, by the way, was recently updated and is so awesome and user friendly. It's all about the web applications these days.

Anyways, at Niban, I ordered two large cold, unfiltered sake bottles which were definitely put to good use. We all shared in good times. Thanks again! I've been so energetic these couple of days its awesome!

Now, I'm going to just have to get all serious and just put my head in the sand with a book and cockpit mockup. I'm up to bat and I need to hit a home run this month. It's going to get really tough! Let's see which flight I end up tomorrow. I'm hoping for a seat esp. with 6 First and 10 Coach available.

From (top) left to right: Me, Marella, Jomar, Jojo (bottom) left to right: Adelle, Corinne

of working slowly

The homework that we were assigned tonight consisted of completing 2 weight and balance cards complete with reading the dispatch, cargo load manifest and TLR. It really isn't that trivial and doing it over and over again will definitely make things easier, but I have to admit that I find myself sometimes adding here or subtracting even though I was suppose to do the opposite computation. I just have to slow down and make sure that I think more about it and work it out slowly. I enjoy doing them but just get frustrated when I miss a computation.

I had some Smokey Bones again tonight for dinner and Wendy's for lunch. I can't say that I've been saving my money but this hotel food thing is just getting to me. I'll try to be good.

I'm so proud of Adelle because she is helping me out in booking a flight back home this weekend and is on top of the new Delta Phone Travel Phone System. I love it when she takes charge of things. It definitely impresses me a lot! I love you sweetie.

My Scott Leather Jumbo Flight Bag came in today and it's freaking awesome! It smells so good and the work is just too perfect. Thanks a lot Dianna Taylor for fulfilling the no logo customization. I was surprised when it didn't come with the inside pocket, but I'll just have to order it later on. The Jeppesen Accessory Case will have to do for now. I took some picture phone photos of the case and you can find them on trelijah. I filled it up to the brim with some space to go, but I just can't wait to start lifting it all day long. The backpack thing and flight bag definitely was a good combo but now, I'm able to be a little more professional without the backpack deal. Maybe a side messenger bag or something would help out carry things here and there. On to the next purchase of my luggage bag from Luggage Works (formally known as Purdy). Man, this occupation is getting pretty pricey!

Enjoy the pics! Click on each of them for some comments of each.

Gen Ops Mod CRJ200 in Freezing Weather

Today was the first day of Ops Mod and we got to learn about stuff like the new Aero Data System that we are using for Takeoff Limitation and Weight and Balance figures. It went really smoothly today with another sponsored lunch from ALPA. So far, our class has gotten just about 1 or 2 free lunches every other week while we have been here in training. It's not a bad deal. The hotel is a different matter but at least the newest classes that started today got the benefit of our complaints. They got put up in the Amerisuites which just have too many nice amenities that it's a shame to even compare it to the hotel that I'm at right now. So with that, I'm not even going to start to mention any of them.

The calculations seem to be pretty easy and the homework wasn't that bad. You just have to get use to how to read the dispatch release and the actually Take-off and Landing Report. We have 3 more days of this with a test on Thursday. Then I get 5 days off before all the simulator sessions. I know that I have to study a lot and get all my flows down still, but I'm trying to work something out where I could use my time wisely and get a lot of studying done while traveling!

Adelle got to find out who was who on my travel list so she's ready to head out and use them. I told her to check out some flight, but who know how the loads are and to where we would actual travel to. I'm also still unsure on the whole cost of traveling. I'm getting my second paycheck tomorrow which is going to be tremendously large! I'm excited for that! <-- that was sarcastic by the way but who am I to complain really. I'm loving what I'm doing.

Oh yeah....totally forgot too, the temperature right now in Atlanta is freezing! I saw a puddle today that was iced over. Here's what the weather was this morning until the afternoon where it heated up to a warm 45 degrees. Now as I post this tonight, its 30F!

On other notes:

• Chick-Fil-A has a nice restaurant / diner here in Atlanta and I have to admit that I was impressed. I'll definitely go there again.
• The FAA is posed to announce that they are increasing the age limit for mandatory pilot retirement tomorrow. The new age is 65 years old. I really have mixed feelings about this because it just means that I will be forced to wait another 5 years until I upgrade. Just to think that all the major airlines are going to be postponing their hiring for another 5 years kind of stinks. On the other hand, it does prolong my "career" another 5 years. Can't complain there I guess. I think that the one stipulation is that someone in the cockpit has to be age 60 of younger while the older pilot is present. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/01/29/national/main2410945.shtml

of getting on an open flight!

After all the testing taking on Friday, I decided that I should try to get on a flight and use some of my benefits. To make a very long story short, out of the 3 that Justin and I listed ourselves on, I got on the last one, but decided to just stick it out together and we finally just got onto another airline. We connected in Phoenix and then made our way to San Diego. Adelle picked us up and we tackled the first thing on the itinerary list: Hit up In-N-Out Burger! I ate that Cheeseburger #2 combo so fast that I really don't even remember it.

We woke up early the next morning (Saturday) and headed to Kono's in Pacific Beach for breakfast, followed by some arcade action at Vincenzo's place then to PQ. Okay so my old time friend of more than 20 years hooked up an arcade machine with a comptuer setup and has over 4300+ arcade games. That includes the NES emulation and everything. It was awesome just playing some Street Fighter 2 and some Altered Beast again! That was a pimp setup. I hope to kick it more with him and everyone else once I get back. I just wanted to get some good old house time and we got to eat some Buckey's Ice Cream and PQ Donuts for some good dessert time. The breakfast at Kono's was just so much that I didn't even eat anything for lunch besides the pint of Ice Cream. (Mudd Pie and Toll House combo is the best) Back to Adelle's townhome for some rest and then off to Wildomar to see my parents. We had some good dinner there then drove down to Adelle's parents house to play some pool and then back up for one last goodnight. My mom has been doing really well lately and its nice to see that my father and her are "hanging" out. My mom is awesome! She just told me that she was looking into some older community place in Vegas and it looked sweet. I just don't know how the heck I'd be able to take advantage of the place because apparently we younger ones are not allowed. Oh well...

I got some Jamba Juice today which totally hit the spot. It stinks that they increased the price by 35 cents but it is definitely understandable being that California lost about $1 billion dollars of crops over this winter freeze. We drove around downtown for just a little bit and got dropped off at the airport. Found out that the PPR number works great and Justin and I were on our way to play more of the standby game. We were numbers 2 and 3 and got seats 1 and 2 out of three available. We were lucky. Our backup plans seemed good too, but this early flight was just right. The Captain announced that the flight was going to be 3 hours and 22 minutes and I was shocked! Everyone screamed a little bit on our landing in Atlanta which startled me a little bit but I thought that the crew did awesome especially in the weather that they were facing.

Ate some Ruby Tuesday's and then I'm off to bed! Goodnight! I'm going to try and head out somewhere this week, but from what I've seen, its hell trying to get on standby on a Delta flight. We'll see how things pan out. I can't really risk too much you know?

For more pictures from the trip. click here

...of moving

I just got reassigned to LAX about a week ago and even though I won't be showing up for duty until May 1st, I can't hardly wait! It's so exciting!!! I'm heading back west. Because of that move of mine though, I'm at the bottom (2nd from last) on the seniority of first officer pilots out of 50. It kind of stinks, but hey...seniority is everything and I'm a brand new fish. I even just moved up a couple of spots because the roster grew by 20 more this part 15th with the new January training class. So, right now, I'm just thinking of what my living quarters will be like, where in the LA area, where in the Atlanta area will I be staying for the 1.5 months after IOE...there's just so many things to take care of. This Saturday will mark the 1 month date of when I started and when all my benefits commence. I can't wait!

I ate lunch at Smokey Bones!!! I'm loving it there. Made a production of it today and it ended up that 8 of us ate there. It was just so good! The pulled pork combo with two sides, loaded mashed potatoes and BBQ baked beans rock! I also got to catch up on two of my shows tonight and studied all my flash cards again. It's almost getting easier but I also started the Immediate Action Items and got most of those taken care of as well. It's going well really, but I'm still scared for the oral exam. I finished the Computer Based Training (CBT) Lessons so I'll be hopefully using my time wisely after the lunch break to continue studying for the systems final on Friday.

I worked out tonight again...had a can of tuna fish with hot sauce afterwards and now I'm headed to bed. By the way, more contract negotiations and mediation should be taking place on February 5th and 6th so I'm crossing my fingers. Looks like that is after the fact of when Delta is suppose to be finalizing their Request For Proposals and announcing who is going to do what regional flying for them.

...living without roommates

This past 3 weeks have gone by rather quickly and I have to admit that living by myself in a hotel room once again has yet to spike the "awesome" meter. As I tell everyone else, it's only cool when you're 18, single and wouldn't mind inviting people upstairs every now and then. Living the true penthouse life-style. Well, that couldn't be done here either at the oh so luxurious Red Roof Inn, Atlanta North. It's quite enjoyable when you hear little scratching between the walls then upon breakfast, your peers tell you that what you hear is the sound of mice. That's a spike in the sarcastic "awesome" meter.

Again, back to the subject, I've since lived in a place where there was always social interaction with at least someone else. From 2005 up until living in the hotel in Fort Lauderdale, Luxembourg and now, it's just not fun. Even though there are more than 16 of us floating around the floors and halls of this hotel, not to mention the other 30 or so new employees, it just doesn't have the common room effect where you could just lie down on a coach, talk random stuff and "hang out." It almost is a production every time you want to get people together. Don't get me wrong, we're all here for one thing and that is training, but still, a living room can bring the needed ingredient for sanity...at least on my end.

I was able to get a lot of studying done tonight and am surprised by the amount of notecards that I have learned. It's definitely one of the best strategies to get to know simple facts quickly. Now if I could only get the memory action items down pack, I think that I would be 50% ready for the test on Friday. We'll see how my studying goes for tomorrow.

Let's see here is my dining menu for today:

• Breakfast - One Jimmy Dean's Ham Cheese Sandwich (where after I microwaved the thing, all the cheese melted onto the plate so I had to improvise and just eat an American Kraft singles square along side it), one glass of orange juice, bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cereal and a Banana.
• Lunch - amazing leftovers from Smokey Bones which included half of my leftover Pulled Pork Sandwich, 1 potato skin loaded with cheddar cheese and bacon, and 1 chicken strip.
• Dinner - Canned Italian Ravioli, Deli Meat Sandwich with melted cheese and some carrots with dip.

All of this was within the confines of my awesome hotel room. I have to say that I'm very happy that I was able to save up a little money today. I even went back to Best Buy to exchange my camera, bought some batteries, and still spent less because I brought the $30 worth of coupons. Good deal! After that, Eric, Justin and I went to Barnes and Nobles and I didn't buy a thing! Yeah! That's what I'm talking about.

Now, if I could only find some time to actually configure my Linksys Router to the DD-WRT firmware, I could share my internet connection and save more money! Loving it! I didn't get to work out today, but at least I ate well and am drinking way too much water. I'm doing just about 750 mL every hour or two which definitely is just awesome!

sports news: Bill Parcells retired today so does that mean that the Chargers are going to lose another one of their staffing coaches, Wade Phillips? It's going to be a tough year next year. We're already lined up to play both SuperBowl contenders. How exciting!