Flying part 1: 4th Week in July

Flying the CRJ700 has been definitely more exciting than the CRJ200 and this week was just another example.  I guess it might be the mere fact that 1 more flight attendant / stewardess adds to the mix during dinner or that I'm just getting lucky being paired up with great crews.  With that, this was a rather enjoyable week. The first night was an overnight in Quad Cities, Illinois which I have already blogged about... great food!  Check it out here. (http://www.elijahnicolas.com/wp/2009/07/26/overnight-in-quad-cities/)

The next night exposed me to the true horrors that Newark, New Jersey is.  Rudeness was in the air but friends were around to pick me up and create a lightened atmosphere.  We headed to the Shorthills Mall which was pretty high society status.  Too bad it was an indoor mall but shopping around is always fun when the weather outside is humid, muggy with a chance of thunderstorms.  We ate at a great place called All American Joe's Bar (something like that) and concluded the night with a drive through a ritzy neighborhood w/ average home sales of $2-4M, stroll through it's local town full of boutique shops that had tennis outfits in the windows.  I can't remember the name of the town but there was an theater playing Public Enemies and that was what we were watching.  For a two and half hour movie, it kept me going.  I enjoyed it thoroughly but I have to admit that 500 Days of Summer (trailer) was more entertaining.  Johnny Depp had a great roll, Christian Bale looks a little skinny and didn't convince me so much, but overall it was a great biography on John Dillinger.    Albeit more appealing I guess in it's very unique story telling.  Go watch it already if you have not!  It's playing in select theaters so make you scope out the local area for show times.

I'll write up part two tomorrow starting off with some good MIA weather story and capping it off with a fun night in Cincinnati...er Kentucky...that one place that we stayed at last night.  Here's a picture of the morning sun rising over Manhattan skyline as seen from the Newark Airport.  You can see the Empire State Building too if you take a close look!  Check it out!

Overnight in Quad Cities

Found a great place near the hotel called Rock Island Brewing Company (map) that had a great selection of beers and food.  I ended up with a Ribco Burger (comes with a fried egg! <-- freaking awesome) and a Delirium Nocturnum and two others.  I wish that I can remember their names but they were all great!  Quad Cities doesn't really open for business till after 1900 but a meal at 1700 is pretty choice especially when you have to go to sleep early in order to wake up at freaking 3:30AM!

Past Weekend's Haps

The Chargers couldn’t lose because they had a bye week, JR and Veronica had their wedding shower, Adelle convinced me to head out to Disneyland before our pass privileges were set to expire, I got a chance to hang out with Dr. Nourani in Downtown San Diego, and I did a little work in finishing up my migration to my new MacBook Pro.

Disneyland was definitely a great highlight as the lines were short allowing us to ride what we wanted (California Adventures’ Soaring is still the best), the apple pie caramel apple was a delight and the biggest plus was seeing one of my college roommates as a Jedi Knight Instructing young Padawans on stage at a Disneyland show!  Mr. Stephan Oyoung, without a doubt has the best job.  Working 4 days a week teaching kids how to rid the world of the dark side with light saber techniques, what more could you ask in a post graduate occupation?!  Two thumbs up and kudos to you Jedi Oyoung.

On the day of voting, I got to witness a new dawn in Downtown with yet another college buddy, Dr. Nourani and was readily entertained with his residency stories.  I mention a new dawn only because it was about the time when Barack was making his acceptance speech and McCain ending his bid. Bobby's stories make me wonder where I would have been at if I did do a post-bac program in lieu of flight school.   We ate at Marsala (an Indian restaurant of course) which was tremendous but a bit overpriced then made our way to Altitude Sky Bar where we got to see the Madonna Concert without the Madonna.  Good times all around, but once again I find myself commuting back to work.  It’s been a while since I’ve been at the crashpad.  I can’t wait to get the band back together.  

Joey Roth's Sorapot Unboxing

It's finally here; The Simple, Modern Sorapot by Joey Roth.   Mr. Roth sold out the first 300 and with the 2nd batch, he included a pack of some of his favorite tea from The Simple Leaf; a sample 1 oz pack of Honeybee Nepal Oolong.  That to me was more than worth the wait.  He had the kindness to notify me and ask if I could wait, and I agreed.  What else could you do as a customer but accept his reward for not minding to wait?  That's customer service right from the top.  Now, for the details.  I arrived home after a long 4 day trip not expecting anything except my Surefire G2 LED Replacement Flashlight and low and behold, something else was awaiting my unwrapping! 

The first picture is of the Mr. Roth Seal on top of the outer packaging.  Not much to say here except that the package weighed in at 5 lbs.  Next, compensation for the long wait was a 1 oz. bag of tea and a coupon for my next order at The Simple Leaf which was perfect because I haven't found a great place in Atlanta to buy some fresh leaves just yet.  I faintly remember that there was a place in the Lenox Square Mall, but it's just too far to go check out.   Here's are two more pictures before you have to click on more to keep on reading.  Check out the string and the innards! 

 

Intricate but simple.  I know that's an oxymoron, but that word alone sums up the amount of detail that I believe had to of transpired in the overall package design.  Untying the box was such a joy but opening the egg crate box to reveal what was inside was that much better.  The directions wrapped around the glass pot, that was awesome.  Forget about the little small pamphlets that no one looks at!  Unrolling this paper was just too good.  Creative!

The lighted picture is the best that I could offer being that I'm still stuck using my measly 4.0 MP Sony DSC-P9.  The first picture shows the final product sitting on top of the box ready to get dismantled and injected with some tea leaves!  The final product couldn't have looked any better.  The construction is flawless, but I have to say that the spout is a little harsh in that it isn't smooth like the rest of the steel.  Doesn't seem like the finish was thorough, but either than that, nothing else was short of perfect.  More than a conversational piece, it's just an awesome pot.  The second picture shows the steel casing unscrewed and the glass taken out.  Conveniently coupled with my Zojirushi Water Boiler, I just have to put some leaves in, reassemble the device and then pour the hot water in and wait.  It was meant to be! 

There next two pictures show the Sorapot before the water ready to go with leaves inside, and the next with the tea brewing away!  The tea was a little dry and I have yet to perfect the master brew, but being my first try, I was more than happy to get going and drink away. 

This piece will definitely stay with me throughout the my travels and will always sit alongside my favorite items.  It's not just art...it's simple but wonderful at the same time.  Fulfilling if you want to call it.  I just think that everyone should get one already and help out Joey Roth because he is the man. 

If you want high quality, detailed pictures, as mine do not give the Sorapot it's well deserved recognition, head over to the official site: Sorapot - a Simple, Modern Teapot

Now if he every produces his teacups, count me in to complete my coffee table set. 

Interesting Tidbits

Surfing around the web today, I came across a couple of interesting sites. 

Health: Avoid These 9 Worst Food in America by Lifehacker

It's always just interesting to read about the various foods that are out on the market.  One of my friends recommended that I check out the Men's Health's website that is dedicated to what to eat and what not to eat conveniently called, "Eat This, Not That!"  It has quite a few interesting comparisons.  One that I was a little shocked by was the listing of 15 Secret Restaurant Swaps where they compared the McDonald's Big Mac to the Burger King Whopped with Cheese.  Guess what?  You're better off eating at McDonald's.  (I'm not sure if that's with or without the secret sauce but if you are trying to lose some weight, I'm sure that you are better off without it.)  Oh yeah, Chick-fil-A was the only A+ on their list of fast food chains being that they don't have any one sandwich cross the 500 calorie mark.  That's of course if you don't add on the awesome tasting special honey BBQ sauce on top of your Chargrilled Chicken Club with bacon included...my personal favorite!

Another neat thing that I found after getting annoyed by not being able to read the Wall Street Articles in their entirety was a Firefox add-on that enables you to spoof a website such as digg.com.  Directions and more details can be found at the link provided below.  Now, I'm able to peruse the WSJ without having to pay!!!   I just cut and pasted the directions here.  You could just also skip it and go directly the the link below for the full article. 

Remember that the Journal is set up to disarm its pay gate if it thinks you're coming from Google News or Digg. In order to get free access, then, you've got to convince the Journal that you've clicked on a link on one of those sites. How to do that?

The technical name for this is "referer spoofing" (with the misspelling). Spoofing is an easy thing to pull off in Firefox -- all you've got to do is download this add-on, refspoof.

Now follow these steps:

• Go to WSJ.com.
• In the refspoof toolbar's "spoof:" field, type "digg.com."
• Also in the refspoof toolbar, click the R icon, and select "static referrer."
• That's it. Click around the site; the WSJ thinks each click is coming from Digg. The WSJ is now yours for free!

Here's the link that I promised if you want to read the whole article. 

The Wall Street Journal's Web site is already (secretly) free by Machinist at Salon.com

Leave a comment below on what are some of your interesting sites for the day!

First of 45

Well, today is day one of the 45 days until my second 10K.  It'll be here in San Diego around Fiesta Island (without hills) so it shouldn't be that punishing compared to my first one.  Today's quick "back to workout" mode consisted of a 20 minute light jog (treadmill speed 5.0 with a little speed increase during the last few minutes) followed by some stretching and quick weight lifting.  I'm not trying to get bigger, just lose some weight, tone up and shape up.  I don't want to end up hurting for an entire week. 

Today's flight were pretty nice a long and uneventful.  Remember that these ones are the best!  So far my food intake for the day has consisted of water, a Triple Threat Power Bar, and a couple dips into my trail mix bag.  Time now is 12 hours after I've waken up.  I think I better replenish. 

Sorapot - A Must for Tea Enthusiasts

For anyone that is drinking tea, wants to start drinking tea or for anyone that is even slightly interested in the world of teas, you can jump start your hobby with this new tea pot designed by artist Joey Roth.  After almost a full year of constant retooling, Joey Roth has finalized the design and has made the Sorapot available with an initial run of 300 pots.  There's not much else that you can say about the pot except for the fact that its beautiful!  It's something that you can display, converse about and even watch as your tea leaves unfurl in the glass tube.  Not ever has tea been brewed this elegantly.  Some people are already referring to this pot as the one that would have been if designed by apple.  What do you guys think?

Below is a picture of the final design for the Sorapot. 

Pre-order yours now! / Portfolio pictures

Fuel Leak? / Pilot Hiring

Well, after being late in the morning due to boarding, late out of the Bahamas due to a malfunctioning left pack, and late in Atlanta due to maintenance on a tire repair, what else could have went wrong?  Well, as it turns out, after I competed my walk around 40 minutes prior to departure, right before we closed the door, a ramp agent came up the stairs and said that I should inspect some liquid that was leaking from the aft fuselage body.  I approached the area, touched the fluid, smelled it and knew that we were going to be a while.  I called the captain outside to inspect the issue and from there on, it was only a matter of time before we were require to deplane, and re-board another aircraft, get it ready to fly, fuel it up and preflight it. 

The issue that I had was that we were being told that the APU could be deferred because it had its own separate fuel line and therefore if we did not operate it, we should be fine.  Now, let me just ask, would you be fine if you knew your plane had a leak and they still wanted you to ride in it.  I mean, yeah, we wouldn't use the APU, but maintenance wasn't even sure, at the time, exactly what the problem was.  Kind of sketchy eh?  The maintenance guy told me that their policy had a loophole in it and it was 1) They were not allowed to defer anything on the aircraft if it was leaking any type of fluid but 2) If the item was leaking and stopped leaking being tagged inoperable, then the aircraft was okay to go. 

That's that really besides that we got to the overnight (White Plains, NY) 2 hours later than scheduled and the captain and I went to an awesome Italian Restaurant in downtown Armonk call La Scala where I had some Veal alla Scala.  It was tremendous!!!  So fresh and so good!  It cost a pretty penny but as I've always said, good food has no price.  You can't eat your money either so at least enjoy it!

I read an interesting article tonight on Star-Telegram.com about the state of the the airline industry in reference to hiring pilots.  I think that you might find it disconcerning, but I don't blame you.  I want to assure you that I got some of the best training, but I did pay heavily for it. 

Flying on the Day After Thanksgiving

The flight to Montgomery, AL was pretty packed but for a change, it was nice to walk in a terminal without physically running into people left and right.  I definitely understand that a full terminal is a good one, but sometimes it just gets too ridiculous!  You have to wonder if fire marshals approve of some of the airport terminals with all the record breaking passenger traveling that is being these days.

It was also particularly pleasant because I got the chance to grab dinner without having to wait in a line for more than 10 minutes at one of the busiest restaurants.  I got to eat it my chicken salad, french roll and banana nut muffin top from Atlanta Bread Company (all for just under $4.00 --> a trade secret of regional pilots) right next to my gate and just relax.

I only had two legs today and the last one from Atlanta to Montgomery was quick being only a 27 minute flight.  Taking off to the west and landing to the west, it all just makes for a nice way to end the work day.  Why couldn't this ever be on the 4th day of my trip!?

It's my 5th year anniversary with Adelle!  Happy Anniversary babe!  Time definitely has gone by fast huh!?  Sorry I couldn't be there, but Christmas and New Year's this year will top last years for sure!

Here's a picture of us on Halloween 2002!  We weren't actually going out yet, but this was the beginning of it all! Who knew back then that I would end up a pilot?

Oh yeah...there's a really cool website too that is a basic dictionary but it serves the words in record lightning speed!  Check it out at http://definr.com/ and try typing in anything!  It's awesome!

December Final Schedule

The schedules were released yesterday and I updated the link to the right to reflect my latest flight schedule.  Take a peek and if you happen to be in the same city as me, give me a ring. 

I'm not sure what happened to my website last night, but it seems like the additions were erased and a couple of other things were made unavailable.  I think that its back up, but you tell me if there are some missing links. 

I'm in Providence, Rhode Island for Thanksgiving just sitting in a hotel room.  My captain bought us lunch during our 2 hour layover in Columbia, SC and we called it an early night because we all woke up around 4:00AM!  What an awesome holiday!!!

Just checked...

I didn't notice that my other blog "the battle" was still online but now I have sent all redirects to here:  www.elijahnicolas.com/wp  I think that it might just stay this way for quite a while, maybe a dynamic picture uptop or something, but we'll see.  I remember doing that for my Luxembourg blog a while back so making this one will be a little of the same deal.  Maybe just random collages or something. Well, today was another day of nothing-ness.  Woke up early around 9:00AM and since then I've been catching up on my shows, playing a little more Call of Duty 4 and that's it!  Call of Duty has been a lot of fun but I still really wish that we could all play online together.  Oh well, hopefully in the next patch or something.

I ate a can of Soup, the one with the red label along with some popcorn for a lunch and for breakfast, I had the usual Eggo Waffles with topped with maple syrup and light butter spread.  I also had some blueberry oatmeal that my roommate left me and I was actually kind of impressed.  It was quite tastier than the usual brown sugar flavored oatmeal that I have.

I think that I'm going to try to expand a little bit today with the links to my schedule again and go from there.  I still don't know if I want all the sidebars and stuff because they really don't contain any useful information.

You have new Picture Mail!

Two Thumbs up from Elijah and Adelle! $40 a day from Rachel Ray!