"His Story"

Over the last two months, both Adelle and I have been making our rounds on the phone or meeting our friends and family in person, telling them the good news! If you haven't found out already, YES...WE ARE ENGAGED!!! The actual date was June 26th, 2009. We have yet to update our facebook profile statuses due to our own stubbornness to announce it there so in the meantime, we're just in a relationship!!! I'm going to start this off by telling you MY story.

Back in Spring 2000, at a Memorial Day BBQ that a mutual friend had invited me to, we crossed paths at the potluck table.  I asked her what her name was, we exchanged brief hellos, and when I mean brief, it's the shortest of conversations. It went something like this:

Elijah: Hello! I'm Elijah. I go to Revelle. How about you? Strange girl across the table picking up chips: I'm Adelle. I go to Marshall. Bye!

-- and she walks off because she has to go sit down next to her friend on the grass on her little towel.  Granted, I weigh about a 140 at 5'11", am wearing khaki short and a Structure Polo with some Dr. Marten Sandals.  I guess you could have just imagined a tool or a dork, or both combined, but she basically gave me the straight hate!

The night continued without any further contact which then transitioned into what ended up being a bonfire.  As the ocean air began to chill, another mutual friend from Atlantis Hall, which happened to also be my dormitory, wanted to head home.  She said that she needed a ride, and being my awesome nice self, I obliged.  Little did I know that her "friend" wanted a ride too.  I thought, "What the heck?"  (I actually didn't think that because I am a nice guy.)  Good thing though, because it just so happened that her friend was Adelle.  We got into my 1985 Turbo Diesel 300D Mercedes, cranked up some surfer-punk music and drove up the hill back to campus.  I was into the punk music contrary to popular belief that I would have been all into hip-hop / rap, etc I too also liked alternative, punk, and metal.  I dropped off Adelle first at her place and then Alice and I walked back to our hall.  That was that...

let’s go fly! Palomar Airport (KCRQ) @ Pinnacle Academy DA40

Fast forward 3 years later, July of 2003, I turn 21.  I'm living it up the leftover high that was my birthday party, heading out every weekend, hitting up all the bars between Downtown San Diego and LA -- it was just crazy fun and definitely costly, but I always refer the 6 months that ensued to as "dirty 21 fun!"  Turning 21 helped me grow a pair and I started to ask a few people out.  To my surprise, some said yes and I thought to myself why didn't I ever talk to girls earlier?  You see, I didn't really "talk" to girls.  I mean, I talked every now and then, perhaps a peep would leave my mouth, but I was always too shy to take it any further than a simple, "Hello.  How are ya?"  I promise when I have a son, he is going to grow some balls and not miss out on his high school dances like I did the first year or so.

Well, it just so happened that I had a friend who convinced me to take "Human Sexuality" with her during the 2002 Fall Quarter.  I signed up, got into the class but was confronted with a slight disappointment that she didn't make it in.  Do I just drop it or stick it out even though she isn't here?  She was a junior and I had a lot of credits already, so it wasn't like I needed to crash the course.  I didn't even need it as I was Management Science major.  I also happened to run into a bunch of old friends from freshman year and while I got distracted with them, my other friend never made it into the class.  Good thing I guess because we probably might have continued our random get-togethers.  It's not like that at all either...really.  Shopping, the occaisional dinner.  Just keeping it kosher at all times.  But onto the climax!

A few weeks pass and I finally had my chance to talk her.  I definitely recognized her and thought that she was cute for sure, but at the time, I wasn't looking for anything more than a study buddy.  Seriously!  So, with that, I finally was able to reintroduce myself, but I made a big error.  I went like this:

Friend: Adelle, this is Elijah, Elijah, Adelle. Adelle: I think we've met before at a picnic. Nice to meet you again. Elijah: Oh yeah, we met your freshman year?! Adelle with a confused look: What year are you? Elijah: I'm a 4th Adelle: so am I!? (weirdo)

Well, I follow her onto the UCSD shuttle bus that takes us to our respective automobile location, sit near her and just start chatting it up.  We have a final coming up, so I pull out the study card!  I got the digits easily without a hitch and filed it away in my pocket.

a cowgirl and an “astronaut”

I didn't call her either till about 2 weeks later the night of Halloween in Downtown San Diego. I had to really convince her over the phone to that she should be coming out being that it was our first year as 21 year olds celebrating what usually becomes a night of drunken celebration. She met up with us and that was that. We continued hanging out and one day, we realized that we were dating. The rest is history.

I proposed in Atlanta after she had rode the aircraft that I was flying back from Toronto. I landed and did the announcements.  It was just all put well together.  I even had the flight attendants have her wait behind and then told the captain that I wanted to get a shot of us in the cockpit.  While he was taking the 2nd photo, that's when I popped the question.  Happy engagement babe!

truly surprised her since she just woke up from a 2 hour flight

she says yes & my Captain can barely click the camera fast enough

Offline Writing and the Future of elijahnicolas.com

Most of the time when I come across various topics that I want to write about, they usually pop into my head at the most inappropriate time. While I am in the middle of my commute, without an Internet connection and / or just too lazy to log in to a hotel wifi hotspot, my thoughts end up lost in the cloud. I also end up thinking about random topics while I am on an "off day" being a heffalump. The trend that looms... I end up writing a new entry publishing every 4-8 days wishing that I could update more often. With that, I'll have to admit that in order for my blog to stay current and lead to a more successful following, I'm going to have to update it at least quite a few more times increasing the average to at least 3-5 entries a week. It should be a lot easier than I make it out to be but in reality, there are just too many things on my mind to talk or write about and I hate writing multiple topics in one day. The post following this entry will mark the beginning of what I would like to call a more technical / review stance of where I want to take my blog. I've written a few articles and just ended up "sharing" my RSS News Feeds through Google Reader but I have yet to actually share notes, write my opinions and share my analysis of the current day to day.

More or less, it wil remain a mix of my daily activities but I will also gnaw at the various technology trends, rumors and what not posting as if I was an editor for a higher website. It should get a little more exciting here at elijahnicolas.com ... I promise!

Cycling & Getting My Butt Kicked!

It's been a little while since I rode ~40 miles.  Most of my latest riding adventures added up to just shy of 15 miles around the local neighborhood with an effort level of 7.  Reason being is that I've been trying to concentrate on my cadence more so than my mile time, but I thought I would kick it up a notch the past Friday, July 10th.  My overall route covered the 56 Freeway Cycling Path up the coast and back. Pretty basic ride but it definitely has some long climbs throughout the the mix.  By the time I was heading back home on the 56 climb, I was beat...I mean BEAT!  My uncle beat me to the top by about 15 minutes and I was going nowhere averaging about a 6.5 mph climb.  My Gatorade was exhausted, the FRS that I bought at B&L Solana Beach had already run through my body's veins and the water that was remaining in my bottles were warming up to the noon time heat.

I definitely need to pick it up a bit, but with my irregular dieting, irregular flight / workout schedule, it's hard to get that basic rhythm down.  Here are pictures from the ride.

Post Irregular Operations

After the daunting task of having to get deiced in Atlanta, rerouted throughout the system and end up not having the extra time needed to organize my new apartment, it's back to everyday operations. Yesterday's flight consisted of quick turns with only delays taken for late fueling but this morning, on the way from Oklahoma City back to Atlanta, I once again was overwhelmed with the feeling of accomplishment and contentment. It was a smooth operation departing almost 10 minutes early, taking off smoothly, flying through smooth air at 33,000 flight and even the landing I was happy about. The entire leg was just "simply perfect." Once again, I feel "right" in my place in the world. =)

Of course, today's schedule had us up at 3:45AM but we finished up early with only 2 legs today by 11:30AM. The La Quinta in Alexandria, Louisiana was renovated a couple of months back, and I have to admit that it's been one of the nicer places I've stayed. I'm just happy that the internet here works well and is fast enough to actually stream some Hulu or fox.com for Dollhouse action. I planned a 30 minute nap, but you know how those go and slept for about 3 hours. Had a quiet dinner at Cracker Barrel by my lonesome, then retired back at the hotel. Good times being a pilot.

I leave you with a picture from trelijah taken two days ago. Looks great eh?

Day In A Life of a Pilot During Irregular Operations

Lets start from the beginning; if you recall, yesterday was a day that originated with me traveling in on a red-eye from San Diego (3 hrs sleep in an upright position), 2 hours sleeping horizontally at the now "old" crashpad, picking up a uhaul, loading up and cleaning, unloading at the new place which happens to be on the 3rd story w/ no elevator, returning the truck, organizing a bit, going shopping at Ikea for a new bed and frame, stuffing it all in a VW Jetta, unloading that up three flights of stairs (again), assemblying and cleaning until 2AM. This is where the fun begins.  The only reason I stayed up till 2AM is because I received a phone call from scheduling telling me that I was to be on short call reserve, which means that if I were to get a call from operations, I would have to be at the airport and in my plane dutied in within 2 hours, at 7:30 with a mandatory duty in at 10:25 for an 11:25AM departure to Omaha, Nebraska.  Instead of 5 legs as originally planned, I was now scheduled to fly one leg to Omaha followed by one leg back tomorrow.  I thought to myself that it shouldn't be that bad, but little did I know.I arrive at the airport a little early (10:10AM) happen to meet up with Kurt, walked to another concourse to pick up my flight bag while grabbing a venti caramel machiatto w/ soy from Starbucks, went to the plane and got it ready to go.  All in all, it didn't seem like it was going to be too harsh, but the weather deteriorated quickly.

I figured that I should read up on the de-icing procedures in ATL since I've never done it before along with the fact that we were going to be a while until our ticket was up.  We board up, release the parking break and great ready to go.  Once we're on the taxiway, we were told that deicing would take approximately 1 hour from our current spot in line, so we turned off both engines and hung out.  By the time we were number 1 and getting ready to enter the de-ice pad, the forecast and current weather conditions equated heavy snow.  "+SN" limits us by putting a stringent requirement of having to take off within 5 minutes of deicing and the current estimates were about 8-10 minutes.  So, all in all, it wasn't conducive to get deiced with a chance of having to do it all over again.  All the while, we pick up on the radio that the runway was shut down because of poor braking action.  Good thing we just turned back.

Getting a parking spot wasn't that much of an issue but since the rampers and gate agents were being overwhelmed with returned aircraft, it was about another 15-20 minutes of sitting waiting with the door open, snow piling up on the stairs and passenger entry way before we started the de-boarding process.  Outside my window, I see this: and record this:

Another two hours pass by, we finally get called back out to the aircraft to continue the flight to Omaha, Nebraska and prepare the aircraft once again. We are notified that it would be another hour till we hear what's going on since the de-ice line is nearing the 2 hour mark, and once again, we sit for about 2 hours in the plane just waiting. Mind you, I've been at work since 10:25AM and I've only been paid for about 1.5 hours and it's already 4:30PM. A ramp agent comes aboard and tell us that we've been Code Sixed - Cancelled and I get a call: Instead of 5 legs today which turned into 1 leg to Omaha, I will be operating a flight to Kileen, Texas departing at 6:55PM. So, I get to sit another 2 hours unitl we depart. To make the story short, I finish the day with a 15 hour duty day, 4.5 hours of block time (hours in the aircraft actually getting paid) and now I sit here blogging in Kileen, Texas and instead of getting back to Atlanta at 8:00AM, I'm not due in till 4:00PM extending my entire schedule! YEA for me!

Here is another video with actual pictures of the snow on the wings of the aircraft.

Passport Renewal / Red Eye / Moving

All of the above (Passport Renewal / Red Eye / Moving) followed by a two day trip (not that bad) and a 4 day trip is going to make for a long, laborious next 7 days. I'm "caffeinating" while waiting for my passport to be ready at 1300.  It's great that I get a 1 day turn around but that consisted, so far, waking up at 3:30AM, driving to the LA Federal Buidling at 4:00 arriving at 6AM & hanging out till a little past noon then driving back to San Diego.  Def. not looking forward to the drive back.  This Starbucks, btw, has a TON of traffic.  Not just any regular traffic, but you see all kind of peeps from LA trendy, UCLA students both undergrad and med, scrubbie (litterally dressed in hospital scrubs) to peeps like me burning time.  It's a good place to people watch. *drinking venti caramel mach w/ soy and extra caramel*

I had to reserve a uHaul truck [deets: 10ft / in-town for $19.99 plus $0.99/mile] which stinks because all I'm really moving is a couch and television and a few boxes.  Maybe more than just a few (13 or so) but I'm going to have to pack, load, unload once I get in from the red eye at 6:00AM, pick up the truck at 8AM and try to complete the cleaning up process by noon on Saturday.  That's not to mention the fact that I have to setup shop in the crashpad forcing a trip to IKEA to buy a twin bed set.  This business is all going to be accomplished w/ little sleep due to a red eye schedule (DL 1048 SAN-ATL) Glorious day without a doubt. Going to have to run on some Red Bull and 5-hour energy.  Where's a retail FRS shop when you need one? <-- not that I've taken FRS yet, but it seems like it's a great product?!

March and On

Well, for the last year or so, I've been promising a more consistent writing style, reviews and just everyday posts about my random adventures, but lately, I've just been hanging out doing what I do...be a human wasteland until things come up.   In the last month or so, I've had recurrent ground training, a proficiency check (where I test my flight skills and knowledge with a chance of losing my job if I underperform), got my class date for the CRJ700 set for March 23rd, bidded for my March schedule and got the days off that I needed for a friend's bachelor party, looked at a few different apartments in the Atlanta area for possible crashpad solutions and found one with access to the MARTA, and even met one of the three new crashpad roomies and hung out.  

Speaking of which, as an update to the "question of '09", I will be having a residence in Atlanta and the group decided on living at the Uptown Square at Lindbergh. It offers a 30 minute ride on the train system which will save me gas and maybe give me the chance to bring my car back home to San Diego.  I figured that $250 /mo for the peace of mind is a better way of easing myself off of a crashpad.  I just wasn't ready to not have a place at all in Atlanta pending a situation where I would get stuck in a hotel due to weather or training or whatever else.  Uptown Square at Lindbergh received a 12% rating on apartmentratings.com which is a little sketchy, but I'm sure that we can make the best of it.  I'll tell you how it goes as the year progresses.  

As for everything else, there are a few random ideas I have been throwing around lately and we'll see what I end up with.  Hopefully something by the end of March.  *fingers crossed*

if anything, if you're looking for more frequent / daily updates, check out my twitter:eejay and follow me or check out my mobile blog trelijah.

Sandals – Montego Bay: The Arrival

Over the next week, I’ll be writing about the experience that Adelle and I had over the 4 night / 5 day vacation we had in Jamaica. I chose to split it up into a three part review starting out with the overall Resort Experience, Casual and Formal Dining and Amenities. Below is the narrative. We landed at Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay, Jamaica after a quick 2.5 hour flight from Atlanta, Ga. Making our way towards customs, we thought that our processing would go by rather quickly, but instead we endured a long one hour wait which included some entertainment particularly a fight between two older women about letting their families cut in line. It went on for a good 10 minutes before the locals separated them but it was definitely close to escalating into a slap fight.

When we excited the baggage and customs area, we entered a lobby where the resorts had taken up shop creating a welcoming experience for their guests. It basically consisted for a lounge where Red Stripe Beer was free flowing; our bags were taken care of by the airport valet (gratuity not included, and it was totally unnecessary); other colas were available and some fresh fruits on the table if you got their early enough before the other tourists ravaged the tray. Our bus arrived quickly and to our surprise, the Sandals Resort at Montego Bay was relatively close. A 10 minute drive was nothing compared to what the others were talking about. Some of the other Sandals resorts were as far out as 1.5 hours in a van, but I was glad that ours consisted of 10 minutes of driving on the left hand side of the road. As a side note, the booking agent made sure that we knew that all gratuities on the resort were included as it was dubbed an All Inclusive Resort but all the little things such as the van ride to the hotel, valet baggage service and the little knick knacks here and there are NOT Included and they make sure to tell you that they work on tips. Not that I spent too much, but I was a little surprised.

Our bags were taken from us and put aside while we were escorted to another lounge within the resort where they gave us a lemongrass cold face towels, some champagne and a “membership card” along with our “upgraded room” packages. They make it seem that we were special and got the upgraded accommodations, but it really just seems all like a little thing to spruce up your enjoyment from the get go. The card that they gave us had Deluxe upgraded to Honeymoon Waters Edge printed on it. We were definitely grateful for it as our room included a jetted tub, mini bar (which was included) a king size bed and a view of the ocean from out small balcony. Sandals makes it a point that everything gets billed to your room so that your don’t have to carry too much around which is a nice detail but then again, without the exchange of cash or cards, you can easily end up spending a lot more than your initial vacation budget. Housekeeping surprised us by cleaning out our room twice a day and we only caught them once! I guess it makes sense that they would tidy up the place that often due to the frequent showers and swims at the beach but it became a game to guess when they would come because they really were good at keeping out of sight.

We got to the resort around 1400 and were excited to hit the beach and explore so we did. Walking around the main lobby, there was an activities board that was updated daily, a spa desk for the expensive massages that couples get (we opted out) tourism desk (also for expensive tours that we were advised against) three different restaurants and a pool that was always closer to the freezing readout. I taught Adelle how to swim two days in row so that she could pass the swim test prior to the scuba dive, so we had a lot of time in the pool. I can’t say that I ever warmed up.

Once on the sand, there is a hut that provides an assortment of blended cocktails and drinks on one side and a grill aptly named “Irie Grille” on the opposite side. More on that later. Along the beach, there are Hobbie Cats (quick little sail boats), paddle boats, one wind surfing board, 4 2-seat kayaks, a designated swim area, glass bottom boat that gives hourly tours, the scuba boat that goes out twice a day and a large catamaran (not included). There are plenty of white beach lounge chairs some under huts and some not, a couple of “exclusive” mattresses that couple can rent out, and a piano-pool side bar on the far east end of the resort. There’s also a basketball court, beach and pool volleyball, an oversized chess piece set on a smaller than standard board, shuffle board and a little bench swing. More to come soon!

mbj.a

question of '09: to crashpad or not to crashpad

So, what do I do? Come this February, the Loxford Lounge / Farm House will end a 2 year lease agreement and all seven of us have already made plans to move out. Well, at least 4 of us have a housing situation already in the works, but that leaves me with the questions of paying rent for an apartment / room in Atlanta or just commuting in and out and maybe using a hotel every now and then. If you take my current situation into account, I pay ~$120 for a loft space per month but then in February, that will most likely end up being ~$300 or more for a room with two other great guys. Of course, that just negated the mediocre pay increase that I will be getting and the fact that I'm hardly here utilizing my living quarters just irritates me. In the month of November, I think that I was in the loft a total of 3-4 times. So with a hotel near the airport at around $50 a night, I'm still doing better with the loft, but then when the rent increases to an amount > $300, it'll take about 6 night stays to make it worthwhile. Do you get it?

Granted the loads on mainline Delta have really taken a dive and sometimes going from San Diego to Atlanta every week can get tiring, but it always ends up working out anyways. So, with this big decision, I have to come to terms with my belongings that I have in Atlanta on whether or not to spend the extra cash to move everything home to San Diego in one big crate, or piece by piece, etc. Obviously if I stay in Atlanta and have a place of residence, then I can keep some of my stuff here and just postpone the inevitable move back to San Diego, but who knows. I have a feeling that I might end up here at ASA a little while longer so I might as well get use to Atlanta? I have no frigging clue. It basically winds down to the want that I have to find a place that is relatively inexpensive to where it'll be less than what I would spend a month on a hotel in Atlanta and still be with people i know. I also want to have the option to actually "live" there for 2-3 days in a row just incase I decided not to fly to San Diego or the mere fact that I might not be able to get on due to full capacity.

This also brings up the other fact that now since I sold the old turbo diesel in San Diego, I am without transportation and am contemplating whether or not I need a car in Atlanta? I have one here, but it doesn't get use that often and the last time I left it alone for more than 11 days, the battery died on me. What the heck people!?

31 Days Until New Years'

Two years ago at this time, I was just settling back in America from my 3 month excursion to Europe, hanging out with friends in San Diego and getting ready to head back to Fort Lauderdale to hear the fate of gamble at a startup cargo carrier. With all the negative news surrounding what regional carrier would have a future, anything really seemed better than what we were faced with: pilots with over $100k in debt, no idea where to go next and what to do. Then, we got a departure stipend from the failed company (a meager amount to just barely cover costs of recurrent training at our previous flight school) and all of a sudden we were preparing for an interview with one airline when another swopped in the to interview us two days earlier. The rest is history as we all started on the 27th of December here at Atlantic Southeast Airlines.

We all couldn't' have been more thankful and gracious to our directors of the program for helping us move on. It was the best Christmas as we virtually never lost any pay moving from one place to the next.

Now, in an industry where furloughs (layoffs) are inevitable, wages barely livable with loan payments and rent taking more than 50%, it's something that we have all come to live with. Having never flown out of the base that I thought I was going to be domiciled at (LAX), I'm also coming to the slow realization that I will be stuck here in Atlanta a little while longer. As more pilots are finding themselves without a job and competing with the rest of us for that next step, it's not necessarily a dire position to be in, but it's not the best to start a new life. 2008 was full of improvements and 2009 should be edge more towards the second step in the changing of guards -- cutting overall costs. Until then, I have a great schedule for December as I have Christmas Eve and New Years' off and will just reflect on the current obstacle: finding a living situation in Atlanta for February 2009; to crashpad or not to crashpad.

this week's haps

• Up at 0700AM for 2 roundtrips and a 3 hr gap in between. ATL-ABE-ATL-IND-ATL it's snowing in both places too! Can't hardly wait (^_^) #
• It's always a pleasure to get off of work early but it kills to have your car's battery go dead in the parking lot due to prolonged parking #
• Trying out Starbucks' new Espresso Truffle in a venti to hold me over the rest of the day. #
• Up at 0500AM for a 5 leg day [ABY-ATL-AEX-ATL-SHV-ATL] then to the crashpad for a quick overnight. Day line tomorrow ^_^ #
• Staying at the Merry Acres in Albany, GA! What a way to celebrate Black Friday. #
• It's 418AM and I'm up and about getting ready for a four leg day. EVV-ATL-BTR-ABY #
• One more leg to Evansville, Indiana then overnighting at the Jameson Inn. Any families up that way want to adopt a pilot crew for T-day? #
• After 40 mins of Jepp updates, let the madness begin. ATL-MDT-ATL-EVV. #
• I'm baaaaack.....in the ATL. A two hour nap then 3 legs to go with a deadhead in between. #
• Finished Quantum of Solace -liked it but not as good as the first Craig. Now onto see 4 Christmases the catch on Heroes tonight b4 work. #
• Nine hours left in SAN until I have to go back to work on a red eye and spend Thanksgiving in a hotel in Evansville, Indiana! Yea for me! #
• sleep, wake up early for some word, hang out till the CoD5 tournament! be there at 1530! #
• Toyota for servicing the Prius, walking to Hileary Park for some geocaching with mom, mailing stuff out for amazon sales, then...hanging out #

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Saying Goodbye!

After a good 23 years of family ownership, the 1985 Mercedes Benz 300D Turbo Diesel has left the Nicolas family. When it really came down to it, I actually couldn't part with it and made the new owner a deal that I would get a chance to see it again after he converted it to run alternative fuel, fix the rear damage and upgrade the upholstery. I'm excited to see how Turbo will look, but I grew up in that car. Backstory: I post it on craigslist just under 24 hours ago, and boom, it's gone. I basically inherited the car when I was in high school, and drove here in between the civics and c-classes that I went through, but Turbo always just had a special place in my heart and mind.  She was the ultimate surfer's beach mobile and that is what I used her for.  It was something to always kick back in and enjoy the San Diego weather!  She always proved to just drive when I wanted her to drive and now, I might be trying to find another W123 body style to replace her.

She'll be missed!