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!

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.

Flying part 1: 4th Week in July

March and On