*-)- welcome aboard *-)-
just me. my current interests and stories for the interwebs.
Reckless flying in paths of passenger aircraft. Thanks Mr. Drone Pilot for messing up the rules for the rest of us.
*update: obviously this has been outted as a hoax showing off digital graphics and video editing. Read the winglet which shows branit.com instead of Southwest. Sorry for the confusion. *
The Wall Street Journal released their metric of airline rankings that compares the major US carriers in categories such as "On-Time Performance", "Cancellations", "Complaints", "Involuntary Bumping", etc.
It's great to be part of the #4 airline and I'm hoping that while I'm here, I can help bump that up even more! Here's the 2015 and keeping the Blue side up!
On the other side of things, it's not really surprising to see United consistently near the bottom and never getting past #7 in any of the metrics used. It should also note that Major carriers don't necessarily include the performance of their regional partners into their own.
What a concept from CEO Gary Kelly of Southwest Airlines.
His formula is so basic, yet so seldom applied: Take care of employees, employees will take care of customers, customers will take care of the company and its investors.
Now if every company followed this rule, I think we'd all be happier.
via The Denver Post: Southwest CEO Says All You Need Is LUV
The month of September ended in a whirlwind of vacationing, moving and surviving the slew of mosquito bites that I suffered both from Nicaragua and Atlanta. The last week in September was dedicated to moving, but after a great night of splurging at Taco Mac with some good pilot buddies, my roommate and I still hadn't made a final decision on where we would end up. Eventually being forced to move out of our apartment because the management ended up renting it out to a couple of college girls, we were lucky to be able to negotiate for a "non-upgraded" 2 bedroom, two bath for even cheaper than what we were paying in the same complex! The non-upgraded tag once specifies that it has black appliances rather than white ones, but you can't tell the difference at all anyways. We now have a pool view, and a 1-year lease for $818/mo (that's actually $750 + their fees for water / sewer / garbage, etc). I think we definitely scored as we're also closer to the front of the property making it so much easier to access the huge trashbin, Starbucks across the street, my favorite Cuban restaurant Coco-Loco, as well as Best Buy and the MARTA. I'm happy with the place and I'm just happy that my roommate, Mark Russell and I have a place that we both like a lot. Dealing with Comcast in trying to get the cable line activated was a little bit of a cluster, but apparently, it was disconnected within our apartment!? I guess it would have made sense for them to send out a mechanic guy to our apartment rather than just assuming turning it on from the outside was all they would need to do.
I finally made it back to San Diego by way of ATL-PHX-SAN and the last leg was great. Southwest is always just really friendly, but I have to admit that the two Delta pilots were great company for the 3.8 hrs in the jumpseat. Thanks for the ride guys!
For now, I'm just excited to be back home but there is so much to do when it comes to cleaning up my desk space, taking my bike out for a ride and hanging out with my favorite girl!
In the meantime, check out my new favorite drink at http://elijahnicolas.posterous.com/favorite-new-drink-and-turtwig-on-a-couch-at and the relaunch of the "peak interest" podcast at www.peakinterest.net or via iTunes.
The past few weeks have been pretty relaxing except for the multiple jumpseating I've been required to do lately for commuting purposes. Even on the way to Vegas and back on Southwest, I was left to ride the jumpseat which is actually not that bad in comparison to how long San Diego to Atlanta takes. I celebrated my friend's bachelor party in Vegas and made quite a few network connections in the mix while getting my dose of table craps! Loving it all and I can't wait to go back. We were there for about 4 days and 4 nights which was just right. Staying at the Planet Hollywood was a great experience and really convenient for access to the strip. The biggest complaint that I have is that the bathroom didn't have a freaking vent or fan! I mean, with 2-4 four guys using the restroom with Vegas food and alcohol in and out of the system, it's quite the downer. We also got to watch Ian Bragg's comedy show at the LA Comedy Club, Las Vegas which was a crowd pleaser. If you end up walking the strip south towards the MGM, you can get tickets for about $10 off the door price at some ticket place.
Vegas is all about who you know. Once you meet up with the "guys" you're in to the clubs with some good discounted rates along with transportation. It was great all around, but I need to dig a little deeper in order to just get on the lists and such.
After finishing a three day course on CRJ700 differences this past week, I should be into the CRJ700 sim this upcoming week. I can't say that the plane is THAT much different, but it certainly isn't the same beast. I'm just glad that Canadair / Bombardier fixed a lot of the issues and made the plane faster. I've been studying quite a bit, but I definitely have a long way to go.
Here are a couple of pictures posted on my facebook profile. Check them out at: facebook:las vegas pictures.
