Today was going to be just another normal day at the mailbox. You know the drill I'm sure. You exit your house, take a leisurely saunter down the driveway as you soak up the warm sun, gentle breeze and blue sky. Since it wasn't freezing cold, nor raining, this was the perfect day to take in all they day had to offer and make the most out of the simple process that is, "Getting the Mail."
Upon arrival at the end of the driveway, I approached the box. The dog provided only a minor distraction as he was taking a long wizz on one of the only green patches of grass left in our yard. I reached for the handle and pulled it down. I then glanced inside while gripping the pieces of mail that the mail lady left for us today. The dog was then finished with his wizz and briskly chucked his toy "Fish" at me. He used to have a squeaky Fish, but it finally bit the dust, so he now has a squeaky ground hog. He's a dog, so as far as he knows....it's his "Fish." Anyway, after picking up the "Fish" and tossing it across the yard so the pooch could fetch it, I flipped through the envelopes in my hand.
A very unexpected envelope came in the mail today. My Dad sent Sheri and I an anniversary card. Thank you Dad....We really appreciate your thoughtfulness.
Now, I'm at BWI and will be working most of the night and into the early hours of the morning tomorrow. This message has been sent from the ASIG "Double Wide." Andy Conlin...you know where I am. Brother....the soothing sound of Rick punching in Fuel Tickets is taking place only a few feet behind me. Don't you wish you were still here?
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
Crosswinds and Potholes
(Warning, this paragraph may contain a lot of Pilot Talk) I took the opportunity yesterday to get in another flight lesson. For obvious reasons, flying more often is improving my skills and is actually helping to get my Private Pilot Certificate in fewer lessons. The weather was great and since I've been working a lot, I thought I would cut out of work early and go fly. Once I made it to the airport, I noticed the winds picked up. Hey, no big deal, I need to get used to flying in windy conditions. So far, I've had great luck with perfect weather. Great lesson! We took off out of Lancaster, did some IFR practice, turns around a point, slow flight, irregular attitudes, simulated engine out procedures, stall recovery and then landed at Smoketown Airport for some gas. That landing was with a very strong crosswind. This time....I landed the airplane well, especially given how much left rudder I was using during my slip. We picked up some gas, did a couple short field takeoffs and headed back to Lancaster. My landing at Lancaster was very smooth compared with my flying last week. God...I love this stuff!
On my way back from having a great lesson, I had my Sirius radio cranked and was listening to some great 70's Rock. The main road around here has had a detour due to construction for quite sometime, so I took a back road which has become very popular. With timing against me, I came across a very deep pothole on the side of the road at the exact same second as a FedEx truck was on my left side and it forced me to hit the Pothole. First came the notorious "Bang" and then the ever present pull to the right when a passenger side tire blows out. I pulled the car into someone's driveway and proceeded to change my tire. First, I couldn't get the old tire off the car. I got the lugs off, but the wheel appeared stuck to the car. After a series of kicks, it did loosen up and I put the spare "Dounut" on. The spare tire was also flat! I carry an air pump in my car because I'm smart like that and within a few more minutes, I was driving again. The blown tire was ruined as it had a hole in the sidewall. The wheel was also bent, so that needed to be replaced. Plus, the tires in the front were getting worn anyway...why stop at buying only 1 tire when I could pay for 2? Simply put, that takes away some hefty cash from my, "I wan to fly fund."
You know how sometimes you just end up with songs, words or phrases in your head and you have no clue as to why they are in your head at that given moment. For all of you "Clerks or MallRats" Movie Fans....."Snoochie Boochies"
On my way back from having a great lesson, I had my Sirius radio cranked and was listening to some great 70's Rock. The main road around here has had a detour due to construction for quite sometime, so I took a back road which has become very popular. With timing against me, I came across a very deep pothole on the side of the road at the exact same second as a FedEx truck was on my left side and it forced me to hit the Pothole. First came the notorious "Bang" and then the ever present pull to the right when a passenger side tire blows out. I pulled the car into someone's driveway and proceeded to change my tire. First, I couldn't get the old tire off the car. I got the lugs off, but the wheel appeared stuck to the car. After a series of kicks, it did loosen up and I put the spare "Dounut" on. The spare tire was also flat! I carry an air pump in my car because I'm smart like that and within a few more minutes, I was driving again. The blown tire was ruined as it had a hole in the sidewall. The wheel was also bent, so that needed to be replaced. Plus, the tires in the front were getting worn anyway...why stop at buying only 1 tire when I could pay for 2? Simply put, that takes away some hefty cash from my, "I wan to fly fund."
You know how sometimes you just end up with songs, words or phrases in your head and you have no clue as to why they are in your head at that given moment. For all of you "Clerks or MallRats" Movie Fans....."Snoochie Boochies"
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
"Straight down the Runway"
I've been doing some flying lately. Monday, I took my wife up with me on a lesson and we had a great time. It was my first time in a Cessna 172 in a very long time. Compared to the Cessna 152 I normally fly, the 172 had a ton of extra power to it. Very fun to fly! The lesson with Sheri onboard went very well, right up to the point where my wheels were supposed to touch the ground again. I blew that landing in Guiness Book of World Records fashion. I wasn't trying to show Sheri how to screw up a landing and bounce down the runway. Hopefully, this will be the worst she'll see from me.
I was so sick of how badly I flew on Monday, (and ATA's schedule changed) I flew again on Tuesday afternoon. All I did was Touch n Go's. Out of 8 landings, I was able to squeeze out 1 nice landing. I would blame the crosswind that I had while landing, but I'll just admit that I need more practice.
I also had a great salad for dinner...along with some pizza that was a few days old. Yep...the rest of the night I was on the bowl producing "Salad Shooters."
I was so sick of how badly I flew on Monday, (and ATA's schedule changed) I flew again on Tuesday afternoon. All I did was Touch n Go's. Out of 8 landings, I was able to squeeze out 1 nice landing. I would blame the crosswind that I had while landing, but I'll just admit that I need more practice.
I also had a great salad for dinner...along with some pizza that was a few days old. Yep...the rest of the night I was on the bowl producing "Salad Shooters."
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
French Milled Soap, Meet...TSA
Have you ever noticed the soap that seems to be very popular in hotels? The packages usually have the phrase, "French Milled." Does anybody have a clue as to why that is so important to print on the wrapping of a bar of soap that is so small it can slide out of your hand at least once per shower? This dynamic product that hotels use to "Wow" their guest while they shower also seems to be notorious for acting as a low grade sand paper on my facial skin. Even more puzzling to the "French Milled" phenomenon would be it's effect on blemishes. Blemishes, also known as Zits for those of use who don't need to use fancy words to describe puss bubbles on our faces, seem to defy the drying effects of the "French Milled" soaps. I've noticed that even though these fine crafted soaps can dry out a face faster than a Kuwaiti Sandstorm in the middle of Summer, they still can't seem to help dry out a zit. As a matter of fact, they dry the skin on top of the zit while magically helping to maintain the yellowish explosive appearance of the zit itself. I would advise the traveling public to revolt against the French Milled soaps and bring your own, however with airport security the way it is....our government might get confused by a bar of soap and think you're trying to use it to bring down an airliner. On to my next subject!
No Surprise here....the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is showing just how stupid their leadership is, and how stupid the traveling public is if they believe anything the TSA tells them.
Newsflash.....August 10, 2006: You're Bottle of Dasani is Deadly! You are packing the Killer Colgate! That's right everybody, the government has told us that terrorists tried to sneak bad things onto planes in commercial everyday packaging and therefore, you could be carrying a Blistex Bomb. So, what was learned after 9/11? There are terrorists who are 17-35 year old Muslim extremists and they want to kill Americans. OK, we learned that lesson the hard way back in 2001. As a solution, our Administration sought to prevent these sick A-Holes from boarding planes and doing it again. Mind you, last time around, they didn't even try to blow up airplanes with explosives because even back they, it was not easy for them to sneak explosives onboard. So, they brought FAKE bombs to scare people and used hand tools to kill and overtake airplanes. What did TSA do right back then? The forced airlines to put heavy duty cockpit doors on their planes that can't shot open. At least they did that! Then TSA hired, trained and paid thousands of new screeners for security checkpoints. Random tests at many airports have proven TSA to be mildly better than the old system. Hey, it's improvement, we'll take it. 5 years later, TSA is still looking for box cutters, shoe bombs and now liquid explosives. What they should've done to ease the checkpoint congestion, reduce operating costs and relieve a HUGE percentage of the traveling public from excess screening would be both profiling and a registered traveler program. Why didn't they do this yet, well...Profiling might offend someone and a registered traveler program might be invasive to someone's privacy. Great, so instead, the traveling public has to endure even more frustration, TSA will spend more to accomplish this new frustrating and incredibly useless screening and still...the truth is....you are not any safer than you were on August 9th.
To top that, now employees are no longer allowed to carry a beverage with them to work, nor can they have a bottle of water with them while they load an airplane with hundreds of heavy bags in the middle of the summer's heat. Why, because TSA doesn't think before they put rules into action. Airline/Airport employees go through a lot of vetting before they are even allowed to work at the airport. Maybe this will scare you....these employees (if they didn't go bad) probably wouldn't use water or Cocoa Butter to cause damage....why use something like that when they have an incredible amount of Hazardous Materials at their disposal. Fuel, Oil, batteries, etc...
What makes the traveling public as ignorant as TSA? They believe that TSA is creating a safer environment with all of these restrictions. The fact is, a terrorist is the danger, not the bottles, makeup, lotions or toothpastes that people carry with them. TSA can restrict everything right down to "No Carry On baggage" and still, terrorists themselves will find new ways to try and cause harm. TSA needs to re-think the way they operate. The problem is with people, not products. The Government does know this, but are afraid of profiling as it might offend people. They don't tell this to the public because they need the public to believe that limiting carry on baggage from people will make them safer. Here we are 5 years after 9/11 and terrorists are still trying to take down airliners. How many more attempts or how much longer will the public have to wait for our government to start offending people and finally focusing on the source of the problem?
What's next....? Terrorists will use methane gas to try and blow up planes. TSA response: All passengers must Fart one time at the security checkpoint and then again prior to boarding to ensure no possible explosions in flight from terrorists who might try and light farts. By the way, when that happens, tree sticks will no longer be allowed because the terrorists will have tried to create fart explosion by rubbing two sticks together near their assholes. That is the new definition of a "Dirty Bomb."
No Surprise here....the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is showing just how stupid their leadership is, and how stupid the traveling public is if they believe anything the TSA tells them.
Newsflash.....August 10, 2006: You're Bottle of Dasani is Deadly! You are packing the Killer Colgate! That's right everybody, the government has told us that terrorists tried to sneak bad things onto planes in commercial everyday packaging and therefore, you could be carrying a Blistex Bomb. So, what was learned after 9/11? There are terrorists who are 17-35 year old Muslim extremists and they want to kill Americans. OK, we learned that lesson the hard way back in 2001. As a solution, our Administration sought to prevent these sick A-Holes from boarding planes and doing it again. Mind you, last time around, they didn't even try to blow up airplanes with explosives because even back they, it was not easy for them to sneak explosives onboard. So, they brought FAKE bombs to scare people and used hand tools to kill and overtake airplanes. What did TSA do right back then? The forced airlines to put heavy duty cockpit doors on their planes that can't shot open. At least they did that! Then TSA hired, trained and paid thousands of new screeners for security checkpoints. Random tests at many airports have proven TSA to be mildly better than the old system. Hey, it's improvement, we'll take it. 5 years later, TSA is still looking for box cutters, shoe bombs and now liquid explosives. What they should've done to ease the checkpoint congestion, reduce operating costs and relieve a HUGE percentage of the traveling public from excess screening would be both profiling and a registered traveler program. Why didn't they do this yet, well...Profiling might offend someone and a registered traveler program might be invasive to someone's privacy. Great, so instead, the traveling public has to endure even more frustration, TSA will spend more to accomplish this new frustrating and incredibly useless screening and still...the truth is....you are not any safer than you were on August 9th.
To top that, now employees are no longer allowed to carry a beverage with them to work, nor can they have a bottle of water with them while they load an airplane with hundreds of heavy bags in the middle of the summer's heat. Why, because TSA doesn't think before they put rules into action. Airline/Airport employees go through a lot of vetting before they are even allowed to work at the airport. Maybe this will scare you....these employees (if they didn't go bad) probably wouldn't use water or Cocoa Butter to cause damage....why use something like that when they have an incredible amount of Hazardous Materials at their disposal. Fuel, Oil, batteries, etc...
What makes the traveling public as ignorant as TSA? They believe that TSA is creating a safer environment with all of these restrictions. The fact is, a terrorist is the danger, not the bottles, makeup, lotions or toothpastes that people carry with them. TSA can restrict everything right down to "No Carry On baggage" and still, terrorists themselves will find new ways to try and cause harm. TSA needs to re-think the way they operate. The problem is with people, not products. The Government does know this, but are afraid of profiling as it might offend people. They don't tell this to the public because they need the public to believe that limiting carry on baggage from people will make them safer. Here we are 5 years after 9/11 and terrorists are still trying to take down airliners. How many more attempts or how much longer will the public have to wait for our government to start offending people and finally focusing on the source of the problem?
What's next....? Terrorists will use methane gas to try and blow up planes. TSA response: All passengers must Fart one time at the security checkpoint and then again prior to boarding to ensure no possible explosions in flight from terrorists who might try and light farts. By the way, when that happens, tree sticks will no longer be allowed because the terrorists will have tried to create fart explosion by rubbing two sticks together near their assholes. That is the new definition of a "Dirty Bomb."
Wednesday, August 02, 2006
PA-vanian
It's official, I'm now a Pennsylvanian. I'm not sure this is such a wonderful thing as I have very little respect for the way in which PA's government is set up. But what does that matter...I'm officially a PA resident now. As of last night, the last step in becoming a resident of PA was accomplished. My vehicle passed it's first inspection. In the past week, I've gotten my new driver's license, re-registered my car, registered to vote and finally...passed the Bull "S" state vehicle inspection. I never thought MD made any sense....until I moved to PA.
How many times have you thought to yourself....Thank god I do what I do? Working out of my house in a neighborhood under construction, I can't help but see the dirt mover guys working their BullDozers and BobCats all day long. In this heat, that has to be one of the worst jobs. That isn't to say that I don't feel bad for anybody who works outside. I guess I'm just very lucky to have a job that allows me to stay cool (depending on the day of course.) Tonight, I'll be working in BWI and hopefully departing my latest 24 hour delay. I'm sure that I'll have to chisel my undies from my body by the end of the day. During the winter, I often complain about cold temps. Regardless of how hot and humid it is this week, I've been keeping in mind that I would much rather be in this heat than the cold winter weather. Personally, I would rather have sweaty balls than frozen nuggets.
Everytime I talk to Craig Ingram lately, I get a sense of how incredibly happy he is. After the past year, I can't think of a more deserving soul to be so filled with life again. One day, I hope to see the "Big Kahuna" that helped free himself from the one way bond he held towards the only person would could and did, bring him to his knees. Craig, you Vag healing dweeb....I love ya and I'm so happy for you.
How many times have you thought to yourself....Thank god I do what I do? Working out of my house in a neighborhood under construction, I can't help but see the dirt mover guys working their BullDozers and BobCats all day long. In this heat, that has to be one of the worst jobs. That isn't to say that I don't feel bad for anybody who works outside. I guess I'm just very lucky to have a job that allows me to stay cool (depending on the day of course.) Tonight, I'll be working in BWI and hopefully departing my latest 24 hour delay. I'm sure that I'll have to chisel my undies from my body by the end of the day. During the winter, I often complain about cold temps. Regardless of how hot and humid it is this week, I've been keeping in mind that I would much rather be in this heat than the cold winter weather. Personally, I would rather have sweaty balls than frozen nuggets.
Everytime I talk to Craig Ingram lately, I get a sense of how incredibly happy he is. After the past year, I can't think of a more deserving soul to be so filled with life again. One day, I hope to see the "Big Kahuna" that helped free himself from the one way bond he held towards the only person would could and did, bring him to his knees. Craig, you Vag healing dweeb....I love ya and I'm so happy for you.
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
Love over the Airwaves turns into a Sin
Yesterday it was reported that a Christian FM radio station changed it's format to a "Sex" station. "Sex" Station???? Indecent radio??? Marvin Gaye is indecent all of a sudden??? The dude has been dead for years and his music has been on the FM dial since well before he died. At no point from the day he first hit the airways until today has his music been considered pornographic and indecent. All of a sudden, the Christians are pissed off because (suprise) there isn't a lot of money in Christian radio....and the broadcasting company (a business) who owns the station, makes a format change to try and earn money(something that businesses do to survive.)As my wife stated to me while catching a report on CNN Headline News....."Do they know there are wars going on all over the world?" How is this issue important? Why does it deserve air time in the news?
Mel Gibson hates Jews. Do I care...no! The world has hated Jews for year, who cares if Mel Gibson is one of them. I just wish Gibson would come clean and admit it. His dad is a lunatic. The man doesn't believe in the Holocost. Yeah, the whole pupose of ovens and camps was to establish future Museams. I'll leave further commentary to you on this one.
I'll be the first to stand up and say....Everybody.....Turn off your FM radio and switch to Satellite Radio! I don't care if you go XM or Sirius. If you switch to Satellite, you will free yourself from the government telling you what is or is not decent for your ears. Speaking of stupidity towards the public. I have to get my vehicle PA inspected this week. If you read my blog about PennDot below, you'll understand my low opinion about the Motor Vehicle Administration in PA. This system is designed to rape the public of their money under the assumed theory that they are provided with safer driving in this state. I do not see any fewer broken down cars on PA roads than other states that don't require a yearly inspection. I haven't seen any statistics that show PA is a low accident state. The inspections really don't even cover all that much. They won't tell you that you need to fix the brakes on a car that needs new rotors or turned rotors because you can feel it braking (not in a good way,) but they'll be sure to fail you if your Fog lamp is out.
ATA has officially taken another 24 hour delay in Baltimore this week. That means that 3 out of 5 ATA flights that I've handled since July 1 are delayed....Badly. Also on the subject of ATA: Pigs have flown! An act of God has taken place. Dahn's paperwork process has finally come to an end.
Some really good news on the home front. Saturday might possibly be the day that a whole bunch of our "S" will be sold at a yard sale. AMEN! We have so much crap in our house that we just don't need. I'm so happy to see us go through some of this stuff, keep what we want and clear out what we don't need. It also looks like there will be sales taking place on eBay over the coming weeks. Too bad my mother never reads my blogs. I would make a stupid joke about airing out closests just for some insider humor.
Mel Gibson hates Jews. Do I care...no! The world has hated Jews for year, who cares if Mel Gibson is one of them. I just wish Gibson would come clean and admit it. His dad is a lunatic. The man doesn't believe in the Holocost. Yeah, the whole pupose of ovens and camps was to establish future Museams. I'll leave further commentary to you on this one.
I'll be the first to stand up and say....Everybody.....Turn off your FM radio and switch to Satellite Radio! I don't care if you go XM or Sirius. If you switch to Satellite, you will free yourself from the government telling you what is or is not decent for your ears. Speaking of stupidity towards the public. I have to get my vehicle PA inspected this week. If you read my blog about PennDot below, you'll understand my low opinion about the Motor Vehicle Administration in PA. This system is designed to rape the public of their money under the assumed theory that they are provided with safer driving in this state. I do not see any fewer broken down cars on PA roads than other states that don't require a yearly inspection. I haven't seen any statistics that show PA is a low accident state. The inspections really don't even cover all that much. They won't tell you that you need to fix the brakes on a car that needs new rotors or turned rotors because you can feel it braking (not in a good way,) but they'll be sure to fail you if your Fog lamp is out.
ATA has officially taken another 24 hour delay in Baltimore this week. That means that 3 out of 5 ATA flights that I've handled since July 1 are delayed....Badly. Also on the subject of ATA: Pigs have flown! An act of God has taken place. Dahn's paperwork process has finally come to an end.
Some really good news on the home front. Saturday might possibly be the day that a whole bunch of our "S" will be sold at a yard sale. AMEN! We have so much crap in our house that we just don't need. I'm so happy to see us go through some of this stuff, keep what we want and clear out what we don't need. It also looks like there will be sales taking place on eBay over the coming weeks. Too bad my mother never reads my blogs. I would make a stupid joke about airing out closests just for some insider humor.
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