Spring Sprung Below

Last Wednesday, Sheri and I found ourselves with some water in the basement. I raced out to Lowes to pick up a shop vac so I could get it off the floor and throw it down the ski slope that is our backyard. I noticed that night, after several attempts to suck up all the water, that the flow of water kept going. It was coming right out of our back wall where the floor meets the wall. I would like to thank C & F Construction out of Lititz, PA for another example of poor workmanship. They told us during the construction phase, "You've got a Daylight Basement, you won't need a sump pump." Thanks Guys! This little Suck and Toss Fest continued for a few days until Saturday afternoon when Sheri's dad came over to help out. By Saturday morning, the problem got so bad that we had water EVERYWHERE! After having Sheri's Mom, Brother and Father over for some assistance in water removal, her Dad discovered there was water in our Radon Pipe. This is why I love this man. He grabbed a hose that was on the floor and dropped on end into the pipe and the other out halfway down our back yard. Then, he syhoned that water right out of the basement floor. About 30 mins later, there was no more water coming in from our back wall. It was now flowing out of the hose and down the hill. Rewind for a moment ----> Prior to the syphon, we dug up our back yard where the builder graded our land towards the house (even though there is a ski slope that shoots away from the house only 12 feet out from the back wall) and discovered a stream of water that we were able to channel away from the house and towards the slope.

Sheri and I have the pleasure of spending over thousands of dollars this week on a "Dry Basement System." Oh they joys of home ownership. I was smart enough to take a bunch of pictures during the construction of our home. I've already had some experts take a look at them and discover some things that point to Builder Negligence. So...maybe we'll get our money back via a Lawsuit. I hate having to do that, but, our builder maintains that they are not responsible for sub ground water.

The Ghana Express is coming my way....time to run.

The wind...BLOWS!!!!

Last night, I thought I was going to be able to complete my Night Training requirement for my Private Pilot Certificate. Well...I have one more night flight to do. I have to do 5 more landings at night to meet that certification requirement. I was intending to do a long cross country flight today. However, due to gusting winds and low clouds en route, I have postponed yet another cross country solo flight. Maybe I'll be able to polish this thing off next week. Wednesday is looking good so far. This really does bring me down a notch as I was very excited to be able to fly down to a place I've never been before and do it by myself....in an airplane! Oh well, not much I can do about the weather. I was really trying to push the envelope on attaining my certification by mid April instead of the end of the month.

As the Great R. M. Bunker once said...."I always works out for the best."

If I can't be up flying today, I might as well go outside enjoy the warm temperatures as I really enjoy the way a warm breeze feels this time of year.

New Look on the Blog....thoughts?

Crazy what you'll find on the internet

Last night, Sheri discovered that our Wedding Video is on the internet. Apparently, Mack Video Productions (Did an awesome job by the way) liked our wedding so much, that he uses it as an example of his services.

For anyone who would be interested in check out our wedding highlights video, feel free to do so by either clicking on Sheri's picture on the Sheri page of Brainsky.com, or CLICK HERE.

Tonight, I'm going to fulfill my Night Flying requirement and tomorrow is my Long Cross Country flight. This will take care of all required flying to acheive my Private Pilot Certification. Next...some review flights and then Testing. As long as I pass....My wife will be able to brag about sleeping with a pilot! (-:

I read Jeff Conlin's blog about his experience in trying to see his girlfriend in Minneapolis last week. Jeff....You're just going to have to stop cutting it so close. Next time, plan to be at the airport at least 72 hours prior to departure. The especially goes for anytime you plan on flying with me!

Examination Aviation

I woke up this morning with the intentions of passing my FAA Private Pilot written exam. I've been studying for it since I started flying again. I believe it was sometime back in April of 2006 that I purchased a "Ground School" program that teaches you all you'll need to know to pass the FAA Exam. I remember hauling my old crap box laptop to Indianapolis and studying lab after lab. There are 60 out of 785 possible questions and I made sure I answered almost every single one of them more than once. Over the past week, I've been taking practice tests that come with this home study program. In this past week, I've been consistently scoring 80%.

Last Friday, I decided to cram as much as I could this weekend and this morning as I intended to pass the test this afternoon. When the alarm went off this morning, I woke up, grabbed some food and took a final practice test. Again, I nailed 80%. Considering what a horrible scholastic student I am, 80% is an achievement. (For the record, 70% is passing) Upon completion of my practice test, I got my stuff together and went to the flight school. Once I arrived, I paid for the exam, entered the exam room, got a briefing as to how the Computer Aided Test System worked and then was left alone to chip away at another step towards my dream. It took me 1 hour and 10 minutes to complete the exam and this was not a simple quiz. You are allowed 150 minutes to complete it and I was even concerned that I went to fast and maybe I was too hasty with my answers.

I nervously clicked the mouse to check my results. The computer screen put up it's "thinking symbol" and then the results flashed onto the screen in a new window. "Congratulations" I was so happy to see that word! There is a video camera in the room and a see through glass door to it...my "Happy Dance" was witnessed by the receptionist, and I didn't care how stupid I must have looked. Once I got past my short and lame ass happy dance, I read what was in that congratulatory window. Not only did I pass, but I really surprised myself with the score that I got. 92 Percent! This is one VERY HAPPY future pilot.

Next comes some night flying, a long 3 landing Cross Country and a review flight or two with my instructor. After that, I take the practical exam to finally see a life long dream come true. But first...I'm going to drink a beer and enjoy the moment.

Very Niiiiice

Last night, Sheri and I watched "Borat." I've heard horrible things about how offensive and bad this movie was. Personally, I liked it. The running of the Jew....that's funny! I find that if you offend everybody....then it's fair. This blog is no movie review, but I want to throw my two cents into the ring. Throughout my life, I've spent a large amount of time making fun of everybody from, my own race and color to everybody else you can imagine. Am I seen as the devil...well...maybe by some, but to my experience, I've been well received through my life. The fact is, Borat is a movie. It's NOT REAL! This is Hollywood....accept it for what it is. I just can't stand it when people start pressing their morals on the rest of society. On that note...people should not have to be subjected to Wholesome Family Values. Now how do you feel when someone tells you what you should and shouldn't be allowed to experience? Yeah...my message to the world....take that!

Off the soap box and into the real world. I've been flying again. Aerotech raised their rates on the planes....because someone with no insurance crashed a plane and did enough damage to where the rest of us renters have to pay for his mistakes. Anyway, I did a review flight last week and yesterday, my instructor hit me with a last minute Cross Country flight. This was a risk in terms of what all my flight training has told me, but I have to say, I learned from it. In my training program, you're told...don't fly under pressure. Don't be in a hurry. Be as prepared as possible, etc... What my instructor did and I support is....he threw me into the fire. With less than a hour and 15 minutes, he said...plan a cross country to Summit (KEVY) and go fly the round trip. I took off at 1105L and had to have the airplane back by noon for the next student. Considering each leg was supposed to take about 27 minutes...I had to rush. Well, I was late coming back and naturally, that made me feel bad for the next guy. As it turns out, he was doing some ground school with his instructor so my delay was not critical. I didn't know that as I was flying back from Delaware. Anyway...this was an awesome experience as I had to quickly remember everything it takes to fly to a distant airport and do it safely. As relaxing and easy as life is when you have all the time in the world for things....the best learning usually takes place under some form of pressure. As much as I had, "Say you'll do it some other time" running in the back of my head....I knew I wanted that challenge and it felt great to have stepped up to the plate. Was there a major risk...not really. I know how to fly. I know how to turn around and land back at my home airport if I didn't feel comfortable. I know how to use a radio to call for help....so....was this really a risk....or was it a great opportunity to use the skills that are deeply embedded in my brain? It all worked out well...so I'm going to say....Thanks Pat....hit me again with another challenge.....I'm up for it.

On the subject of my written test for my license, I need to study hard over the next week. I plan on taking it sometime next week. I hadn't done some real good concentration and study in about 2 months....I took a practice test last night and scored a 75%. 70 is passing...but I want to score higher. Funny...all through school...I never really gave a shit about passing....now that I'm an adult and flying is something I care about...I don't want to be just passable.

My business life is going full steam ahead. I'm doing ok with money. No millionaire by any means...but I'm doing ok. In my head, I keep thinking...."How do I leverage my time and money to increase my overall performance?" I wish I had the answer....either I haven't found it yet...or it's right in front of my face and I can't see it. Either way....I will not complain as I'm happy with my life and appreciate what I've done with it so far.

I'm sitting in the ASIG Passenger Service office. Looking up, I just saw an artifact from my history that is still on display. I used to work here as an employee. Back in the winter of 1997, I got a job here and during my short time as an ASIG (Signature Flight Support back then) employee, I got my hands on a label maker. The Supervisor back then had just gotten a label maker and was labeling all kinds of things. Me, being the jackass that I was (still am) decided to label the most obvious things. So....if you look around this office, I'm sure you'll find labels on the most obvious things. Hopefully, everyone who has ever seen these, "Obvious" labels has found them as amusing as I have. After all....How often do you work in an office where some idiot has labeled the ceiling, "Ceiling" just in case you didn't know what it was.

Thanks be to God.

Whole Wheat

After a few hard core mud throwing email exchanges between my sister and I, Jenn and I had a very healthy and positive conversation over the phone. She and I are now moving forward with a mutual respect for each other and a better understanding about how we feel about each other. This makes me very happy. I must admit, this was a tough battle over who 8 the sandbox. This time around, I think both of us realized that we all 8 the sandbox and will continue to do so for the rest of our lives. I just called my mother to tell her that her kids were no longer at DEFCON 2, and she too is very happy to hear that.

With warm weather rolling in, I signed myself up for some flying this week. A few days ago, the forecast for Wednesday was ideal. Yeah....now it's showing snow. I can't seem to catch a break with the flying lately! Oh well...more money saved in the mean time....which means I'll be able to afford to fly more often when the weather improves. I hope!

Sheri and I had a painter come in and paint our stairs, hallway and guest bedroom. Rhong is his name....the job he did was so Right. I'm so glad Sheri has good taste in decorating. I recall being a resident in the ghetto and trying to make my crib look sweet. It wasn't bad...but our crib is really looking like a phat pad yo! Straight up, dis shit be sweet. Hear dis yo, we cant waitin to be chillin wit some mofo's in dis hizouse, you feel me dog?

You how songs can get stuck in your head. I've got a jingle from a commercial that keeps playing through my head. "Freeee Credit report dot com"

Chili with Rob last week was awesome. It was so great to sit at his table, break bread and then bust ass. The dinner included at least a 1,000 lbs of black beans. When black beans are combined with the human digestive system, Methane gas is created in large quantities, then forcefully and uncontrollably dispersed into the atmosphere. Not only was the food and gas good, but so was the company and the Scrabble. We must do this again soon. Ahh....Scrabble and Dinner with Rob are like a national past time to me. It was great to be back in the game.

And one more time for you to enjoy...."Freeee Credit report dot com" It won't go away!!!!