Stuff

I love the way my Macbook handles wifi hotspots. It's simple. Once I have used one it remembers it. When I open my computer the Macbook connects to the wifi hotspot in less than 5 seconds. Windows never did that. Windows XP and Vista would take a good 20 seconds to really come back from sleep then another 30 seconds to figure out where it was.

Priceline.com. Back in the 2000 they offered a "Name Your Own Price For Gas" feature. I could go online, pick a local gas station and bid for gas. I would normally save $0.10-0.25 a gallon! I would buy $40 worth at a time. It was very easy. I think I used either a set credit card or they sent me a special card. I am surprised they haven't brought the idea back. Here is a link to an article about the Priceline.com service.

There is a new website where you can "lock" in today's gas prices for a set amount of fuel. MyGallons.com allows you to prebuy how ever much fuel you want at Today's prices. There is a $30-$40 membership fee. Buying in is like being an oil speculator. If gas prices fall and you bought 1000 gallons at $4 a gallon....you lose!

Finally. I flew to the Bahamas yesterday. While boarding up I saw a lady with a crazy large hat. I couldn't resist snapping a photo. Wow.

Popcorn

I hate microwave popcorn. The smell is gross. I do like popcorn though. To reduce the faf an nasty stuff I bought an hot air popcorn popper and popcorn. Plain old popcorn. I would add a little powdered butter but mostly plain. I went thru an entire bag (about 20 large bowls full) in about a month. Well tonight I took it one step further and bought the bad stuff.....popcorn oil. As a kid I always made popcorn with a hot air popper or the microwave. Kelli had made it on a stove or microwave. Well my first stove experience resulted in BURNED POPCORN! Yuck! I need a better pot....or a true hot oil popcorn maker. They do sell them in Skymall magazine. Stay tuned.

I flew to Syracuse, New York today. Long flight. The flight there was 2 1/2 hours...back was 3 1/2 hours. Why the difference??? Winds. We had a tailwind there....headwind back. Tomorrow I go to Nassau Bahamas and back....another 6 1/2 hour day. Before you say "oh you have to work a whole 6 1/2 hours. I will fly for and be paid for 6 1/2 hours. I will be on duty for 8 hours 15 minutes. I will leave home at 9:35 AM and will walk back in the door at 7:10PM. Long day.

Glass half empty/Glass half full

So my 2nd job doesn't need me this month. I had planned on working there at least 3 days a month. With the slow down in aviation fewer students are taking the Regional Jet Course thus fewer instructors are needed. I was using that money to pay back my flight school loan. With help from my mother in law I am a year ahead of the scheduled payments. I will just have to tightened up the belt a bit. I am living under my means right now....not sure how much lower I can go. I eat out only once a day while on the road maybe once a week when I am at home. I drive only when needed and combine trips when possible. I have gathered a collection of little lotion bottles from various hotels. I have tried selling stuff on craigs list and eBay...but other folks are just as broke. Bad times.

Is my glass half full or half empty? I dunno. If I were an airline manager I would say buy several much much smaller magazines and pour the water in them making them appear full...even though it's just an illusion. Think about that one for a while.

I got Crabs

As of today Kelli and I have been together 6 whole years. Six years. Hmmm six years. Yup.

So the new pets are here. Hermit Crabs! I spent several days and hours researching a pet that was low maintenance, interesting and fun. Once I decided what I wanted I spent even more time researching proper care, habitat, food and types. I then started looking at where to buy them. There is a hermit crab distributor in Plano....but they don't sell to the public! BOO!! I visited 4 pet stores in the area....none had small crabs (small crabs are young and are easier to "tame" than older ones) or the habitats weren't cared for. Today I traveled all the way over to east Dallas to a pet store recommended to me by the hermit crab distributor. Well I walked in and was impressed by the fish selection. I then found a small tank for the hermit crabs. Not great conditions. I asked an employee for help and was brushed off. I left. I stopped by a Petco but all they had were large crabs. Yadda yadda yadda 3 more pet stores later I own 3 hermit crabs.

The crabs are set up in a 20 gallon fish tank. Why so big? My crabs live large! I bought 50 pounds of play sand to line the bottom. I also bought a heater for 1/2 the tank, sponges, fake leaves, a few fake trees for them to hide in and more for the tank. They have plenty of room. The thing I still need is a lid. I thought...plexiglass! I stopped by a Lowes as they can cut it for me in house. Well the cutter was broken. This old man was going to do it by hand. This had bad written all over it as his line wasn't straight and his first few cuts didn't go very deep. I left. Home Depot doesn't cut plexi-glass. I bought a cutter. Now I am the idiot who can't cut a straight line and can't cut deep. For now I have a large piece of cardboard on top. Hermit crabs need 80% humidity and 70-80 degrees for a comfy home. I just checked and right now I am at 80 degrees and 78% humidity..not bad. They don't have names yet. I will likely end up with 5-6 crabs. Owners groups for hermit crabs (there are several!) state 1 -2 crabs per gallon size of tank. I am very selective on my crabs. Two of the three are very active so far...not sure about the third one. I feel better having pets of my own.

I need a new drug...ok not a drug but a pet

With the loss of my fish...I need new pet. My fish have been with me for over 3 years. They helped relieve stress and they helped ground me. No I am not all up in the air, but having them around meant they became part of my routine. I would stop by and just stare for a few moments to minutes each day. Big hole left now.

I will not buy fish this time. Just can't do that yet. I am researching several low maintenance pets. I have my eye on one. I spent over 4 hours today reading up on proper care and habitats. I shopped a few pet stores and was not happy with the conditions the pets were kept in. It doesn't make sense to buy a pet that has been living in crap conditions as it might not make it long. I am going to take a trip to Plano tomorrow to visit a pet store I found on line.

Macbook is still kicking strong. I am learning a bit each day about the Mac OS. I have spent 21 years in the Microsoft world. I started with a flashing cursor and DOS. I was a DOS king! Actually before DOS I had a U.S. Videotel unit.

The US Videotel was a very early America Online type service. I begged my mom to get one when I was 11 years old. It hooked up to the phone line. It was a black and white screen that had some basic blocky graphics. You could read news, shop, look up movie times...basically everything you can do online now...just really basic. The best part was the chat feature called Yak. I used this terminal for a little more than a year before I bought an external modem for my personal computer and connected using it. Now I had color blocky graphics! Where was I going with this? Oh yeah so Mac OS is slowly growing on me.

My job might be safe. Who knows. I think I will be ok. The worst case scenario is I get transferred to a new plane or base. If I get transferred to a new base (like Chicago) they have to pay for my move. Would I actually move? I dunno. I might at least get an apartment or something.  I don't want a new plane. I like the CRJ700. I think I would be bumped down to the ATR. The ATR is a turboprop that requires much more piloting skills than my current plane. Booo to having to work!

New Orleans

Kelli and I enjoyed a true New Orleans Hurricane. They were quite strong hitting Kelli more than me.

Every time we visit a city I take an arm out-stretched photo. This one was taken at the New Orleans Aqaurium.

A new addition to the many tours one can get is a "Post Katrina Tour". I can't imagine what this entails...."this was here"...."this used to be this way".....kinda sad really.

Finally there was a group of women on a balcony taking off their shirts and throwing beads down. This is the opposite of what normally happens. They got started quite early in the day as it was very much still daylight outside.  Good times. The photo is thankfully censored by the rails of the balcony.

Great time in New Orleans

Sitting in the New Orleans airport waiting for our flight. We had a very good time. Our flight yesterday arrived at 9:30 AM. We hopped in the rental and were on our way to the Boomtown casino. The cheap navigation system we purchased (that I have now made into a TomTom!) worked fine getting us to the casino. Finding a Bank of America though....eh. After about an hour Kelli was up $75 while I was down $40.

Our next stop was the hotel. They let us check in early. We then went to explore the French Quarter. New Orleans is still showing scars from Katrina. Going one block off Bourbon street shows quite a bit of decay. Bourbon street is back to the way it was the last time we came which was three years ago June 2005. We made our way down an ended up eating lunch at the same place we ate lunch at last time, Pat Obrian's. Good food in a nice outdoor setting. Kelli and I each downed a Hurricane. The alcohol hit Kelli more than me. I'll upload photos when we get home....still wondering what application (if I even have on installed) I can use to shrink the photos down with on the Macbook.

After lunch we walked around for a bit and then went to the New Orleans Aquarium. The Aquarium was heavily damaged after Katrina. The exhibits are all back, but not as big. I distinctly remember seeing a huge frog exhibit last time, very small this time. The aquarium was nice, but was better last time. After waling around for almost 2 hours we headed to the hotel for a nap.

Once refreshed we hit Harrah's. Every other casino in Louisiana is on a boat on water. You might not be able to tell you are on water but you are. Harrah's is landlocked and not on water. I was once told there were a lot of bribes and under the table money passed around to get the casino built where it is. We both had a good night. At one point I was up $80. I left even with the same $100 I started with at Boomtown. Kelli was up $250 at one point but left up $150. Still not bad. We then headed to Bourbon street again. We ate a small snack on a balcony of some random restaurant. The street was mildly busy. A few women displaying their chest to earn cheap plastic beads. Good times. I kept drinking as we walked up and down the street a few times. As the hour approached 11PM we headed to the hotel.

With our super super discounted airline tickets we have switched our credit cards from airline miles to hotel points. The hotel and valet parking (one bill) are covered with Kelli's credit card. The only charge outside of our meals we will have to eat (pun intended) is the $33 rental car charge. Cheap weekend mini-cation...just the way we like them.