Saving the juice

So after our crazy nuts $300 power bill in July, I went on a power saving spree. I automated computers to turn on and off. I unplugged a lot of devices that are rarely used, and I started using a lamp in the living room versus the ceiling fan lights. Now all of our light bulbs are compact fluorescents so even the ceiling fan lights use to same amount as one regular bulb....but the lamp uses 1/4th of that! Anyways with all of my reduction in use I lowered the bill by $60. This includes the extra power used by having my mother in law here for a week and me sitting at home a lot instead of flying. Since I have a line next month (a line is a set schedule of flying) I will be gone 18 days in September. I will predict our power bill will go down another $30. Good times.

What is work?

Working. I haven't done it in a while. I go fly planes mind you. But I don't work. I have fun. The only time I really "work" is when I get exactly 8 hours of "rest" between duty periods...i.e. over night trips. When I land at 10PM and depart at 6AM...that's work. I end up getting 5-6 hours sleep to work a 14 hour duty day with 4 or 5 flights mixed in. Flying tired is dangerous....and it is work to me. Most days though...I go fly around a multi-million dollar aircraft at hundreds of miles per hour...with one hand on 24000lbs of thrust and the other on the flight controls. I sweep around clouds to make it comfortable for the people in the back. Every now and then I am packing up my stuff in the cockpit (I literally build a little nest on my side of the plane) and a voice from the back says "thank you" or "nice flight". I turn around and smile most of the time. Today one comment stopped me. A lady poked her head toward the cockpit and said "Thank you for getting us here safely". I had never heard that before. I did make it as smooth as I could. I avoided big turbulent clouds. I made a smooth descent from 38000 feet and I made a very nice landing with minimal "throw you forward in your seat" braking. Anyways I wish everyone could do something that is just plain fun. I have a blast flying.

The Blues

I have got bluetooth blues. My TMobile Dash smartphone has been acting up lately. I decided to do a hard reset. After doing do the phone was responding much better. Everything was great. I was happy. I then tried to simply re-pair it with my car navigation system. I remembered last time I did so it took a 3rd party application from Jetware (www.jetwaremobile.com) to get everything working. The software simply had to be installed while I paired with my navigation system. It worked perfectly. This time I tried simply pairing up. No dice. I then installed the 3rd party app.....still no dice! WTF?!?!? Software *should* be reliable. X + Y should always equal Z. I know except when Windows is involved. My phone runs Windows Mobile 6. I have searched the net and tried editing the registry and another 3rd party app....still no dice. I am now reflashing the ROM on my phone to the default Window Mobile 6 ROM. If this doesn't work......then one more 3rd party app and then I will just wait until the next phone arrives. Damn annoying. There are tons of forums concerning the Pioneer Bluetooth module and Windows Mobile.

Back too what works

So I have been watching what I eat for...well...a long time. I did weight watchers....which worked....when I worked in an office. Being on the go...not so much. When I was on the go.....Atkins worked. So I am going back to low carb. Eric has been on it for a few months and lost quite a bit. We did our food shopping tonight and I bought lots of low carb, low fatish (notice the ish) food to last a while. My challenge will be next week during my 4 day trips. I know on night one I stay in a hotel with a TGI Fridays which has low carb options. Night two is in Santa Barbara, California. That hotel has a very high carb breakfast so I will need to bring something with me. Night 3 is in Little Rock, Arkansas. There are a few fast food places near by that I can get some high protein, low carb meals. The hotel has a great breakfast...but the van time will be 5:30 which is way before breakfast is served. I will need to eat heavy the night before or hold off until I get to Chicago where I have an hour to find food before flying back toward Dallas. I plan on loading up on bars and snacks to get me by. I figure two to three weeks should allow for a good 10-15 pound loss. From there I will just maintain....that's one thing I am pretty good at.

Everyone going to Disney World take one step forward

So my mother in law is paying for any family that wants to go to Disney World the second week of January. All we had to do was get there. Air travel is a non-issue. The vacation is a week long with her covering hotel, food and tickets to Disney. Not bad. She paid for a similar vacation to Hawaii two years ago. I figured January would be a good month for me to go as most pilots take vacation in December...not January. All was a go....and then I got displaced out of my current plane and into another one. My training date for my next plane STARTS November 24th and finishes January 31st. Yeah. The only way out would have been if I already had vacation scheduled with the company. I can't even bid on 2009 vacation until October/November. There is a 99% chance I'm not going. Boo.

Still looking into building my own Mac.

I'm up for cell phone renewal. Supposedly T-Mobile is going to be a launch customer for a phone with software written by Google. The Android software is going to installed on a I-Phone like phone from HTC...who made my current phone. I guess I will stick it out.

My current phone is getting ratty. The microphone is going out. I have to use a bluetooth headset for people to hear my most of the time. I lost my old bluetooth headset so I bought one off eBay.  The seller stated it was new. It is obviously used.  I should have checked his feedback. Lots of buyers complain about "new" stuff that's not. He has 58000+ feedback though. Now I have to waste my money to send it back. Boo.

New Doors

It's been a busy week. Not busy really...but tiring. I worked overtime Saturday and Sunday. Monday I sat airport standby. Tuesday I sat at home. Wednesday I got a 2 day trip that finished today. The trip was a doosey to begin with. Due to weather in Dallas I got exactly the minimum FAA required rest of 8 hours that started 15 minutes after we landed and stopped 20 minutes before we left this morning. Basically I got 5 hours sleep and worked 12 hours today on that little rest.

Anyways doors. Dog doors really. Our back door is almost entirely glass. Putting in a dog door is impossible. Kelli wants a dog door. I want security. Kelli bought a new back door and is having a hole cut to install an electronic dog door. Each dog will have a transmitter on the collar...basically a mini garage door opener. The door will only open for each dog and be locked otherwise. The door will also have a window with enclosed blinds. No more blinds banging around or getting dusty. The blinds are between the panes of glass.

My car is getting little use. I have had it for almost 5 months. I have driven just over 3000 miles. Leasing is good for me. I "should" be at 5800 miles right now.

I got a set schedule for September. It's not a bad one. I get Thursdays-Saturdays off. On Sundays I start at 1:30PM and finish on Wednesdays at 1PM. I don't have more than 3 legs in a day. I get decent overnights. I will spend my nights in Little Rock Arkansas, Amarillo, Texas and Santa Barbara, California. Santa Barbara is a fun trip....flying out to the west coast in the evening chasing the sunset. We land right on the coast.

Having the set schedule will allow me to plan my life better and move flights around. On one of the overnighs in Amarillo Kelli is going to join me and we are going to eat at that famous steak place up there.

I love my Macbook. My next project will be installing the Mac OS on a PC. Should be fun. Lots of forums on how to do it with specific hardware.

Let the good times roll.

When in airports always look for FREE wi-fi first!

So I am in Chicago. I flew in and sit for 3 hours. Anyways I fired up my Macbook (loving the 13 second boot to ready to use) and logged on to Boingo thinking it was the only "real" wifi here. After paying $5 (charging it to my T-mobile bill really) I heard an overheard announcement stating to set you SSID to Concourse for Wi-Fi access in the terminal. Sure enough I changed over. FREE! DOH! So word to the wise (and frugal) always try every hotspot before paying.