A was asked to attend M's "career day" at preschool and talk about being a pilot. I hope I can manage a day off to go see it. It just means so much more to us for him to actually be considered a pilot since it's been just a dream for so long...
Also, A will be spending a day flying people around in a rented plane a few days before our wedding. All our relatives are so excited to actually be able to fly with him now. Again, because it's been just a dream for so long and they have been listening to him talk about it for so long.
A had more time off than expected for Thanksgiving, which was a blessing for us all.
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Plugging away
Really there hasn't been anything exciting to report. Things are just plugging along for the most part. No funny stories, no gripes, not much of anything. I guess that's good because it means we are making headway on our goal of getting into the airlines.
A had a student bust a checkride for the first time today. I'm pretty proud that he made it through 20 students before lucky #21 came along. That's a great record to have and shows that he is a pretty good instructor. He's got the most consistant passes that anyone at his school can remember.
A has Thanksgiving off. Probably going to be the last time for many years to come. It's not a big deal to me, I can see my family anytime and they can cook a turkey anytime. It means more to me to have 3 consecutive days off with A. We can't manage that just anytime. Our plans are to visit the zoo and then hit Cracker Barrel for dinner.
I'm annoyed at the school for how they assigned the days off though. They could have done a better job with that. They assigned everyone a 3 day block starting tues, wed or thurs. I'm not how they assigned everyone, but A got tues-thurs off, while I had thurs-sat off. If they had let them bid by seniority, A would have gotten thurs-sat off. I guess for most of the guys, who are single, it doesn't matter much what days they have off. But for us, with a family, it means a lot. As it turns out, schedules changed, students shifted and it turned out not to be an issue. Days off got pushed back to wed-fri, then thurs-sat for A. Since his student busted today and went home a day early, I'm not sure where we currently stand. Such is life. We have our honeymoon coming up in 2 weeks and I'm sure I'll get enough of him then.
There was a discussion on Jetcareers that got under my skin, but this time I stayed out of it. It's just not in me to get into an e-argument with someone about something inconsequential. The gist of it was this- someone asked at which locations did instructors get the most hours. Nobody was giving any concrete info and we had recently tallied up A's log book to get a perspective on this ourselves. So I posted and said "as an add on instructor at CRG, he's averaging 65/month flight time. Plus there's about 1.5 hours on the ground for every hour of flight." So a few days later, someone else, who according to another post left the school in 2004, posted that if he was only getting 65/month, he must be really lazy and not working hard enough and when he was there they were getting 100/month. Umm, ok, perhaps things have changed since 2004? Perhaps he could have just stated how many hours he got when he was there 2 years ago without taking a dig at anyone else? I mean really, unless he called and spoke to the chief instructor about the student/instructor ratio, called the office in PV and confirmed the incoming student numbers, and spoke with other instructors at CRG to verify that there actually more hours available and this guy really was slacking off, he really doesn't have a leg to stand on now does he? The fact of the matter is, A is there 12-14 hours a day, 7 days a week, always has 1-2 students that he is training and is now a senior instructor. If he were slacking off, perhaps someone would have said something to him by now? And he probably wouldn't have been the only instructor that they trotted out for the grand opening at the new location in Daytona if he weren't one of the best. At least, that's my opinon.
Happy Holidays!
A had a student bust a checkride for the first time today. I'm pretty proud that he made it through 20 students before lucky #21 came along. That's a great record to have and shows that he is a pretty good instructor. He's got the most consistant passes that anyone at his school can remember.
A has Thanksgiving off. Probably going to be the last time for many years to come. It's not a big deal to me, I can see my family anytime and they can cook a turkey anytime. It means more to me to have 3 consecutive days off with A. We can't manage that just anytime. Our plans are to visit the zoo and then hit Cracker Barrel for dinner.
I'm annoyed at the school for how they assigned the days off though. They could have done a better job with that. They assigned everyone a 3 day block starting tues, wed or thurs. I'm not how they assigned everyone, but A got tues-thurs off, while I had thurs-sat off. If they had let them bid by seniority, A would have gotten thurs-sat off. I guess for most of the guys, who are single, it doesn't matter much what days they have off. But for us, with a family, it means a lot. As it turns out, schedules changed, students shifted and it turned out not to be an issue. Days off got pushed back to wed-fri, then thurs-sat for A. Since his student busted today and went home a day early, I'm not sure where we currently stand. Such is life. We have our honeymoon coming up in 2 weeks and I'm sure I'll get enough of him then.
There was a discussion on Jetcareers that got under my skin, but this time I stayed out of it. It's just not in me to get into an e-argument with someone about something inconsequential. The gist of it was this- someone asked at which locations did instructors get the most hours. Nobody was giving any concrete info and we had recently tallied up A's log book to get a perspective on this ourselves. So I posted and said "as an add on instructor at CRG, he's averaging 65/month flight time. Plus there's about 1.5 hours on the ground for every hour of flight." So a few days later, someone else, who according to another post left the school in 2004, posted that if he was only getting 65/month, he must be really lazy and not working hard enough and when he was there they were getting 100/month. Umm, ok, perhaps things have changed since 2004? Perhaps he could have just stated how many hours he got when he was there 2 years ago without taking a dig at anyone else? I mean really, unless he called and spoke to the chief instructor about the student/instructor ratio, called the office in PV and confirmed the incoming student numbers, and spoke with other instructors at CRG to verify that there actually more hours available and this guy really was slacking off, he really doesn't have a leg to stand on now does he? The fact of the matter is, A is there 12-14 hours a day, 7 days a week, always has 1-2 students that he is training and is now a senior instructor. If he were slacking off, perhaps someone would have said something to him by now? And he probably wouldn't have been the only instructor that they trotted out for the grand opening at the new location in Daytona if he weren't one of the best. At least, that's my opinon.
Happy Holidays!
Friday, November 10, 2006
Breathe, sleep, live aviation
This made me chuckle, esp. because it seems to happen with an increasing frequency.
Last night when we were sleeping I bumped into A. Obviously he was dreaming about flying because as soon as I touched him, his hand flew up in the air (as if to adjust dials and gagues)and he started mumbling "what the hell are you doing?".
He says he dreams about nothing but flying (hmmm, so much for scoring romantic points by saying he dreams only of me...) ever since we got here. I guess the total immersion aspect of his school really can't be denied. I'm sure it's going to be a while yet before he dreams of anything else.
Last night when we were sleeping I bumped into A. Obviously he was dreaming about flying because as soon as I touched him, his hand flew up in the air (as if to adjust dials and gagues)and he started mumbling "what the hell are you doing?".
He says he dreams about nothing but flying (hmmm, so much for scoring romantic points by saying he dreams only of me...) ever since we got here. I guess the total immersion aspect of his school really can't be denied. I'm sure it's going to be a while yet before he dreams of anything else.
Thursday, November 9, 2006
It goes both ways
Just to point out that A does appreciate and reciprocate to my constant giving and accomodations to his schedule, I thought I would include this.
The other day it started raining here about an hour before I was due to leave work. Any rain within the 2 hours prior to my leaving sends traffic into a tailspin, leaving me rushed to get M from school and just frazzled in general. It's like every 10 minutes of rain directly equals 1 accident on my drive home. Anyhoo, I was stressing out about it, as usual, and called A to inform him of my headache. He took the time to leave work, get M from school and wait with him until I arrived home, and then went back to work to finish up. Yes, it meant that he had to stay later for the day, but also meant a less stressed out Someday. The give and take goes both ways in our relationship and for that I am grateful.
The other day it started raining here about an hour before I was due to leave work. Any rain within the 2 hours prior to my leaving sends traffic into a tailspin, leaving me rushed to get M from school and just frazzled in general. It's like every 10 minutes of rain directly equals 1 accident on my drive home. Anyhoo, I was stressing out about it, as usual, and called A to inform him of my headache. He took the time to leave work, get M from school and wait with him until I arrived home, and then went back to work to finish up. Yes, it meant that he had to stay later for the day, but also meant a less stressed out Someday. The give and take goes both ways in our relationship and for that I am grateful.
Tuesday, November 7, 2006
Proud like a mama bear
A told me yesterday that he is 15 for 15 with his students passing their check rides. That puts him as the current record holder for most consecutive passes at his school. It's an especially tough feat considering the kind of instruction he does- add on ratings. People come in with a varied skill set and he has to bring them up to par in the aircraft and teach them the new skills as well.
I'm so proud. I knew this was the right career for him.
I'm so proud. I knew this was the right career for him.
Monday, November 6, 2006
Students
I love to hear all about A's exploits with his students and fellow instructors. It's interesting to hear all about the different people and be able to laugh about some of the things they do or say. Since I will never meet the bulk of them, it's nice to hear about the people he's with all day long.
The part I don't like is when he tells me about how a student nearly killed him because they weren't paying attention or froze up or didn't know what to do. Granted, since I don't fly airplanes myself (and don't really have an interest in it) I never know how near these near misses really are. But to my naive mind, they all seem dangerous. Usually he blows them off, but he had one recently that kept him up all night. I trust that he's an adept enough instructor to recover, and he always has, so this was something new for us. He hasn't had much to say about it since then, so I trust that he's worked through it at this point. I hate having it in the back of my head that at some point some student is going to do something stupid and I'm going to have to deal with it.
The part I don't like is when he tells me about how a student nearly killed him because they weren't paying attention or froze up or didn't know what to do. Granted, since I don't fly airplanes myself (and don't really have an interest in it) I never know how near these near misses really are. But to my naive mind, they all seem dangerous. Usually he blows them off, but he had one recently that kept him up all night. I trust that he's an adept enough instructor to recover, and he always has, so this was something new for us. He hasn't had much to say about it since then, so I trust that he's worked through it at this point. I hate having it in the back of my head that at some point some student is going to do something stupid and I'm going to have to deal with it.
Friday, November 3, 2006
There are up days and there are down days
Had two really hard nights lately. I think it was just the cumulation of stress and too much to do and on and on. Ended up crying, refusing to speak and venting to friends. And then, magically, it all passed on and I felt better. Sometimes you just need to get it out I guess.
On Halloween, I had an elaborate plan for us to meet up with a friend and go trick or treating with her two kids. A would pick up M and meet me there and it would all go smoothly. Then A dropped the bomb that he had moved up his students checkride and had to condense 3 days of training into 2 and therefore would not be able to participate in the trick or treating because he would be home late. This went over fine with me at first, but later, as I sat in massive traffic trying to get over the bridge to get M just so we could turn right around and come back, it just spun out of control in my mind. What is it about sitting in traffic that does that to a person? Instead of the normal 45 minute trip to get M, it took 65.
Of course, I had to blame the whole debacle on A, because if he just would have been able to get M, I wouldn't be sitting in traffic sweating bullets trying to get him in time. If only he hadn't been so selfish to change the guys training to get the examiner he wanted... this was probably the last halloween he'd have to spend with us for a while... and what about Someday? When does she ever get something??? By the time I fought the traffic and got (late) to my friends house, I was furious. A called and I refused to talk to him. But after 2 hours at her house and letting off some steam, I called A to tell him we were on our way home and totally felt better about the whole situation. It had all worked out in the end and I wasn't angry any more.
The next night, A was late getting home again. He called to tell me and I said it was fine. But while standing there cooking dinner and listening to M play trains, I just got this overwhelming sadness about him not being there. And again it was because he had changed the schedule with this student. And then again started the whole selfish, when is it my turn spin. But I reminded myself that at least he was coming home tonight at some point and that turned the tide.
Today A is picking up M from school and having some boy time while I go get a facial and do some shopping at the mall. I guess that's about as much "me time" as I'm going to get for a while. I'm greatful for it though.
I'm not sure what it was that sparked the out of control emotions lately- stress? hormones? jealousy of my friends' husbands being home (when in reality they aren't either...)? But the important thing is that I was able to pull myself out of it without really starting something between us and that we were able to work through it. Somehow knowing that HE had changed his schedule, vs. the company having changed it just made it feel worse. It would have been easier to deal with if he hadn't had control over it (which is what he now claims, but who knows for sure).
I'm sure it's not the last time that I will have an emotional rough spot over this. But at least I can chalk it up to a learning experience because it got us talking about how to handle situations in the future. And as GI Joe says- knowing is half the battle.
On Halloween, I had an elaborate plan for us to meet up with a friend and go trick or treating with her two kids. A would pick up M and meet me there and it would all go smoothly. Then A dropped the bomb that he had moved up his students checkride and had to condense 3 days of training into 2 and therefore would not be able to participate in the trick or treating because he would be home late. This went over fine with me at first, but later, as I sat in massive traffic trying to get over the bridge to get M just so we could turn right around and come back, it just spun out of control in my mind. What is it about sitting in traffic that does that to a person? Instead of the normal 45 minute trip to get M, it took 65.
Of course, I had to blame the whole debacle on A, because if he just would have been able to get M, I wouldn't be sitting in traffic sweating bullets trying to get him in time. If only he hadn't been so selfish to change the guys training to get the examiner he wanted... this was probably the last halloween he'd have to spend with us for a while... and what about Someday? When does she ever get something??? By the time I fought the traffic and got (late) to my friends house, I was furious. A called and I refused to talk to him. But after 2 hours at her house and letting off some steam, I called A to tell him we were on our way home and totally felt better about the whole situation. It had all worked out in the end and I wasn't angry any more.
The next night, A was late getting home again. He called to tell me and I said it was fine. But while standing there cooking dinner and listening to M play trains, I just got this overwhelming sadness about him not being there. And again it was because he had changed the schedule with this student. And then again started the whole selfish, when is it my turn spin. But I reminded myself that at least he was coming home tonight at some point and that turned the tide.
Today A is picking up M from school and having some boy time while I go get a facial and do some shopping at the mall. I guess that's about as much "me time" as I'm going to get for a while. I'm greatful for it though.
I'm not sure what it was that sparked the out of control emotions lately- stress? hormones? jealousy of my friends' husbands being home (when in reality they aren't either...)? But the important thing is that I was able to pull myself out of it without really starting something between us and that we were able to work through it. Somehow knowing that HE had changed his schedule, vs. the company having changed it just made it feel worse. It would have been easier to deal with if he hadn't had control over it (which is what he now claims, but who knows for sure).
I'm sure it's not the last time that I will have an emotional rough spot over this. But at least I can chalk it up to a learning experience because it got us talking about how to handle situations in the future. And as GI Joe says- knowing is half the battle.
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