Friday, August 12, 2011

Not going to rush

On an overnight.

Started a four day trip today. I had to be in base by 11:50AM. Easy enough seeing as I had 5 flights to get me there on time.

I packed last night and had only my tech to pack this morning.

My wife woke up at 5AM. I planned on getting up at 5:50AM, getting my daughter up at 6:20AM and leaving at 6:45AM to catch a 8:10AM flight. Planned.

I got up at 5:30AM. My wife left at 6AM. I turned the living room TV on to watch the news when the power in the living room went out. My house is only 7 years old. I knew what the reason was...I wired up a dimmer in the living room and apparently there was a short. I began troubleshooting. Tick, tock, tick, tock.

Yadda, yadda, yadda I decided to turn off the main breaker as there was still current running through the light switch wires even with what I thought was the right breaker turned off. When I turned the main breaker back on the cacophony of tech in my house (various security cameras and devices...remember I am a geek) woke my daughter up in a bad way. She was cranky.

Before I knew it the time was 6:35AM and I had not yet fed her.

At this point I was ready to throw in the towel and call in sick. I couldn't figure out what was up with the dimmer and had to take it out and wrap up the wires individually with electrical tape. My wife gets to spend the weekend having the living room lit up by lights from the dining room.

I took a breath and took my time. I promised myself a long time ago that I would never rush when it comes to my daughter.

I fed her, dressed her and began heading out the door. My normal tie was MIA. Ugh. Grabbed my backup tie I haven't worn in over a year.

I left the house at 6:55AM. Dropped her off at 7:10AM and headed to the airport. Frustrated.

The employee lot is a good distance from the terminal. I walked on the employee shuttle at 7:35AM. It took me 4 tries to get the back up tie on correctly as it is longer than my normal tie. I cleared security at 7:45AM and took the train to my terminal. Thankfully the flight wasn't full and I got a real seat in the back. I was the last person to board.

Landed in base at 11:20AM.

Signed in and made my way to my plane, dropped off my bags, preflighted and then grabbed my first meal of the day as I didn't have time to eat with all the electrical crap.

Departed on time. I'm flying with a very senior Captain that does IOE. I had to shed my bad habits and fly right.

He took the first leg....only leg of the day. Arrived early.

Lucky for me I'm overnighting in the city I grew up in. My dad met me at my hotel and we enjoyed a nice steak dinner at 50% off (crew discount!).

Tomorrow is a crappy day in my opinion.

Depart at 8:15AM and arrive 3 hours 30 minutes later at a different base at 9:45AM. I then have 35 minutes to make it from one side of an airport to the other to deadhead on mainline 4 hours to sit for an hour and then fly 2 hours to my next overnight. I have serious doubts about making the deadhead flight with just 35 minutes between when I arrive and that flight leaves. I'm betting I will miss it. When I contact scheduling about the tight connect time they didn't seem to think it was a problem. Bleh.

I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Next month I am scheduled to go to training to fly a different aircraft. I'll be put in class with new hires and be pretty much like a new hire pilot during training. Could make for interesting...or really boring post.

My estimate is I won't fly again till late October. The good news is I will be based at home again. More later.

1 comment:

  1. On the bright side, y our daughter's daycare is only 15 minutes from the airport.  That ain't all bad!
    -Craig

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